What is the secret to outstanding performance in any field? What makes world class musicians, athletes and scientists different from the rest of us?
In a similar vein to earlier titles like The Tipping Point and Blink, acclaimed nonfiction writer Malcolm Gladwell spins a fascinating tale on what made people remarkable in Outliers – The Story of Success.
Cai Guo Qiang’s artworks are a blend of interestingness with intensity (courtesy of Topical Musings)
Anybody who is plugged into the new world of marketing knows that the centres of gravity have shifted.
With the gradual death of the “hard sell” marketer, consumers are increasingly attracted to a new breed of advocates and influencers.
This new generation of opinion leaders and shapers are found both inside and outside today’s organisations.
Singapore’s Most Common Bird – the Javan Mynah (photo by Ong Xin Rui from the Birds of NUS)
That bird above, the Javan Myna (Acridotheres javanicus), is the most common bird species in Singapore. You can see its black feathered wings with dashes of white fluttering everywhere around our island.
The Javan Myna has an amazingly liquid voice that allows it to imitate a range of calls into its repertoire, emanating through its characteristically yellow beak. It nests practically everywhere – on buildings, on trees, in padi fields, in drains, in roofs – and is abundantly successful in almost every habitat.
One of the most difficult and perplexing challenge facing leaders and managers today is the trade-off between using one’s head and one’s heart. Should decisions be made purely on a bottom-line basis, or should they be done in the interests of all stakeholders?
As you would have guessed, there are no easy solutions to this, considering the dynamics of the modern organisation and its multiple demands.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People for Ah Bengs (Courtesy of Wayangtimes.com)
One of the oldest lessons from the incomparable 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey is to be proactive.
Now what does being proactive mean?
Supermarket shelves should always be full stocked (source)
While grocery shopping recently, my wife Tina experienced an inexplicable service failures at one of the largest supermarket chains in Singapore.
The story went like this.
There are two modes of cognitive reasoning that are universally defined: convergent and divergent thinking.
Convergent thinking is the one that is more frequently employed at work, in schools, and often at home. It is a form of thinking employing deductive reasoning, which looks at bringing together information that is focussed on solving a problem. Often, convergent thinking is useful for situations where a single correct solution exists. Such modes of thinking are commonly employed in scientific, engineering, financial and other analytical fields (like much of Police work).
Don’t eat the marshmallow and get two later! (source)
In an age of utmost convenience, instant replies, and quick fixes, one may be lulled into thinking that whatever’s fast to cook is good to eat. The inconvenient truth, however, is that many of the best things in life do not arrive merely at the snap of one’s fingers.
Rome (Disney or Microsoft) wasn’t built in a day. Similarly, major endeavours take months and years of blood, sweat and tears before arriving at the dizzying heights of success.
Source of image
One of the most critical skills I’ve learned working in large organisations is this:
Strategy, like charity, begins at home.
Written in a style reminiscent of Malcolm Gladwell, “Sway – The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behaviour” by Ori and Rom Brafman explores how seemingly irrelevant psychological influences impact human decisions. Peppered with anecdotes and experiments from social psychology, behavioural economics and organisational behaviour, Sway tells us why much of our decision making is more often subjective than objective.
Citing fascinating examples from the Israeli Army, US’s Supreme Court, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, and the anthropological fraud known as the “Piltdown Man“, the Brafman brothers’ weave a compelling narrative in the slim volume. Backed by scientific research, the case studies help to illustrate various psychological phenomena throughout the book. They include:
