You are the developed world.
I am the developing world.
You think that most things have been developed.
I look for new opportunities.
You look to your own part of the world for good ideas.
I look everywhere for the best ideas.
You know all about your world.
I know all about my world. And yours.
You are stuck in the old infrastructure. thinking – mindset
I absorb and adopt the latest technology.
You teach.
I learn.
You try to protect what you have got.
I am determined to get what is mine.
Your dream for tomorrow is to keep the status quo.
I am dreaming great dreams – and making them come true.
Change makes you uncomfortable.
For me, it is as natural as breathing.
You are used to being in the lead.
You take it for granted.
You think that this gives you an advantage,
And you say it will take us a hundred years to catch up.
I know better.
You live in the developed world.
I live in the developing world.
You do not know where you are headed.
I am already embracing my dreams.
Posted by andries on Jun 21, 2009 in Change, Musing
I read an inspiring post on Worldchanging to commemorate the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. It celebrates his words of wisdom and the power of his speeches to challenge our societal worldviews – especially the notion of unsustainable economic progress; the continues pursuit of “Growth for Growth”, creating in effect the largest Ponzi scheme of all (though our health care systems around the world make for a nice scheme as well!).
R.Kennedy’s words are surprisingly relevant, 41 years later.
Though R.Kennedy is from a different time, his moral leadership transcends the issues of his period. He was not president himself and may not have afforded to speak out against the tabacco industry if he were, yet I can still imagine the power of these speeches on the zeitgeist at that time.
EnlightenNext wrote a blogpost last year, on the power of speeches at the occassion of the democratic acceptance of Obama as democratic candidate, calling it the “birth of a moral leader”. It is a beautiful celebration and reflection of leadership, morality and the power of speeches. I particularly enjoy the introduction of the notion on “grown-up idealism”, referring to leaders, like Obama, “not afraid of the most progressive ideals, that is not hesitant to think in moral terms, and that is willing to embrace the kind of difficult realism needed to actually make change happen”..
From my limited experience, I sense getting the balance right between this progressive idealism needed for the betterment of the future, and the realism required to move the current state towards that desired future, is the key to sustainable change. My boss speaks of something similar, though arguably more pragmatic as view. The key line-manager’s skills are to (1) campaign for a vision, (2) and then put structure, rigour and discipline around it to execute and get things done. Much of what I am professionally engaged with in Asia Now is exactly this; supporting leaders/managers in MNC to do find the clarity and language to define their vision and develop a conceptual solution, and then put structure and detail around it to execute.
“My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.”
– Ted Kennedy eulogy for Robert Kennedy after his assassination.
I couldn’t miss the chance to try out a cinema experience in Bangkok, so Ratika – an MC CEED in Thailand, originally from Singapore/India – and me ended up going to one of the fanciest malls of the city and buy a ticket for “Up”, the latest 3D animation movie of Pixar. Though I didn’t expect much, I was in for a surprise!
It’s such a cute story, great entertainment, and overall very well animated. Besides it was long time since I last watched a 3D.
The story is simple. Carl Fredricksen spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed him by, until a twist of fate (and a persistent 8-year old boy & Wilderness Explorer named Russell) gives him a new lease on life.
After 6 days of Bangkok I am back in, what very much, feels like home – Singapore.
Overall Thailand left me with good impressions. People are extremely friendly and helpful, ever-smiling. Despite what everyone says, Bangkok is not as chaotic as I would have imagined. Sure there are traffic jams and people seem to make up their own traffic rules on-the-go, but I’ve seen much worse in cities like Istanbul, Cairo and Manila – not to mention anywhere in India.
And besides, the skytrain and MRT get you to most landmarks. The pollution though is far more disturbing. In the evening, my eyes were burning from wearing my contact lenses in the polluted air.
I stayed in the MC house of AIESEC Thailand, in the south of the city. Every morning and evening, I took a motorcycle down to the closest skytrain. It was so much fun. To be honest, I have never really felt comfortable sitting on a motorcycle, as if I was not in control – even sitting on the back while someone else drives. Though, the sensation of speed and the freedom that comes with a motorcycle excites me obviously. Hence it was so refreshing to drive through the city in Bangkok. I can’t wait to the next opportunity, and to actually getting my driving license (yes, it’s been on my todo for more than 8 years, go figure..)
Though I’ve only stayed for a short time, I feel I got a good sense of the culture and the business environment, to a large degree thanks to the conversations I had with an ex-business partner of my boss whom I met for some business development, my visits to the chamber of commerces, and my night out with locals. When we went out in Route 66, one of the hip nightclubs, I noticed so many Thai girls were hanging out with farangs (“white guys”, like me). A friend of mine told me, these were for most part of them Thai students, which couldn’t necessarily afford going out every week and decided to keep white guys company in return for free drinks.. Yuki, a Japanese AIESECer told me both Japanese and Thai culture resembled each other, being “submissive”, and he had little difficulty integrating. Surely, the large amount of Japanese businesses and cultural influences (they sell mangas at every street corner!) won’t hurt either.
I can’t wait to return and hopefully next time I’ll have the chance to go to Ayutthaya.
I have long been interested in personal/interpersonal development and since my participation at Otto Laske’s Gateway Seminar on Adult Development, back in January 2007, my interest and understanding of the field has taken a quantum leap.
Laske’s InterDevelopmental Model gave me an eagle-eyes view on the field, and provided me with the language and structure to think about human development and consider its practical applications across different fields – including my AIESEC work evolving around leadership development, progress in education for the 21st century, etc. Many authors and scholars like Robert Kegan and Don Beck have further influenced my views.
Beginning of the year I stumbled upon the Enlighten Next Magazine, published by Andrew Cohen & Co, and it ties in news, musings, research and practice from many of the evolutionary thinkers I have been following on the sidelines.
Yesterday they announced their Higher Development Research Project together with a concept paper, which I can highly recommend as an introduction on the developmental field.
A documentary on the decline of the bluefin tuna (and other seafood) has been released a few days ago, “The End of Line“.
I have yet to see anything else than the (powerful) trailer, but I hope to get my hands on it soon.
From a blog specializing in the subject: It raises awareness and causes concern about a topic that most people wouldn’t otherwise think about. As with any film of this nature, it will have its critics; some people will question the science that was used, and others will quarrel about whether blame is being put in the right place. But at the end of the day, it will have people talking about these issues. From my perspective, that is a fantastic first step towards making change. And change needs to happen.
I’ve been here less than 24h but I love it – the atmosphere, the mix of modern and traditional at every corner of the street, the cosmopolitan, the relative safety and yet a feeling of adventure and uncertainty about what next you’ll discover.
By coincidence, my arrival time in the airport was scheduled at around the same time as Suchith – an old AIESEC friend of mine who lived here for 2 years – had to take his return flight back home to Sri Lanka. I met up with him and his farewell delegation and they made me feel directly welcome in familiar AIESEC-style! We hardly had the time to catch up or we had to see him off and wish him well.
His friends took me in their car and gave me an awesome tour of the city till past midnights. Thanks Weaw and Yuki, much appreciated!
I’m only here for 5 days, and the MC of AIESEC Thailand has been so kind to host me, not in the least because of Rina’s lovely introduction.
Today I had a walk through most of the old town, Ko Ratanakosin, and its beautiful temples! I realize this is my first intense contact with Thai Buddhist culture and it’s leaving strong impressions behind. I took a break in one of the temples to meditate and rest, observing the various rituals around me – throwing the stones in the singing balls; lighting of the candle and incense and praying with a white (lotus?) flower in their hand; the gentle dipping of small pieces of white paper against the buddha statues covered with gold leaf.. I am yet to understand the meaning of all this, however I enjoyed the mindfulness it gave me to just be there and observe.
Weaw told me the three most common things you can see in Thailand are, temples, dogs and 7-11 outlets.. I have to admit for now her theory still stands.
Update. ps: if anyone needs a cheap international driving license or a good advanced PADI license, let me know.. I just had a really funny experience strolling through the many small bazaar-like stalls in the backpackers quarters, and stumbled upon a guy who made fake certificates of all sorts. While he was pitching me all sorts of lovely Secret Service cards (and even Singapore work permits), a cop parked right next to us to observe the traffic; but the conversation just went on as if we were just dealing with a fruit transaction.
Ahh, I love Singapore. And I can’t help but marvel at the ingeniousness of small entrepreneurs with nothing to lose and lots of energy to give.
Tonight my flatmate Basti and me tried out a new service, promoting itself as “fresh fruit juice at your doorstep within 5 min – free delivery”. Given that we live on the top floor of an apartment building on top of a hot humid jungle-covered hill, I thought this was a bit exaggerated.. but as the fresh juices cost the same as the (ridiculously) low prices of the food courts, we had nothing to lose. At 11pm we sent out an SMS with our order.
And yes, within minutes an Indian guy dressed in a dhoti stood in front of our door, with both our mango juices freshly prepared in a plastic bag container with the best straws I’ve seen on the island. And he wasn’t even breaking a sweat!
I seriously don’t know how he did it. He told us he came by bike up the hill.. holding the two plastic bags in one hand. For the nice reward of 1.50 SGD/juice. That’s what I call determination.
We figured we could in the future as well order juices for breakfast in the morning. It’s cheaper than buying good juice in the supermarket, more convenient than making it ourselves, and these guys start delivering at 6am! SMS template already saved, one per choice of juice.. hallelujah for good service!