Making A Will

When a non-Muslim dies without making a will, his estate will be distributed according to the law, except in the case of insurance and EPF savings, where the nominees are the beneficiaries.

AS WE are all mortals, and death often comes like a thief in the night, we owe it to our loved ones to make a will during our lifetime. I would like to advise our readers on the importance of making a will, and the consequences of not making one.

By not making a will, you will not be able to distribute the assets according to your wishes after your death. Instead the state will define who will actually benefit from your death.

When a person dies without making a will, he is said to have died intestate. His property is called his “estate”, and his children, his “issue”.

The relevant law which deals with the distribution of the property of an intestate is the Distribution Act, 1958 (“Distribution Act”), which only applies to non-Muslims in Peninsular Malaysia.

Under the Distribution Act, the word “child” means a legitimate child, and where the deceased had more than one lawful wife, includes a child by any of such wives and any child adopted under the Adoption Act, 1952.

The word “issue” means the deceased’s children and includes the descendants of his deceased children. It also includes any child who at the date of the deceased’s death was still in the womb but subsequently born alive.

On the other hand, “parent” is defined as the natural mother or father of a child, or lawful mother or father of a child adopted under the Adoption Act 1952.

An intestate’s estate will be distributed among his surviving family members according to the Distri­bution Act. The same law applies to male and female deceased persons.

Section 66(1) of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 provides that the wife who is judicially separated from her husband at the time of the latter’s death is still entitled to the property of the deceased husband in the same way as a surviving spouse as if no judicial separation had been made, but not vice versa.

As for divorced spouses, they remain surviving spouses until the decree (divorce order) is made absolute.

Generally, the estate will be distributed among the deceased’s immediate family: his parents, his spouse, and his issue.

If a person dies leaving no parent, spouse and issue, his estate will go to the following persons in equal share in the following order of priority:

(a) brothers and sisters, (b) grandparents, (c) uncles and aunts, (d) great grandparents, (e) great grand uncles and grand aunts.

If a person dies leaving no parent, spouse, issue, and any of the family members mentioned, then the whole estate goes to the Government.

If the intestate has more than one lawful wife, then such wives shall share among them equally the share which the wife of the intestate would have been entitled to had such intestate left only one surviving wife.

Section 7 of the Distribution Act also provides that when the intestate and his/her spouse have died in circumstances rendering it uncertain which of them survived the other, then notwithstanding any rule of the law to the contrary, it will be regarded as if the spouse had not survived the intestate.

Also, the above will not apply if the deceased has left a valid will. But, under the Inheritance (Family Provision) Act 1971, the court still has the power to make reasonable provisions for the maintenance of certain dependants of the intestate.

However, no such application shall be made to the court where the disposition of the intestate’s estate is such that the surviving spouse is entitled to not less than two-thirds of the income of the net estate and where the only other dependant or dependants, if any, is or are a child or children of the surviving spouse.

Similarly, the Distribution Act will not apply in situations where an insurance policy holder has nominated a beneficiary pursuant to section 165 of the Insurance Act 1996 and the nominee has made a claim on the policy moneys within 12 months of the insurance company becoming aware of the policy holder’s death notwithstanding earlier notification to the policy holder.

Likewise, under section 54(1)(a) of the Employees Provident Fund Act 1991 and Regulation 9 of the Employees Provident Fund Regula­tions 2001, the EPF Board will pay the EPF savings to a nominee of a deceased EPF member if the latter has made a nomination before his death.

Finally, readers should also note that if a person dies intestate, the procedure for applying letters of administration will differ from one who has left a valid will.

If the intestate has left an estate consisting wholly or partly of immovable property situated in Malaysia which does not exceed RM2mil in total value, then the Small Estates (Distribution) Act 1955 treats this as a small estate, in which case petition for distribution has to be made to the Land Administrator.

Otherwise, all applications for letters of administration or probate are made to the High Court.

In conclusion, readers are also advised that they should engage the services of a lawyer to draft a valid will and have it efficiently administered. Do not be hoodwinked by mendacious claims of unqualified will writers that they are experts in this area.

Leadership: Problem Solving

Tom Hirshfield’s Rules of Thumb

1.If you hit every time, the target’s too near — or too big.

2.Never learn details before deciding on a first approach.

3.Never state a problem to yourself in the same terms as it was brought to you.

4.The second assault on the same problem should come from a totally different direction.

5.If you don’t understand a problem, then explain it to an audience and listen to yourself.

6.Don’t mind approaches that transform one problem into another, that’s a new chance.

7.If it’s surprising, it’s useful.

8.Studying the inverse problem always helps.

9.Spend a proportion of your time analyzing your work methods.

10.If you don’t ask “Why this?” often enough, someone else will ask, “Why you?”

The need for innovative and creative approaches to problem solving is an important leadership practice, a practice that we all should be developin.

Leadership: Geese

Fact 1: As each goose flaps its wings it creates an “uplift” for the birds that follow. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.
Lesson: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.

Fact 2: When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.
Lesson: If we have as much sense as a goose we stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. We are willing to accept their help and give our help to others.

Fact 3: When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies to the point position.
Lesson: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. As with geese, people are interdependent on each other’s skills, capabilities and unique arrangements of gifts, talents or resources.

Fact 4: The geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
Lesson: We need to make sure honking is encouraging. In groups where there is encouragement the production is much greater. The power of encouragement (to stand by one’s heart or core values and encourage the heart and core of others) is the quality of honking we seek.

Fact 5: When a goose gets sick, wounded, or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then, they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock.
Lesson: If we have as much sense as geese, we will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong.

Leadership: Effective Mentorship

Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. The receiver of mentorship was traditionally referred to as a protégé, or apprentice. Today, the term mentee is gaining acceptance and is becoming widely used.

There are several definitions of mentoring. Foremost, mentoring involves communication and is relationship based. In the organizational setting, mentoring can take many forms. The formal definition that best describes mentoring is as follows:

“Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital and the psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career or professional development; mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé or mentee).” (Bozeman, Feeney, 2007)

Organizations have started to see the value of mentoring for enhancing work life, performance, commitment and job satisfaction. When mentoring is implemented successfully, there are measurable improvements in employee performance, retention, employee commitment to the organization, knowledge sharing, leadership growth and succession planning.

A mentor is a person who gives another person the benefit of his or her years of experience and/or education. This is experience that is shared in such a way that the mentor helps to develop a mentee’s skills and abilities, benefiting the mentee and the organization.

A good mentoring relationship is identified by the willingness and capability of both parties to ask questions, challenge assumptions and disagree. It’s important to note that there’s no one way to mentor. Every mentoring relationship is as unique as the individuals involved.

The mentor is far less likely to have a direct-line relationship with the mentee, and in a mentoring relationship this distance is desirable. Mentoring is rarely a critical part of an individual’s job role, but rather an extra element that rewards the mentor with fresh thinking as well as the opportunity to transfer knowledge and experience to a less experienced colleague, peer or employee.

The difference between mentoring and coaching
Coaching is not the same as mentoring. Mentoring is concerned with the development of the whole person and is driven by the person’s own work/life goals. It is usually unstructured and informal. Mentors focus on the person (the mentee), that person’s career, and support for individual growth and maturity.

Coaching is much more about achieving specific objectives in a particular way. Coaching also is more formal and more structured, usually around a coaching process or methodology. Typically, coaching is job focused and performance oriented.

The Mentoring Process is a Two-way Street with Mutual Responsibilities
For mentoring to be successful, the mentor and mentee must collaborate on the process. The first meeting should be a face-to-face meeting where the following criteria is determined:

* The goals for the mentee

* The scope of responsibilities each person is assuming

* Time commitments agreed to by both parties

* Logistics of the process: How, when and where meetings and communications will take place

* Agreement on the definition of confidential information and how that information will be
addressed throughout the process

* Topics or issues that are outside of the mentoring boundaries

* The process for dealing with conflicts and/or obstacles that may arise during the mentoring
process

* How and when to end the relationship

* Effective Mentoring

The following guidelines describe an effective mentoring relationship
The mentee has no direct-line reporting to the mentor. This fosters trust and the mentee feels more comfortable in sharing uncertainties about his or her abilities, creating free-flowing, open communication.

The mentor/mentee relationship is mutually satisfying. The mentor gets the satisfaction of watching someone grow who values his or her insights. The mentee gains a feeling of being valued, receiving beneficial direction and attention from someone who he or she respects and admires.

The intensity of the relationship is matched. It is taking up actual and mental time in proportions with which both people are comfortable. This time commitment is flexible as the mentee’s needs change. Sometimes, several meetings are necessary during a very challenging period, then none for months.

At any time, either party can stop the relationship and the mentoring process. There is no obligation for continuance.

An effective mentor gives wise counsel, and the mentee feels comfortable speaking on issues that may be sensitive. Once this trust is developed, the mentor can give advice or assist with tough recommendations.

The mentor is not mentoring two people at the same time who have a close working relationship. Discretion and confidentiality are paramount. The rules of engagement are stated up front with an agreement between the mentor and the mentee on who should be aware of the mentoring relationship.

The obligation for continuing is two-sided. When the mentor feels he or she has value to add and the mentee is getting something from the relationship, the mentoring may go on indefinitely or either side can end it without justification.

Mentoring programs are about guidance and facilitation rather than formal training.

How Mentoring Relationships Go Wrong
There are several reasons that a mentoring relationship may fail. Since a successful mentoring relationship is built on trust and the mutual commitment for both parties to hold up their end of the agreement, it is not surprising that the circumstances for failed mentoring are directly related to the failure in the relationship between the mentor and the mentee.

The following is an excerpt from a Wall Street Journal report in collaboration with MIT Sloan Management Review dated Monday, May 24, 2010.

Conflict in values: This type of conflict creates a lack of trust or rapport between the two parties. If neither the mentor nor the mentee is able to bend or compromise, they may find themselves unable to work together effectively.

Neglect of the mentee: If the mentor does not show an active interest in the mentee and act in positive ways to advance his or her career, this neglect can erode the mentee’s trust and faith in the mentor.

Most mentors go into the relationship sincerely intending to give the mentee what he or she needs to succeed. It may be that the mentor’s schedule interferes with his or her availability or the mentor may be experiencing excessive challenges with his or her own career, creating the feeling of neglect and frustration on the part of the mentee.

Mentors who manipulate the mentee: Mentee manipulation is most common when the mentor is the mentee’s direct supervisor or an upper supervisor from the same department. Manipulation comes in 3 forms:

Tyranny – a form of management by intimidation – is a complaint that is often heard from mentees. For example, a mentor may threaten to demote a mentee unless he or she pulls an all-nighter to fix a problem created by the mentor.

Inappropriate delegation – requiring the mentee to do work that the mentor should be doing or withholding assignments that are coveted by the mentee and that would promote the mentee’s growth and development.

Politicking – involves malicious acts like sabotage and taking undue credit with the intention of harming the mentee’s reputation, usually with the intention of making the mentor look good.

Mentees who manipulate the mentor: Although mentees have fewer resources at their disposal, mentor manipulation is not unusual. The mentee, for example, may be attributing failures to the mentor and success to himself or herself in order to look good to senior management. This form of manipulation allows the mentee to use the mentor to forward his/her own advancement at the expense of the mentor.

Sabotage against mentors: When a mentee attempts to damage the career of the mentor, it is often revenge motivated. The mentee may be trying to retaliate for being passed over for promotion, for example. The mentee may blame the mentor for failure to achieve his or her goals. At times, the sabotage may be unintentional – e.g., the mentor may have stepped up to recommend the mentee for a higher or more responsible position. If the mentee fails, this may reflect poorly on the mentor.

Submissive mentees: This is usually a case where the mentee relies too heavily on the mentor and the mentee’s abilities for independent thinking and growth are stifled. This situation also may cause the mentor to inadvertently take control in an effort to ensure the success of the mentee. In either case, the mentee’s ability to grow and prosper can be hindered.

So, how do you avoid the pitfalls of bad mentoring relationships?
Provide support and training for mentors and mentees: Whether the company has a formal or informal mentoring program, mentors should go through a training program prior to taking on mentoring responsibilities. Support must be provided where the mentor or mentee can seek advice or assistance if either party feels that the relationship is not progressing in a positive way.
Recruit right-fit mentors: People who volunteer to be a mentor are more likely to put in the time and effort and have the right skills for mentoring. Mandating that a person take on a mentoring role is a sure way to create failure.

Match the mentor with the mentee: Make sure that the mentor and the mentee have things in common and have shared values creating mentoring relationships that are more likely to succeed.

Provide feedback: Mentors can share appraisals and progress with the mentee’s supervisor, who has a vested interest in the mentee’s progress and development. Someone from human resources also should be in the loop in the event that problems arise.

Prepare for the end: To avoid hurt feelings, everyone should be prepared to understand that mentoring eventually ends. When the mentor has shared all he/she can share and/or the mentee has learned all he/she can from this mentor, it is time to end the mentorship. Preparing in advance will help to avoid hurt feelings when the time comes.

If you are considering seeking out a mentor, here are seven tips for maximizing your mentoring experience:

* Know your goals.
* Choose the best mentor to meet your goals.
* Begin your mentoring relationship by discussing mutual goals and expectations.
* Practice the highest standards of professionalism.
* Learn to accept and give feedback.
* Practice good communication.
* Recognize that your success is your responsibility.

If you are considering becoming a mentor, below are some of the benefits of mentoring:
Learning new things about yourself: The self-reflection that can result from a mentoring relationship can be a powerful growth experience, giving you new and revealing insights about yourself, your skills and your experience.

Satisfaction of passing on knowledge
Contributing to the success of your organization by developing others

* Acquiring new knowledge: Often, the mentor also learns new skills and ideas from his or her mentee.
* Expanding your networking contacts

* A confidence builder

*Assists you in staying current with issues and developments in the next generation of professionals and within your company

In today’s business environment, everyone has more work to perform, more responsibilities and more stress. Given this, you may ask yourself, “Why would I want to create additional time commitments on my schedule to become a mentor?”

The simple answer is that mentors, through the process of mentoring, learn to be stronger leaders by developing exceptional interpersonal skills. Through the mentoring relationship, mentors often discover new resources in the form of innovative and creative ideas that are presented during the mentoring learning process and improved human resources through the development of promising new talent.

Leadership: Ants

Have you ever observed the ant? One of the smallest creatures on the face of the earth, the ant can teach humankind a lesson or two in self -preservation, perseverance and development.

Ants understand the importance of leadership and hard work. They also understand the importance of working together for the benefit of the entire colony. Ants toil and live harmoniously together, much like the bee. And while there’s a leader among them all, the ultimate objective is always achieved because of set goals and a unified initiative for its achievement.

However, unlike the ants, instead of accepting the decision of the majority and working together for the good of the country, many of us remain disenchanted and disloyal. Sadly though, those of us who choose to go that route will only be hurting ourselves and devastating our country.

It’s time to focus on personal development. If each person engage in three personal development strategies each day, then pass on the lessons learnt to their children, neighbours and friends, so much could be gained.

Personal developmental tools include lists. And as simple as it sounds, a daily list outlining what you hope to achieve in each 24 hour cycle can prove to be beneficial. As each item is accomplished, scratch it off the list. And if it’s not accomplished on that day, allow it to roll over to another day. Itemising your goals each day, regardless of your social or economic status, can work wonders for your overall development.

Ants work together for the betterment of the colony.

Animals, big or small, aren’t born with the know-how to do everything. Like humans, they have to learn to be the way they eventually turn out. Confused? You shouldn’t be.

It’s amazing how much we know but hardly ever practise. We all know the importance of teaching our children the good principles in life—good manners, the value of prayer, the importance of an education, integrity, ambition and honesty.

But as adults, many of us fall short of practising many of these values. When our children follow what they see, they perpetuate a cycle that could lead to a never-ending abyss of degradation and destruction, much like what we see in many areas of our society today.

Many of today’s youths are self-taught to be “livers.” They live by experience and mould themselves because their parents are feeling their way through life much the same as they are. While breaking the cycle may seem impossible, there is hope.

Instead of depending on handouts from government and various established entities, citizens of our country need to learn to be self reliant. Our population needs to be taught the value of every facet of life—work, family, education, spirituality, dealing with success and failure, the effects of crime, and even governance.

We need to go back to school—from the eldest to the youngest—and start from the beginning by learning the simple values and principles that take us all through life.

Before we judge and demean others, we need to look at ourselves and truly question whether or not our personal contribution to life. The first step to recovery is admission. Now we can start rebuilding!

Truth, Goodness & Usefulness

In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day an acquaintance ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about Diogenes?"

"Wait a moment," Socrates replied, "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

'Triple filter?" asked the acquaintance.

"That's right," Socrates continued, "Before you talk to me about Diogenes let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "Actually I just heard about it."

"All right," said Socrates, "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about Diogenes something good?"
"No, on the contrary..."

"So," Socrates continued, "You want to tell me something about Diogenes that may be bad, even though you're not certain it's true?"

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued, "You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter, the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about Diogenes going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me or anyone at all?"

The man was bewildered and ashamed. This is an example of why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

It also explains why Socrates never found out that Diogenes was having an affair with his (Socrates') wife.

Great Speech

Effective Customer Service

If you've been in business very long, you've likely heard it all! You know, the irate customer who is going to sue you over the nineteen dollar product that they claim is bogus; the one that's going to "shut your business down" because they conjure up in their minds that you might have breeched your privacy policy, or the one that takes complete advantage of your money-back guaranty.

My favorite has to be the one that calls and screams vulgarities into the phone for apparently no reason.

It doesn't happen often, but if you're going to be in business, you will run across some nut cases from time to time. Some can be diffused, some can't. That's just the way things go in business.

There are some simple and effective techniques for dealing with upset customers without burning yourself an ulcer over them and learn exactly what to do when dealing with upset customers.

1. Don't tell a customer they are wrong.
Telling your customer he is wrong arouses opposition and will make the customer want to battle with you. It's difficult, under even the most benign situations to change people's minds. So why make your job harder by starting out on the wrong foot.

2. Don't argue with a customer.
You can never win an argument with your customers. Certainly, you can prove your point and even have the last word, you may even be right, but as far as changing your customer's mind is concerned, you will probably be just as futile as if you were wrong.

3. Don't take it personal.
There is one thing that almost all nasty customers have in common. They try to attack you on a personal level. Name calling is not unusual. When you take it personal, you are likely to get into a yelling match with the customer which resolves nothing and only stands to make things worse. Try to diffuse the situation - kill the anger with kindness so to speak. If that doesn't work, ask them to contact you again once they have calmed down and are willing to speak reasonably. Refuse to speak with a customer in an irate state. You don't have to put up with abuse ever.

4. Don't fall for fear invoking bluffs.
In customer service some business people tend to do anything to avoid the potential harm of a threat even if it means losing money or giving in to irrational demands. When you are threatened, consider the validity of the threat. Do you really think someone is going to pay thousands of dollars in attorney fees to sue you over a low dollar transaction? Likely not. Again, do what you can to accommodate within reason but don't give in to unsubstantiated threats.

5. Don't be afraid to apologize.
Offer an apology even when the customer is at fault. An apology is not admission of fault. It can be offered to express regret. For example, "I'm so sorry for any inconvenience this misunderstanding has caused you."

These incredibly simple tips will position you to keep your cool when customers get hot.