Ming Jie Lim

Reviews and other content aren't verified by Google

In the book The Coming Jobs War, Jim Clifton describes the global pursuit of good jobs and how such a shift in focus will affect leadership decisions as countries wage war to produce the best jobs. Clifton believes that leaders of countries and companies should focus on creating good jobs as jobs bring prosperity, peace and human development while long-term unemployment ruins lives, cities and countries. However, despite understanding Clifton’s stand and the fundamental importance of good jobs in a society, I personally feel that Clifton made a slippery slope argument and has undermined the complexity of global issues. I believe that centering all public policies around the creation of good jobs, as implied by Clifton in his argument, will not solve all global problems. Moreover, the measures suggested by Clifton stems from the Business Perspective which I believe, neglects the social aspect of a society and is not applicable to all societies. Different societies have different social fabric and it is important to cater to their individual needs. Making such a generalized claim and introducing a “one size fits all” strategy will only create issues of social exclusion, where vulnerable and marginalized groups in a society have restricted access to opportunities and resources.

12 Angry Men highlights how a successful negotiation necessitates a conscious effort in observing and analysing conflicting arguments presented by various parties involved, such that their personal emotions and positions are effectively separated from their concealed and often complex underlying interests. In a span of one hour, the movie reflected various concepts from the Art of Negotiation and many scenes drew parallel to the four principles of Principled Negotiation as mentioned in Getting to Yes. The four principles include: separating the people from the problem, focusing on individual interests and not their positions during a negotiation, investing in mutual options for mutual gains, and using of objective criteria in a negotiation to avoid the pitfall of getting into a battle of wills and positions.