Good habits

Good habits

I was reading a book review on "The Power of Habit."  The writer, Charles Duhigg was a professional writer, not a psychologist, and we could find faults with his theories. 

However, I found the simple "habit loop" starting with a cue, a routine which to the reward presented by him is useful.  The cue leads you to follow a familiar routine and it reaches to a reward.  This habit loop is put in other forms, like the work done by Heath brothers (book title Switch).

I have created a habit loop for me to get up early to work and it keeps me happy the whole day, gaining productivity and friendship at work. The cue - using my iPhone to capture the city's morning scene; the routine - take a un-hurried walk along the harbor (I spend about 10 minutes more this way.) But I have much to gain in health and in work achievement.

Create your own cue to form some good habits.

管理和生命素質

管理和生命素質

近來身邊幾位朋友, 包括兩位學生的家人, 相繼離世。帶來一些感觸, 一些反思。 一邊感恩 (心)自己和家人身體還算健康; 另 一邊(頭)引發了思考人生活著在世的問題。

從這樣的心態, 我想:


管理一間企業或組織也如是: 身邊發生的事(外在或內部)都要以心和頭腦去面對。一方面必須回到最終最基礎的問題:組識存在的目的和組織運行的使命; 另一方面以仁愛、慷慨、和平的心去看待發生的事情。

所以組織的生存價值必會和你的生命價值相連系, 你的管理續效必會和你的生命素質互相連系。因為你用了你的心, 你的頭去管理。一個沒有慷慨的心之生意人必會用他最精明的頭腦去做唯利是圖的生意。

決策

決策 (其實祇是一個簡單決定)

用上決策兩個字實在是言重了。今天我們習慣了用強烈的字眼表達, 這樣把生活的擔子無端端地的加重了。 語言每改變著我們生活方向和細節。 (想想:Marshall McLuhan 的名句 "The medium is the message"; 也看看每天刊登的新聞和文章。) Can we have more fun?

言歸正傳: 今早我在選擇一張圖片放在我的 time-line 作封面 (cover)。 原來這樣簡單的選擇也不容易。我可以選一張有我在裡面的照片, 可以從我過去十年的攝影冊中選一張「沙龍」, 也可以選一些抽象畫。這些都不難, 難的是我要決定這張「封面」怎樣表達 meaning, 然而我還未能決定要什麼樣的「意義」可以表達到自己。。

今天, 八十後、九十後面對的就是 meaning。我們顧聘他們就要為這些職位弒試試賦與「意義」。

從非客戶中觀察

從非客戶中觀察

The first signs of fundamental change rarely appear within one's own organization or among one's own customers.... Almost always they show up first among one's non-customers. Peter Drucker

基本性改變的初期跡象很少出現在自己的組織、或在自己的客戶.... 他們幾乎總是首先顯示在非客戶群當中。 彼得。德魯克

例: PC的首先出現不在 IBM 客戶中; Smart phone 不在手機製造廠如 Nokia 中首先出現。

知織型經濟

香港政府網業稱香港經濟為「知織型經濟」。讓我們來測試一下自己吧!

德魯克在「 21 世紀的管理挑戰」一書中說: 「「知識工作者不是下屬,他們是合作者。在實習期過後,知識工作者必須比老板更了解他們的工作,否則他們一文不值。事實上,在知識工作者的定義中也提到,“他們比組織中的任何其他人更了解他們的工作“。

請問這樣的定義是正確的描述你?那你是否一位知織工作者?

意義深遠的轉型期

我們生浩在一個意義深遠的轉型期。我在過去十年所見的, 比較我經歷過的六十年更震撼, 令人不知所措。德魯克 Peter Drucker 看為廿一世紀的挑戰,管理挑戰。這些挑戰都曾經與我們擦肩而過; 這些挑戰不是今天才出現的。它們在大多數情況下,和今天普遍接受和認為成功的事情格格不入,并且截然不同。

德魯克那時提出的問題,正是我們今天面對的新的社會、人口和經濟現實。這些現實是政政無法順利解決的問題。這些問題會對政治產生深遠的影晌;但都不是政治問題(卻很容易政治化)!


Laura Pao 

While politics may not directly solve economic problems or adiminstrative challenges, politics do have a bearing on economic development via foreign policies, taxation practice, labour laws and regulations as well as priorities set by the national budgets.

In Canada, a majority government lead by the Conservative Party under Steven Harper certainly affects the fiancial outlook as compared to that of a minority government teamed up with the NDP. Some specific policies could determine the employment opportunity of an industry: such as the exportation of oil by processing the oil sand in Alberta or the Free Trade Agreement with Mexico under the government of Brian Mulroney.

Politics may not be addressed directly in management textbooks but our comprehension of the bearing sof the political system on economic development is an important ingredience in successful management practices.

The challenges in the 21st century is no longer the production of sufficient food on planet earth but the sustainability of our environment to our present rate of economic growth without heading for severe irreversable consequences.

Not to sound discouraged, some Western technologies hasvebeen developed in countries where resources were assumed to be ample and water was plentiful. Most other countries do not have such ecological system for direct
technological transfer.

Good management has to include "others" in their formular of "happiness" so in a long run, we have no regrete but pride ourselves for having contributed to the "good" of mankind.

That to me is a real challenge of management today.

Suyi

管理和商管

管理和商管

在三十年代美國大蕭條的日子, 人們認為管理是對企業的管理。當時人對企業充滿敵意,對企業主管充滿蔑視。為了不與企業混為一說,公共部門開始獨立門戶,改名為公共管理(Public Administration); 從廣義的管理學中分離出來;在那時候是「政治正確」的決定。

然而,第二次世界大戰後,風向開始轉向了,企業管理成為一個正確的研究課題,從那時起,普遍將管理視為「企業管理了」。
現在,許多「商學院」搖身一變成為「管理學院」了。「非營利管理課程」如雨後春筍般冒出來了。儘管如此,認為管理就是企業管理的假設仍然沒有動搖。
Q: 你認為管理應該分門別類如: 商管、工商管、公管、非商管管理…嗎?為什麼?

Effective Executives

I am reading a pretty well written book that has the elements of Drucker's "Effective Executives." This book, written in modern English and with many short real-life stories on "know your strength," Contribute your best," and "discover your Cause." These are the five effective habits of Drucker's book. Drucker's book changes your mind but this book touches your heart. It is "Great Work, Great Career" by Steven Covey and Jennifer Colosimo. Chinese translation is "讓好工作找上你:重塑工作視野,打造職涯優勢。”

On Calvin Yu posting of iPad squeezing paper news out:

On Calvin Yu posting of iPad squeezing paper news out:

Mobile device (powerful display) + cloud (infinite storage and powerful algorithms) that provide instant news (video) interactively and instant recall of historical data gives rise to new paradigm of learning and knowledge creation.

I am interested in how can the social network deployed to process "written information" (for a time being) for the purpose of creating new knowledge.

We do that manually in writing a post-graduate thesis. The first part is called "literature review." basically it is a systematic way of gathering, sorting, categorizing, ordering and generalizing past records of knowledge. I hope the network can do that in the future.

Calvin C. Yu

A good food for thought on how social media can make history.

Clay Shirky: How social media can make history | Video on TED.com

www.ted.com

Ken JenNi Cheung

I think the development of on-line social networking will also change the way we document and understand history. Images and videos from everybody handphones can reconstruct what has 'really' happened. Wiki is model of how every body can contribute their knowledges. We may need a Newsgroup (with sound reputation) that everybody can contribute part of history by sending in images and videos. Our written history may become picturial history.

Peter Liu I am not interested in "history" per se. There exist too many view points and angles. I am more interested in creating the future and creating new knowledge from the existing knowledge. So far this is done by human brain - reading, observing and creating with not much help. Can the ever so powerful computers help?

Drucker Differences

Drucker Differences No. 1

Drucker concerns with why, what, who and when more than how. That is why he says that there is no one single solution is the right solution or one single management organization is the right organization. Management is a liberal art discipline where one has to understand what he is doing and why he is doing so in every decision making situation.


David Wong How about "what if" - is it a focus at Drucker difference? It seems that the "what if" is quite a good reality test during decision making process and business negotiation/ mediation.

Drucker’s teaching is value based. Every decision and every thought of a manager is driven by the values he holds (knowingly or unknowingly). The value system should include integrity, human dignity, responsibility and pursue of Excellency. Thus there is no need of a separate subject on Business Ethics. His/her very act should be guided by the value system. For a corporation, in the same logical argument, should integrate social wellness and social concern into its business strategies.

That is why Drucker formulated the Corporate Social Integration in the early 60s. Michael Porter wrote his famous SCI in 2006. and award winning article on CSI in 2006


Jeffrey Li Marketing 3.0 (author: Philip Kotler) mentioned this point as well.


David Wong The problem is that everyone has his/her own core value/ belief system as influenced by his/her brought up.....so the value which the manager perceives as good may not be well to the community.... I have stuck by this confusion for awhile until I come to learn of the core value in bible - the Love, Righteousness, Justice, which I then turn into Caring Integrity Fairness ("CIF") as a more "business sounded"core value for promotion within an international brand Group that I served previously.




Peter Liu You are very right that everyone has his/her combinations of values. Each has a number of strong and weak values which may change with circumstances. You are very mature to have find your own values and put them in-line with Biblical values and make them explicit.


A business entity, or any organization lives by a set of explicit or implicit values. These values guide their decisions that gradually becomes their culture.


A good example to illustrate value-based teaching is years ago the way we learn Chinese. We study the Four Books and so on and behind the explicit writings were the values.




Drucker Differences No. 4

Drucker perceives a dynamic world that changes. Time must be factored into every aspect of decision and action. Therefore one has to learn and improve in order not to be wasted (victim of law of thermal dynamics.) One cannot predict the future but what is happening is not agnostically random. Therefore one must make the future today diligently.

Drucker Differences No. 5 - methodology

One may say this is Drucker's weakness in terms of research. Peter Senge, Jim Collins, students (directly or indirectly) research by studying thousands of companies and interviewed even more business leaders to come up with some conclusions. By the time they get the books out (3 years data gathering and analysis, 2 years writing and publish) the facts changed and the foundation of the conclusions shaken. We all laugh at this. Schools and universities are now trapped y this sad cycle.

Drucker, on the other hand looked forward. He asked questions while he observed (not at a small spot-lighted area but relating to the society). With his deep understanding of law, economics, social theories, he was able to say something that are basic and hence lasting. Most of the influential, significant liberal arts theories (economics, political, religion, social behavior works) which have become the fundamentals of modern theories were done like this.




Jeffrey Li totally agree, I go through Peter Senge's and Jim collin's books recently. Both of their statements are very supporting Drucker's ideas, especially Jim Collin's books that show many evidences to support it. That's why Drucker is Gurus' Guru.


David Wong Unfortunately in the academics field, the US research based (ie quantifiable approach) articles/journals mostly rank as "A " journal whilst the UK based (qualitative approach by asking what, why and when questions similar to Drucker NO 1 Difference which I believe is integrated in No 5 - Methodology) journal normally ranks as "B"journal on the list of journals appraisal in the Universities in HK - I suppose the leader at the Universities have to study more on Drucker difference to make the HK Universities a "Good" Difference.

Peter Liu Well said, David

Gemba

I learned a new word - Gemba
Japanese terms meaning the critical resources and sequence of interdependent activities that add value to the customer. I like it better than "value chain". It allows a planner to be more focus on business results (or more mission-driven). The other activities that supports Gemba can be viewed differently.

Management by Objectives

Peter Drucker postulated 8 cooperate objectives in his theory of Management by Objective and Self-control. Profit is one of the eight.

It is interesting that Jeff Van Duzer wrote in his book, "Why Buisness matters to God," that to "generate a reasonable profit is not an independent goal or purpose, but as a constraint." Of course, Duzer is talking about the goal and purpose while Drucker talked about operational objectives. Objectives and goals are different.

But it is interesting to see profit as a constraint.


Eric Kung I guess Duzer has a salaried job. If he runs a business, he would think differently about profit

Behavior -habit - culture

It is difficult to change culture but easier to change habit. Habit change is on individual level assisted by systematic arrangements. (read book Switch)
Example: to encourage oneself 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.


Joanne: How should I get up earlier?


Peter:  The difference between punctual and late is about 10 minutes. Right? So you should plan to save yourself ten minutes in the morning chore, like get your dresses, socks, and other things you have to ring to work all lay out. You set the alarm ten minutes earlier. After the alarm you reset a ten minute call. When the second alarm runs off. You jump out of bed.


Laura: It is both difficult to change culture and to change habits.

About learning:

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.


------------------------


Some people start their learning process by learning how to do something, then principles and theory. I start my learning on the theoretical first, then find ways to make the theory practical. That is why it takes much longer time for me to learn something.


Eric Kung Because you are an engineer by training and you still wear the engineer head in learning i.e. theory, design, build and then make it work while a business leader would say, "Make it work!" and then work out everything else later.


Peter Liu Does a business man really think like that? May be HK SME guys and may be because this is the way they think, they venture into and falls into the SME trap. May be your are right but I am not sure.


Eric is right in terms of behavior. The more we go on, the more it is like that for two reasons: 1. the world is moving very fast and if you do not take action first, you will be left behind; (I don't really buy this) 2. the things are getting to complicated to figure out without trying it out (I belong to the old camp, remember I am 70 in a few months)

Competition

Competition

I do not like competition. The reason is based on my religious believe. I am not talking about it here.

I am a management training coach/mentor for two bodies. One is a business entity. After a two days class room formal training, we organize the trainees into groups for further development. These groups would carry out certain themes like delegation, motivation etc. I will meet them every month to see how they progress. These teams (four to five teams in a batch). strife to be the best, with some competitive spirit. There are no reasons for competing. It is just the business setting and environment. The other body is an NGO. Similar procedures are set up for them. The themes are different. However, the outcome is totally different. These teams are more laid back, more relaxed and not putting performance ahead. They put mutual support ahead. At the end, I judged that the business groups learn more in a shorter time.
What would you prefer?