It's not about "be yourself";
It's about Be the Best You Can Be...
Be Your Honorable Self.
we all heard the stories,about good people being punished financially or socially for doing the right thing, and the "trade-off" between material interests/peer recognition and values/moral principles...we saw people we know & love (even ourselves) stuck & struggling in those choices...
Bite the bullet. Be Your Honorable Self.
...it's always easier said than done...it always seems like nothing more than idealistic stupidity...but it's exactly what we have to do: forget that windfall, that promotion, that acknowledgment, even that ticket to a dream job/career simply for what we believe is right...
Because we will come out Stronger.
...DO the right thing..we'll see how big we can be and how far we can go...we'll realize nothing and no one can stop us and we deserve every right to dream on, and carry on the revolution...
It's not about "confidence", given by anybody or any incident, or what we wear;
it's the Hard-earned sense of Honor, Pride & Self-Respect, that enable us to Stand up Proud & Tough to any adversity, threat & intimidation.
Be Your Honorable Self, that way you become Invincible.
Wednesday 22 April 2009
Monday 20 April 2009
include or exclude, don't be indifferent III - party stranger
Say you're talking with your friend Jake in a party, someone approached & showed interest to join, what'd you do if it doesn't please you to have a third person in the conversation? You may include her/him reluctantly, or you may politely tell her/him that you wish to keep the conversation between you & Jake. Interestingly I notice quite some people who tend to do neither of these.
To many people it isn't easy to say to a well-intentioned stranger "sorry but we would like to keep the conversation between ourselves now, could we catch up with you later?"; while they aren't interested in talking to that person either.
So they choose to do nothing. They'd continue their talk, giving little heed to that person, pretending that person doesn't exist, and hoping that person will go away herself/himself...not knowing it isn't cool and it's rude.
Try put yourself into that person's shoes. What do you feel?
Be honest & polite, don't be a rude coward.
Never ever pretend that person doesn't exist. You know she/he's there.
Bottom line: Include, or Exclude, don't be an insensitive & indifferent jerk playing hero solo.
To many people it isn't easy to say to a well-intentioned stranger "sorry but we would like to keep the conversation between ourselves now, could we catch up with you later?"; while they aren't interested in talking to that person either.
So they choose to do nothing. They'd continue their talk, giving little heed to that person, pretending that person doesn't exist, and hoping that person will go away herself/himself...not knowing it isn't cool and it's rude.
Try put yourself into that person's shoes. What do you feel?
Be honest & polite, don't be a rude coward.
Never ever pretend that person doesn't exist. You know she/he's there.
Bottom line: Include, or Exclude, don't be an insensitive & indifferent jerk playing hero solo.
include or exclude, don't be indifferent II - Heroes & Outsiders
There are only 2 kinds of people in a team: Heroes, or Outsiders.
(There's no "average team members")
Heroes care, heroes think & take action & take risks all the time.
Outsiders don't care, outsiders do the minimum & play it safe.
Sometimes we become heroes because we are made to do so: people give us their trust and count on us; sometimes we become heroes because We enjoy the action, we enjoy feeling important, we enjoy being on the front line putting out the fire...
We just enjoy playing the hero. Just another kind of vanity.
Sometimes we become outsiders because we don't believe in the team's mission/values (we are in only for the paycheck or the title); sometimes we become outsiders simply because we feel like outsiders ...so we stop giving a damn...
We just don't see why the heck should we put the team's interests before ours.
......
If you're the team leader, and you spot outsiders in your team, what'd you do?
The answer, I guess, lies in another question: who in your team is(are) playing the hero(es)?
Those who are not heroes are all outsiders (Hopefully you are not the only hero in your team).
Great things are done by a team of dedicated heroES, not a single hero (despite what the movies show)...if your team is not made up completely of heroes busy attacking or building...somewhere in someone an outsider is in the making...
Avoid one-man show (or two-men, for that matter).
If your project is too small to accommodate too many heroes, assign them to another project, give 'em day off, send 'em to training or volunteer work for charity, let them start their own projects...Or better yet, let them go, help them shine elsewhere.
Don't make them sit there watch you playing hero.
It's not leadership, but a selfish display of vanity.
****
side note: if you (or your team/org) got a mission, Live it, or dump it.
(There's no "average team members")
Heroes care, heroes think & take action & take risks all the time.
Outsiders don't care, outsiders do the minimum & play it safe.
Sometimes we become heroes because we are made to do so: people give us their trust and count on us; sometimes we become heroes because We enjoy the action, we enjoy feeling important, we enjoy being on the front line putting out the fire...
We just enjoy playing the hero. Just another kind of vanity.
Sometimes we become outsiders because we don't believe in the team's mission/values (we are in only for the paycheck or the title); sometimes we become outsiders simply because we feel like outsiders ...so we stop giving a damn...
We just don't see why the heck should we put the team's interests before ours.
......
If you're the team leader, and you spot outsiders in your team, what'd you do?
The answer, I guess, lies in another question: who in your team is(are) playing the hero(es)?
Those who are not heroes are all outsiders (Hopefully you are not the only hero in your team).
Great things are done by a team of dedicated heroES, not a single hero (despite what the movies show)...if your team is not made up completely of heroes busy attacking or building...somewhere in someone an outsider is in the making...
Avoid one-man show (or two-men, for that matter).
If your project is too small to accommodate too many heroes, assign them to another project, give 'em day off, send 'em to training or volunteer work for charity, let them start their own projects...Or better yet, let them go, help them shine elsewhere.
Don't make them sit there watch you playing hero.
It's not leadership, but a selfish display of vanity.
****
side note: if you (or your team/org) got a mission, Live it, or dump it.
include or exclude, don't be indifferent - (don't believe this title)
At work, what's worse than a day full of emergencies, fire to put off here and there, one thing comes up after another in hectic pace, pushing you to navigate through meetings & negotiations with departments and suppliers and customers...Murphy's Law comes into play (yes everything just goes wrong) while people tactfully shunning responsibiities...you alone shoulder all the downside risks...what can be worse?
Having no place in it (or, being an outsider inside a team).
When you end the day exhausted, battered (or even fired)...licking your wound in hard-won victory (or total fiasco)...you know you tried your best, you know you learnt something. You gave your heart, you tasted (the sweetness and) the pain. you lived.
The outsider didn't. The outsider feels numb & empty. And safe, probably.
You lived. Isn't it something to be proud of, soldier?
[if you think this post is irrelevant to the title, you are right...sometimes things just flow beyond our plan & control...check our the more relevant content in next post...]
Having no place in it (or, being an outsider inside a team).
When you end the day exhausted, battered (or even fired)...licking your wound in hard-won victory (or total fiasco)...you know you tried your best, you know you learnt something. You gave your heart, you tasted (the sweetness and) the pain. you lived.
The outsider didn't. The outsider feels numb & empty. And safe, probably.
You lived. Isn't it something to be proud of, soldier?
[if you think this post is irrelevant to the title, you are right...sometimes things just flow beyond our plan & control...check our the more relevant content in next post...]
what'd we do to a modern-day Martin Luther?
"You should read history and look at ostracism, persecution, martyrdom, and that kind of thing. They always happen to the best men, you know."
George Eliot
...all these great figures in history...somehow...we tend to have them suffered, tortured, estranged and executed...then time passes...we at some point realize these are exactly the people we need and should look up to...finally we give them due credit long after their lives ruined & sacrificed...the respect & love we give they no longer can feel & see...is this the best we can do to the great souls in fellow human beings?
Simply look at what often happens to whistle blowers and you know history repeats itself.
Are we not going to do something about it?
When we see a modern-day Martin Luther in the news, or at work, what'd we do?
George Eliot
...all these great figures in history...somehow...we tend to have them suffered, tortured, estranged and executed...then time passes...we at some point realize these are exactly the people we need and should look up to...finally we give them due credit long after their lives ruined & sacrificed...the respect & love we give they no longer can feel & see...is this the best we can do to the great souls in fellow human beings?
Simply look at what often happens to whistle blowers and you know history repeats itself.
Are we not going to do something about it?
When we see a modern-day Martin Luther in the news, or at work, what'd we do?
Martin Luther
Originally from one of Chris Guillebeau's blog entry, it's worth your most precious 1 minute of the day...
...Remember Martin Luther, the original one, when he was on trial for his life in the year 1520. Luther was asked if he would recant his unconventional writing. He took the question seriously and asked for a day to think about it. The next day he returned to the stand. His famous response, before being sentenced to death, made it clear that he wouldn’t back down:
"I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.”
...Remember Martin Luther, the original one, when he was on trial for his life in the year 1520. Luther was asked if he would recant his unconventional writing. He took the question seriously and asked for a day to think about it. The next day he returned to the stand. His famous response, before being sentenced to death, made it clear that he wouldn’t back down:
"I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.”
Monday 13 April 2009
a couple of definitions on Entrepreneur/Entrepreneurship
By Peter Drucker...
“Entrepreneurs innovate,” --> “Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship.”
...the entrepreneur as somebody who “upsets and disorganises”
By William Baumol
...the entrepreneur as “the bold and imaginative deviator from established business patterns and practices”
By Howard Stevenson
...entrepreneurship as “the pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources you currently control”
“Entrepreneurs innovate,” --> “Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship.”
...the entrepreneur as somebody who “upsets and disorganises”
By William Baumol
...the entrepreneur as “the bold and imaginative deviator from established business patterns and practices”
By Howard Stevenson
...entrepreneurship as “the pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources you currently control”
Think Macro
Some areas to consider when considering "macro" problems:
- renewable energy...electricity...
- water...irrigation...sewerage...
- telecommunications...fiber & wireless network...
- transportation...urban transit systems...
- nature...biodiversity...habitats...
- food...crop...
- education...culture...
From Jeffrey Sachs' article:
"American and European economic advisers generally believe that a short sharp stimulus will be enough to restore economic growth. This is wrong. What will be needed is an overhaul of the world economy towards sustainability. "
"Developed countries also fail to recognize that without much greater financing of sustainable infrastructure in the developing world – especially sustainable power generation and transmission – a global agreement on climate change later this year (or any time soon) will be impossible. The rich world somehow expects poor countries to restrict their use of fossil fuels without any significant help in financing new and sustainable sources of energy. In almost all of the rich-country proposals about targets, limits, commitments, and permits for greenhouse gases, there is hardly a word about helping poor countries to finance the transition to sustainable technologies."
- renewable energy...electricity...
- water...irrigation...sewerage...
- telecommunications...fiber & wireless network...
- transportation...urban transit systems...
- nature...biodiversity...habitats...
- food...crop...
- education...culture...
From Jeffrey Sachs' article:
"American and European economic advisers generally believe that a short sharp stimulus will be enough to restore economic growth. This is wrong. What will be needed is an overhaul of the world economy towards sustainability. "
"Developed countries also fail to recognize that without much greater financing of sustainable infrastructure in the developing world – especially sustainable power generation and transmission – a global agreement on climate change later this year (or any time soon) will be impossible. The rich world somehow expects poor countries to restrict their use of fossil fuels without any significant help in financing new and sustainable sources of energy. In almost all of the rich-country proposals about targets, limits, commitments, and permits for greenhouse gases, there is hardly a word about helping poor countries to finance the transition to sustainable technologies."
2 Respectable Companies
1. PSS World Medical
from an interview with its CEO David Smith...
...when you dance with elephants you're either quick or you're dead...
...you can't just be a regular company, or you won't survive. You'll get out-resourced, out-priced, out-maneuvered and squashed...
...you really must have something unique that you bring to the table...
...You have to be able to do things differently from everyone else and do them in a way that really brings value to the customer...
...We...looked at the individual customer and his business and clinical issues...
...we looked at our core competencies--what we were really good at...
...We started rebuilding our business to be back to focusing on our customers...
...I set principles with my management team and team leaders, but I don't have preferences on how things are done....
...I ask a lot of questions. I give ideas. But I'm not wedded to any one of my ideas...I let them figure it out, because they're closer to the customer and to their people...
...give everybody a simple, understandable matrix to make decisions with...
...when I'm not there and people want to know how to make a decision, they don't have to call me. They know that I'm going to ask them how it fits into that matrix...
...We are all about not being comfortable with the way things are...
2. e-text editor
It recently decided to push beyond open source code...to become an Open Company...it's experimental, it's adventurous, it's curiosity with a spark of idealism...it's Huge. Check out the story here.
from an interview with its CEO David Smith...
...when you dance with elephants you're either quick or you're dead...
...you can't just be a regular company, or you won't survive. You'll get out-resourced, out-priced, out-maneuvered and squashed...
...you really must have something unique that you bring to the table...
...You have to be able to do things differently from everyone else and do them in a way that really brings value to the customer...
...We...looked at the individual customer and his business and clinical issues...
...we looked at our core competencies--what we were really good at...
...We started rebuilding our business to be back to focusing on our customers...
...I set principles with my management team and team leaders, but I don't have preferences on how things are done....
...I ask a lot of questions. I give ideas. But I'm not wedded to any one of my ideas...I let them figure it out, because they're closer to the customer and to their people...
...give everybody a simple, understandable matrix to make decisions with...
...when I'm not there and people want to know how to make a decision, they don't have to call me. They know that I'm going to ask them how it fits into that matrix...
...We are all about not being comfortable with the way things are...
2. e-text editor
It recently decided to push beyond open source code...to become an Open Company...it's experimental, it's adventurous, it's curiosity with a spark of idealism...it's Huge. Check out the story here.
Something meaningful from what I read recently...
"Your customers don't care about your story. The care about their own stories.....focus on a way to make it easy for your customers to bring your brand story into their lives." -- Tom Peters
"What do you want your customers to think about you?" -- Tom Peters
"Citizens should experience anxiety about their own businesses (which they control), not their investments (which they do not control)" -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"I don't like you all the same...I love you all the same, and I'll give you the treatment that you earn and deserve..." -- Coach John Wooden to his players
Plus: fill in the blank...
"Our business is the only ______ that ______"
"We are the best _____ in the world"
"What do you want your customers to think about you?" -- Tom Peters
"Citizens should experience anxiety about their own businesses (which they control), not their investments (which they do not control)" -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"I don't like you all the same...I love you all the same, and I'll give you the treatment that you earn and deserve..." -- Coach John Wooden to his players
Plus: fill in the blank...
"Our business is the only ______ that ______"
"We are the best _____ in the world"
"Dramatic Leadership" to "mobilize the board..."
Summarized below useful points by an interesting McKinsey Qtrly article "The crisis: Mobilizing Boards for Change"
* Expect major change. Conduct fundamental review of strategy. [John: Reinvent]
* Disrupt the rhythm
* Force New Conversations/ Create Confidence to Express "Stupid" Opinions
* Follow-through: where's the plan & budget?
* First-hand Frontline (Visceral) Experience
* Dramatic Leadership to Shake Things Up
Well for those of you who read Tom Peters'(and the like), these are nothing new...
..."the hottest U.S. investor" (covered by Fortune some months ago) once said "I don't wait for Morgan Stanley to tell me where the market is moving..." (or something like this, just recall from memory)
Yes I'm simultaneously quoting a valuable McK Qtrly's article and telling you we can't count on big guys like McK for truly inspirational world-changing ideas...
* Expect major change. Conduct fundamental review of strategy. [John: Reinvent]
* Disrupt the rhythm
* Force New Conversations/ Create Confidence to Express "Stupid" Opinions
* Follow-through: where's the plan & budget?
* First-hand Frontline (Visceral) Experience
* Dramatic Leadership to Shake Things Up
Well for those of you who read Tom Peters'(and the like), these are nothing new...
..."the hottest U.S. investor" (covered by Fortune some months ago) once said "I don't wait for Morgan Stanley to tell me where the market is moving..." (or something like this, just recall from memory)
Yes I'm simultaneously quoting a valuable McK Qtrly's article and telling you we can't count on big guys like McK for truly inspirational world-changing ideas...
The Wrestler II
About the movie, again. The backstage scenes reminded me of a Fortune article on Meredith Whitney (the Wall Street Analyst who made her name for correctly predicting the banks' losses & writedowns early in the crisis and wife of a professional wrestler) said...
Her insider's view has given her great respect for pro wrestlers' work ethic and their willingness to lay everything on the line as performers, athletes, and stuntmen...
Another eye opener for Whitney has been how gracious most wrestlers are - at least when the cameras aren't rolling - in comparison with the viper-pit culture on Wall Street. It sounds absurd - the world of high finance being less collegial than an industry in which employees belt each other in the face. But based on the time I spent backstage before the Great American Bash, Whitney has a point.
Her insider's view has given her great respect for pro wrestlers' work ethic and their willingness to lay everything on the line as performers, athletes, and stuntmen...
Another eye opener for Whitney has been how gracious most wrestlers are - at least when the cameras aren't rolling - in comparison with the viper-pit culture on Wall Street. It sounds absurd - the world of high finance being less collegial than an industry in which employees belt each other in the face. But based on the time I spent backstage before the Great American Bash, Whitney has a point.
The Wrestler
Watched a movie called The Wrestler. Felt sad. Being the so-called most intelligent creature on earth, somehow, we keep creating within The System/Civilization things that destroy ourselves & our fellows...
I have been talking about "you never know who's going to change your life; & you never know whose life you are going to change"...same thing...we never know how the ocassional disrespect & mean attitude we show (out of bad mood or our mean self) may impact others' lives...
"Treat all people with dignity and respect" thus spoke Coach Wooden.
He said this for a reason.
I have been talking about "you never know who's going to change your life; & you never know whose life you are going to change"...same thing...we never know how the ocassional disrespect & mean attitude we show (out of bad mood or our mean self) may impact others' lives...
"Treat all people with dignity and respect" thus spoke Coach Wooden.
He said this for a reason.
ViSuAl & ASSociAtion & Journey: lessons from world memory champs
(Read the story "How a memory champ's brain works" here)
Background: World Memory Champion Ben Pridmore...10 minutes to memorise seven packs of playing cards and then recite them in orderan hour...an hour for 27 packs - 1,404 cards...Other records...memorising a single pack of cards in 26.28 seconds; memorising in 15 minutes an 819-digit number; memorising in 30 minutes a binary number of 4,140 digits; Dominic O'Brien, eight-time world champion.
so what did they say?
"Think in pictures, because the brain remembers images better than it does anything else,"
Mr Pridmore's suggested strategy for remembering people's names involves picturing them in a scene made up of associations to their names.
“In effect, you are tricking your brain into believing it is experiencing something ”
"Memory is made up of associations...strawberry might prompt thoughts of tennis at Wimbledon, pick-your-own farms and everything but the dictionary definition of a strawberry"
"Think visually....Fill in as many little details as you can..."
"...method of loci...journey technique...imagining a familiar journey, and placing along that route the pictures associated to the information being memorised - a person should then only have to replay the journey to recall the information."
last but not least...
Loci systems, peg systems and number / image systems were taught in schools and academies up until the time the Christians took over Europe and decided that such practices were akin to black magic...
It's no big deal if someone tells you we human beings are not on a one-way progressive path, there are plenty of supporting evidence out there...
Background: World Memory Champion Ben Pridmore...10 minutes to memorise seven packs of playing cards and then recite them in orderan hour...an hour for 27 packs - 1,404 cards...Other records...memorising a single pack of cards in 26.28 seconds; memorising in 15 minutes an 819-digit number; memorising in 30 minutes a binary number of 4,140 digits; Dominic O'Brien, eight-time world champion.
so what did they say?
"Think in pictures, because the brain remembers images better than it does anything else,"
Mr Pridmore's suggested strategy for remembering people's names involves picturing them in a scene made up of associations to their names.
“In effect, you are tricking your brain into believing it is experiencing something ”
"Memory is made up of associations...strawberry might prompt thoughts of tennis at Wimbledon, pick-your-own farms and everything but the dictionary definition of a strawberry"
"Think visually....Fill in as many little details as you can..."
"...method of loci...journey technique...imagining a familiar journey, and placing along that route the pictures associated to the information being memorised - a person should then only have to replay the journey to recall the information."
last but not least...
Loci systems, peg systems and number / image systems were taught in schools and academies up until the time the Christians took over Europe and decided that such practices were akin to black magic...
It's no big deal if someone tells you we human beings are not on a one-way progressive path, there are plenty of supporting evidence out there...
David Kelley
This guy really is an inspiration, even if you are only reading a 3rd-party written article about him...
...we moved from thinking of ourselves as designers to thinking of ourselves as design thinkers...
...creative confidence that, when given a difficult problem, we have a methodology that enables us to come up with a solution that nobody has before.
on how thinking about his daughter helped him pull through his fight against cancer...
"At first, you think, 'I don't want to miss her growing up.' That's motivating, but not that motivating," ... ... When you think, I don't want her not to have a father -- then you want to stay alive."
"I really do believe I was put on the planet to help people have creative confidence,"
"I don't have 27 agendas. I'm not the sustainability guy, or the developing-world guy. My contribution is to teach as many people as I can to use both sides of their brain..."
"If the goal is to change the world, the business part changes the world faster."
"Our dent in the universe doesn't mean we have to do all the digging," ... "We empower our clients. We teach them to fish."
Ideo's largesse is in sync with Kelley's mission -- and with his confidence in his own company's ability to reinvent itself.
"I can give our methodology away," he says at a staff meeting on Ideo's future, "because I know we can come up with a better idea tomorrow."
...we moved from thinking of ourselves as designers to thinking of ourselves as design thinkers...
...creative confidence that, when given a difficult problem, we have a methodology that enables us to come up with a solution that nobody has before.
on how thinking about his daughter helped him pull through his fight against cancer...
"At first, you think, 'I don't want to miss her growing up.' That's motivating, but not that motivating," ... ... When you think, I don't want her not to have a father -- then you want to stay alive."
"I really do believe I was put on the planet to help people have creative confidence,"
"I don't have 27 agendas. I'm not the sustainability guy, or the developing-world guy. My contribution is to teach as many people as I can to use both sides of their brain..."
"If the goal is to change the world, the business part changes the world faster."
"Our dent in the universe doesn't mean we have to do all the digging," ... "We empower our clients. We teach them to fish."
Ideo's largesse is in sync with Kelley's mission -- and with his confidence in his own company's ability to reinvent itself.
"I can give our methodology away," he says at a staff meeting on Ideo's future, "because I know we can come up with a better idea tomorrow."
Thursday 9 April 2009
What'd you do in a ****ed-up day?
A ****ed-up day. No illustration needed, you know what it's like.
I just had two.
As a kind of outlet (somehow), I consumed more than needed, it made things worse.
I danced, it didn't really make things better.
I reluctantly turned to things that I should do (from reading/study to house chores to disciplined diet & schedule), it made things better. Somehow.
In retrospect, if you had a ****ed-up day, there's something else I suggest you do...
Tell your spouse/parent/kid/dog, your loved one, you love him/her.
Plus a hug of at least one full minute.
Do it twice.
Then you realize you didn't waste the day, then there's something memory-worthy, something you can be proud of,something your loved one appreciates...
All in a ****ed-up day.
I just had two.
As a kind of outlet (somehow), I consumed more than needed, it made things worse.
I danced, it didn't really make things better.
I reluctantly turned to things that I should do (from reading/study to house chores to disciplined diet & schedule), it made things better. Somehow.
In retrospect, if you had a ****ed-up day, there's something else I suggest you do...
Tell your spouse/parent/kid/dog, your loved one, you love him/her.
Plus a hug of at least one full minute.
Do it twice.
Then you realize you didn't waste the day, then there's something memory-worthy, something you can be proud of,something your loved one appreciates...
All in a ****ed-up day.
Wednesday 1 April 2009
Paola Antonelli on Design: a scrapbook post
“design”...the process of making things for other people...
...it maximizes the available means to achieve the most satisfying outcome, and produces culture in the process.
Designers stand between revolutions and everyday life.
They’re able to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and society and convert those changes into objects and ideas that people can understand.
Design is looking for a unified theory — or maybe just for a theory tout court — for, in spite of its permanence and inevitability, it is still a rather unexplored region of human creativity.
The act of making things has forever existed, but it was not always called design...
...design has been paired with more established disciplines, from fine arts and architecture to engineering, or cabinetmaking, even illustration, in order to align it with more traditional categories...
...But design’s field of action, whose breadth is wonderfully articulated by the Italian motto dal cucchiaio alla città (from the spoon to the city)…
...focus on innovation and consider objects as gateways to information and services; as means rather than mere commodities.
A new pack of designers, entrepreneurs, anthropologists, and consultants are working worldwide to bring beauty and common sense not only to the design practice, but also to policymaking, management, and, very simply, to life.
Designers find themselves today at the center of an extraordinary wave of cross-pollination.
...their role as intermediaries between research and production, they often act as the primary interpreters in interdisciplinary teams, called upon not only to conceive objects, but also to devise scenarios and strategies...
To cope with this responsibility, designers need to set the foundations for a theory of design and become astute generalists.
...they will be in a unique position to become the repositories of contemporary culture’s need for analysis and synthesis, society’s new pragmatic intellectuals...
***
the secret to Italian design was that there were no Italian design schools
Design really sucks in all the blood from the other disciplines, so you cannot think that you can learn about design just by learning about art... You have to learn about business, you have to learn about chemistry, about engineering...
...artists can choose whether to work for other human beings and be responsible towards other human beings or not...designers...Even when they’re mean...they still have the progress of mankind in their hearts...
It is truly about making sure that when you put something else on earth, it adds something to the world.
"Design and the Elastic Mind." It’s about the changes in scale, in rhythm, in pace, in resolution that we go through every single day, and the objects of design that help us cope with them...
...help us cope and move from adaptability....to elasticity, which is "adaptability plus acceleration"...about being able to bounce back very fast and not get stressed out, not get stretch marks...
...These two levels - the children and the design community...Which means you have to create an exhibition that is multi-layered, the same product but it has two levels of messages.
...the designer as the intellectual of the future, the ones that teach people how to live fully.
...be able to look at things from far enough to really get perspective
...design is about curiousity, philosophy, synthesis, observation, and perspective. So, truly it’s about rethinking what they do as opposed to just starting to make things.
My idea of fun is to be in a city I don’t know and to be on a bus with a window seat and look out.
It’s really about it being something that comes easy.
I don’t undestand why they feel they need to churn out more money in order to have good design. I don’t understand why they don’t trust their own American design, and feel that they need to get an European name of some sort...
...it maximizes the available means to achieve the most satisfying outcome, and produces culture in the process.
Designers stand between revolutions and everyday life.
They’re able to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and society and convert those changes into objects and ideas that people can understand.
Design is looking for a unified theory — or maybe just for a theory tout court — for, in spite of its permanence and inevitability, it is still a rather unexplored region of human creativity.
The act of making things has forever existed, but it was not always called design...
...design has been paired with more established disciplines, from fine arts and architecture to engineering, or cabinetmaking, even illustration, in order to align it with more traditional categories...
...But design’s field of action, whose breadth is wonderfully articulated by the Italian motto dal cucchiaio alla città (from the spoon to the city)…
...focus on innovation and consider objects as gateways to information and services; as means rather than mere commodities.
A new pack of designers, entrepreneurs, anthropologists, and consultants are working worldwide to bring beauty and common sense not only to the design practice, but also to policymaking, management, and, very simply, to life.
Designers find themselves today at the center of an extraordinary wave of cross-pollination.
...their role as intermediaries between research and production, they often act as the primary interpreters in interdisciplinary teams, called upon not only to conceive objects, but also to devise scenarios and strategies...
To cope with this responsibility, designers need to set the foundations for a theory of design and become astute generalists.
...they will be in a unique position to become the repositories of contemporary culture’s need for analysis and synthesis, society’s new pragmatic intellectuals...
***
the secret to Italian design was that there were no Italian design schools
Design really sucks in all the blood from the other disciplines, so you cannot think that you can learn about design just by learning about art... You have to learn about business, you have to learn about chemistry, about engineering...
...artists can choose whether to work for other human beings and be responsible towards other human beings or not...designers...Even when they’re mean...they still have the progress of mankind in their hearts...
It is truly about making sure that when you put something else on earth, it adds something to the world.
"Design and the Elastic Mind." It’s about the changes in scale, in rhythm, in pace, in resolution that we go through every single day, and the objects of design that help us cope with them...
...help us cope and move from adaptability....to elasticity, which is "adaptability plus acceleration"...about being able to bounce back very fast and not get stressed out, not get stretch marks...
...These two levels - the children and the design community...Which means you have to create an exhibition that is multi-layered, the same product but it has two levels of messages.
...the designer as the intellectual of the future, the ones that teach people how to live fully.
...be able to look at things from far enough to really get perspective
...design is about curiousity, philosophy, synthesis, observation, and perspective. So, truly it’s about rethinking what they do as opposed to just starting to make things.
My idea of fun is to be in a city I don’t know and to be on a bus with a window seat and look out.
It’s really about it being something that comes easy.
I don’t undestand why they feel they need to churn out more money in order to have good design. I don’t understand why they don’t trust their own American design, and feel that they need to get an European name of some sort...
Efficiency = Leverage?
An interesting view I'm still trying to grasp...anyway...an excerpt below for your consideration:
(from Mr. Taleb goes to Washington)
We cannot have both debt leverage and a hyper-efficient system—the volatility is just too great. What Taleb explains—which no one else does—is that efficiency is already a form of leverage. A highly efficient system removes slack and magnifies small changes. Think of the efficient system as a high-performance aircraft. Each minute of steering input creates a rapid and violent shift of course, speed, or altitude. The system itself is souped up even before you add the debt. Once you do, the pilot is equally jacked up and twitchy, creating an explosive combination. Now imagine that fighter jet trying to fly in a 1,000-plane formation, and you get an idea of the world financial system in the 21st century
(from Mr. Taleb goes to Washington)
We cannot have both debt leverage and a hyper-efficient system—the volatility is just too great. What Taleb explains—which no one else does—is that efficiency is already a form of leverage. A highly efficient system removes slack and magnifies small changes. Think of the efficient system as a high-performance aircraft. Each minute of steering input creates a rapid and violent shift of course, speed, or altitude. The system itself is souped up even before you add the debt. Once you do, the pilot is equally jacked up and twitchy, creating an explosive combination. Now imagine that fighter jet trying to fly in a 1,000-plane formation, and you get an idea of the world financial system in the 21st century
lessons: the power of grassroots...
1.
Into its 3rd year, we just witnessed the influence of Earth Hour spread far & wide...this year it was sponsored by WWF...my understanding: it grew big enough to gain the interest of mainstream org. like WWF...
2.
There is a high-school-student-founded NPO in Guangzhou City (southern China) that I respect a lot...initiated by no ex-director/manager of any mainstream NGO or large companies with network of powerful contacts...just a bunch of enthusiastic students who want to make changes happen with their own hands...(allow me to skip the details, i just remember they had a site 'privatebbs'...)...to me these young kids dwarfed many other NGOs that I knew about...those founded by experienced people & with lots of corporate sponsors & sophisticated marketing influence but essentially, very few individuals who are ready to contribute their efforts on the front line...
By the way, they grew influential enough that Asian Animal Fund teamed up with them...
3.
Pass on this blog article, spread the message, help the fight against pneumonia gain momentum...to get the mainstream's attention...like the fight against malaria did in the past few years...
Into its 3rd year, we just witnessed the influence of Earth Hour spread far & wide...this year it was sponsored by WWF...my understanding: it grew big enough to gain the interest of mainstream org. like WWF...
2.
There is a high-school-student-founded NPO in Guangzhou City (southern China) that I respect a lot...initiated by no ex-director/manager of any mainstream NGO or large companies with network of powerful contacts...just a bunch of enthusiastic students who want to make changes happen with their own hands...(allow me to skip the details, i just remember they had a site 'privatebbs'...)...to me these young kids dwarfed many other NGOs that I knew about...those founded by experienced people & with lots of corporate sponsors & sophisticated marketing influence but essentially, very few individuals who are ready to contribute their efforts on the front line...
By the way, they grew influential enough that Asian Animal Fund teamed up with them...
3.
Pass on this blog article, spread the message, help the fight against pneumonia gain momentum...to get the mainstream's attention...like the fight against malaria did in the past few years...
interesting readings about how we think
1. Why we can't count on the experts & experienced in forecasting (read the full article here)?
...the only consistent predictor was fame — and it was an inverse relationship. The more famous experts did worse than unknown ones. That had to do with a fault in the media. Talent bookers for television shows and reporters tended to call up experts who provided strong, coherent points of view, who saw things in blacks and whites. People who shouted — like, yes, Jim Cramer!
...Hedgehogs tend to have a focused worldview, an ideological leaning, strong convictions; foxes are more cautious, more centrist, more likely to adjust their views, more pragmatic, more prone to self-doubt, more inclined to see complexity and nuance. And it turns out that while foxes don’t give great sound-bites, they are far more likely to get things right.
This was the distinction that mattered most among the forecasters, not whether they had expertise. Over all, the foxes did significantly better, both in areas they knew well and in areas they didn’t.
The conclusion: make a forecaster think like a fox & hold him/her accountable
2. how to make toddlers listen? (read the full article here)
Just remember their little brains react, not plan.
"For example, let's say it's cold outside and you tell your 3-year-old to go get his jacket out of his bedroom and get ready to go outside," Chatham explained. "You might expect the child to plan for the future, think 'OK it's cold outside so the jacket will keep me warm.' But what we suggest is that this isn't what goes on in a 3-year-old's brain. Rather, they run outside, discover that it is cold, and then retrieve the memory of where their jacket is, and then they go get it."
"If you just repeat something again and again that requires your young child to prepare for something in advance, that is not likely to be effective," Munakata said. "What would be more effective would be to somehow try to trigger this reactive function. So don't do something that requires them to plan ahead in their mind, but rather try to highlight the conflict that they are going to face. Perhaps you could say something like 'I know you don't want to take your coat now, but when you're standing in the yard shivering later, remember that you can get your coat from your bedroom."
...the only consistent predictor was fame — and it was an inverse relationship. The more famous experts did worse than unknown ones. That had to do with a fault in the media. Talent bookers for television shows and reporters tended to call up experts who provided strong, coherent points of view, who saw things in blacks and whites. People who shouted — like, yes, Jim Cramer!
...Hedgehogs tend to have a focused worldview, an ideological leaning, strong convictions; foxes are more cautious, more centrist, more likely to adjust their views, more pragmatic, more prone to self-doubt, more inclined to see complexity and nuance. And it turns out that while foxes don’t give great sound-bites, they are far more likely to get things right.
This was the distinction that mattered most among the forecasters, not whether they had expertise. Over all, the foxes did significantly better, both in areas they knew well and in areas they didn’t.
The conclusion: make a forecaster think like a fox & hold him/her accountable
2. how to make toddlers listen? (read the full article here)
Just remember their little brains react, not plan.
"For example, let's say it's cold outside and you tell your 3-year-old to go get his jacket out of his bedroom and get ready to go outside," Chatham explained. "You might expect the child to plan for the future, think 'OK it's cold outside so the jacket will keep me warm.' But what we suggest is that this isn't what goes on in a 3-year-old's brain. Rather, they run outside, discover that it is cold, and then retrieve the memory of where their jacket is, and then they go get it."
"If you just repeat something again and again that requires your young child to prepare for something in advance, that is not likely to be effective," Munakata said. "What would be more effective would be to somehow try to trigger this reactive function. So don't do something that requires them to plan ahead in their mind, but rather try to highlight the conflict that they are going to face. Perhaps you could say something like 'I know you don't want to take your coat now, but when you're standing in the yard shivering later, remember that you can get your coat from your bedroom."
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