• “What’s in a name?”: Examining the leader’s identity guided by their name

    ByHasannudin Saidin
    0 Comments

    – Finding purpose and inspiration in the names we carry

    MY NAME IS HASANNUDIN

    Not everybody knows the meaning of the name their parents gave them. How important is that?

    In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the expression “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by another name would smell as sweet” argues that it doesn’t matter.

    To me it didn’t really matter for a long time, until I dug into the meaning and gave it my heartfelt interpretation:

    Read More ““What’s in a name?”: Examining the leader’s identity guided by their name”

  • Ops Blog Rescue

    ByHasannudin Saidin
    0 Comments

    – Surviving a tech provider’s shutdown

    I’m on Day 2 of rescuing what I can of blog posts, their images, links, etc. before the immovable deadline (yeah, dead!) of 30 September 2025 when my blogging platform permanently shuts down.

    I have lamented this before (https://lnkd.in/g7N9gHBE) — I am enslaved to tech! Commenters suggest I turn the two decades of blogging into books, for immortality. Next year’s project! Insha Allah.

    Next weekend I will be migrating the rescued blog minutiae to another platform. Blogs will be back soon!

    Video of the rescue to-do’s below!

    Read More “Ops Blog Rescue”

  • Getting Things Deen: Faith-Conscious-izing GTD

    ByHasannudin Saidin
    0 Comments

    – When GTD meets deen: unlearning secular patterns, striving for faith-conscious productivity

    PRODUCTIVITY BOTTOM-UP OR TOP-DOWN?

    David Allen’s GTD® (Getting Things Done®) methodology has been beneficial for me for two decades.

    GTD’s 5 Steps, with all the techniques and tools I’ve been using, have systematically helped me manage overwhelm and stress, truly, i.e. in cruising to try finish more than a hundred (!) to-do tasks at any one time (GTD calls them Next Actions) at the “runaway level.”

    Read More “Getting Things Deen: Faith-Conscious-izing GTD”

  • Rewire, Refire, Renew: The HEART of Leadership

    ByHasannudin Saidin
    0 Comments

    – From Setbacks to Sustainability Through Inner Mastery

    LEARNING FROM SUFFERING

    Leaders need to drive results, but how do they sustain? Without renewal, even the most talented leaders run out of clarity, resilience and purpose.

    I experienced this truth first-hand through my (urgh…, major!) bypass surgery earlier this year. What seemed like a setback became a framework for rethinking leadership. Out of that personal journey, I shaped the HEART Framework, a way to build resilience, patience and clarity through inner mastery, which I offer as also applicable in the organisational setting.

    Read More “Rewire, Refire, Renew: The HEART of Leadership”

  • In Search of Excellence: Ihsan or Itqan?

    ByHasannudin Saidin
    0 Comments

    IN SEARCH OF THE RIGHT WORD

    From the 1970’s I have been reading a lot, and in 1982 I picked up the book In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman. It became a business classic that shaped management thinking for decades. “Excellence” became a benchmark for organizations seeking to outperform competitors and sustain growth.

    Forty years later I discovered the profound word that signifies an internal state for excellence, and the word is ihsan. The word takes on a spiritual lens. Beyond efficiency, KPIs, or customer satisfaction, ihsan asks: how do we bring beauty, sincerity, and God-consciousness into our work?

    Read More “In Search of Excellence: Ihsan or Itqan?”

  • Realize Mortality: You Only Live Twice

    ByHasannudin Saidin
    0 Comments


    YES, I START (THIS NEWSLETTER)

    I struggled to publish this edition #1 (yay!) of The Faith-Conscious Leader newsletter, intended to be launched on the 1st Tuesday of this month. Today is already Saturday. Better late than never, so here goes. 😌

    After partially drafting edition #1 on Tuesday, my next 3 days were sad days of two deaths of loved ones: my brother-in-law, Zainuddin Zaini (Abang Din) and my cousin Faizal Sohaimi‘s wife, Emily Cheong.

    The common epitaph I heard from most people at the two funerals was a simple phrase. “Abang Din was a good person.” “Emily was a good person.” Masha Allah, that to me is a pinnacle of having lived: to be remembered as a “good person”! Within that phrase lies layers upon layers of virtues, achievements and impact to others and impact to the world, unique to who says it.

    I can’t go back to finishing the original draft of the newsletter edition (will keep it for a later edition). I feel compelled to write anew, on living this life in this world, dying, and then living again the second time in the hereafter.

    Read More “Realize Mortality: You Only Live Twice”

  • “Stumped” – When Life Feels Like a Gordian Knot

    ByHasannudin Saidin
    0 Comments

    In leadership and in life, there are moments when challenges seem impossible to untangle.

    • A team member’s struggles quietly erode group morale.

    • Family dynamics become clouded with illness, anxiety, or depression.

    • Uncertainty about the future: waiting on client’s orders, jobs, or medical tests—stretches our patience thin.

    • Even in our own homes, we sometimes care deeply yet feel unable to connect.

    The weight of uncertainty can be crushing, and we may conclude: “I’m stumped.”

    Read More ““Stumped” – When Life Feels Like a Gordian Knot”