Hostage at The Table

Senah and I went for a short talk by Prof. George Kohlrieser yesterday. I was reluctant at first, because I am not a fan of human behavioral books i.e self-help, self-development, etc. Nevertheless, I went after receiving an email from my boss asking everyone in my department to go. I went with an open mind - I have tried so hard to declutter my mind for the past weeks mainly because I was so inundated with work and yesterday was one of those days that I managed to do it (it could be on temporary basis only, shit!).

The talk was fun! I enjoyed it every minute because Prof. Kohlrieser was, to say in a very few words, very good. He is an international leadership professor, consultant, and veteran hostage negotiator (which was the reason why Senah went to the talk) and currently attached at IMD Business School in Geneva, Switzerland. His talk was based from his book "Hostage at The Table" which shows us how to -

(a) Put the "Fish on the Table" to resolve conflict

(b) Learn to bond, even with your "enemy"

(c) Never think like a hostage

(d) Tap into the power of dialogue and negotiation

(e) Access the law of reciprocity to build cooperation

(f) Be a secure base to establish trust

(g) Understand that the person is never the problem

(h) Master the mind's eye and visualize success

(taken from the book's website)

Prof. Kohlrieser somewhat asked us to believe in ourselves and never give up if you want to achieve something in your lives - say you want to be a singer, keep pursuing it until you finally become one!

Senah and I were inspired that we immediately came up with things we want to pursue (but were never serious about it before). There are 1001 things that I want to do/pursue but as a start, I wish to pursue my long-forgotten piano class (hahaha) and for Senah, well I will ask her to elaborate herself. I stopped learning piano when I went to SSP in 1994. There was Ms. Renee who at that time could teach us piano, but she was the choir teacher too. I didn't pursue my interest then, let alone approached her to be my piano teacher.

Recently, when I went to Kedah for my cousin's wedding, my partner in crime, Ika asked me to play a piece by Richard Clayderman. She too has started learning piano but decided to stop for a while as she is scared with her piano teacher. She has finished her elementary level and started with Grade 1 but since she really liked the Clayderman song, she asked me to play from my tattered Clayderman book that she took from my house last year.

My fingers were numbed at first, struggling to find the right keys of the notes and was cursing myself for not being able to read the notes properly anymore (had to pause for a few times on the keys!). We spent our time practising the song and managed to make it sound decent despite the off-keys on some parts. Ika played one octave lower and I'll take the bigger octave (she is playing it by ear and memory as she does not know how to read the complicated Clayderman's notes) and after 3 days, I managed to play the whole song! I was so inspired to continue playing the piano at that time!

I think Prof. Kohlrieser has given me hope to continue my piano lessons, no? He told us that one of his friends, an ex-CEO of Accenture, decided to take up guitar lessons at the age of 47 but was told not to proceed because his hands were too hard. He took it as a challenge and continued his guitar lessons (with another teacher, of course) for 4 years and when Prof. Kohlrieser visited him sometime back, his performance moved Prof. Kohlrieser to tears.

I'm calling Yamaha School of Music now, to see whether they would want to welcome a mature student like me anytime. Hehehehe...