A Matter of Mind Sets

After close to two weeks of intermittent reading, whenever I could find the time, I finally finished reading John Naisbitt’s Mind Set (HarperCollins, 2006). Actually, most of the book was covered in the rarefied air of the US airspace enroute from Tampa to Portland and back, each lasting about 7 hrs, but with a mid-stop at Albuquerque (going) and Chicago (returning). [Those from Malaysia would perhaps recall from their history lessons that Malacca was once ruled by the city name sake, Alfonso de Albuquerque, a Portuguese General who lived in the 15/16th century. But the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was actually named after the Duke of Alburquerque, viceroy of New Spain from 1653 to 1660 but the first "r" in "Alburquerque" was dropped at some point in the 19th century, according to Wikipedia. But I can assure you that the pronunciations of the same word in US and in Malaysia are as far apart as the two countries are geographically.]

Honestly, I don’t enjoy flying, putting one’s life implicitly in the hands of the pilot, co-pilot, or the imaginary hand of the auto-pilot, not to mention all others that have had a hand in making/ensuring the airworthiness of the aircraft. The feeling of helplessness is boundless, and my muscles will tense up at the slightest vibration of the mammoth contraption. I have always envied air passengers who are able to lapse into a deep slumber just like that.

Thank God with age and with each flying “expedition” that I have chalked up, the anxiety has dissipated somewhat, to the extent that I was even able to read a book, something which I was not able to put my mind to in years gone by. Perhaps I have finally wised up to the serenity of accepting the things I cannot change, and acquired the wisdom to know that flying is one such activity that defies control, by a paying passenger anyway. Or perhaps it has something to do with Naisbitt’s writing, which is crisp, coherent, and cogent.

Now back to the book (the book image is taken from Amazon.com). But first the author, John Naisbitt, who of course needs no introduction, but the brief introduction here serves to recap my encounter with the author’s name (I’ve never met the author in person, which is generally true of other books that I’ve read) and his other books.

Prior to his latest book, I’ve come across other titles by him (MegaTrends, High Tech/High Touch) but my reading of them has not progressed beyond the cover (front and back). Later, I became interested in him because he wrote a foreword for the book, The New Asian Way: Rebuilding Asia Through Self-Reliance by Foong Wai Fong, who is a fellow Malaysian. I once attended a forum in the Auditorium of Nan Yang Siang Pau, a Chinese daily newspaper in Malaysia. There’s where I first saw Ms. Foong speak during which she held her ground exchanging views in Chinese with Ong Tee Keat, a full-time politician with the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) who is known for his fluency and prowess in the Chinese language.

With the reminiscing out of the way, let’s get back to the book at hand, or rather my reactions to and interpretations of some of the eleven mind sets that he has expounded in the book.

One mind set is “understanding how powerful it is not to have to be right”. While wanting to be right may make one rigorous in one’s approach to the problem, oftentimes it has the opposite effect of letting an opportunity slip by, or causing an impasse, a classic case of paralysis by analysis. This predicament naturally follows from employing time-tested methods, obsessed with the overwhelming drive to be right and fearing to thread into uncharted territory.

On the other hand, no one has exclusivity to all things right. The important lesson is to learn from the mistakes of our very own and others. There is really no shame in learning from others, nor making our own mistakes. In this respect, the saying “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me” does ring true.

The other mind set that strikes a chord in me is “you don’t get results by solving problems but by exploiting opportunities”. Now, in the educational context, the teaching of problem solving skills has become a recent emphasis, as opposed to rote learning. What a society wants are problem solvers, and engineers have always prided themselves to be problem solvers first. To effect a change from this in-grained outlook not only requires a clear understanding of the benefits, in consonance with another mind set that “resistance to change falls if benefits are real”, but also reconciling with the imperative that we do not abdicate the problem solving role to somebody less capable to the overall detriment of all. Therefore, solving problem and creating opportunity are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they could be symbiotic as often an opportunity is recognized or surfaces while solving a problem.

Read the book for the other eight mind sets. But here I would like to quote a passage from the book that resonates with me:

“For the most part, people all around the world are working to strengthen their cultural identifies. The paradox is that the more universal we become, the more (consciously or unconsciously) concerned we are about our cultural diversity. This is one of the constancies against all the prophecies of homogenization, All over the world, the things that are truly important to each of us are in our bones. Our mother tongue, our family, our community, our cultural heritage, and the strength with which we hold them differ from country to country and person to person. The role of nation-states will increasingly be to celebrate cultural identity and inheritance, and to attend to education.”

In that regard, any country that holds steadfast to the vision of celebrating cultural identify and inheritance, both in word and in deed, of her citizenry would be well-positioned to serve up the best stew from the ensuing melting pot.