Commentary

The global shipping and ocean freight industry is set to face a fourth year of challenging business conditions as weak demand for goods and services continue to afflict the world’s economy.

So you are negotiating with your customer (or adversary) for an important deal. Somehow, you feel that your adversary may be hiding something from you, or worse, giving you false information. In many books about body language, there are various ways to tell if the person in front of you is lying such as shaking their heads while saying "yes", or not maintaining eye contact. However, studies from acclaimed psychologist Paul Ekman , you don't just read body language or facial expressions to see if your adversary is lying to you. You need to first establish a baseline. The "baseline" is a set of stress-free questions that you know your adversary will be saying the truth. Things like "isn't it hot today?", or other mundane issues. If your adversary looks at their toes while giving you some very direct answers, or he covers his mouth even when asked about the most obvious question, perhaps he's not lying when he displays such actions during your negotiations. The key to spotting if someone is lying or hiding something is when your adversary's facial expressions, voice tonality, words or body language displayed a sudden change, especially when a stressful topic is being raised. Below is an example: Seller: so you are saying that your budget is tight, and you need us to give you a discount. Is that right? Buyer: Yes! Seller: well if you can guarantee a certain minimum quantity per year, I'm sure we can do something about price. Is a minimum of 4 shipments a year something you can commit to? Buyer: That should be OK for us. Seller: So can the first shipment start from early next month? Buyer: Err....that, that should be achievable. In the above conversation, the buyer started out very confident when asked if he wants to have a discount. However, when asked further if he could commit to a minimum quantity, he became less confident by saying "should be". When pushed on a start date, he became even more unsure of himself. Assuming if the Buyer in this scenario had been maintaining eye contact, and when asked if he could make a minimum commitment, he suddenly avoided eye contact, that's a sign of hiding something. And when asked to make the commitment within a deadline, in addition to sounding unsure, his lips curled and there was some signs that he was being uncomfortable, it's a clear sign that he's saying something that he has no clue. Still, there are no guarantees that even when someone changes their behaviours or postures when asked stressful questions, that person is lying. We can only say we suspect that person withholding something or displaying signs of discomfort. We can't say for sure that person is lying.

By the end of January, many Singaporeans will be experiencing déjà vu – New Year’s Resolutions broken and dashed, just like this time last year, and particularly with Chinese New Year round the corner.

Singapore, with its extensive information and network infrastructure, has been at the forefront of Internet and information technology adoption. With such pervasive technological adoption comes risks and breaches, some of which have been reported before.

Why learn to dress up in Singapore?

In Singapore, one of the least developed tools for salespeople is their voice. They have invested a lot in sales skills training and even personal grooming, yet few have done anything about their voice and few have realized it could be the moment when they open their mouth to speak that pushes the prospects away.

Supply chain management, is a powerful new source of competitive advantage for many organisations.

Unlike traditional media, everything on Singapore social media happens at lightning speed.

Singapore is the second smallest country in Asia. However, this tiny city/state is ranked as the second most competitive country in the world according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 done by the World Economic Forum.

Based on recent studies by Leadership IQ tracking over 20,000 new hires, 46% of new hires will fail within 18 months.

One common grouse among young professionals in Singapore about networking is that sometimes it becomes too contrived. Too much planning, a whole mind loaded with business agenda and dreaded follow-up.

What makes it hard to sell in Singapore?

Positioning yourself as an indispensable staff member to your current boss or a desirable prospective employee to a potential one will put you on the right track to building your value to employers.

Another New Year, another resolution! What should it be this time? With financial planning in mind and as is customary at the start of the year, here are the ‘magnificent 7’ resolutions to help you with your financial life:

In Singapore, we are educated from young to be humble and polite. When it comes to competing in the international business background, we tend to be more reserved in expressing ourselves. Do you feel the same?

I was asked recently in a shareholder meeting how successful Singapore startups are able to survive and thrive. Some investors joked that it was irrational optimism.