OPEN YOURSELF TO THE TAO

Express yourself completely,
Then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature;
When it blows, there is only wind;
When it rains, the is only rain;
When the clouds pass, the sun shines through.

If you open yourself to the Tao,
You are at one with the Tao
And you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight,
You are at one with insight
And you can use it completely.

If you open yourself to loss,
You are one with loss
And you can accept it completely.
Open yourself to the Tao,
Then trust your natural responses;
And everything will fall into place.

~ Lao Tzu (c.604 - 531 B.C.). 'Tao te ching';

LATEST BRAIN FACTS

The following are some key points from Norman Doidge, author of 'The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science' based on a video interview:

1) The brain can actually reinvent itself on account of its neuroplasticity: the ability to build new connections to compensate for injury or disease;

2) We are still at the beginning of what we know about the brain;

3) The two major causes of cognitive decline in old age: (a) Alzheimer's Disease - If you live to age 85 you have almost a 50 per cent chance of developing Alzheimer's disease; (b) age-related cognitive decline;

4) To keep the brain in shape, we just got to add novelty & interval in what we always do;

5) The sensory part of the brain can re-adapt to devastating losses via sensory substitution, based on the research of Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita;

6) We can do brain exercises to help the brain adapt, particularly for children with learning difficulties & language impairment;

7) Rote learning is actually very good for the brain;

[Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Lateline, 1st May 2009]

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"The machine replaced human labor & now human brainpower. But I think technology's next step will be to work for the spirit, the heart."

~ Sotoro Miyagi, Miyagi Design;

SPOTLIGHT: LOVE YOURSELF

I have spotted this beautiful shopfront banner, with the apt caption:

"Love Yourself. Be Pampered."

at Ngee Ann City this afternoon.

In order to be rich & happy, you have to start by loving yourself. After all, you are the most important person in your life.

Interestingly, when you love yourself, people around you will start to love you too!

LESSONS FROM THE MOVIES: MAKING PERSONAL CHOICES

A few nights ago, my wife & I had watched the action thriller, 'Rogue Assassin' [apparently also marketed under the title 'War'], starring Jason Statham & Jet Li, on StarHub cable television.

Frankly, it was an entertaining movie to watch, at least from the standpoint of the fighting choreography, even though it was a "no-brainer", so to speak.

In a nut shell, the story plot went like this:

After his partner, Tom (played by Terry Chen), & his family were killed apparently by the elusive assassin known as "Rogue" (played by Jet Li), FBI agent Jack Crawford (played by Jason Statham) became obsessed with revenge.

"Rogue" was supposedly killed - as he was last seen falling into the sea - but his body was never found.

Somehow, "Rogue" eventually resurfaced to settle a score of his own, setting off a bloody crime war between an Asian mob & a Japanese Yakuza clan.

When Jack & Rogue finally crossed their paths again, the ultimate truth of each other's pasts was revealed with a twist to the whole story.

To cut the story short, it was Jack who had betrayed his old partner, Tom, in the first place.

"Rogue" was sent by the Asian mob (or the Japanese Yakuza?) to kill Tom, but was killed by Tom during a life & death struggle. Enraged by the death of his wife & child, he took over the identity of "Rogue" in search of personal revenge. This was the intriguing twist to the whole story.

In fact, the core segment of the movie was all the time showing how "Rogue" mysteriously manipulated both warring parties to kill each other.

It was towards the tail end of the movie that the rather complicated twist came about.

It was also at this segment of the movie that Jack suddenly realised that his days were numbered. He questioned about the issue of destiny, as he talked to his new partner, Goi (played by Sung Kang).

But Goi rebutted that destiny was all about "making choices".

I thought about his wise response for quite some time.

Destiny is making choices. Life is making choices. We make the best of our lives through our daily or day-to-day decisions, which are essentially choice-making.

So, make the right personal choices in your life!

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"Innovation distinguishes between a leader & a follower."


— Steve Jobs, technology visonary & founder of Apple Computer;

TODAY'S Q2P (QUESTIONS TO PONDER)

Is my mind keeping me from doing what I should?

I know what to do, so why don't I do it?

SMART DECISION MAKING: SOME PERSPECTIVES

Here's a link to a great article, 'How to Decide in a Time of Confusion', from the BNET Crash Course on Navigating Uncertainty.

Also, according to decision making guru Carl Spetzler, director of the Strategic Decision & Risk Management program at Stanford University, & CEO of the Strategic Decisions Group, these are the six elements that go into a smart decision:

(1) The right frame — making sure you’re solving the right problem in the first place.

(2) Clarity about what you want. For example, are you trying to maximize shareholder value or just trying to stay alive and minimize damage?

(3) Creative alternatives.

(4) Gathering the right information, including information about uncertainty, which is essential if you want to choose the best alternative.

(5) Reasoning, which includes what you know and what you don’t.

(6) A commitment to make it happen, since a decision is no stronger than its weakest link.

Here's the link to the original article from where I have extracted the foregoing advice.

[For me, the BNET is a worthwhile go-to resource for management, where you can get great directions to deal with some of your business problems & challenges.]

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"So often we wait for the climate & conditions in life to be perfect before we feel safe enough to step forward, trust, & be our authentic selves. What we don't realize is that in order to create the ideal climate we are waiting for, we must be authentic first."

— Sonia Choquette, spiritual teacher & author of 'Your Heart's Desire: Instructions for Creating the Life You Really Want', among others ;

SPOTLIGHT: ROCK MY WORLD

I have spotted this huge hanging banner at Bugis Junction this afternoon.

UNDERSTANDING PRECESSION

I have found this beautiful photo on the net.

To me, it symbolises "precession", a term I have picked up from the original writings of R Buckminster Fuller (or Bucky as he was affectionately known), often considered as planet Earth's friendly genius.

In reality, "precession" is an interesting term borrowed from the science of astrophysics that refers to the action that occurs at 90 degrees to a body in motion.

Bucky often explained it this way:

When the honey-seeking bee goes after ingredients necessary to nourish its community, it inadvertently spreads pollen when moving from flower to flower.

By moving toward its goal, however, the bee creates the means by which the plants are able to regenerate, through cross-pollination, providing a necessary step in the sustainability of our environment.

The sustained environment then allows humans to survive on this planet. Humans, in turn, have the intellectual capability to effect positive change.

Simply put, "precession" thus refers to the side effects of moving toward a purposeful goal.

It teaches us that the many outcomes that occur as a result of our taking steps to move toward our highest purpose are the main benefits of our actions, not the direct actions that we intend to take.

Did the honey-seeking bee set out to sustain planet Earth?

Most probably not, yet that is the precessional effect of his honey-making endeavour.

Frankly, I have unconsciously put it to work in my personal life this way:

I do what I love & love what I do. I love to read, & also to review books. I also love to exchange ideas with other people. I have been doing so since the early nineties, especially after having left the corporate world for good.

In recent years, I also love to write blogs about my personal learning experiences.

My primary objective in doing so, as I have mentioned it many times before, is more to keep my mind intellectually active.

Also, by reading, reviewing & writing consistently, I have developed a daily disciplined routine, which is great for my Third Age.

When readers started writing to me about how much they have enjoyed reading my reviews as well as my blog posts, - more importantly, how much my writings have influenced them - I get tremendous satisfaction & pride.

As a result, their unsolicited favourable responses continue to bring more passion, enthusiasm & joy to what I do: reading, reviewing & writing.

More profoundly, I realise that my life now in the Third Age has become more productive, meaningful & purposeful.

I reckon, that's the precessional effect.

QUESTIONS, NOT ANSWERS: An Interesting Perspective

While surfing on the net this morning, I have stumbled upon the following interesting perspective on problem solving:

". . . QUESTIONS, NOT ANSWERS . . . because Questions are provocative and dynamic while answers are static and smug . . . The word "Solution" is better than "Answer" because it suggests that while it may be a solution, it is not necessarily the only one, only that it solves the problem. This encourages flexibility and diverse concepts and helps escape the straitjacket of "RIGHT vs WRONG" or "BLACK/WHITE, ME/YOU" thinking that has caused so many of our problems in the world today . . ."

Here's the link to the original article, probably written by a Bill Paxton in Canada, who calls himself a Solutioneer (defined as "someone who examines a situation, explores its possibilities, determines solutions, and effectively actions them to completion").

ENTREPRENEURIAL INSIGHTS FROM THE CORRIDOR

"There's no need to be a crybaby . . . whatever comes down will bounce back & this crisis will be over, definitely. What we need to do is to make adjustments along the way so that we survive &
emerge stronger . . . (we need to) stay focused on the basics . . ."

"No matter how serious it is, I've learnt not look at the circumstances, but to look beyond. Instead of looking at (where we are) as being in the middle of the crisis, why don't we look at it as we're approaching the end of the tunnel?"

~ trendsetting restaurateur Andrew Tjioe, also executive chairman of the Tong Lok Restaurants Group, with more than 30 outlets in Asia, including China, Japan & India, reflecting on his determination to ride out the curent global economic slowdown;

[Source: Today's issue of the Straits Times' The Monday Interview]

VALUABLE LESSONS FROM THE 'AWARE' SAGA

The last three weeks or so were quite exciting, judging from what I had read in the Straits Times as well as Sunday Times, with regard to the 'AWARE' leadership saga.

First, the "old timers" were knocked out of their leadership positions by "young Turks" with a seemingly hidden agenda. Then, the "old timers" fought back, & wrestled back their control from the "young Turks" after a showdown at Suntec City.

This saga reminds me of what global business consultant Gary Hamel (as well as Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who had mentioned it at the National Day 2000 Rally) had talked about in his book, 'Leading the Revolution: How to Thrive in Turbulent Times by Making Innovation a Way of Life ':

- insurgents vs incumbents;

& I like to quote from him:

"In the new industrial order, the battle lines don’t run between regions and countries. It's no longer Japan versus the USA versus the EU versus the developing world. Today, it’s the insurgents versus the incumbents, the revolutionaries versus the landed gentry . . . First the revolutionaries will take your markets and your customers . . . Next they’ll take your best employees . . . Finally, they’ll take your assets."

Amidst the seemingly negative religious connotations of the abrupt take-over by "feminist mentor" Thio Su Mien's insurgents, & subsequently hotly-contested regaining of control by the incumbents, I reckon there are valuable lessons for all of us, at least from the strategic thinking perspective:

1) The "old timers" were obviously complacent. After some 24 years or so in leading their outfit, they probably got cosy & comfortable with their leadership positions, completely detached from what's was really happening out there.

To Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, it's the lack of "realism": having one's feet firmly placed on the ground & feeling the pulse of what's really happening.

Sad to say, the "old timers" were acting like old elephants, very slow to dance, especially to change & renewal.

Worst still, they were insensitive to "rumblings" (read: "weak signals") in the marketspace. First hints actually came about in the Forum pages.

2) In contrast, the "young Turks" were too arrogant.

[Actually, to me, "arrogance" is no different from "complacency", as both can spell big trouble, if left unchecked.]

To paraphrase the outgoing newly-elected President for only 11 days after the takeover bid: They acted like "stormtroopers".

They violated the first "rule of engagement" in any organisational leadership change: open communication.

If the insurgents had been more upfront about their intentions, & exercise more restraint in their behind-the-scene machinations, probably the outcome might have turned out differently.

3) Both incumbents & insurgents neglected the fact we live in a larger world where everything is connected to everything else.

On one hand, the incumbents were stuck in old ways of doing things, & got carried away by some of their public education programs.

On the other hand, the insurgents were apparently obsessed & pushy with their single-minded perspective, which embodied apparently lopsided fundamental beliefs. That irked a lot of other people too.

The 'AWARE' community is just a small group of people, but it exists in a larger society like Singapore with 4 million people of diverse aspirations & different beliefs.

DPM Teo Chee Hean got it right when he commented:

"I think there will always be differences in society; it's a question of whether we can deal with them in a sensible way, learn how to accept one another's differences & still work together for the good of this society. There are people in our society with different views & if . . . we push them too hard, there will be a push back from the other side. You are not going to resolve some of these differences because they are strongly held & you risk polarising society if you push too hard . . ."

4) It's a total surprise that 'AWARE' has existed for some 24 years & yet its membership before the takeover bid has stood at around300. Now, 'AWARE' has a swelling record membership of 3000.

Somewhere along the line, there is definitely something wrong with their monitoring of the environment & feedback mechanism. Or maybe, the outfit did not have any monitoring &/or feedback system at all.

This is something to think about. A good monitoring & feedback system can serve readily as some sort of early warning system.

5) Today's issue of the Straits Times has a special report on the ill-fated coup by offering 10 reasons why the 'AWARE' leadership grab failed. I would have expected the report to touch on why the "old timers" had lost their entrenched leadership - luckily for a short while - in the first place.

To me, the more intriguing issue is: can one predict failure? can one conceive the notion of failure?

At this juncture, I like to single out a passage from 'The Online Citizen' which had reported on the recent seminar held at the National Museum Gallery Theatre, entitled “Singapore Beyond Lee Kuan Yew: Institutionalising The Singapore Way”:

One of the distinguished speakers, Kishore Mahbubani, Dean & Professor of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy emphasized that Singapore must be able to conceive the notion of failure, so as to prevent the country degenerating.

This was something which former Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Goh Keng Swee, had told him, after the PAP’s monopoly of Parliament was broken in 1981.

“As (Dr Goh) has wisely told us, failure happens when we fail to consider the possibility of failure,” said Mr Mahbubani.

This is naturally an important issue at the national leadership level.

Against the backdrop of the recent 'AWARE' saga, what I am more interested is its implications at the organisational & personal level:

- Can we, as an organisation, fail?

- Can I, as an individual, fail?

- If so, how can I leverage & thrive on it?

- what if my performance depended on the intensity & frequency of my failures?

- what if I learned that a key to thriving was to fail fast & intelligently?

Definitely, worth pondering!

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"The majority of individuals view their surroundings with a minimal amount of observational effort. They are unaware of the rich tapestry of details that surrounds them . . . Observation is like a muscle. It grows stronger with use & atrophies without use. Exercise your observation muscle & you will become a more powerful decoder of the world around you."

— Joe Navarro, former FBI agent & also, author of 'What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People';

[Please read my review of the book in an earlier post.

Although the author had made the foregoing observation from the standpoint of reading non-verbal language, I strongly feel that it also applies to all other instances of living, surviving - & thriving - in the world out there.

All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions. The more we are sensitive to our surroundings, the more we are able to deal with problems & challenges, as well as to adapt & anticipate changes.]

MEMORABLE QUOTE FROM THE MOVIES

I love to watch western movies.

Unfortanately, to my personal disappointment, they don't make them any more as they did in the roaring fifties & sixties.

When I was a young teenager during the late fifties & sixities or so, my favourite western movie heroes included Randolph Scott, Gary Cooper, Alan Ladd, John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, & Richard Widmark, just to name a few.

There were also a few odd ones who casted great impressions on me, like Steve Reeves in 'A Long Ride from Hell'; Marlon Brando in 'One-Eyed Jack'; Burt lancaster in 'Apache'; Yul Brynner in 'The Magnificent Seven'; Lee Marvin in 'The Professionals', Steve McQueen in 'Nevada Smith', Paul Newman in 'Hombre', Burt Reynolds in 'Navajo Joe', & Charles Bronson in 'Chato's Land'.

Then came the spaghetti westerns out of Europe, especially Italy & Spain, with Clint Eastwood, Franco Nero, Lee van Cleef, Terence Hill, Bud Spencer in lead roles as either lone-wolf gunslingers or dynamic duos.

Around the same time or so, I was also enthralled by TV westerns, like 'Lone Ranger', 'Bat Masterson', 'Have Gun Will Travel' (with Richard Boone as 'Paladin') , 'Rifleman' (with Chuck Connors), 'Wanted: Dead or Alive' (with Steve McQueen), 'Gunsmoke', plus the big cattle-drive adventures like 'The Virginian', 'Bonanza', 'Big Valley', 'The High Chaparral', & 'Rawhide' (with Clint Eastwood) etc.

I recently rewatched an old but still entertaining western movie, entitled 'Tombstone', starring Kurt Russell as the legendary Wyatt Earp, & Val Kilmer as his "sidekick" Doc Holliday. It was produced in the nineties.

It was a Hollywood remake of the famed 'Shootout at the O.K. Corral' & the events that led up to it.

In a nut shell, it captured the tension between the law enforcers on one side and the troublemakers on the opposite.

What catches my personal attention in the movie is this particular dialogue:

Doc Holliday: "What do you want Wyatt?"

Wyatt Earp: "Just to live a normal life."

Doc Holliday: "There is no normal life, Wyatt, there's just life, you live it."

Wyatt Earp: "I don't know how."

Doc Holliday: "Sure you do, say goodbye to me, go grab that spirited actress and make her your own. Take that spirit from her and don't look back. Live every second, live right on through to the end. Live Wyatt, live for me. Wyatt, if you were ever my friend... if you ever had even the slightest of feeling for me, leave now, leave now . . . please."

Wyatt Earp: "Thanks for always being there, Doc."

As I interpret Doc Holliday's wise response, the lesson from the foregoing movie, & particularly within the current context of challenging times, is to live our life as it is, with all that it brings to us - the good, the bad, the ugly & the beautiful -, and not to think too much about what we might vaguely consider as “normal life.”

10 RULES FOR SUCCESS IN THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

Rule #1: Expect Volatility

We are witnessing an exponential increase in the velocity, complexity, and unpredictability of change. This increase creates a hypercompetitive international environment that bears little resemblance to the one that existed even five years ago.

Rule #2: Invent New Rules

Invent your own and make others follow you! Competitive advantages and profits will belong to innovators who transcend the existing parameters of competition.

Rule #3: Innovate or Die

Develop conscious strategies and mechanisms to promote consistent innovation. Resting on your laurels is simply not an option: winners are innovating and surpassing themselves constantly.

Rule #4: Break Barriers

You must dismantle the internal barriers that so often separate people, departments and disciplines. The boundaries between firms and their outside suppliers, customers and sometimes even competitors are also under severe pressure.

Rule #5: Be Fast

Implementation is everything and it better be fast. These days it's far better to be 80 percent right and quick than 100 percent and three months late.

Rule #6: Think Like an Entrepreneur

The days of depending on corporate size and reputation to drop opportunities in your lap are over. Entrepreneurs go out and make things happen and allow themselves to fail and improve because of it.

Rule #7: Think Global

The fastest growing markets in the world today are outside North America. Companies can and do now shop in a single global supermarket for just about everything.

Rule #8: Keep Learning

At the end of the day, the only truly sustainable competitive advantage will be your ability to learn faster and better than your competitors, and to turn that learning into new products, services and technologies before your competitors can imitate your last innovation.

Rule #9: Measure Performance Differently

Concentrate on key strategic and profitability drivers, ones that reveal the underlying dynamics of your business, focus your energy on what really drives the future success of your business.

Rule #10: Be Nice

The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and hands and then work outward from there. If we improve ourselves by doing good for others, we build a solid bridge for success in the new economy.

[Source: The GoalsGuy. Gary Ryan Blair is President of The GoalsGuy. He helps business owners, corporate executives and sales professionals manage their time, set their priorities, and stay focused so they can achieve their goals, grow their business, and be more successful. Gary can be reached for speaking, coaching and media requests at 877-462-5748 or by sending an email to Gary@GoalsGuy.com]

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"Twenty-seven years later, my examination failure seems inconsequential. But I have no regrets having tried and failed the first time . . . My failure forced me to learn how to roll with the punches and to react to life's capriciousness with equanimity . . . Life in unpredictable for all of us. But if we persevere and adapt, many apparently impossible difficulties can be overcome . . ."

~ Dr Lee Wei Ling, director of the Singapore National Neuroscience Institute, writing in today's issue of the Sunday Times, with her own inspiring story "The day I failed an examination";

[The tagline to her story reads: "Failure can be a bitter pill to swallow but it can also bring with it valuable life lessons." ]

7 CHARACTERISTICS OF UNSTOPPABLE PEOPLE

1. Devote themselves to their true purpose;

2. Follow their heart's passion;

3. Believe in themselves and their ideas;

4. Prepare for challenges;

5. Ask for help and build a support team;

6. Seek creative solutions;

7. Persevere, no matter what the challenges;

[Source: 'Unstoppable: 45 Powerful Stories of Perseverance and Triumph from People Just Like You', by Cynthia Kersey;]

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“You can’t get any good new ideas without having a lot of dumb, lousy, & crazy ones. Nobody in my business is very good at guessing which are a waste of time & which will be the next . . .”

~ Brendan Boyle;

[He was the founder & head of Skyline, a group of toy designers at IDEO in Palo Alto, during the late nineties; it sold & licensed ideas for toys that were made, distributed, & marketed by big companies like Mattel & Fisher-Price.

According to Bob Sutton, author of 'Weird Ideas That Work':

Skyline generated about 4000 ideas for new toys, drawing on a real 1998 case history:

Of these 4,000 ideas, 230 were thought to be promising enough to develop into a nice drawing or working prototype.

Of these 230, 12 were ultimately sold.

This “yield” rate was only about 1/3 of 1% of total ideas & 5% of ideas that were thought to have potential.

Boyle pointed out that the success rate is probably even worse than it looks because some toys that are bought never make it to market, and of those that do, only a small percentage reap large sales & profits.

No wonder Nobel laureate Linus Pauling was fond of saying: "The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas."]

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING PERSISTENT & TAKING RISKS

"To live is to risk dying.
To do is to risk failure.
To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.
To love is to risk not being loved in return
To cry is to risk appearing soft and sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement or rejection.
To place your ideas, dreams, and desires before people is to risk ridicule.
The greatest omission in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing gets nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
He may avoid suffering, pain and sorrow, but he does not learn, grow, live, or love.
He is only a slave - chained by safety - locked away by fear.
Only a person who is willing to risk, not knowing the results, is alive."

- Anonymous

SPOTLIGHT: I M POSSIBLE

SPOTLIGHT: LAW OF THE JUNGLE

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"If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through chinks of his cavern."

~ William Blake (1757 – 1827); English poet & painter; largely unrecognised during his lifetime as he was considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views; held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness & creativity;

MEMORABLE QUOTE FROM THE MOVIES: THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE

Last night, while watching the romance comedy movie, 'Sleepness in Seattle', starring Tom Hanks (playing Sam Baldwin, an architect who had lost his wife to cancer) & Meg Ryan (playing Annie Reed, who was about to get married to someone else) on StarHub cable television, I was intrigued by one particular dialog which went as follows:

Jay (played by Rob Reiner as Sam's construction buddy): ". . . what do they call it when everything intersects?"

Sam: "The Bermuda Triangle."

In a nut shell, the movie was about Sam's son Jonah, who was looking for a new mother. So, when Jonah put his father on national radio, hundreds of women wrote to him. One of the women was Annie, who went to great lengths to meet Sam, who had meanwhile started to re-enter the dating game. Sparks flew when they met.

What has caught my fascination is not so much the movie, which of course has been entertaining to watch, to say the least, but a new perspective of creativity, which I would never have thought of.

That's to say, I did not see the Bermuda Triangle as an "intersection of ideas", metaphorically speaking.

I reckon Sam's response as I have outlined above brings me back to what I have written earlier: the 'Medici Effect' or "intersection of ideas".

'Innovation at the Verge' is also the other thing which is invariably connected to the foregoing topic.

Please read my earlier post on it - entitled 'Ideas Build on Ideas' - in the Braindancing Smorgasbord weblog.

As I have always maintained, watching movies can really carry a dual-benefit: entertainment & learning/creativity.