04/23/24 12:55 p.m.
It has been wild. I started back at work on May 6 and it is already June 23. It has been close to 8 weeks, 2 months of my time with EI. I have already staffed on 3 different natured projects - worked on ESG-related matters, GHG accounting for an interesting industry, RE strategy for a client spanning 10 countries (5 new countries, in which I was really unfamiliar with), and BD for a global implementation project. Safe to say that this > duality has clearly highlighted my areas for improvement and my desire to become more "technical" in RE (i.e., understanding the nitty gritty of the grid balancing, RE capacity injections, and financial modelling for different markets).
Key Areas for Improvement:
- More detailed-oriented - to come with a fresh pair of eyes, so I can highlight self-made mistakes early on before it goes for review. This is rather important for me, because sometimes, we only one chance to make an impression to the client and when time is tight, review cycles might not be able to come back in time. Ensuring that my end deliverable is already client-ready is essential.
- Knowledge building - to keep amassing industry, market, and operational details so that I can explain to others in a layman's way. I have been refining this skill of simplifying complex knowledge and synthesizing research materials to clear, bite-sized, insights-driven outputs. But before I can even synthesis anything, there is a need for me to go into the research with a "base load" and this is what I feel is missing for really complex technical topics. Key topics: grid capacity, electricity pricing markets (e.g., forward, futures trading), and project financing (e.g., bank guarantees and legal regulatory issues surrounding onsite solar systems).
- External Communication - already had multiple client meetings and AG told me that I provided quality insights, good knowledge of the market, and a structured approach in helping our client out. I think what I really want to improve on is being a stronger and more confident advisor for them. And explaining or making my point across to them in a clear approach. Eventually, they need to know what is the 1, 2, and 3.
Moving forward for July and August, I would want to refine these 3 soft and hard skills. The end destination I hope to be is like how I am after 6 months of doing sustainable logistics in BLX. All the market information is at my fingertips and I know clearly what matters most for certain markets, more specifically, India, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines - okay, if I go on, I am literally gonna start listing all countries in Asia LOL.
On a side note, though hectic, I had a lot of fun this month at work, deep diving into multiple countries and I had the chance with multiple RE developers across the region as well, in Myanmar, Japan, Thailand, Pakistan. It was really super cool. Also, I had a really cool AMEA knowledge session with a construction director, who was and still is managing an end-to-end wind farm project in Egypt. The operational side of me was really tingling, I miss managing supply chain-related projects, from sourcing of solutions, commercializing and running project financial and environmental modelling, pitching, piloting, writing SOPs and then going live.
And of course, just to stay balanced, I am also aiming to get exposure to decarb projects, more on the solutions-side of things. That would probably bring me the closest to what I was doing previously. I miss having a corporate playground.
Next month would be slightly hectic - I will be going to a conference in Bali (I can really take that time to up my game for area of improvement #2), an offsite, and SMU commencement ceremony would take place then. In the meantime, we are wrapping up on our open letter on the oil spill incident (Marine HONOUR and Vox MAXIMA) and I have to get back into the carbon market and biodiversity financing conversation thread in my headspace, haha.
Met up with 2 of my friend groups and to say the least, I absolutely missed them. One brought back memories in JC and how driven I was then and I can't help but to compare how I am now. The other group brought back fond memories of my time in Thailand. It is still hands-down one of the best part of my life and it will really take a lot to change that fact. I have been meaning to find time to reconnect with old pals, but the procrastination is real - I suppose I don't want to open up threads that I know I cannot continue at that point in time. I would reserve to open those up when I have the capacity to P'Mook, Hang, Edwin.
I think it really works best for me when I am very self-aware of my capacity - be it mental or physical. It helps me to better manage expectations and to ensure that I do give in my all for people and topics around me. But to communicate this concept of capacity, it is difficult because not everyone understands. Until I can find a better way to explain this, it will likely take a backseat.
June is always a month of reflection and healing for me. I have one last week to bring everything altogether, before my next birth year starts all again.
Rookie for life.
Heart strong, mind stronger,
Hui
