Mind Value

I-Ching Re-Classified - The Faster way to Consult

2012-01-04T18:51:00.000+08:00

I-Ching contains 64 hexagrams representing 64 situations. It is difficult for the beginner to figure out which one to apply. I have tried to address this difficulty with various approaches in the following posts:

Below is my re-classification into 2 main grouping and 12 subgroups. The first key group is about the foundation principles on Leadership, Management/Control and Relatioship-Building. The 2nd grouping is a life cycle of 9 phases of development from starting to transformation. Here is the mind-map:

Transiting to New S-Curve - iChing #63 Completed & #64 Uncompleted

2011-12-27T16:23:00.000+08:00

iChing teaches us about the endless cycles of change. The last 2 hexagrams tell us clearly that life is about growth and growth is about changing, more specifically, transiting to the next cycle of growth. Things are never fully completed. If it ever completes, then it begins to die.

So, #63 Completed is followed immediately by #64 Uncompleted. i-Ching begins with #1 Heaven - Creation and ends with #63 Completed and yet continue with #64 Uncompleted leaving room for continued growth.

The teaching of i-Ching is not just about how to start and scale-up to maturity, but also reminding us of the need to continued to transform.

Here is the teaching of the last 2 hexagrams summarized in the table below:

#63 Completed starts with a known worthy vision. Since we know our destination, we need to just get moving, overcoming the obstacles that we face on the way. We when through the typical rapid growth period of stage 3 and 4 (the tornado of G Moore Technology Development Life-Cycle) and arrive at stage 5 of Main Street success with celebration and a worship of thanks giving to God. Stage 6 come with a great warning. Don't let our success filled and enlarge our head that we lost sight of the need to learn and transform.

#64 Uncompleted started with loss of direction, struggling in the water and not reaching the shore. Hence, the first step is to find the vision. This step of finding the new vision should be the stage 6 of #63 Completed so that we will not have to suffer a big down turn. We the success we have, we can find and fund the next vision and continue on with the next cycle of success.

The teaching of the #64 follows that of #63 except that it is about one stage behind. #64 started with lack of a vision and not knowing where to go. It ends with us having a success but warning us not to loose our integrity and good conduct. We are not to get drunk.

For those of us enjoying our success, let this be a reminder of us to innovate for the next cycle of success at this very time of our success. We should enjoy this year end season heartily and prepare for the next round.

Lim Liat (C) 27 Dec 2011

All About Danger from i-Ching #29 坎 The Pit

2011-12-21T17:16:00.003+08:00

Life is full of danger and temptations to lure us into them. With better technology and a globally connected world. the scams can come from any where in the world. We may get a call on our hand-phone congratulating us that we have won big cash prizes in some far away country and we need to tele-transfer some small money to certain account to pay for the taxes, legal and other related fees so that the big cash can be transferred to our account. We read on newspapers that quite a number of people fell for such schemes and lost quite a lot of money. While technology may change, the principles for luring and trapping us have been the same. The wisdom of Ancient Chinese in the "Book of Change - i-Ching", remains applicable to us in this modern or post-modern world.

The teaching on "Danger", or more specifically, "falling into the pit", is covered in i-Ching hexagram #29 坎 The Pit. It talks about prevention, getting out and staying out of danger. For the details, see 29 坎 The Pit – Danger –Be Watchful & Righteous (registration is required). The summary is posted here with my additional comments.

Summary of #29 坎 The Pit – Danger:

Always be on the alert and watch out for impeding danger.
A famous Chinese saying is “居安思危”, meaning in peaceful time, one should consider the potential danger. One should live life circumspectly
The safest and surest way is to hold on to integrity and honesty.
Our greed for making lot of money quickly and easily has caused us to fall into many traps. Even a simple thing like gambling is very tempting and addictive. Wishfully thinking that we may not be caught and hence taking short cuts that by-pass the laws or cheating our customers will eventually catch up with us and put us into prison.
A win-loose relationship never lasts. For long term success, we must go for win-win and never betray our commitment to them, Integrity build lasting relationship.
Instead of being afraid of danger, we can use the dangerous obstacles for our protection. Convert any threat to opportunity.
This a key principle of i-Ching. Fortune or disaster depends on the timing and situation. Danger that stops our progress can become our protection to stop our enemy from attacking us. See the opportunity in any threats. The macro political, social or economic events happen to all, even our competitors. Hence, we just need to know how to differentiate ourselves.
We should teach others to be righteous and alert too.
Sharing makes for a better world.

Wisdom from the stage-lines teaches you how to act in time of danger:

1. Stay away from Dangers / Temptation else you will fall into them.
Don't think you can be the hero - others will fall but not me. It is best steer clear from danger and temptations. Many are those that fell thinking that they won't or don't.

2. Probe and move cautiously if you fall into it.
Not taking heed to stage 1 warning and fall into the pit. It is time to wake up and carefully probe and study the situation. There are options but you need to spend effort to find them.

3. Dangers everywhere, just stay at rest. Wait for help.
Sometime over doing bring forth more troubles. To cover a lie, we tell a bigger lie! Don't fall into this. It may be best to face up with the consequence, pay it and quit. Putting in a last big bet to recover all the loss is unlikely to happen as wished. The best policy may be just to stay still and wait for others to come to help.

4. True friendship is seen in times of troubles. They come to help.
In times of troubles, it is easy to see who are your true friends. In your good days, please remember to make good and true friends and by helping them when they are in troubles. They come to help you when you are in trouble.

5. Core integrity strength not fully developed yet got out of danger due to external help. Take heed to develop internal strength.
Remember that this time it was the external factors and your friends that help you out of troubles when you are still weak. Please take this opportunity to build up your inner strengths.

6. Stay righteous – the sure way to prevent and keep out of danger else back to stage 1 of imprisonment.
I-Ching author warn us again and again. Stay in the path of righteousness. That is the only way to stay out of danger. But sadly, men does not learn from history. This stage line 6, the highest stage, tells us the sad ending of committing a crime and be imprisoned for 3 years.

Please break out of the addiction or vicious circle of poverty or crimes or disappoints. Build up the inner character and strengths.

Lim Liat (c) 21 Dec 2011

Innovation from the Thought Leaders - Ox vs Horse

2011-12-20T18:28:00.001+08:00

Successful entrepreneurs and industrialist (an old term that is seldom used nowadays) thought leaders like to say some extreme things to trigger the thinking and to shock people into actions. Here is one example from Taiwan shared by a friend. The Chinese post is at http://www.businessweekly.com.tw/webarticle2.php?id=16349.

My dynamic translation (by meaning rather than word for word - hence may have biases due to me the translator) is as follows:

Main Point of Ox vs Horse of Barry Lam:
1. Software is important than Hardware.
2. Cloud computing changes and replaces current practices in design and other things. This is the big opportunities and innovative talents are required.
3. Subcontracting work talents staff is like the farming ox - all about the same and not creative.
4. University Degrees are not important. Your out-of-the-box thinking is more important.
5. The future is a race. Winner take all. Must be a race horse rather than ploughing ox.
6. Need to pay for such talents highly differentiated remunerations - 10x, 20x, 100x !
7. Adapt to the new world - don't go back to ask people to watch the old top-tv shows. Ask them to watch the current top TV shows.

Do you agree with him?
Most people will.
But being a good consultant and a trainer, I have to disagree some what and give a more balanced view. Here are my comments and recommendations for the potential innovators and entrepreneurs:

The Balanced View:
Actually he is 50% right and 50% wrong. Here are the reasons:

1. Hardware and software are both equally important.
The key is the integration and best fit. Ask Steve Jobs and Google Brin and Page who recently bought Motorola Mobile for its hardware capability to augment its Androids and Chrome.

2. Cloud and Endpoint Devices are Opportunities.
The powerful resources and the brains of the clouds is at the center and need intelligent devices to link up so that its power can be used and enhances by the millions who connect to it. There are businesses for the center cloud and the end-point access devices. iPhones, iPad are the access devices. iTunes App and iCloud are the center. Imaging Dropbox without iphones/ipad/android!.

3. Subcontracting/OEM work requires talents and innovation as well.
They need innovation in their processes and other part of business models. Subcontractors unfortunately does not enjoy the branding of the consumer devices and offering, nevertheless, they need innovations for productivity, effectiveness and efficiency. Someone said that there is no such thing as hi tech or low-tech businesses only hi-tech or low-tech management.

4. University degress train our thinking and provide indepth knowledge that we need for innovations.
But may be can be like Steve Jobs, pick your subjects and master them well e.g. Calligraphy. Or an old entrepreneur friend who left Stanford to start his own successful business. Asked him why he did not complete his course. He said he already picked up the knowledge he needed to do his business. Ask Bill Gates and he too would give you the same answer.

5. Speed is only ONE factor of Success. There are More.
"The future is a race. Winner take all. Must be a race horse rather than ploughing ox" may be right some times but definitely not all the time.
First mover may have advantage but it all depends on the particular situation. (When the entry barrier is low, that the first mover actually may have advantage for a short time only. First mover may be in the bleeding edge and educating the market for the followers!). Microsoft is seldom first but is a good follower and replacer e.g. MS Office replaces Lotus-1-2-3, Wordperfect and IE replaces Netscape etc. There are people who think MS can yet do it one more time with Window 8 for the smart-phone business. Read also the new Hare and Turtle Story.

See also ...http://mind-value.blogspot.com/2011/06/adding-biblical-wisdom-to-bill-steve.html - Success is a combination of multiple factors of speed,timing, strength, creativity, thinking skills, technical skills etc.

Google works with 70-20-10 rule : 70% of budget on core business, 20% related to core business, and 10% on blue-sky not related to current business.

So a typical company need may be 7 oxen, 2 horses, 1 dreamer. But that is percentage talking. In reality, everyone in a company should be encouraged to innovate in his own area, extended area and even wider.

6. Need to pay for such talents highly differentiated remunerations - 10x, 20x, 100x ? May not be. It is a team work too beside talents.
As the business get complex, the success is the result of great team work of great engaged talented people. Then, it is not about paying a few guys top salaries but about getting fair salaries and share in the extra-ordinary profits from the success of the business. It is about outcome based renumerations where there is no ceiling to your renumerations - it is decided by your customers who willingly pay you for your great offering.

7. Adapt to the new world - don't go back to ask people to watch the old top-tv shows. Ask them to watch the current top TV shows.
Adapt to the new world is a must. Even better is to create the New World.
Nevertheless, never ignore the old successes. There are much lessons for us to use.
Consider the re-vitalised VM Bugs, Mini-Coopers etc. The old principles, the core strengths, just need a new context.

The Critical Thinking - Never be one sided in your thinking.
At least be bipolar yin-yang if not more. It always depends on the situations. Everything has value. You just need to find the situation and the people that may need it.

Lim Liat (C) 17 Dec 2011

Growing with Great Difficulty - Fix it with I-Ching #39 蹇 Lame's Teaching!

2011-12-07T12:01:00.003+08:00

Many businessmen felt the need to grow their business quickly. They think they must grow to survive. They are advised to be agile, responsive, flexible and to move with speed. They learn from the inspiring quotes of the rich and famous and hear of advice that says, “In this new world, fire first and then aim” without the correct understanding of the context. Singapore is too small, they are advised to go abroad. So, they just spend money to try to grow their business. Some even globalize into China, Vietnam, India, Russia and even Brazil. They heard that these were the newly rich and rapidly developing countries. Truths without the context will lead to many wrong decisions. Many have encountered great difficulties in their growth. Quite a number have made major losses and have to shutdown their expansion plans. Fortunate are the cautious who are still able to keep their base camp business. It is better that they check up the wisdom of i-Ching before they grow too fast. Even if they encounter grow pains, i-Ching also provides some wisdom with Hexagram 39 蹇 Lame – Move Rightly on Your Strength (registration needed). I reproduce the summary teaching of the hexagram here with additional comments below:

Summary Teaching of 39蹇 Lame:

When meeting obstruction, pause and see clearly.
- We must resist the urge to react too quickly. Pause first to see the situation clearly and then develop the response.
- Always choose to response positively to any situation, specially the adverse ones. Don’t prejudge too quickly. Check your direction and positioning.
- Are you positioning your offering in the right place at the right time?
  When a Chocolate company expanded into India, they have to sell their chocolates in smaller sizes and lower prices, provide cooler to keep the chocolate in good condition, and position it as items for celebration. What about your offering and positioning?
Take the right way that leads to success and not the short-cut evil way that eventually brings failure.
- There are always option available to us. If you think there is none, think again. Think outside of yourselves.
- See point 3 below. Under difficulty, you will be tempted to take short-cut. Don’t do it. Stick to the righteous way.
Always seek and follow advice of the wise.
- Be bold and unashamed to ask for advice and help.
- Just make sure you ask the right people and not just anyone.
Building character will brings long lasting success.
- Long lasting business can only be built on unchanging foundation of truth and righteousness.
- Build this culture throughout your organization.

Wisdom from the Stage Lines:
The building of Internal Strengths to get moving involves the following stages:

Wait for the right time to move especially for things beyond our control.
- Growing business needs one to watch the trend. Is it a once off or a real growing shift in taste, demographics, technology, etc? Even the great Steve Jobs said, “I will wait for the next big thing”.
- Check up 05 需 Needs – Wait for the Right Time for details as well.
- See also The Patterns of Chinese 36-Strategies where wait is one good option.
Get first hand knowledge and then work together to seek the interests of the community and not self.
- Rapid moving company needs the information from the front-lines – the people serving the customers.
- It is difficult to have a hierarchical structure for information to filter up to the boss to get the truth. It will be too slow and usually distorted. Get the organization to be more opened and transparent so that information can be shared quickly and truthfully. See how the successful companies like HCL tech, The Morning Star Company, WLGore, Google, Zappos, etc operate. Read my posts on self-management such as The Future Of Management is Ancient Chinese Classics, Integrated View of the Wisdom of Chinese Classics – Future of Management Now.
Build Morale - Celebrate and learned from past successes and get ready for the right time to charge forward.
- Most people have “Defect fixing” mindset. They focus on their failures and weaknesses and forgot about their successes.
- Have a “Positive Appreciation” mindset instead. Study your success and learn what make you successful. Find out your core competitive strengths and re-examine whether you have lost it. When company grows, complexity set in and the core-strengths slowly get lost in the midst of growing. Back to your basics and cores. Celebrate those things to bring up the morale and clarity of strategies.
Get Alignment - Return to strengthen unity and alignment first. Put the right people at the right jobs.
- Many businesses can grow quickly when small. But if the business is not built to scale, the growth will straight away amplifies the weaknesses of the business.
- Make sure:
  - the mission, vision and strategies are shared and cascaded through out.
  - the processes are streamlined. So see what can be standardized, centralized, modularized, optimized, outsourced (to partner that share the culture), prioritized to support the mission and vision.
  - Pick and put the right people on the right jobs.
  - Get information and trust flowing.
  - Get the engagement of staff high.
  - Then you are ready for growth.
Get Support – Have a meaning mission and a proven character, friends will come to support you.
- Growing and big business needs support, from staff to customers, to suppliers and the bigger social network.
- Having a worthy mission helps inspire people. Examine your mission. Are you making the world a better place to attract the support that you need?
- Are you inclusive enough to accept diversities? Do you welcome and respect different ideas from the wider external networks of customers, suppliers, partners and the social network.
Get Talents- Get support of leaders of power and influence and have worthy pursues.
- I-Ching often tell us to get support from the “Big People”. People with great wisdom and influence.
- Some you can hire them.
- For those who you can’t hire, then get them to sit on your advisory boards.
- At the very least, join them in their circles.
- Having mentors is a great thing for your growth.

Now, if your growth have been impeded much, you may want to go through the above teaching to find out where you need to build and change. All the very best to your health and your business.

Lim Liat (C) 7 Dec 2011

Map Your Way to Greater Success from the Keys of the Super-Rich

2011-11-30T10:59:00.000+08:00

A friend shared on FaceBook on the article "Who Wants to be a Billionaire? 20 Keys to Success from the Superrich". It is a good list of wisdom with a few problems:

20 is a long list of things to remember and recall.
Some of the items mentioned are very similar and are better to be grouped together to shorten the list.

This is a good example for mind-mapping. It explains why some playful students can out perform the hardworking students in examinations. Those playful but really smart students do one thing that the other so called 'hardworking' students do not do. The smart ones spend some effort in re-organizing the information obtained. This extra time and effort of reflection helps in truly understanding a subject matter. With such a map of organized concepts, we can easily add on new concepts and can even be used to predict and innovate new concepts.

The two key steps to do are:

Group the facts/concepts.
Give your own title, a few key words, to capture the meaning of the long sentences.

Here is a first draft of the Success Map:

I leave the original 20 keys in the map so that you can see how the map is developed. It can be much smaller by replacing the original text with taglines.

As a final exercise of real learning, try to integrate the map above to this one, The Integrated Success Principles Version 6, compiled from similar sayings of the great and successful men like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Stephen Covey etc.

Two Types of Progressing in Life - I-Ching #46 Rise and #35 Progress

2011-11-25T14:24:00.001+08:00

There are two types of progressing in life according to i-Ching. The two types are described with hexagram 46 升 Rising – Faithfulness brings Promotion (registration needed) and 35 晋 Progress – Promotion (registration needed).u

With #46 Rising, you pick a good leader whom you then follow faithfully. With #35 Progress you do it on your own with integrity and righteousness. Progressing on your own is lot more difficult but may be more rewarding and there the limit of growth is up to you. Chinese has a phrase for such people, 白手起家, building an house by bare hands, signifying by own effort.

Here is a Summary of the teachings from i-Ching for the two hexagrams:

Of course, you can pick the path that suit you. You can also be a faithful follower first, acquire the experience, network, and skills before venturing out on your own. This seems to be a safer way, though may be longer, to success. Many successful entrepreneurs begin life by working for others, be the 3rd or 2nd tier sub-contracted suppliers in a value chain, before growing up to be in the 1st tier.

All good things come to an end, as in the stage 6 of the table above. The good boss that you faithfully serve may join another company or retire from the service. The successful business started by you may eventually reach a plateau and need a transformation to rise the next growth curve. But the foundational principles for success remains the same - integrity, righteousness, employing the right people and putting them in the right jobs. Server others rather than be selfish. Enriching others enrich yourself.

You are free to live out the potential that you have. But i-Ching teaching is a good guide for you. For more, see Ancient Chinese Wisdom.

Lim Liat copyrighted 25 Nov 2011.

Check Your Assumptions - Success Secrets from I-Ching #25 无妄 Not Bizarre – Be Realistic

2011-11-22T18:56:00.001+08:00

Most people have the common misunderstanding that entrepreneurs are big risks taker. That is completely false except for unsuccessful entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs are realistic people that try to minimize their risks. They check and test their assumptions for validity against the real world happening. They ask people. They conduct experiment and trials. Only when there are reasonable grounds for the assumptions, do they then go in fast and with strength.

A famous Chinese Classic Master says that it is not the lack of planning but the lack of activities before the planning that causes failures.

To be successful, we must be very down to earth and to keep track of the what is happening at the ground. This is the teaching of i-Ching Hexagram #25 无妄 Not Bizarre – Be Realistic and Follow the Principles. The details of the teaching is at #25 Not Bizarre (registration is needed). Here is the summary:

Summary of #25 无妄 Not Bizarre – Be Realistic and Follow the Principles:

We must follow the principles and seasons of working of Heaven and earth in our relationship with others and with nature.
We must be watchful, practical and realistic.
Breaking the principles will bring forth calamity. Don’t be fooled by short-term success. We will eventually have to pay back and in much greater amount.
Even if misfortune happens, we should not move away from sticking to the basic principles.

The stage lines teach us additional wisdom:

Get started by being realistic and practical.
Don’t be bizarre and be not building castle in the air.
Follow the principles of life.
- It does not mean that we can’t have high aspirations. It is just that we need to achieve our high aspirations with practical steps and in due time.
- Stephen Covey wrote a book about "Principle Centered Leadership". It shows how advance, practical and lasting are the teachings of i-Ching.
No short cut. Consistent ‘Step by Step’ to success.
Don't be discouraged by little progress. A journey of thousand mile is accumulation of many steps beside the initial step. See Seven Easy Steps to Great Success According to LaoZi.
Misfortunes beyond our control happen. Don’t be to quick to judge and blame. Stick to the foundational principles.
There are many factors beyond your control. When bad things happen that you have no control over, don't be upset. They happen to everyone as well. In fact, it was worse for them. You may need not do anything at all but to just stay the course and stick to your principles. They will go away. Keep your attitude up and don't blame.
Continue the good work. Don’t quit.
The danger has passed, we just continue the course. We can see some success.
Misfortune not caused by us will pass. Don’t over react. The strong foundation will bring you through.
The bad thing happens again. But it goes away without any of your action. In fact, taking any action to correct it may create a bigger problem. Always stay observant, objective and be realistic in assessing and understanding the issue. Follow the statistical control system. E W Deming teaches us not to meddle with statistical events within the control limits. Any meddling will make the error greater! If you are unhappy with the large variance, then look into improving the system to reduces the variance, otherwise, stay put.
Reach the plateau and don’t know what’s next. Don’t take bizarre action. Stick to the foundation that bring you the success and act wisely.

Success is the greatest danger to watch out for. We may have forgotten what bring us here and venture into things that we know not just because we can afford now. Success should not make us blind to being realistic and down to earth to monitor the happening at the front line and the customers and markets.

Lim Liat copyrighted 22 Nov 2011

The Codes of Conduct for Young People

2011-11-19T12:14:00.001+08:00

The Good Conduct and How to Live Well.
Someone in my class reminded me of such a primary teaching book on Good Conduct. 5 Key Points. Know how to behave well first and learn about science and others when there is time left!

弟子规　圣人训
1 首孝弟 2 次谨信
3 泛爱众 4 而亲仁
5 有余力　则学文

The Conduct for the Young Ones - Teachings of the Saints

1. First is love the younger and respect the older starting from family and extending to the friends and people we meet.
2. Second is doing things with carefulness and integrity.
3. Third is to love all people.
4. Fourth is to befriend those people with kindness and compassion.
5. After the above and still have energy, then study other skills.

For the full text and English translation, see http://www.tsoidug.org/dizigui_trans_comp.php.

Just read the above is enough. The remaining texts are just exposition on the above 5 points.

Focus - The Key to Productivity and Excellence

2011-11-03T21:44:00.005+08:00

Not feeling accomplished? Very busy and yet not happy? No time for anything else? Not sure where you are going? These are but symptoms of lack of focus. Know the meaning of focus well and learn the how to be productive.

Pick up any management or leadership book, you shall find "Focus" as one of the key factors for success.

To many, focus means doing one thing at a time. But this is a very narrow definition since a person, especially the higher level people, can manage multiple projects at the same time. I told people that you can be very focused on multiple things. It is only when you fail to accomplish some things that you know you are loosing focus. Otherwise, you are doing well and very focused.

We have the famous people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates that talk about focus. Here are some of the sayings:

The above map is a subset of The Integrated Success Principles Version 6.

It is good to give a definition of focus.

To me, focus is about concentrating resources on doing the tasks to achieve our goals.

The components are concentration, resources, tasks/activities and goals. We can loose focus when we fail in any one of the above components. The mind-map below give further details and recommendations:

A recommended book to read is "The Accidental Creative - How to be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice" by Todd Henry which cover FRESH (Focus, Relationship, Energy, Stimuli and Hours), the practices for making you a Creative Person.

Hope the above clarify the meaning of focus and tell you what to do about focusing to achieve success.

Lim Liat (c) 3 Nov 2011

The Integrated Success Principles Version 6

2011-10-29T11:36:00.001+08:00

Here is the latest version 6 mind-map format of the Integrated Success Principles from the rich and famous like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Stephen Covey, Richard St James, the Millionaire Mindset, the Ancient Chinese Lao Zi and the Bible. The teaching of Lao Zi (chapter 64) is added from the previous version to get this one.

See also Watch-out for Learning from Quotations that you can't just take one famous quote and run with it. You need a more complete and balanced view.

Lim Liat (C) 29 Oct 2011

Watchout for Learning from Quotations

2011-10-28T21:55:00.002+08:00

Quotes could be dangerous. They did not tell you the context and you can easily misunderstand and wrongly apply them. Know the danger and learn how to apply them wisely.

Many people on the social network like to share inspirational quotes, success quotes, etc. Quotes from the rich and famous are powerful. They are short and inspirational. However, their short-comings come exactly from their strength of conciseness and impact.

The Dangers are:

It is not the whole story. It is very high level and do not give the full picture.
It could be misunderstood and misinterpreted. The context and situation are usually not described.
It could be wrong due to the first two dangers for lack of details and misunderstanding.

The Precautions:

Understanding the dangers described above is the first step.
Know that there are other details that need to be filled in by you. The quote is just from a viewpoint. Get the other viewpoints.
Determine the situation where it is applicable. I tell my students that the best answer to other questions is "It depends". The right answer is usually tied to a particular group of people for a particular situation. We need to expand the boundary and scope to see a better answer - more wins for more people.
Understand that there are seasons of life for everything. There is the right time for the right thing.

Some Examples:

1. Some FB friend posted "Garden of Life Quotes- Life Choices"

Choose to LOVE rather than HATE.
Choose to LAUGH rather than CRY.
Choose to CREATE rather than DESTROY.
Choose to PERSEVERE rather than QUIT.
Choose to PRAISE rather than GOSSIP.
Choose to HEAL rather than STEAL.
Choose to GIVE rather than STEAL.
Choose to ACT rather than PROCASTINATE.
Choose to GROW rather than ROT.
Choose to PRAY rather than CURSE.
Choose to LIVE rather than DIE.

On first reading, we are impressed and inspired. Many people click 'liked'. But it is actually not very correct. Love or hate should be dependent on the context or situation. We are to love the person and hate the evil deeds. Hating the slavery get people to start the freedom movement and pass the laws.

There is time for laughter and time for mourning. See for example The Best Time of Your Life - Now, Any time, Every time and All the time.

2. Inspirational Quotes for Start-up in E27.

Let just choose the 1st quote, the one from Jack Ma, Founder of Alibaba. "When you are small, you have to be very focused and rely on your brain, not your strength".

First, what is the meaning of his quote? What do you think?

I think he is saying that when you are small, you have no strength in resources such as money, people and assets. Hence, you have count on your brain. You have to be smart and align and focus your limited little resources on the key things. You have to do more with less. You cannot try to do too many things because of your lack of resources(strength).

But it is very easy for people to misunderstand. Under the picture, you can find a comment that says "But you can indeed rely on your strengths .. I trust .." which shows that there is a misunderstanding about the word strength and he may not have caught the essence of Jack Ma's message.

It is better to hear a presentation from Jack Ma and covered in Learning Entrepreneurship from Jack Ma.

It will be even better to integrate the learning from many famous names like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and even the Bible in Success Principles - Version 5.

Learning Chinese helps one to think better

2011-10-28T10:08:00.006+08:00

Chinese language is a language with more than 5000 years of history. With its rich culture, the words contain much insights and wisdom. Each Chinese word is made up of picture or pictures. The combine pictures tell you about the meaning of the word. More complex concept are formed by joining the words and hence giving you even more insights.

I have been sharing them in Facebook. But FB does not have a good search function unlike Google+ and what are I shared in my FB Status get lost very quickly. So here is a compilation of the words shared. I will continue to update this post when new words are shared. Chinese tells you see thing from both sides(Multiple viewpoints) and watch the context. Enjoy.

1. Crisis 危机

We are all well aware of the word Crisis 危机. Crisis in Chinese is made up of Danger and Opportunity. There is opportunity in every crisis and danger in every opportunity. In crisis, we learn to see the opportunity. In growth, we learn to see the danger and do risk-management.

2. Sensibility or Reasonableness 情理

Now, I like to share another word, Reasonableness or Good Sense 情理.
Two things are needed to make something reasonable or sensible - it is emotion and rationale. Either alone is not enough. It must rational and emotionally acceptable (or good for relationship).

This is good advice for business. It is the secret of Apple success and failure of many. Apple products appeals to both the mind and the emotion. Zig Ziglar even said "People don't buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.". But actually we buy for both - we buy not a product but a wow experience.

It is important for nation building. I think we over-emphasize too much rationals, the mind, the tasks, the meritocracy to the extend that we ignore the emotions, the feelings of people and don't understand how to build good relationships with people and even other nations. That neglect stops us from being a better people, a more successful people, and a nation that people admire with love.

We must learn to do both well, rational mind and a feeling hearts for good relationship building.

3. Morality or Moral 道德

The third word to share is Morality or Moral. In Chinese, it is 道德.
It is made up of Dao 道 - the Way ( of heaven, God, universe, the right way). and
De 德 - which is Virtue or Character. Strictly speaking, De is how much one has acquired of the Way (of Righteousness). 德 in old Chinese is used also as 得 obtain or gain.

Morality has to be defined as two parts -
1. knowing the right WAY and
2. Assimilation(Becoming, Obtaining) of the Way.

Again, either is not enough. Not knowing the right Way means one is not moral. Knowing and not behaving according to the right way is not moral.

To be a moral person, we must know the Way and becoming like the Way.

So, the morality of a person is measured as how much one has acquired of the Way (of righteousness).

If you are a Christian, the way to measure the quality of maturity of a Christian is how much they have become like their Savior Jesus Christ. Rom 8:29 (ESV) For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. Christ is the Way!

Hope you can see the power of Chinese.

4. Life 生命.

Life is a common word. Life in Chinese is 生命.
生 sheng is Birth or Born.
命 ming is Order, Destination, Mission and Fate for some people.
Hence, Life is not just about being born into this world and is mere existence. Life is about living to fulfill a mission or calling.
The purpose of life is not just about living, but living meaningfully. Living with a mission.

Each of us has uniquely created for a mission that only we can fulfilled.
By doing the mission we are called, we shall be satisfied. We are given the strengths and talents to do this unique mission.

It also means that we are not to live the calling of other people. When we are trying to be somebody else, because we are gifted for it, we shall be struggling and will never be like someone. Don't waste your life trying to somebody you are not made for.

That does not mean we cannot have role models. We shall have quite a few role models so that we can become the very best that we are called to be.

Hope you like Chinese and become a better person.

5. Remember 记 Remembrance 纪念 or 记忆 Write and Recall
To remember, Chinese uses the word 记 Ji which means to record. We usually use the word 记忆 to refer to the mental storage of past events and things. To remember someone, we use the word 纪念.

The word remember or record 记 is made up for two words 己 I and 言 saying. This means that my saying is the record. Make a record and see if I keep my words! I recalled a western cowboy movie that I watched in my youth. The Red Indian Chief was telling the white Captain something like "white men treaty was recorded down to be forgotten and was not trustworthy whereas they recorded them in their hearts to be remembered and kept".

If you use the two words version, 纪念 or 记忆, we can see that remembering is made up of two things:

纪念: 纪 records (in book or tablets) 念 recite it, often in the heart and mind.

记忆: 记 record, write it down 忆: recall it.

To truly memorize things, we need to do two things: write it down and read or say it back!

6. Intellectual Capability /Knowledge 学问
One's intellectual capability or scholarship or knowledge in Chinese is 学问. It is made up of 学study and 问ask. Effective learning is about studying (reading or hearing) some article and then asking questions. Asking or Questioning is a key part of learning. Studying without asking is not learning in depth. Greater understanding can only be gain questioning what we have studied. Some simple and good technique to guide us to ask questions are the 5W1H and the Yin-Yang (Bi-polar, Dialectics).

Learning can also be done the other way round, start with a question and then try to find the answers.

Just remember that learning has two parts, studying and asking.

For some, they should be asking more and for others they should be studying more, It takes two be give better understanding and insight for a particular subject.

Intellectual Capability = Studying + Questioning

7. Forgive 原谅 Original/Source + True Understanding

Forgive in Chinese is 原谅

原 - the original
谅 - the true understanding. 谅 is made up of 京(Large) 言(Speech) (note Chinese goes from right to left). So whale is a large fish and is written as 鲸.

So forgiveness is actually returning back to the original true understanding or state.
It is as if the hurtful thing has not happened at all.

Forgiveness is easier when we understand the reason and motivation for the hurtful act.

Forgiveness is also possible when the offending party sincerely and seriously apologizes (Large Speech).

A true apology that seeks forgiveness is about saying in words sincerely and the action to restore the damages back to the original state if it be possible. Many things done are not reversible. It takes the great heart of the offended to impute it as if it did not happen.

So if you say you truly forgive someone, you are saying and treating him as if he did not do the hurtful act to you. At the very least, you can remember the deed but not the hurtful feeling.

The Bible tells us that God's forgiveness is precisely like that - just as if we did not sin!

More to come.... You can contribute too by giving your comments.

Seven Easy Steps to Great Success According to LaoZi

2011-10-14T12:56:00.002+08:00

It is common to see the following quote:

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Lao-tzu.

It is good wisdom that tells us quite a few things:

We must get started to accomplish great things.
We must not despise the small beginning.
Don't procrastinate anymore.

We have a similar one from B. Franklin "A good start is the halfway to success".

A search for the source of the original quote leads us to the "Dao De Jing" of Lao Zi Chapter 64. I discover that the above quote of Lao-Zi is only translated half-way. In context, Lao Zi tells us not only about starting but also continuing the journey until completion. Furthermore, the short Chapter 64 also tells us much about how to have great success. So here is the mind-map of my learning and translation of Chapter 64. I titled it "Seven Easy Steps to Great Success".

If you want to discover the secret of easy (stress free effort) and long-lasting success, then you must read Lao Zi. See The True Teaching of Lao Zi’s Dao De Jing in 1 Minute.

Here is the 7 Steps mind-map:

If you read it in reverse order, you will find the secrets of Steve Jobs' success principles.

Steve Jobs' begin with the ambition to make a dent in the world for the better.
"Think Different" is the Apple tagline. IBM started with "Think" but Apple change it to make a "Different"!
Some people complained that Steve Jobs is a tyrant. They fails to understand that excellence comes from sweating out the details - be prudent and careful from beginning to end. LaoZi tells us that there is no other way. Most people are destroyed by their initial successes.
Never give up half-way, especially not when success is near.
Steve Jobs said that Death is the best invention. Facing and reflecting on Death everyday give clarity to life. Never violate the natural principles of life. Flow with and adapt to them.
Don't just dream or talk about your dream. Take the step to realize your dream. Be bold. Be passionate. Follow your heart and live out your dream.
Do it at the right time and situation when it is easy. Steve Jobs said that the war on PC was over and Microsoft had won. He said he will wait for the next big thing. He actually create the next big things by following his "Be Different" mantra.

May be you are as surprised as I have been. I started with Lao Zi and ended with Steve Jobs! The Ancient Chinese Wisdom is as powerful as for today!

Lim Liat (c) 14 Oct 2011.

Are They Less Worthy than Steve Jobs?

2011-10-11T11:10:00.001+08:00

I made the post on Facebook. But FB post are not easily retrieved and hence I moved the post here.

Today, Oct. 10 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of China's 1911 Xinhai Revolution, which ended 2,000 years of imperial rule and The fall of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

There were many young people, some just married, or with young babies, gave their lives up for the higher cause and benefits of a greater number of fellow citizens. Their revolutions were not successful. They were killed in battle or caught and killed. They therefore did not seem to make any impact on the world unless Steve Jobs who left behind many innovations that impact our lives. Nevertheless, they laid the foundational stones that lead to subsequent and successful revolution. Are they less worthy than Steve Jobs?

To understand what they had gave up, one of the revolutionist martyred left behind a farewell letter written to his wife. It was a letter that we had the privilege to study. Here is the reference http://www.lifeall.com/mem/1361/article-1689.ahtml.

The English translation with more background info. Get your tissue ready as you read it. http://www.skypoint.com/members/tang/translations/linjuemin.html

More story about him and his family is in http://lin.bigan.cn/archiver/tid-1576.html. His house was later bought over by the grandfather of the famous female writer Bing Xin 冰心.!

A friend posted this reference Steve Jobs dead: Brilliant, yes, but he wasn't an Einstein

And I posted the following comment:

There is no need to rate who is greater since they are all along the chain of progress. Each one adds on top of the other and I can only say that all are great. Standing on others, as first said by Isaac Newton, and now clearly demonstrated by Steve, to bring what we know and created things that we never possible of, one more step further to better life, should be our aspiration.

The author, as I said frequently, is the limited either A or B mindset person. Technology impact us just with greater convenience but also change the way we connect and do things. Of course we all have to eat to live. We shall be doing the very same thing thousands of years from now. But we can eat warm food, get them almost instantly, and get our friends to join us with pre-planning, etc all which a touch of a button. The recent uprising and overthrown of government were made possible with technology. It is easier to get connected and grouped together for greater influence. It help keeps the government to be more transparent and open and to listen to the people. Our political, social, economic lives and well beings are changed by technology, especially by internet in the pocket.

On the other-end, the Einstein relative theory of the universal actually has much much less impact on the lives of people now than Steve Jobs iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad!

It is good to see where the contribution go to. Hence, I wrote on "What about the failures? Those to died in the unsuccessful Chinese Revolution of 1911. Are they less worthy than Steve Jobs?

The discussion thread at Facebook is
https://www.facebook.com/cmtaycm/posts/133775873391380?

The Least Known Strength of Steve Jobs - Standing On Others Shoulders

2011-10-10T13:29:00.002+08:00

Most people just think of Steve Jobs as the great visionary, assuming it is all a one man effort. The reality tells us more. His real strength is learning and standing on others' shoulders. It is not easy and you have to sweat it out. It is easier to criticize others than to see the value in them.

I have spent quite sometime collecting and integrating the sayings of Steve Jobs on success and innovations. Here are some posts

On deeper reflection, I think his greatest secret of success is the ability to see the potential of the things created by others that even the originators don't see.

The first Apple computer was built by Steve Wozniak who wanted to share it with the Homebrew Computer Club but was persuaded by Steve to start their own company to build and sell it. (Read Wozniak's story)

The Graphical User Interface an Mouse used in Lisa and Macintosh was due to Steve Job visiting PARC in 1979. Xerox itself did not understand the value of the PARC technology.

He applied the calligraphy that he learned in Reeds College to boring text centric computer and Desktop Publishing revolutionize the publishing industry and is a stronghold and savior of Mac computers.

iPod created in one year was not built by Apple per se. See iPod History. But we must recognize that the whole thing was put together by Apple.

You got to Sweat it out - Simplicity with Depth.
"Look at the design of a lot of consumer products—they're really complicated surfaces.

We tried make something much more holistic and simple.

When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can oftentimes arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions.

Most people just don't put in the time or energy to get there.

We believe that customers are smart, and want objects which are well thought through." Steve Jobs.

It is even better that what Steve thought.
Sometime, even Steve Jobs underestimate his own vision. On iTunes, "It will go down in history as a turning point for the music industry. This is landmark stuff. I can't overestimate it! On the iTunes Music Store. Fortune". It is much more than music but videos, iPhone/iPad apps, and anything digital.

What are the lessons for innovators ?

Lone genius is not that alone after all. Real true successful Genius ride on others and stand on their shoulders.
Try to see the value of any seemingly crazy ideas.
"If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it." ~Albert Einstein

Every idea has its value. You just need to the situation, the job or the person that may need it.
Sweat it out - rethink and redo - till simplicity, elegance, intuitive, ease of use appear.

See 10 Design Rules for the Dummies

Lim Liat copyrighted 10 Oct 2011

Steve Jobs Quotes on Innovation

2011-10-09T20:25:00.002+08:00

Many people sharing Steve Jobs' Quotes on the social network. As a consultant and trainer on innovation, I would like to look at them from the innovation view point and classify his quotes for easy references.

There is a earlier post on Steve Jobs and Innovation in The Secret of Great Innovation from Obama’s Tribute to Steve Jobs.

This mind-map below is a group from his sayings:

Hope you can pick up some pointers for improving your innovations or your business.

For Steve Jobs' inspiring speech in 2005 see Follow Your Heart - Learning from Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech

More innovation articles can be found on my Bvotech Blog and this mind-value blog.

Lim Liat copyrighted 9 Oct 2011

The Best Way to Honor Steve Jobs - Best Tribute is by Copying Him

2011-10-06T18:48:00.003+08:00

I think the best way to honor and pay tribute to someone is to be like him and to continue his legacy. I have spent the last months integrating the success principles from the rich and famous like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and others. It is so timely.

As a tribute to Steve Jobs, I modified the latest mindmap to specially highlight Steve Jobs' advices. So here is the latest map as a tribute to Steve Jobs. Hope that many others will learn these successful principles, follow them and make the world a better place like Steve Jobs did.

The Secret of Great Innovation from Obama’s Tribute to Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T12:11:00.001+08:00

I write this post to pay tribute to Steve Jobs for his contributions that change the world for the better. I think it is best to share his secrets of such success that we may see many more Steve Jobs in the future and make the world a better place. Most of us know of his technology contribution but he was a man who love his family as well. It was his wife who gave him the encouragement to start over again. (See Principles for Success from Steve Jobs’ Speech). The secret of great innovation that transform the world was actually well captured in Obama’s tribute to Steve Jobs. Here are the key points (reflecting Steve Jobs’ speech cited):

You can start from the very bottom… “building one of the planet’s most successful companies from his garage,”
Sense of Meaning and Urgency…”Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last.”
The Mindset – Think Differently …”brave enough to think differently”
The Vision to Change the World … “bold enough to believe he could change the world”
Execution – just follow your heart and do it with passion … “talented enough to do it”
The features that people really value:
1. Make hard technology PERSONAL ….”"By making computers personal”
2. Accessibility (to useful things – internet of knowledge and social connection), Mobility and Right Sizing – “putting the Internet in our pockets,”
3. Make it Intuitive (Easy) ….
4. Make it Fun … “he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun”.
5. Make it a Story like experience… “”And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grown-ups alike,”

Here is the mind-map:

In this world of ICT, there are two things of value:

The Internet Cloud of information and connection.
The Access to the Cloud.

Either cannot stand alone. Accessibility to a cloud that lack content and connection is useless. Yet a cloud without accessibility cannot grow in content and connection. Making content creation easier, connection easier, and accessibility easier are all important contribution. May we have more Steve Jobs to make the world a better place of greater ease, connection and love.

Lim Liat copyrighted 6 Oct 2011

Success Principles - Version 5

2011-09-23T11:39:00.000+08:00

Following on Success Principles from Bible, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc, I suddenly recalled Stephen Covey's "7 Habits for Effective People". He later added a 8th habit "Finding your voice and help others to find theirs". 'Finding your voice' needs explanation. It is about discovering your talents and your unique purpose of life, contributing and making the best out of it. It is about the significance and meaningfulness of your life. After you have found and developed yours, you are to help others to find and achieve significance as well. This is very much like Confucius definition of Love - 夫仁者，己欲立而立人，己欲达而达人. Love or Compassion or Empathy is about wanting others to success and stand like our desires too or more directly, helping others to success as we have.

So, below is the updated mind-map. I did some re-organization of the map and changed some main topic name to make them clearer. This is to be encouraged in mind-mapping. As new information comes in, we want to refactor our existing map to take them in. In the process, we refine and enlarge our existing knowledge. Come to think of it, I should have kept copies of my earlier efforts to show the progression. I will try to find them.

Success Principles from Bible, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc

2011-09-22T11:44:00.000+08:00

I have been making changes to the success principles mind-map to incorporate more principles from others. The mind-map was first posted in Kingdom Principles Discussion 03 The Golden Rule for Business.

Here is the latest with what I learned from the Bible. I have been a proponent for the use of mind-map as a good framework to organize our knowledge and as a reservoir for storing our growth in knowledge and hopefully resulting in greater wisdom, better decision making and better life for us.

Back to the mind-map:

Will add in Ancient Chinese Wisdom in future. But expect to see many similarities. One of the conclusion that can be drawn is precisely this - the principles for success are common.

Thinking Framework 3 - Necessary and Sufficient

2011-09-21T17:00:00.001+08:00

I have covered two thinking frameworks in the past. Namely, The Basic Thinking Framework 5W1H and Yin-Yang Thinking Framework – Innovative and Critical.

Here is the third one – Necessary and Sufficient Conditions.

We can have the following 4 combinations:

not necessary and insufficient – need to find out the influencing factors.
necessary and insufficient – the common error committed. e.g. why doesn’t by Quality program brings me more business?
not necessary and sufficient – is this possible?
necessary and sufficient – the best case.

It is important to classify any factor that affect an outcome into a necessary or a sufficient factor.

Herzberg’s 2 Factor Theory
The best illustration is given by Herzberg’s 2 Factor Theory on Job satisfaction. He classified factors into two main group of Hygiene and Motivation. Hygiene factors are those that their absence will cause dissatisfaction but their presence will not result in satisfaction. Motivation factors are those that their absence will cause dissatisfaction and their presence will cause satisfaction (Of course, there are critics that say satisfaction does not lead to motivation).

The factors are:

Hygiene Factors Leading to Dissatisfaction Physiological,Eternal	Motivators Leading to Satisfaction Psychological,Internal
Company policy Supervision Relationship w/Boss Work conditions Salary Relationship w/Peers	Achievement Recognition Work itself Responsibility Advancement Growth

The lesson is that some factor are necessary but insufficient.

We also need to know that too much of a factor will result in less motivation according to the law of decreasing marginal returns. But in some cases, the law of increasing marginal returns will kick in such as the more expensive a product is, the greater the increasing demand!

Here is a chart to show the refinement in our thinking. There is a threshold that the factor need to cross in order to becoming motivating.

Multiple Factors - Vector Thinking
We are not restricted to looking at a single factor, such as price, but a combination of factors, forming a vector, as a competitive advantage against our competitor. If I can't compete on price, then I must offer my customer some thing else that he also desire or even more, such as timeliness or greater flexibility or greater reliability etc. Don't think about just one factor, have a combination of factors to make up a good vector offering.

BBH China MD Christine Ng said that "relationship GuanXi 关系" alone did not work in China anymore (at least among the leading companies that she was working with). She said you need Relationship+, i.e. the capability. In short, you need both, know who and know how, to win business in China.

Gentleman and Villain According to Confucius

2011-09-20T10:30:00.000+08:00

Confucius spent his life trying very hard to educate people about being good and the officials about good governing. Implicit in this effort is the existence of good and bad behavior, good and bad people, who are described as Gentleman 君子 and Villain 小人.

In any organization, we will find such people around and give us the understanding about the problems that we are facing. Here a summary list, in mind map format, of what Confucius say about Gentleman and Villain. If you find any more, please add to the list.

The first thing we need to learn is there are gentleman and villain in this world and even in your organization and social network.

The second thing is that we need to discern who is who. Who is the gentleman and who is the villain. Jesus Christ tells us to go by their fruit. Confucius tell us to observe whether what they do matches up with what they say. St. Paul in his letters tells us much about these two groups of people as well.

The third and more challenging question is how can one change from being a Villain to a Gentleman. Is this possible? Confucius believed it can be done but concluded that it was very difficult for some. Jesus Christ tells us that knowing the truth will set us free. Hence, both of them spend their life teaching the Truth. Man is made up of body, mind and spirit (heart at least). We need to address the three areas - feed the body, mind and spirit. Believe in the wrong thing binds people (e.g. to be rich, one must be like wolf, ruthless and be selfish). We need to work on the hurts and also the inner spirit. There are things beyond us and we need the spiritual dimension to help transform people.

Nonetheless, there are things which we can learn and apply to bring good result.

For more Ancient Chinese Wisdom on knowing people and employing them. Please read the posts below:

Lim Liat copyrighted 20 Sep 2011

Yin-Yang Thinking Framework - Building Upon the Great Teaching

2011-09-18T14:54:00.002+08:00

My brother sent me an email on

"The Way to True Happiness in Life---8 Chinese Words"
化解自我，虚而待物

Translated: Forget about oneself, handle things with humility and gentleness (as if empty).

The Illustration
子曰：有一个人乘船渡河时，被一艘空船撞上，这个人脾气再坏，修养再差，也不生气。但如果船上有个人，他就口出恶言了。前面那一次，他无所谓，因是一艘＂空船＂。

如我让自己处于"空船＂情况，行走世间，又会与谁发生争执呢？所谓＂空船＂即化解自我。

有＂我＂的执着，就有相对的＂你＂。我与你总是有强有弱，有优有劣，有成有败。人若无执，则不得已化解於无形，随遇而安，见鱼而乐。

人生如何体验？只有一个办法，就是指出其自相矛盾. 请参考傅佩荣的学习庄子虚而待物.

Translation (in meaning only):
When on a boat crossing a river, you are hit by a boat. If the boat is empty, we will not be angry if even we are bad temper. However, if there is a person on the boat, we will break out with hurting words.
So, if only we can stay with this concept of 'empty boat' to handle things in life, we will never have a fight with another. This is about forgetting oneself, or our self interests.

Because of the existence of me, there is therefore a concurrent existence of you. Between you and me, there always will be comparison of strong and weak, good and bad, success and failure. If we are not such self-aware and not insistence having my way, then we can make ourselves as if non-existence, no form nor shape, then we can meet up with whatever situations and be at peace, and be joyful with little things such as seeing fishes and share their joy of swimming freely.

How cane will experience life? There is only one method. That is to point out the contradictions.

The question I had was whether I can build on this and discover other things.

I recalled the I-Ching Yin-Yang thinking framework. See Yin-Yang Thinking Framework - Innovative and Critical So, I will like to apply it and try it out.

Here is the Chinese Version:

如果我们用华人易经阴阳的思考法, 那我们会这样来想:

1. 如果'我'是阳. 我的对比不是'无我' 而是 '他人' 或简短的 '他'

2. 那么更深一层的思考是要想到'他人'的利益或好处.

3. 把'船' 改成 '车' 来用到现今的时代. 那我们的故事可以这样:

4. 在繁忙的马路上, 被别人的车撞上, 如果是救伤车, 里面还有病人, 我们就不会很生气. 我们会尽快解决, 或者甚至算了, 叫他们快走.

5. 顾及他人, 损己利人是易经 41 损卦的教导. 助人为快乐之本也!

损：有孚，元吉，无咎，可贞，利有攸往

Application of Yin-Yang Thinking Framework

We find the two poles. The opposite of 'I' is not "no I" but 'others' or at least 'Him'.
So, we do not just forget about our own benefits, we should think about the benefits of him or others.
We update the means of transport from boat to car.
In a busy traffic, if we are hit by a car, we will be upset. But if we are hit by an Ambulance carrying a sick person in an emergency, we will want to quickly settle the issue and get the ambulance on its way. We may even forget about the damage to our car and wave the Ambulance off.
The principle for happiness in life becomes "Caring for Others. Taking from Oneself and Benefiting Others". This is in fact the teaching of I-Ching Hexagram 41損 Decrease – Give, Invest, Less is Better(need to register). Or see Less is More 41損 Decrease' It is a common proverb that helping others bring joy to oneself.

If you are a Christian, then the secret of happiness is "from Me to Him". Focusing on Him, Jesus Christ, our Savior, will bring joy to our heart. We have the famous hymn, "With Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm!". Most of the problems and suffering in our life is the focus we have on ourselves - our needs, our pride, our face and our hurt. True joy is found is shifting our focus "from me to Him"!

Lim Liat copyrighted 18 Sep 2011.

Understanding Chinese Mindset of Personal Relationship and Face

2011-09-15T00:16:00.001+08:00

The rise of the popularity of books like Dan Ariely's 'Predictably Irrational' and Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubne, tell us the increasing importance of non-economic factors such as social norms and feelings are getting noticed in decision making. It is not a purely rational world after all.

Such a concept of decision making by rational and feelings is not new at all to the Chinese. In fact, it is ancient Chinese. Chinese has always stick to the integrative and dynamic balanced mindset of yin-yang ( see Yin-Yang Thinking Framework - Innovative and Critical). On the one end, it is rational 理. On the other end it is emotional/feeling/relationship 情.

Any good decision must be 合情合理 adhere to feelings/social and to reasons. With increasing stress on following the government legal systems, then a good decision must be 合情合理合法 adhering to social feelings, reasons and laws.

The Power and Danger of Human Relationship 人情
One of the key strength of Chinese Relationship is the human or personal relationship. Personal Relationship is built by doing things, giving favors 交情, and sometime saving the life 恩情 of one another. The recipient of the favors, gift or service owed the giver a favor that need to be repaid in future. The recipient is in some way beholden to the giver. The giver has a powerful influence on the recipient.

This relationship favor cannot be measured in economic terms and get its power from the strength of the moral obligation. One of the Chinese virtue is about always remembering the giver of life (such as our parents who give birth to us) and other benefits. A famous phrase is "饮水思源" When drinking water one must remember the source. Favors and benefits must be repaid to the giver when the opportunity arises in future.

Hence, the influencing power of person can be increased by doing service and giving favors to many people. In this case, we increase the wealth of favors that others owe us. Such relationship wealth can be exercised at proper time to get things done.

In Chinese society, very often, the relationship obligation 人情债 is stronger than rational reasoning. In the Eastern Culture, not just the Chinese, there is always a struggle between relationship 亲情 and righteous justice 正义. Do I value my family relationship or friendship more than righteousness, justice or even the laws. Given a choice, Chinese tends to side his own relatives and friends. He cite another principle, principle of loyalty and faithfulness to one relative and friends in defense. Hence, Sage like Mencius, praise people who place righteousness more than relationship, 大义灭亲.

The Power of Face 面子 or 颜面 - Personal Brand
Another related concept that is powerful is Giving Face 给面子 or Saving Face 保住面子. Chinese concept of face is similar to the western concept of "Brand", except that in this case, it is personal brand rather than product brand.

Having Face 有面子 is the respect and praise given by others. It comes from making good contribution to the community, achieving something great and bring glory to community, or more frequently, by doing service and giving favors to many people. Many personal relationships 多人情 will add up to give a good face or a good brand. A person with a Good Face will have power over many people. Hence, if you need help from a person who you have no relationship, you may approach a person with a Good Face (Brand) who most likely will have personal relationship with that one directly or indirectly. He will give face to the Good Face one and help you.

Face plays an important role in encouraging the practice of moral righteousness (gaining approval and praise) and in prevention of doing evils due to loss of face (shame from doing evil).

In business, there are likely to be many administrative approvals that you need. You can go by officially. It will eventually be approved but it could take a long long time. To expedite the matter, you need to have personal relationship with the approving official or you need to know someone with a Good Face that the approving official will give face to or owe the personal relationship debt to.

The Misuse and Abuse of Face and Human Relationship - The Misunderstanding
Face and Human Relationships should not be perceived in the bad light of corruptions. Most Good Face and Human Relationships are built in normal time of helping one another and improving effectiveness of community working with one another. Steven Covey talked about the speed and productivity of trust. Face and Relationships are about trust. But because of the Power of such relationships, some may misuse and abuse them to break the laws. Breaking the laws, such as corruption, is not about building personal relationship or building Face (Brand). It is just breaking the laws. The intention and motivation are different.

Personal Network is Strength
Face and Personal Relationship are related to one network of influence. The bigger and stronger the network, the greater is one's influence. Chinese has a saying, 人脉就是钱脉, people network is money network. But the order is different, we don't pursue money for money sake. We build personal relationship network and Face (Personal Brand) by helping others and contributing to the community. The wealth comes from the network strength later.

Hope this help you in understanding the Chinese Mindset better.

Lim Liat copyrighted 14 Sep 2011