Time is of the essence

MANY of us attend various meetings and business appointments which may require us to show up promptly. However, some of us take the issue of punctuality lightly or for granted. This leads to a waste of time for the other party. In certain cases, our lack of punctuality may jeopardise the business deal or cause negative perception of us.

In my recent appointments with many different personalities, I found that it has become a common practice among people to come 20 or even 45 minutes late. This is pro­bably the “standard Malaysian time” now. And we tend to blame our delays on traffic and difficulty in finding parking.