Conquer China???

China is a massive quagmire of opportunity and risk. Last night, the ABC showed a story of a merchant banker looking to work in China. To him, China is the best way that a Western millionaire can become a billionaire.

Yet, there is still so little known about the nation of a billion people, especially by those of us who grew up in suburban Australia. The thought of a billion new consumerists flooding our markets with demand for products, our earth with landfill and our nations with demand for resources is breathtaking. How China will manage without imploding through its own growth is a huge issue... but I think that we'd better practice using chopsticks.

How are you going to make this shift towards power in the East the best thing that has ever happened?

(If you dislike change, you'll dislike irrelevancy even more...)

The Credit Belongs

You may have noticed the updated look of the site. I thought that it was time to make it look a little more finished... even if it's not completely finished yet.

At the same time, I thought that I should finally process the last parts of my old website. This involved moving a number of items, particulalry book reviews into blog postings. You'll find them in a range of places, particularly on How to Win Friends and Influence People, Al Dunlap, TP's Project50 and Lester Thurow's Creating Wealth in December 1999, though there's also a summary of The 48 Laws of Power. Note that these are mostly my thoughts and responses - feel free to disagree... given how long ago I wrote them, I might too!

From the Merovingian in Matrix Revolutions: Who has time? But then if we do not ever take time, how can we ever have time?

One of my favourite speeches ever was that which Theodore Roosevelt delivered in Paris in 1910. You will find the complete speech in a post on this site at the link above, though here is a passage that I find particularly moving... and that is framed on my desk.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

I also remembered or re-found two .pdf's that are worth remembering are around:

• I summarised John Kay's Foundations of Corporate Success a few years ago. This book explains the four sources of competitive advantage: Architecture, Reputation, Innovation and the modern monopoly of Strategic Assets.
• Checkout the Boot Strappers Bible - it's pure gold!
  
• And, as a bonus, the cognitive scientist within me continues to be amazed with Artificial Intelligence and Intelligence Amplification, if also somewhat disturbed.
• John Stuart Mill had one of the most remarkable upbringings imaginable, as explained early in his Autobiography. In the study of the outstanding, he is worth at least noting... especially when you can read it from your screen!
  

Brain starting...

Robin and Sonja have been challenging me for years to think more objectively (or Objectivistly) and I have been fortunate to have shared many glasses of wine at their place in that time, especially for their regular philosophy sessions. This month, I received the following that I thought that I might invite thoughts, feedbacks and comments from:

Brain-Starter:
------------------
So close to Australia Day, the topic has to be patriotism. Which of
the following quotes do you agree with, and why? Is patriotism an
unconditional virtue, a conditional virtue, or no virtue at all? What
makes it a virtue or a vice?

• Patriotism ... is a superstition artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods; a superstition that robsman of his self-respect and dignity, and increases his arrogance and conceit. - EMMA GOLDMAN
• "My country, right or wrong" is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying "My mother, drunk or sober." - G. K. CHESTERTON
• Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it. - GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Beyond this, with the decline in meaningful international barriers, the rise in globalism and technologically driven value creation that is geographically ambivalent and the increased need for us all to appreciate and respect differences, what does patriotism really mean? If patriotism is to nations, what is the term for loyalty to our 'culture' beyond our nation-state?

Black Belt Productivity: Getting Things Done Karate-style

David Allen has a LOT of great material. The text below is from his latest newsletter... with my long-standing involvement with karate, it really spoke with me. I hope that you enjoy it...


"GTD KARATE"

For years I have woven the martial arts metaphor in and through my writing, training and coaching about getting things done. I had the good fortune to be able to study karate for several years in my twenties, and my familiarity with that field gave me a rich context of images and concepts to draw from.

I didn’t fully appreciate, however, much of what getting my black belt gave me until later in life. Over the years I began to recognize the value of various habits and standards that training had ingrained in my personal style. They affected my approach to everything. And as I delved progressively deeper into the arena of personal productivity, similarities with karate began to resonate in many new ways. My conclusion was, and still is, that work (and life) IS a martial art – not just a reflection of it.

Though there is likely an infinite list of the similiarities, the ones I find most interesting are the process replications – what’s the same in the nature of the two arts themselves. Here’s my Top Ten:

1. There are no beginner’s moves.
   
   You begin in karate learning moves that you will practice as a third-degree black belt. A round-house kick or knife-hand block is the same, whether you are just learning it or you are a sensei. Being responsible for your internal commitments, deciding what next physical action is required on something you want to do or change, clarifying your intention and vision – those are true from beginning to end, no matter how mature you are in life or its process. There’s no elementary way to process your in-basket to zero.
2. It feels counter-intuitive and unnatural when you start.
   
   Trying to stand and move gracefully in a karate “front stance” feels initialy like one of the more unnatural things the body has ever attempted. It’s almost as weird as writing everything down that you commit to do something about, as it occurs to you. Or spending valuable time cleaning up non-critical open loops on the front end. Weird science.
3. Once you’re used to it, it is the most natural way to move.
   
   Once you master the basic karate stances, your natural walk takes on a gracefulness you wonder why you ever did without. Once you integrate outcome- and next-action thinking into your life, not doing it seems both awkward and backward.
4. It handles basic movement and resource allocation masterfully.
   In order to be able to break bricks with your hand and manifest a pinpoint of power in an instant, you learn to move the whole body with extreme efficiency. And once you’ve mastered the five phases of workflow, you don’t complain about your volume of e-mail nor mind putting everything on hold to focus on the surprise that just showed up.
5. It supports a peaceful and spontaneous way to move through the world, with minimal effort.
   Once you’ve mastered the fighting arts, engaging in conflict per se becomes unnecessary and hard edges, rules, and structured defenses are much less required. With GTD maturity, a relaxed intuitive focus about what to do, when – unhindered by preconceptions and constraints – becomes the standard rhythm. Easy becomes the way to do hard things.
6. We don’t seem to be born knowing or doing it. (Or if we are, we unlearn it very fast.)
   Nobody I’ve met seemed to grow up naturally efficient in how they move and generate speed and power. How many of you, in your first job, automatically asked, “What are we trying to accomplish here?” or “What’s the next action? (And who’s doing it?)”
7. It can be learned.
   Though we don’t seem to naturally inherit high performance motion, it can be learned. Everyone can certainly get better at it, if they can move at all. Everyone can learn how to better capture, decide about, organize, and review the results of their thinking.
8. It can be taught.
   I’ve watched people learn both karate and GTD and demonstrate that they
   "get" it.
9. It can be practiced.
   The more you rehearse karate and GTD moves, the smoother, faster, and more elegant you become at the art.
10. There is no end to how good you can be at it.
    The more I learned about both arts, the more I realized I didn’t know, and how much more there was to experience, learn, express, and do.
    

So what? There’s a world of difference available to be experienced in an infinite number of worlds – gardening, golf, dance, music, love, art, investing, sales, war, peace, kite-flying, dog training, child-rearing, GTD. But these worlds do not disclose themselves uninvited. They wait for the initiate to ask, to care, to engage. None of these seems easy, self-evident, or natural, though, on the front end. They all have dragons (or angels) at the gate, making it oh-so-easy to be discouraged from going further. Perhaps the easy way is the hardest way, at first.

© Copyright 2005, David Allen & Company. All rights reserved. www.davidco.com

The Science of Meditation

It's amazing that in an era of unfathomable wealth, we are left with so much mental illness, especially depression. Yet with a bit of thinking, you can see that happiness is a choice.

Feeling happy is not something that happens to you... it is something that you do.

Certainly stuff happens - anyone who has looked at getting married will know that stressful things happen - but the way that we choose to deal with it remains in our hands.

I love the Dalai Lama's work. I've read a few of his books, and encourage you to invest that time into yourself too. Likewise, I enjoy immersing myself in a bit of Wayne Dyer from time to time. It may not leave you as pumped and inspired as Tony Robbins, but you're likely to feel happier, live healthier and enjoy life a bunch more - kinda what Tony encourages you to aim for ironically!

Check out the link to see how science shows that a meditating monk is off the chart on the happiness scales - by scientific measurements!

If you haven't already, you need to try out meditation... it's part of the future of happiness-centred living.

(From the link) Last year Dr. Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin and a conference presenter, used an fMRI machine to map the brain of monk Matthieu Ricard.
While Ricard, a monk with over 30 years' experience in contemplative practice, engaged in what Buddhists call compassion meditation, Davidson measured the activity in his brain. The pictures showed excessive activity in the left prefrontal cortex (just inside the forehead) of Ricard's brain.
Generally people with happy temperaments exhibit a high ratio of activity in the left prefrontal cortex, an area associated with happiness, joy and enthusiasm. Those who are prone to anxiety, fear and depression exhibit a higher ratio of activity in the right prefrontal cortex.
But the degree to which the left side of Ricard's brain lit up far surpassed 150 other subjects Davidson had measured. No one knows whether Ricard might have exhibited the same results before he became a monk. But given that his readings were off the chart for happiness, Richardson believes that studying the minds of meditating monks can help us learn how meditation can mold our brains to develop happier and less-afflicted temperaments.
Buddhists have long maintained that meditation offers great benefits to their minds and bodies, but the empirical world has demanded more proof than personal testimonials. As Ajahn Amaro, an abbot at the Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in northern California put it on Saturday, "people believe in the great god of data."
Therefore, the Dalai Lama hopes researchers can scientifically prove that meditation has medical and emotional benefits, and then divorce it from its spiritual Buddhist roots to offer the world a secular method for relieving suffering and finding happiness.

The Wild New World

In a world that is very rapidly changing, we need to get better every day at asking better questions. Most thinking is just a process of asking and answering questions, so better thinking involves asking better questions and answering them in better ways. There are many ways to help build our mental muscles - that's the concept underlying The Genius Project... Here are two are worth considering...

• Tom Peters challenges us to think about the new fast-moving, rapidly evolving world. I like his work... and appreciate his challenges to my thinking.
• Tony Robbins focuses on the cognitions involved in high performance. While in some ways more focused on entertainment based on borrowed ideas than on rigorously tested and verified information or novel insights, he still has a lot to offer... until Kurek Ashley creates his own Date with Destiny - and I hope that he does - Tony still has a lot for most of us.

What is inspiring/ stimulating/ interesting for you?
Does university challenge us to become better thinkers or just better at learning out-of-date information?
How could we make things better?
For those unfamiliar with Tom Peters' style, I'll try to explain the information in the link that I've attached here...

1. Wildly altered context (technology, China-India, global terrorism, etc.)
   The world that we live in is rapidly and dynamically changing. With new technologies impacting upon us every day - resulting in new ideas radically changing the way we live - the rise and rise of China and India, whose effects we have hardly even acknowledged never mind felt, and radical shifts caused by global terrorism, natural disasters and other chaotic events that mess with our preexisting expectations of normality, the world is different... Yesterday is gone
   
   
2. Only answer: Adaptive skills and bold-breathtaking innovation (top-line focus rather than cost-cutting focus)
   The only way to respond with rapidly changes and massively disruptive innovations is with adaptations and innovations... to focus on creating more value by retaking control of the direction of the game. The most flexible and adaptive part of a system tends to control that system...
   
   
3. Race way, way up the value-added curve (implemented "game-altering solutions" rather than "services," "experiences" rather than "transactions," and more)
   Lifting ourselves up the value chain - from producing widgets and offering services, to delivering radically innovative solutions and experiences - increases our value and maximises our ability to control our environment and ensure continued competitiveness.
   
   
4. Radical (!!!) use of IS-IT
   We need to use information systems and technology more and more, to facilitate our ability to change the way that things work and make things work better.
   
   
5. A "Roster" of Weird & Wondrous & Entrepreneurial "Talent" engaged in "Wow Projects"
   Great things happen when we put brilliant people together onto a great project... put together brilliant people, and let them really make a difference!
   
   
6. "Metabolic Leadership" (Passionate Leaders who instill a Discipline of Execution, a Quick Tempo Culture and an appetite to "Eat Radical Change for Breakfast")
   Leaders need to deliver for their followers. Leaders need to convey passion, disciplined execution, fast-moving energy and the capacity to thrive amid rapid change.
   

I hope that helps...

Don't you just love summer?

The following is rough, wordy and needs some working on... still, there might be something there for you. As my brother summarised: Get off your deck chairs and start surfing.

One day, I was sitting on a deck chair, looking out over the ocean. From my comfortable seat, I could see a long way out from the shore. I could see the small, gentle waves that lapped against each other, and felt peaceful and content: What a beautiful life.

For some reason, after a time, I stood up from my comfortable position, and walked towards the ocean. As I approached, I noticed that the ocean changed. As I got closer to the shore, it dawned on me that what I thought was the shoreline had deceived me, and instead I was well above the water. As I continued to go closer to the edge, I realised that I was actually at the top of a great cliff. While somewhat frightened by this realisation - realising that I had been deceiving myself for such a long time - I felt drawn to go closer and closer to the edge. Eventually, crawling as a lizard, I was able to look out over the edge of the cliff to see the crashing of the waves below.

I was even more frightened by the sight of the waves - or perhaps I was feeling exhilarated - but I found myself growing curious. Below, people were descending the cliff face. Some were climbing, some were abseiling, others were rapelling, while still others had just jumped off the side of the cliff-face with a parachute strapped to their backs. I couldn't understand why anybody would leave the comfort of the deck chair to climb down a dangerous cliff - never mind jumping from the edge - to an uncertain world below.

As I spoke, they could not hear me. However, I could hear the conversations of the people with whom I previously sat on the deckchairs. They were talking with each other about how I was wasting my time lizard crawling and that I should just sit back and enjoy the view. Part of me felt drawn back to this world.

Yet, for reasons that I did not understand, I felt drawn to explore further. Finding safety ropes and a harness, I started to abseil down the cliff face. As I disappeared over the edge, my previous friends asked after me, yet somehow they didn't notice where I had gone - it was as if they couldn't believe that anything existed beyond their own little world of enjoying the view of the far-off seas that I once had known.

As I descended further and further, a whole new world opened before me. There were people climbing up, others flying past me with and without ropes, and I felt quite confused. Why were these people doing this? Why was I even here? Regardless, this was fun!

Finally, I reached the bottom of the cliff. Around me I saw a bunch of people that I seemed to remember as if they had previously sat with me on the deck chairs. I was able to speak with some of them, yet others appeared to be living on a different plane, and barely registered my existence. It was great talking about the new world that was opening before me - strange and exciting and fun!

Rather than gentle waves lapping each other, we saw huge waves breaking just a little out from the shoreline. You could walk along the waters edge, feeling the sand between your toes, enjoying seeing new things and experience life on a whole new level. As I looked out to the ocean, I could see people riding the waves. Not just watching the waves, not just swimming like we used to do in the pool beside the deck chairs, but catching the waves and riding them.

I noticed that the biggest smiles were from those who would try anything and everything - those people who would ride the waves, even after they'd just been dumped... who would climb back up the cliff face so that they could jump off and parachute back down again, knowing the beach for the first time... those who would then use their parachutes to help them ride the biggest waves, parasailing through the air like birds. Maybe it was scary and seemed a little dangerous, yet I noticed that they never really got hurt - even when the biggest waves crashed, it was as if the God of the ocean protected them wherever they went.


And, as I thought back to life on the deck chairs, it occurred to me that they didn't even know what they were missing... and that by staying on the deck chairs, they never really came to know who was with them in every moment. Don't you just love summer?

Designing a life...

One of the greatest problems that we face is working out what we want to do with our life. Some people - like Mirusia - seem to be born to live the life that they live... everything that they do is based around doing what they love and loving what they do. They live a life of congruence and purpose.

Many of us are not so lucky. Many of us drift from one thing to another without ever feeling that we have found something that excites us, or feeling a sense of connection with what we are doing with who we are.

I believe that we each have a purpose. I do not claim that this is a predestined 'God-given' purpose necessarily, though such is possible; I do believe that we are each unique, and are consequently suited to doing something better than anybody else in the world. In other words, if there is a unique piece in a puzzle, you should strive to find where that piece belongs. Many of us are content to live in the great mass of undifferentiated pieces - where your unique qualities, skills and experiences aren't revealed. However, I believe that to live your fullest and best life, the life that you were born to live and the life that you will derive the greatest joy and satisfaction from living, you should find your place.

I don't mind if you're Catholic or Muslim, Pentecostal or Hindu, Wiccan or Atheistic, you are different from everybody else, from your finger prints to your genetic makeup to your life experiences to your beliefs and your values.

There are two things that I would encourage you to consider in this process. Firstly, consider, if only for the duration of this exercise, that your life is purposeful and that your uniqueness serves you. Secondly, look back over your life on your experiences and look to integrate those challenges, opportunities, gifts and blessings into some purpose. Through the belief that there is purpose, you will notice the connections and relationships that will give you the opportunity to manifest your uniqueness. While finding such purpose can be challenging because it is inherently inductive, look to identify a common thread that links your life.

It is to your benefit to find the way that you can manifest your uniqueness... and it is to the benefit of society. If you can find your songsheet and start singing, you will inspire those around you, and feel a sense of certainty and fulfillment that you can never feel if you are just singing along with everybody else, or watching other people on Australian Idol. Sure, it's not so scary to watch other people singing...

A ship is safe in a harbor... but that's not what ships were made for.
You weren't made to be a clone - you are not a clone. You were born to live your own life: Take ownership of it, be the most magnificent you that has ever - or will ever - live... Getting ringside seats to someone else's championship game may be fun, but can only ever be an exciting distraction. Ultimately, the credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena.

Idea generation and acquisition

One of my favourite things is to go to a good bookstore and just browse - see what takes my fancy - pick up one or two or ten, and just flick through them until I find the profound insight that I'm looking for... For me, this is a great way to get new ideas from a broad range of sources.

Of course blogs and websites are another great source - provided that they're of a standard and credibility that you can trust.

In the same way, it's amazing to find the people that you meet. Just last night, I was speaking with a guy named Charles. He's doing a post-doc in England in quantum computing... that means that he spends his days playing with ion funnels, shooting lasers and phosphorus in the hope that the atom will get excited and change colour. It took me back to my high school days when I was playing with optical tweezers - using a laser to manipulate microscopic pieces of plastic - in the UQ physics department with Professor Helena Rubenstein-Dunlop... it's fascinating to see the cool stuff that science can do today!

You can't take it with you

As if to reinforce for those of us who missed it with the demise of the late Kerry Packer last week, Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Prime Minister of the UAE, passed away on the Gold Coast yesterday. Despite having a family fortune in the range of US$10 billion, he still died from a heart attack at the Versace.

Whenever someone passes, I like to contemplate the lessons that I can learn. In this case, one of the most striking messages is a very simple one:

You can't take it with you...


So live this day as if it was your last... be mindful of what the message that your life is... because one day it will be.

The year ahead - oops, 2006 is here already!

Welcome to the New Year!!!

For me, New Years is principally time to reflect and refocus. It's a time to reflect about the year that has been - the successes, the failures, the learnings and the challenges - and refocus upon the year ahead. There are a bunch of ways to do this... I've spent weeks on mountain tops, watched fireworks, read books, written journals and tried to listen to whatever wisdom and guidance God sends my way.

It's a great time to contemplate our values. I believe that we manifest our real values in the way that we live; in this sense, the way that you reflect and refocus is indicative of the values that you live by, if not those that you espouse intellectually.

At the moment, I'm focused on a group of twelve values:

• Health, Love and Excellence,
• Passion, Integrity and Happiness,
• Vision, Making a difference and Learning,
• Genius, Achievement and Investment.

For the past few days, I've been spending some great time with some of my beautiful friends and family in my hometown. Between hours at Park Road - and my de facto office at 16th on Park - I've been working on a new business deal, preparing for a wedding and looking to the year ahead. There is so much to do!

But as I think and grow older, I notice that while there is always more to do than we have hours to do it, there is always enough time to do what needs to be done. Always.

Check out Time's profile of how Bono is cooperating with Bill & Melinda Gates to change the world... with due respect, the guy's not a rocket scientist: He's an entertainer! But for us intellectuals out there, this year pull your head out of whatever hole you've been hiding in and have the guts to look out into the world and find a way to make it better for you having been here. I believe that from those who have been given much, much is to be expected.

And I don't believe that any of us have an excuse...

But my old friend Tom Peters reminded me of two really important questions that I challenge you to answer:

1. What's the most important thing you've done in the last year?
2. What's the most important thing you'll do in the next year?

... don't think large... think huge...damn it, think huge!!!

Notes on life

One thing that I love about business is how it parallels with life in general, especially that it provides a relatively scientific method of studying and explaining excellence. Unlike scientific psychology that tends towards either fixing the mentally disturbed or analysing fundamental processes, business tests how to achieve and maintain excellence.

Spending a month in China at the end of last year was a huge eye-opener for me. Here are a few ideas that I've found to be particularly pertinent in the past days...

• Rather than beating the competition by being stronger or faster, make the competition irrelevant by creating uncontested market space that suits you... rewrite the rules on your terms. After all, if you're going to fight a gorilla or a million ants, you'd better not play by their rules.
• Don't be the best of the best. Be the only one who does what you do.
• Imagine the company of the future as a virtual collection of entrepreneurially minded talent, creating (or applying) their capabilities ("intellectual capital") to develop solutions that change the world. At least that's where I want to work...
• To maintain and improve our standard of living, we absolutely must lift ourselves up the value chain: From Raw materials to Goods to Services to Solutions to Augmented Experiences to Making Dreams Come True...
• "Experiences"??? Why does Starbucks sell the most coffee around the world? It's simple: They created a new space - a space that wasn't work and wasn't home... they own the real estate that we pay rent on, rather than just making coffee. Maybe I was crazy to run from gate 71 to gate 31 (and back!) to grab a Starbucks Grande Caramel Latte at Hong Kong airport on Christmas Eve, but I just had to get my few minutes of peace before that 12 hour flight back to 'reality'.
• "Making Dreams Come True"??? It's about helping clients/ customers become what they want to be... just imagine a University that helped its students become leaders and achievers, rather than just giving them a piece of paper.
• If there's nothing special about what you do, no matter how hard you work you won't be noticed much. And that means that you probably won't be paid much either.
• China is like a huge gorilla that is creeping silently up behind us. The place is amazing, yet most of us - even those of us with fancy sounding degrees - really know nothing about what's coming... the information just isn't getting out to us. If you're serious about being in business into the years ahead, you need to pull your finger out and get there yourself as soon as you can. Just drop in to Shanghai for a week or a month... however long, just do it!

Here are a few things that I believe that we all need to be working on...

1. Mastery: Be outstandingly good at something
2. Create and complete projects worth bragging about
3. Be unique: Distinct or Extinct
4. Network: Build your team and your connections
5. Take responsibility for yourself in every way: Ultimately, you are the CEO and sole shareholder of You Inc... there are no excuses.