Maung Paw Htun - What you didn't learn at Harvard Business School

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People watching

Let me tell you two stories. One involves a future presidential candidate. The other involves a famous professional golf champion. These two stories occurred nearly ten years apart, but they still stick in my mind.

I was in Paris for the 1963 World Golf Championships. I met President Richard Nixon twice. Once at the golf club, he came up to the table where Gary Player and I were sitting and talked.

Three or four days later, we met again. He came up to us and talked to us while we were having dinner at the Tudor Junction Hotel with Arnold Pearl, Jackie Clatt, and I.

At that time, the words that the elephant spoke were very familiar to me. But I noticed that both times his words were the same. Both times he spoke only four, five or six sentences. What he said was completely different from what he was saying to living people. It was as if he was talking to lifeless logs.

It seems like he has a pre-planned speech for everyone he meets. He has four or five sentences for an athlete, four or five for a businessman, and four or five for a religious leader.

The second incident concerns the famous golfer, Khaosindar.

When we arranged to act as an agent for Dr. Sinda, people said that we had chosen the wrong person, that we had chosen the wrong person. Some said that if we worked with this person, we would have problems, and that he was not a reliable person.

To be honest, I trust and trust Sindar more than those people.

"One time, Cindy played in a golf tournament in Canada. He made all the arrangements himself. I didn't know anything about it, and I didn't know anything about paying him." But about a week later, we received an envelope from Cindy. When I opened the envelope, there was no letter at all, just the money he had paid us for the commission.

I'm reminded of those two incidents now, because they illustrate an important point about the way people judge.

What people say and do unintentionally can reveal a lot about their true selves.

For example, my unexpected meeting with Nixon showed a certain amount of dishonesty and pretense. I remember ten years later, he resigned from the presidency because of the "Watergate" scandal. People don't like dishonesty and don't trust pretense.

In the case of Dok Sindar, it's not about money. It's about honesty. I can see him coming back to his hotel room, pulling out a wad of bills from his pocket, counting them, and then putting the commission in an envelope for us. That's Sindar's character. Nothing can destroy that character.

People would like to see a future US presidential candidate as someone with good character, and a golfer as someone with intelligence.

What do these things have to do with business? They are very common. In the business world, depending on the situation, you have to deal with many big company owners. Some people talk and act one way when dealing with subordinates, another way when dealing with superiors, and another way when dealing with strangers.

But his true self, his true nature, remains unchanged no matter what environment he encounters.

Only after spending a long time with them will you be able to see their true selves, whether subtly or clearly.

People often say what they don't want to say, instead of what they really want to say.

I'm just a trader, a consultant, a contractor, a person who responds to someone's requests, and I want to know where the person I'm dealing with is 'coming from'. I want to know the "real self" of that person.

Business situations are always about people. They come down to people. So the more you know about the people you're currently dealing with, the faster you can learn about them, the better for you.

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Don't take an opinion as an "answer."

People often make judgments about other people based on second-hand information, even without ever seeing them. They tend to trust the words of others and even ignore their own opinions.

At our IMC company, we often encounter other people's opinions and criticisms about our company.

It is obvious to everyone that we are working hard to achieve our goals honestly. However, some newspapers and radio and television stations have written and broadcasted bad news about our company and me.

Nine times out of ten, this happens to us in our favor. People think we are too valuable. It is very easy to know their preconceptions when we have to deal with them and when we have to manipulate them to our advantage. Finally, they come to our knees when they learn that we are not what they think, but reasonable and fair people.

But I see people who are stubborn in their opinions and who don't understand the business situation or the people in our company that he deals with. Because of this stubbornness in his own opinions and opinions, he can't see the true nature of the person inside.

The art of observation is to open the doors of your five senses, observe the situation from the inside, and then use that insight to your advantage.

Former basketball star Dave DeBrooke served as vice president of our television company for many years before becoming general manager of the New York Knicks.

Once, Dave was repeatedly disappointed when he was discussing a job with a senior executive at a life insurance company in Connecticut.

Dave convinced the insurance executive to invest in our sports television business and become a sponsor. The executive was really interested in the program and was excited to work with Dave.

But he couldn't accept this on principle. He was filled with self-doubt. He was making excuses for himself, saying that this was a real opportunity that would definitely be profitable, and why didn't other people do it?

After Dave patiently and persuasively explained the situation, the officer finally gave in to his beliefs and accepted the job.

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Use your intuition. American golf champion Dave Marr once said.

"Never bet on a first date with a man with squinted eyes, a sunburned face, and only one golf club in his bag."

In fact, being able to see into the inner workings of people depends on the power of observation. In most business situations, it is important to see the inner workings of a person, not just their outward appearance.

As with any business situation, there are obvious signs that can be seen through the lens of the inner workings. Sometimes these are the things people say and do unintentionally. For example, some people turn their heads and look away when asked a question.

But their behavior may not be ordinary, or random, because some may be choosing words to express a unique idea or idea.

So the key is to know how to use the right clues to understand the other person's inner nature, and to use them appropriately in the right situation and place.

But it's surprising how many business executives don't use this. They don't know what's going on around them. They only listen to themselves, not others. They're so busy with their own business that they don't notice what others are doing.

If you don't see and understand people's inner feelings, how can you be successful in business? Business is a very complex and delicate matter, with many layers of detail. And the processes of business are also related to people.

In business, you manage people, you sell products to people, you work with people, you get people to do what you want them to do. So how can you understand the subtle intricacies of business if you don't know the inner workings of these people? Insight is the ability to see beyond the present. It is the ability to see beyond the present and into the future.

For example, let's say you have the intelligence to foresee all the situations that will arise in the business world in the next ten years. In that case, you will not only be a person with insight and knowledge, but you will also become a successful and famous person, and you will also become a wealthy person.

Actually, this is not surprising, because the friend can read the future in advance because of his keen insight into people's inner feelings.

A person has a unique nature based on his or her personality and preferences. You can call it the original nature, the original self, or the inner nature, the inner self, whatever you want. That inner nature, that inner self, remains the same, no matter what circumstances you encounter, it doesn't change, it remains eternal.

The more you know about a person, the more you know about their true nature beneath their surface, the more accurately you can predict how they will react in a given business situation. This knowledge, this understanding

It is very valuable in business, and ultimately, in human life.

What makes this knowledge similar is that it is similar to the practices of “wise men” such as clairvoyants and fortune tellers. These individuals use similar techniques to predict the future very far in advance.

Clairvoyants carefully study a person's behavior, actions, and clothing, and ask probing questions. In these ways, they make predictions about a person's past and future.

"In fact, they are just telling the story based on what they already know. The smart ones can get a piece of information, a clue, a child, and then expand on it. Some of them can become very good business executives."

Throughout my career, I have met many people with similar business acumen.

To understand the inner nature of others, you need to open your five senses. You need to learn to talk less and listen more.

Rather than knowing everything about another person by telling them what they want to know, you need to be observant and listen carefully. You need to keep your mouth shut, your eyes open, and your ears open.