THE global world has arrived. Few are prepared; many are                                                                                              
terrified of its consequences; but all have been forewarned.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
It has taken the Asian economic crisis to drive home the                                                                                              
singular message that nation states, however independent in a                                                                                         
political sense, can no longer be removed from the forces of                                                                                          
interdependence and interconnectivity.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
More powerfully the crisis has demonstrated that the                                                                                                  
traditional isolationist policies of trade barriers can no                                                                                            
longer work when the new instruments of wealth maximization                                                                                           
are not goods and services but gains from currency movements                                                                                          
The masters of the universe are, apparently, no longer General                                                                                        
Motors and Matsushita but mutual funds and global currency                                                                                            
traders.                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
The changing economic equation will not reverse. We are all                                                                                           
too familiar with the consequences of similar manipulations at                                                                                        
the local level which have caused companies to wind down as                                                                                           
the result of shuffling papers. While the medium of exchange                                                                                          
is not currency but shares, the outcome is comparable.                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
It is a tragedy that quite a number of our brightest and most                                                                                         
promising graduates have been drawn by the glitter of the high                                                                                        
world of finance.                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
Just as the graduates of the Harvard Business School have been                                                                                        
drawn to Wall Street, many Malaysian graduates have been                                                                                              
attracted by the promise of riches in the securities industry.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
And they have now learned that while wealth can be accumulated                                                                                        
when the market moves up, wealth can be equally destroyed when                                                                                        
the market moves downwards, as is painfully illustrated in the                                                                                        
context of today's price values of practically all counters                                                                                           
traded on the KLSE.                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
At the personal level those who have been prudent have been                                                                                           
spared the worst consequences of the economic downturn.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
However, those who have been imprudent with grandiose dreams                                                                                          
of making it big and having mortgaged heavily, overextended                                                                                           
themselves and played on the securities market, are now paying                                                                                        
the price for their recklessness.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
Will we ever learn from this experience? Did we not remember                                                                                          
the plight of Pan El during the last recession of 1995/96?                                                                                            
Have we not learned from the wisdom of the ages?                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
Alas, humans are short on memory and long on more immediate                                                                                           
concerns. For the younger generation raised on the miracle of                                                                                         
the last 10 years of economic growth the tragedy is that for                                                                                          
all their energy and high expectations they will find it most                                                                                         
difficult to cope with loss of opportunity, uncertainty and                                                                                           
disillusion.                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
For many, add the element of despair and the reluctance to                                                                                            
prepare for better days. And better days will come, assisted                                                                                          
by reforms of the market to provide for more transparency,                                                                                            
accountability and more equal opportunity.                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
Several measures can be taken to enhance competence and                                                                                               
competitiveness at the individual level.  Recognising the                                                                                             
fantastic inroads that technology has contributed to work                                                                                             
productivity, it is mandatory that the manager of the future                                                                                          
be computer and IT literate. Also recognising that the                                                                                                
technology itself is being upgraded to a higher platform                                                                                              
practically yearly, the manager has not only to be comfortable                                                                                        
with IT but also with its applications and new possibilities.                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
A second course of action for managers is remedial. A new                                                                                             
generation of younger Malaysian executives have a deficiency                                                                                          
in the use of the English language, the universal language of                                                                                         
business and commerce. Some dozen types of grammatical                                                                                                
mistakes seem to be at issues not vocabulary or understanding.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
All that it takes to remedy these mistakes are classes that                                                                                           
work at correcting typical pieces of communication with                                                                                               
effective practice, feedback and reinforcements.  Functional                                                                                          
literacy in English is not best achieved by the tedious                                                                                               
process of building from zero base as is seemingly the pathway                                                                                        
offered by current English classes.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
The third opportunity is for Malaysians to be more                                                                                                    
knowledgeable with the major influences on their lives. We                                                                                            
tend to specialise from an early age.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
In school we are separated into Arts and Science streams; in                                                                                          
university we specialize in Physics or History or other                                                                                               
disciplines almost immediately. We, therefore, graduate from                                                                                          
school or university with a very narrow knowledge base and are                                                                                        
thrust into employment which often requires an understanding                                                                                          
of disciplines other than what we have learned.                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                      
It is sad to note that for many, graduation marks the end of                                                                                          
learning when it should provide the stimulus to thirst for                                                                                            
more and to venture into areas that do make a difference in                                                                                           
the way we perform as a manager.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
Increasingly, it is not specialised knowledge but a broad                                                                                             
based understanding of multi disciplines that can raise our                                                                                           
performance to a higher platform. Some of the knowledge areas                                                                                         
useful to have include economics, politics, psychology,                                                                                               
sociology, technology and philosophy.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
Unlike other professions whose career paths suggest further                                                                                           
specialisation as the route to take, the world of management                                                                                          
begins with Specialization, say in accounts, but moves upwards                                                                                        
in the organisation through generalisation until the                                                                                                  
accountant becomes the CEO because of his competence in                                                                                               
applying knowledge from a broad range of human knowledge, not                                                                                         
because of his accounting skills.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
In time to come as Malaysia moves more aggressively into                                                                                              
international markets we will need a corps of expatriates to                                                                                          
bridge businesses overseas. Now is the time to plan seriously                                                                                         
for expatriates who can act locally in Vietnam, China, Japan                                                                                          
and elsewhere.                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
The starting point is the local language. Therefore, a second                                                                                         
international language of business can be a considerable asset                                                                                        
to compete in the global economy. We admire the Japanese for                                                                                          
their ability to master not only the English language but also                                                                                        
French, Spanish, Mandarin and other universal languages. We                                                                                           
should learnt from the experiences of the English and Dutch                                                                                           
colonisers who could not only speak Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa                                                                                        
Indonesia, but excelled as writers and experts on the                                                                                                 
language.                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
The global economy is comprised of one market as WTO forces                                                                                           
free access across the globe.  The only way of competing in                                                                                           
the global market is to be cost effective by being highly                                                                                             
productive. To be less productive will not only make it                                                                                               
difficult to penetrate overseas markets, but will likely                                                                                              
result in the loss of the domestic market to foreign                                                                                                  
competition.                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
Our years of fantastic growth have raised our costs; a                                                                                                
beneficial outcome of the current economic crisis is to reduce                                                                                        
costs to more acceptable levels.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
But cost reductions must also be accompanied by ever higher                                                                                           
productivity as our Asian neighbours will also be forced to                                                                                           
reduce costs as a consequence of their economic crisis.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
One year of economic difficulty has left us traumatised by our                                                                                        
in ability to generate revenue, with the consequential                                                                                                
cost-cutting measures, including redeployment and retrenchment                                                                                        
of staff. But we should also be mindful that sooner or later                                                                                          
the economic cycle will turn more favourable and we should be                                                                                         
prepared for the potential. The downturn had caught many                                                                                              
unprepared. We should also not be caught unprepared at the                                                                                            
upturn.                                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
The current stalemate should provide us the opportunity to                                                                                            
prepare ourselves to compete more effectively in the new world                                                                                        
order of a global market.