Archive for the 'Change' Category

Mattering in a changing world

Published on 11 February, 2009 in Change. Closed Tags: , , .

The other day, a friend was asking me whether I was going to expand and get myself an office. Really, I quite like keeping lean and using coffee shops and park benches as my office space… to me, I don’t really want an office at all! And though there are teleconference challenges still to be overcome, security risks and self-management issues, but there are some perks to be able to go to work without having a shower, much less getting dressed…especially as the high-impact talent of today demands a better work-life balance.

I love how the economic circle turns… while we still have Indian students coming to study at our Universities, now our students are being tutored online by Indians in India ! And the value for money that you can get is mind blowing… and is all the more important considering that India and China produce five times the number of science and engineering graduates as the United States. We need all the help we can get to keep up… 

Having been involved with community groups for some time, one of the challenges that you face sooner or later is handing over control. This is especially a challenge when you’ve actually made a difference – where you’ve sought to lead the organisation in a particular direction. Studies of business development – like this case study from HBS – show how the ‘founder’ or early leader of a change is often replaced over time as the organisation moves to a different phase in development. The conclusion: Often, you can be the king of a small domain or the prince of a great empire.

My dad is getting close to retirement. He’s worked in the public service forever and I struggle to see what he’s going to do with himself once he retires… maybe he’ll start his own company and become part of the wave of retirees flocking to create new wealth when they don’t really need to do it ! My grandfather did it… so did the guy who created Dreamworld… Hopefully he’ll be a bit more sensible than the current array of media-tart-web 2.0 entrepreneurs .

I’m increasingly obsessed with design. To me, it’s where the value is being created today – it’s where it’s at. We have enough stuff, now we want it to deliver values… here are some of the Masters of Design … Jochen Zeitz (CEO, Puma AG), Steve McCallion (creative director Ziba Design), Paula Scher (partner, Pentagram) and Clive Wilkinson (principal, Clive Wilkinson Architects).

It would seem that we could see more Fields Medalists (like a Nobel prize in maths) coming from outside the peer review system with the creation of internet-based journals that are peer-reviewed after publication like PLoS ONE and Philica . To me, this is very interesting, posing challenges to the existing publishers, though creating great opportunities for dynamic new findings and ideas – should be great to watch it grow. This direction has stimulated the venerable Nature already – they’ve started exploring how to maintain relevance with its own experiment in online peer-review. I wonder when we’re going to start creating concept maps of the concepts and supporting references though…

Daniel Smith

Human Nature?

Published on 2 February, 2009 in Change and Innovation. Closed Tags: , , , .

We are really simple creatures.

As I listened to a successful business leader of innovation I was dumbfounded at how even one of the most advanced organisations can use just a few different techniques and suddenly they’re classed as ‘innovative’. I have great respect for de Bono popularising creativity and expressing a few useful tools. And it is probably because of this that an organisation just selecting the first thing that occurs to them happens.

Perhaps it’s an explanation of why McDonalds does so well: Don’t give your customers too much choice!

Even if you felt called to use de Bono’s suite of techniques, ignoring the fact that none are validated (and that many other schools of thought exist), I remain bemused that a ‘leader’ of innovation would just choose the first technique that comes to hand. Not that the techniques themselves are poor in themselves – but surely an innovator would be called to look beyond the obvious?

If you want to use de Bono, go beyond the 6 Hats – they’re great, but they’re just the beginning. A scientist should explore water logic, action shoes, ToLoPoSoGo and a bunch of ideas outlined in Serious Creativity… AND look to other sources of thinking on creativity.

We set our standards so low… even people who innovate often end up just innovating enough. With the rise of Asia in an era of abundance and outsourcing, the only way that the developed world can continue to demand the sort of quality of life that it has grown accustomed to is through lifting up the value chain. We don’t get that by digging deeper holes: We get that by freeing our minds…

Take off the handbrake, unleash the throttle and explore the things that you’ve never thought possible… That is the path to genius.

Daniel Smith

Can you really teach mental skills?

Published on 26 January, 2009 in Change, High Performance and Personal Growth. Closed Tags: , , , , .

I was explaining to a woman that I help people use their brains more effectively, when she told me that it couldn’t be done. For a moment I was floored: surely she could see how different people, with similar talents and starting points, can produce totally different results in their personal and professional lives?

Surely she knew that there were some people who won, and others who lost?

And she did: She just didn’t believe that the skills could be taught. At that point, I decided to probe deeper. I don’t konw why: I could have simply presented to her countless evidence showing that we can help people increase their level of thinking and subjective experience of life. Instead, I probed further. Then I realised what was driving her doubt: she was scared. The intelligent, successful professional woman, was scared! As we spoke further, it seemed that she was scared of challenging herself and her world, and scared that somebody might tell her that there could be a better way. Perhaps because that would mean that she no longer had an excuse to be angry ten times a day!

I had almost forgotten how most people think. Most people think that life is hard, that success comes only after sustained struggle and a pinch of good luck. Whereas, I know that the real world is created in our minds, then manifested in reality.

Anything that you desire, you can have. Indeed, anything that you demanded, you already have. Those things that you didn’t really need, you didn’t get; not because you didn’t have the capacity to get it, but because you didn’t pay the price that you needed to pay.

What is the price? It depends upon what you want. But when you identify what you want, you can also identify what you need to do to get it; you can create a plan for creating what you want.

No matter what it is, the most important step is to know your outcome. When you know your outcome, retain it clearly in your mind, and resolutely move towards its fulfillment, you will either achieve your objective, or decide not to pursue that outcome.

That being said, sometimes we don’t really know what we want. How many times have you thought that you wanted something, yet didn’t really want it in the end. A friend of mine ‘wanted" to have a job as a commercial lawyer, working long hours under high pressure and making a lot of money. Yet, the closer that she came, the more that she realised that to do so would rob her of what she really wanted. To get what she "wanted" would mean that she would lose her connection with her loved ones, have less time to spend with her partner, and be forced to adopt beliefs, values and behaviours contrary to the way that she saw herself.

Know thyself

Ask yourself: What do I really want? And when you get the first answer, challenge yourself to go one step further, towards the deeper issues and underlying desires that often drive our superficial wants.

The closer you come to knowing yourself, the closer you will be able to align your desires with your dreams, and the more effective you will be in pursuing whatever objectives that lay before you.

So who are you? What do you really want? Do your drams really align with your desires? Sometimes we don’t realse immediately that it’s time to change… and sometimes it can be very difficult to change. But, in time, you know that the more accurately you know your destination, the faster you will be able to get there.

Many people criticise the goal-directed life. Yet, everybody is goal directed in some way. The only difference is that not everybody knows their objectives! Certainly, you should strive to enjoy and experience all the wonders and pleasures that the beautiful world in which we live has to offer. Yet, don’t be confused – don’t be hypnotised – by the trappings of the physical world. You know what you really want: you want to be happy.

What that means is for you to discover.

Daniel Smith

Limitation disengage

Published on 4 January, 2009 in Change, High Performance, Personal Growth and Purpose. Closed Tags: , , , .

A few minutes ago, I received the following message:

Fear and resistance arise when you don’t trust that where you are going is better than where you’ve been. What would you create right now if you knew you wouldn’t fail?

While there are a few of us who live a life of purpose and passion, most of us are not. And one of the few people that I know who says that he is, actually just lies to himself and everybody around him!

As I consider this sort of question, I feel it challenges you to look beyond the big idols of the modern world…

  • What would you do if nobody was watching?
  • What would you do if you couldn’t get the credit?
  • What would you do if you didn’t need the money?
  • How would you impact the world if you might die tomorrow?

Some suggest that we can only begin to live once we have faced death. This was part of the code of honour by which the samurai lived; part of many Mystery traditions in the East and in the West; and it remains, I believe, part of the cure to modern society’s materialism and affluenza.

For many, this relies upon listening to the voice within – as per the Daoist “not do” attitude, to surrender.

We each have our unique song to sing, and it’s not about having a bigger car or a bigger ring or more holidays, but rather it’s about living, loving, laughing and leaving a legacy.

For me, it’s making genius a choice rather than leaving it to chance… but what is it for you?

Daniel Smith

How do you solve a problem?

Published on 29 December, 2008 in Change and Purpose. Closed Tags: .

Putting more resources into a dysfunctional system makes that system more dysfunctional just as driving faster in the wrong direction just takes you further from where you want to go.

Solutions to the real problems come by lifting our level of thinking and clarifying our desired outcome. Becoming a great problem solver can come by elevating your thinking, getting better at clarifying your outcomes and framing the situation in a manner that so that it fits familiar situations (through models or frameworks).

Andrew Mwenda, in a presentation on TED, spoke about how giving aid to Africa strengthened corrupt governments and undermined the need to build the rules for sustainable wealth creation systems. But I especially loved his simple ending: That great speeches should be like miniskirts – short enough to arouse interest but long enough to cover the subject.

Daniel Smith

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