Malays need to speak up more!

Professional Malays, due to our self-censorship which we develop from being told to 'diam dan dengar' when we were young and growing up, tend to do more passive listening and not speaking up enough when and where it matters. Observations tell you that Malays who rise to senior positions are those who not only listen actively, but also speak their mind, and assertive in pushing through with their agendas.

 When we listen passively, we retain 5% of what we've learned, when we participate actively, 90%.

If we are in situations over and over again where we are only listening, we erode our competitive edge. It is vital that we close that gap, by opening our mouths. A low-end, low cost way of beginning to make this change is to invert our individual listening/talking ratio.

Take risks and speak up!

I disagree with any form of advise that we should shut up or else we will remove any doubt of our stupidity and ignorance. This again is a Malay way of self-sabotage. First of all, others hardly spend time analysing your level of intellect or otherwise. Only Malays give too much time thinking and protecting self-image in that way.

In my view, if you don't speak up, someone else's will. More often than not, someone would say the exact same thing you wanted to say, and gets all the credit.

It is better to make an impression, one way or another, than to not have been thought of at all. In a corporate life, to exist is to participate!

Have you heard of  a successful 'Quiet CEO - He is a diam ubi'! That Malay proverb should be limited in usage to describe the growth of 'ubi-ubi' and not to mislead our young generations to be a 'the wise silent ones'!

Let us raise future Malay leaders who dare to speak up and to express themselves!