Monthly Archive for March, 2005

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Free market capitalism thoughts?

Published on 15 March, 2005 in High performance, Lifestyle and Social development. 0 Comments

I came across the following anonymous comment, and it made me think…

Free market capitalism is the most powerful tool for creating wealth in the world today. By focusing our energies on the most valuable use of our time, the most valuable use of existing resources and rewarding those who find ways to turn lead into gold, we create a system that rewards generative development of our society.

Capitalism is powerful. Sadly, power corrupts through giving those with it the delusion of creating unsustainable value for themselves at the expense of others. And it makes them drive big enough cars and live in big enough houses to perpetuate the illusion that such things are actually of any importance. The dot.com era was a great example of this delusion, as is the current focus on residential real estate in Brisbane, as was the oft-cited Tulip bubble in Holland so long ago. The creation of perceived demand without the presence of a commensurate underlying demand leads to market fluctuations and inefficiencies.

Yet, none of this excuses the actions of those who have violated basic principles in the pursuit of their objectives. Let us put aside for a moment that America has been well known to support (at times) brutal dictators and regimes perpetrating human rights abuses: it is economically, that America maintains tariffs and subsidies is the most blatent example of hypocracy that I recall – and in doing so, they ensure their eventual destruction and loss of power. America is weak: Militarily, they retain their might, though emotionally the nation seems to have lost much of its spirit. No longer does America stand behind the ideals that it purports to advocate. The 300 million people of America are no match for the billion in India or the other billion in China. The contemptable offences that have been committed will be paid for in full…

The value, to me, is not in criticism of America. The value is in recognising what is admirable and seeking to make it our own, and recognising what is flawed and seeking to amend it within ourselves. The same hypocracy that is undermining global capitalism is the hypocracy that we possess within ourselves – that it is okay to have a messy backyard as long as the public park (and our neighbour’s front yard) are clean.

Australia lacks the inertia that will, from where I sit, condemn America to a steady decline over the next 50 years. Yet, it lacks the passion, energy and integrity that ensures China, India, Malaysia, Singapore and the like’s dominance in the coming years.

The only way to create sustainable value is through contributing more than you take. The only way to maintain such an attitude of service is to have a sense of compassion and love for our fellow creatures, and to look to make their life better while finding ways to serve our own interests… in aligning our interests with those of the people around us.

Music and movies accelerate our growth as a civilisation?

Published on 15 March, 2005 in Social development. 0 Comments

As I was listening to Jewel’s “Adrian,” it occurred to me how much our songs and movies allow us to have accelerated vicarious experiences. Adrian allows somebody to experience caring for a person on life support… while her Painters gives us an insight into a life partnership of the highest order… and countless other songs and stories become more than just entertainment: They become part of our shared experience.

My first real girlfriend, Danielle, and I used to laugh at how we got along so well because we had watched the same cartoons. Those cartoons gaves us a sense of shared outlook on the world. Similarly, songs and movies (and even cartoons of today) give us a shared language and outlook on the world.

I wonder whether part of our growth as a civilisation has been due to the positive impact of these stories and experiences. Not just to allow us to relate better to each other, but to allow us to learn more and faster from each other – and from people that we have never met. Perhaps, taking this one step further, the increased speed of transfer of this information possible through recorded music and movies allows our modern society to learn and grow even faster than previous generations due to the decreased richness of the experience of reading books.

Or maybe we’re just lazier.

Bumper Sticker: “Earth can no longer afford the rich”

Published on 15 March, 2005 in Business, Cool friends and ideas and High performance. 0 Comments

Robin Craig sometimes sends me thoughts or “Brain-Starters” as a prompter for me to reflect upon my ideas. Here is his latest, and below it my response as I sent it to him… what do you think?

> Brain-Starter:
> ——————
> A bumper sticker reported on a web site says “Earth can no
> longer afford the rich.” What philosophy underlies that claim?
> What would happen if the rich disappeared?

Scarcity (that there’s not enough to go around) and Entitlement (that we have a birthright to resources) underlie the claim. Earth cannot afford to not have the rich. Ideas do and always have created the value upon which our civilisation is based. Today is the richest time in humanity’s history, largely because we have embraced the pursuit of personal objectives with a minimum of restrictions, leading to a more pure market structure for labor, goods and resources, and the consequential creation of additional goods and resources through innovation and ingenuity.

Without the rich, the world collapses. Human beings need hierarchy: Without hierarchy, discipline and focus, we tend to pursue laziness rather than achievement leading to the breakdown of the very value that such a bumper sticker would purport to advocate.

But I imagine that you already knew all that :)

Preventing legal risks becoming legal problems

Published on 14 March, 2005 in Cool friends and ideas and Social development. 0 Comments

Just in case I hadn’t raved about Joseph Kafrouni, he’s outdone himself again. Amid building a top quality commercial law practice, Joe has brought to Australia the concept of Preventative Law through the National Centre for Preventative Law.

One day, all law will be focused behind prevention, rather than litigation… but until then, have a look at what these guys are doing and promoting. In brief, they’re based on the following premises:

There is a better way to practice law.

There is a better way to help people with their legal affairs.

There is a better way to teach our future lawyers.

This better way is “preventively”.

I love his work, and hope that you do too…

NLP introductory weekend

Published on 14 March, 2005 in Cool friends and ideas. 0 Comments

I met with Chris Howard for the first time last year. He started learning NLP after I did, though has positioned himself as a trainer already… he’s a great example of what is possible when you decide that you will make it possible.

And the content is great, too!

Cameron Johnson: 19-year-old entrepreneur

Published on 14 March, 2005 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Just when you thought that you were doing okay, along comes a kid who resets the standards! While he’s no billionaire yet, this nineteen-year-old has grabbed the profile of someone who’s really going somewhere.

Makes you wonder what really is possible…

Awesome concept, awesome idea!

Published on 10 March, 2005 in Cool friends and ideas. 0 Comments

Kevin Tsai – entrepreneur – linked me into his LinkedIn network today… and what an awesome concept it is! This is a system whereby you can track your personal network of business (or personal I suppose) contacts, so that you can get things done even more elegantly and effectively.

One of the coolest things on the site was the profile of Kelly Perdew. He was the winner of The Apprentice 2 – the West Point graduate with an MBA, a JD and half a dozen startups to his name! What I really loved about this was that it gave me a chance to remember what sorts of things are really possible when you set your mind to it… when you look at people like Kelly, you might just reconnect with that fountain of possibility that lies within us all.

What should you study?

Published on 9 March, 2005 in Cool friends and ideas. 0 Comments

Many people who know me realise that I have spent a lot of time at University. I’ve picked up four degrees across three disciplines along the way, though in many ways it’s a pretty inefficient way to learn what I really want to learn.

While doing what I’ve done has prepared me well for what I do and what I want to pursue in the future, I’ve certainly taken the scenic route!

Today, while reading my gmail, I came across a site that critiques various study options that are open to people: http://www.college-smart.com/

For me, I never really thought much about what I was going to study – I chose what I chose more because it would look good in the newspaper than because I actually was interested in the topic! And even today, as I stare down the prospect of more exams and more assignments, I struggle to justify to myself why I should bother. As a wise person reminded me just this evening over a beautiful cafe latte – thanks to Carlo at La Dolce – sometimes it is time for preparation, but right now it is time for work.

Thoughts on relationships in response to The Seat of the Soul

Published on 8 March, 2005 in relationships. 0 Comments
  • As we strive to grow, learn and expand as people, relationships can allow us to accelerate our journey. Commitment teaches us to care for another person more than yourself… teaches us to release our wants of personality. Indeed, without commitment, you cannot see others as your soul sees them: “as beautiful and powerful spirits of Light.”
  • “Marriage” evolved to support physical survival. In our pursuit of spiritual growth, we can conceive of a spiritual partnership, relationships between equals for the purpose of spiritual growth. This is manifested between individuals and between communities – spiritual partnerships beyond oneself… ultimately, each soul becomes responsible for the whole world.
  • Spiritual partnerships require you to grow by setting aside the needs of your personality to accommodate your partner’s spiritual growth: You serve yourself by serving them and thereby align your growth with your partner’s.
  • Relationships involve Love, Commitment and Trust. Commitment must be translated into a satisfactorily secure form for both partners. Paradoxically, you will put your partnership most at risk by avoiding that which you are most afraid will destroy it… to express what is inside you, especially that which makes you feel vulnerable, painful, angry or upset… allows you to heal.
  • Concern leads to closeness, appreciation and mutual regard.
  • We must strive to see each other as spiritual playmates.
  • Souls that choose the lesson of responsibility incarnate in positions of greater potential impact upon the world.

Economics of Innovation and Entrepreneurship notes

Published on 8 March, 2005 in Business. 0 Comments

Korea and Australia have similar GDPs, though very different economies. We can view these differences as being structured as “Meso” units, which consist of a “Rule” and its manifestations. Initially, these rules will create a single manifestation, though over time the rule spreads in application, and the impact of the rule increases.

Under this framework, there are rules and there are operations. This is sometimes referred to as a bimodal system (mode one = Rule, mode 2 = Operation).

Rules change over time, though carriers do not. Well actually, carriers (commonly people) do change, though the rate and scale of change is not so relevant since we compare ‘adoption’ to ‘learning’, the former being much faster… the rate of change of carriers is less relevant to this analysis than the rate of change of rules. Adopting new rules does not change the carrier – it just changes the way things look. That said, different carriers can adopt rules differently, and differences in rules impact upon adoption patterns.

These differential adoption patterns and characteristics of carriers create growth and development through allowing carriers to see different ways of operating and using the rules.

New rules start in the head, and embed themselves in the environment – like a manual gearbox embedding itself as an automatic gearbox. Things become invisible.

A carrier can be an actualisation of multiple rules.

“Meso” is the central abstraction of evolutionary economics. Systems of meso form the order of the macro system… Deep structure: How the rules fit together vs Surface structure: How meso populations of rules fit together. You can do deep structure on whatever scale you like – in each case, the relationship between the rules changes the system. A surface analysis more looks at differential growth rates in a system (eg the amount of cable that had been laid in a telecommunication system – for example, Australia has a surface structure issue in the mining industry in that we do not have enough mining engineers even through the network is great).

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