Monthly Archive for September, 2006

Ideas that change the world

Published on 30 September, 2006 in Business, Creativity and genius, Science and technology and Stories. 2 Comments

Einstein’s famous E = mc2 was expressed in a mere three pages, yet the concept that mass is merely concentrated energy has changed the world. Illnesses being caused by bacteria and viruses is a very recent concept, yet again it is now taken as a given. University, in my experience, is more about learning a relatively small number of key concepts that are able to apply across contexts than it is about learning piles of useless and quickly forgotten formulae and rules.

What are the ideas that have changed your mind?

The Financial Times has identified a number of significant books in their shortlist:

  • The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson
    Mass market economics gives advantage to those products and services that are in high demand, but as borders come down and the global village shrinks, we are seeing parts of the market able to be serviced that were previously too small. Exemplar: Amazon can stock millions of books that an ordinary bookstore – even one the size of Borders – cannot stock because the proportion of the market is too small in a geographically limited market.
  • Small Giants, by Bo Burlingham
    Profitability for a company will be maximised when that firm focuses upon being excellent at what it does best, rather than trying to grow until the diseconomies of scale are unavoidable.
  • The Wal-Mart Effect, by Charles Fishman
    Some companies create market forces as much as being subject to them and other insights available by speaking directly with former executives.
  • China Shakes the World, by James Kynge
    The growth of China is directly impacting the lives of much of the world. As it grows, we are seeing strengths and weaknesses evolve. One thing is certain: There is even more to come!
  • The Box, by Marc Levinson
    Container ships criss-cross the world with the products of globalisation. Entrepreneur Malcom McLean (1914-2001) created the container concept, and made possible the global goods trade system as we know it today. This guy bought a truck for $120 in 1934 but the company ended up with 1770 trucks; he sold his interest for $25,000,000 in 1955. But it was his next venture where he really revolutionised things: Containerisation allowed him to cut the stevedoring charges from $5.83/ton down to just 16c/ton!!! The increasing move towards mechanisation made his innovation even more successful. His containers won patent protection, but then he kept a step ahead of Apple’s mistakes by granting the International Standards Organisation a royalty free lease because he realised that industry grown was more powerful than patent protection. By 1969 – just 14 years after he had exited the trucking business – he sold his interest for $160,000,000. The company is now part of Mærsk.

There are many amazing concepts available today. One of the most important in my mind is that structuring access to information is as important or more important today than the information itself; that the immense quantity of information available to us simultaneously democratises information and increases the value of brands as a way of streamlining our information filtering system. But that’s why I usually read the TP Wire Service…

Becoming an early riser

Published on 24 September, 2006 in Self-awareness. 2 Comments

Steve quotes Aristotle in saying that It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.
So I’ve decided to become an early riser.

When I started teaching karate, my first regular class was a 6am session in Brisbane’s CBD. It was a great challenge, and I never liked having to get up at such a ridiculous hour of the morning. But I did it. Since stopping teaching karate regularly, I have reset my body clock and now more typically rise much later in the day. This morning, and after a late night, I rose at the gentile hour of 10 or 11… the way that I prefer to start my Sunday.

My alarm is set for 5am tomorrow morning. I still may not answer you if you call at that hour of course…

Some time with the Chief… Scientist

Published on 21 September, 2006 in Creativity and genius, High performance, Science and technology and Social development. 0 Comments

Professor Peter Andrews is Queensland’s Chief Scientist. Over a few hours on Tuesday evening, he reminded a few of us that biotechnology will be the key enabling technology for the coming generation… it will impact our food, our health and our energy supply. It was great to see John Kapaleris, Damian Hines and Ross Barnard there too – people that have had a big impact on my thinking in technology and innovation management. For example, check out the subject that I did with Damian (that John is now running), Biotech Venture Management…

Prof Andrews pointed out that we’re likely to run into a severe skills shortage for scientists in the years ahead. Even now we’re trying to import talent from China and India, but as those economies develop there will be ever fewer of their best and brightest wanting to leave home. And to cultivate more scientists, we need not only to have more primary school teachers actually feel confident teaching maths and science, more students taking maths and science to senior, and more science graduates, we need more people feeling passionate about the scientific mindset. A brief profile appears on the Brisbane Institute page and in State Development.

Interestingly enough (at least for me) being a scientist has far more in common with being an artist than being in business. It is largely a mindset with enabling mental operations… here are a few differences that a study of Polymathy and Creativity found.

  • Artists and Scientists have diverse intellectual interests, while Business-types are intellectually narrow
  • Artists and Scientists have elaborate fantasies, while Business-types are more grounded and reality focused
  • Artists and Scientists are sensorily responsive and motivated to express their experiences, while Business-types tend to be disinterested in sensuality

Compared with Artists, Scientists were more willing to work in structured environments and less introspective about sex (why the ‘artist’ persona can be so seductive?). However, when compared across 50 personality dimensions, it was found that there were only two where Artists and Scientists differed, and 15 where Artists and Scientists differed (statistically significantly) from Business-types.

Another interesting implication from the study was that arts education is necessary for scientific innovation…

(It is ironic that just yesterday, Queensland Schools’ Scientific Assistants were on strike because the Education Department regards them as interchangable with administration officers. These are the very people who setup the experiments to teach our young people the value and excitement of science! I also found out that there is no role for Technology assistants within schools – at my old high school, the guys in charge of the computers are paid for by the P&C rather than by the Department. I would have thought that being serious about having a ‘Smart State’ would demand that serious attention be given to the lead indicators and contributing factors, rather than just lamenting that things aren’t better. But maybe it’s just me…)

Finally, while I greatly enjoyed the debate on privatising public education at Customs House (hosted by The Brisbane Institute) last Tuesday, the arguments against could have offered something more than laughing at the suggestion and saying “we just couldn’t”. Perhaps the more advanced arguments raised in other parts of the world could be instructive, such as those presented at FastCompany here. To me, the challenge lies in defining the educational outcomes that would be the key performance indicators used for assessing performance of the providers – though this is a problem today as much as it would be then…

Purpose and direction

Published on 18 September, 2006 in Self-awareness. 1 Comment

While we all aspire to living a life of meaning and purpose – and preferably one of pleasure – I find that it’s really easy to get lost in the grind. After finding (and flicking through) Rick Warren’s book a few weeks ago, I just came across a summary of some of his ideas. Rick’s a very spiritual guy – a Christian preacher etc – who happened to sell 15 million copies of his last book, basically overnight!

What would you do if you were given $1,000,000?

Well, Rick had to directly answer the question of what he’d do if he was given $10m or $20m or whatever – and more power to him! His answer was that life is preparation for eternity, so he and his wife didn’t make any major purchases, and instead stopped taking a salary and repaid the salary that he had received over his career. Now he serves freely…

To paraphrase: Are you going to live a life for possessions? Popularity? Pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or are you going to be driven by your own purposes? Since I read my grandfather’s copy of The Fountainhead I have seen virtue in being internally directed and motivated; psychology, philosophy and spirituality point us towards happiness through living our own life rather than being manipulated by externalities.

As the Merovingian said: What is your purpose?

Upgrading the engine

Published on 18 September, 2006 in Self-awareness. 0 Comments

After a long time, I’ve finally decided to bite the bullet and upgrade the backend that supports this site. Most notably, now I have categories, but there are a number of other features that I like about using WordPress. Actually, it was nowhere near as challenging to make the transition once I finally realised that it needed to be done.

So many things are like that. How often is the anxiety that you feel before you make a decision so much greater than even the worst of the risks? How often do we worry about something… only to find that no matter what we did, it would have turned out just fine – or at least no where near as bad as you had worried!

Decisions…

Climbing trees?

Published on 18 September, 2006 in High performance, Overcoming and Stories. 1 Comment

There is a lot of pressure on to succeed.

Sadly, for most of us working is something that we ‘have to do’ rather than something that lights us up. While I believe strongly that you should Design Your Life, a bit of strategy is important. Whether we stick with that strategy or not, and whether it is conscious does not matter. Ultimately, we want to climb up the right ‘tree’.

Perhaps, in that case, we should look around until we find that right tree, then climb it. But what if there is no ‘right’ tree? In that case, perhaps we should learn how to swing as we walk along to the peaceful clearing, scenic lookout and spectacular waterfall, yet all the while remaining focused on the moment before us.

Eagles and chickens

Published on 18 September, 2006 in Creativity and genius, High performance, Overcoming and Stories. 3 Comments

I was always afraid of abseiling. When I was in school, many of my friends would do hard-core climbing and canyoning etc, but I was so terrified that I’d freeze up as I went over the edge.

A few years ago I was indoor rockclimbing. It was awesome fun! But on the last climb of the day I was just out of reach of the top. It didn’t matter how I stretched, I was still about six inches from the ‘top.

So I jumped.
And I touched the bar.
And then I enjoyed the bouncing on the dynamic safety rope.
In that moment, I knew that the safety eqipment ‘worked’, and I was never afraid again.

If you never let go of the need for approval, suspend your fear of disapproval and live your own life rather than the life that others want you to live, you’ll always be trapped. And if that’s your path, that’s fine… But you can do anything.

Sometimes it seems like you’re like an eagle who has grown up surrounded by chickens… And when you’ve looked up and seen the eagles flying overhead, you’ve sensed that you could be like them, until you’ve listened to the chickens around you telling you that you can’t so much that you almost believe them. You may not yet know to where you are flying or how high you can fly, but you are an eagle.

You always were an eagle, and you always will be.
Of course, maybe we’re all eagles and just acting like chickens… forgetting our true nature.

I was recently given the metaphor of the carrot, the egg and the coffee bean. They’re all very common foods that start out hard. When put in hot water, look at the difference. The carrot becomes soft. The egg becomes hard. And the coffee bean releases itself and changes the environment in which it is placed. When faced with adversity, do I go soft, do I grow hardened, or do I release my true essence and in doing so change the world… transform the challenge into purpose?

Making it matter

Published on 14 September, 2006 in Business, Creativity and genius and High performance. 2 Comments

I’m fascinated by high performance. I have been ever since high school. It’s what led me into psychology, and then catapulted me into business (with Effective Learning Solutions), it’s what sent me back to uni to do an MBA… and a chain of adventures with The Honour Society, ShirtsandSuits.com, Free Real Estate… and is the foundation for my pursuit of The Genius Project, which focuses upon the nature of high performance.

But the funny thing that I’m finding as I study more and more extreme achievers is that they’re not ‘in the game’ for the usual reasons. If you look at creative genius, you’ll find that they’re far more likely to be motivated by mastery over the domain than wealth, recognition or any other extrinsic reward. It’s not that they set out to achieve the honour and the acclaim and the wealth; those are just the things that follow when you go about your task with commitment, discipline and tenacity.

It was great to find Seth making the same observation about business people… how the greatest businesses often spring from some revolutionary freak who thinks that his or her idea is cool enough… not that it will make them a millionare, but that it is just a really cool idea!

I wonder… what if you had something that was really cool?

Bad boys, Nice guys and Wimps

Published on 2 September, 2006 in Overcoming, relationships and Self-awareness. 8 Comments

Kim Kiyosaki’s new book is awesome. Anyone interested in Rich Dad’s ideas should check it out. Not only is it more informative than any of her husband’s books, it’s also just as fun to read.

One of the chapters contrasts types of men. Apparently there are three types: Bad boys, nice guys and wimps. While this is obviously a gross generalisation, it seems that there is some truth (or at least value) there. I’d first qualify it as descriptive of behaviours exhibited by men rather than being linked with an individual’s traits. But even then…

How many women want bad boys? Sure, as 21st century men, we’ve been taught by our parents to be ‘nice‘, but how many women really like what they see? My London-based female friends lament the dearth of good men just like my Hong Kong-based friends, and it’s an epidemic amongst professional women – that’s why (I’m told) so many female lawyers date tradesmen.

There is a little-known but easily felt difference between being a strong man and being a nasty piece of work. It’s the difference between seduction and surrender. To lead without dominating… Serve without supplicating.

Much of this comes back to intimacy. To be open and honest with another requires us to share part of ourselves. This leaves us vulnerable to being rejected… And most of us would rather anything but that! The ‘bad boy’ is an architype and we all possess and demonstrate different aspects to varying degrees. Denial grants power; integrity – true strength – is the benefit of facing and reconciling the truth.

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