Tag: Golden Rule

The 11th law

Forbes ran a piece on the 10 laws for our century i.e. Metcalfe, Moore etc…

Encompassed above should be the Golden Rule, the 11th law.

Committed to communicate and collaborate. Contribution.

Do unto others.

Racing to the top, but also helping others to get there.

I experimented with the Asian model of running a sales team back at MCI.

My boss gave me freedom to try it. We shared and split regional sales.

Results: team cohesiveness despite the big difference among us.

Not to mention we all reaped huge rewards.

Today, speed trumps sharing, which often slows down progress.

In the six months I have been in Vietnam, I learned this lesson: consensus leadership.

Don’t upset the system. What you give up (Western notion of personal achievement) you gain back in cooperation and collaboration.

When you crossed the Pacific, you entered a bubble, a fish bowl, where everyone sees and rates you with new lenses and new games, three moves ahead.

Perhaps Drucker knew it well after all. Forget “achievement”. Just “contribution”.

Chip in.

Larger pot. Pour in more water. My best meal here was “chao suon” after 40 years.

Just rice pudding, with one or two small ribs. But when you got to those rare bony ribs, you savor them. Eat them slowly.

Large pot, few meat.

Lost weight. But feeling happy. Sharing the pot with many, on a rainy night. Sitting on baby stools, watching scooters zip by.

Welcome to the fish bowl.

Where the 11th law rules.

Got to have that down, or else, it’s all high-tech, without high-touch.

The Bond elements

I like Bond, James Bond.

Unlike Batman, Bond shows his face, grace under pressure and yes, his penchant for “work hard play hard”. But don’t ever doubt his loyalty and commitment to serve the Queen.

The franchise still commands a huge audience with formula that works: Bond got a mission, Bond got captured, and finally Bond (good) triumphs over the force of Evil.

Even in his worst day (often in captivity), he manages to carry himself with dignity.

Throughout the heated exchange, we can still detect the mutual respect one enemy has for the other, since they are both cut out of the same cloth (sometime with the same training if it’s a mold).

In this multi-polar world, the makers of the Bond series are scratching their heads to fit the square Cold-War stick into today’s round hole.

We got the tech nerd, the unflinching boss, the girls, and the side kick.

Most importantly, the villain? It is commented that already the latest Bond character is portrayed with some dark elements (he is more vicious in seeking revenge for his accountant lover – at one point, his boss had to cancel his credit card – no more gambling!)

What ever personification of Evil in our next Bond film, we know the producer has plenty (location and lyrics) to choose from. Just look at the headlines. Read the cables. Peruse the now declassified materials (from the Nixon era backward).

The reason you and I like Bond films is because it set us up (first with the playful teaser, then it drops us cold into the situation e.g. kidnapping etc…which demands immediate ransom or resolution). The window of opportunity is small, very small and the urgency is great. Just don’t question Bond’s resolve, and ours in this case – because fifteen minutes into the film, we already suspend of disbelief.

Every few years, they held a casting call to select a new face to play Bond, James Bond.

For us, loyal fan, we took this occasion to renew our faith in Rousseau‘s Social Contract, in the Golden Rule, quid pro quo and non-zero sum game. Just  “good triumphs over evil” formula, Bond or Batman.

 

Learner-in-Chief

If my memory serves me right, both First Ladies Bush, and their husbands read to school children

(Ex-President G W Bush was sitting at one of those school chairs when he first heard about 9/11.)

So it is hard for me to understand the uproar about President Obama’s Back-to-School speech.

How can one protest something one hasn’t read? He himself has been a student, so was his father, and his school-aged children.

My contention is that we should focus our energy and effort on : raising academic standard, shoring up the innovation spirit to revert brain drain (Yahoo with 40 million eye- balls off-shored its engineering and web design to Taiwan)

beefing up security at schools (no drugs or guns) and cranking up teacher’s recruitment from outside of the female helping profession pool (by default, this Recession has brought in more professionals from non-educational fields – braving the old adage “if you can’t do, then teach”).

Here is my rehearsed and undelivered speech. Go ahead and protest. But read it first.

Dear fellow students,

First of, I want to congratulate you for showing up.

The rule has always been, must be present to win.

Second, there are 1 billion people at the bottom of the pyramid currently are living on less than $1.00 a day, so consider yourselves fortunate. Food, clothing and shelter (not education) will always be their concerns, now until they die. Some will never learn what “primary source” or “a priori” is.

Know yourselves and your learning style: audio, visual or kinetic?

While the internet, Google search, Wikipedia help you obtain information,

it’s parents and teachers who help you with formation (by being your role models).

Develop academic intelligence, as well as social intelligence. Resist peer pressure and stand up to bullies. Might as well fight your battle earlier than later.

You will be exposed to conflicting viewpoints, and dogmas. It’s OK to be confused, because if you are not, you haven’t learned enough. Jealously guard your time and attention, two of your most precious commodities.

Determine early on what’s most important to you and stick to it.

( Beckham of the LA Galaxy said he had known early on that he would play pro soccer).

You will appreciate your parents much more when you have children of your own.

But for now, return their kindness by helping out with household chores.

Everyone is tired after a long day. A kiss on their cheek will melt away the exhaustion.

Again, the Golden Rule rules: get along with others, be sensitive to group’s need as much as your own, and devote yourselves to various subjects (so that later on, you have more career choices). America is changing just as the world is. And even within America, we have people coming from all over the world seeking new opportunities everyday.

Learn to listen, even if the speakers have a heavy accent. English level itself doesn’t necessarily reflect one’s intelligence. Read widely, “Netherlands”, “the House of Sand and Fog” – fiction and non-fiction.

(Mandarin is the most popular language, while French is still used in many international treaties. Spanish will be the new Quebec French of the US).

And learn to forgive yourselves as you forgive the adults who have failed you.

Even adults are caught in situations where the chain of command was broken down (Challenger) or they compartmentalized themselves i.e. the silo’s effect which missed the big Ponzi scheme right under their noses (SEC asks, what Madoff investigation?). Great men are great achievers, but they are not perfect. Read their biographies. Chances are you will find a lot of humanity on those pages. Have them learn life lessons for you, borrow their brilliance and avoid their pitfalls.

And last but not least, enjoy autumn foliage while it is still available. Sorry Aspen. Respect trees, which will still be here long after we are gone. And never forget to write nice notes to your teacher, who is your third parent.

My mother was an elementary teacher of 30 years. So I know what sacrifices she  made for her students, whom I envied while a child. And one little tip: always be mentally prepared for the next step. Rehearsing helps you act reflexively and effectively. You have more control over your immediate future that way.

By showing up at school you are already winners. By learning something new everyday, you will one day become what you have meant to be all along. No matter what the situation, don’t let yourselves down.

Goodnight, Good luck and God bless.

P.S. when it comes to learning, you are your own Learner-in-chief, not the President.