I was away for more than two weeks, visiting Scotland and country sides of England. Just return yesterday and I will be off to an Asian country to teach for two weeks.
What did I learn in Scotland?
The country is old but not ancient. They keep many old buildings and traditions. They are quite happy with the inheritance and traditions. Asia is ancient but young. We are getting rid of the old stuffs quickly and embracing the new. However, in establishing the new, we have ignored and neglected the fundamentals that are true no matter it is old or new. May these fundamentals be values, such as dignity, true, beautiful, or heritage.
edited from a group post published June 29 2011
2011年7月26日 星期二
About learning
How do you learn? Very often we learn with a definitive target, such as a musical instrument, or a discipline subject such as accounting. This is great. They are more to-do, or knowledge based learning. Another way of learning is though imitation such as a child learns from his father. Other methods include experimentation, try and error, internalizing observations.
Learning in management, I think, the most effective and sure learning is by doing. In doing, one is able to include the variations of external factors and the influence of implicit power and dynamics in his learning process.
If you have a desire to learn, be active and take up responsibilities. Let the fear of failure and desire to succeed be your teachers.
edited from a group post published May 30, 2011
Responses:
LP
I could relate well with your insightful analysis. Well said.
To add on to what you have started this conversation on external factors, I would like to add that not all learning are well paved nor maped-out by our forerunners with role models for us to mimic.
Necessity could put us in the forefront of learning - so a society/corporation/entrep
The Robinsons learnt to live in tree house on an island (fictional) and Alice learnt to find friends in another world after having fell into the rabbit hole (fictional).
In real life, at each stage of our life, we may involuntarily find ourselves facing new external factors and have little time to "do our learning" in time - being a new parent, being a new hire, accepting a promotion to a
senior position or on a less positive note, battling with cancer, facing a financial crisis, losing market shares, or morning over a natural disaster.
How Einstein came up with the speed of light and how Newton coined the word gravity after a falling apple are just some of the examples where the talented revolutionaized our social world with unprecedented breakthroughs without following the conventional route of learning.
Chinese restaurants in North America is another example. The railroad workers met their survival needs by delicious North American Chinese food at a time when discrimination marginalized their opportunity to participate in the labour market.
Then in the music world, the Blues, Jazz, Gospel, and Rap artists started out as protest counter-culture. Gradually each of them found their way to enter pop culture.
Could learning by through subjective experience? Intuition? Spiritual guidance? or simply the self-expression?
Some knowledge of ancient civilizations have been lost. Could archaeological digs recover some of these mysterious wealth of knowledge from out past?
What does it take to learn to be empathetic? What does it take for humankind
LP
In simpler terms, learning is a way of life in modern society, an animated way of looking forward into the near fuiture while keeping ourselves modest and humble. The more we learn, the more we realize there is more to learn. It keeps us from boredom while engages us in problem-solving activities like solving a riddle. It keeps us companionship and put us on a meaningful journey.
Happiness often contains an element of learning - a sense of accomplishment of having learnt when we look back in retrospect and be able therefore to carry out tasks.
Happiness often contains an element of learning - a sense of accomplishment of having learnt when we look back in retrospect and be able therefore to carry out tasks.
PL
In learning - higher level learning if there is such a thing, should include a backward looking perspective and a forward looking perspective. These perspectives should not be limited to historical development and future trends, but time perspectives of the learning experiences of the learner. He/she has to relate the learning into his/her own experiences in this area which could be experiential or conceptual.
Behavior -habit - culture
It is difficult to change culture but much easier to change habit. Habit change is on individual level assisted by systematic arrangements. (read book "Switch".)
Example: to encourage oneself in doing exercise, prepare your exercise shoes and clothing. Put them in a bag and put the exercise bag at a convenient place. This helps to overcome obstacles and lower the threshold of internal resistance.
edited from a group post publish Jun 10, 2011
Execution
People are not perfect, and they are not robots that can be programmed. When we design management systems, we expect people respond and carry out the tasks and subtasks like robots.
If the system looks and feels new, people have to buy-in and learn the details. If the company is already running lean and tight, these people have no incentive to learn.
I am a consultant to several companies, two are mid-size-to-large type. The rest are mosquito - one man band type. They have entirely different mindsets and face problems very differently. One of the large corp was my former company which retains me as their consultant.
When I was with them a few years back, I hired the best in the field. I hired many PhDs because I thought there was a notion that we could not allow ourselves to fail.唔衰得 which was a good motivation.
Time changes people and we have now a new generation of employees. The executives of this company told me that they hired people with good attitude rather than expertise in the field. A very different approach from my previous philosophy.
I was able to manage this large group of PhDs and experts because I was able to lead them with mutual respect in those days. They subscribed to my philosophy of being the best in the field.
edited from a group post published June 9, 2011
Wise saying from Walter Henrichsen
Motives are like your conscience in that you can never know you have a pure one.
He seemed to imply that we are limited in knowing ourselves, for example, we couldn't even know our motives sources and conscience sources.
edited from article June 1, 2011
Responses:
CN
It dawns on me last night that without a reflecting surface like a mirror, we never see our faces. What we know about our face is only a reflection. Mirror reflects, and other people reflect.
NP
There could be more than one motive. That's the reality of life.
Certainly some motives could be tainted - not pure. What is nice to hear - flattering and embellished laudable motives are still what public relation experts suggest we use.
So should we try to know our motives in its purity or should we go by some commonly acceptable nicely worded motives to fit in? Or should we walk away from the sincere ritualistic utters of motives (justificatiosn and rationalizations) even if it brings good will to others by going at odd against the expected common motives?
Do not forget some motives may not be in a form that could easily be expressed in words. It could be a very private motive not appropriate to be communicated to others.
Let say in hiring. What are our motives to apply for a specific job? What are our motives wanting to be hired? It would be laudable to say it is "our passio". Our calling? Yes. Good answer. How would it sound if we say we are interested in the pay? Or some others such as "Out of necessity to work?" "Going after social status?" "To meet the expectation of parents?" I think one stand a better chance to get hired by staying around the idea of interested in the job or company and for self-fulfillment. Even if it is true that you want to avoid being a freeloader, need to pay rent, have many mouths to feed, it is not the norm to answer up this way in a job interview. Isn't it?
Let us take another type of social occasion for the sake of illustration: "an invitation" to a wedding. Who will be invited and what are our motives? Some flattering motives are "Love their company" " To celebrtae with family" How would the guests feel if we tell them it is "out of obligations"? Or that we prefer big groups with a Cathedral full of guests for photos and media reports? I am sure there are hosts who invite others "To show off" or include a few more because of the need for logistics such as needed drivers to pick up others. I am sure some motives could be mixed such as Keeping up with appearance of social ties"? and "Do not want to offended others by leaving them out"? or "returning reciprocity" to ensure one would be then invited later to other weddings?
Even if it is not all too pure, the motives, I personally would rather hear motives that are moving and appropriate than hearing motives that are unexpected and shocking. So better kept some motives to oneself or find ways to make it sound appropriate and becoming.
In our preparation to face the world, we learn to rationalize or explain to ourselves the "why" - finding the motives. That may be why motives could sound alike from different individuals - it has become ritualized. Rituals prevent disaccordance. When repeated, it become the expected.
Going back to our original quiry: is it better to have a pure motive? Is it more truthful to find the real motive and articulate it?
I don't have an answer. Being not so "die hard" to find the pure real motive. I may simply say - if one is not sure, better use the ritualized motives. Why make life difficult for oneself and for others? What is wrong with going by the normative rationals that we have learnt?
As an end note, could someone tell me "Could one simply do something because one feels like it, at that moment". Is this a good enough motive?
Peter Liu Thank you for many good examples. I started with management arguments. The quote from Walter is religious. He wants us to know that we are limited. We can never be sure of anything. So we cannot boast of ourselves. He wants us to acknowledge that there are in certainties even in our own salvation. So that we can only do is trust with faith.
He seemed to imply that we are limited in knowing ourselves, for example, we couldn't even know our motives sources and conscience sources.
edited from article June 1, 2011
Responses:
CN
It dawns on me last night that without a reflecting surface like a mirror, we never see our faces. What we know about our face is only a reflection. Mirror reflects, and other people reflect.
NP
There could be more than one motive. That's the reality of life.
Certainly some motives could be tainted - not pure. What is nice to hear - flattering and embellished laudable motives are still what public relation experts suggest we use.
So should we try to know our motives in its purity or should we go by some commonly acceptable nicely worded motives to fit in? Or should we walk away from the sincere ritualistic utters of motives (justificatiosn and rationalizations) even if it brings good will to others by going at odd against the expected common motives?
Do not forget some motives may not be in a form that could easily be expressed in words. It could be a very private motive not appropriate to be communicated to others.
Let say in hiring. What are our motives to apply for a specific job? What are our motives wanting to be hired? It would be laudable to say it is "our passio". Our calling? Yes. Good answer. How would it sound if we say we are interested in the pay? Or some others such as "Out of necessity to work?" "Going after social status?" "To meet the expectation of parents?" I think one stand a better chance to get hired by staying around the idea of interested in the job or company and for self-fulfillment. Even if it is true that you want to avoid being a freeloader, need to pay rent, have many mouths to feed, it is not the norm to answer up this way in a job interview. Isn't it?
Let us take another type of social occasion for the sake of illustration: "an invitation" to a wedding. Who will be invited and what are our motives? Some flattering motives are "Love their company" " To celebrtae with family" How would the guests feel if we tell them it is "out of obligations"? Or that we prefer big groups with a Cathedral full of guests for photos and media reports? I am sure there are hosts who invite others "To show off" or include a few more because of the need for logistics such as needed drivers to pick up others. I am sure some motives could be mixed such as Keeping up with appearance of social ties"? and "Do not want to offended others by leaving them out"? or "returning reciprocity" to ensure one would be then invited later to other weddings?
Even if it is not all too pure, the motives, I personally would rather hear motives that are moving and appropriate than hearing motives that are unexpected and shocking. So better kept some motives to oneself or find ways to make it sound appropriate and becoming.
In our preparation to face the world, we learn to rationalize or explain to ourselves the "why" - finding the motives. That may be why motives could sound alike from different individuals - it has become ritualized. Rituals prevent disaccordance. When repeated, it become the expected.
Going back to our original quiry: is it better to have a pure motive? Is it more truthful to find the real motive and articulate it?
I don't have an answer. Being not so "die hard" to find the pure real motive. I may simply say - if one is not sure, better use the ritualized motives. Why make life difficult for oneself and for others? What is wrong with going by the normative rationals that we have learnt?
As an end note, could someone tell me "Could one simply do something because one feels like it, at that moment". Is this a good enough motive?
Peter Liu Thank you for many good examples. I started with management arguments. The quote from Walter is religious. He wants us to know that we are limited. We can never be sure of anything. So we cannot boast of ourselves. He wants us to acknowledge that there are in certainties even in our own salvation. So that we can only do is trust with faith.
Post-90 Generation
We often said a lot of negative things about the post-90 generation. I ask people to accept them because in a short time, the society will be theirs to run. We have no control of the future society.
This made me ask, does the society create a man or does man create a society?
edited from Group article May 26, 2011
Response
Laura Pao
This made me ask, does the society create a man or does man create a society?
edited from Group article May 26, 2011
Response
Laura Pao
Culture survives through us, living out our culture in our daily life while changes, no matter how insignificant from our own view point or inspiring in its own rights, we introduce will be part of the movements that lead the society into its next phase.
Inevitably, it could be a textbook case, engineered by charistmatic leaders with a master mind or a symbiotic, interactive, momentary moment with significant consequences.
Sure, as we shake our head wondering what's next, we also need to learn to be an empathetic listener to the young.
The next generation inherits from us the legacy of technological advances as well as many problems created by the modern societies (disparity between the rich and the poor, ethnic and racial conflicts, a damaged environment, high expectation on material comfort, and many bureaucratic institutions) . It is not easy to be a member of the next generation.
Some of the young will face difficult when the labour market no longer could absorb the high volume of new graduates. With globalization, middle management could further donwsize. On-line courses and distance learning
may replace many classroom face to face teaching. Sitting in front of a screen many hours a day could reduce further the level of physical activities necessary to keep our body fit.
Will they feel more alienated? Or find new ways to stay connected (social networking)?
Each generation has its own "tolls".
They have priviledges that some of us envy. But some of them are confused when asked to make their own choice at each stage.
Inevitably, it could be a textbook case, engineered by charistmatic leaders with a master mind or a symbiotic, interactive, momentary moment with significant consequences.
Sure, as we shake our head wondering what's next, we also need to learn to be an empathetic listener to the young.
The next generation inherits from us the legacy of technological advances as well as many problems created by the modern societies (disparity between the rich and the poor, ethnic and racial conflicts, a damaged environment, high expectation on material comfort, and many bureaucratic institutions) . It is not easy to be a member of the next generation.
Some of the young will face difficult when the labour market no longer could absorb the high volume of new graduates. With globalization, middle management could further donwsize. On-line courses and distance learning
may replace many classroom face to face teaching. Sitting in front of a screen many hours a day could reduce further the level of physical activities necessary to keep our body fit.
Will they feel more alienated? Or find new ways to stay connected (social networking)?
Each generation has its own "tolls".
They have priviledges that some of us envy. But some of them are confused when asked to make their own choice at each stage.
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