My existence in the virtual world

Wow ! I met with an old friend this week. Old acquaintance of some 48years Bob is. He has not been very present in Mauritius recently mainly due to his frequent overseas trips. I learnt only now, that he conducted a survey for Harvard to identify and evaluate the quality of treatment dispensed by Ayurvedic centers in India. I found my man. Through his contact and network, Bob is trying to fit me with the best of the best for my condition.

It has been my wish to go for Ayurvedic treatment in India for a while. I understood from a common friend that Iqbal M… who had severe nerves and muscles atrophies following a car accident had made spectacular progress following Ayurvedic treatments.

Needless to say, I have been the last few days an avid searcher of the internet on Ayurveda. The more I read the more I like it. I feel very comfortable as Ayurveda seems to be close to some of my deep roofed beliefs. Mind body & soul are part of the same system and are interlinked. This axiom is the basis concept of psychoneuroimmunity. Humans are influenced by the 5 elements: Vata is Ether and Air; Pitta is Fire and Water; Kapha is Water and Earth. The Chinese TAO principle finds a new value to me.

You can understand now my new excitement. I am looking forward to a trip to India soon. Very much for me a return to memory lanes where in my younger dates I had at the start of my working life, I had so many discoveries.

The trip to India is definetly a new challenge to look forward to and new experiences to live for!

Blessed by the sun is not a new religion or sect that is being instituted. These we were the words that came to my mind this morning. Why? Sometimes ideas or words come to your conscious without a clear logical explanation. I need then to drill a bit into the head to elicit the words associations which coagulated the ideas.

I got it now. Two days ago, I got interested into solar energy and the recent development brought about in this field after viewing a BBC program. In great splash was reported a race of solar driven cars competing in Taiwan last week. This race unique in his kind was opened to young innovators. The event was sponsored by a Taiwanese solar panel developer: Motech. They aligned in the race prototype cars to show the world the possibilities opening to solar powered cars. Thereafter, I spent a few hours browsing the internet and searching for new developments in the field. Of interest, I found out that the UK is promoting small scale generation of sustainable energy.

Le célébrant de ma messe ce dimanche, le Père Tostée, disait que les textes nous bousculent et ne sont pas tendres envers nos actions répréhensibles.

Le Père Tostée proposa trois pistes de réflexions :

1. Notre rapport avec l’argent,
2. Notre jalousie des autres,
3. Nos tentations au pêché.

L’Argent ou notre richesse matérielle

Es ce que l’argent ou notre richesse matérielle, notre confort relatif nous servent-ils à vivre pour devenir un homme meilleur ou sommes nous au service de cette même richesse matérielle, ce confort par une avide accumulation de l’argent? A voir cette course effrénée pour les achats des biens de consommations nous pourrions nous poser la question suivante : Pourquoi j’achète x produit ? Par besoin, nécessité ou par envie, et par pur plaisir de posséder ? Sommes nous maître de l’argent ou sommes nous les esclaves au service de l’argent ? Ne sommes nous pas embarqués dans cette course de consommation qui nous demande plus et encore plus de confort ? Les moyens sont-ils devenus pour nous la fin ?

Notre Jalousie

« Keep up with the Jones » est bien à la mode. Cela est évident et ne néccessiterait pas d’explication extensive. Par contre, sommes nous jaloux des gens qui réussissent ou qui font du bien? Le Père Tostée nous raconta une histoire de guerre des donneurs de communion, qui pourrait nous faire frémir et nous amener à bien de réflexions. Dans le meme registre, au lieu d’être heureux de voir que nos frères musulmans, en ce moment de leur Carême, en grande generosité font de l’aumône, nous arrive-t-il de questionner le bienfondé et la sincérité de leurs actes ? Sommes nous l’uniques détenteurs de la vérité ?

Nos Tentations au pêche

Pourquoi nous laisser tenter ? Dire un non catégorique au premier soupçon de tentation devrait nous mettre dans le droit chemin. Combien de fois, consciemment ou par négligence nous jouons avec le feu de la tentation et sont pris au piège. Mettons nous donc à l’écart de la tentation. Example vécu de la semaine : Trop confiant en son pouvoir de s’arrêter de jouer au Casino, voilà qu’un ami s’en va au casino pour jouer. Au départ la chance lui sourit, et il gagna. Puis après, la chance tourna et il commença à perdre. A la fin, emporté par l’espoir de récupérer sa perte, il dépassa sa limite! Le démon du jeu l’a eu!

I recently, came across the writings of Chris on the net which I would like readily to share with you. I would also recommend that you read his books or listen to his speeches.

The article refreshed my memories of the days when I studied and prepared mysellf to deliver ” the 7 habits of highly effective persons seminars” based on Stephen Covey’s book on the same title.

Chris Widener wrote:

If you have heard me talk about leadership at all, you will know that I have a very simple definition of Leadership. Leadership is simply: Influence. That’s it. Simple. When you lead, you influence. To lead others is to influence them through various means to follow you to your vision of a preferred thought, belief or action.

One of the key ways to do so is to increase your ability to persuade people. Now, at first glance you may do as many do and think of persuasion as simply a verbal plea or argument (in the positive sense of the word) that seeks to change someone’s mind. I want to focus in on what I believe to be a much more well rounded view of persuasion, one that has been around for many hundreds of years, and which, when applied, will increase your ability to persuade others, or influence them.

My basic points for this article are found from Aristotle’s “The Rhetoric.” They are what I call the “Three Legs of Persuasion.” Together they enable us to fully persuade people. Miss any of the three legs and it is like trying to sit on a three-legged stool that is missing one leg!

What are the three legs? They are:

Logos, or Logic
Pathos, or Passion
Ethos, or Ethics

In order to master the art of persuasion, you must have:

1. Logic. Your vision must make sense to the person who is following you (or the one you are trying to get to follow you!). How is this done?

o Vision. Do you have a vision of where it is that you want to go? Do you have the destination in mind? If you want people to follow you, you need to have a vision, an end result that you are targeting.

o Clarity. Is the vision clear? Can it be articulated clearly? Is it simple enough to grasp? Does it make sense?

o Communication. Can you communicate your vision so that it is understandable and compelling? Do you communicate it regularly so that the logic of it sinks in?

o Strategy. The strategy for getting to your destination must be logical for your followers. Does it make sense for them to follow you on the journey of your vision for your organization? A well-thought out strategy for getting to your vision is a must.

2. Passion. People underestimate the principle of passion. Today more than ever, this element of being passionate about your vision is paramount to the idea of persuasion.

As we leave the modern era and move into what sociologists are calling the “post-modern” era, people are going to be persuaded less by logic and reason than they are passion. We live in a video age that uses images and music to move people more than sense and reason. For example, think about how basketball shoes are sold today. They ads don’t say, “These shoes are made from the finest rubber and leather and will sustain the shock of x amount of pounds of pressure, etc, etc.” No, today shoes are sold by showing basketball players dribbling the ball to a methodical beat. Image. Passion.

So do we throw out logic? Certainly not, but we understand that the passion we demonstrate is extremely important. Probably more important than logic and increasingly so in the years to come.

Are you passionate about your vision? Does that come through when you speak about it? Does it come through in the materials that you distribute to support your vision?

People want to know that you are passionate about your vision. If you aren’t passionate about it, then why should they be? Your vision must be passionately compelling. After all, you are asking them to put themselves on the line, to give it all to get the group to the vision. It takes a passionate person to move a group toward a vision. And the bigger the vision, the more passion you need to get there!

3. Ethics. This is what I believe to be the most important aspect of these three legs of persuasion. Ethics. Integrity. Character. However you want to say it, people look at you and are constantly judging your character.

You may have tremendous skills. You may have all the logic in the world and passion to fill a sporting arena, but if your followers see a crack in your character, they will run for the hills. Now don’t get me wrong. I am not talking about mistakes. Followers will allow for mistakes. But they will not allow for poor character.

I know what you must be thinking: Wait a minute. We have all sorts of leaders with poor character – just look at the politicians! A few thoughts on that very good question:

Many of the people we think have poor character have many others (and in a politician’s case, they just need 51%) who think their character is fine, or at least sufficient. So for some the question of ethics has been answered, just differently than we would answer it. For example, polls show that most people think that politicians are unethical and corrupt in general. But when polled on their own representative, they answer that that person is just fine, thank you very much.

Secondly, we have seen that very talented leaders are eventually undone by their lack of character, or at least thwarted in their goals of leadership. Let’s take Bill Clinton for example. What do we know about him? What would most people agree upon?

For one, he is smart, a Rhodes scholar. For another, he is talented. Still more, he is passionate and driven. He is winsome and gregarious. We also know that he had a few “character problems.”

“But he was re-elected,” you may point out. True, but he didn’t accomplish what he wanted to because he was answering the question of his character all of the time. And beyond that, many people who were big supporters of his ended up realizing that they could have someone else who would provide leadership without the sideshow, and they abandoned him in droves by the end.

To his major detractors, Bill Clinton was an example of a person who lacked the character to lead. To his supporters he has become a caricature of lost opportunity because of the issues of character. Now, I do not intend to turn this article into a discussion of politics, but I use Clinton as an example of how people who are both opposed as well as sympathetic to him and his vision can agree that character questions were his undoing.

Where does this leave us? Hopefully you aren’t dealing with the kind of issues we have seen in our political process lately, but you should be asking yourself what your character is like.

Am I honest? Am I who I say I am? Do I do what is right? Am I responsible? Am I the same behind closed doors as I am in public? Am I a person of integrity? These are the most important questions. The way your followers answer them about you will determine to what degree they follow you. Will people follow you if your character is less than stellar? Maybe. But all other things being the same, a strong character will put you over the top.

Logic, passion and ethics are the three legs of persuasion. Become a person with a vision that is logical and well thought out, combine that with a passionate pursuit, and you are well on your way to persuading people and achieving the goal for your organization. The key will be what kind of character you have. If you develop a fine, strong character, with high personal ethics, you will have all three legs of persuasion – and you will become an Extraordinary Leader!

Are you wiser after reading Chris? I took so much pain in the past, in reading the Rhetoric of our greek philosopher and teacher Aristotle who is even today pertinent & still very much to the point. I am amazed of the genius of great man of the like mentioned, whose impact on humanity is ever lasting. Hats off Mr.Aristotle and we are so grateful to you for introducing so many concepts and thoughts. There is one that I use very often. It is : the rule of three. Example: Past,Present & Future; The worst scenario, the best scenario and the middle scenario; Left, Right or Center; High,low & Moderate;The good, the bad…and the ugly… HaHaha.. I am told that the Chinese takes the number 3 as equivalent to the word “to Grow”. I am always in search of the 3^rd alternative.

An entrepreneur by definition is a leader extraodinaire and he masters the art of persuasion to extend his influence.

Les deux textes de la messe du dimanche m’ont amené à une réflexion sur les qualités de l’enfant que nous devrons émuler ! Cela fait quelques jours que çela me trotte dans la tête.

*L’enfant démuni est soumis.

Par définition, l’enfant est plein de potentiel mais démuni de tout. L’enfant a besoin de tout pour grandir et devient le récipiendaire par excellence des ses parents. Il reçoit tout dans l’innocence, la simplicité, et l’humilité.De son état de dépendance, il accueille tous les dons dans le but de grandir. Ne devons nous pas nous, adultes, nous soumettre à cette même disposition devant notre Père du ciel, notre créateur, et avoir une confiance sans limite et aveugle dans notre Père ?

*L’enfant qui écoute est accueillant.

Quand nous étions enfants, nous passons le clair de notre temps à écouter et à observer plus qu’à nous exprimer. Un temps d’accueil bien plus grand qu’un temps de partage et d’expression. Enfants, nous attendions que notre nécessaire soit satisfait et nous avions peu de volonté propre à nous. L’enfant fait tout pour plaire à ses parents. Je vois dans mon petit-fils de 3 ans, cette faculté d’observation et cette volonté d’entreprendre des actions pour me plaire et me soustraire un sourire ou un éclat de joie. Il n’a pas d’autres convoitises que la relation avec les autres et moi.

*L’enfant qui apprend n’a pas le temps d’être jaloux.

La période de l’enfance (2-5ans), nous disent les scientifiques,

est la plus féconde en apprentissage de toute notre vie. Saurions nous garder cet état d’apprentissage pour conserver notre capacité d’amélioration et de progrès? Quand nous, enfants, étions focalisés à apprendre, nul doute nous n’avions pas le temps d’être jaloux. Nous baignions dans l’abondance de la réception. Nous étions émerveillés par tout ce qui se passe autour de nous.

*L’enfant qui dort d’un sommeil paisible est plein de miséricorde.

Observez les enfants qui jouent. Ils sont des fois en dispute, mais se réconcilient toujours. Ils semblent oublier vite leur désaccord et pardonnent sans embarras. Ils dorment après dans un sommeil sans souci indiquant qu ils sont sans rancune. Des vrais artisants de Paix.

Je voudrais m’imprégner de et conserver cette sagesse d’enfant :soumis,demunis,innocent,simple,humble,confiant,acceuillant,sans convoitises,sans jalousies,émmerveillé,paisible et miséricordieux. Hélas, plus tard je m‘obstine à évacuer cet « ego » grandissant qui étouffe cette sagesse.

Yesterday morning, I facilitated a short session to a bunch of very interesting young executives who are in the budding years of their working carrier. I guess they were age between 23- 26 years old and many occupy already some managerial positions.Hopefully,they will be the leaders of the tomorrow Mauritius.

For 2 hours we talked about Setting Goals & Time Management.I cooked up Peter Drucker’s SMART Goals method and threw in some of the Brian Tracy spices from his book Goals and added to the sauce to spark the favour some NLP emulsifers. From the feedback I got, the recipe was fine and they delected the session.They would be asking for a second serving at some other time.

For me it was great fun. It took me some hours of preparation which I thought was well worth the while. More over, it was in line with my life objective to help youngsters to get a fast start in life to progress to the maximum of their respective potential.

At the end of the session, some of them told me, the theory sounds simple and yet why are there so many unsucessful attempts. My reply was success is not in knowing but in the execution. Practice, practice and practice. Even the neophyte, athlete or ballerina may know the basics. The virtuoso on the other hand will master the knowledge, skills, techniques, through persistence & practice. He would have the obssesion to achieve his goals.

I quote here an excerpt from Allyn Cutts” article, which support my point

“We’ve been talking about Sam Walton and Donald Trump… two very different men, but each successful. What common thread did they share the made their names synonymous with big bucks?

If you take a close look, you’ll realize that both men were hands-on managers. They both paid a great deal of attention to the details of what was going on in their businesses.

I’m not sure I would want to be around when Trump shows up at one of his hotels. It’s been noted that if he spots a cob web or some dust in the corner, he’ll make a point to check that same corner on his next visit. If the offender is still there, he’ll refuse to move until it has been taken care of.

By the way, he doesn’t use a computer or take notes. He just remembers where the cob web was and hones in on it the next time through. Heck, I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast; much less which corner of my own house has a cob web! His memory for detail must be amazing!

What about Sam Walton? He enjoyed visiting his stores, and inspecting them. He wanted to know if they were meeting his expectations.

There we have it… the common principal of two very different, but outstandingly successful men. The secret is a hands-on-management style.

The next step is to put it in practice. Do you remember the old saying, practice makes perfect? How many times will you need to practice a principle before it works for you? I don’t know, but it’s probably quite a few times!

Think about it. If you’re a salesman, how many times do you need to practice your presentation before you have it exactly right? What about a Broadway performer? I’ll bet they go over and over and over their lines before they are ready to step out under the lights.

Sports heroes, actors, salesmen, comedians, and yes, successful business men and women spend a lot of time practicing. Instead of rehearsing lines for your next play, work at becoming a hands-on manager… knowing what’s going on in your business. Hopefully you won’t drive everyone as nutty as Donald Trump is known to, but heck if that’s what it takes…”

Perfection Practice Persistence Practice Peak Performance Practice Power Practice…so many P ‘S

A Quote from AMACOM:

“It’s a harsh, competitive and tough business world out there. And if you want to thrive—or even just survive—you’ve got to innovate. So why is it that so many businesses big and small seem like they’re set up to crush innovation instead of nurture it? Poor planning? Bad execution? Lack of forethought? Or could it be that the real killer of radical, earth shaking and bottom-line quaking thought is . . . our own expertise.”

Cynthia Barton Rabe advocates in her book “The Innovation Killer” that experts are the villians who break innovation.

“How do you know what you do not know?”

I had a wonderful week a fortnight ago listening to Prof. Issac Getz lecturing on installing a management system of innovating ideas. He was 2 years ago, the keynote speaker of the conference organised by NPCC called “Innovate or Evaporate”.He was back last fortnight ago to lecture in the APM organisation.

His basic concept is to get the whole organisation to continously generate innovating ideas and bring these ideas to concrete actions.The organisation thus become transformed and innovating.

I wish that enterprises in Mauritius would take in and implement Cynthia Barton Rabe innovation strategies and Dr Getz implementation systems.

I was really touched by the email, I received this morning from my brother.

Quote

Let me tell you a little true story that I found nice and heart warming.

Last Saturday we attended the funeral of Mrs Marie How, 95 years old, the mother in law of  Mme Chan ,our relatives . She was an orphan at a very young age, lived with a foster mother until she married; was the mother of 9; had 25 grand children and 27great grand children; Including the spouses of the children & grandchildren, her lignée amounts to 90 persons. She immigrated to Canada soon after her husband died in Mauritius.

She had no formal education – never went to school but was a very smart and strong lady and full of love. She could not speak English but the granddaughter shared that she knew 3 English words that she always ended her phone conversation with – “I love you”. It was a beautiful ceremony – a true celebration of her life and of her passage to heaven.

A few years back, she asked to be baptized and took catechism classes in Chinatown and Mam (our mother) was her god mother  

Mme Chan (with whom she lived) shared with me that her mum a few days before she died told her that she was going to a wedding and that her god mother was taking her to the wedding!

I find that so cute and fitting – that Mam her godmother was coming to accompany her to the big wedding feast in heaven! Cela m’a fait chaud au coeur!

 Unquote

Would those who would have left our earthly world be still loving and caring for us? May be one day we shall find out. For now, I choose to believe that it is true.Our departed parents and friends continue to love us as they did just like we may choose to continue to love them in spite of their absence.Yes,we have the choice of living today in this bliss of love. So, make the most of it.

Thank you brother!

The world is flat is one of the books which I read cover to cover, almost non stop, in a few days. Some 8 months ago, my nephew Jean Marc who lives in New York, was so enthused with the reading of the book that he had a copied flown to me by express mail. Ever since, I have become a Thomas Friedman’s fan. I read Thomas Friedman’s editorials on the New York Times regularly. I was in heaven seeing him on BBC and Voice of America a few months later.

I propose to you the following comments by Philip Shropshire

:

The World Is Flat is one of the top bestselling

Business books of all time and has sold more than

1.4 million Copies. It was also awarded the

Financial Times business book of the year award.

As of August 2006, it is number three on

Publisher’s Weekly bestselling nonfiction books list.

The World Is Flat also provides an engrossing

And concise history of the Internet age. It touches

on all of its facets, from the beginning of the World

Wide Web to the meaning of what excess fiber

optic cable means.

The World Is Flat not only identifies six danger

signs regarding United States’ technical preeminence,

but Friedman even lays out a number of policy

proposals, which include an educational

Marshall Plan for the United States, a “New” New

Deal and even retaining insurance for unemployed

workers who have been displaced.

For those who are interested I shall be pleased to email you a copy of Philip Shropshire full review of the book. I do recommend you to read the book.Enjoy a good book.

Last Friday, I had a wonderful chat with a friend I had not met for years. She has come back to Mauritius to visit her mother who is not enjoying good health these days. She has taken a sabbatical year from her American university teaching job to write on the influence France had on the Chinese society in the years 1850 onwards. Previously she had written a thesis on the Taiping rebellion which would be China of 1850’s. She will be traveling soon to China to collect data for her writings.

During our conversation, she shared her views on how the world is getting more complex and sophisticated, bringing in less authenticity in human behavior. She is for sure a learned person yet she has stayed very simple & humble.

On her trip from Paris to Mauritius, to her great surprise, she was told at the check in counter that she will be upgraded. The biggest surprise was she was upgraded to first class. She really felt awkward during her fight; she was a fish out of water, to travel in such an environment. Although she enjoyed the comfort of the amenities, the armchair turning to a flat bed, she felt uneasy with the put up show of service by the crew. There was no genuineness. She did not enjoy the lengthy bar service, choice of drinks and wines and the 3 course meals offered with much pomp and ceremony. What a waste she thought! What she missed was the warm atmosphere in the din and enthusiasm of the economy class travel where it was possible to exchange with your neighbors and to enter in a human to human conversation.

First class travel to her was physically super in comfort but lacking in human touch. The neighbor was polite but seems to transmit the message, “I have paid a lot of money not to be disturbed”. There was absolute silence and a cold atmosphere.

Like wise, she shared with me her excitement in traveling in public buses from Sainte Croix to Port Louis. The atmosphere though chaotic, noisy, even disorderly at times is lively and full of human interactions. Guys talking to each other across three rows of other passengers, the kids shouting, whilst the conductor was eating his morning roti are all part of the fun. She found there and then authenticity in life.

Indeed the lessons I retained from my friend: humility & simplicity yield authenticity.