noochi

tags:Focus

I have second thoughts about always endorsing the positive rather than pointing out the bad… Perhaps a combo is more effective? Inspired by a documentary on the Father of Gonzo journalism, Hunter S. Thompson, I realize that maybe my endorsing policy is a lazy one far from ideal.

It is easy to stand strong on a positive quality. Easy to buy products that combine good quality with good taste or convenience or environmental consideration. When you criticize, you have to make sure your research is fair, gather the facts, which for the most part is a much more demanding endavor. Environmental concerns, companies’ wrong doings, anything we happily put into our bodies, global trade policies. Sometimes a negative characteristic will be weighed out by other positive concerns and vice versa.

Hunter S. Thompson always chose side, and pointed out angles, and painted pictures that others hadn’t seen quite as clearly. As long as you are open to other view points, and articulate your prerequisites, your opinion is valid. You will not fail as a critic.

I am not done reflecting on this.

tags:democracy, freedom, investments

I want to recommend a book named Rettidig Omsorg - roughly translates Punctual Care - which is only available in Danish. That is its only flaw. The author is Jens Moberg, the highest ranking Dane in the history of Microsoft. Currently, he is the CEO of Better Place, in the creation of electrical cars and matching infrastructure. Something that requires good analytics. And he’s a real top-notch decision maker who manages to keep in real contact with the most humanistic and thus sustainable values for filtering the world. If you have the slightest interest in management and human behavior, I recommend this book. Its full of sweet graphics and wise quotes to remember too. My favorite is this:

If you want to be somebody, be yourself!

tags:belief, books, management

i’ve been meta-tweeting recently. many have for a long, long time. henriette weber, web connaisseur extraordinaire, i do believe, was the one who introduced me to microblogging in her jaiku days. i vividly remember she said to use it to know it. and i wanted to. that really is years ago! 2006, i think. it took me this long to embrace it to the level where i pass on her piece of advice with confidence. and i’m not even fully convinced. 90% there. 85. in making my mind up that its a good thing that our inevitable use of social technologies will make the world truly one.

today, for example, the top 5 trending topics on twitter are: #havetoadmit (i’m sure there are some good secrets out there, but i couldn’t find any of interest before deciding it was a time waste to look), #chrisisadouche (useless, waste of time), Chuck Norris, Michael Jackson, Pirates. i have no use for any of this. i can’t imagine who does. google hot trends also don’t impress me at all.

cold coffee break
‘progress’ can have a high price. ab fab’s daughter told me that costa rican farmers don’t get to decide for themselves what crops to seed. they drink imported coffee, even though they produce plenty to supply themselves and others. this sucks. big time. everyone should try to supply their local area. our self-preservation instinct should not be surpressed by national or global regulations. even when it’s produced cheaper elsewhere. and so for practical reasons we still need to divide the planet into nations. divide the land that can or can not be used for a variety of things.

yet cultural characteristics dissolve. we become more like each other. we grow a mutual understanding that spites national borders. it doesn’t matter where you’re from. online, we are equal! and i think that is bloody great! it’s a miracle. like the steam power, electricity. the plane, the phone, laser, what have you. now, an amazingly smooth transport of data. so smooth that it empowers our relations all over the world. as a consequence, our interesting differences and national idiosyncrasies become less interesting. they kind of have to step aside, so we can get to business. we focus on what we have in common. and i so hope, that we will use our relatively new power tools to speed up fairness in every sense of its meaning. fair trade, good governance. good policies. sustainability. quality art and thought. not to all waste our precious time on this planet looking through chuck norris facts, wrongfully thinking the trend must have a useful point.

a brief corporate status
in the corporate world, we use advanced it-systems to align our efforts (to make the $$ circulate) across borders already. certainly makes reporting a lot less of a hassle. actually… if you do well, there is no need to report at all. the real benefits of transparency have become very clear to me. transparency frees resources. allows you to focus. frees resources to define what you want to do, instead of what you’re already doing. top management (be it yourself or some gray-haired guys whom you trust to know what they’re doing, so much so that you’ve decided to work for them) adds it all up, and decides what to do with the profits (or whatever it adds up to these days). i have enough experience to observe that this is a best practice. when you have all available facts gathered up, or when you judge that you have sufficient, you are armed to make the right decisions. in the right time, i should add. there’s no big mystery to it.

as the facts roll in (be it corporate reports or feeds from peers around the world), you are still obliged to wonder if things can be done even better. this is what makes you invest in development. on making more good ideas a reality, and of meeting demands of a picky market place. and we can. the world is now technologically armed with this ability. the world has gotten so much smaller. we’re using the same systems. we pour data into the same pool. we learn from each other, and educate each other. and take upon us to share. thoughts, ideas, notions. preferably fact-checked insights. we must govern ourselves well. make the right decisions. gather the facts. take good advice, and offer it. and not least, you must take appropriate action. in the areas where your powers matter the most. very much available online. use it.

take in the good, don’t get caught up in the useless
systems can come up with suggestions, you can get ideas on your own. with full access to the world, it’s more important than ever, to pick the good vibes. the good ideas. the sustainable thoughts. of course it will clutter. of course we have a need to share also the ‘useless’ details about our lives… such as what we’re eating, buying, appreciating, fascinated with, and that’s okay. that’s how we get a feel for whom our peers really are. helps us feel normal. human. all right.

i believe it’s human nature to want progress. it certainly is my nature. and technology, the free social platforms in particular, give mankind an enormous potential and humbling power to make the world better. be constructive with what you share. pick the good stuff. try to have a majority of positivity in what you share. be critical, always. but focus on the good. as we pile our interests together, i believe we do want a greener and more sustainable planet. raise your voice for what you believe in. and don’t forget to (trans)act.

tags:act, community, democracy, globalization, twitter

joan marques at articlealley.com is the source of this 5 years old text, free for republishing. it reflects on what i wish to convey. although the title seems misleading as it explicitly doesn’t offer any guidance on how to learn and unlearn the right things, its an unpretentious and useful reflection on one of many facts of life.

The Art of Learning and Unlearning.
Any act at any time is a result of personality, circumstances, learning, and unlearning.

One’s personality is created while growing up. The circumstantial factors will have to be dealt with when they surface. But learning and unlearning are lengthy and ongoing processes. And very confusing and personal ones too! For, as many different teachers as one will encounter in life, as many different teachings will one come across as well.

There will be valuable teachings about the advantages of being thoughtful and conservative. And there will be valuable teachings about the advantages of being fast and radical.

There will be valuable teachings about the advantages of organization. And there will be valuable teachings about the advantages of chaos.

There will be valuable teachings about the advantages of being assertive. And there will be valuable teachings about the advantages of being introverted.

There will be lessons that preach the quality of diversity. And there will be lessons that preach the quality of homogeneity.

There is sense in selectively learning all these things, as much as there is sense in selectively unlearning all these things.

How, then, should one know which lessons are acceptable and which are not? How should one know which lessons should be preserved and which ones should be discarded? No direct answer is possible to that, as it all, again, depends on one’s circumstances and perceptions. Different situations may require entirely opposite approaches for succeeding, while different perceptions may lead different people to make different selections of approaches for similar circumstances.

The art of learning is to know how to be selective. The criteria for selectivity are nurtured by one’s personality. One’s personality, finally, is determined by one’s character, culture, gender and experiences.

No one will therefore be able to provide another with guidelines for the levels or criteria of selecting what parts to learn and what parts to unlearn. It all lies in the center of one’s own being, along with one’s value system, which will tell one “this is what I will remember; this is what I will forget; this is what I will apply; and this is what I will discard.”

Whether, then, one decides to immerse into business, engineering, writing, healing, law-enforcing, or serving in any other way: one will instinctively unpack the perceived proper set of learned minus unlearned behaviors, combined with the perceived proper set of natural behaviors, and one will apply this blend to one’s best capacities.

This, may serve as the proof that any act at any time is a result of personality, circumstances, learning, and unlearning.

It has been this way so far; it will be this way forever.

tags:act, learning, unlearning

i’ve been enjoying my annual winter retreat in tobago for the past 2 weeks. thank you god, for blessing me in this way! tobago is a gorgeous caribbean island in the republic of trinidad & tobago, and i was there with my ab fab o. not much is going on in tobago, i can report. days flew, as a simple activity such as getting refreshments on the beach can be a long walk between waiting for coffee to boil or for shop owners to return from their naps. people seem to work as much as they need to, to get by. no more, no less. so if the fish is quickly caught and sold, why go fish for another? if there is a cold beer somewhere in the immediate neighborhood, why the heck not take a sip? no stress, man. big bambu. not halfway stupid! (oh, and btw - there were also many eloquent & hardworking entrepreneurs around. strictly sober. don’t want to overdo the caricature!).

besides the turquoise sea and the voluptuous surroundings, i noted that many houses were only halfway built. or less. and how shops, like the wannabee upholstery above, appeared with merely a promising sign to a business not to be seen. had people gone bankrupt while building? we are after all in a state of financial crisis. neither did the building projects look recent, nor in the becoming. people told me that it is the rule more so than the exception, that no matter how poor people might be, they all own a piece of land. they have an heir. as good as everyone seemed to thrive. well-fed and happy. very friendly and open. that’s how i got all these explanations. the unusual home and business building scenarios i’d witnessed, is the norm. a very efficient way of visualizing your goals, i must say.

a beautifully simple way to stay on track:

the danish national television featured a very special concert in denmark’s brand new concert house last week. it was a result of a great idea born by the highly recognized conductor frans rasmussen (frans, if you see this - i will gladly make you a home page… but i guess you will not see this… because you don’t have a home page). he collected a choir of people from urbanplanen, a new neighborhood next to the national tv’s new location. normal people, average joes. and a couple of average superstars. and he made them sing. perform at a classical concert. finale song was polovetserdanse by alexander borodin. and it left me amazed. with the talent and management skills of frans. with the power of song. with the beauty of amateurs meeting professionals. it sounded really good. i salute the project. r.e.s.p.e.c.t.

another wonderful story i saw on national tv was about a guy named erik hohwu, a doctor on emergency duty whose heart had bled for street prostitutes once too many. in his own words, he can’t bring them home in his pocket to save them, but felt that he had something to give. so he arranged a festive fund raiser for reden, a place that helps the prostitutes and encourage them to get clean and change direction. it’s a win-win! the party is in copenhagen on 3 locations, on february 21st and you can join it for 500,- DKK.

following the news item, a sociologist commented that giving has become a mega-trend! i think that’s much better than having the g connected to a generation. we don’t really need all of these labels anyhow. we don’t need the clever analysis. we need to join the great givers’ celebrations of life and surplus. and have a great life while doing so.

tags:appreciation, community, generousity, management, music, party, trends

g for generation. trendwatching’s february theme is all about giving. and its definately worth your time to dig into this great article, generation g, as it encapsulates the greatest trends that stem from freeconomics:

1. CO-DONATE 2. ECO-GENEROSITY 3. FREE LOVE 4. BRAND BUTLERS

5. PERKONOMICS 6. TRYVERTISING 7. RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS (RAK) 8. (F)RIGID NO MORE

i couldn’t be happier than to belong to a generation with a mindset for sharing, caring and openness, instead of doing business behind closed, if not clogged up, doors. i am happy to see these movements become mainstream, as they enter into what was previously considered the traditional way of doing business (by this i refer to corporations that don’t center around an online presence). their moment is now… to be “#¤%”#¤ funky!

yesterday, i watched an interview with tom dixon who gave away chairs on trafalgar square. that’s applied freeconomics for you! how much pr did that fuel? how many chairs and tables were subsequently sold? what did this do for tom dixon as a brand? a lot!

today is january 20th of 2009! a historic date. congratulations to the US of A - and thus to us all - that we have gotten a true leader in office! go obama, o is for optimism! get busy! generation g supports any clever move you make for this world to be a better one!

tags:freeconomics, generousity, marketing, obama, trends

web guru henriette weber (yes, i’m officially a disciple! she made an ism!) wrote the e-book: why every company should be a rockband. it’s cute, short, simple and with a powerful message that salutes passion-driven and sustainable companies. she asks:

Wouldn’t it be great if the place we worked made us feel more like rock stars and less as cockroaches?

and answers with the managerial advice; to embrace chaos and anarchy instead of being overseers & master mechanics… and that employees should start to think differently about their own instruments, so to speak. everyone wants to be happy. well, here connected to cool. acknowledged. worshipped. accepted… as part of the group. companies need to change their mindset, their ways of doing and understanding business. change… into being truly sustainable and to have a real wish to make a difference. not just clean up their own mess, but to give back to society. so much so, that the employees cockroaches rock star potential will shed their blood in the company’s name cause. that’s sustainable. amen!

the reason you should be bothered, henriette says, obviously, is that the more involvement you throw in, the better the result. i agree. and of course, henriette is not the only guru to sing this song; from aristotle to seth godin, the clever ones agree: strive to do the right thing and you will become excellent. if you bother to do it, you may as well do it to the utmost of your abilities. that’s what being a rock star means! and we should all sing in the clever people’s choir!

this makes me feel extra happy that the team building session i recently joined at my new work place evolved around singing. yes, singing. first we all sang together. then each person had to sing in front of everyone else, while the rest of us provided the rhythm, the beat, the support and the back-up vocals. everybody joined in with their voice, their feet, their hands, their good attitude. now, i’ve heard at least, the team has initiated a company choir. i am so in. they are so cool! work without passion means that your prime hours of the day is without passion. why save the energy for the sports results? why not let your work and the rest of your life ingredients nourish each other?

even if your boss is an idiot, or even worse/ better, if you are an idiotic boss yourself, i say raise your voice, unpack your instrument, play the “#¤% triangle as its never been played before, if that’s what you have! (although i today learned that every person holds a huge layered tool box and to not settle with just a few items from the top layer. one mighty fine metaphor. perhaps there’s an oversize drum set for each of us to bang right underneath!)

a rock band can be formed in many ways - sometimes it just takes one star to get the music going! yet stars shed light! download henriette’s why every company should be a rock band (it’s free, yeah!) for inspiration to go shine!

tags:henriette weber, modern management, passion, rockbandism, sustainability