Friday Reflections

Sometimes it helps to look at the bigger picture

Hint: you can click on the cartoon above to enlarge it

Feedback Is A Gift

 

“All that is not given is lost” and “Things that are given away are never lost”
- Quote from the movie “City of Joy”

Story Line:

As we end the fourth year of Friday Reflections, I would like to thank the readers for being part of this wonderful journey, and for your constant encouragement and feedback through the years. Here are a few representative samples (.03%) of many direct emails to me. Your feedback is a gift. Keep it up.

Wow! What a great quote and way to think! 'If you're here on Earth and you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room.' (USA, Referring to quote by Farrah Gray in FR: “The Secrets of Young Entrepreneurs.”)

Thanks for sending all these inspirational stories without fail every Friday! I couldn’t agree better with the “many fail to grasp what’s right in the palm of their hands” story. I feel that this can apply to all aspects of life. Nothing is difficult as long as we set our minds to it and work hard at it. What is in the palm of our hands? Our own will power and intelligence to chart our destiny… (Malaysia)

Really surprised, excited, glad and grateful to see I was the model in your Friday reflection. I really feel your Friday reflection changed my build-in mindset of view of failure, difficulties, success etc. I also feel my previous job is valuable (at least for personal learning) although the final output was not good. I am looking forward to one day in the future if I can succeed and I can use the words “Thanks for Friday reflection…” to the audience… (China)

You know that's one thing that you're really good at so that explains it.  I suck at story telling.  My kids had to tell me to stop telling them bedtime stories because I was giving it to them in bullet form. (Malaysia)

I laughed so hard after I clicked on the URL and read this week’s reflection. With all the stress we go through in our respective jobs, it is nice to be able to read a light-hearted story such as this. But your story does ring true… "To really enjoy life one must enjoy the journey as well."  (USA)

We definitely have a tendency to make our solutions overly complex.  Good reminder to follow the KISS process (Keep It Simple, Stupid) (USA)

One of the things I read in your stories is how to make any experience a positive one, how anyone has something to teach, even if that person is the greatest scientist, CEO, or the taxi driver; everyone has something positive to teach. (Costa Rica)

Making most of what you have story: This is truly inspiring (Japan)

Thanks much for your efforts to make my Fridays memorable. In light of 10’s of emails waiting in INBOX every morning, I used to delete “Friday Reflections” for first few weeks. Then it happened. Once I was flying to Israel and had some time to go through my inbox. During the course, I found a couple of reflections and, I must admit, I became a big fan. As a matter of fact, I wait for these on Friday. There was at least one night where I specifically logged in to VPN to see if reflections were already published as I had had a rough day and wanted to finish it off with something positive. I had a good night sleep that night. Thanks, (USA)

Wonderful lessons and they're free!  Your passion is touching a lot of lives… and companies…God bless! (Philippines)

I like this one … One of my former Managing Directors told me before … to gauge if you are really did a good job, think as if you are the boss of the company … then you can talk about ROI.  (Malaysia)

This is the e-mail that I look forward to every week. Believe it or not, I have been reading your mail (only yours) even during my sabbatical. Please keep the wisdom flowing… I even send them to my sons who are 10 and 12. and when we get time we talk about that week’s topic – not always, but we are doing this with increasing frequency. (USA)

This is what I heard in church as well - this bee with small wing but heavy weight can't fly scientifically, however, he flies quite a long distance every day. He just does what he thinks to do without spending time for his physical limitation. Spirit of challenge is a great momentum to go beyond the boundary. (Korea)

I've been forwarding some of your reflections to my staff and just wanted to let you know how much they appreciate reading them. Some of the reflections are thought provoking and has provided some wake-up call to them (myself included). (Singapore)

Your website is really interesting; I can see your passion from your heart. I like the Parrot, Parrot who needs a Parrot story. (Hong Kong)

This is a very nice article and good reminder for many of us who ask for honest feedback and then always go defensive (including myself). (India)

“Where a person believes something to be true which may or may not be so, acts on that belief, and by his actions causes the belief to become true.” Hi, Anand: Recently, I have just finished reading a book "Secret". It's like the identical twins of this article. People is like a radar, you could transmit your frequency to the things that have the relate frequency. There's a certain connection that links between our thoughts and our wish. If we have a strong faith in our selves, things will come to us eventually. Thanks for sharing this article. It really inspired me a lot. (Taiwan)

Your articles are my weekly dose of vitamins. Like plants, we need fresh air & sunlight. Great leaderships provide the things of this nature.  I have learnt to build this into my training. Students see this as passion & inspiration.  (USA)

I like this one a lot…. People love other people for just being themselves.   But companies only love people that bring them value. (USA)

This comes a little bit late, but how appropriate it is! If management needs to ask for commitment, it is in trouble. Commitments need to come from the heart and soul, not asked. I love the Japanese saying: "No problem, don't worry", often times it is far better than 110%. (USA)

All great artists, scientists & leaders maintain and increase their creativity well into their ripe old age by wondering & exploring new ways of doing things. The challenge for today’s leaders is to activate this quality and process in new and old employees, first by starting with themselves. For examples, just look at today’s leaders; who excel or those who fail.   – (USA)

Anand, timing is perfect.  We have a group meeting next week and I see your Friday reflection as the best I can share with the team.  I guess no matter what we do, there will always be somebody saying – you should do that or you should not do that.  What I will emphasize to the team is to stick to our core strength (combination of technical background and integrated individual inner strengths). We will do what we think we can do best and what we think would produce most value. (Philippines)

That’s what we teach our girls to be nice to everyone. (Cartoon: You meet some of the same people..)

Steve Jobs is a good example of integrating Art and science very well … Steve Jobs view of “customer driven Quality” is excellent in which he views Quality as Outside in, (He personally approves all the packaging design), vs. conventional thinking of Inside Out. In most companies, the CEO may not even know who their packaging suppliers are. (Malaysia)

Anand, what inspires you to pick a certain subject? It always seems so relevant. (Russia)

This is along the same lines as what I tell my people. "In quality there is no status quo, you are either getting better or are getting worse, so plan for better." (USA)

Another Friday and another Friday Reflection has been sent as an example your discipline and constancy to inspire and motivate people. Thanks a bunch! I would like to recommend that you read a book call Ping by Stuart Avery Gold. http://www.stuartaverygold.com/ping.htm This book is about a frog called Ping that have to leave his pond to find a new one. In this journey, it has to overcome several obstacles with the help of a mentor (an owl). I am sure you can find this book interesting and it will be a good source of material for your future Friday reflections. (Costa Rica)

Very true. It is difficult to appreciate all the “learning and benefits” when you are in the midst of a failure, but once you are through you realize those are the times in your life when you learn the most. (USA)

BTW, so call fostering/creating “healthy tension” within and/or between departments is fundamentally wrong and distractive element in a culture. I don’t believe any type of self created “tension” can be healthy. Its only destroys one, both or all involved in long-term and ultimate looser is company. I hope management eliminates this so called theory of “healthy tension” from their vocabulary, belief and behaviors and fosters “team work” for common goal. (USA)

So this is where we differ. "Leaders, politicians and media will wake up and choose to talk more about good things in life?” I think leaders and politicians tend to look only at the positives to sell to the people so the media swings to other extreme to try to balance --burst their bubble. Politicians in the truest sense of the word, which may be outdated, were supposed to "brokers in the middle" to be able to run a government for all people (USA)

…..From my experience there (in War) Anand, I learned a very valuable lesson in Leadership in the most testing and stressful environments: If you truly care about the people that work for you (and they will know this by your actions), they will go above and beyond their prescribed work…and you’ll be amazed at the extraordinary things they accomplish. Every one of my key staff officers was awarded the Bronze Star for the job they did during the major engagement phase of the war. You’re so right my friend…Life is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you set your mind to something, and truly believe in it, you will accomplish it. Thank you for your continued mentoring. (USA)

Thanks for the Friday food for thought - I keep cultivating my mind and thought much better than before owing to your excellent quotes like this. (Korea)

I can’t thank you enough for doing this. I received great knowledge and inspiration in the Out of the Box Class. I enjoy reading “Reflections.” and started sending out to my teams a little over a month ago. I have received great feedback from them and how they have been able to apply to recent changes within our Org and as well as their personal lives. Thanks again for taking the time to gather and send out this inspirational messages each week (USA)

This is so great. I have tears in my eyes.  But I am not sure if it is form laughing or crying. (USA)

I like this quote: “You have problems - No problem! Just tell yourself, "There I grow again” and would like to continue make it part of my working principles. In fact, this is one of the great values that I learn in your group. A problem will not go away unless you admit it and work on it, no matter how good we are trying to push away to others, at the end, it still come back to us. Why not take it positively and be opened for improvement? What we will gain at the end is the respect, trust, caring… friendship… (Malaysia)

I really enjoyed reading Friday Reflection by the end of each week which kept inspiring me to think my work and life. Today I subscribed this for my husband as a Christmas gift to him.  (China)

Very timely and thoughtful. As we go through this change – this is a good optimistic perspective to take – like in my case – my job is going to phase out (it was planned to phase out lot prior to current exercise) – either I can sit and mope about it or think that I can grow again and learn something new. (Singapore)

Just in case I don’t get you next Friday Reflection. As you know I’m leaving-I wanted to thank you for all the interesting reflection and conversations we had over the years. They always made me think and sometimes act on the thought. Take care (similar notes from multiple countries)

Thanks for this article. I just realized that through this method you are mentoring a lot of people on out of box thinking. For me, this is priceless as it helps me put a non typical perspective on common items. Just sharing a tidbit I heard recently in a seminar. It is not easy to differentiate yourself (business) from others based on the products & services alone. The reality is that if something is successful, there will be a lot of clones quickly. What helps your business stand out (blue ocean strategy) is HOW you do your business & the customer experience it generates. Before I met you, OBT for me was by chance and buried under my many limiting beliefs. Reading your Friday Reflections & talking with you has helped me nourish this style of thinking. (USA)

"Do or do story": So did you write this personally for me? (USA)

 

Diversity in Communication

Hint: you can click on the cartoon above to enlarge it

Reflection: In the US, "Song and Dance Story" can mean "the standard presentation".   In this diverse and global world, be careful using any kind of slang.  When communicating across cultural barriers, it's always a good idea to confirm that the intended message has been received by the other party.

Everyone knows a piece of dust (sand) can fly, but who would have imagined that it can make an airplane fly?

"If you can think of it, you can dream of it, (and if you do something about it), you can achieve it." - Siegfried and Roy

Story Line:

Five decades ago when I started my first job at Raytheon Semiconductor in Silicon Valley, my boss Charles Fa (a co-founder of Advanced Memory Systems prior to joining Raytheon) often used to tell me: "This industry is going to change the world".

Working in a silicon fabrication area with a 56 mm diameter slice (a.k.a silicon wafer) that had a few transistors on it, I often wondered how something made out of a piece of sand (dust) is going to change the world. But the job had definitely changed my world: I had an income and green card eligibility, so I accepted my boss's imagination.

At the time, the area around Middlefield Road and Ellis Street was filled with many buildings belonging to Fairchild Semiconductor, three buildings belonging to Raytheon, and one small building occupied by Intel. There were of course many more companies in the Santa Clara area as well.

Today, most of the silicon wafers in use are of 300mm diameter and contain millions of transistors. The continuous innovations in technology have created a wide variety of applications, started many new industries around the world, and made a significant impact on the world and its economy.  Look around: cooking appliances, medical devices, cars, cash registers, computers, musical instruments, telephones, airplanes...

Look more; the silicon chips all around us....

Today's reflection is dedicated to all great people: That Dare to Imagine, Dare to Try, Dare to Fail, Dare to Persevere and Dare to Win.

Everyone knew a piece of dust can fly, but only you had imagined that it would make an airplane fly.

Reflection: Many of the companies from my early days have purged; some have merged and a few have surged (and continues to surge). I wish all the remaining ones a great future ... and a very special greetings to my tiny neighbor on Middlefield Road five decades ago, which has grown into the world's largest semiconductor company. Happy 40th Birthday Intel.

Forget about the box!

Hint: you can click on the cartoon to enlarge it

Reflection: "I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it." - Terry Pratchett

The winner of the July 2008 Out of the Box Thinking puzzle is Mel, who wins a copy of East Meets West, by Jay Agarwal.  Congratulations!

Wisdom in Failure

“Every problem that you face comes to you at the time when you need it to learn a valuable lesson that will act as a springboard to future success. But you must find that lesson and learn it.” - Dennis Waitley

Storyline:

During my recent overseas trip, I met this young gentleman. Looking at his face, it seemed to me that something was bothering him. He had graduated four years ago and joined high-tech industry. As his fate would have it, the first two projects he had been assigned were canceled after a few years. He seemed to have personally associated himself with the failure of the projects. 

When I asked for more details about what had happened, I was amazed how many different experiences this young man had been exposed to in those two projects and the amount of knowledge he had gained out of various experiments, the type of things that he could have never learned if the projects had gone without hiccups. In fact, he had not only gathered immense technical knowledge but also a lot of knowledge about business, relationships and logistics. As it turns out, the projects were canceled for business reasons, and not by any of his doing.

I told him that not many four-year employees are as lucky as he was to become one of the most valuable players for the group. He seemed surprised until we took an inventory of his learning and identified multiple places where they could be useful.

As my friend Biil Lim, the author of 'Dare to Fail' and 'Wisdom in Failure' says, "Don't worry about your failures (and disappointments). In fact, you should record and keep them. You will be surprised how much people are prepared to pay to listen to your failure stories when you succeed."

Reflection:

J.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series delivered her commencement address, "The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination" at the annual meeting of the Harvard alumni association.

"I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale."  Here is the link for the curious and the interested...

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkREt4ZB-ck
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kh_tSiqL1U&feature=related

"You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default." - J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter.

Out of the Box Thinking - July 2008

It's that time again - watch the video above as we rotate a simple image, and let your creativity run free!  Let us know what you can see in the comments section.  The best idea (leaving an email address) will receive a free copy of East Meets West, by Jay Agarwal.

The competition is now closed; the winner will be announced during this week's cartoon.

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter

Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years.  We grow old by deserting our ideals.  Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.  ~Samuel Ullman

Storyline:

Many times, we hear people say, "I wish I could do that, but now I am too old." Here are some real life stories of some people that will inspire you to think otherwise.

• Michelangelo, Renaissance period Italian, creator of the statue of David, the painter of the world famous Scenes of Genesis and The Last Judgment, was 71 years-old when he designed the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica.


• Giuseppe Verdi, a great composer of romantic operas, created one of his greatest works, Falstaff in 1893 at the age of 80.


• George Bernard Shaw, the famous English playwright, who won the Nobel Prize in literature and an Academy Award for adapted screenplay, “Pygmalion”, completed his last work, “Buoyant Billions” in his 90s.


• Jimmy Carter, a science graduate, a farm owner, who later became the 39th President of the United States, devoted his time after the Presidency to serve worthy causes around the world. In 2002, at the age of 78, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He is a prolific author; and 12 of his 20 books have been published after the age of 70. At 82, he is still serving people and writing books.


• My maternal grandmother was 65 years old when my grandfather passed away. She went back to school and got her first Bachelor’s degree. After that she tried for a Master’s degree in English Literature and failed twice. As a young child my memory of her was that she used to study hard, often late nights, constantly worrying about grades; and on the two occasions when she flunked, she was in tears and needed a lot of consoling by family and friends.
  
  She believed that to go after your dream and fail is never a failure, but to have a dream and not go after it is the ultimate failure.

Reflection: at 55

As the years progress, I have made it a habit not to let a day or a phone call go by without telling my family members that I love them. So, the other day when I got three consecutive phone calls from my wife, son and daughter, I made sure that I ended each call with an "I love you" message. It so happened that the call that immediately followed the first three was from my insurance agent. While finishing the call, the rhythm followed and I subconsciously told him "I Love You" and hung up.

A minute later the phone rang again. It was my insurance agent. He seemed elated "I hope you meant it. In my entire 30 years career, no customer has ever told me that he loved me."  Now consciously realizing what I had done, and relieved that it was not misinterpreted, I thanked him for his service.

In the same spirit, if I have ever told any of you "I love you" while finishing our conversations, you can be rest assured that it was meant in a good spirit. After all I love all people who have encouraged me through the years and have been instrumental in my success.

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.  ~John Barrymore

Your business is very important to us...

Reflection:  The customers (internal or external) that you don't support will soon be someone else's customers.

News:

1. The winner of the previous out of the box thinking puzzle is Dennis Paderes from the Philippines - congratulations!

2. You can now subscribe to (or syndicate) Friday Reflections cartoons through our new cartoon feed: click here for the URL