Think Out Of The Box

Based on my many years of working experiences, I have made an interesting observation. I noticed most of the academically sound or straight-A students are struggling to think outside the box. Their superb accomplishments in school turned out to be a stumbling block in their career advancements.

I blame the exam mechanism in school, which I think have refrained the students from thinking further. If their aims are higher academically, the more they will be trapped by the retarded education system. I’m not saying that academic is not important, that you should be taking academic for granted, but ironically to a certain extent, being too academic numbs your minds.

“Don’t waste your time. You can skip these two chapters, they won’t come out in the exam,” I recalled one of my teachers advised us NOT TO LEARN. And most of the bright students purposely refuse to enter into an argument when the not-so-smart answers perfectly suited the teacher’s taste.

Good students almost always are obedient; they follow the ‘rules’ leading to the road of success. They always thinking inside the box (scope of the exam), and don’t see a point to learn more, as yet the rewards they receive are commendable. In the contrary, the ones who think outside the box will always receive punishment for not following the ‘rules’ set by the academicians and always end up with substandard performances.

Most of the good students tend to inherit the same “good” nature when pursuing their careers. They figure, if they were to follow exactly the instructions given by the boss, they could anticipate huge rewards, as received in the school days, but this time in the form of high salary, fat bonus and promotion etc.

But unfortunately, the working world does not always have the textbook or a set of rules that you can follow to gain rewards. The business worlds these days need you to think outside the box, the peek on the weird opportunities. Then, the normally outstanding students in the eyes of the teachers would turn out to perform like a mediocre in the employer’s eyes. Timid, play safe, afraid to make mistakes and taking no risks are becoming their common characteristics. Their adaptableness to the working environment is pathetic especially in the fast changing world.

The Internet age has provided the world with vast opportunities. There is no past experience or textbooks we can refer to when entering the new virtual world. You HAVE to learn from the mistake(s). No matter how conventional your business, you can revitalize it by tapping on this new technology.

I am always proud of our unconventional website approach and the 8 microsites we have for support. It helps us to grow our business across the border, and serve almost all purposes around the clock for our reseller ranging from technical tips, warranty claim, training, sales resources download and etc. All these efforts require a lot of out-of-the-box’s thinking process.

And after many years of having the training website; it is time to give it a complete overhaul. We are adopting “Flash” technology to make the website appealing graphically. Moreover, we include the online examination, for technical personnel who care for a FingerTec Qualified Technician Certificate. Sit for this exam, and we will mail you the Certificate once you have passed.

And again, a certificate doesn’t make you an excellent engineer if you don’t have the out-of-the-box-thinking mindset at work. The exam is just a basic knowledge for you to be more prepared when it comes to dealing with FingerTec products. The scope of the industry is much larger than that.

I’m proud to announce that our new training website is due to be released this month end.

by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ