Wisdom of the Cabs

Who has the most intimate knowledge of a city's streets but also has the most opinions on current affairs of the day? Well, I would think the only candidate for this would cab (taxi) drivers.

I met two actually recently during my trip to Perth and had some insightful conversation with them. The first one while making my way to my hotel from the airport. He had a strange accent which distinctly sound very familiar, so I commented that he did not sound Aussie. He readily admitted he was Scottish and had come over to Perth on his work vacation holiday some twenty odd years ago, and had stayed there ever since. Got his degree in sociology and married a local lass, and is now a taxi driver plying the streets of Perth.

We talked abit on his hometown in Glasgow and I asked which football team he supported and he said none because he did not want to support either Celtics or Rangers as the fans were separated through either being Protestant or Catholic respectively; and he was neutral. He did profess which faith he is but it was obvious he did not like the sectarianism (this was something I did not know, I do now).

We then shifted gears talking about the state of economy in Western Australia (resources industry boom; eg oil, minerals) and the effects of this on the local property prices. His home cost AUD 90K when he first bought it and is now worth more than AUD 300K. He seem well informed and was able to articulate well on the IT industry over there as well. We even talked about how the effect of China and India being a rising power that might overtake the world economy.

In a space of thirty minutes, we had a very broad range discussion on various topics which I personally felt was nice. Then, I started to have a thought; why would such a well-educated bloke like him choose to become a taxi driver. I did not have the answer to this question, as the taxi pulled over the at the hotel and we shook hands and said goodbye after he helped with my luggage.

The second taxi driver I encountered was when I was on my way to airport from hotel. This time, this bloke was pretty quiet initially. But after few questions about his work hours and the conversation started. Well, he says he was going to knock off immediately after the airport as he wanted to go watch football (I presume it is the AFL) on the Friday night and that he has been working only four hours until he picked me up. The conversation then shifted to the fact that even though he had twelve hours of driving time; he do not fully utilise it as he says he does not want to. And he also said this was the most stress-free job (he owned a few business for nearly seven years but decided to quit them); he is happy that he is self-employed and makes enough to pay his bills.

He further elaborated that what Australians had was a Lifestyle. They want to work but they also wanted to have enough time to enjoy the other things in life. The social welfare system is great but abuses are prevalent amongst some the youths and had created anti-social behaviour like crime. Then, he mentioned that the word "SLOW". Perth was a slow city as compared to Sydney and Melbourne but it does has its advantages. He went on to say, if you were young and ambitious, probably it will be good to be in these two cities, but after that, Perth would be great place to slow down and raise a family. Then he vaguely mentioned he has three children, two daughters (in university) and a son (in trade school studying to be electrician). In a nutshell, he is a happy man.

Then, he made an insightful observation. He said all of this was dependent on where the person was brought up. He had picked up a Hong Kong Lady who complained to him that Perth was simply too slow for her and that she needed to go back to recharge her batteries. Well, according to him, it was simply a matter of perception. Since, she was brought up in Hong Kong, the concept of time would be things needed to be fast. So, it was really about where people are brought up.

Also, he discussed about how he has a taxi driver, he had a choice on where he wants to go to pick up his passengers. He says he prefers the more well-to-do suburbs and that he made this his conscious choice, while a bus driver would not be able to do so, as they had to ply certain routes on suburbs which are of lower socio-economic class; and where the kids there are a more rowdy lot.

Along the way, he also gave some nuggets of insights on poker machines in clubs (Western Australia prohibits them while the rest of country allows this) and also on gambling generally. He made a very funny joke on how other taxi drivers normally assess the losers from the winners and would ask them whether they had thirty dollars before taking them on.The thirty minute ride again ended and so did our conversation.

On the plane, I begin to think again. I had my answer to my question in my first taxi ride. These guys are in their forties and obviously still capable to perform any job or work. They have an analytical mind, articulate, well-read and are able to express their opinions independently.

It boils down to one word: Choice. The Aussie Taxi Drivers choose to do this as their profession. Unlike, the taxi drivers in my home country, where there are instances of white collar professionals in the same age group who are unable to find jobs after being retrenched during poor economic period. These people had no choice, as being a taxi driver seems to be only one of the few jobs that they can do. Age discrimination against people in the forty-fifty age group in the manager/professional category is really rampant although this is widely not acknowledged.

I am not saying all the taxi drivers in my home country are all ex-managers/professionals, indeed most of them are from less well educated backgrounds and probably would not be able to hold such thoughtful discussion on a broad range of topics although they are able launch a tirade of complaints (mainly on the rising cost of living and our local politics). This category of taxi drivers probably had no choice too, as they had no or little skills and getting a taxi license seems to be the one of the few tickets to making a living.

The second Aussie taxi driver sums up what I think we all should learn in the search for meaning of our work and our passions for life. It is really about your choice of work and the lifestyle you want to lead.

I would never expect to learn this from a taxi driver (aussie one).... but I do appreciate that slow is good in a society that demands more and more of us to do things always fast, faster and fastest.

So, choose your work and the lifestyle you want if you are able to... easier said than done... but nevertheless, this is a reality Down Under.

Travel Bug and Balancing Equations

I was probably infected by the travel bug some twenty years ago when I first visited Perth with my mum. It was an eye-opening experience as it was my first visit to western country. It was so like my home country but yet it was so different in their outlook and pace of life. I really enjoyed my trip and I told myself from then on that I will travel to more countries to experience their way of life and culture.

I then managed to visit Perth again in eleven years later when I went there for a two week on-campus study. It was not so enjoyable this time as my courses were pretty intense, but I had a better taste of what life was like in down under. People were walking so slowly, buses wait at bus-stops for commuters and shops close at 5pm. I also experienced the coldness of upside down winter that Australia always faces; in June!

Well, tomorrow it is going to be my hat-trick trip to Perth. I was just flipping through one of the news magazines (can't remember which one!) two days ago, and briefly read an article describing surveys of people's attitudes towards work and overall opinion of life actually improved after they had gone on vacation on various length of time.

Slow pace vacation out of the country, Perth seems the ideal place to increase the 3rd element of Passion for Work equation. Let's see.....

Passion for Work Equation

The most precious resource for us in my mind is definitely Time. The reason is pretty simple, whatever commodities, products or goods that we want is obtainable through means through the marketplace, but Time is something special.

It cannot be bought, sold or traded. Once the Time has passed, there is no turning back and it just goes relentlessly forward without any consideration for anyone anywhere.

I have been so busy that I do not have the time to write nor read. Why? Its all because work... obviously, this is one activity that should not consume anyone, but countless people like myself are being overwhelmed by the workload.

The crux of this problem is the current economic boom that we are experiencing. The paradox is that most companies still expect the costs of products/services should remain low (or better still be slashed even lower) while profits/revenue should continue increase higher and higher. Costs in this context means not hiring more people to perform the never ending work that is being generated. The greed of humankind is limitless.

So, how does it relate to my previous posting which talks about passion for work? Well, I can only express it in as a equation as below:

Passion for Work = Good Work Satisfaction (Emotional/Morale) + Great Compensation (Financial) + Adequate NonWork Time (Precious Resource)

Any element out of this equation will result in a lower passion for work. But I think the most important lever is the third element. Without adequate time for personal, spiritual and family; disatisfaction will increase and and ultimately result in a loss of work passion. No amount of great compensation will then be able to help uplift satisfaction or passion.

Footprints of memory

I was reflecting on my raison d'etre again tonight. Probably because of journeyman's comments I guess, but his choice of his moniker made me wonder what kind of journey of my life that I want to lead as well.

Well, the answer was quite easy for me, in part because I immediately thought of my family. Then I began to think what legacy that I would like to leave for my children, basically the footprints of my life's path. I am not immortal after all.

Thought of it for a while, and I decided that I should just let if flow, try to enjoy this moment in time with your family/loved ones and these footprints will be imprinted as your own legacy.

Knowing you know nothing = ?

I was just reading journeyman's comments of my previous post "raison d'etre"; and what he said triggered me to wonder how and when will anyone gain true wisdom in the sense of the word...

So, I googled it and I found a quote from Socrates as below:

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing" Socrates

I loved it. The name of this blog should actually change to... "Knowlege to Knowing You Know Nothing"... hehee ;p. All my life, I have been reading and enquiring about things, and I have always felt that I still do not know enough.

When I first titled this blog's name, I was really thinking about my past years of constant reading. Then it occurred to me when and how can I attain wisdom. I also asked myself whether wisdom can only be attained by someone old and elderly (because I always had the image of an old man with white beard sitting up in the mountain where "ying xiong" or heroes will come up and seek their advice or to learn their skills... hmmn maybe its due to my childhood days watching "wuxia pian"

So finally, I decided to title it as "Knowledge to True Wisdom"... meaning I was hoping to gain knowledge and attaining true wisdom during the course of my life's journey before I start knocking on heaven's doors.

But tonight, it seems all clear to me now. I had known that I do not know enough before, but what I should had known was I know nothing at all.....

Get it?

raison d'etre

I first heard this French phrase "raison d'etre" from my boss in a meeting. I guess he was trying to inspire the team and it did trigger me to do some research on this. He had mentioned that LKY used this phrase sometime, but I could not find any source article attributed to him on this.
Nevertheless, it means "Reason or justification for existing". This brings to my mind what is the purpose of my existence. I did reflect upon it for a while and I came up on a few thoughts which are of no particular order in importance:

1) Family - The cornerstone of our social circle otherwise we would be just individuals living in a deserted island with no ties to bind us. They are the source of unconditional love and support... but of course there are also challenging times where we need to work on our relationships with our parents, husbands, and children.

2) Friendships - The second layer of the our social circle where people whom we enjoy the company of. They could be bosom friends or close ones that are able to second guess your thoughts but yet able to offer alternative perspectives on things. Such relationships definitely grow us as better individuals, without losing our own identity.

3) Knowlege and True Wisdom - As this blog is titled....the purpose of our being is to bring about the great knowledge and true wisdom that we as humans have gained through the millenia through sharing and collaborating with each other. Reading of great books, watching first rate films would only serve us better.

4) Passion for one's work - This may seem understandbly difficult to achieve if one is bogged down by the daily grind of routine mundaneness. But if one can achieve this, we would be able to feel the satisfaction that we all serve society in a meaningful way. However, passion for the work should not clash and become a work-life balance issue.

5) Cultural Diversity - perhaps I had put this in because of my love of travelling. In the course of travelling, I had been exposed to various cultures and the same time learn their some of their subtle ways. Every country you visit, it opens a new world of ideas and perspectives on how things can be done. We can only learn through acceptance of such other cultures and make us much better individuals.

So, to put it simple terms, its about valuing and building your relationships, continuous learning and lastly, passion for life and work.

Multinational Citizens

Who are the only "persons" in the legal sense whom can become citizens of many countries? They are being allowed to own, buy and sell property in practically all the countries of world. Well, the "persons" just happened to be multinational corporations like Shell, Goodyear, IBM, McDonalds and so forth....

The Corporation by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbot underscores the influence, power and implications of the corporate entity to the world since its first inception in history. In all areas of society, we are being brought up to belief that the business is good, and wealth is the way to prosperity. Remember the 80's when the mantra "Greed is Good" as echoed by Gordon Gekko in the film Wall Street. It was a hilarious start to the film when the film-makers cleverly put together a series of media shots of people describing the corporate debacles of the past years as "Bad Apples"... I really enjoyed it.

It seems globalization is major theme of this film because it practically describes corporations has permeated into our society by even submitting patents for living organisms, seeds and all things the natural earth has endowed us. Well, I am not sure how they are going to patent all these... but with profit as a main motivator, they will find some means to do it legally. Whether it is enforceable in the eyes of Mother Nature... that is not for them to decide. With global warming as discussed in my previous post, and if no definite steps are taken to address it, all the profit and gains would not be enjoyed by anyone. One CEO interviewed, even called himself "A plunderer of Earth"... this sounds like suitable description so far.

The corporations also tries to own knowledge that has been endowed upon us from the generations of people before us. This in a business perspective seems natural for the corporations but I think this has gone abit too far. Knowledge that we have today, is being enjoyed by us because of the fruits of labour of our past ancestors. The concept of intellectual ownership of knowledge is fairly recent in our history.

I am not saying intellectual property or capital of the various artistes or companies of today should not be respected, but there should be some measure whereby the knowledge accumulated in the past could be in accessed freely and used by all. Of course, I do not offer a roadmap or framework on the how to deal with this... but definitely it should not allow the rule of externalities that was discussed in the film to be abused by the corporations.

Noam Chomsky is one notable interviewee in this film; one whom I admire for his intellectual prowess. His arguments on the various points shows and it makes the film a more watchable one. I remembered a friend of mine mentioned to me about him once a time and I had begun to read Chomsky's articles online.

In an nutshell, this is a film about globalization as well. People from the developing countries exploited by their meagre wages, while the products they produce are being sold at incredible high prices in the developed ones. The companies make no apologies for this, as profits are their main purpose of their existence.

It brings to my mind a book entitled "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins. Similarly, after watching this film and cross-referencing to Perkin's story of global institutions like World Bank, IMF and so forth, I begin to wonder if this is the new societal order that has sprung out in this point of our human history. Of course, anyone would know in previous eras, there were the empires, kingdoms, the church, feudalism and other forms of dominant power in our civilisation.

So, the question is how are we affected by the "soft power" of the corporation wielded by the few in the name of their shareholders on society. Well, one learning point for me is "The Nag Factor". This seemingly marketing tactic has made children of ours as the focal point target to manipulate parents to buy things that they don't seem to need. Well, this is really something I need to be conscious about.... before wielding my credit card while on my way to a cashier at least....

Truth about our climate?

Today, watched two films that largely mirror each other's storyline. The bottom line that both says is that global warming is ruining the earth that we live in now. An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore had all the high powered graphics, his charamastic delivery of the presentation slides and of course with his good wit. The second one is by PBS's Global Warming: The signs and science
hosted by Alannis Morrisette. Less of a drama as it was not delivered by a politician, but still gives us the facts and information through other experts on various fields.

In a nutshell, what both are saying is that if nothing is being done to stop (or was it slow down?) this global crisis, we will end up extinct maybe just like the dinosaurs. So, is there an urgency to alleviate this problem? Apparently not, we are still weighing the costs and the benefits. Some may even be questioning whether global warming is happening or not.

To a certain extent, I can sense that there is "truth" in these messages that are being sent out. Al Gore even had the time to put in the film about how he was influenced by his professor on the environment, his childhood on the farm, his sister's unfortunate death, his son's accident and jibes by former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr on his environmental views.

I wonder whether if he had become the President, would he have done things differently; for the environment and the other contentious political issues of our day (Iraq, 9/11 and so fortha). We will never know of course.

In any case, all the troubles and problems will become inconsequential on the day of reckoning when all the wealth, technology and power of the world will not be able to stop this force of nature. So, let's start small and bit by bit. I know what I can try to do first.... try to stop/refrain from taking those plastic bags from the supermarkets and turn off the lights ....

May the force be with you...

My favourite movies of all time... Star Wars, where Yoda, the Jedi Master utter the words "May the force be with you" to Luke Skywalker.

Well, in the true sense, we humans really lack this capability whereby we can lift objects and change the will of other beings merely by use of our mental powers. But what we have is really intuition. Currently reading the book by Gary Klein "Intuition at Work", whom he describes how people can improve their decision making skills through intuition.

I first encountered Gary Klein's work 1-2 years back when I first read his first book "Sources of Power". I was intrigued by his research which concluded that people doing dangerous or critical jobs like fire commanders, pilots and nurses could make split-second decisions on life-threatening situations and yet have a successful outcome.

Malcom Gladwell's book "Blink" probably drew some of his material from him.

Anyway, we can all learn a thing about decision making. Sometimes, we are too preoccupied with doing a thorough analysis of a issue or problem, that we have forgotten to place our subconcious mind of intuition to solving it. I would think that using too much of either left or right side of our brains would be counterproductive. A balance of both good rational analysis tempered by a dose of gut feelings might just be solution to all problems......

TT (top 3) Blogs for now....

In ranking of top favourites, I would like to limit it to the magic number three as I believe in keeping it simple. Anything more would be a distraction... so here goes:

1) Cognitive-Edge
Dave Snowden is the most intellectually stimulating person so far I have encountered. His ideas of sensemaking, narrative storytelling and many other ideas is groundbreaking. He has opened my mind totally.

2) David Maister
David Maister's Blog with its numerous articles, podcasts and comments on the professionalism is a great source for young people, executives, managers and all knowledge workers.

3) Anecdote
Aussies Shawn Callahan and Mark Schenk share their ideas and thoughts on cognitive techniques. Tremendous amount of material relating to anecdotes, sensemaking , complexity theory and storytelling.

My interest currently is in knowledge management and professionalism as you can see with the above blogs.

Questions we all ask ourselves....

Our Families - Why do we love these people? This question was posed by Po Bronson in his new book "Why do I love these people?" when he embarked on his research project that lasted 3 years.

I first read Bronson's other book "What should I do with my life" some 1-2 years back, but this one really tops it off and continues on with his great storytelling of ordinary people and their lives. His style of writing on issues that are prevalent in contemporary society really highlights his gift of storytelling.

He does not pretend to offer solutions to the questions he has posed on the covers of his books, but rather he offers real-life personal accounts of the trials, tribulations and hardships that ordinary Americans endure in search of the answers.

In "Why do I love these people?", I find the first chapter of James Louie and his daughter Jennifer most touching. It had all the elements of a great story, Father leaves country in search of a better life.... neglects his daughter during her childhood years.... daughter becomes rebellious as a young adult but finally reconcilling her differences with the father only after returning to their home country.

What struck me as most touching was actually the narrative of James going back to hometown village, finding his house totally intact; well-protected by his neighbours in all years he had left.

And the moment, he entered his house, James went right to his mother's altar to bow three times. When Jennifer asks, how old was his grandmother when she died; James replied that she had died when she was around Jennifer's age and that she was heart-broken due to the unfaithfulness of her husband. James went on to say that he was only one-year old then and that he never knew his mother.

In that moment, Jennifer finally saw the inner self of her father. Never she had ever thought this man, her father would have an emotional life because she had not communicated and bonded with him since the day she was born.

The finale happens when James gives Jennifer a bracelet that belonged to his mother's mother that he had kept hidden in a worm hole behind a wooden panel for the past seventeen years.

The incredible human desire to improve one's lot is definitely present in all of us. However, we must not forget that our families play an important part of the equation, because if without them, life would not be as meaningful. It took James nearly seventeen years to get back his daughter, but I can understand the kind of self-sacrifice that he had made as a new immigrant in a foreign country.

James was in essence the conservative Chinese father that followed the Confucian traditions of fillial piety and hardwork. But along the way, he made some tradeoffs which evidently affected his relationship with his children.

In life events, there seems to be so many twists and turns, but somehow things will always return full circle and achieve its natural balance.

The other eighteen stories contained within the book had its own endings which were not as touching (or good) as this first chapter, but I feed that it was a good read for all to reflect on themselves and about their own families.

Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs

Picked up this title "Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs" from the library last month, and surprisingly I found myself enjoying the memoirs of Jeremy Mercer. It tells of a time when Mercer finding himself penniless in Paris after escaping from his hometown in Canada due to some threats to his life. Somehow, he found himself spending time in an odd English bookstore called Shakespeare & Co. where the world of books, writers and quirky characters crossing paths.

His account of life in the bookstore where the owner George Whitman taking on poor writers who has not made their mark in the publishing world; allowing them to stay free-of-charge and only insisting that they perform basic chores there seems so inspiring to me

Never in my life I would think there is such a place where people from all the world come and share their ideas with each other; although living in not so comfortable setting. George Whitman's idea that his bookstore is a utopia for poor writers and book lovers really appeals to me. The little story gems of Mercer meeting several characters including 92 year old George's romances with the younger women in his bookstore was incredibily unbelievable but yet somehow still feels credible in such an unusual place.

His stories of him trying to earn money from selling back cheap CDs, writing short stories for unwitting tourists and buying Louis Vutton bags for Chinese syndicates were quite entertaining. I never thought one could survive in Paris doing such 'work'... hahaa.

The finale of the story sees George reuniting with his young daughter, Sylvia with the help of Mercer. I did some searching in google and found that Sylvia has taken over his bookstore and managing it quite well. A really nice end to the story.

Paris, the city of lights has always enchanted me. I have been there three times, 1997, 2000 and in 2004 (my wife loves the place totally). Next visit, I shall definitely drop by this quirky little bookstore in the heart of Paris, left bank opposite of Notre Dame. Well, at least just to soak up the atmosphere that Mercer had protrayed......