EMBRACING FAILURE AS A STRATEGIC MODEL

I have had actually written this blog piece several years ago, in response to an email exchange with award-winning innovator and also author of  Innovate or Die: A Personal Perspective on the Art of Innovation, by Dr Jack V Matson.

It was in connection with the concept of  'Intelligent Fast Failure', or IFF, which he had orginally conceived in the early nineties, as part of the engineering curriculum design for The Penn State University (The Leonard Center for Innovation & Enhancement of Engineering Education.

He had sought my personal views, by posing the following questions:

- what is your experience with the IFF concept?

- has it been difficult for others to grasp?

- do you know of people who have used it successfully? if so, how? in what ways?

I have had  come to realise, with a little bit of wisdom on hindsight, that my broad understanding of the IFF concept came from few major strands, prior to reading his wonderful book, 'The Art of innovation: Using Intelligent Fast Failure', which was the precursor to Innovate or Die.

#1) Over the years, reading the life stories of inventive minds like Thomas Edison, Alexander Grapham Bell, The Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, Albert Einstein, Paul MacCready, James Dyson, as well as entrepreneurial minds like Richard Branson, Sim Wong Hoo (Creative Technology), Ronald Sim (OSIM), etc., especially understanding how they had dealt with various failures in their own unique ways;

#2) from the 'Money & You' seminar in Adelaide, Australia, during the early nineties, from where I had learned of the "axiom": 

"The greatest failure in life is the failure to participate in your own life."

#3) reading about the global iconoclast and futurist R Buckminster Fuller and his great work, especially when he had chosen to dedicate halff of a century of his remaining life to working for global humanity, as documented in his wonderful book, 'Critical Path' as well as manifested in many of his patented artefacts e.g. geodesic dome, Dymaxion map, just to name a few. 

It was actually his  personal experiment as 'Guinea Pig B' (B for Bucky as he was affectionately known to most people); one of his "axioms" stood out, among many others:

"There are no failed experiments; only unexpected outcomes".

[Note: Bucky had failed miserably in several business ventures. In fact, he had also failed to honour his last personal commitment to his daughter, who later died in his arms, as he had spent too much time boozing.]

#4) eventually reading Dr Matson's 'The Art of Innovation', from which I had picked up two superb insights:

i) move as quickly as possible from new ideas to new knowledge, by making small & manageable mistakes (read: "learning experiences");

ii) keeping multiple experiments going on simultaneously that require minimal investment with the idea that one of these might bloom first;

I also took the opportunity to point out to Dr Matson that, while most "successful" people had approached "learning from failures" as launch pads for renewed actions after the "failures" had happened, he had established "embracing failures" as a strategic mental model to allow people to fail forward and fast in an intelligent and fearless manner.

That's to say, his IFF concept is proactive and anticipatory. That's the distinction I see.

On that note, and with all the understanding that I had gained from the foregoing exposures, I had started my small post-corporate-world ventures during the early nineties, as follows in one go:

- promoting seminars from overseas;
- writing a subscription newsletter;
- setting up a small book store;
- creating a strategy consulting business;

Sadly, my first two ventures ran only for about two years, and ceased immediately after that, but the knowledge and experience gained allowed me to try out the design and development of my own seminars and workshops, which went off well, following a slow start.

Then, the foregoing change, plus the remaining two ventures, became my "bread & butter" lines.

Frankly, as I had told Dr Matson in my response that, I don't think it would be difficult for people to grasp the concept of using "failures as learning experiences", or "bouncing back from failures", so to speak, but whether they could understand the distinction from his orginal IFF concept would be something else.

As a nation, at least from my personal perspective, I reckon Singapore had been a great example of the "embracing failures to move forward" philosophy, especially when Singapore was kicked out of the then Malaysian confederation in mid-1965, and also when the British colonial forces pulled out completely in the early 70s or so.

The complete historical events had already been documented in Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's memoirs, From Third World to First: The Singapore Story 1965 to 2000.

As for the knowledge of individuals from the "failures as stepping stones to success" perspective, I told Dr Matson that the published stories of:

- the Malaysian businessman Billi Lim in his book, Dare to Fail;

- the late Malaysian entrepreneur Lim Goh Tong, of the Genting Group, in his autobiography, My Story; and

- the chairman of global technology outfit Creative Technology, Sim Wong Hoo, in his semi-autobiography, Chaotic Thoughts from the Old Millennium;

would be worth pursuing.

Dr Matson was delighted with my response. He wrote back:

"Thank you so much for your insightful response. You placed IFF in exactly the correct context. 

Many others have commented on failure and its meaning in retrospect.

 As you point out, my spin is a proactive embracing approach to failure as the price of knowledge aquisition."

In reality, as I thought about it further, 'Intelligent Fast Failure' is in fact a rapid learning methodology.

Unlike our traditional school system, where we learn the lesson first, & then take the test . . . with IFF, as applied in the real world, one takes the test first, in order to get the lesson.

In layman terms, this is often known as the "university of hard knocks".

As a strategic model for a venture, irrespective of whether it is business or professional or even personal, it nonetheless takes personal courage in dealing with the perceived fear of failure, a strong conviction in self-efficacy, and most importantly, the personal willingness to play, explore and experiment in its execution.

Drawing from my own personal experience, I reckon another defining factor is the focus on primary objectives set out at the beginning of the venture, with the added operational flexibility in the final approach to reaching those objectives amidst unexpected changing circumstances.

Dilip Mukerjea has had dedicated an entire 288-page  book to Singapore, and more specifically, to the memory of her  founder and former Premier Lee Kuan Yew. 

The book is entitled Manifesto for Singapore: Learning Metropolis of the World.

Here are some excerpts:

This is in continuation of my numerous earlier posts about developing an opportunity-sensitive mindset, in particular reference to a series of viewpoint strategies:

This is Viewpoint Strategy ~ SEEING (FROM) ABOVE:

The founding father of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew called this phenomenon as 'having the helicopter ability'.

It means having the ability to rise above and to see the entire forest, instead of seeing only one or two trees.

Oftentimes, we are too close to an issue, or problem or challenge, we just don't see the opportunities lurking inside it. 

Therefore, we must learn to rise above the issue and learn to see the larger picture of what is happening around us, and not get bogged down by trivial stuff.

The ability to see not only the forest and the trees, but also a big picture view is what’s important for a growing business or even a professional on the rise.

It is sometimes referred to as “systems thinking”, a concept which was first implemented in the 20th Century by Royal Dutch Shell Company, who had noticed that their most successful managers all possessed this skill.

Being able to see the wholes, to spot the inter-relationships, to view things with a wide perspective and a larger context is extremely important for planning a strategy and, even more, for executing it properly.

So how does one develop the helicopter view skill?

Well, it takes a bit of imagination and climbing a ladder of abstractions.

First of all, “zoom out” from the current situation – step back from short-term and urgent problems and concentrate on seeing the whole project view.

Second, think about the present situation from a five or ten-year perspective. Imagine different scenarios for the future, and draw strategies around them.

Finally, repeat the previous steps regularly. This helps you keep the right course during your strategy formulation process, while still keeping the details in sight.

Godspeed, and stay tuned, folks, for the next Viewpoint Strategy!

[Interesting Note: One consultant even coins a 'Space Shuttle Perspective' for a more expansive and extensive view from above.]

DISCIPLINE: THE BRIDGE BETWEEN GOALS/DREAMS AND ACCOMPLISHMENT

I understand that this fine quote attributed to senior statesman Lee Kuan Yew:

"If you want to reach your goals and dreams, you cannot do it without discipline."

is a permanent fixture at the main lobby of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy on the campus of the National University of Singapore.

To me, discipline is the bridge between goals or dreams and accomplishment.

CREATIVE THINKING AND THE BANANA

Our senior statesman Lee Kuan Yew does have a good sense of humour.

Several years ago, when a BBC reporter questioned him about our draconian laws, e.g. banning chewing gums, and added that they could stifle people's creativity, he was quick to respond appropriately, whether you like it or not:

"If you can't think because you can't chew; try a banana!"

FIRE IN THE BELLY: LESSONS FROM THE MOVIES

Last night, by chance while channel surfing, I made a choice to re-watch once again the adrenalin-pumping action drama, 'XXX' (2002),  on Max cable television in Ho Chi Minh City. In fact, I had re-watched the movie countless times on DVD before, including once in the movie theatre in Singapore.

The entertaining story centred on how Xander Cage (played by Vin Diesel), an extreme sports athlete with a very bad attitude, was recruited by a secret US government outfit, headed by Gibbons (played by Samuel Jackson)  on a special covert mission to gather intelligence on a Prague-based organization that wanted to  destroy the world, led by the crazy dude with a fancy name, Yorgi.

I really enjoyed rewatching the particular segment when he was finally coerced into accepting his unsolicited assignment to help Uncle Sam, as illustrated in the following fascinating dialogue from Gibbons: 

"... You ever watch lions at the zoo? You can always tell which ones were captured in the wild by the look in their eyes. The wild cat. She remembers running across the plain, the thrill of the hunt. Four hundred pounds of killing fury, locked in a box. 

But after a while, their eyes start to glaze over, and you can tell their soul has died. The same thing happens to a man. 

Leavenworth Federal Penetentiary is no joke. 

They'll take a wild man like you and throw him in solitary just for the fun of it. No more mountains to board, no more oceans to surf. Just a 6-by-8 cell with no window and only a bucket to shit in. You can avoid all of that by doing me this small favor... "

Somehow, this wonderful lesson from the movie resonates with another adrenalin-pumping action drama, 'Rocky III' (1982), which I had also re-watched numerous times on DVD.

In the particular movie, world champion boxer Rocky Balboa (played by Sylvester Stallone) was knocked out by the arrogant Clubber Lang (played menacingly by Mr T).  As a result, nobody believed in Rocky anymore, except for one man, former world champion boxer Apollo Creed (played by Carl Weathers). 

The seemingly daunting challenge for Apollo was whether Rocky could regain that hunger in order to get back into the ring as a real fighter.

As Apollo attempted to stimulate Rocky's fighting spirit, and wanted the latter to be back in top-form quickly, the following memorable dialogue segments in the movie, fueled by an equally pulsating signature song/music from the Survivors,  summed up the motivation very well:

Apollo: "... Now, when we fought, you had that eye of the tiger, man; the edge! And now you gotta get it back, and the way to get it back is to go back to the beginning. You know what I mean?... "

Apollo: "... See that look in their eyes, Rock? You gotta get that look back, Rock. Eye of the tiger, man... "

Apollo: "... Damn, Rock, Come on! What's the matter with you?" 
Rocky: "Tomorrow. Let's do it tomorrow." 

Apollo: "There is no tomorrow! There is no tomorrow! There is no tomorrow!"
  

At the end of the movie, Rocky ultimately regained his former self  by  giving his former rival a really brutal lesson,  aptly exemplified by the real-world champion boxer Mike Tyson who once said:

" Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the face!"

The foregoing two insightful lessons somehow bring me back to the eighties to reminisce what senior statesman Lee Kuan Yew, while serving as Prime Minister, had grappled with the crucial issues of cabinet leadership renewal.

He was concerned that the new bunch of young PAP leaders-to-be did not have that "fire in the belly", because they did not go through the ‘baptism of fire’ during an election.

Unfortunately in recent years, to the chagrin of all Singaporean folks, the hot potato of unprecedented ministerial salaries had to a great extent altered the political equation in the country.

Nonetheless, against the backdrop of what I have been talking about in this post, just ask yourself:

"Do you have 'the look of the lion in the wild'"? or

"Do you have 'the eye of the tiger'"? or

"Do you have 'the fire in the belly'"?

For me, as a professional success coach, the three phenomenons basically accentuate the power of purposeful focus, from the tripartite perspectives of mind, body and spirit. 

In a nut shell, I hold the explicit view that it's the mandatory prime driving force for anyone wanting to pursue personal as well as professional excellence.

Think about it.

THE ART OF OF SHIFTING FOCUS & ENHANCING PERCEPTUAL SENSITIVITY

Recently, I have stumbled upon two interesting articles while surfing on the net. That's what I to like to call, serendipity at work!

One is 'The Kaleidoscope Mind: Some Easy Ways to Teach Creativity', by Laura Seargeant Richardson, a principal designer at frog design, a global innovation firm.

In a nut shell, the author defines a "kaleidoscope mind" as "a type of mind that is agile, flexible, self-aware, and informed by a diversity of experiences...

... It's a mind that is able to perceive any given situation from a multitude of perspectives at will - selecting from a rich repertoire of lenses or frameworks...

... a kaleidoscope mind is playful, and it must be able to "see patterns, connections, and relationships that more rigid minds miss... "

The few limited examples highlighted in the article to illustrate a "kaleidoscope mind" are certainly fascinating.

Here the link to the original article in  The Atlantic, 26th November 2011.

The other article is 'To Move Your Business To A Higher Plane, Learn To Play 3-D Chess', by innovation strategist Kaihan Krippendorff. He is also the author of 'OutThink the Competition', among a few other good works.

In the article, the author draws some useful analogies from the fictional 3D game, which Mr Spock had played in exercising his mind, as featured in the 'Star Trek' television series, as well as a piece of strategem from the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, well-known for his 'Sun Tze Bing Fa' or better known internationally as 'The Art of War'.

The author's pertinent point is that, as a business professional, one must always see and think on multiple planes, at least from the standpoint of strategy formulation.

From Sun Tzu, the author advises how business professionals can transpose the three planes of the battlefield to the business arena:

- the "heaven" plane ~ the external marketing environment;

- the "man" plane ~ the internal environment within the company;

- the "ground" plane ~ the other players in the external environment, just like the five forcefields as propounded by global management consultant Michael Porter:

Next, he also throws some provoking questions to help you to plot your strategy from multiple planes:

1. Considering the "Heaven" plane:

What environmental factors should you be preparing for?

Consider four factors:

Macroeconomic trends. What will interest rates and GDP growth rates look like over the next five years?

Societal shifts. How will customer buying behaviors and needs change?

Technological innovations. Will the growth in cloud computing affect your industry? What other industry-specific advances are in the pipeline?

Regulatory shifts. Will regulation grow tighter or loosen in your industry over the next five years?

2. Considering the "Ground" Plane:

What will other players be doing over the next five years and how can you turn these possibilities to your advantage?

Consider at least four types of players:

Competition. Who are your top competitors and what do you think they will be doing over the next five years?

New entrants. What new competitors or competing products/services are likely to enter your market (e.g., from abroad or from another industry)?

Suppliers. How is your industry’s supply chain going to change? Are suppliers getting more powerful or less?

Distributors. Will your dependence on distributors grow or shrink? Will the need for distributors disappear as is happening in so many industries? How will your distributors’ needs and goals change over the next five years?

3. Considering the "Man" plane:

Define who you will be in two ways:

Vision: Describe what your ideal will look like.

Metrics: (this is often the hardest part). What one to three metrics can you use to define if you have achieved your vision? What numbers are consistent with you achieving your vision?

Here's the link to the original article in Fast Company, 22nd November 2011.

In reality, I like to say that the two competent authors have given a new spin to what creativity guru Dr Edward de Bono had broached way back in the sixties or so.

In a nut shell, his central premise in lateral thinking as a tool for finding creative solutions actually boils down to shifting our focus and enhancing our perceptual sensitivity to the world around us.

According to the guru, what we choose to look at and where we direct our attention have a critical bearing on the initial perceptual phase of our productive thinking.  This is because our brain follows only one direction: the direction of our current dominant thought.

So, how do we shift our focus?

By firstly, learning to embrace multiple perspectives, and, secondly, learning to switch between different perspectives, so that we don't get stuck in or from one viewpoint, especially when we are looking at the world out there or looking at a problem right in front of our face.

I recall one very interesting anecdote from Dr Edward de bono's books, but I can't recall which book was that. Nonetheless, for my purpose in this post, it serves as a good illustration of what I am talking about.

During the early years of space exploration, NASA engineers were focused on "developing a pen to write in zero gravity".

They apparently spent a lot of money on the research.

The Soviet engineers had the same dilemma. They were "looking for a writing implement to write in zero gravity".

They eventually found a quick and even a low-cost solution: the pencil.

Did they shift their focus?

Yes, and invariably, shifting focus comes in many forms.

We can take a helicopter view to see the forest, so to speak, or we can spin down for a closer tree-top or even ground-level view. Feeling the pulse of the ground, so to speak.

Or, we can just follow the examples as mentioned in the foregoing two articles.

Alternatively, I would suggest learning from strategy guru Prof Henry Mintzberg, who had propounded about "strategy formulation as a seeing process", way back in the mid-nineties, as follows:

[By the way, he is also the author of 'Strategy Safari', which describes the process.]

- seeing above; [as mentioned earlier, taking the helicopter view](*)

- seeing below; [as mentioned earlier, feeling the ground and exploring root causes]

- seeing sideways; [finding lateral solutions]

- seeing ahead; [making "flash-forward" casting]

- seeing beyond; [creating long-range scenario projections]

(*) Senior statesman Lee Kuan Yew once acknowledged this "perspective", while he was Singapore's Prime Minister for three decades, as "the helicopter ability: the ability to rise above the immediate scene and see it from a total and overall perspective" among his four principal criteria in selecting ministerial candidates for his cabinet.

I recall that Dr Ellen Langer of Harvard University, who wrote the classic, 'Mindfulness', and the 'Power of Mindful Learning', has once offered the following valuable suggestions in shifting focus:

Looking at what’s there  to looking at what’s not there;

Seeking your conclusions  to checking your assumptions;

Examining the various details  to evaluating the overall concept;

Concern about your goals  to regard for the entire process;

Focus on objects  to focus on relationship between objects;

Looking at the object  to looking at the surrounding space;

Listening to what’s said  to discerning what’s not said;

To continue in sustaining the capability of shifting focus, one must also be open-minded to an entirely new way of doing things, like breaking old patterns, making unusual connections, challenging past assumptions, seeking curiosity and novelty, exploring like a kid (but don't be childish), playing with metaphors and analogies, asking naive (and more dumb) questions, respecting uncertainty,  embracing ambiguity and entertaining paradox.

Interestingly, I reckon there is still another route we can take in shifting our focus.

We can use "reframing", which apparently has its origins in neuro-linguistics programming or NLP.

In a nut shell, "reframing" is just a simple process of changing the context or representation of a problem or issue at hand. That's to say, it is "shifting the meaning of" or "changing the way we think about" the problem or issue at hand.

This is because the meaning of anything that come into our path  is found essentially in the mental frame within which we view it.

According to NLP experts, when we perceive something as a problem, that's the message we send to our brain. Then, the brain produces states in our body that make it a reality.

When we change our frame of reference by looking at the same problem from a different viewpoint, we can change our response to it.

More precisely, we can change our perception and/or representation about anything – object, event or process, situation, circumstance, people, idea – by according it a different meaning, and thus, allowing us to take a different approach and giving us new possibilities for the actions that we might take and the responses we might execute.

I will touch on the possible "reframing" strategies, not necessarily from the NLP perspective, which we can take in a separate blogpost, otherwise this blogpost will be too long.

Collectively, all these interesting  ideas and novel approaches as mentioned above are designed to  help one to expand mental horizons as well as to enhance perceptual sensitivity, and the diligent application of the approaches will eventually lead one to the formulation of productive strategies.

Enjoy your exploration and assimilation!

KEEPING MYSELF PHYSICALLY ACTIVE, INTELLECTUALLY ALIVE, & SOCIALLY INTERACTIVE, AS PART OF MY 'RETYRING' IN HO CHI MINH CITY

Ever since I have had the opportunity to read the genius behind "image streaming"  Dr Win Wenger's classic, 'How to Increase Your Intelligence', back in the seventies or so, I have always been fascinated by the power of the human brain, notwithstanding its numerous intricacies and idiosyncracies. 

As a matter of fact, I had even communicated with the genius himself via snail mail as well as fax machine, because I was eager at that time to obtain more material from him, other than those that had already been published. He was very kind to oblige. Thank you, Dr Win Wenger!

By the way, I have had also the opportunity to communicate with Japan's inventor extraordinaire with more than 3,000 patents to his name, Dr Yoshiro Nakamatsu, or better known internationally as Dr Nakamats, who also happens to be a renowned brain expert himself on this side of the world.

Unfortunately, all his published works are available only in the Japanese Language. [Nonetheless, I own two of them, as I can read Chinese, which gives me the facility to read about 50% of what he had written.]

Another brain expert, with whom I am still in touch occasionally, is none other than my 'mentor', Dudley Lynch, President of Brain Technologies Corporation, and author of the classic, 'Your High Performance Business Brain: An Operator's Manual', among other great works, all of which I have had the opportunity to peruse and digest during the mid-eighties, and subsequently in later years.

Since then, I have in fact developed an insatiable thirst - and subsequently, instituted a life-long quest - to acquire and read up all the good books about brain fitness and intelligence amplification.

In my personal library of some 5,000 assorted books, more than 20% are related to optimum brain performance.

Over the years, I have developed my own habitual routines in maximising brain-power, and I naturally have stood on all those brilliant giants well before me.

I like to share with readers what I have explored and synthesised, but first things first.

The brain is our pre-eminent information processor and perpetual idea generator. It is already hard-wired that way since birth, irrespective of whether we like it or not. The only problem is that it didn't come with an operating manual.

So, we have to seek many different ways to understand how it works, and more importantly, how to cultivate its latent power.

Here are a few important things that I have discovered about the brain.

We have to use the wonderful mass of grey matter lodged inside our head more often, so that we can get more mileage from its continuing usage.

Interestingly, there is  such a thing as "neuroplasticity" in the brain.

I have learnt that, as long as we continue to thrive on learning new things; creating novelty and variety in our lives; designing stimulating environments where we live, work and play; seeking new physical as well as intellectual horizons to challenge ourselves; and also to accept whatever challenges and obstacles that come along with the learning pursuits, "neuraplasticity" will take its intended course.

In a nut shell, "neu­ro­plas­tic­ity" refers to the brain’s natural propensity to change, for the better of course, through­out life. The brain has the amaz­ing abil­ity to reor­ga­nize itself by form­ing new con­nec­tions and networks between brain cells or neurons.

Research studies have shown that in fact the brain never stops chang­ing through new learn­ing activities and constant exposure to novelty and stimulating environments.

Changes asso­ci­ated with new learn­ing activities occur primarily at the level of the rich con­nec­tions, known as synapses, between neu­rons. To put it in blunt terms, learning is essentially biochemistry at work!

Contrary to popular belief, new and rich con­nec­tions can form and the inter­nal struc­ture of the exist­ing synapses between neurons can also change. This is basically what "neurogenesis" is all about.

From time to time, play with scenario projections in the head, which according to neuroscientist Dr David Ingvar of Lund University, Sweden, is our innate human propensity.  In a nut shell, that's prac­ticing future-oriented thoughts until they become one's default mind­set.

With such a cogntitive indulgence, one can look for­ward to every new day in a construc­tive way.

In reality, that's also what I often do in Ho Chi Minh City, and many of my everyday exploits have already been covered in my 'Bonjour Vietnam, Here I Come!' weblog.

With all these innate capabilities of "neuroplasticity" and "neurogenesis", our brain is, in real terms, a very powerful - and unparalleled - necktop computer, with a comparatively long designed life-span and a virtually unlimited memory processing capacity.

To keep our brain in peak performing state, we need to exercise the physical body. Remem­ber,  the brain is a vital part of the body.

More importantly, our body is designed to move, not sit down on our butt all day long.

According to experts, even half an hour every day of physical exercise, like walking briskly, is good enough for the brain and the body. 

According to  Dr Neo Ning Hong, who wrote a health book, entitled 'T.H.E A2Z Diet: Dieting Made as SIMPLE as Possible', after he had retired as a cabinet minister in the Singapore Government, one should walk at least ten thousand steps daily to keep our body in ship shape.

Interestingly, the effect of phys­i­cal exer­cise on cog­ni­tive performance has been well researched and documented.

My wife and I go to the gym every morning from Mondays to Saturdays for our cardio-vascular routines. In the gym on Tay Thanh Street, my favourite machines are the treadmill, the stationary bike and the elliptical cross-trainer. 

Occasionally, I indulge in the wide array of body building equipment at the gym, but my exercise regimen is always easy-going and at a leisurely pace.

In addition to physical fit­ness, I for one  have also incorporated some form of deliberate and disciplined cognitive exercises, by reading, annotating, journaling, mapping, and reviewing new books on Amazon, in addition to weblogging, websurfing and more excitingly, "websparring" with my good friend in Singapore/Mumbai, Dilip Mukerjea. 

I have also to thank my smartphone and/or tablet toys, like Dell Streak 5, Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola Xoom [their usage at any one time depends on where I am] to keep my mind amplified with technology.

The foregoing plethora of intellectual routines is pre-occupied on top of my new and challenging tasks as follows:

- learning more earnestly to speak the Vietnamese Language from my wife; I have found that learning a new language supercharges my brain cells;

- coaching my two teenaged boys in secondary school, Trung and Duy, in mastering the English Language;

- conducting a weekly English Language coaching program for a French-trained Vietnamese doctoral graduate (my wife's niece, Giang) in mastering professional English;

- conducting a weekly personal coaching program on teaching and learning mastery for  a locally-trained university graduate, with a major in English, Hong Nga, daughter of my gym buddy, Chuc;

Strictly in tactical terms, cog­ni­tive exercises, executed consistently in a deliberate and disciplined manner, always lead to bet­ter brain health, according to the brain experts.

The human brain weighs only about 2% of our body mass, and yet it con­sumes over 20% of the oxy­gen and nutri­ents we intake.

We don’t need to pump ourselves with all the available "brain-friendly" nutri­tional sup­ple­ments. All we have to do is just make sure that we don’t stuff our bodies with "brain-destructive" food.

My wife and I eat a lot of lush green, leafy vegetables as well as herbs, and a wide variety of marine seafood.  Fortunately, our meals in Vietnam often centre around fresh, raw vegetables and herbs, and naturally, fresh fruits.

Also, my wife has started with small-scale organic farming of selected fresh vegetables at our new home in Ho Chi Minh City.

We also try our level best not to over-eat.  Here we more or less follow the personal examples of senior statesman Lee Kuan Yew [he advocates eating up to 80% full] and former cabinet minister Dr Yeo Ning Hong [he advocates eating only half of what we normally eat; that to me is a tough challenge!].

More importantly, we also constantly explore a rich variety of foods to consume. To our delight, Vietnam happens to be a wonderful foodie paradise, with reportedly 1,700 dishes to savour.

It is a well-accepted fact that stress kills brain cells. Thus, stress is definitely not a good idea. That's to say, stress is reportedly the #1 cause of neural wreckage, due to the buildup of the deadly "cortisol" hormones if we don't relax. 

My way of creating a mindful and resourceful state is always listening to the 'Relax with the Classics' from the Lind Institute, USA; Metamusic  selections inbuilt with Hemi-Sync bi-aural beats from the Monroe Institute, USA, as well as anti-frantic music selections from Stephen Halpern, USA, just to name a few.

Other preferred relaxation routines include watching DVD movies at home or taking a slow cruise on two-wheels to the neighbourhood ice-cream parlour with my wife, occasionally with our teenaged boys,  in the evening to chill out.

Additionally, we routinely hang out with our gym buddies after gym practice, whereby there is always incessant fun, humour and laughter. As a matter of fact, we take our socialisation process very seriously and actively, and this is even extended to May's family, relatives, friends and business associates.

By the way, maintaining - and sustaining - a strong and loving relationship with the spouse is also crucial to cognitive development, especially in the golden years. For me, every day is honeymoon with my wife. No kidding!

Naturally, we also sleep well.  The old adage, "early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise!" has not yet been proven wrong.

In a nut shell, physical exercise, stimulating environments, a balanced diet, stress control,  active socialisation, adequate sleep, and a somewhat challenging life-style, form the foundational pillars of solid long-term brain health and fitness, for me and my wife.

To all the  brain experts out there, past and present, many thanks for sharing your strategic insights over the years.

I like to leave an apt quote from Dr Win Wenger as food for thought:

"...unless we are taught to use our brains, unless we understand how our brains work & their relationship to intelligence, we may never even approach truly intelligent functioning.

Within all of us is the potential for genius. It is there for us to develop, to explore & to enjoy."

[Note: More information about Dr Win Wenger and his brilliant work can be found at this link.]

DEVELOPING AN HELICOPTER ABILITY

[An extract from my other weblog, 'Optimum Performance Technologies':]


Whenever I go down to Orchard Road &/or even all the way up to the Suntec City Convention Centre from my residence in Jurong West, I often hop on to the SBS Transit Express Bus Service #502, which normally takes about 35-40 minutes to hit the beginning section of Orchard Road i.e. Orchard Hotel.

The public transport service route as mentioned is regularly served by single-decker buses, especially during off-peak hours. During peak hours, like the early mornings as well as peak evenings, I have noticed that the route is served by double-decker buses, in order to carry the expected larger passenger volumes.

Since I often travel on public transport during off-peak hours, & of course also depending on my ultimate destination, very rarely do I have the chance to hop on to a double decker bus.

Yesterday evening, close to 5pm, & on the way back from Plaza Singapura at the tail end of Orchard Road to Jurong West, my wife & I had the opportunity to hop onto a double decker. We went up to the front seat on the upper deck.

We have travelled on the same bus route probably hundreds of time, but most of the times on a single-decker bus.

From the upper deck, we realised that our panoramic view was very different. An elevated viewpoint certainly gave us a larger vista.



In fact, our visual horizon was further, unobstructed in many ways, when compared from the almost street-level viewpoint of a single-decker.

Comparatively, at almost street-level, our panorama from the bus window seat is restricted, & occasionally blocked by taller & bigger objects, even at distant view.

For example, oftentimes when I passed the Raffles Town Club on the junction of Steven Road/Dunearn Road on my left, I could not see what was behind the concrete fence.

Yesterday, I could see that there was actually a landscaped garden shielded from public eyes by the wall.

Also, I realised there was a large pond alongside the Pan-Island Expressway, just after the Adam Road exit, on my right.

There were other interesting examples, at least from my personal curiosity standpoint, but too numerous to highlight here.

My point is that an elevated position does give one a much broader perspective to look at a scene.

Metaphorically, an helicopter ability facilitates our ability to see the world afar & anew.

Just like an helicopter, considered one of the most versatile air-crafts on earth, which has the ability to take off & land vertically, as well as hover, which in turn gives it the capability & flexibility to manoeuvre in & out of hard-to-reach areas, we can adopt a series of elevated viewpoints that allows us to see the forest from the trees, so to speak.

Sometimes, when we stay too close to the ground, especially when appraising a situation or a problem, we tend to be oblivious to what's really happening out there in our immediate surroundings.

This is not to say that we should not stay grounded, as a feel of the pulse on the ground is also important in any situation appraisal.

What I am saying is that, we got to occasionally detach ourselves from the ground level, & raise ourselves above it, in order to see further, & maybe beyond what's really happening around us.

An open-up vista can certainly engender an expanded mental perspective.

After all, every moment of our lives is governed by our perspective. Whichever vista we use to view an experience with will determine how we see it, how we feel it, & how we react to it.

Creativity is a matter of perspective. So is change leadership. We have to use a different vista to see the issue or problem.

In the ultimate, so much of life is a matter of perspective. We have to see things from different angles.

Actually, come to think of it & in the end analysis, an helicopter ability is all about seeing the world, projects, problems & challenges in fresh & unique ways.

It's about being open-minded, spontaneous, inquisitive & hungering to explore new & better possibilities.

No wonder, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, while serving as our Prime Minister, has openly outlined his four primary characteristic traits he wanted in the appraisal of candidates as ministers.

One of them is the helicopter ability.

When Philip Yeo, one of Singapore's most brilliant high-powered road warriors in attracting foreign capital, was serving as Chairman of the Economic Development Board (EDB), he was confronted by initial problems in selling Singapore as an offshore petrochemical hub to global investors.

With a spark of inspiration, he actually took an helicopter ride to survey our few small offshore islands one day, which eventually led to the building & construction of the new Jurong Island, which came from the merging - via landfill - of seven small islets.

A SIMPLE LESSON ON CREATIVITY FROM MR LEE KUAN YEW: PIGGYBACKING

I have assembled the facts for the following real story - with a valuable lesson to learn from the creativity standpoint - following a lead from a business friend, Philip Merry, via Dilip Mukerjea.

The Changi International Airport in Singapore is recognised as one of the best airports in the world, with 80 airlines serving 200 cities in 60 countries.

Today, the international airport has established itself as a major aviation hub in the Asia-Pacific region. I understand it handles an annual passenger capacity of more than 70 million a year.

Interestingly, the international airport owes its genesis to a decision that was made back in the 1970's, when our then Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew (from 1953-1990) chose to shift Singapore's international airport from Paya Lebar to Changi. [At that time, Changi was a military airport, a legacy from the British.]

Paya Lebar during that period was already facing capacity constraints, & the easy way out would have been to build a second runway at the old airport. Building another runway would mean lower land acquisition costs & fewer uncertainties.

On the other hand, relocating the airport to Changi would cost S$1 billion.

There were also engineering challenges to building a new airport at Changi.

Moreover, when our then Prime Minister gave the go-ahead signal for Changi in 1975, Singapore was still reeling from the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis & also the fall of South Vietnam to the communists insurgents from the north.

What actually convinced our then Prime Minister to pick Changi?

Mr Lee Kuan Yew, now Minister Mentor, revealed his side of the story during the recent SNEF's 30th Anniversary Employers' Summit @ Resort World.

He was talking about the importance of living, learning & venturing overseas for our younger generation.

He related that he himself gained new ideas from spending time in Britain as a young man in his twenties & later in the United States.

For instance, he had noticed, at the Logan International Airport in Boston, that planes took off & landed over water, & hence created no footprint of sound of the aircraft over the city.

So, against the recommendations of the British aviation consultants, he opted for a major policy decision to reclaim land in Changi for a new airport, where planes would take off over water, instead of building a second runway at Paya Lebar.

According to Minister Mentor, that policy decision in 1975 to write off the S$800 million Paya Lebar Airport and build the S$1.5 billion Changi International Airport was 'one of the best investments' Singapore has ever made.

In a nut shell, & looking from a creativity standpoint, isn't that piggybacking on an already proven idea, or more specifically, ideas built on ideas?

Naturally, there are other contributing factors too, like overseas exposure to new stimuli or new environment, the power of observation, bringing forth past knowledge & experiences to converge on resolving a problem, & not forgetting the moral courage & political will to push ahead the decision despite the uncertain prevailing conditions.


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