Monday, December 12, 2016

Note On Retirement





Assalamualaikum
Greetings 




My heartfelt thanks to each and everyone of you for sharing your time with me this afternoon.

Also, thank you for giving me this delicious lunch at the closure of my career with PFB. I will certainly cherish this occasion.

It is not always a person is fortunate enough to go on retirement on a high note!

Some may opt for early retirement at their own will. Others go on retirement for a variety of special or personal reasons.

Some left on resignation for unknown causes! 


Some may have to go in bitterness while others out of spite or even in disgrace.


Thus, the reason I say I am very fortunate to leave PFB in a privileged state!


PFB is a tough place to work in for people with less than average "guts". A high standard of everything is demanded either at work or at play. One must be able to adjust and readjust to conditions to fit into such a demanding entity.


But after more than 20 years with PFB, I feel all the demand lumped upon the shoulders of people working in PFB will ultimately benefit the people themselves.


To an extent, the demands have proven to pave the way to creating mature individuals as professionals in the publishing industry.


I do not wish to do the normal "down memory lane" retirement speech. I also do not wish to talk history of the early 80's here. 


Suffice to say that the last five years of my stay in PFB has been very meaningful. Those were about the best years I could have hoped for. 


It was not because I saw comparatively fast personal enhancement then but more so because it was during that time I really begun to feel that sense of belonging. 

It is a genuine feeling of wanting  to contribute to the company!

The trust shown to me, especially so by our MD, did a lot of boost to the feeling of "wanting" to perform.

The support from colleagues  turned the "impossible" into "possible". Results I dare not dream of earlier became realities.

I know I have been fortunate to serve in a team with the capabilities to overcome all the shortcomings to come out on top at the end of the day. 

Thank you to all of you.

We have achieved so much over the last three years. Many things became magnificently real. Among others:


  1. The ICC
  2. The Corporate Culture Programme
  3. The SAP
  4. Streamlining of post and departments 
  5. Streamlining of administrative procedures
  6. Improvement of facilities
  7. Improvement of environment
  8. Staff induction and enrichment programme
  9. Training programme for  all levels
  10. Establishing an associate company.

With the progress and successes achieved over the years, let us not forget the most valuable asset PFB has ever had in making these achievements possible --- human resource.

As a reminder to all of us and in the spirit of corporate culture i would like to adapt some paradox of our time by veteran American entertainer cum poet, George Carlin, who says: 

We have...

taller buildings, but shorter tempers;
wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
more degrees, but less sense;
more knowledge, but less judgement.

We have...

multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values;
learned how to make a living, but not a life;
added years to life, not life to years;
conquered outer space, but not inner space.

Let us just ponder for a while...

We've done larger things, but have we done better things?
We've split the atom, but have we split our prejudice?
We write more, let us also learn more.
We plan more, let us also accomplish more.
We've learned to rush, we must also learnt to wait.

These are times of steep profits, and shallow relationships.

Yes, we have been all the way to the moon and back, but have we crossed the street to meet the new neighbour?

We have built more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have built more communication?

Thank you. 


AMB




bamuda
dsuarang.blogspot.com