A RELOOK AT THE TAPESTRY OF CONTENTS: UNLEASHING GENIUS

Amidst all the wonderful books within 'The Creative Brain Series' [the other titles comprises 'Building Brainpower', 'Brain Symphony', 'Surfing the Intellect', & 'Taleblazers'], 'Unleashing Genius' is the only one that actually straddles both the educational as well as the corporate domain.

As a result, Dilip Mukerjea says this is a book that has been written for ages 5 to 105.

It has a light-hearted intellectual intensity, & yet it addresses the inherent brilliance of school-going children.

To paraphrase the author, the first wonder of the world is the mind of a child!

More interestingly, it also puts forward sophisticated and formidable skill sets within the grasp of business executives from any discipine.

The primary focus of the book is on anyone learning the fundamentals of brain skills for immediate application: with The World’s Most Powerful Learning Systems... uniquely designed to provide the reader with a panoramic experience of genius in action.

These are basic brain skills that address the needs of anyone wishing to survive and thrive in The Learning Economy.

School-going children and professional adults can learn how to process information with joy and rapidity, once they have learned how to use the excellent material in this book.

Designed in full colour, with fine hand-crafted, computer-enhanced graphic illustrations, and engineered to draw out your personal brilliance, this book is, unquestionably, the only book of its type in the world.



['Unleashing Genius' as well as other titles in 'The Creative Brain Series' is readily available at most of the Kinokuniya Bookstores.]

NEED HELP IN FINDING YOUR NEXT CAREER MOVE?

Try answering the following questions:

1) what activity makes my heart sing?

2) what talents do I have that are still untapped?

3) what dreams are unfulfilled?

4) what natural gifts do others repeatedly see in me?

5) what training have I always wanted to pursue but have not yet started?

6) what career choices do I regret not making?

7) is it really too late to get the training I need to live my dreams?

8) what would I do if I knew I could not fail?

[adapted from psychologist Terry Paulson's 'The Optimism Advantage: 50 Simple Tools to Transform Your Attitude & Actions into Results';]

WHICH BOOSTS CREATIVITY: LOVE OR LUST?

Here's the link to a fascinating article by Dr Scott Barry Kaufman, writing in his 'Beautiful Minds' weblog on Psychology Today.

He muses about 'Love, Lust, and Creativity'.

What has caught my initial curiosity to read the article are the two contrasting research findings:

"Love enhances global processing and creative thinking whereas sex enhances local processing and analytic thinking. Thus, contrary to the intuitive notion of creativity and analytical thought as fixed human capacities or stable personality traits, they can easily be changed by subtle cues in the environment or by mere thinking about certain situations."

"... when men are chatting with a female who is a stranger, their cognitive ability takes a nose dive. Not better, but worse."

Read on.

IN SEARCH OF PERSONAL MASTERY

In his book, 'Personal Brilliance: Mastering the Everyday Habits That Create a Lifetime of Success', executive coach Jim Canterucci shares some interesting strategies on how to leverage on our innate abilities to attain personal mastery.

He has identified them as 'Awareness', 'Curiosity', 'Focus' & 'Initiative'. I concur with his selection.

He actually prefers to use the term "catalysts" to describe them, which he also elaborates as follows, with some of my personal comments:

1) Awareness:

- "Awareness involves self-awareness first, being conscious of your environment, and being cognizant of the problem at hand";

- for me, there are two critical aspects to take into consideration:

a) one, is to "be here now", or to be "in the present moment" at all times;

b) the other, is to enhance your perceptual sensitivity to the environment;

so that, with both in place, you know exactly what's going on around you &/or out there in your visual horizon;

- as a matter of fact, self-awareness is a very important aspect of emotional intelligence;

2) Curiosity:

- "Curiosity is actively exploring the environment, asking questions, and investigating possibilities";

- For me, it boils down to the sense of wonder, follow by the sense of discovery, like that of a child;

- A word of caution, though: be child-like, but don't be childish;

- it's important to understand that curiosity always starts with interest, & interest permeates all learning;

- hence, it's always good to develop & broaden one's personal interests beyond one's normal scope of work, as the attendant activities are often driven by passion & enthusiasm;

3) Focus:

- "Focus is giving 360 degree attention to what you are doing now, allowing access to any possible innovation";

- We all know that our mind follows the direction of our current dominant thought, & so it is important to focus on the most important things in our lives;

- Always ask yourself: what do I choose to see? where do I direct your attention?

- I recall celebrity coach Anthony Robbins once said to this effect:

"One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power ..."

4) Initiative:

- "Initiative is necessary to both allow innovation to work and to ultimately implement the solution";

- To me, this means action-mindedness; that's to say, we got to move our butt & go kick some butt, so to speak;

- I reckon, in execution, initiative is the distinction between wishful thinking & willful doing;

For more information, please read the book, &/or visit the author's personal weblog.

Readers can also check out the online Personal Brilliance Quotient (PBQ) to see how you fare on the four catalysts.

IS INNOVATION PURSUING YOU OR ARE YOU PURSUING INNOVATION?

This is the Age of Competitive Intelligence!

It has given birth to The Learning Economy. And thus, the need for Human Resources, humans standing in reserve, waiting to be used, has been replaced by the need for Resourceful Humans!

In a globally interlinked world, business success is based on cognitive success. Cognitive has two equally significant meanings: “to know” and “to beget.” When blended, these two meanings suggest that all birth is an awakening to knowledge. To know and to generate are inseparable.

Red Alert!

Are the actions, transactions, and interactions of your business processes perpetuating the decaying status quo, or are they alive and infused with novelty, value, and passion?

Are your people able to convey unforgettably brilliant first impressions?

Does your organisation recognise that its lifeblood must be open communications of information:

thoughts, feelings, and ideas?

Is innovation pursuing you or are you pursuing innovation?

If innovation is pursuing you it means that the rate of change outside your organisation is much greater than that within it. That spells trouble.

Today, innovation must trump bureaucracy, for red tape has morphed into red alert! The choice is clear: innovate or disintegrate.

Is The Red Tape The ONLY Thing That’s Holding Your Organisation Together?

What are YOU doing about it?

[Excerpted from the 'Leadership, Learning & Laughter' edition of The Braindancer Series of bookazines by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

Say Keng's personal comments:

Although Dilip Mukerjea has written his essay from the organisational perspective, I am sure he has also intended that the pursuit of innovation applies in the personal setting.

In the personal context, The Red Tape refers to poor habits, old ideas, outmoded routines, irrelevant practices, dogmatic rules as well as disempowering beliefs .

I hold the view that, at the personal level, the pursuit of innovation, excellence as well as anticipation is the hallmark of peak performance & success achievement in today's rapidly-changing world.

By doing so consistently, I am confident that one gets to increase the personal rate of change faster than the environmental rate of change.

This is the basic tenet of the 'Law of Requisite Variety', originally conceived by Dr W Ross Ashby from the world of cybernetics, which applies to both organisations & individuals.

So, I like to rephrase Dilip's pertinent questions:

Is The Red Tape The Only Thing That's Holding You Together?

What are YOU doing about it personally?