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All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) gaining in popularity

Making mirth work at meetings

All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) gaining in popularity

Probably will be needed in the city during the rainy season!

Autsadaporn Kamthai

Monika Motor Limited has signed a contract with Nim See Seng Leasing in Chiang Mai appointing them as an authorized dealer to distribute its All Terrain Vehicles (ATV’s) in the northern region.

A 250 c.c. 4-stroke engine All Terrain Vehicle (ATV), type L-250, on display at the signing ceremony.

The signing ceremony was held on September 10 at the Imperial Mae Ping Hotel. Dr Suthep Punsomboon, managing director of Monika Motor, U-tat Suwitsakdanont, chairman of Nim See Seng Leasing, Chaiwat Suwitsakdanont, managing director of Nim See Seng and Jamras Wirojjanapa, director of sales and manufacturing of Monika Motor, were present, as well as Gan Hui Beng, managing director and CEO of the UOB Ratanasin Bank.

Dr Suthep said that Monika Motor had developed good performing ATV’s with five different models of varying 4-stroke engine capacity.

Chaiwat said that Nim See Seng will be looking at three target groups of customers. Firstly the farmers who will share 40 percent of the market. Golf courses, resorts and other relevant enterprises are the second target group, while sporting enterprises are the third group.

Nim See Seng has also planned to build a “sport land” project in Chiang Mai for ATV racing, added Chaiwat. “We have to create motivation for Chiang Mai people so that the market and demand of the ATVs will expand,” said Chaiwat. Apart from the ATV’s racing tracks, this sport land will also comprise a moto-cross course and jet-ski lake.

The ATVs are now available at every Nim See Seng branch. For more details, please contact Nim See Seng’s showroom at the Rattanakosin branch on 0-5387-6210-1.

Making mirth work at meetings

“Focus on the cherries, not the pits”

Terry Braverman

Are your company meetings a source of inspiration, or perspiration? A shared laugh can kick off a meeting on a positive note by breaking tension, promoting teamwork, sparking creativity, and opening up greater possibility for agreements. It could be in the form of a joke, story, cartoon, or an exercise. According to Dr. Kenneth Pelletier, there are only two human activities that create total brain symmetry, i.e. completely connect the brain’s left side (logical side) with the right side (creative side). Those two activities are – laughter, and sex. Since you’re probably not going to start your meeting with sex, why not commence with laughter?

An injection of humor at staff meetings can also be used to effectively make a point. In the mid-1970s, the Ford Motor Company went through a period where the accountants took over and influenced the closure of manufacturing plants left and right in order to cut costs. They had already succeeded in shutting down facilities in Massachusetts and Texas, and were clearly relishing their emerging power. Robert McNamara, who was president at the time, called a meeting of his top executives to discuss the possible closure of yet another plant. The forecast from the accountants was so grim that nobody would dare speak up, except for a cheeky old veteran named Charlie Beacham, who quipped, “why don’t we close down all the plants, then we’ll really start saving money.” They all roared with laughter, and the decision was made to postpone any more closings. Charlie’s satirical comment put the company’s state of affairs into perspective, and the bean counters went back to working for the company instead of running it.

David Lewis, a Los Angeles attorney, shared an experience with me of defusing a tense moment with humor. He was in negotiations for the purchase of a large office building, and it was going on night and day, very hard. “One night it came to one of those tense moments when two of the men on opposite sides of the table were arguing about the height requirement for the urinals in the men’s room. One of them was insisting it was 30 inches, while the other was screaming, ‘No, it’s 36 inches!’ They were heaving verbal grenades back and forth, when I interrupted and said, ‘Gentlemen, I think we’re in danger of getting into a pissing contest.’ They began laughing uncontrollably. It broke the tension and really did resolve the whole situation. They realized that it didn’t make any difference anyway.”

There are times when it’s inappropriate to inject humor at a meeting. You can still access it without saying a word, via visualization. One time I was about to lock horns with a rabid meeting planner over contract issues. I decided to visualize the person wearing purple polka dot boxer shorts as the negotiations ensued. This allowed me to relax and detach from the tempestuous personality of the other person. In fact, my calmer demeanor made him calmer, and I ended up getting almost everything I had asked; with it came the epiphany that humor allows me to be patient (before I become a patient).

Terry Braverman is a Los Angeles-based author, professional speaker and trainer. This article is excerpted from his amazon.com best selling book, When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Lighten Up! Go to Terry’s web site for more about his presentations and background: www .terrybraverman.com

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