A Case for Change

As I write this in December 2010, the world leading economists have been broadcasting for a couple of years that there are still large risks of corporate and banking collapse due to lack of cash. Therefore the US government believes it need to keep high level of liquidity - keep interest rate low, taxes low, let people spend and pour money out to the market. Almost at the same time, the newspapers are reporting that the same corporations that have the risk of running out of cash are now so full of cash (more than they have ever had in history) - that they have a "problem" of not knowing what to do with it. Speculators are starting to say that next year is going to be the year of acquisitions - they got to use the money somehow...!

On the other side of Atlantic, many countries in Europe are also in desperate need for cash. On the contrary to the US Government, the European governments believe in imposing austerity - rise taxes, lower wages, tighten the money.

So here are two opposing views from the "developed" countries to solve the same problem of uncontrollable greed. The best hope we can have, is that at least one of them is right.

Then I would ask myself: why do I bother? It is happening in the US and Europe - not in Asia, where I live. The Asian economy is growing rapidly, people are getting richer. On average, we are all earning higher income. The unemployment is low, the average age of mortality is higher than before. So what is my problem?

My problem is that while the average income per capita has grown, the income disparity between the poor and the rich has also grown. While the economy is growing, there is hardly any accountabilities on how the resources are being maintained and replenished. To put it bluntly, getting rich without giving back to the environment is like robbing from our future generation - convenient, but simply wrong. And yes, the average mortality age is higher - but for what? To continue to work for money so that we can be perpetual corporate consumers?

The Asian countries are "developing" on the same path that the US and Europe were creating during their glory days. And we are doing it at a pace and scale of more than 10 times of the western history.

In the mean time, the Asian countries combined are the biggest contributors to environmental problems - and yet we play a passive defensive role instead of a leading role. It also allows itself to be the new frontier for the old style consumerism - serving up its huge population to large corporations as the target base for them to continue to grow senselessly. It also remains the place for irresponsible exploitation, from the ultra cheap labor to the natural resources. Whenever it is in Asia, corporations can close their eyes and ears and pretends that the standard they would not accept in the west is acceptable here.

I am not blaming the western people for this. The Asian countries are home to more than one third of the world population. China, India and Indonesia are in the position where everything they do will effect the world in a grand scale. It is time for Asian countries to behave like mature contributor to the world, and not to play victims. It also means its time for Asian countries to say no to old practices that has led to a state of destruction, such as uncontrollable greed and consumerism.

Path to Prosperity

At the end of a short seminar about ecological living that I attended several months ago in Europe, a speaker did a concluding message saying that to be ecologically responsible: "one should learn to be happy with less". As I walked back I began to wonder what it meant. I certainly want to be much more ecological than I am right now, but can I maintain a feeling of prosperity, if I live with less?

Prosperity means different things to every person. For me, it is the ability to have a suitable house for my family, to do the hobbies that I enjoy, to meet with people that I like, to have comfortable rest, to be able to visit my friends and family when I need to, to feel healthy and to feel secure. I think everyone will need to feel prosperous to be happy - although each person will have his/her own elements of prosperity.

Let's say that I am a farmer in a small village in the 1940s. I would feel prosperous enough with the food from the neighborhood farms or wet market. I would be happy to receive slow, infrequent mails from a relative who lives overseas. I would be happy with an all-purpose doctor, for any kind of illness. I will be glad to have a house built with locally produced materials - as there is no way to import goods from far away. In this condition prosperity can be found locally, naturally and as a result they are environmentally friendly.

The contrast to this is if I were a 21st century urban man. I purchase my food products from the supermarkets, which are often bought from the importers. These importers in turn would buy it from a trading partner overseas. My relatives and friends may live thousands of miles away and I am dependent on the planes, cars and telecommunication equipments to keep in touch. I need my plastic gadgets - the laptops, the mobile phones, the music player, the video game consoles, the CD players because I live in a fast lane. If I am sick I can find all sort of specialist doctors, who in turn have advanced equipments made of high grade plastic and special composites to diagnose and hopefully cure me. The doctor will then give me medicines produced in another country made of various chemicals that is transported through air using plastic and paper packaging.

In this lifestyle, my sources of prosperity are scattered globally, and to reach them I need infrastructure, technology, organizations and money. The side-effect of this lifestyle, to name a few, are the pollution, the global warming and the destruction of natural habitats. As more and more of us begin to realize, these are very severe side-effects.

So I come back to the speaker's statement: to be ecologically responsible, we need to learn to live with less. But how? Do we need to abandon our modern lifestyle all together and go back to the ancient lifestyle? I struggled with this question for a while until I realized that I was looking at it the wrong way.

It never is a fight between the ancient lifestyle and modern lifestyle. It is a fight between simplicity and complexity.

In a life that is simple, we should be able to remember important things in our lives without having to have handhelds ringing to remind us about it. We should be able to know whether we are eating healthy or not by knowing where the food came from and how it was made - instead of through the "nutritional content" listed in the wrapper of the food. We also should have most of our time spent doing things that excite us - instead of things that make us money.

But, with the exceptions of the fortunate few, most of us do not live like that right now. We are doing the opposite to simplicity - we are creating more and more complexity. We are working harder - either to make ends meet, or to make more money. We are working faster, due to peer pressure and hyper-competition, without a time to be mindful. We let ourselves be bombarded by advertising, preaching, campaigning through the media. We become the "consumers" - people who is made to consume more each day, even when we do not need to.

Then comes the viscious cycle of complexity. Our lives have become so complex that we have to "outsource" important things to organizations and agencies. We know nothing about our food and medicine so we let the FDA to approve it. We have no time to think about our well being so let the health consultant does it. We have no time to think about our kids and the different types of education each of them needs - so let the school and government do all the work.

As complexity increases, down goes our prosperity.

I believe the solutions to the world's problem does not come from grand plans from the governments. It starts with each of us solving our own problems - by reversing our complex life and making it simpler each day. By living simpler - we will naturally live with less. Less excess, less waste, less misunderstanding. We need not to reject the progress of our civilization like the technology and the rule-of-law, but they are merely tools. They can be useful, but they can also be misused through bad intentions, and they alone will not bring prosperity.

So this is my take, for whatever it's worth to you: Prosperity is within anyone's reach, as long as one seeks for it through simplicity.

Progress vs. Understanding

I read an article in a magazine in August 2010 about a couple of scientists who disputed the law of gravity that was formulated by Sir Isaac Newton a long-long time ago. The article also reminded the readers that Albert Einstein also disputed this law. I can't help but being skeptical about this article after all that I have been taught since high school, so I went to the internet and did further search. At the end of it, I was surprised by how much we do not know about gravity. Why haven't I heard about this dispute from my physics teachers 25 years ago? Why did they teach me as if this thing has been figured out?


This dispute is remarkable, if you think that we have been flying our airplanes, measure weights, construct our buildings based on the idea of gravity. It is also mind boggling, to think that since two of the greatest scientists humanity ever known (Einstein and Newton) disputed this fundamental law, not much new understanding has been made about it. One can't help asking a question, do we really know anything at all?


It is not to say that human race has not progressed. Just watch a jumbo jet plane take off and you would marvel at our ability to make this massive structure to fly. Overtime, we have continued to progress to reduce the number of accidents and errors, while making the planes bigger and faster. It is quite a paradox to see how we have not advanced much in the understanding of how our universe works, but we have managed to progress very rapidly on this unconfirmed basis.

Another paradox I have seen is in medicine. We all know that we have advanced so much in the medical technology and diagnostic tools, that we are now able to see the functioning of our internal organs while we stay awake and listen to the doctor's explanation. My mother went through a broken hip repair with minimum amount of surgeries - something that I cannot imagine being done even a decade ago.

Yet, despite all this, we continue to play "catch up" on fixing the world's health. While we continue to struggle with cure for AIDS, cancer and Parkinson disease - new strains of viruses appears. Old illness like lepracy and cholera are making a comeback in poor countries. Fear for epidemic has never been more global than it is in the 21st century.


Many people are also finding better answers in the age old Chinese traditional medicine and ayurvedic healing. Those who has gone through the healing testify that the results are remarkably powerful and permanent. These have been credited to cure anything from flu to cancer, as well as to increase your immune system, improve your digestive system and reduce your weight problem. What is most amazing to me, is that these procedures are hardly explainable scientifically.

So it comes back to the paradox, that while we seem to have been progressing rapidly, we have made very little advance in understanding.

I think the same paradox can be found in many other things, from progress in bio-engineering vs. our struggle to understand nature, or from progress in military equipments vs. our struggle in stopping hatred, wars and terrorism. We also struggle in our understanding of each other, despite the progress in communication technology.

So what's wrong with that? one may argue. Isn't it better to progress than wait until we understand more?

In my view, the ambition to progress now and understand later has led our modern society to become "one track minded". We will think that the only way to cure is to advance in medical technology. We will also think that the only way to teach our kids about the functioning of the world is by forcing them to learn what we know, instead of exploring what we do not know. The only way to be influential is to have money or military equipment. The only way to have a better living is to go to the city and work for corporations. At least as long as I have lived, our world has been going full blast following this one track mindset.

In the mean time, we are forgetting that there are still so many things we do not know. Maybe many of people's health problems can be solved through better environment and better quality food, not antibiotics. Maybe a better way to teach children is to let them explore and break the conventions instead of telling them about the conventions. Maybe we do not need bio-engineered crops to feed genetically enhanced cows if the world stop indulging in up sized meals.

I believe that progress without better understanding will only satisfy our short term indulgence while leading to long term problems, hatred and destruction. I believe we will be better off if we go slower in seeking progress, and instead focusing on seeking to understand. Seek to understand why the other cultures behave a certain way. Seek to understand how to teach differently so that the kids can understand better than us. Seek to understand why we are still unable to reduce poverty and what are the things we need to change to fix it.

Afterall, is there really such thing as progress without understanding?

What is a Home?

Here it comes again, the time where I have to say goodbye - just when I begin to feel comfortable. I have spent 3 years trying to understand the French, to speak the language, to understand the gestures, to appreciate the goods and to accept the bads. As I entered the third year, I began to be able to argue in French and get things done my way. That's an indication that I am becoming more "local". But somehow, after all of that, I have decided not to stay. My family and I are moving to Singapore.

My colleagues and friends asked me why....Did I not like it in France? Some others asked me, why Singapore - is it your home? Strangely I was not able to answer those questions with a simple yes or no. I am moving not because I dislike France or because I am going home. I am moving because I am still searching for home.

But what is a home?

I believe a home is a place where you can comfortably be in the present while eagerly looking at the future. A home is not a place to escape, it is a place where I can get fully involved. A home is not a place where I sleep to close today, but to open tomorrow. It is not a place where I display those that I can buy, but instead those I have proudly earned.

I believe my home exists, but I have not arrived. Until I find it, I shall not settle, or settle down for anything less. So goodbye France, thank you for your hospitality and for allowing me to pass by. Hello, Singapore, I wish for nothing but the best for you and a path closer to home for me.

Time to Slow Down and Think

My wife recently introduced me to a video of a speech by Eckhart Tolle, a modern time spiritual teacher who wrote famous books like "The Power of Now". I caught an interesting phrase in his speech, where he talked about "seeking stillness in this mad world". It made me think about what that means, especially whether I agree with him that the world is really "mad".

Then I thought about the recent news that I read from the daily business newspaper that I subscribe to. Here are the 4 front page news:

1. The Euro Zone countries are trying to bail out bankcrupt Greece (not because they will get benefits from doing so, but because the consequence for not doing it is even more grave)
2. New York just escaped an attempted terrorist attack (not because of intelligence, but because of luck - the bomb did not explode)
3. US stock market had the biggest volatility in history (partially due to Greece problem, but mostly due to unregulated internet trading chain reaction)
4. Deep sea oil spill due to a massive explosion in BP oil rig threatens devestation in the ecosystem and the economy near Louisiana (and no solutions in sight)

Within a week, so many human-made problems at such grand proportions happened, and yet, for all of them, solutions do not exist or are just in the early stages of being thought of. Something is seriously wrong with this picture.

Let me talk a bit more about it. As the massive economic and environmental damages of the BP oil leak continues (As I write, it is going on to the third week), BP is just starting to discuss how to stop the leaking 1 km underwater. Today's article said that BP will TRY to use a chemical oil dispersant (not sure if it is going to work - and don't ask me what it means). In the mean time, in another news article, it is said that BP has a record double digit growth of profit for 2009! But wait a minute - if I am allowed to rob and not go to jail, I also will have record profit!

On another point. The US stock exchange has no explanation to the recent biggest one day market volatility in history (for example, P&G stock went down by 30% for no reason and jumped back up again within a few hours). The US government are now beginning to think about the regulation to prevent it. In the mean time I read somewhere else that traders are upgrading their systems so that they can be the fastest in "clicking" buy or sell, as if their finger muscle are able to do those clicks in nano seconds. I find it moronic that we have billions of dollars at stake being controlled by these brainless and reckless minds.

On another subject: As the Greek bankrupcy problem continues, no one really can give a great solution to Europe Union other than ideas to "minimize damage". After a couple of weeks urgent meetings and discussions, the European Union governments have decided to put up a "defense" money of USD 1 trillion - to shoo away all the speculators. It is a big relief that at least the governments are able to pull together the 1 Trillion dollar protection - but it is like a huge aspirin for a fever, without solving the problem that cause the fever. The main question is how could EU, the largest economy in the world, allow this problem to simmer and grow for years?

A final example: Terrorism continues to be unstoppable, even in the place like New York, where the security system is already at the highest. In the mean time the Americans are installing the highest-tech scanning machine in the airports. The jokes have it that soon enough we all be required to fly naked. In the mean time, a great article in the newspaper said that the biggest danger to the US comes from inside (radical US citizens), not outside. The US, just like the rest of the world, have not figured out how to solve the terrorism problem.

So finally I do agree that it is a mad world - a self inflicted madness. It is time for the world to slow down! It seems that we have reached this point in our 100 years of industrialization, liberalization and globalization blitz that we are unable to grasp and control the complexity that comes with it. We are like a little boy who just realized that he can balance on the bike, so without delay, he decided to go to the street. Soon enough he realize that he still does not know how to turn, how to break and how to get off the bike when it stopped.

The events that has happened and may still happen in the near future are serious warning signs. It will continue to humble us, gently and roughly until we learn and put in place real changes in the way we do things. As an optimist I always look at things as opportunities, so I find tremendous opportunities for people who can find ways to slow down and simplify this mad world.

Staying Sane

In my other article called "Nothing Lasts", I discussed how history has told us a lesson that human creations never last. People in the great empires like the Romans, the Ottoman, the Egyptians would never have thought that one day their powerful kingdoms will crumble. But all of them did - without fail. My friend Len said it concisely and nicely : "everything is transient". But he followed it up with an open question - what lesson can we learn from it?

I do not have the capacity to take this point further to any higher philosophical or spiritual discussion. However, I do have one worldly observation about this subject. That is: for us to stay sane, we should always be ready to let go.

Most of us human, including me, are born with the natural tendencies to obsess, to feel attached to something or someone. I believe people even confuse the meaning of attachment to another person as "love" - which is an example on how we can misuse and abuse a word. I believe attachment to someone has nothing to do with love, it has something to do with selfish interest. But I will leave it at that as I do not intend to elaborate about love.

We also attach ourselves to things - our house, our job title, our evening TV show, our video games, our snack, the favorite restaurant, and so on. I know many people who have a habit of keeping many things for sentimental reasons - even if those things have no use anymore. I work with many people who will do anything possible to keep their job the way it is, even if change will inevitably come. Some of us may know people who collects things, statuettes, cards, toys - and spend much of their precious times looking after them.

These obsessions do not only happen at individual level. We also see how countries fought for hundreds of years on a disputed region, despite the suffering of the people who are stuck in the middle. We also see how bad obsessions to religious teachings can effect the peacefulness of our world.

As a key point, I believe we should differentiate the meaning of "to possess" vs. "to own". People should take ownership of their work, of their family, of their society, of their environment, of their country. By taking ownership we bring our best to create, improve and develop something or someone. Those are the reasons we all progress as human. On the other hand, we should always remember that nothing lasts and therefore none of our creation is our possession. What we built is there to be replaced, revised, or destroyed for good reasons in the future.

One day new ideas make our work obsolete, or a person we know may no longer be there, or some old habits may no longer be doable. You'll never know when it will come, but I think the more we are ready to let go of our possessions and obsessions, the more we can appreciate them for what they are - something transient. And the more we do that, the easier and saner our life would be.

The Devil of Failure

How do you explain the word SUCCESS? Sounds like a simple question, but if you do a survey to a thousand people, you may get a thousand versions of answers - and at the end you end up not having any answer.

Some successes may be easy to describe because of clear measurements, like a championship trophy or gold medals in the olympics. For those who work in corporations, success may be defined as promotions, the corner office, the size of responsibility. For those seeking wealth, success is also reasonably easy to define, by how much asset one accumulates. In a more complex context, military mission has to balance the accomplishment of the mission versus the sacrifices of human lives to reach it.

Those are all valid definitions and I am not writing to offer another definition. The more interesting question is, what is the difference between those who made it versus those who did not? I think this question is worth a thought.

In my view, the difference between success and failure lies in the individual's persistent refusal to fail. I see this as the unwillingness to let setbacks, temptations or discomfort stop one from focusing and working to reach the goals. I think luck, physical strength, talent, brain power and energy are all important factors to success, but the persistent refusal to fail will make one individual stand out among equals. This attribute alone distinguishes the winners from the losers, the achievers from the slackers.

I saw this quality in all impressive people I have met, and all the amazing people I admire. I admire John F Kennedy because of his ability to bounce back despite his Bay of Pig set-back. It amazes me how he can continue to focus on his work despite the public beatings he receives daily after his mistakes. I am amazed at the strength of Mahatma Gandhi in keeping his promise to fast until the violent fights stopped in his homeland. He did it at the time where people lost faith in his non-violent approach, when all hope seemed lost. Yet he prevailed and restored calm through his unwaivering faith.

Most importantly I am encouraged when I observe those small successes, those I see on my daily life. A 50 year old female colleague of mine continued to work hard on the task despite doubts from her own boss and several attempts from her boss to replace her. She eventually prevailed by convincing her boss on her contribution and held on to her position. I have my own experiences in my younger years as a professional, when discomfort and setbacks pushed me out from the battles I needed to fight. I have learnt since then, that success is only achievable when I stare "the devil of failure" in the eyes, not quit and stay in the game. I have applied that in my life and my work since then - and I am happy to say that I am a witness to my own growth and developments.

The devil of failure will be the first to stand in the way of every person who tries to achieve something. It will tell us that the discomfort is just too much to bear and your dream is not that important, so quit it and do something easier. It will say that the setback you have had recently is too big to recover from, so do not worry to fight back and just walk away from it. It will give you all sort of reasons to quit. As I thought about this, I began to really understand and appreciate the meanings in the story of Jesus beating the devil in the desert.


At the end, your success is your dream to reach, and throughout the journey there, you will encounter many reasons to fail. If you really want to achieve your goals, the first thing you should do is to be ready to stare down the devil of failure in the eyes when he comes to greet you.

Corporate Career Ladder (and Snake)

Probably many of you know this game well. It is a board game where you roll the dice, advance your pawn according to the number you get, with a possibility that you find a short-cut (if you find a ladder) or slide down (if you find a snake). I used to love the game as a kid.

Obviously, one player will advance faster than others depending on luck, and the winner is the one who finish first. In general all will advance somewhere even if they are not the winner, as long as they have the endurance to stay in the game, and not quit.

I am thinking about it as I reflect on the word "career path". After earning a living in corporations for many years, I realized that it is nothing more than a game of snakes and ladders. The bigger and more bureaucratic the organization is, the more will power and luck you will need to move ahead. Those with a strong will power will overcome the snakes, no matter how big and many they are.

I have my share of playing this game in corporations. I started as a young consultant, in one of the top American consulting firm based in Singapore. After moving up the ladders a few times and surviving several small snakes, I saw many bigger snakes on the way. So I decided to move out and earn money in a Dutch corporation based in Singapore and China. At my fifth year with this company I encountered an interesting opportunity that brought me to a big corporation in France. So now, in France, I work in an corporate headquarter where I encounter thousands of people playing the career snake and ladder game every day.

Lately I began to ask myself a question, why are so many people spending so much of their productive time playing this 2 dimensional board games. As I look around the office, I saw many people who seemed to be in perpetual move-up and slide-down mode and decided to just accept it as it is. I also worked with a few smart and energized people who overcame many snakes to move up to the next steps. A few did it out of competence for the job, but many are doing it because up in the board game is the only way to go. These people do not realize, that OUT is an alternative to UP especially when they find themselves in a place that they cannot add any value in.

Let me give some examples:

A managing director of the South East Asia office of a global logistics company, was a 45 years old Australian. It was obvious to many that he was not in the job for the love of logistics, or the love of South East Asia region. He was there because the job pays him well and he enjoys the hospitality of the South East Asian people. So he spent his days doing unproductive things like finding ways to maximize his bonus which is linked to the way he reports profit of his business unit. His CFO told me how disgusted he was everytime the time comes for him do this exercise. This Managing Director hardly talk about his work, and kept the competent people at a distance as he does not have the interest in talking to them. He got away with it for more than 10 years and certainly got his bonuses maximized.

So why would a person like this is allowed to spend his brain power for this purpose instead of doing something useful for others? How did the corporation let him get away with it? There are many others who can do a better job than him, and there are many other jobs where he can be more useful in. So yes, he overcome many snakes to get to his position of power, but wouldn't he and especially the people under him be better off if he quits?

Another example. An ex colleague of mine from my old consulting firm has been moving to 4 different consulting companies over the course of 10 years. He seems to be unable to stay in one company, even if the next job is exactly the same as the one before. It is obvious that he struggles to enjoy his work and his quality of work declines steadily. Despite his superb education background and credentials, he seems to be unable to escape the job he obviously hates - and continue to play the snake and ladders.

So I want to offer an alternative. Why don't the government require all MBA students to work as laborers for several years to get their hands dirty. Who knows they may end up being great managers in real sectors instead of being derivative traders in Goldman Sachs. Let's require all candidate teachers to work in industries (e.g., manufacturing). Those that decide to come back to teaching will be the ones who really love the job and better equipped to teach well. What about telling medical students to work in a food or chemical processing factories to see the source of many illness of their future patients. Maybe many will decide to stay in the industries and make healthier food for people. What about requiring every up-and-coming executives of corporations to take 2 years unpaid leave to teach or do charity work. Maybe some will end-up staying and using their brain power to help others directly.

Sceptics will argue that it will disrupt people's career path and aspirations. I will argue back, that it is only true if we see career path as a two dimensional board game. I have done my part of being stuck in a board game, but I have also done myself some good by asking why should I not do something else, including trying to work in a different culture like France and China? I have never done myself a better favor when I decided to get out of a board game and see something new.

I think it will be amazing to see how many people can find their true place in the world and contribute when they have the opportunity to try something different. We live in a multi - dimensional world, and people are multi dimensional creatures equipped with unique gifts. But today's corporations are designed to shrink people into two dimensional pions in a board game. I believe that most people are trapped in a place they do not belong to, and ended up spending so much time not realizing their potential (and often harming others on the way).

Nothing lasts

I am reading a book called "a little history of the world" by E.H. Gombrich. Now and then, you stumble into something great - and this is one of them. I have been looking for a history book that is easy to digest, educational and not trying to turn you into an academic professor.

This book, in its kids friendly storytelling, is perfect. It covers the history of the world from the pre-historic age to the world war 2. It has a bend towards Europe, but it touches all the key milestones in the history. It is certainly a fantastic book to buy as a gift.

Imagine the stories of the Macedonia with its Alexander the Great, The Egyptians, the Roman empire, the Germanic tribes and the Franks, the Ottoman empire, the knights, crusades and the church, the Persians, the Chin dynasty, the Huns, the Arabian invasion. The land of Europe and Euro-asia were criss-crossed by legions, horses, elephants, arrows and chariots for thousands of years. Millions of lives have paved the way for the creation of powerful civilizations and massive buildings.

However I am not writing to tell you about what I have read. Instead I want to share what I took away from reading this book. It has made me realize that throughout its history, humanity has been defined by the greed+ambitions of a few, realized by the blood of millions, and destroyed by the incompetence of a few (sometimes by the same person who had the ambition). At the end, none lasts. So my question is whether humanity has invented anything between then until now that will eliminate our helpless tendencies to self-destruct and cause suffering to majority of the people.

Let me list a few things that have defined the modern world after the latest global self destruct of world-war 2, and see if any of these are the antidotes from it. Is it the Americans with their version of democracy? Is it the Europeans with their version of slow + (un)steady creation of a European Union? Is it the Chinese with its version of communist-capitalism, which allows people to build wealth while keeping their communist version of state control intact? I believe we have seen enough by now to doubt that a single model works for all.

Or maybe it is not the social inventions that will safe humanity from the next self destruct. Could it be the technological inventions like the internet which made the world so open? Or is it the global trade and financial industries that has made the world so interdependent? I have my doubts.

Or maybe it is not the inventions at all. Maybe the solution to our self destruct happens when the world finally gets its act together to fix urgent world's problems like hunger (1 of 6 people goes to sleep hungry in the world), environmental danger and pollution, global-warming and brutalities of some remaining dictators. I think I am running out of ideas.

At the end of this analysis, I am just not convinced. If anything we should learn from the recent greed crisis (i.e., the financial and economic crisis), it is that humanity is not moving anywhere near the right direction. The notion in the recent past that the USA or the western world is the keeper of the world order is practically proven false, as false as those who thought that the Roman empire were supposed to rule the world forever.

It is still a very unsafe and fragile world, at the mercy of the ambitions of a few. The antidote of self-destruct never lies on the few ambitious "world leaders" - as they are clearly not positioned to do the job. The solution lies in the masses. So the choices are clear – it is either we pretend that the next world-self-destruct will not affect us, or we can try to do our little bit of contribution to prevent the next one from happening.

Listen and Observe

I was trying to listen to one of my French colleagues spoke to me the other day - he was telling me that there is an emergency at the factory and I need to participate in an urgent meeting. My French language skill is average at best, but having lived in France for 3 years, I have enough vocabularies to catch the key words and understand what he was saying. More importantly, as I listened, I sensed a certain 'frustration' behind his otherwise composed mannerism. I realized I had to attend the meeting, although I had made other plans.....

As I sat in the meeting with 5 French colleagues in a "very French" company near Versailles, a typical scenario happens. I was the only Asian, (Chinese-Indonesian) in the room, with my foreign accent and mixed up French grammar. I jumped in to the conversations whenever I had comments and ideas - sometimes in French, sometimes in English. Most of the time, I stayed quiet, listened and observed, because I cannot converse with my colleagues as fast and fluently as they did among themselves. I also stayed quiet because that has been my nature being an Asian in this foreign land - although after 3 years I have become more assertive. I have gotten used to it, and they have gotten used to me.

As we finished our meeting I left them with a little bit of contribution - some ideas to solve a part of the problem. I observed that one of my colleagues were quiet when I spoke - not expressing a disagreement, although I sensed a certain reservation. He is always on my side, but maybe this time he did not fully agree and decided to just be quiet. I observed that two of my French colleagues have developed some tension - something that had become even more obvious during the debates. I noticed that their French accents were a bit different - I wondered whether that could be one of the cause. I observed that the only woman in the meeting seems to be getting a special attention from the group, especially from the director of quality. I concluded that she would not get away with it if she was a man.....

There are much more to life than just what we hear and see - if we just listen and observe. I believe that those that are blessed with the acute ability to observe and listen are the ones well equipped for greatness. If everyone listens and observes more, there will be much less problems in the world. If teachers listen better, they will be better teachers. If parents observe more than just watching over their kids, they will become better parents. If world leaders observe more beyond just the statistics – they will make better decisions.

This is my first posting in my blog. I have been fortunate to have lived and worked in so many cultures and societies in the world. Through it my observation and listening capacity have probably improved exponentially, although from a low base. I believe there are much more that I missed than I absorbed. So I swear to myself that as I continue my life journey, I will work hard to listen and observe. As I share my observations with you in many subjects, I would love to listen to yours too.