Today, I had a casual discussion with my managers about our past newcomers.

Our conversation immediately reminded me of that infamous moment in the Singapore parliament, where a politician openly quoted in Cantonese:

“说你又不听，听又不懂，懂又不做，做又做错，错又不认，认又不改，改又不服，不服又不说，不说你叫我怎么办？”

One of my senior managers sighed deeply, shook his head, and repeated this iconic line.

We all burst out laughing, yet beneath the laughter lay a serious reflection.

Newcomers joining our firm #ktp always bring enthusiasm and fresh ideas, but they also often fall into this cycle :

☑️We give instructions clearly, but they don’t listen carefully.
☑️ When they listen, they don’t quite grasp what we’re saying.
☑️ If they finally understand, they hesitate to take action.
☑️ When they act, they frequently make mistakes.
☑️ Mistakes happen, yet some refuse to acknowledge them.
☑️ Even when acknowledged, many don’t genuinely correct their approach.
☑️ After correcting, some still resist, thinking they’re always right.
☑️ And when they’re unhappy, they keep silent, holding back their true thoughts.

I asked my managers, “So how do we break this cycle?”

Everyone paused, reflecting on their own newcomer days.

One manager smiled gently and said, “We were all once newcomers ourselves.

Maybe we should start by truly listening to them first—show them how it’s done.”

Perhaps, overcoming this cycle begins not just with instructing, but with understanding and mentoring patiently.

I encouraged them to leverage AI tools for tasks such as creating videos, summarizing content, and building a knowledge bank using small-scale LLMs.

What do you think? Have you faced similar newcomer challenges?