This is Part II, also the final part, in continuation of an earlier post, illustrating an excellent piece of intellectual cogitation from Dilip Mukerjea.

An excellent piece of intellectual cogitation from Dilip Mukerjea to share with readers. This is Part 1. Part II follows in the next post.

CHAMPIONING STUDENTS: FOCUSING ON FUTURE-READINESS

[continuation from the Last Post ~ in connection with the recent launch of a series of new programs intended for parents as well as their school-going kids/teens, under the auspices of 'The House of Creative Brains'.]


Understanding "life skills" must always come first before one can really excel in "study skills".

Our rationale is that, once a student is exposed to "life skills" training, whereby he learns to exercise self-responsibility for his own personal life ["Do not lay blame"; 'Do not justify"; "Do not whine & wimp out!"], & also learn to take control of the future to make it happen for himself or herself, he or she is then more inclined to view "studying" as part & parcel of the journey of life.

The necessary "study skills" which he is expected to acquire will, thus fall in place very nicely, within the larger picture of his overall skills repertoire.

In his myriad programs, Dilip's "life skills" training incorporates developing future-readiness, building personal resiliency & understanding the imperatives of "Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail' philosophy.

A broad spectrum of '21st Century Learning Skills' as defined by leading educational experts & thinkers with the support of several large corporate sponsors (including Apple, Dell, Microsoft) permeates all Dilip's programs.

In a nut shell, it encompasses:

i) Learning & Innovation Skills;

[(a) Creativity & Innovation: thinking creatively; working creatively with others; implementing innovation; (b) Critical Thinking & Problem Solving: reasoning effectively; using systems thinking; making judgments & decisions; solving problems; (c) Comunication & Collaboration: comunicating clearly; collaborating with others;]

ii) Information/Media/Technology Skills;

[(a) Information Literacy: accessing & evaluating information; using & managing information; (b) Media Literacy: analysing media; creating media products; (c) Information, Comunication & Technology: applying technology effectively;]

iii) Life & Career Skills;

[(a) Flexibility & Adaptability: adapting to change; being flexible; (b) Initiative & Self-Direction: managing goals & priorities; working independently, being self-directed learners; (c) Social & Cross-Cultural Skills: interacting effectively with others; work effectively in diverse teams; (d) Productivity & Accountability: managing projects; producing results; (e) Leadership & Responsibility: guiding & leading others; being responsible to others;]

Learning the mechanics of the above will help you to understand better why you should always take an investment approach to your own education:

~ Your Future is in Your Hands;

I like to share with readers an axiom which I had picked up - I can't recall from whom - during the early years of my career in the corporate world. It goes something like this:

"There is no future in any job out there; the only future lies in you."

I think it sums up very well what I want to say here.

Nonetheless, I also like to throw in another axiom from American statesman Benjamin Franklin who once shared his wise thoughts about the value of investing in one's own education, as follows:

"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."

~ Your Habits Determine Your Future!

Frankly, I can't seem to find the source of the following adage, but it sums up very well what I want to say here too:

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words; choose your words, for they become actions; understand your actions, for they become habits; study your habits, for they become your character; develop your character, for it becomes your destiny."

In his wonderful book, 'Unleashing Genius', Dilip shares a fascinating technique - he calls it, 'Thought Streaming'. Go & read the book.

[to be continued in the Next Post.]

[For more information about the series of new programs under 'The House of Creative Brains', please get in touch with Ms. Faye Yeoh via her email faye_yeoh@yahoo.com.

Readers can also pop into the US-based 'Partnership for 21st Century Skills' for more detailed information about 21st century readiness for every student.

Additionally, I recommend readers to read '21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times', by Bernie Trilling & Charles Fadel.]

A SNEAK PREVIEW - SORRY, ONLY THE COVERS - OF DILIP MUKERJEA'S LATEST INTELLECTUAL MASTERPIECES FOR KIDS & TEENS

Dilip Mukerjea will be releasing shortly his latest labour of love, a trilogy of highly-focused books for kids & teens, ranging from Primary 1 to Junior College, in conjunction with the 'World's Most Powerful Learning Systems'.

Here is a sneak preview of the book covers.

Each book has been meticulously crafted with intellectually stimulating contents, full-colour illustrations as well as playful exercises to equip kids & teens with the necessary learning tools & strategies to be future-savvy.




Please stay tuned!

Nonetheless, a Quick Note: If you are a visionary investor, &/or a transformation architect, &/or a possibility coagulator with the intended view of entering the educational marketspace, the foregoing trilogy of books may serve readily as your springboard.

Interested parties are welcome to write to Dilip Mukerjea at dilipmukerjea@gmail.com

10 TRUTHS ABOUT THE FUTURE

The following are my take-aways from an expert advisory by futurist, trends & innovation strategist Jim Carroll, whose two wonderful books have been reviewed in my weblog as well as on Amazon.com:

1) It’s incredibly fast, with collapsing product life cycles;

2) It involves a huge adaptability gap, due to accelerating change;

3) It has a huge instantaneity, as we live in a rapid idea cycle era;

4) It hits you most when you don’t expect it - understand hype cycles;

5) It's being defined by renegades & insurgents;

6) It involves partnership with customers, suppliers, facilitators & other stakeholders;

7) It involves intensity, like playing video-games;

8) It’s bigger than you think - there's danger in the comfort zone;

9) It involves innovation intensity from everyone in the organisation;

10) It comes from experiential capital - learning, unlearning & relearning;

[Jim Carroll wrote 'What I Learned from Frogs in Texas: Saving Your Skin with Forward-Thinking Innovation' & 'Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast'.]

TEN NEW LEADERSHIPS SKILLS FOR A VOLATILE, UNCERTAIN, COMPLEX & AMBIGUOUS WORLD

Having read sociologist-turned-futurist Bob Johansen's earlier book, entitled 'Get There Early: Sensing the Future to Compete in the Present', about two years ago, I am naturally attracted to read his latest book, entitled 'Leaders Make The Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World'.

Besides understanding the 'Foresight to Action' cycle as well as the proven anticipatory management methodology, originally developed by the Institute for Future (reportedly the only futures think-tank to outlive its forecasts), where he had served as President & CEO from 1996 to 2004, to deal with the challenges of a "volatile, uncertain, complex & ambiguous" (VUCA) world, I am impressed by his personal insights as well as professional wisdom on anticipating & making the future.

I certainly like the way he demystifies the forecasting process. On top of that, I also like his clear distinctions between problem solving & dilemma sense-making as well as flipping.

[Actually, his 'What's Different about Dilemmas?' & 'It Takes a Story to Understand a Dilemma' in the earlier book are marvellous pieces of original thought.

As a matter of fact, for me, the author's apt use of Frank Stockton's short story (1882), 'The Lady, or the Tiger', in the earlier book is a superb tale of dilemma & ambiguity.]

Although he continues to backtrack in his new book, i.e still touching on old grounds already covered in the earlier book, especially the VUCA perspectives, I nonetheless have enjoyed reading his artful exposition of the ten new leadership skills, which leaders need to create the future.

They certainly made my day.

Here is a quick summary:

1. Maker Instinct: The ability to exploit your inner drive to build and grow things, as well as connect with others in the making.

2. Clarity: The ability to see through messes and contradictions to a future that others cannot see. Leaders are very clear about what they are making, but very flexible about how it gets made.

3. Dilemma Flipping: The ability to turn dilemmas – which, unlike problems, cannot be solved – into advantages and opportunities.

4. Immersive Learning Ability: The ability to immerse yourself in unfamiliar environments; to learn from them in a first-person way.

5. Bio-Empathy: The ability to see things from nature’s point of view; to understand, respect, and learn from nature’s patterns.

6. Constructive Depolarizing: The ability to calm tense situations where differences dominate and communication has broken down – and bring people from divergent cultures toward constructive engagement.

7. Quiet Transparency: The ability to be open and authentic about what matters to you – without advertising yourself.

8. Rapid Prototyping: The ability to create quick early versions of innovations, with the expectation that later success will require early failures.

9. Smart Mob Organizing: The ability to create, engage with, and nurture purposeful business or social change networks through intelligent use of electronic and other media.

10. Commons Creating: The ability to seed, nurture, and grow shared assets that can benefit other players – and sometimes allow competition at a higher level.

Interestingly, the author repeats his earlier innovative way of using the inside or flipside of the jacket cover to give a visually-appealing global overview of all the important stuff from the book.

For me, the last chapter of the book aka 'Conclusion: Readying Yourself for the Future' is my personal favourite, because he has included a full spectrum of probing questions to help the reader to personalise the ten new leadership skills.

I have one suggestion for the interested reader, prior to reading this book:

Please go to the 'Appendix' first, & rate yourself on each of the future skills [or go to this link to do it online]; then proceed to turn the jacket inside out to read the global overview, before actually settling down to read the book in its entirety.

In conclusion, I must say that this is a masterclass on strategic anticipation. If you are looking for a myriad of strategic tools to enhance your anticipatory prowess, for both career & daily life, this is one good book to read.

From the reading standpoint, the author's writing style is very clear, succinct & easy-going.

For companion reading, at least from my perspective, this book will go very well with Prof Howard Gardner's 'Five Minds for the Future', as well as strategist Bill Welter's 'The Prepared Mind of a Leader: Eight Skills Leaders Use to Innovate, Make Decisions, & Solve Problems'.

BOOK REVIEW: 'FUTURE SAVVY', by Adam Gordon

[Extracted from the 'Optimum Performance Technologies' weblog.]

While reviewing this book, my curious mind somehow retrogresses to the early eighties, which had given me my first exciting encounter with strategic management, more specifically, the domain of planning & forecasting.

I was then involved in corporate planning & research of a Malaysian conglomerate based in Singapore.

I recall my first introductory book, among a few others (including George Steiner's 'Strategic Planning'), to help me understand & appreciate the basics of horizontal scanning, was actually Francis Aguilar's 'Scanning the Business Environment'. It was in fact my excellent field guide for many years.

Since then, I had become very fascinated by the subject of planning & forecasting, venturing into new ancillary fields like futurology or future studies, trend tracking, even after I had left the corporate world in the early nineties.

I had even joined the World Future Society & other learned institutions to gain more access to available resources.

From that subsequent period onward, all the way right up to even today, as part of my own strategy consulting as well as personal development, I began to develop a deep interest in state-of-the-art stuff like anticipatory management & developing strategic foresight.

Over the ensuing years, I have amassed, read & digested a whole gamut of good books as well as interesting articles, including watching webcasts & listening to podcasts.

It has never dawn on me that all the books on exploring the future & intelligence gathering, which I have now acquired in my personal library, could be placed on a continuum, just for the purpose of seeing where all the books stand syntopically, until recently:

- at one end, I have acquired the books that pertain to the broader methodologies of "exploring the future & scanning the horizon", e.g. 'The Art of the Long View' (Peter Schwartz), 'Strategic Foresight: Standing in the Future' (Nick Marsh), 'Futuring: The Exploration of the Future' (Edward Cornish), 'Thinking about the Future' (Peter Bishop), & including the works of Alvin Toffler, John Naisbitt, James Canton, Kees van der Heijden, Edie Weiner & Arnold Brown, Richard Slaughter, Peter Drucker, Joel Arthur Barker, Jennifer James, Margot Cairnes, Chantell Ilbury & Clem Sunter, just to name a few;

- at the other end, I have acquired the books that pertain to the tools of "sculpting information into informed decisions, & in turn, shaping the latter into incisive actions, with the effective use of technology", e.g. 'Information Management for the Intelligent Organisation' (Chun Wei Choo), 'InfoThink' (Mary Park), 'Info-Sense' (Keith Devlin), 'The Warning Solution' (Kristan Wheaton), 'Inside Information' (DVL Smith), 'Hearing the Voice of the Market' (Vincent Barabba), & including the works of Benjamin Gilad, George Day, Paul Schoemaker, Bob Johansen, Alain Martin, Frederick Timmerman, Thomas Buckholtz, just to name a few;

Standing back, with 'Future Savvy' right in front of me, I somehow feel very strongly that the author, Adam Gordon, has done a great job of more or less plugging the imaginary gap between the two perceived extremes, & thus pulling & tugging the twain together, resulting in an offering with the best of both worlds, so to speak.

More signifcantly, the author has provided us with a deliberate & disciplined critical thinking routine for coping with a rapidly-changing world.

I have really enjoyed perusing 'Future Savvy', especially for its battery of critical tests to evaluate the validity - also, exercise quality control & ensure 'future-fit' (between our strategic initiatives & the world out there) - of information from the torrential myriad of sources, like newspapers, economic insights from TV stations, conference presentations, industry papers, etc.

For me, I have found my favourite chapters to be those towards the second half of the book, from chapter 7 to 11.

As a matter of fact, I reckon that the last chapter, Chapter 11, offering the well-thought 'forecast filtering' checklist, together with the preceding chapter, Chapter 10, covering many case examples of application, is actually worth the price of the entire book.

I also appreciate the author's many fine distinctions, e.g. future-aligning vs future-influencing forecasting, point forecasts vs multiple scenarios, the dynamics of system variables in a forecast, maintaining a wise balance between uncertainty/complexity & quantitative modeling, etc.

In a nut shell, the author has shown in great detail how to come up with realistic predictive statements, so as to dovetail or resonate in some way with our particular circumstances, fortuitous timing & even good fortune, which often play into eventual outcomes.

The book is almost written like a scholarly exposition, but the author, fortunately, doesn't bother the reader with historical facts & theoretical perspectives often found in forecasting books.

With succinctness & clarity, he goes straight into the jugular to help readers to identify the factors that most often derail the potentially good predictive process.

His principal premise is very clear from the start: "Forecasts are a crucial decision-making success resource . . . but these forecasts are often badly done or done with a purpose to influence the future (i.e. not to neutrally predict it.) . . ."

He argues that, as decision-makers, we "need to be able to judge how good a forecast is – so as to know how to or whether to factor it into our world view".

Also, again as decision makers, we "need to be able to critically judge which predictive statements are worth planning for & investing in".

To end this review, I must qualify that this book does not supercede or diminish the importance of all the other book resources I have highlighted earlier. Those mentioned books are worth pursuing on their own, especially if you are like me, always wanting to have a clearer view of the future.

To take a creative cue from creativity guru Michael Hewitt-Gleeson from Down Under, a BVS (better view of the situation) > (greater than; which is measured as a ten times by this author;) CVS (current view of the situation).

From my perspective, both as a consumer & a practitioner, Adam Gordon's 'Future Savvy' is definitely a highly useful & much-needed addition to the strategy repertoire of a 21st century manager.

[Incidentally, more information about Adam Gordon & his work can be found at his corporate website or personal weblog.

Also, very interestingly, he has acknowledged in his book that Peter Bishop, author of 'Thinking about the Future: Guidelines for Strategic Foresight', another wonderful book from my perspective, especially for its 115 superb guidelines, as his teacher & mentor for many years.

More information about the latter book can be found at this link.]

WHERE DO YOU POSITION YOURSELF ON THIS MATRIX?

This particular matrix has been created by Dilip Mukerjea in his book, 'Brain Symphony: Brain-blazing Practical Techniques in Creativity for Immediate Application'.

He poses this pertinent question to readers:

Where do you position yourself on the matrix?

The answer you have in your mind will serve as an interesting perspective of your future orientation.

I have in fact mentioned to Dilip that his matrix reminded me of an almost similar matrix, but with a twist, from futurist Joel Arthur Barker in his debut book during the mid-eighties, entitled 'Discovering the Future: The Business of Paradigms'.

Using Dilip's matrix as a reference, just replace:

- "Metagrobolised" with "Problem Solving";

- "Masterful" with "Opportunity Finding";

- "Moronic" with "Reaction";

- "Mastermind" with "Anticipation";

& you have Joel Arthur Barker's original matrix.

In a nutshell, & according to Joel Arthur Barker, in order to anticipate - & shape - our future, we need to head in the direction of "Matchless", just as Dilip has originally envisaged.

[All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

ARE YOU FUTURE-READY?

Start a Learning Journal, in which you record your evolution, where, at a minimum, ...

Every Day YOU:

• learn three new words

• read one new article

• write a paragraph on anything

• draw something (1) that is in front of you (2) from your imagination

• learn three items of general knowledge

• get three new ideas on how to improve something

• meet new people

• be kind to people, plants, animals, and to our planet

• think happy thoughts (say ‘I love you’ to the world)

• review all the items that you have recorded in your journal

• perform at least one good deed! and integrate the above steps into a business strategy for continual returns on innovation!

Ask yourself the following questions:

• In what ways am I a business innovator? What expertise have I gained? What tools am I equipped with?

• Do I have access to innovation role models? Are there any innovation senseis in my organisation who will nurture me, and help me to ignite innovation?

• Does my company culture encourage experimentation? If so, how feasible is it for me to get financial support to pursue my ideas? How many levels of bureaucracy would I have to go through?

• Is expertise in innovation a core component of my job description? Does a part of my compensation depend on my innovation performance?

• Do my organisation’s management processes support my efforts as an innovator, or hinder it?

• Can I confidently declare that my organisation has established an all-encompassing, corporate-wide innovation system?

If your answer is NO to any of these questions, start doing something about it!

[Excerpted from the 1st subscription issue of 'Igniting Innovation', in The Braindancer Series of bookazines, by Dilip Mukerjea. All images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

BUREAUCREATIVE, NOT BUREAUCRATIC!

Dilip Mukerjea & I share a lot in common:

- we are engineers by training;

- we have been globe-trotters in our own ways;

- we are voracious readers;

[That's how Catherine & I met Dilip during the mid-nineties, as we had then owned a bookstore. Dilip happened to find us by chance one day. When he stepped into our store for the first time, he was overwhelmed by all the great stuff, & subsequently, was made poorer by more than a thousand dollars! That's also why Dilip always remember Catherine.];

- we are fellow explorers in the field of creativity & innovation;

- more importantly, we like to urge corporations & professionals, to be changeable & change-ready!

The way we see it, they have two options:

- they can stand still, & wait to see what happens; or

- they can charge ahead with an eye on the future!

In reality, they can’t afford to stand still, because, as one futurist (Peter Bishop?) once said:

“Change is uncertain, but stagnation is fatal.”

In fact, Dilip Mukerjea poses a very pertinent question to drive home the urgency:

Are you killing yourself or are you skilling yourself?

We both strongly believe that, with creativity & innovation as our intellectual trampoline, so to speak, we can learn to deal with the future.

Developing change-readiness, mental flexibility, & operational agility is imperative in order for all us to stay relevant with changing times, & not to be made extinct by turbulent changes that come our way.

The two Scandinavian strategy consultants, Yves Doz & Mikko Kosonen, have brilliantly illustrated the urgency by introducing the term, "strategic agility", in their excellent book, 'Fast Strategy: How Strategic Agility will Help you Stay Ahead of the Game'.

Many years earlier, Mercer Management Consulting, through the great works of their former VPs, Adrian Slywotzky & Robert Duboff, had introduced their unique term, "strategic anticipation".

I particularly like foresight strategist & scenario planner Adam Gordon's latest fancy term: "future savvy".

Come to think of it, 'Innovate or Evaporate!' rings very true! I reckon it becomes more urgent for companies & their CEOs to move their butts, because elephants are slow to dance.

At this juncture, I like to share with readers a few selected excerpts from the book, 'Surfing the Intellect: Building Intellectual Capital for a Knowledge Economy', by Dilip Mukerjea:

"Perspectives for the New Millennium:

Are you relevant to the future or relegated to the past?

The world is changing economically, culturally, socially, politically, technologically, environmentally, and competitively.

Every individual must change in step with these world changes.

So must corporations and the human capital within them.

Unless you are prepared for all these scenarios, you are prepared for none of them. Ask yourself, are you busy preparing for a set of careers that will soon be obsolete?

We need creativity and innovation to live in a world where multiple realities have become the norm. Yet, each set of multiple realities poses a challenge, because no two people occupy the same slice of consciousness about anything.

We just do not occupy the same knowledge space, often seeking refuge in our private sanctuaries of specialisation.

Skills in creativity equip us with the capacity to succeed in the future. If we fail, it is because of a failure of imagination in the present. More than ever, you’ve got to aim for what you can’t expect to get. The marketspace of commerce has become a single global bazaar.

To be a viable player in this marketspace, we need to develop intellectual capital skills.

This means creativity, innovation, leadership, verbal and visual literacy, team play, and humanity towards one another.

Are you in the forefront of innovation, or have you receded into the white noise of your organisation’s background?

If it is the latter, consider getting outside the box so as to get inside the solution. We must integrate our diverse needs as members of today’s share of consciousness.

These are exciting times, ones that electrify a creative world where we are witness to collisions of chaos.

The Forces of Creation:

Combinations are spark plugs for creative combustion. An item by itself is a unilateral entity ~ filled with potential, but static, until it meets another. Then whoosh! Creativity!

All of us harbour forces within us. Within the vast ocean of consciousness, we have it in us to set loose a groundswell that can explode into mighty waves of unstoppable magnitude.

When we surf along these waves of human dynamism, our destination becomes inevitable. Often unplanned, serendipitously, we reach the shores of wonder. Such terrains, alive with infinite waves of potential, define the human intellect.

May the rhythm of your spirit create a song in your heart. May you never be the same!

Bureaucreative Perspectives:

Ideas are the raw material from which financial results are made.

Research exhibits the alarming fact that two-thirds of the companies listed on the inaugural Fortune 500 list in 1954 had either vanished or were no longer big enough to make the list on its fortieth anniversary. Why?

Lack of ideas to navigate through the shoals of change.

The world of ideas is emerging from the womb of creativity.

Metaphorically, it has been likened to a new tennis ball — fuzzy, but with a lot of bounce. This New World is becoming less fuzzy every day, but with a lot more bounce. Isn’t it time to knock the fuzz off the tennis ball?

"The things we fear most in organizations -- fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances -- are the primary sources of creativity." ~ Margaret J. Wheatley

Today’s corporate world is filled with executives that want someone to give them plug-and-play answers. How many such executives can you recognise in your organisation?

The future of middle management is extinction. Are the symptoms visible in your organisation? Are you becoming fossilised?

“Ideas have power by themselves. They can accumulate without travelling through an institution, and then suddenly explode.” — Michael Brown, CFO Microsoft

"The person who can combine frames of reference and draw connections between ostensibly unrelated points of view is likely to be the one who makes the creative breakthrough." — Denise Shekerjian

"Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training." — Anna Freud

Thomas Stewart writes that half of what a freshman engineering student learns is obsolete by the time she graduates; the obsolescence of electronics knowledge is so fast that techies use the phrase “Internet years” the way children say “dog years.”

Liam Fahey, a professor at Babson College and a stalwart of the Strategic Leadership Forum, likes to pose the following question: “How long will it take before half the knowledge you need in your job is obsolete?” If he poses it to a group, a third of the audience members usually say that the half-life of their knowledge is less than two years, another third that it’s less than five years.

Like money in a mattress, says Hugh Macdonald, “intellectual capital is useless unless it moves. It’s no good having some guy who is very wise and sits alone in a room.”

This is totally applicable to the world of ideas … ‘bureaucratic’ needs to make way for ‘bureau-creative’!!!

Getting results from investing in creativity requires a corporate culture that allows it to flow freely. This simply means scrapping rules that stifle new ideas."

Well, you just got to read the entire book to make yourself more creative & recreative.

As the author puts it:

"This book incorporate a spectrum of contemporary applications designed to meet today's corporate & educational needs. The vast repertoire of knowledge & techniques cater to our diverse areas of performance. We now know that our primary source of wealth lies in the development of intellectual capital. You will find the ingredients between these pages."

[For readers' information: Adrian Slywotzky wrote 'Profit Patterns: 30 Ways to Anticipate & Profit from Strategic Forces Reshaping Your Business'; Robert Duboff, 'Market Research Matters: Tools & Techniques for Aligning Your Business'; Adam Gordon, 'Future Savvy: Identifying Trends to Make Better Decisions, Manage Uncertainty, & Profit from Change '. All my personal favourites!]