IT is human nature to brown-nose or, as it is so phonetically and sonorously put in Tagalog, make "sipsip." I have been accused with much justification of being a shameless and some say skilled practitioner of that while an investment banker. Probably still true. I even joked with younger colleagues that there is no downside to ass-kissing, or as I more graphically said it, ass-licking. As a supposed accomplished practitioner, what in my view separates effective "sipsip" from the pedestrian variety?