Inspireholidayspirit

Appreciate the great phenomenon around us- the multitude of points of views, fresh ideas or alternative pool of talent; appreciate the abundance which is to have enough to share: resources, time, energy, ideas, creativity, insight, vitality, etc., to lift the spirit of Thanksgiving.

Although not all families celebrate Thanksgiving holiday, the weather becomes chilly, the day turns shorter, the decoration light is already lit on the street, we know holiday seasoning is coming. Regardless where you are, appreciate those who help you out; deepen understanding the people you get to know; figure out the problem you want to solve; pursue the purpose of life. 

Understanding leads to appreciation, appreciation brings positive energy which recharges us to convey the sound of freedom, the voice of inclusion, and the tone of empathy.

The sound of freedom: Holiday is the time to refresh yourself, relax, ponder and wonder around. All boundaries are created by humans. With the spirit of freedom, the world is open, knowledge becomes more abundant, our mind is not cluttered. We are free. We just seek; knowledge is rather a way to freedom. We try to find answers across disciplinarily. The more we know, the better chance we can help others, the lower probability we blindly follow conventional wisdom or group thinking.

Relax ourselves, or even distract ourselves from the daily busyness, free our mind, recharge the fresh energy - that is the holiday or vocations for. So we are able to open our mind, take free spirits, inspire changes, and harness innovation. It is the bigger world, still, sometimes we get confused; but if we do not give up, keep capturing insight and pursuing wisdom, we are free to explore who we are, where we want to go; creativity helps to break down the outdated traditions or cultures, sets us free to think of alternative solutions and discover the truth from myth.

The voice of inclusion: In most big cities or metropolitan areas in the world, the digital workforce is diversified and dynamic, people with different backgrounds work together collaboratively. Everyone is unique, there are all kinds of differences that exist between individuals. Each of us is a complex blend of contrasts with imperfect judgment. If diversity emphasizes our differences; inclusion points out how to build a strong team with complementary mindsets, skillsets or toolsets, to get the work done more effectively.

In the hyper-connected and interdependent world, the organizational inclusiveness efforts need to focus on cognitive differences, complementary skills, abilities and how to generate the wealth of ideas since the value lies in the contributions of the individuals to the teams to the organization. Creative energy from top down can rejuvenate the culture of inclusion. Inclusion is an enabler for achieving high performance through innovative culture, learning agility, allowing passionate people committed towards clearly-defined common goals.

The tone of empathy: During the holiday season, many people show their sympathy, do charity, help others, and improve the world. If we take further steps, develop empathy, understand people deep enough, be able to tune into their own purpose. When people receive empathy, they truly feel heard and they can learn to listen more proactively and respond with empathy. There are silo mentalities isolating the minds and small thinking creating silos. It takes lots of effort, we have to find our own words and our own way of conversations and activities, and become more focused on understanding each other for effective problem-solving.

Empathy is one of the critical ingredients for global professionalism. It means using the right language with the right people to gain deeper understanding. Empathy is the ability to connect the mind via multi-disciplinary touch points by listening objectively with an open mind; it is about thinking as if you were in the other party's position. We all have different lenses, perceptions in the way we look at the world, it becomes easier to open our minds, gain fresh knowledge, respect each other, and avoid misjudgment. We all should develop the ability to not simply have empathy, but to exercise and convey that in a genuine and accessible fashion.

Holidays are the time to reflect, refresh, recognize benevolent intentions and actions; and bring fresh insight, true wisdom to light; appreciate the great phenomenon around us- the multitude of points of views, fresh ideas or alternative pool of talent; appreciate the abundance which is to have enough to share: resources, time, energy, ideas, creativity, insight, vitality, etc, to lift the spirit of Thanksgiving.

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Influence

The contemporary professionals are authentic, creative, and confident, acquiring new thinking and fresh insight.

We live in such a diverse world with hyper-connectivity, unpredictability, and fierce competitions, visionary leaders and professionals are progressive and proactive, anticipate change, have cultural cognition, acceptance of complexity and its contradictions, the tolerance of ambiguity.

They need to become more learning agile, flexible, shape digital mindset for making sound judgment; expand digital footprints to explore the art of possible and amplify influence to lead changes.  

People have to frame a growth mindset, learn to use the multidimensional lens to see through information- abundant era in which there is mix of right and wrong, real & virtual: The digital mindset stimulates positive emotions, which include the openness to new ideas and perspectives; the optimism for things getting better; the passion to explore, the creativity to think better ways to do things or the empathy to understand issues. Digital mind co-creates new knowledge based on the click-away abundant information and informal learning. Equipped with such mindsets, there is the tendency to constantly question the status quo, to think differently, act differently, solve problems differently, and add value differently.

The contemporary professionals are authentic, creative, and confident, acquiring new thinking and fresh insight. The creative minds inspire to think out of the box and bring back new designs that they might not even recognize using the current context. Strategic mind keeps the bigger picture, thinking of cause-effect and sequence-consequence. The global mindset is a worldview that looks at problems or issues in such a way that a solution emerges through a collaborative multicultural approach involving global psychological capital, intellectual capital, and global social capital. 

Digital landscapes are expanded across continents and interdisciplinary areas: Nowadays people have to constantly discover and develop their talent, shape fresh insight and build a high level of skill set. The dynamic "view of the digital landscape” has many dimensions technically, artistically, scientifically, philosophically, psychologically, and sociologically: the digital view re-conceptualizes the future, connects the previously unconnected dots, visualizes the destination the organization intends to get and shapes the unique landscape of the digital transformation,

Digital means people-centricity. Those who look through the lens of the previous era see their own reality very differently from those who use the lens that the new era has crafted. It's time to step into the deep, deep digital new normal, co-designing the delightful digital landscape, defining a comprehensive change roadmap and drawing a scientific knowledge flowchart. 

To "influence" means to be able to shape other people's views towards your own views or perspectives, set the ground for getting your "motivation" going: Digital leaders today must be fluent with innovation or global dialogs, be alert to identify blind spots, be conscious of the unknown, be open to listening to the different points of views, be determined when you have to make a tough choice and take the calculated risk, be flexible to adjust the planning,

Leadership is an influence, insight and inspiration are mutually reinforced with each other to deepen leadership influence. It allows leaders and professionals to share their vision, influence others, and apply their skills and expertise to their greatest effect. If you dislike change or learning, lack good judgment, you might only get lost in the information ocean with a lot of struggling. Organizational leaders need to fully understand the issue and decide how to remedy, and make influence. People tend to make leadership very complex, but in its most simple form, leadership is about the future and direction, it is about how to practice and amplify positive influence. The adaptable global leaders are good at shifting from one leadership style to another, but keep the leadership substance on check

Digital era is volatile, complex, uncertain and ambiguous; let go of the current reality for allowing an unknown future state to emerge and manage changes dynamically. In such a hyperconnected and interdependent world with global climate, those organizations that are unwilling to genuinely embrace innovation, are unable to know how to tap their diverse resources, recognize merit and ideas, no matter where they come from, will not be able to survive, leave alone thrive in the long run.

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Innovatevianonlinearlogic

Logic is often nonlinear and multidimensional in today’s “VUCA” world, but it is important to realize that there are basic principles and rules that make it work and there are different types of business logic and methodology behind problem-solving scenarios.

The world is becoming hyper-connected and independent, in order to deal with complex problems today, people need to learn how to apply nonlinear logic over linear thinking, and take an interdisciplinary management approach to solve problems effectively. Logic is neither conventional wisdom nor linear arithmetic rules only, it’s about cause-effect, sequence- consequence, why-what-how-who-when-where reasoning. 

Logic enables us to uncover patterns and understand the interconnectivity underneath the surface. In fact, wearing multidimensional thinking hats to deepen understanding of a business ecosystem could be at the tipping point for harnessing innovation and improving problem-solving effectiveness.

Innovation Logic: Innovation is an alternative way to understand and solve problems unconventionally. Every meaningful thing has logic in it. Innovation logic is often a nonlinear and multipath solution. Although linear logic helps to break down things to the pieces, sometimes it ignores the interconnectivity between parts and the whole. You need to think from different angles, take inferential logic to understand the real problems and illustrate them, take divergent processes to accumulate fresh ideas; take a process of deduction & convergence to derive a solution drawing from knowledge, experience, and intuition. It is a strategic imperative to develop the organizational level innovation competency.

While innovating in today’s world has become increasingly complex in nature., organizations can no longer rely on a single individual or team to drive innovation. The management needs to leverage nonlinear logic to understand dynamic processes and interconnectivity between problems in a managerial context, to improve innovation effectiveness.

Nonlinear Logic: Linear thinking implies the whole is equal to the sum of its parts. Nonlinear logic is about understanding that the whole should be superior to the sum of parts if you can manage talent and resources effectively: The reason linear thinking is in many cases not so effective today is because there is always a temptation to use simple linear logic to understand highly complex nonlinear scenarios. Business leaders are able to shape an integral view which is essential to recognize patterns, clarify logics, and understand impacts of business solutions that can be sustained in the systems of people.

To handle complex problems today, refine the logic to balance a multi-facet of facts and criteria, set the right priorities, and deal with trade-offs. There are many things happening in the organization today; organizational management needs to do logical reasoning, make necessary tradeoffs from diverse perspectives of stakeholders and focus on the top strategic priorities at the moment. Insightful leaders and professionals with cross-disciplinary understanding are able to think deeper and differently, discover the root cause of problems, take step-wise actions that are logically linked to the information they have, knowledge they are equipped with.

Paradoxical logic: The world becomes more paradoxical - small and big, virtual and authentic; central and decentralized, at the same time, balance is a leverage for problem-solving. Even logic, our strongest language, itself is fundamentally paradoxical. The paradox is the result of two opposing truths existing side by side, which can both be right, navigate levels of abstraction or logic as an essential thinking skill. The science of problem-solving is that there is logic behind any problem occurring in our surroundings.

Some argue that every advance in science is about dealing with paradoxes. The more complex the problem is, the more important it is to apply paradoxical logic to come up with a holistic solution. Sometimes things go straight, other times, they are cursive. Leverage paradoxical logic with the right mix of analytics and intuition, leadership wisdom and group contribution. Paradoxical logic helps to deal with gray areas thoughtfully because there are always philosophical differences regarding what proof consists of; we should take an interdisciplinary approach to deal with issues comprehensively. Digital leaders and professionals should embrace the opposite sides and take multidimensional lenses to perceive the multi-facet world via interdisciplinary reasoning. Learn how to manage the “shade of gray”; reclaim the right balance of chaos and order, process and creativity, standardization and flexibility, and enhance strategic agility.

Logic is often nonlinear and multidimensional in today’s “VUCA” world, but it is important to realize that there are basic principles and rules that make it work and there are different types of business logic and methodology behind problem-solving scenarios. It is always crucial to understand the interconnected relationship between the parts and the whole, see things underneath and around the corner, be sensitive to the emergent factors, and take a balanced view of digital flow. People, organizations or the society as a whole, need to leverage effective logic, develop fitting principles, methodologies, practices, take advantage of efficient technologies, tools or methodologies wisely with the expertise to really add value and develop the organizational level innovation competency.

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Global Strangers who help out in Paris, France

Interdisciplinarity, we continue to explore the world, learn, grow and influence the world. We need each other, to bridge the difference, close blind spots, to lift up humanity.

It was raining in Paris on Nov 17 last week. I was planning to Visit the biggest library – National Library of France(Bibliothèque nationale de France), as well as an interesting place – Paradox museum, to satisfy my intellectual curiosity. Both places are not so far away, in the city center of Paris. However, as my phone is out of network, I have to count on global strangers to guide me in the right direction to reach there.

I took the public transportation (train & bus) to the city center, near the Louvre Museum, In the mid-morning, about 10 am, Paris started waking up, but I got lost. Which direction should I go to get to the library? I went to the chain Coffee shop Pret Coffee to have some coffee and dessert to recharge my energy. By the way I asked the staff – the gentleman for directions about the library. As he cannot speak English fluently, he introduced me to the other staff – the young lady who can speak English considerably fluently. I had her read my note – the street address of the library, she took her phone, trying to navigate through the right direction. I asked the questions very seriously, and she tried her best to answer it responsibly. I wear my anthropological lens on, are we like global sisters, standing head-in-head, solving some problems? I am a tourist. She is perhaps a Paris native. I intend to go to the place I desire to go; she tries to satisfy her coffee shop customers, take further steps to help her city build a good reputation as one of the great global cities. So I thanked her, starting moving forward by taking her guiding directions.

Unfortunately, I got lost again, in downtown Paris, there are quite many squares and plazas, very often, when you reach the next traffic light, you don’t know how to make a turn. The street names are often not very obvious in some places. But there are so many good sculptures and antique buildings which also distract tourists. As we would like to explore, learn, walk around, not just go to certain destinations. After I took some pictures of sculptures and architecture, I got lost again. I saw a newspaper/magazine stand, I asked the clerk, she didn’t know where to go, I asked the nearby pedestrian, unfortunately she didn’t know the library either. I felt a bit frustrated, here comes the seemingly Mother-daughter pair who were making some conversation. I say hi to them, and ask them for directions. I guess they are Paris native, but they do not live nearby. So they discussed it in French for a while, and the daughter directed me to go straight then left, passing the Victor plaza, and the library should be somewhere. I thanked them, and moved forward. A couple hundred steps later, I saw a garden gate. There are some beautiful scenes hidden inside. Irresistibly, I went to that royal garden, immersing myself into green, the air was fresh, the Sun came up, I wish I could stay longer, but still decide to move forward.    

Going back to the street, I asked a young boy who seems to be a student, he might know where the library is, he confirmed I was in the right direction to keep moving forward, and later, I arrived in The Victor plaza, as there are different streets passing through the place in various directions, I was kind of getting lost again.  I casually picked the direction to go ahead, feeling suspected, so I asked again. I saw there was a senior couple using their phones to search for something, so I asked them. They smiled and said, sorry, they came to visit Paris from another city in France. No clue about the direction, they themselves got lost. I smiled back, kept moving forward. I have to keep asking, all global strangers are friendly, so I saw two ladies chatted and came toward this way, I asked them. One of them immediately use her phone to navigate for me, my goodness, they showed the direction I just came from, I had to walk back, and they reminded me I needed to go across the street. I trust them, as they are also very friendly, joke around and their English are good to guide through…  I appreciate their effort. A few minutes later, I ultimately walk across the street and see the large grey white building standing quietly – that is the National library de France.

I asked 9+ people within an hour to find it at the city center of Paris. But overall it's a very delightful experience – in the new place, you walk around, follow your own pace to explore the fresh things, you get lost, but you believe in yourself, also trust others – those global strangers who were empowered with digital tools to help you out. And based on my observation, perhaps that was not at the peak time for them to go working, all folks are happy to help out, very friendly.

The experience of walking through one of the biggest libraries in the world is also considerably delightful. The library hall is spacious and warm, with perhaps millions of books decorating on the wall, sitting on the shelves, hundreds of people sitting quietly, reading, surfing peacefully, enjoying the raining day in the knowledge enriched environment that allows us to see the deep side of Paris.

Anthropological Insight: We are all human beings, so same and different; we have different personality, perception and life experience; So our set of learning/life differences are different from others. We need to be sensitive about cultural differences. I take seriously being an insightful inquirer, and many global strangers I met were friendly helpers who enjoy guiding me directions; we try to make such encounters a good experience for both parties. We people have fundamental trust, we like to help and make an accomplishment.

Neurological/cognitive understanding: People do things differently and solve problems in different way; the reason we need to learn from each other is because nobody is perfect. Some are more focused on the bigger picture; some are very fluent in communication; others love to show off their technical tools or skills, etc. So we should first know deep enough about our own strength and weak point, and then we can learn more effectively and interact with others more friendly.

Geographical aspect: Because Paris is a historical city with enriched cultural heritage and influence from the industrial revolution. They divide their numerous plazas and squares into different streets with diverse names, so the directions in those places are not four dimensional (east, west, south, north), they are more polygonal streets, very easy to get confused. Sometimes, one major avenue is called by a different name at varying locations. Perhaps that also makes the large fashion capital Paris more charming – not straight, but cursive. Walking through the cursive subway tunnels has the same feeling, like untangling into a puzzle, but always believe yourself, you could solve it as there are also some science symbols in it.

Psychosocial perspective: Either you’re an inquirer or a helper, think positively, build confidence. If you ask, give others clear clues about your question, being confident and humble at the same time, so people don’t feel you are wasting their time; but making themselves feeling good as well. As we are both interesting enough, to bring a short conversation or a friendly interaction. We –global citizens enjoy initiating some dialogues and helping each other.  If not, that is perhaps caused by language obstacles or other sort of misunderstanding.  As an author, I would like to appreciate and compliment those helpful global strangers. That is healthy psychology.

Sociological viewpoint: We are all social beings. Social interactions are both art and science. From a small inquiry to the large-scale problem solving, people with different backgrounds and experience should be able to work collaboratively to solve problems together. We discover each other and surroundings, find people who are similar to us, or different from us spiritually; in my case to ask directions, I try to find locals who might be more familiar with that region and help me better.

Technological Insight: Digital technologies bring an unprecedented level of convenience to human society, from East to West, from large city to small town, people enjoy their smartphones and other gadgets which help them live a better enriched life. As my phone was out of the network in Europe (I can still use Wifi in the hotel), most of the ladies or gentlemen were pulling out their phones, doing the navigation. With powerful tools, why not – they are confident and ready to help, compared to decades ago. 

Philosophical wisdom: From specific to abstract; from daily experience to long term life journey, we develop our knowledge/skills, shape our perceptions, and accumulate wisdom. From a small social interaction to participating social events you are interested in, we get to understand people deeper, better, abstract our knowledge into fresh insight, we discover truth from false, challenge conventional wisdom; although history repeats itself, the world become more advanced, old experience will not always work, we have to constantly discover new things, new solutions, to life up humanity.

Interdisciplinarily, we continue to explore the world, learn, grow and influence the world. We need each other, to bridge the difference, close blindspots, In new cities, meeting with strangers, enjoying fresh sceneries. Our eyes might bring us some illusions (like what I had in the paradox museum), our experiences might mix with good or bad; our perceptions are paradoxical sometimes. But always be positive, the global society become more hyper connected and interdependent, we need each other and we can make the better world

 

 

 

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London’s Manner

Live like a local, grow like a global citizen.

When I arrived in London in the early morning, London was still half-sleepy, half-awake. When I took off from the subway, emerge up to the ground, the rain was drizzling, the light and shadow were mixed, fewer pedestrians, the majority of shops were not open yet. Walking around the street which was quiet and chilly, I’ve had a traditional English breakfast, with flat white coffee, and sandwich in a small restaurant in the east suburb region in which my hotel is located, recharging myself, preparing to live like a locale, touring, learning and growing for the upcoming weeks.

London Tower Bridge as a symbol of modern city: London Bridge has spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. Historically, the London bridge has been built quite a few times, from timber to stone to concrete to steel. Tourists can walk around the river bank, seeing the bridge from different angles; they can also climb and walk across the bridge, and catch the bus to tour around. With drizzling rain on the day I arrived, the bridge with a blue color theme looks very bright in the shadow of a cloud, visitors watch it over admirably, seeing the river of Thames flowing forward endlessly. The bridges, skyscrapers in the background, water underneath, clouds above, people surrounding, London eye spinning around, all things mixing together, make the great scene.

Natural gardens and modern cities are blended into a unique scene: The garden scenery is natural and fresh: London is the city mixing the old and new, nature and human-made. The gardens lie in the center of the city; and after you immerse yourselves into the nature green, smell the fresh air; you could walk through the other world in a few minutes- entering the contemporary modern city center full of glamorous brand stores; warm coffee shops/restaurants; after entertaining a bit, you can also stop by museums or libraries, learn and appreciate quintessential cultural heritage. Still, nature stands out as the unique scenery here, the park across the park, the plants bearing the colorful fruits surrounding the city even in the winter season, that make all things become more coherent and peaceful. Kensington Park, Hyde Park, Holland park, etc, are all in the center of London, bringing freshness and natural beauty.

I also visited Kew garden- one of the largest botanical gardens in the world. There are a breadth of plant views, a multilayer of greens, and beautiful birds flying around. There are gardens inside the garden; pigeons flying down toward your foot, search for the food. When you take photos of them, they are not shy away. Tourists walk around, locals exercise, they slow down their pace, appreciate all the great mixing things here-pretty creatures; art galleries, music concerts, etc. When you get tired of the crowd, you can always come to the park to relax a bit, refresh yourself, communicate with birds and lakes, observe nature, and enjoy the surroundings.

London’s Manner: When you see things in order, everything works smoothly in such a big city- neat and modern, appreciate the collaborative efforts behind the scenes, in the deep night or early morning, many workers already start their days to work, including robots, to run such a complex city, make it fully functioning. Londoners are polite and friendly. When I visit the British library in the early morning, people line up automatically, a very long line, but not so intimidating, as when the door opens, the line moves up very promptly, people enter the library to start their learning day, demonstrating very professional manners. When people take the bus or other public transportation tool, they line up, up or down one by one, thanks to the driver, taking all those daily activities in an order. So the city has high population, but does not feel so crowded.

It’s often wet weather in late October, the day becomes shorter and chilly in London, but you could find charming places to fit your styles and enjoy a day here. Either sipping coffee, doing exercise, wandering around in the gardens or shopping around in the streets, you need to be comfortable to blend yourself into the diversity of people and dynamic of metropolitan styles; you need to be comfortable to learn from each other; either being an insightful inquirer or a friendly helper, you are part of the city scene, You should be also comfortable to be who you are and who you want to be. So you can focus on your set of activities, without getting lost, without distracting yourself too much. Live like a local, grow like a global citizen.

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Visit Berlin with Classic Architecture and Great Botanic Garden

 On the Journey of visiting Frankfurt and Berlin, I can see and feel the modern world shaped by the European Industrial Revolution more than two centuries ago

I took a high speed train from Frankfurt to Berlin in late October. The train is modern and high speed, very relaxing, it only took three and half hours to arrive in Berlin. In the early morning, Berlin starts waking up, you can take the subway to get to the downtown or small towns.

My hotel is located in the Berlin suburb. I took the local train, asked around, and arrived at the nice hotel in a quiet area. The staff are friendly and allow me to store the luggage there, so I could start discovering this new city starting in the early morning. I bought the daily Berlin transportation tickets, jumped on the trains or buses, lived like the locals, and walked around the city.

The Square Berlin: After walking across the Berlin wall memorial, I came to the famous square Berlin. German Cathedral, Concert Hall, and French Cathedral buildings, etc, stand on the square Berlin. On the dark rainy days of the deep autumn season, the square Berlin is still full of visitors, they listen to the tour guide’s introduction, sip coffee in the nearby shops, or walk around the square and take photos. Berlin as the capital city of Germany, has enriched culture, complex history and quintessential human knowledge

Bellevue Palace: Then I went to the Bellevue Palace on the banks of the Spree in Berlin-Tiergarten, which is the official residence of the Federal President of Germany. the large white building standing up there, with flags waving on the rooftop, and spacious grass garden sitting in front of it. According to the German’s official website: The President's offices are located in the new building, the Bundespräsidialamt (Office of the Federal President), south of the Palace, a contrasting glass and black granite edifice.

Taking buses, walking around downtown Berlin, we can see this is a contemporary city; surrounding by architecture plazas, mixing the classic theme with modern flavors. There are numerous brand name shops, museums, and restaurants downtown. People here are friendly and multilingual. Berlin’s desserts and bakeries are delicious, their creamy sweet treats plus coffee make the city warm on cold chilly days.

Botanic garden & museum: On the second day, I took the train, going to visit the Botanic garden & museum in Berlin. It’s huge, colorful and educational, I almost got lost over there because there are many different paths crossing different directions, there are some constructions going on, and very few visitors on that weekday. Even in the fall season, the plants are still very strong and blossom, such multi-layer, multi-color themes perfectly fit for European postcard sceneries. Well-designed sculptures decorate the garden; the birds fly over and sing freely. The botanic museum is also very impressive, immersing ourselves into all sorts of greens, emerging into the natural world, refreshing ourselves from the fast-paced busy world outside. That is a great experience in this beautiful garden.

The hotel I live in the nearby suburb is modern, there is automatic check in at the front gate, little robots cleaning up the floors at deep night, thanks to the advanced technologies. The environment is quiet and friendly, also not so far away from a large shopping mall which is directly connected to the subway station.

On the Journey of visiting Frankfurt and Berlin, I can see and feel the modern world shaped by the European Industrial Revolution more than two centuries ago- the scientific and technological development in the 18th century that transformed the agrarian societies into industrialized, urban ones. Nowadays, we are having the digital transformation taking us across the world. There are more cities I will visit later, and it’s the time to say goodbye to Berlin.

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Botanical Garden in Singapore

Singapore is a modern global city mixing with contemporary skyscrapers and green plants, well-designed architectures and ocean harbor views.

In mid-October, I had a chance to visit the international garden city- Singapore, surrounded by diversified and dynamic people in this metropolitan city, I felt global and delightful. The blossom of flowers and shadow of trees cool down the still hot weather here. I Immerse myself in the nature of green, the warm-heartedness of global strangers, the charm of international metropolises. I live like a local resident, use the subway system, take trains/buses, visit different streets, make inquiries to the local people to solve my handy problems.

Singaporeans are great English speakers, they try to help out, their colorful buses walk through the city, just like passing through a big garden, with all sorts of color themes. One of the impressive scenes there is the botanical garden – open, fresh, colorful and diversified, full of energy, mixing oriental charm with tropical theme. It is symbolic of this modern city.

The garden is dynamic and diversified, like the condensed version of the garden city: Botanical garden of Singapore is only a few steps away from public transportation. When I walk into the garden in the morning, the Sun comes up to wake up the city, people – all over the age, gender, and races are here to do different activities. Jogging, dancing, walking, doing yoga, playing instruments, painting, etc. The plants watch us curiously; the ec- lake surrounding the park flows quietly. It's full of energy, awakening the people and city inspirationally. Multicultural people immerse themselves into nature, enjoy the free space, smell the fresh air, and welcome another day that is coming freshly.

Multilayer of plants with Autumn color theme: It is the fall season, but Singapore is still warm, even hot in the noon time. The garden is very spacious, still full of color. Flowers are still blooming, with mixed red, green, blue, yellow themes, very much matching the color stripes of many Singapore’s buildings. All sorts of plants grow openly, the birds fly over freely, orchestrating a very healthy ecosystem. Tropical plants have huge green leaves, cover the sunshine, cool down the surroundings; smaller shrubs grow elegantly, shape different paths, craft great designs, often decorating with colorful fruits or flowers, generating unique sceneries.

Gardens inside gardens- Ginger Garden, Orchid Garden, Ethnobotany Garden, Children’s Garden, Gallop Extension, Music Concert Platform, etc. The botanical garden is both broad and deep, to make me wander around for hours long, get lost here and there. I check the history of this garden, unbelievably, it has more than one and half century history “Founded in 1859, the Singapore Botanic Gardens showcases the best and most spectacular of tropical flora set in stunning verdant landscape.” (nparks.gov.sg). Going to the Ginger garden – the garden inside the garden, the different plants and introductions construct the special scenes, it is very educational. As a tourist who likes this modern city, if I have to give some feedback, the tickets of orchid garden for tourists are much more expensive than for local residents, should they become more tourist-friendly?

Overall speaking, Singapore is a modern global city mixing with contemporary skyscrapers and green plants, well-designed architectures and ocean harbor views. Either walking through their science parks or driving through their commonwealth residential streets, everywhere is clean, calm, people are diversified and dynamic, they are not extremely hurry up, for me, they are helpful global strangers; they enjoy their city, live the modern life and they are qualified global citizens.

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Six Vista Point to View YangtZe River

In numerous regions and nations all over the world, there are mother rivers that nourish people and the environment with their enriched ecosystem.

In the midsummer of August, , I flew from Hong Kong to NanKing – another modern metropolitan city in Asia, participating in some trade shows, and also visiting quite many great sceneries there. It is the city which was the capital of six different ancient dynasties, full of legendary history and cultural density.

One of the great rivers – Yangtze river flows across the city, that is the mother river of many provinces, nourishing millions of people, many generations there. I’ve had the chance to view it from different angles, on a sunny or rainy day. Here are the six vista points to view Yangtze differently.

Climb up to the top mountain – overseeing Yangtze river flowing ahead from a distance: Although the best time to visit Mountain Qixia is the late October - the late autumn, when you could see the golden maple leaves decorating the surroundings, the day I visited there this year was the hot summer day, few tourists were there, that makes the park more peaceful. Although I didn’t see lots of blooming flowers, the green hills with abundant plants create shadows to make hot summer cool off naturally. There are different paths to reach the top. You can take the way up with stone stairs, you can also walk through the wooden corridor that introduces different plants to tourists educationally.

I was determined to take the mixed paths for climbing up, setting foot on the highest point, where the mountains and rivers meet, having a broader view of Yangtze flowing over from top-down, like the emperor did hundreds years ago. The sky was bright, the boats were dotted with colorful sails and the water was considerably clear. I did it - watching the spectacular scenery of "the endless Yangtze River rolling in, flowing forward indefatigably."

Explore the "Fish Mouth" -taking a closer look at the Yangtze River: Nanking is a culture-enriched city with considerably advanced science & technology. In addition to the booming urban construction, digitalization has also become increasingly mature in recent years. After the trade show I took the subway to the “Fish Mouth Station" to watch the Yangtze River from another angle. Just out of the subway station, it took about 10 -minute walk, I entered the "Fish Mouth Wetland Park." There is a platform in the park, at which you can observe the Yangtze river clearly. The Yangtze River is still very quiet with tranquility at the moment, with clouds and mist curling up. It was a rainy day, the raindrops soak up the park, the river waves up and down, flowing forward endlessly.

Stand on the Swallows Rock - capturing the hill view to watch Yangtze River flow through smoothly: Later that week, I took the subway train to the "No. 1 Rock on the Yangtze River"- Swallows Rock - the mountain hills and rocks are like giant swallows flying in the sky. Over there, there is also a small garden in which I can climb up the stone stairs, walk through pavilions and pavilions, get to the top spot, and watch over the Yangtze River from the hill. After leaving the garden gate, I walked along Harbor Road to get a closer look at the Yangtze River, which is a charm no matter where or how you see it, look it over remotely or watch it closely.

Watch the river at the bottom of the bridge and look at the bridge across the Yangtze River along the corridor: Although I have watched the Yangtze River several times, I still search for more vista points to see it. I took a bus to the Bridge Park and walked on the glass plank road - Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge Observation Deck. The main bridge was about 100 meters long, and the landscape bridge was about 150 meters. I got out of the car and walked along the road, looking at the bridgehead of the Yangtze River in the distance. I didn't know how to approach the bridge. There were very small stairs stretched out at my feet. I was just hesitating whether to follow the others down, I was glad I did it, so I have had another opportunity to see the river amazingly. As I walked down the stairs, the scenery became more and more beautiful, and the bridgehead was getting closer and closer.

I heard the sound of the river waves lapping at the shore. The Yangtze River at dusk was sprinkled with a layer of golden light, translucent ripples, and transparent arcs. The glass bridge is interesting but also a little bit scary. Tourists are laughing and running. The promenade at the bottom of the stack is winding forward. Viewing the river at the bottom of the bridge and looking at the bridge along the corridor are unique experiences. I am really glad that I did not miss this unique scene. I enjoyed watching the Yangtze River, watching the giant boats passing by, watching the bridgeheads standing tall, and watching the sunset cast a golden glow on the Yangtze River.

Look at the Yangtze River from NanKing Eyes: The Nanking Eye Pedestrian Bridge is also an attraction that was only opened in the past ten years, linking Central park and River West of Nanking. In the late afternoon of a Summer day, I took the subway to the Youth Olympic Park, walked through the green forest, stood on the bridge, observed the Yangtze River again, looked at it through the NanKing Eye vista spot, with misty rain and flat waves. I climbed up the circular stairs, and walked through the NanKing Eye Pedestrian Bridge to capture broad view of Yangtze River.

It is very unique experience. The view is very open, observing a modern city with skyscrapers, and the river breeze is blowing on your face, which is very cool. There were very few pedestrians. I walked across the pedestrian bridge, watching the river from different angles and taking photos of the beautiful scenery of the Yangtze River. When I reached the other side, I saw the Olympic Center that once hosted the Youth Olympic Games. The national flags of different countries fluttered in the wind, with global taste. River west of the city is fast-growing, with many skyscrapers built up promptly; decorated with flashing neon lights, looking modern, full of potential.

Walk around Yangtze River in the Harbor Park in the economic development zone: There are quite many new economic development zones in NanKing, it keeps expanding as more people want to move in there and population is growing significantly. Yangtze River quietly flows into those new zones, nurturing people and surroundings. I went to one of the fast-growing economic zones called river-peace, with western-styled restaurants and hotels, shopping stores. There are many brands of North American fast food, Hong Kong cuisine, and Southeast Asian flavors. I walk through the harbor park there, again, I see the river charm and water clear, and appreciate the great sceneries.

In numerous regions and nations all over the world, there are mother rivers that nourish people and the environment with their enriched ecosystem. People love them, write songs to appreciate them, build bridges to cross them; set up the towers to watch over them; do the best to keep them fresh, and renew mother nature constantly.

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Hong Kong-Pacific Harbor View

Hong Kong is a city that embraces the Pacific Ocean, mixing the east and west style fluently, and welcomes guests from all over the world with her open arms and unique charms.

On August 7, I flew from San Francisco on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean to Hong Kong on the east coast of the Pacific Ocean. Hong Kong is an international metropolitan city that combines the old and the new, with the Eastern charm and the Western manner, integrating business commerce and tourism seamlessly.

The plane arrived at the Hong Kong International Airport at nearly five o'clock in the morning on 8/9. The airport was brightly lit and operated orderly. Hong Kong was already waking up, greeting their global guests amazingly. The lady at the customer service information center was kind and professional. She introduced me in detail about the subway route from the airport to the city center hotel, making me feel at home. Looking at the Pacific Harbor from the Hong Kong Airport Express, the ocean waves are curling up and the city looks beautiful.

Capture the view of the Pacific Ocean at the top of the Victoria Peak, take the night view of Hong Kong Island: Hong Kong is full of wonderful scenes; it is a unique city embracing the Pacific Ocean intimately. it was almost dusk; I took a transport bus from Central to the Peak. As night falls, the mountains and sea blurred with the same color. The sea underneath was shining with night light lit on the skyscraper buildings across the city. The voices & noises broke the silence on the top of the mountain, and the night view of Hong Kong with the Pacific Ocean is truly one of the most beautiful scenes in the world.

Enjoy the ocean harbor views by looking through the window of the hotel in the ocean resort: On the third day, at 7 o'clock in the morning, I walked from the hotel and arrived at the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal. It was a quiet harbor with locals doing morning exercises. The morning breeze in Hong Kong was gentle and peaceful, allowing me to interact with nature smoothly, watch the Pacific Ocean closely.

Today, I need to transfer the hotel from downtown to the suburbs. Every inch of Hong Kong's urban area is like gold, but the expanding Hong Kong is still full of potential. From the urban area to Tsuen Wan, I truly enjoy the ocean view, take a quiet moment, and appreciate nature. When I arrived at the hotel on the harbor, my eyes lit up, as the view of the Pacific Ocean was right outside the window. The living room and bedroom are bright and spacious, the ocean view is gorgeous. The skyscrapers in the distance, the waves, ups & downs in the nearby sea, the misty wind and moist rain, and the quiet hotel with ocean view make Hong Kong more charming and peaceful.

Stand in the Sky Mall connected to the main street, have a panoramic view of the harbor and sea: When the weekend comes, I took the subway back to the city center, walk cross the famous buildings in Central several times, visit the Hong Kong Park and the Botanical Garden, with curving paths, lush vegetation, birds chirping, butterflies dancing, cranes flying, fountains singing, and the flowers blossom. I stepped into the bird aviary inside the Kowloon Park and watched a big yellow and blue bird climbing up along the railing, yearning for freedom. Exiting the city parks, going back to the street, with numerous restaurants and shops, the tourists can feel Hong Kong's hospitality, diverse culture, and business prosperity.

Walk across Tsim Sha Tsui, Star Ferry Pier, view the Pacific Ocean on a raining day, visit an art museum nearby: On another raining day, I arrived at the Star Ferry Pier, looking far and up close at Hong Kong. The skyscrapers are soared into the sky, and the waves in the Pacific Ocean rolled up and down dynamically. Tourists marveled at the beautiful scenery. After enjoying the natural view, walking through the Hong Kong art museum, and appreciating artistic works there, I’ve had a fulfilling day in this metropolitan global city.

It's time to say goodbye and have an excuse to come back again. I have been in Hong Kong for a week, and felt relaxed and happy there. People are friendly, and the scenery is beautiful. Hong Kong is a city that embraces the Pacific Ocean, mixing the east and west style fluently, and welcomes guests from all over the world with her open arms and unique charms.

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Innovateviaunlockingpotentiality

To move forward, we have to be determined to not get limited by conventional wisdom, negative mentality, unconscious biases or a variety of gaps.

People have enormous potential;  vision of potential discovery is never "achieved" in the sense of being "completed." Potential management takes a structured talent development process via breaking down silos for utilizing collective potential at organizational or societal level.

Diversification is the hidden dimension to explore collective potential. Potentiality is a worthy investment in advancing the human world. Real societal advancement is made through the work of growth minds, abundant knowledge, fresh insight, and progressive activities to unlock collective potential for achieving common goals and lift humanity constantly.

People potential: There are both intellectual potential and motivational potential at either cognition or emotion involved, hard and soft elements in creating talent development formulas.  And the best way to go on discovering what we are capable of doing is by capturing our insights, following the guts, and imagination while at the same time keeping our feets firmly on the ground. People are creative with pattern discovery abilities to enhance cognitive intelligence and unlock their potential. From a talent management perspective, the growth mindset is of utmost quality for being a right fit. People with intellectual curiosity actively seek out new patterns wherever they can discover them. People with high potential continue to learn to expand their horizons, demonstrate positive attitude, and show constructive criticism to build a healthy or creative workplace. 

In order to tap your potential, the challenge is to transcend the perceived limitations and make the most of the gifts you are given. Focus on individual capabilities and potential to innovate. Investigate your passion, discover your strength, define core competency and build differentiated capabilities, establish yourself as having a very strong reputation to be an insightful expert. The potential is usually distinguished by the mastery of new roles quickly and effectively, learning more rapidly than their peers, and taking innovative initiatives proactively. 

Organizational Potential: Nowadays, organizations are blended with diversified mindset, talent and cultures, they are dynamic systems, including a few powerful business systems such as information management systems, sales/marketing systems, finance systems, people management systems, etc. Each of them has potential to improve future performance of the business. Whether the pattern-seeking follows more conventional structures or divergent methods have a direct relationship to our creative potential. So the importance of potentiality management depends on how and what the organization is utilizing the potential for and how to invest the collective potential for building the unique business competency. The enterprises with multi-dimensional intelligences can become more hyper-connected and interdependent with the macro environment through dialogue with different stakeholders. 

 Insightful organizations can make coherent use of their resources, capitals, gradually open up to the best and next practices to identify and develop potentiality into a more solid form, transform organizational potential into differentiated business advantage for the long term business prosperity. Insightful organizational leaders see opportunity in uncertainty, identify potential and develop talent continually. The talented employees with a growth mind continue their career or life journey to pursue autonomy, purpose, and mastery. The organizations with high potential will continually build dynamic capabilities and increase people –centricity, business coherence.

Society Potential: Societies react, manage, but need to orchestrate in a more innovative way to leapfrog collective progress. How can we push towards the next stage of evolution that enables the large collective of people to think in an advanced manner; communicate empathetically, and work collaboratively to unleash collective potential? The society is composed of people, people are the most important power to drive societal advancement. We live in a global society with enriched knowledge and diversity of talent; the variety of perspectives opens our mind, and harnesses the values that each of us can bring to the table. Real societal progress is made through the work of foreseeable leaders who can figure out how to capture the future trend, orchestrate changes, and unleash collective human potential. 

Facing fierce competition and a rapidly changing marketing environment, either individually or collectively, people have to keep learning, growing, and developing their expertise constantly. Neurology enables people to understand their cognitive abilities scientifically. Anthropology helps us shift our thinking to a variety of perspectives, enabling people to navigate a variety of cross-boundary situations and connect wider dots to spur innovation. Psychology allows people to manage their own mentality or understand others empathetically. Sociology enables people to analyze societal phenomena and develop practices to drive needed changes. Effective potentiality management evaluates people, organizational or societal performance with well-established quantitative & qualitative measurements which are connected with their long term strategic goals and purposes. 

There is no limit to human potential; however, it’s the individual, culture, knowledge or circumstances that set a limit on that unlimited potential to make real progress. To move forward, we have to be determined to not get limited by conventional wisdom, negative mentality, unconscious biases or a variety of gaps. Shape a positive mindset, explore interdisciplinary knowledge, and develop unconventional practices, to explore human, organizational, and societal potential persistently and produce better outcomes ultimately.

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Innovateviaglobility

It’s important to clarify the difference between local rules and global rules, common beliefs and universal wisdom, encourage creativity but discourage unhealthy competitions, in order to harmonize a global society.

The world has become much more complex and smaller all at once due to blurred territories, virtual & physical mixed interactions, interdependent business relationships, and an informative societal environment. Global leaders and professionals are great in making a difference in the global world with an expandable horizon through blurred boundaries or knowledge domains. They have to continue learning, develop global professionalism, share their viewpoint about things or events happening in the surroundings, so they are able to work effectively and live a fulfilling life, develop a more advanced world with a high-professional workforce, a highly-intelligent workplace and a highly-innovative global society.

Viability: The digital organization of the future is designed openly for anyone with ideas on how human organizations ought to be contrived in the face of challenges and strategic imperatives of the 21st century. - dynamic, diversified, viable, always on, interconnected and hyper-competitive. The viable digital businesses are solid enough to give some sort of forms and meaning, and open enough to its environment, allowing the movement of information, ideas, and people in and out.

Digital transformation is a long journey, with fierce competition and continuous disruption, forward-looking organizations build long-term viability to win the strategic business game. The digital workforce is multigenerational, multicultural, and multi-devicing and the digital workplaces are a huge melting pot of various diversity. A viable digital organization can deliver impressive business outcomes and unlock its performance by improving manageability and developing organizational competencies.

Diversity: Digital organizations are diversified with a multigenerational, multicultural workforce using multidevice to do multitasking. Diversity is a facilitator for merging significant building blocks of new and existing ideas and concepts. It is an excellent engine for creativity. The digital workforce is multigenerational, multicultural, and multi-devicing and the digital workplaces are a huge melting pot of various diversity. To lubricate business relationships and bridge the difference, organizations should facilitate cross boundary communication to bridge differences and encourage cross boundary collaboration.

The focus of the workplace should be that of a unified team under a banner of that organization. At that moment, the organization is your tribe with the sole purpose of coming together for the common good to achieve ultimate business goals. To overcome the common challenges and advance the human race, we have to really dig beneath the superficial layer, see around the corner and transcend the interdisciplinary knowledge, to get to the heart of the matter via bridging cognitive gaps and enforcing multidimensional thinking.

Sustainability: When we look at the hyper rising costs of energy in recent years, efficiency has been a key internal driver for sustainable practices. Too often, many organizations perhaps manage a few sustainability initiatives successfully, but they lack the systematic approach to manage resources and talent, bridge gaps, to build sustainability as a business competency. A fine-crafted sustainability strategy needs to be developed to drive innovation efforts in the development of a holistic sustainability strategy; communicate what needs to be done to balance sustainability efforts with business demands to make an influence on the environment,

Global organizations have to improve business’s bottom line efficiency, orchestrate energy-efficient, sustainability-savvy, and resource-optimized modern organizations. In line with the various functional domains responsible for unlocking sustainability potential of the business, it’s also important to practice how to orchestrate cross-disciplinary sustainability efforts, facilitate cross-functional communication, optimize cross-functional business processes, and take a structural effort to achieve measurable results.

Change is increasing its paces. It means that the global business can enact, revise, and discontinue their business rules as they see fit. It’s important to clarify the difference between local rules and global rules, common beliefs and universal wisdom, encourage creativity but discourage unhealthy competitions, in order to harmonize a global society. It’s crucial to manage the boundary between the organization and the external world, enforce cross boundary communication and collaboration, and build an advanced global society.

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