Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

I do not remember much detail from Murakami's novel other than that two separate plot lines eventually converge in the end while he takes the reader through an endless series of twists and turns.

I recall reading and finishing this book during the first few days of Magnus at Waldorf. Straight from my night shift and with hardly any sleep, I was actually as excited to go school as him. Waldorf, located on top of a mountain in San Mateo more than half an hour away, served as a momentary refuge from the stress of work. Reading in the van about the adventures of a human encryption machine and the parallel world in his head served as a welcome chance for silence and solitude. There could not be any more ideal setting to continue reading than Waldorf. The school is bordered on one side by a forested ridge while, all around, one has a magnificent view of Manila and Laguna Lake. Those first few days were tiring, to be sure, but they were soothing to the soul.

Murakami's penchant for characters who drink scotch may have been partly responsible for my own preference for drinking whisky. I only wish I can also acquire the good taste of his characters for music. While I listen to more classical music than the average 26 year old, I do not have the fine taste they have for specific recordings of classical pieces. Nor do I have as much knowledge about jazz and the other relaxing songs he plays in his novels.

Finding time to commune with nature and appreciate art are both important in ensuring I have a sense of balance even as I grapple with the challenges of being a young father and manager.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Bohol 2011



My Lakbayan grade is C!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!
Created by Eugene Villar.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Nurture Shock

My two boys are now vastly different from what they were just one year ago. They are growing so fast even their personalities keep on changing. I find that what worked for them one year ago does not work anymore today. I am, therefore, not surprised as Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman demolish accepted truths about parenting simply by examining the scientific evidence. Truths such as the power of self esteem in ensuring success. Anyone who watches American Idol will see that indiscriminate praise has not led to a generation of successful Americans, but a generation who grew up with an extreme sense of entitlement but little understanding of the value of hard work.

Bronson and Merryman also go on to cast doubts on the value of screening for so called gifted children at an early age with many "gifted" children turning out not so gifted after all. And if teaching children a foreign language by exposing them to Baby Einstein videos sounds like it's too easy, that's because it's not that easy.

Destroying parenting myths does not mean Bronson and Merryman have arrived at new certainties. If anything, this book only underscores how much we do not know about parenting. My key takeaway is the reminder to be humble about the extent to which I can control my children's lives through excessive parenting. I can provide them a platform on which to perform through emotional and financial support, but what they ultimately choose to do on that stage can never be predicted by science.

In Search of Excellence

Peters and Waterman identify the eight virtues of excellent corporations:

1. A bias for action, active decision making - 'getting on with it'.
2. Close to the customer - learning from the people served by the business.
3. Autonomy and entrepreneurship - fostering innovation and nurturing 'champions'.
4. Productivity through people - treating rank and file employees as a source of quality.
5. Hands-on, value-driven - management philosophy that guides everyday practice - management showing its commitment.
6. Stick to the knitting - stay with the business that you know.
7. Simple form, lean staff - some of the best companies have minimal HQ staff.
8. Simultaneous loose-tight properties - autonomy in shop-floor activities plus centralised values.

Many of these are now considered conventional wisdom. IBM, the company I work for, demonstrated its understanding of the eighth principle when it renewed its values through an online jam session several years back. It recognized that it was impossible to manage an organization of 400,000 employees through command and control. It was more effective to appeal to the deep seated values its employees actually believed in. At the end of the exercise, the new set of values were not really new, but were more like an updated version of the original set of values, but it was clear they were the shared values of IBMers.

On 16 June, IBM will celebrate its centennial and I have no doubt its ability to demonstrate simultaneous loose-tight properties through management by values was critical in its ability to last for a century.