Hot, Flat, and Crowded

In this liberal friendly account, we learn why the world is hot, flat, and crowded, and some possible solutions to the problems we face as a global society.

Sucess Made Simple

This is the tale of how Amish entrepreneurs beat the odds against failed business and a look at some of the factors that might add to their success.

Chapter 1 - Eye to the Horizon. 
Success can be attained first by having a vision which is key in an amish business.  You have to have some sort of overall goal other than just making money.  The prime reason for owning a business for many amish is to provide for their families and to have something to pass down to their children when they are adults. 

Chapter 2 - Getting Smart
This chapter looks at how amish are able to successfully run businesses require accounting, inventory, client databases, managing employees, bidding jobs, etc that other non-amish businesses use, but they only have an 8th grade education, not an MBA.  The answer, they work under a mentor for many years before starting their own shop, they read extensively, they try to learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of others, go to seminars, and sometimes use outside consultants. 

Chapter 3 - Market Bound
The amish use sales and marketing like other businesses even though they aren't as flashy as what we're used to.  Some businesses have printed literature while others rely on roadside signs and word of mouth.  They find the most effective method is storytelling.  Because amish products don't usually fall in the low cost area, they are expected to be of high quality and last a long time. 

A Whole New Mind: Part Two
The rest of the book is divided into what Pink calls the six senses of R-Directed thinking.  They are high concept, high touch senses that can help develop the WHOLE new mind.  They are:

1. Design
2. Story
3. Symphony
4. Empathy
5. Play
6. Meaning

Chapter 4: Design is the complement to utility that makes the things around us not only work, but aesthetically pleasing.  One example is a toaster.  Walk down the small appliance aisle at Target or Lowe's and you'll notice that not only are their a wide assortment of reasonably priced toasters, but they are all designer.  I'm sure you'll see chrome ones, retro styles, and bright colors.  His reasoning is that you only use your toaster for a couple minutes a day, the other 99.9% of the time it's just sitting on your counter for you to look at.  So why shouldn't it be fun to look at? 

 

The remainder of the chapter talks about how design has crept into every facet of our lives.  Design isn't for just the rich and famous, but everyday people.  Even the low income housing here in downtown Nashville looks like a quaint subdivision with coordinating exterior colors and bright white trim.  Pink refers back to Target a lot, and their use of world renowned designers for their discount mass produced inventory. 

 

(Besides the photos and illustrations this book includes, another really cool thing is the Portfolio at the end of each chapter.  Behind the explanation of each of the six senses, he includes several exercises that can help you become more in tune with that sense.  It's worth buying the book just for that.)

 

Chapter 5: Story is a way for humans to make sense of the world.  If I were to ask you the plot of a movie you saw in 11th grade, you would probably be able to picture some things and give me an answer, but if I asked you a question about Geometry, something you studied all year in 11th grade, it may be harder to recall.  That's because our brains have an internal "story grammar" that help us understand the world through story.  We need things to have a beginning, middle, and an end and a way to connect all the parts in order for it to make sense and resonate in our minds. 

 

One example of how stories can be a matter of life or death is in medicine.  By simply diagnosing the symptoms a patient has, a doctor may be missing something important.  By listening to the patient, how they became injured, any factors leading up to that point can make a huge difference.  The example Pink used was the story of two postal workers who worked at the same location which incidentally had been exposed to Anthrax.  Both workers went to separate doctors and explained their symptoms, both mentioning the Anthrax.  The first man was treating only for his symptoms, sent home, and few days later died of Anthrax.  The second man, was administered tests, given antibiotics, treated for Anthrax, was kept in the hospital overnight, and survived.  The doctor of the survivor said she thought the man had pneumonia, but she listened to her patient and followed her instincts which ended up saving his life. 

 

Chapter 6: Symphony is another way of saying, seeing the whole picture.  This is probably my favorite of the six senses because i find myself thinking and saying this all the time.  "How does this fit into the big picture?"  "In the grand scheme of things is this going to matter?"  I find myself getting frustrated with people who fuss over minute details instead of looking at the big picture.  Pink talks about how the ability to draw usually means people use symphony. 

 

Symphony also relates to seeing relationships, crossing boundaries, inventiveness and making metaphors.

Chapter 7: Empathy is the act of putting yourself in someone else's shoes, and feeling what they feel.  It's different from sympathy because you're not just feeling sorry for them you are "feeling their pain".  Did you know that facial expressions are universal and Charles Darwin even wrote a very controversial book about how animals express emotion through facial expression?  In 1965, psychologist Paul Ekman conducted a study that proved facial expressions are products of nature rather than culture.  He showed photos of people making different facial expressions to other people all over the world.  From the bustling streets of Manhattan to the secluded tribes of New Guinea, all the people were able to come up with the same emotions based on the faces. 

Seven basic human emotions have clear facial signals: anger, sadness, fear, surprise, disgust, contempt, and happiness. 

There are many levels of facial expressions which are:

• Full and Intense
• Slight Expression- the first prickle of an emotion of failed attempt to hide an emotion
• Partial Expression
• Micro Expression - when a person is trying to hide their feelings

Another interesting fact, while men and women do technically have the same capacity for empathy, women are usually found to be more sensitive to the feelings of others.  In fact, when polled, both men and women say they feel more intimate, enjoyable, and nurturing in their friendships with females. 

Chapter 8: Play is emerging more and more as an important quality in life.  People are not just happy to have food to eat, and a roof over their head, but we also want to have fun.  This ideology is working it's way into the workforce as well...and why shouldn't it?  Aren't most of us more likely to work harder for a company and have more loyalty if we are having fun?  That's just my opinion. All i know if all work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy...and who wants to work with that. 

"Humor represents many aspects of the sophisticated thinking required in automated and outsourced time.  And just plain laughter can lead to joyfulness, which in turn can lead to greater creativity, productivity, and collaboration." 

Chapter 9: Meaning

A Whole New Mind: Part One

Chapter 1: Right Brain Rising

In this chapter, Pink discusses how the brain is divided into two hemispheres and how these two hemispheres perform separate tasks.   The left side is similar to a computer.  It is able to solve problems, reason, and memorize thousands of practical things.  The right side is more creative and organic.  It can read facial expressions, innovate and imagine.  Together, the left and right sides allow us to function with the practicality of a robot while also emoting and understanding the world as only a human being can. 

Pink lists the four differences of the left and right hemispheres

1. L controls the right side of the body, and R controls the left side of the body
2. L is sequential and R is simultaneous
3. L specializes in text and R specializes in context
4. L analyzes the details and R synthesizes the big picture

Throughout life you may have been labeled as a left-brainer or a right-brainer.  Personally, I identify more with the right brain as I am left handed but also consider myself to be more artsy and creative than practical and detail oriented.  This gives us two basic approaches which Pink refers to later in the book.  L-Directed Thinking is an attitude to life this is characteristic of the L hemisphere - sequential, literal, functional, textual, and analytic.  The other is R-Directed thinking which is an attitude to life that is characteristic of the R hemisphere - simultaneous, metaphorical, aesthetic, contextual, and synthetic. 

Of course no one can get by using only one side of the brain but I'm sure most of us can identify more with one side than the other.  Which brain are you????

Chapter 2: Abundance, Asia, and Automation

Abundance - It's no shock that America is a land of abundance (and waste).  If you drive down any major interstate in the US, you'll start to notice clusters of the same stores and restaurants.  TJ Maxx, Target, Ross, Stein Mart, PetCo and Lowes seem to always be together in the same shopping centers.  I live within a 5-mile radius of three Wal-Mart Supercenters. Three examples of abundance Pink gives are:

• The "American Dream" is to own a home and a car.  2/3 of all Americans own their home and 13% of homes purchased are 2nd homes.  The US has more cars than licensed drivers.
• Self-Storage is a $17 Billion industry - a business devoted to storing the extra stuff that won't fit inside your house, garage, and attic. 
• The US spends more on trash bags than 90 other countries spend on everything. 

Asia - Everyone has heard of outsourcing.  Every time I call Chase Visa to try and get my late fee forgiven, there is an Indian person on the other end of the line.  But America outsources more than call centers and telemarketing.  There are hundreds of thousands of middle class Indians who go to a good college to get engineering and IT degrees who earn approximately $15,000/year for what the same employee would make $60-70,000/year in America.  They do just as good of a job, but are able to outsource to a country with a much lower cost of living. Notice the jobs that are being outsourced OUT of America are L-Directed thinking jobs? 

Automation - Outsourcing isn't the only threat to American "knowledge worker" jobs.  Automation has been doing the work of a human better and faster since the industrial revolution and even before.  While we usually think of robots as taking over the jobs of factory workers, there are now such advanced computers and programs being created that can take over the jobs of computer programmers, accountants, medical and legal professionals and much more.  Again these are L-directed thinking type jobs.  One example in the book talks about legal websites.  While a lawyer may charge $180 per hour, USLegalForms.com offers legal forms and other basic documents for $14.95.  Instead of paying a lawyer thousands of dollars to draft a contract, people can now find the document online and then have it customized by their lawyer for a couple hundred bucks .

The  purpose of these examples is not to freak anyone out but to merely stress the point that we cannot expect to pursue careers that are simply L-Directed.  It's the human factor in these occupations, the R-Directed thinking that sets us apart from robots and computers. 

Chapter 3: High Concept, High Touch

In the figure to the left you see Pink's pattern From the Agricultural Age to the Conceptual Age.  It shows how man has had to evolve to move on to the next era.  He says. "We've progressed from a society of farmers to a society of factory workers, to a society of knowledge workers.  And now we're progressing yet again - to a society of creators and empathizers, of pattern recognizers and meaning makers".

Field Trip Agenda

I tried to find a better calendar format but couldn't find a gadget for that.  Here is the tentative Schedule for the field trips

Week One

July 7 - Leave America!

July 8 - Arrive in Chung-Li, Taiwan

July 9 - Tour of Campus Chung Yuan Christian University

July 10 - Tour of the City

Week Two

July 12 - Opening Ceremony/Banquet then class

July 13 - Taipei Rapid Transit Co and Taipei City Traffic Control Center

July 14 - Class and visit Hsinchu Science Park (like Silicon Valley in Ca.)

July 15 - Class and Field Trip to ???

July 16 - Class and Tour

July 17 - National Palace Museum and Taipei Confucius Temple then Taipei 101!!!!

Week Three

July 19 - Class and Field Trip

July 20 - Lecture and Class
July 21 - Lecture and Formosa TV Station
July 22 - Kingcar Co. and SanHo Paper and Carton Co.
July 23 - Class and Tour
July 24 - Tour and Rest

Week Four

July 25 - Trip to La La Mountain National Park (Overnight Trip)
July 26 - Return from Mountain trip
July 27 - Class Presentations and Closing Ceremony
July 28 - Leave Taiwan
July 29 - Back in America! (Welcome Home Party hopefully) :)