My New Year's Resolution
2008

First written out on Dec. 31, 2008

1. Time Management
Effectively learn how to arrange time and how to organize events around different chunks of time.
Effectively learn how to make use of time, and how to allocate time into different categories.
Effectively minimize time wasted by working effectively.
2. Studies - having a successful undergraduate university career.
Work in groups - learn how to synergize.
Learn how to be prepared for classes, office hours, study groups, and midterms and finals.
Learn how to revise for tests - when to revise.
Important: review materials on a regular basis. This will make hard-core revision time much easier, and allow room for you to focus on key revision topics.
Review material in homework, class assignments, lecture notes, and listening carefully to what the professor is saying. Listen, rather than hear what is said in the lectures.
Learn how to relax and construct a healthy work/life balance. Life isn't work, and work isn't life. Remember that.
Always do your research thoroughly. Actually, the better prepared you are, the better. It never hurts to be well-prepared.
Similarly, learn to distinguish between preparing too well and misconstruing that with freaking out, panicking, and letting anxiety rule over you prior to a midterm or a final.
Learn how to prepare for standardized tests. This is pretty important.
Learn to learn. And learn how to learn from others through human relationships. Understand intuitively and putting into practice the principles that you have learned that enables you to build solid, trusting relationships with other people.
Understand what delegation means.
Effectively enhance your leadership skills. Remember in 7 Habits that one learns how to achieve private victory before public victory. Learn to develop independence, dependence, and finally interdependence.
The apex or pinnacle is there for you to reach and strive towards.
Set realistic goals that you can and will be able to actually pursue.
3. Learn or know how to have fun!

K.C

New Orleans in a glass

New Orleans Fizz Recipe

1 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice
3 dashes orange-flower water
1 tbsp. egg white
1 1/2 ozs. heavy cream
1 jigger "Old Tom" gin

Combine above ingredients with cracked ice in electric blender. Just before taking off the blender, add 2 ozs. of sparkling water. Strain into chilled fizz glass (another Buena Vista authentic recipe).

The historic venture started on the night of Nov. 10 in 1952. Jack Koeppler, then-owner of the Buena Vista, challenged international travel writer Stanton Delaplane to help re-create a highly-touted "Irish Coffee" served at Shannon Airport in Ireland. Intrigued, Stan accepted Jack's invitation, and the pair began to experiment immediately. Throughout the night the two of them stirred and sipped judiciously and eventually acknowledged two recurring problems. The taste was "not quite right", and the cream would not float, but Jack was undaunted. The restaurateur pursued the elusive elixir ith religious fervor, even making a pilgrimage overseas to Shannon Airport.

Upon Jack's return, the experimentation continued. Finally, the perfect-tasting Irish whiskey was selected. Then the problem of the bottom-bent cream was taken to San Francisco's mayor, a prominent dairy owner. It was discovered that when the cream was aged for 48 hours and frothed to a precise consistency, it would float as delicately as a swan on the surface of Jack's and Stan's special nectar.

Success was theirs! With the recipe now mastered, a sparkling clear, six-ounce, heat-treated goblet was chosen as a suitable chalice.

Soon the fame of the Buena Vista's Irish Coffee spread throughout the land. Today, it's still the same delicious mixture, and it's still the same clamorous, cosmopolitan Buena Vista. Both....delightful experiences.

Paul Romer, the young economist whose work on New Growth Theory had stressed the importance of technology in economic growth and, by implication, conferred a magnificent important on the new new thing, hinted at another, deeper reason technological change was so unsettling. In a digression from his otherwise rigorous analysis, in a 1994 issue of the Journal of Development Economics, Romer wrote, "Once we admit that there is room for newness - that there are vastly more conceivable possibilities than realized outcomes - we must confront the fact that there is no special logic behind the world we inhibit, no particular justification for why things are the way they are. Any number of arbitrarily small perturbations along the way could have made the world as we know it turn out very differently....We are forced to admit that the world as we know it is the result of a long string of chance outcomes.

introvert+right brained = 'supportive'
introvert+left brained = 'analytical'
extrovert+right brained = 'promoter'
extrovert+left brained = 'controller'

www.economist.com/printedition
www.economist.com/columns
www.economist.com/crrespondentsdiary
www.economist.com/aduiovideo
www.economist.com/blogs
www.economist.com/kallery
www.economist.com/management
www.economist.com/countries
www.economist.com/rankings
www.economist.com/specialreports

Maturity is the balance between courage and consideration. I first learned this definition of maturity in the fall of 1955 from a marvelous professor, Hrand Saxenian, who instructed my Control class at the Harvard Business' School. He taught the finest, simplest, most practical, yet profound, definition of emotional maturity I've ever come across - "the ability to express one's own feelings and convictions balanced with consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others." As a part of his doctoral research, Hrand Saxenian had developed this criterion over years of historical and direct field research. He later wrote up his original research format in its completeness with supportive reasoning and application suggests in a Harvard Business Review article (January - February 1958). Even though it is complementary and also developmental, Hrand's use of the word "maturity" is different from its use in the 7 Habits "Maturity Continuum," which focuses on a growth and development process from dependency through independency to interdependency.

That's why it's so important whenever you come into a new situation to get all the expectations out on the table. People will begin to judge each other through those expectations. And if they fee like their basic expectations have been violated, the reserve of trust is diminished. We create many negative situations by simply assuming that our expectations are self-evident and that they are clearly understood and shared by other people. The deposit is to make the expectations clear and explicit in the beginning. This takes a real investment of time and effort up front, but it saves great amounts of time and effort down the road. When expectations are not clear and shared, people begin to become emotionally involved and simple misunderstandings become compounded, turning into personality clashes and communication breakdowns.

Clarifying expectations sometimes takes a great deal of courage. It seems easier to act as though differences don't exist and to hope things will work out than it is to face the differences and work together to arrive at a mutually agreeable set of expectations.

It's hard not to get impatient. It takes character to be proactive, to focus on your Circle of Influence, to nurture growing things, and not to "pull up the flowers to see how the roots are coming." But there really is no quick fix. Building and repairing relationships are long-term investments.

Emotional Bank Account

Our most constant relationships, like marriage, require our most constant deposits. With continuing expectations, old deposits evaporate. If you suddenly run into an old high school friend you haven't seen for years, you can pick up right where you left off because the earlier deposits are still there. But your accounts with the people you interact with on a regular basis require more constant investment. There are sometimes automatic withdrawals in your daily interactions or in their perception of you that you don't even know about. This is especially true with teenagers in the home.

Being by myself has certainly made me a much happier person. Today, at least I'm thankful for that quarter of quiet peace and solitude...

And winter break will be spending more time with the family, with my dear cousins!
Kathleen =)

Finding people that I connect with...

As a principle-centered person, you try to stand apart from the emotion of the situation and from other factors that would act on you, and evaluate the options. Looking at the balanced whole - the work needs, the family needs, other needs that may be involve and the possible implications of the various alternative decisions - you'll try to come up with the best solution, taking all factors into consideration.

As proactive people, we can begin to give expression to what we want to be and to do in our lives. We can write a personal mission statement, a personal constitution.

A mission statement is not something you write overnight. It takes deep introspection, careful analysis, thoughtful expression, and often many rewrites to produce it in final form. It may take you several weeks or even months before you feel really comfortable with it, before you feel it is a complete and concise expression of your innermost values and directions. Even then, you will want to review it regularly and make minor changes as the years bring additional insights or changing circumstances.

But fundamentally, your mission statement becomes your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything else in your life.

I find the process is as important as the product. Writing or reviewing a mission statement changes you because it forces you to think through your priorities deeply, carefully, and to align your behavior with your beliefs. As you do, other people begin to sense that you're not being driven by everything that happens to you. You have a sense of mission about what you're trying to do and you are excited about it.

Benoit Mandelbrot

The question I raised in 1967 is "how long is the coast of Britain?" The answer is...It depends on the size of the instrument used to measure length...As measurement becomes more refined, the measurement length will increase. Thus, all coastlines are of infinite length in a certain sense. But of course some are more infinite than others.

Proactive people make love a verb. Love is something you do: the sacrifices you make, the giving of self, like a mother bringing a newborn into the world. If you want to study love, study those who sacrifice for others, even for people who offend or do not love in return. If you are a parent, look at the love you have for the children you sacrificed for. Love is a value that is actualized through loving actions. Proactive people subordinate feelings to values. Love, the feeling, can be recaptured.

Another excellen way to become more self-aware regarding our own degree of proactivity is to look at where we focus our time and energy. We each have a wide range of concerns - our health, our children, problems at work, the national debt, nuclear war. We could separate those from things in which we have no particular mental or emotional involvement by creating a "Circle of Concern".

Master and slave: if labour becomes objectified (alien, torturous), then he is the subject of another person who rules over him.

private property comes from alienated labour.

the political economy is cold and heartless. ingrateful to the workers.

aphorism - a very concise way of expressing a general truth. or wise observation often in a clever way.

religion is an expression of suffering and a protest against suffering...

consciousness comes from working materials, practical activity.

nature is therefore his work. man, unlike animals can contemplate in the work he has created.

proletarian revolution working class should act in solidarity towards world revolution and support working people in other countries, rather than following their respective national governments.

they outnumber the capitalist pigs.

labour is subordinate to commodity. alien, independent of producer. the more he produce, the poorer he becomes. the worker becomes a slave of his object.

worker makes labour essential to physical object. his existence.

capitalism is alienating people from their work.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

In more than 25 years of working with people in business, university, and marriage and family settings, I have come in contact with many individuals who have achieved an incredible degree of outward success, but have found themselves struggling with an inner hunger, a deep need for personal congruency and effectiveness and for healthy, growing relationships with other people.

An improved version of MarketPlace, (marketplace.uchicago.edu), and online site where students can exchange and sell anything one uses in college from textbooks, books, furniture, to apartment leases.

The present system is rather inefficient in the sense that old posts are not immediately taken down once the item has been sold.

In addition, there is no formal way of categorizing or listing the listings in an even more coherent and efficient manner.

Furthermore, sellers often clump or bundle together all items that they want to sell under generic listings, thus, and in effect, eliminating the possible and potential buyers to view the particular listing for a particular good.

This will first and foremost require software and IT skills to build a program that builds upon and improves the objectives of marketplace.uchicago.edu

Product development:

1. Build a template page for use.
2. Test the user-friendliness, reliability, and efficiency of the web design among a selected sample of 300+ students.
3. Or, if

I myself don't necessarily have any experience that is solidly related to business. However, I do believe that it is also not necessary to own or manage a business in order to be an entrepreneur. For me, the spirit of entrepreneurship is loosely defined as bringing new and fresh ideas into action. It has always been interesting to me that special note-worthy stories of successful entrepreneurship were inspired by noticing what was missing or could be improved on in people's daily lives. My favorite examples are, and perhaps coincidentally internet-based services: Amazon.com, Wikipedia, and Facebook. But the key to building a sustainable business or enterprise relies on the continuous effort to bring entrepreneurship skills to the forefront, which is adapting to constant change, and adapt to the dynamics of a growing industry, business, and consumer base. Likewise, this capability to do so is an inherent quality of an entrepreneur: undertaking accountability for a certain amount of risk. This will ultimately guarantee the longevity of the initial aspiring start-up of the entrepreneur.

What experience I have that I would say is the most entrepreneurial would be my most recent summer. I spent almost the entire summer (3 months) in Hong Kong, doing various volunteer work. Without the usual constraint of a formal internship, I was given many opportunities to learn as much as possible, as well as networking along the way. I had taken my own initiative to do so, and was rewarded with a very self-enriching summer vacation, where I did some research assistance work for an Economics professor at the University of Hong Kong, as well as doing some volunteer work for one of the candidates who was running for a seat in the Legislative Council election held last September in Hong Kong. Working in a campaign team taught me about leadership skills and teamwork, and that even the most capable person in the world must work with others in order to achieve something greater. Relating this to my participation in an election, I discovered that (and especially in the political arena), the most-deserving candidate doesn't necessarily win, because it is a system that favours elitism rather than meritocracy.

My goal for this class is to learning more about the process of becoming entrepreneurs, studying cases of entrepreneurship, and eventually applying these principles in my post-college life.

Even if I don't end up opening or running a business in the new future, I do feel that the skills and experience I will acquire from this class will prepare me well in my career, because it also involves leadership, teamwork, and management skills to maintain a venture and realizing aspirations and identifying the opportunities to do so.

Taking one entrepreneur as an example: this summer, I campaigned for one of the candidates in the Legislative Council election in Hong Kong. He was a chartered engineer by profession, but has now since retired, devoting much of his time serving as the board member of various NGOs, including the 'Professional Commons', a think-tank council dedicated to promoting sustainable development in Hong Kong. What I admire most about the person I worked for is utilizing his entrepreneurship and professional experience on worthwhile projects, and spending his retirement or leisurely days in this manner.

Why work in RA
Typical day
Projects
Role of finance industry in the economy

GS Team = subscriber
News
Annual reports and recommendations

Formulate -

Research teams

Alistair:
Broad, coveted role
Financial modelling
Conveying information; written/verbal

Basically competitive
competiting on intellectual ground

Not just counter-balance...

RH flexible, looks after other people, is ridiculously nice. Some self-reservation in the mix. Don't just stop at 1 thing. Always thank about the next step.

Accounting dazzle me personality. Interesting. Grades, meets the minimum requirement, higher diploma. Volunteer. Picture yourself to go through. I want to meet up. Make yourself interesting.

Reserve contact, work experience.
Contacts....! Very important!
Be at the right place, right time
Angel
Perspective
Credit default - how is it interpreted overseas?
Bring something new into the discussion on top of what view is being held by the general public.
Old stuff ---> new ; Would you be willing to pay for it?
Educated guess/ probability chance
Imperfect combination of every information you have at hand. Plus methodology.
Everybody else does it...

Be yourself and be interesting.

1. Establish objectives
2. Set strategy
3. Implement solutions
4. Review progress

1. Time horizon - returns expectations, portfolio, appreciation, absolute benchmark relative (in real terms).
2. Active/passive. Fixed income, cash holding.
3. Strategic (long-term 2 mths+)
4. Currency evaluation...different rates may affect yield.

Investor profile: conservative, moderate, aggressive. "High risk, high gain"

Volatility = std deviation

Portfolio re-balancing...passive, not active.
Process of buying/selling to maintain initial asset allocation for investment objectives & risk tolerance.

S&P 500 9% avg return, 5% historically feasible. If have right mix of composition, risk appetite, etc.

US 10 year bond 4% government-backed.

V.T: Good communicator, willing to take risk, outgoing personality, requires creativity...
Speak clearly, communicate effectively

Financial services. Consumer, retail, ib, am, pe, pb.

Bubbles burst every time, every where.

Francis' cup analogy...
Asking people for advice, not all advice are suitable for you.
Make sure to evaluate, and reflect.
Unconscious effort "concerned about how other people perceive you is not a useful thing at all"
Listen to what other people have to say.
If other people care about you, it is a bonus.
K is looking for long-term relationships.

Down time:
So, invest time & care: [Work, family, immediate concern]
Stress can be bad or good - it depends on how you set it up for yourself.
Ask yourself why? Can it be resolved today and now?
Being prepare to face the worst situation may be helpful in reducing stress.
How can I accomplish this? [This is called the stress receiver].

Stuff from previous class:
You are an achiever because your persistence has paid off!
Be persistent and positive, with your enthusiasm in an open manner.

T.I.L.P.T.S.I.M
1. Humourous & funny. 2. Quick think on my feet type (spontaneous). 3. Analytical.
Be myself (after using D.C. principle to lay a foundation for my relationships.
Improve self-confidence.

W.O.P.H.S.A.M
warm, caring, fast learner, keen at improving personal relationships, become more confident.

A.N.T.F.
1. Humourous. 2. Strong will. 3. Dedication, passion. 4. Self motivated. 5. Always on top of jobs. 6. Warm an caring. 7. Flexible, Adaptive to circumstances and comfort zones.

F/F
18. Be sympathetic with the other person's p.o.v.
20. Dramatize your ideas.

Result - better understanding of each other; help each other.

M.V.I.36.M. 5/9/2008
I am a confident multi-task speaker and organizer.
Show appreciateion & encouragement to my friends and to my peers.
I will commit to what I have already done/promised. Be enthusiastic about the smallest things. Add enthusiasm to my work.
Motivate other people to do the same.
How to stimulate my thinking.
Don't be tary/ tary things too long.
IDHAF -why? How come?
.How, What, Why?

I really don't have too much problem w/ getting people to like me - so really it's about getting in touch w/ other people.

If you don't try to understand the other person, you may not be able to communicate or have a good relationship for them (gives them the idea that you're too selfish).

People are selfish. They are interested chiefly in themselves. They are not very much concerned about whether the government should own the railroads; but they do want to know how to get ahead, how to draw more salary, how to keep healthy. If I were editor of this magazine, I would tell them how to take care of their teeth, how to take baths how to keep cool in summer, how to get a position, how to handle employees, how to buy homes, how to remember, how to avoid grammatical error, and so on. People are always interested human interest stories, so I would have to tell the stories of how they battled their ways up from the ranks to power and wealth.

There is nothing so interesting to ourselves as ourselves.

Audiences are composed of individuals, and they react like individuals. Openly criticize an audience and they resent it. Show your appreciation for something they have done that is worthy of praise, adn you win a passport into their hearts. This often requires some research on your part. Such fulsome phrases as "this is the most intelligent audience I have ever addressed," are resented as hollow flattery by most audiences.

In the words of a great speaker, Chauncey M. Depew, you have to "tell them something about themselves that they didn't think you could possibly know."

From a UBS ad

You & Us
The times are uncertain.
The relationship isn't.

Here's an ad in The Economist for Park Hyatt hotels:

early morning wake-up call
in-room sunrise yoga
egg-white omelette, espresso
private conference room, interpreter

I don't want to be the generation that just misses by the tail.
Life is changing constantly.
It's the same thing as saying change is the only constant.
I may and hope not to hide up in grad school waiting for the economy to get better in the next few years...

Now, who is to say, "It's the economy, stupid"

Margie said I'd grown up this summer. I'm glad to hear that.
Now, what's the next step?
Stay cool and stay happy. You're a sweet kid.
Lots of love,
And forever yours (we'll always be there for you, remember that and don't forget!)

-The whole family

20. Bad experiences can turn you off. Scarred for life. Will to develop good friends is like that. It's time to try again. If you don't try, you won't succeed. But if it's important, you must persist until you make the breakthrough.
21. Next time you meet someone that could be your good friend, go for it. Try. Don't be disappointed.
22. Shyness - how can you be more approachable otherwise?? If you're tired you go away. Somehow you give the other person the cold, hostile, unfriendly signal.
23. TRY TO BE APPROACHABLE, BE FRIENDLY USE PRINCIPLES 1-9.
24. The first step is initiating conversation with someone that you like. Try to be approachable, be friendly...it takes skills and practice. When the other person is making the first step, don't try to be the other person that you don't like.
25. Use the principles first. Think about the worries later.
First, good listener, approachable. Then decide if you like the person.
26. Master the principles. Because you can't do the subsequent parts, though the initial feeling is important as well.
Once you stop using the principles, you're not depositing into your relationship bank (maybe some other crap).
27. Having a meal together might be a bigger commitment.
Principles 1-9 are important to you for the time being...

It has also now come to my attention that other pressing matters that I would like to make better is how to fight off boredom and lack of motivation:

1. One hour off.
2. You have to be very conscious about taking a break off. Remember to watch the clock.
3. Matthew mind-maps.
4. Make practical lists...easier for you to memorize, to do a summary, or check out mind-map.
5. Some things that you don't know, actually requires discipline. But you know the not-so-good sides/ consequences?
6. You need someone to actually you.
7. Email correspondences are actually cycles you want to promote. But think about whether you want the feedback to be immediate, or take some time to write the response. Take your time, and so will the other person. It's a very normal thing that happens between two people who communicate.
8. Call them up and tell them you will be late. So they won't worry. Your situation may be delicate. They still have the responsibility to look after you, and they do have concern but can't directly tell you.
9. When you're busy and such you still need to be a responsible person.
10. Even if it's not too convenient for you...
11. Somehow, they might think it's hard to look after you, because you're not really their friends and you are certainly not family. Make more interaction happen. Appreciation.
12. If you don't tell them they don't know what your plan is.
13. How comfortable you are with another person depends on how comfortable you are with them. There are some people that are easier to get along with than other people. If you're not comfortable to socialize with other person.
14. Very boring, very limited...
15. Lower your level to make the other person feel comfortable.
Comfortability (when interacting with the other person): topics, whether you're giving the other person feedback, smiling, principles 1-9, [*genuinely interested in other people], showing interest will make other people feel relaxed - being a good listener. And showing that you're a good a listener!! Try, try to find something in their talk interesting...you're interested in me!=) But you still have to relate it to your life sometime to make other people feel comfortable.
Simple conversation - are you tired, what's new in your life, how have you been, how's it going, do you feel tired? Anything interesting thing in your life? How's your life? Not what did you do. Perhaps there is an interesting thing behind the boring story.
16. Conversation stack.
Stacking skill, pictures have linkages. Different perspectives of putting the picture into a different context, and this visual helps you to remember. But the impression is stronger than rote learning and memorization.
17. Phone conversation - ask permission to talk to them.
18. How are they, what do you think of the movie? Simple way to ask about the welfare of other people, but ALSO shows that you're interested in them...
Can you tell me more because of....but show what you think and p.o.v., or the other person won't be interested.

The little recognized secret of success

ENTHUSIASM

Set and accomplish goals
Practice better human relations
Handle stress
Feel better - More confident
Become more results-orientated
Develop leadership ability
Accomplish more each day
Influence others

"A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm" - Charles Schwab

I wonder how, I wonder why, yesterday the day was a blue blue sky...

Gain the willing cooperation of others:
16. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
What is right, not who is right, is most important. By following this principle, we build another person's confidence and willingness to share ideas and strengthen the team.

17. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
The other person's point of view may be clearer than ours. Learn what you can from other points of view.

18. Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
Being understanding and sympathetic is a sure way of keeping channels of communication open.

19. Appeal to the nobler motives.
Most people will work very hard for ideals and the higher aims of the organization if they know what they are and how they apply in a particular situation.

20. Dramatize your ideas
A unique idea should have a unique package. Use creative approaches to help sell your ideas.

21. Throw down a challenge
Most of us have a competitive side. Challenging others to action often produces unexpected positive results.

You need to understand your weakness before you can work on them. And the best way of identifying these weaknesses is to gather feedback from people who knows you. Identify six people who know you in work context and send them an email asking for their help. You may choose colleagues or ex-colleagues, clients or customers, suppliers, or even an ex-boss. Tell these people that you'll greatly value their candid opinions on your strengths and weaknesses in order to help you with your career development. Make it clear to them that you don't simply want compliment and platitudes, but some insight into how you come across to others. Simply these people three questions.

1. What are my strengths?
2. What are my weaknesses?
3. How can I improve on my weaknesses?

Ask people for help in tackling your weaknesses. Trusted colleagues, your manager, or even your friends may have some ideas for now to make you more effective at work. Do you perhaps need training in a particular skill? Or do you just need to behave in a different fashion - perhaps being more assertive, sympathetic, or tactful?? Ask the people that you trust their help and advice on improvement.

You can dance, you can jive
having the time of your life
see that girl, watch that scene
dig in the Dancing Queen.

Friday night and the lights are low
looking out for the place to go
where they play the right music
getting in the swing
you come to look for a king

Anybody could be that guy
night is young and the music's high
with a bit of rock music
everything is fine
you're in the mood for a dance
and when you get the chance

You are the Dancing Queen
young and sweet only seventeen
Dancing Queen
feel teh beat from teh tambourine,
oh yeah
you can dance, you can jive
having the time of your life
see that girl, watch that scene
dig in the Dancing Queen.

C.W pointed out that even in a perfectly competitive market, the best way for agents to figure out the equilibrium price is through trial and error, and that itself would be highly desirable through an auctioneer.

Of course, it's also interesting to see how one can view financial institutions as monetary intermediaries between people with money and who have access to wealth to those who are in need of it.
The bubble and economic shock in this case is also man-made and provoked/aggravated by man.
You can say that it's not such a big deal in one sense that it reflects nothing extraordinary other than the fact that there were too much lending that was not priced at the appropriate level.
Use your judgment call...

So...I totally need to write this down.
I had a nice final wrap-up chat with CW this afternoon.
It's a pleasure to tag alongside him and learning on the go.
If at all, this was a good introduction - kind of skimming on the surface for a newbie, especiall into econometrics.
At least part of me is glad this is over, I'm still sad that my summer is coming to an end.
Another chapter awaits...
I realized today (perhaps more emphatically) that both of my freelance work experience helped me understand a bit more about building relationships.
You just have to do what you need to do and adopt a better way of thinking.
That's all.
Peace.

The U.S. economy, and subsequently, the world economy, is in a such a mess right now.

Who's to blame?

I remember a quote that sounded funny when he said it, him being C.K. during the final day, when each group came up to do their presentation (ML SWMP). C.K. mentioned how it U.S. Treasury Bonds are moderate risk investments, because it is ultimately lending money to the U.S. government. As the world's largest economy, there is some comfort in finding this a moderate risk haven because if the U.S. economy collapse, so would the rest of the world.

What if I just want to be bossy for once? I mean, surely that means something, and who knows, I might actually quite enjoy it.

Okay, so I've been absent all this while (and I'm going to for a very nice walk downhill as soon as I finish up writing this post). What makes the perfect childhood/education background (this is from my experience only):

1. Attending an excellent education institution noted for its outstanding academics. Growing up and attending 3+ international schools, enough to identify oneself as a third culture kid.
2. Going on school expeditions and partaking in outdoor activities - this is especially special and dear for me, having spent the bulk of my adolescent years in S.E. Asia.
3. Learning and sticking with a musical instrument (because I'm just that stubborn, chuckling to myself).
4. Getting excited and interested in just about almost anything worth getting excited about.
5. Self-proclaimed bookworm.
6. Knowing how to NOT kill you brain cells and insult your intelligence.
7. Likes to wander and live in big metropolitan cities such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, and New York City.
8. Goes through periodic phases of specific interests.
7. Is wise enough to say things because you 'get the theory behind it.'
8. Learning how to be nice, friendly, and likeable. It's something to admire and appreciate.
9. Finds time to be themselves.
10. Finds time to reflect and be creative and to "make moments happen."
11. Doesn't mind cooperating on sensible issues that needs cooperating to make it happen.
12. Is generally a really, really good person.

P.S. Keep up the good work!

Oh, and just because I want to share this funny thing with you:

I told a family friend of mine that my 10-year old family friend asked me why I like to eat fruit so much. He told me the answer is simple: Because I come from the tropics~

Woohoo.... =)

Mondays with Matthew

People aren't perfect, you can accept it and learn the lesson. Yous hould appreciate people's good side.
Despite their limitation.
Think positively.
Try to use a different way to do it.

It's amazing how when somebody says something obvious, and actually state the obvious, that I begin to pay attention to it...
What's the worst scenario that you'd be willing to accept (of course, let's hope that the worst case scenario does not become a reality).
That makes me accept the fact, and greatly reduces my worry and stress, and above all, anxiety.

There's a season for every reason. There's a reason behind every season. So watch out! Attention! Now is the time to reflect about the past and to encourage oneself to cultivate some recollections...

There are lots of ways to waste time. One such example involves not checking the time properly, resulting in me having to go back and forth between the Central Library and Causeway Bay MTR at least one and a half times. That's at least 30 min. + 10 min. time wasted settling down, and which could have been spent learning new Chinese characters at the self-study language center (which I was in the middle of doing until I broke off from it thinking that it was already time to go). Let's also not forget the amount of time it takes to wait for the lift, walk across the hall, cross at least two streets, AND avoid the crowd and throngs of people snaking in the opposite direction.

The voter turnouts for the Engineering functional constituency clearly demonstrated the fact that people are recognizing the need for change. Never-mind the fact that R.H won by a "wafer-thin" margin, the story behind the election outcome clearly shows that in this year's election, the decision made by the voters themselves, to cast their votes reveal a deep angst about the lack of concern for the diminishing engineering profession as well as the general consensus about the general state of affairs.

Looking back, I am still shocked about the whole ordeal. We were soooooooo close to winning the seat. I'm going to make an endorsement/statement now: Hong Kong deserves a better professional representative, given that the difference between the two major candidates is having the incumbent emphasizing on his consistent record, and the new comer challenging and bringing in positive ideas for change. I think that the single pivotal factor in influencing voting behavior is that last week we were supposed to be making phone calls urging all voters to please come out and vote for a new legislator. I am positively sure that if I'd reached out to more voters by giving them a call we would probably have won this year's election.

There are several good reasons why I believe this is the case. First of all, Hong Kong people are by far one of the most politically indifferent or politically passive citizens compared to other major, global metropolitan cities. Thus, only when there is an imminent and very strong desire to bring in a new politician, and in times when their vote will be very crucial in determining the outcome of the election will they decide to go to the polling stations to cast their votes.

The other major reason stems from the decidedly complicated voting system in Hong Kong. The system is skewed in the sense that it's not possible to win all the seats within each functional constituency based on majority rule or popularity vote, because each seat can only be won based on an allocation of the number of votes required to capture each seat. Then, the party with the leading number of votes leads off the assignment and partitioning of each seat. Any insufficient "leftover votes" are thus "wasted," hence the reason why there are very few incentives to vote because the chances that the voter's choice of candidate actually does get elected.

On the other side of this system is the sheer number of candidates participating in the Legislative Council election. It is very possible to say that voters have too many choices and, coupled with the party's campaign strategy and game rules leading up to election day, it's possible to see strategies fail and collapse onto itself in cases where different camps with similar ideology divert votes away between candidates running on the same party ticket. Surely this complicated system of vote allocation could very well cost a particular party a crucial seat in the Legislative Council.

Hence, think-tanks and advocacy groups calling for universal suffrage by 2012 have been engaging in this arduous struggle, to overcome the obstacles found within the internal system of the legislative itself. These opinion groups have been highlighting the citizen's distress with the current imperfect election voting system. In Hong Kong, the political struggle for power has always been divided between to distinct camps (as a very very broad overview): the pan-democratic camp and the pro-Beijing loyalists. It should be noted, however, that politics on the one side is about exercising power and guarding private or public interests, but that some systems are 'better' in the sense that they're more democratic and therefore allow change to be realize. Politics, thankfully (depending on how one perceives it) is about continuous change. This is the one hope for a better society and for improving the status quo. When it is hard to walk forward in the right direction, we can always set ourselves the goal of reducing our errors.

A disappointing loss for Ir A.L, who was narrowly beaten by incumbent R.H by 193 votes. R.H. will thus be commencing another term as LegCo Engineer FC representative for the third consecutive time.

Until I watched a live recording of one of the debates held among the three candidates, I had not, to be honest, really really felt the need to strongly support a particular candidate, primarily because I did not want to make my work politicized in some sense. But after the debate on Saturday it was clear that A.L (in my opinion) deserves to be elected, and as one voter succinctly puts it, it will be "a breath of fresh air". A.L represents positive change and political integrity, whilst R.H comes from an old breed of elitist who do not share the same views on democracies and representative powers. Although I've technically always gave some support to A.L, since I'm helping him with his campaign and being able to interact with him clear that he is a very kind person with a strong dedication to promote and deliver sustainable development.

In this respect, it seems as if this political climate is a typical one that shares some similarities with U.S. politics regarding Presidential elections. (From now on, it will be quite clear that what I say is still identifiable even though I'm not explicitly identifying the two camps). On the one hand, we have a democratic party which stands for the majority of the working and middle class. They may also contain working professionals because they share in the same values regarding work ethics and civic duties. The other, wealthier party consists of politically powerful politicians whose primary interest for politics is power in making use of politics to further private interests. This seems to be the case regarding rivalry/oppositiong between DAB and CP. Unfortunately, unlike the U.S., Hong Kong remains an unusually passive city when it comes to politics and voting. This year, approximately 45.8% of the people voted (or let's say, bothered to vote), which was 10% less than the last election.

Of course, I have to say that I am definitely very very grateful to have the chance to get involved. It is a rare opportunity to take part in a healthy, political organization without ever having to worry about my conscience (if that's the right word, I suppose), because in the end I did get involved and the only way to make this a great experience is to throw yourself in, learn as much as you can and as much as you care (because no one can order you to specifically take great interest in a particular activity). To this end, volunteering for the Civic Party personally turned out to be very good exposure to Hong Kong politics and Hong Kong culture. The Pan-democrats managed to gain at least the minimum 21 seats required to establish a veto-ing type power in making sure that some elements of democratic politics and good governance are maintained in issuing a more than 1/3 voting bloc. I find this particularly interesting because it is very logical (they already did the maths) and because it generally reflects the pragmatism of Hong Kong people as a generalized statement.

This summer I helped out as a campaign volunteer for one of the candidates who is running for the Engineering Functional Constituency seat in the Legislative Council election on the Civic Party ticket.

I remember how I was fairly skeptical or, to say the least, didn't expect anything prior to my volunteer, because I wanted to approach it with an open attitude. Prior to this I had not much, if not, minimal knowledge about Hong Kong politics and governance in general.

Working with Civic Party turned out to be a very memorable experience. On the one hand, I got to try out various things from the mundane office jobs, filling out application forms, following up on email correspondences, as well as helping out with canvassing. I now have the purple polo shirt for memory's sake.

As the campaign unfolded, I got to watch first-hand almost from start to finish (I was able to attend my candidate's official announcement of his candidacy) the inside of a moderate size campaign and a thorough experience of helping an accomplished person run for office. But it's funny how (and this is quite true), that like any job, staying all the way till the end matters. And, it's also quite true that a lot of these just takes time.

The legislative council election comprises of two bodies: the general body (where candidates run for geographical functional constituencies), and the professional functional constituencies. In itself, the legislative council is a somewhat outdated government body in the sense that there is very uneven distribution, much less skewed representation of the civic person. Everyone is eligible to vote for the geographical representative, eligibility determined by Hong Kong residency and having registered as a voter. However, those who belong to a professional class and are therefore eligible to vote for that functional constituency representative therefore have an additional vote to cast for the Legislative Council election. Insofar as number of votes per person is concerned, the present voting system clearly favors person of educated background, or to put it in another word, have acquired sufficient qualifications to practice and pursue their profession.

But back to my experience. I especially appreciate being able to watch and take part in various campaign activities as well. For example, on the very first day when my family friend took me to the CP headquarters to meet up with Christine and Albert for the first time, I was surprised to see how nice everyone was at the center. Later on, I had the pleasure and privilege to be introduced to Professor Kwan, a respectable and distinguished scholar in Hong Kong, retired professor of CUHK, and chairman of CP. Just meeting these people made me realize the sheer amount of teamwork and leadership involved in running a successful campaign. I also appreciate meeting various people from diverse backgrounds but who obviously share enough passion for politics, if not, the civic duties and responsibilities as a citizen. In this respect I had an amazing amount of exposure to people from 'all walks of life'. Let me give a brief introduction of these people:

Christine: campaign manager, close friend of A.L., and member of CP. Christine is a very thoughtful, not to mention intelligent person. She is a branding consultant and part-time lecuturer at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Christine also keeps a very well-informed and well-read blog, mostly commentaries on the plight of things. It's not hard to tell that she is very involved and a very caring person.

A.L: LegCo hopeful and chartered engineer. A.L. is very involved in NGOs, having served as Chairman and Committee member for several non-profit organisations. His focus and dedication is his efforts to promote sustainable development, especially and in particular applications and practices that promote environmental conservation and sustainable development. From what I have been reading up on A.L it's not hard to see that he has many genuinely good ideas to bring to this year's election. Must be nice for a change and a breath of fresh air. Having worked for him these two months, it's not hard at all for me to wish him all the best of luck, as I do support him and hope he wins this election. (In fact, I will positively say that this decision was made after I had attended a debate held for all Engineering FC candidates hosted by RTHK).

I'm also including people who work at PC (that's the think tank that periodically publishes reports and recommendations on sustainable development projects).

CPL: noted journalist specialising in documentary films. CPL recently received a grant from CUHK to produce her upcoming feature documentary that follows that lives of 10 people who have exceptional stories to tell following the Tiananmen massacre. CPL will select a handful of subjects who has the most compelling stories who will make the strongest impact on the audience. She will also be interviewing, amongst various people, Wong Dan, noted student activist expelled from China and who fled to the U.S. to study at Harvard University. This feature film is to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre.

Jeffrey: Friendly, and outgoing colleague from PC.

Angel Tam: also an exceptionally outgoing person. She is a communications specialist and has done various translation works at the PC.

Zoiee: Although Zoiee joined about a month later, having her around makes my volunteer work so much fun. And, I'm happy to have made another friend here. Plus, she "knows how to eat" so I also really enjoyed going to some eating places I would not have known myself. Plus, Zoiee is a good in explaining to me about living in Hong Kong.

Kelvin: another team member who's also doing academic research. It's nice to know that there are people involved in these kinds of projects.

At the end of the day, what I strongly believe that makes each of us a responsible civic person is to care enough about politics for our own good, but not too much that it starts to politicize our whole lives. Just a healthy dose of politics (and I emphasise care rather than interest in politics) is suffice to make us aware of our choices and make us aware in the sense of taking my Sosc class that we are a part of society, and this revelation is as profound only if we choose/allow it to make an impact on us...I'm admire these people who are involved in some ways or another, because it shows a lot about their passion and the fact that they care. And, it also shows that we can also be optimists (sorry if this is starting to get cliché).

True, there are some things that I wish I could have done better, but it's over now and the least I can do is think and learn from what I've been through.

Il tient à vous parler.
Bien sûr. En voilà un qui se vend beaucoup.
Vous allez dans le mauvais sens.
J'y comprends, jusqu'ici.

Celui-là doit être occupé.
C'est de loin.

J ne saurais pas te piloter à présent.

Ne vous en donnez pas la peine.

Conversation

1) When dealing with my parents where I don't want to stress them out. Matthew suggest saying something like..."I have a problem, but I'm managing it on my own. Not to worry." Also, when Matthew said that I should be precise in my communication, what that really means is that I should always think about setting up an expectation. This tells the other person that I just want to share something. Like they say, talking it out is very good for us. When you set an expectation for your parents, you are also getting the message clearly across to them. That is, whether you need their help or advice, or whether you don't really need them to help or advise but just listen.

2) When you simply want to share, whether it's a feeling or an emotion, let them know (and this is a very important point), that you're telling them because they're my parents. Say, "I'm managing right now".

Because my parents don't know what I'm doing, so if I need your help I'll let you know. The bottom line is, if you want them to take action, that's already a sign of miscommunication.


3) I'm just sharing with you my thoughts - you're my closest friends. Both parties are responsible for the communication, or lack of...
You might want to try the principle, "Ask questions instead of orders".

When they aren't agreeing or aren't expressively agreeing, it means there's not much to say.

People, or should I say, parents, have a tendency to worry...

Fighting procrastination:
1) Matthew also suggest that I do some trial & error.
Ways to fight phases when I am "hesitating to do something"
2) Second chance - ask somebody to review your plan before you do it.
3) Think about the risks; risk assessments.
If you are uneasy about executing it, ask for advice. Always get the 2nd opinion.
Of course, since you didn't ask yourself these questions, please please PLEASE remember, (and this is SO important) ask the right person.

Also...make sure that the advice gives you confidence, not that the other person is confident about using this advice, or that the person who is giving you the advice feels confident.

*If you're avoiding it, it's because you're not prepared.

Time allocation...if you didn't do it, you do the next best alternative, so it's pretty logical that you must be doing something else that what you superficially promised yourself to do.

A very honest post:

Over the past few weeks, I've gradually become aware that I may actually be a very funny, unique, and generally delightful person.

What does this mean? It means that I am now a much more confident person than I was before. It's the new me. You might as well say that it is a special type of liberated expressionism...(whatever *that* means).

Specifically, I will:
*Actively engage myself in animated discussion to improve my communications skills
1. It works great in meetings.
2. It releases nervous energy.
3. It improves the atmosphere of the situation, esp. when dealing with demonstrations.
4. You may also want to try and use body language to energize the audience.
5. Finally, it always, always, ALWAYS helps to speak with conviction.

You may also want to try and:
6. Keep your presentation time appropriate;
7. And always remember that gestures/animations makes it more vivid.

Whilst preparing for your speech, think of the beginning, middle, and end.

To become a more effective leader, I will try appeal to the nobler motives (a rather not-so-easy task, I am sure...), and... I will also *dramatize my ideas (!)

This summer, I spent a bulk of my time volunteering - I worked with one of the running candidates for this year's LegCo election (he's a member of the Civic Party), as well as doing some freelance RA work with professor Yuen Chi-Wa (a.k.a CW). Looking back, it's amazing to think that exactly 3 months ago I would never have imagined that I would be spending an interesting summer in Hong Kong, learning how to become an effective speaker while learning how to network along the way. I never knew that I would be taking a class on improving human relationships. This was all an unexpected, yet pleasant, surprise. For that, I am forever grateful for the people who have helped made this summer possible, least of all to my parents, with love.

People don't change when you tell them there is a better option. They change when they conclude that they have no other option...that might be true in some cases.

I have so much things to do these days....

Say, for example, I have to weigh out the various factors involved in choosing whether to continue living with the Yeung family or move in with another of my family friend...

I don't know whether it's possible to go back in time and think about all that I should have done in the past few days.

What happened to all of that self-confidence that I built up at Dale Carnegie?

You have to make people feel attracted to you, regardless of what you have been doing for the last two years...

I think the problem is that I'm just too shy to be the best person that I can ever be.

First of all, am I happy where I am?

Maybe I didn't do what I should be doing all along...

Those with grit persist, and they find that suddenly, almost overnight, without knowing how or why it has happened, they have made great progress. They have lifted from the plateau like an airplane. Abruptly they have acquired naturalness, force, and confidence in their speaking.

If you will but persevere, you will soon eradicate everything, including this initial fear; and that will be initial fear, and nothing more. After the first few sentences, you will have control of yourself. You will be speaking wiht positive pleasure.

And in the after Professor Williams James:

Let no you have any anxiety about the upshot of his education, whatever the line of it may be. If he keeps faithfully busy each hour of the working day, he may safely leave the final result to itself. He can, with perfect certainty, count on waking up some fine morning to find himself one of the competent ones of his generation, in whatever pursuit he may have singled out.

[Dale Carnegie adds this extra comment]: I shall go so far as to say that if you keep right on practicing intelligently, you may confidently hope to wake up one fine morning and find yourself one of the competent speakers of your city or community.

[continued, Dale Carnegie speaking]:
I have known and carefully watched literally thousands of persons trying to gain self-confidence and the ability to talk in public. Those that succeeded were, in only a few instances, persons of unusual brilliancy. For the most part, they were the ordinary run of business-men you will find in your own home town. But they kept on. More exceptional men sometimes got discouraged or too deeply immersed in money-making, and they did not get very far; but the ordinary individual with grit and singleness of purpose, at the end of the road, was at the top.

How well you succeed is largely determined by thoughts you have prior to speaking. See yourself in your imagination talking to others with perfect self-control.

The word "leadership" has been used often in the chapters that have gone before this one. Clear, forceful, and emphatic expressiveness is one of the marks of leadership in our society. This expressiveness must govern all the utterances of the leader from private interview to public announcements. Properly applied, the material in this book will help to develop leadership - in the family, the church group, the civic organization, the corporation, and the government.

Summarize:

Ask them to do something specific:

Don't say, "Help the Red Cross"

That's too general.

Say, instead, "Send your enrollment fee of one dollar tonight to the American Red Cross, 125 Smith Street in this city"

Ask the audience for one response that is within their power to give.

Don't say, "Let us cast our ballot against the Demon Rum"

It can't be done. At the moment, we aren't balloting on the Demon Rum. You could, instead, ask them to join a temperance society or to contribute to some organization which is fighting for prohibition.

Make it as easy as you can for your audience to act on your approval.

Don't say, "Write your congressman to vote against this bill." Ninety-nine per cent of your listeners won't do it. They are not vitally interested; or it is too much trouble; or they will forget. So make it easy and pleasant to act. How? By writing a letter yourself to your congressman, saying, "We, the undersigned, urge you to vote against Bill No. 74321." Pass the letter around with a fountain pen, and you will probably get a lot of signers - and perhaps lose your fountain pen.

In long talks, the hearers are liable, in the words of Shakespeare, to "remember a mass of things but nothing distinctly".

A speaker who begins a talk with a story from his experience is on safe ground, for there is no groping for words, no loss of ideas. The experience he is relating is his, a re-creation, as it were, of part of his life, the very fiber of his being. The result? A self-assured, relaxed manner which will help a speaker establish himself on a friendly basis with an audience.

"A person with his desk piled high with papers on various matters will find his work much easier and more accurate if he clears that desk of all but the immediate problem on hand. I call this good housekeeping, and it is the number-one step toward efficiency."

Talking things out.

1. Keep a notebook or scrapbook for "inspirational" reading. Into this book you can paste all the poems or short prayers, or quotations,which appeal to you personally and give you a lift. Then, when a rainy afternoon sends your spirits plunging down, perhaps you can find a recipe in this book for dispelling the gloom. Many patients kept such notebooks for years. They said it was a spiritual "shot in the arm".

2. Don't dwell too long on the shortcomings of others! One woman at the class who found herself developing into a scolding, nagging, and haggard-faced wife, was brought up short with the question: "What would you do if your husband died?" She was so shocked by the idea that she immediately sat down and drew up a list of all her husband's good points. She made quite a list. Why don't you try the same thing the next time you feel you married a tyrant? Maybe you'll find, after reading your spouse's virtues, that he or she is a person you'd like to meet!

3. Get interested in people! Develop a friendly, healthy interest in the people who share your life. One ailing woman who felt herself so "exclusive" that she hadn't any friends, was told to try to make up a story about th enext person she met. She began, in the bus, to eave backgrounds and settings for the people she saw. She tried to imagine what their lives had been like. First thing you know, she was talking to people everywhere - and today she is happy, alert, and a charming human being, cured of her "pains."

4. Make up a schedule for tomorrow's work before you go to bed tonight. The class found that many people feel driven and harassed by the unending round of work and things they must do. They never got their work finished. They were chased by the clock. To cure this sense of hurry, and worry, the suggestion was mad that they draw up a schedule each night for the following day. What happened? More work accomplished; much less fatigue; a feeling of pride and achievement, and time left over for rest and enjoyment.

5. Finally - avoid tensions and fatigue. Relax! Relax! Nothing will make you look old sooner than tension and fatigue. Nothing will work such havoc with your freshness and looks! My assistant sat for an hour in the Boston Though Control Class, while Professor Paul E. Johnson, the director, went over many of the principle we have already discussed in the previous chapter - the rules for relaxing. At the end of ten minutes of these relaxing exercises, which my assistant did with the others, she was almost asleep sitting upright in her chair! Why is such stress laid on this physical relaxing? Because the clinic knows - as other doctors know - that if you're going to get the worry-kinks out of people, they've got to relax!

One of the best remedies for lightening worry is "talking your troubles over with someone you trust. We call it cartharsis.

When patients come here, they can talk their troubles over at length, until they get them off their minds. Brooding over worries alone, and keeping them to oneself, causes great nervous tension. We all have to share our troubles. We have to share worry. We have to feel there is someone in the world who is willing to listen and able to understand.

So the next time we have an emotional problem, why don't we look around for someone to talk to? I dont' mean, of course, to go around making pests of ourselves by whining and complaining to everyone in sight. Let's decide on someone we can trust, and make an appointment. Maybe a relative, a doctor, a lawyer, a minister, or priest. Then say to that person: "I want your advice, I have a problem, and I wish you would listen while I put it in words, You may be able to advise me. You may see angles to this thing that I can't see myself. But even if you can't, you will help me tremendously if you will just sit and listen while I talk it out."

Last night I watched the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing.

It was definitely one of the best opening ceremony in Olympic history.

Particularly sweet was the incorporation of the 5,000 year old ancient history, culture, and Civilization of China, with the spectacular performance which lasted more than 3 hours and which was directed by the famous Chinese director, Zhang Yimou.

I particularly liked the dance which mimicked the Chinese brush painting, and how almost every performance took the giant stage shaped in the form of the scroll as center-stage.

The lighting of the torch involved Li Ning who was raised on wires and mimed running around the stadium, at the same time, a virtual scroll unrolled paralleled to him, unfurling the different leg of the journey. In the end, the torch was lit from the base with a feeding tube which allowed the flame to travel all the way to the top!

Art begins where the tiny bit begins.

Get into an example immediately

You will free yourself at once of the necessity to think hard about your next sentence, for experiences are easily recounted even in an impromptu situation.
You will get into the swing of speaking, and your first-moment jitters will fly away, giving you the opportunity to warm up to your subject matter.
You will enlist the attention of your audience at once.

The incident-example is a sure-fire method of capturing attention immediately.

Once we get the body charged up and animated, we very soon will get the mind functioning at a rapid pace. So my advice is to throw yourself with abandon into your talk and you will help to insure your success as an impromptu speaker.

State your point, what you want the audience to do

Assume you are talking for two minutes. You have about twenty seconds in which to hammer home the desired action you wish the audience to take and the benefit they can expect as aresult of doing what you ask. The need for detail is over. The time for forthright, direct assertion has come. It is the reverse of the newspaper technique. Instead of giving the headline first, you give the news story and then you headline it with you Point or appeal for action. This step is governed by three rules:

Make the point brief and specific

Instead of
"Think of our grandparents now and then"

say instead
"Make point of visiting your grandparents this weekend"

Instead of the statement
"Be patriotic" should be converted to
"Cast your vote next Tuesday"

Action. Don't tell the idea, use something that says what the idea is, that is still explicit! :-)

Make the point easy for listeners to do

Instead of
"Start now to improve your memory of names"

"Repeat the name of the next stranger you meet five times within five minutes after you meet him."

The task of preparation of a talk is a task of reconstructing the answers to the questions Who? When? Where? What? Why? You must stimulate the visual imagination of your listeners by painting word pictures.

The Law of Exercise
A series of similar incidents leads to a change of our behavioral patterns.

Law of Effect
A single event may be so startling as to cause a change in our conduct.

Every talk, regardless of whether the speaker realizes it or not, has one of four major goals.

1. To persuade or get action.
2. To inform.
3. To impress and convince.
4. To entertain.

Magic formula:
Start your talk by giving us the details of your Example, an incident that graphically illustrates the main idea you wish to get across.
In specific clear-cut terms give your Point, tell exactly what you want your audience to do.
Give your Reason, that is, highlight the advantage or benefit to be gained by the listener when he does what you ask him to do.

Urbanisation

Technological
1. Techno-reliance
How vulnerable are you?
2. Energy
How is your city powered?
3. Transport
How will you move around?
4. Intelligent buildings
Will your home be smart?

According to the Intelligent Building Group, "An intelligent building provides a sustainable, responsive, effective and supportive environemnt within which individuals and organisations can achieve their objectives." Intelligent buildings can be high-tech or low-tech. For exmaple, high-tech buildings can form interconnected hubs within citywide infrastructures. Modular construction, on the other hand, can provide low-cost, low-tech housing suited to the environemnt.

The 'house of the future' prouject has investigated teh implications of enviromental, social, and energy-=source changes on future house design. Passive solar heating, greater use of daylight, natural venilationa and natural colling systems can be incorporated cost-effectively intomost buildings. Solar water heating, photovoltaics, wind turbines, and geothermal energy systems can be incorporated to utilise resources such as the sun and the wind to produce clean energy. Ways to collect rainfall and reduce water use are also being identified. Other forms of water conservation include the use of greywater systems to filter and recycle water from bathrooms and washing machines for re-use in flushing toilets or irrigation.

5. Connectivity
How do you keep in touch?

Social
1. Community
Do you know your neighborhoods?
2. Aspirations
Are urban opportunities a myth?
3. Health
Is city living good for you?
4. Housing
Is the roof over your head robust?
5. Growth
Is your city too big?

Economic
1. Employment
Can cities provide enough jobs?
2. Global economy
Who controls your job?
3. Poverty
Are there two cities within each city?
4. Agriculture
Where should your food be grown?
5. Congestion
How long do you wait?

Environmental
1. Urban footprint
How many worlds will an urban future need?
2. Natural disasters
Is your city in the right place?
3. Eco-cities
How green is your city?
4. Flooding
Will your city drown?
5. Heat islands
How will you keep cool?

Political
1. Rural areas
Who will be left?
2. Planning policies
Who are cities planned for?
3. Infrastructure
Who should pay?
4. Displaced communities
Where will the refugees go?
5. Mayors
Who do you want to govern you?

Social
1. Clothes
Do you mend your socks?
2. Advertising
Can you switch off?
The single most important factor for people wanting a specific brand is clever advertising.
3. Marginal communities
When is waste a lifeline?
4. Households
What's in your dustbin?
5. Not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY)
Would you live next to an incinerator?

Technological
6. Planned obsolescence
Are your products designed to last?
7. Industrial symbiosis
When does waste become a resource?
8. Energy resource
When will waste be used to heat your home?
9. Biological treatment
When is waste edible?
10. New product life
What's your fleece made from?
11. Excess baggage
What does wealth leave behind?
12. Costing externalities
How much would you pay for plastic bag?
13. Pay-as-you-throw
Should we be charged for producing rubbish?
14. Hidden costs
Would you throw your money down the drain?
15. Green procurement
How many recycled products do you buy?

Environmental
1. Unseen impact
What's the true weight of your diamond?
2. Long-term persistence
What's your poison?
3. Methane
Is your garbage warming the planet?
4. Resource depletion
Who will pay our debts to nature?
5. Polluted waters
Do you swim in the ocean?

Political
6. Impact awareness
Is recycling always the best option?
7. Producer responsibility
When will 'take back' be the norm?
8. Exportation
Who gets your trash?
9. Minimisation
Is zero waste achievable?
10. Collection
Is your waste collected?

The effective leader should keep the following guidelines in mind when it is necessary to change attitudes or behavior:

1. Be sincere. Do not promise anything that you cannot deliver. Forget about the benefits to yourself and concentrate on the benefits to the other person.
2. Know exactly what it is you want the other person to do.
3. Be empathetic. Ask yourself what it is the other person really wants.
4. Consider the benefits that person will receive from doing what you suggest.
5. Match those benefits to the other person's wants.
6. When you make your request, put it in a form that will convey to the other person the idea that he personally will benefit.

e.g., Will John be happy about doing what you suggest? Probably not very happy, but happier than if you had not pointed out he benefits. Assuming you know that John has pride in the way his stockroom looks and is interested in contributing to the company image, he will be more likely to be cooperative. It also will have been pointed out to John that the job would have to be done eventually and by doing it now, he won't be faced with it later.

It is naive to believe you will always get a favorable reaction from other persons when you use these approaches, but the experience of most people shows that you are more likely to change attitudes this way than by not using these principles - and if you increase your successes by even a mere 10 percent, you have become 10 percent more effective as a leader thatn you were before - and that is your benefit.

People are more likely to do what you would like them to do when you use...
Principle 9
Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

If you want to help others to improve, remember...
Principle 8
Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.

If you want to excel in that difficult leadership role of changing the attitude o behavior of others, use...

Principle 7
Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.

Talk about changing people. If you and I will inspire the people with whom we come in contact to a realization of the hidden treasures they possess, we can do far more than change people. We can literally transform them.

Exaggeration? Then listen to these sage words from William James, one of the most distinguished psychologists and philosophers America has ever produced:

Compared with what we ought to be, we are only half awake. We are making use of only a small part of our physical and mental resources. Stating the thing broadly, the human individual thus lives far within his limits. He possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use.

Yes, you are reading these lines possess powers of various sorts which you habitually fail to use; and one of these powers you are probably not using to the fullest extent is your magic ability to praise people and inspire them with a realization of their latent possibilities.

Abilities wither under criticism; they blossom under encouragement. To become a more effective leader of people, apply...

Principle 6
Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty" in your approbation and lavish in your praise.

In his book I Ain't Much, Baby - But I'm All I Got, the psychologist Jess Lair comments: "Praise is like sunlight to the warm human spirit; we cannot flower and grow without it. And yet, while most of us are only too ready to apply to others the cold wind of criticism, we are somehow reluctant to give our fellow the arm sunshine of praise.

On a more positive note, the class also encourages us to develop our self-esteem and self-confidence by actually bringing out that confidence from within. In one memorable session, we had to report on a specific incident from our life that was a defining moment. Mine was (and probably the only major defining moment in my life so far) is my first year college experience.

Oh, and another thing...this thing was great opportunity to practice our presentation and speaking skills in front of a respectable audience. Public speaking, dude!

When it was my turn I spoke to everyone (who mind you, are all working professionals at least in their early 30's, so I was an odd one out in terms of class participant) about how UChicago was my dream college and that I had lots of great expectations but my first initial experience when I got there fell short of all those things. It turned out to be quite funny too because, well, that's what usually happens when you retell something that later becomes an anecdote.

So basically, the summer before college I was very apprehensive (nah!) about the Great Experience (that has yet to come). No, that is not what had happened. What happened was that I had a fight with Mom and generally for the whole summer we weren't on good terms, in an adolescent kind of way. Probably out of spite (not really) that was probably the final little nudge that made her make the decision so she told me that she wasn't going to send me off to Chicago and help me settle down in college.

I went with my Dad instead. Needless to say, my Dad didn't help me in the same way as my Mom could have (i.e., Dad scores kind of low when it comes to domestic/housekeeping things).

Your memorable experience actually says a lot about you as a person.

I almost forgot to write about my first few impressions of the D.C course which started several weeks ago.

The course itself was actually quite useful I got to think about the things that have been bothering me at home. This revelation, or whatever appropriate word one might want to use to describe this positive experience, was definitely helped by the fact that I'm actually away from home this summer.

The first two weeks revolved around making positive impacts on our daily lives and hence our future lifetime. This is related to making, (and here I will simply copy down my worksheet) professional breakthroughs [note that everything that was said here is related to enhancing your one's own relationship with others]. For my three professional breakthroughs, I decided that I want and will make a commitment to practice active learning. I also want to be able to have a personal conversation with other people that I would like to know better, and, especially people that I'm shy around (it used to be the case that I got quite shy around people that I like or am attracted to, and would secretly want to get to know them better and become good friends).

I realized that everybody have some professional breakthroughs that they all want to achieve, or desire. Those are mine for the time being, until I have successfully mastered them or am confident enough that making a commitment has passed it's initial difficulties.

SWMP was a big break for me, hopefully, in terms of my future career.

Another great thing about the talks that were give was that at least several of them recommended books that one should read if one is to develop one's investment intelligence.

Most popular reads include, for one of the speakers, anything written by Warren Buffett.

R.C also gave this excellent quote:

"Do not read many books but read a few books many times"

M.S recommended this website:

www.investopedia.com

He also showed us this extremely hilarious video by Mike _ (hedge fund guru/legend), very satirical but quick, snappy, and to the point.
His wife tells him that "You're always wrong but never in doubt"
Paul Johnson and hedge funds

H.C mentioned Black-Schole theory that I should look into...

[End of discussion. For the time being]

I apologize if I haven't been staying on top of things lately because it's rather hard when you're away to actually sit down and reflect on the things that have happened over the last few days. In fact, it's actually harder too because so much time has passed and what I write down now will never be as good and as fresh than if I had wrote it down not long and immediately. Oh well, that's too bad. In the meantime, the best that I can do is too point out the highlights of the 9-day program hosted by ML.

Oh my God, it was so awesome! We went to some really cool places, like touring the ML trading floor on the 17th(?) floor of Citi towers, taking yoga class at the California Fitness Center near LKF, and touring the Bloomberg site at Cheung Kong towers. Everything was around the vicinity of Central, so it's nice to get an insider's view of the places located in Asia's leading financial center. There was also a salsa lesson with a couple who are among the top 20 ranked salsa dancers in the world (both Russian).

One more thing...B.S came in to talk about 'watch appreciation' - we were shown exquisitely and ridiculously oh so expensive watches (say, around $450,000-$650,000 a piece) that we got to hold. We were also shown a short documentary on F.P Journe watches, Swiss-made. There were even watches that need only be wound once every 100+ years.

So, this summer one of the best things that ever happened to me unexpectedly and without any precondition is the wonderful opportunity to participate in ML SWMP 2008.

A.K later mentioned that I was very privileged to have the chance to take part in this excellent program, which was actually marketed as a program targeted at young investors about finance and investment.

Needless to say, being an economics major from a school where the majority of the economic major all aspire to be bankers at the best firms in the world, this was definitely a very rewarding, educational, as well as informative session.

During that 9 days, I had lots of high-quality exposure to various people from ML as well as external staff who came in and gave excellent presentations introducing various topics on finance, ways to manage your money, as well as the pros and cons of different investment vehicles. I would definitely say that I had more background knowledge and general overview of an investment bank (to be sure, this was also a very good way to introduce myself to investment, banking - in short, it was also a very good pre-internship program to be immersed in because of the outstanding education, human resource, and foundation that was put into this program).

I would also definitely say that I am much more interested in the industry than I was before, and that now I would also be able to understand finance news better because I have heard much more about investment and likewise expanded my finance vocabulary.

V.T, when asked what makes a good intern and how one goes about to work for ML or any other place is that you must possess these qualities, or that the following describes you:

-Good communicator
-Willing to take risk
-Outgoing personality
-Creative - in general, finance requires a LOT of creativity
-[Be able to] speak clearly; and
-Communicate effectively

I think pretty much all of the above have also been reiterated by A.S from Research department.

At the end of the day, passion and personality is what matters. Effectively, the two important qualities that motivates a team and that drives the firm to be successful in the long run.

Banks are like universities - they want the best but they also want a mix. So if you're someone who is also funny, outgoing, and individualistic on top of the excellent caliber of skills and education that you will contribute, you will surely make it to the top.

The last part was very, very reassuring.

And I have to thank J.G for making this possible. Without his assistance I would no doubt still be shrouded in anxiety, and pre-occupied with unnecessary hesitations and confusion about so many things that a lot of my peers may not necessarily know themselves (i.e., it's just hype).

Vergangenheitsbewältigung

http://www.unicom-lra.co.jp/ja/shop.html#honk

Careers in words: writing, editing, publishing, and journalism

Copywriters are primarily creative writers who work with ideas, images, details, words and concepts to produce scintillating, fresh marketing text for their clients' print or broadcast advertising.

The passage by Barbara Kingsolver from a collection of works from The Bean Trees is baout a general sense of despair, doubt, and an undercurrent of disappointment. The narrator describes her road trip through the middle of the United States, contemplating life's issues which is revealed later in the passage an issue not so much created by herself but more decided for her based on her Cherokee blood and heritage. It is about her alienation with the modern world of cars, highways and petrol stations. Although it is ironic that she feels ostracized, Barbara Kingsolver explains her apparently aimless journey through the Midwest in snippets of the highlights of her trip, ironically, in the end she admits there is nothing meaningful in trying to live a different paradigm by adopting a new name, or by letting fate decide her identity.

An ambivalent mood is evoked in the beginning of the passage, revealing the author's almost genuinely contented attitude to navigate without pre-existing mindsets or plans. However, it seems as if she has arrived at this option through a last resort through the finality of the statement "When I drove over the Pittman line". There is a notion that this must, in some inexplicable manner the pivotal point of achieving her goal - to find a new sense of meaning in life with a new name. By adopting an appropriate attitude, Kingsolver hopes to render her situation more positive in the hopes that this will diminish the degree of disappointment later on. She is willing to let fate and destiny decide and be content with the outcome, "provided [that it occurs] more or less by chance." Kingsolver is even willing to give up her "rights" to "decide" , claiming that such a n act must be more natural, using the colloquial expression "really" to evoke a sense of apathy. Although it appears to be ambivalent and, to some degree indifferent, paradoxically the author has also arrived at this decision through contemplation, with the anaphora of "the more" reinforcing this idea.

Juxtaposing the sense of determination that the author creates (and the apparently only certain decision she makes in the passage) is the undercurrent of doubt and uncertainty that she establishes throughout the entire passage. Through the passive tense it is quite evident hat the author does not have any intention to make an effort to control her life. The car that she travels in seems to personify her ambivalence: by letting a separate entity take full reigns of where she would end up, both literally and metaphorically, the sense of despair is not amplified until she reaches the "Great Plain", a symbol of disappointment. In short, the physical appearance of this place serves to mock her anticipation: she is shocked of what she found out, having "never imagined" a place "could be so flat". The disbelief in her tone is further brought to a more personal level when the author saw that it was "all laid out right in front of you" to remove any second thoughts, and confirm that it is indeed a great expanse of "nothing". In the middle of this despair the author also loses "hope" and this giving up idea further reinforce the previous notion of running out of gas. Both use similar ideas on running out of something crucial and essential to his/her journey.

Interestingly, Kingsolver does not mention references to her Cherokee connection until at this point when her car breaks down. This is when the author mentions at the most convenient time "the sole reason for her journey, merely to find out a possible new beginning and find out about the "Cherokee Nation" her mother used to tell her about. This "Cherokee Nation" clearly seems absurd, almost mocking her culture as it must be allocated to indigenous people to keep them quarantined. The author reveals a glimpse of her inner conflict - there are parts of this country for which she can never really feel that she belongs. It is such a place that she has ended up in. Ironically, she needs the Cherokee blood "to qualify" and contradicting her mother's view, it is a place to let the Cherokees "lie down and die without a fight", implying that the "Cherokee Nation" is merely a euphemistic term, for what is far from a sanctuary.

The incident with another Cherokee, one of her own ethnicity suggests that the author feels that there is a sense of disconnection with those who have managed to adapt to a way of life other than their traditional life. It is humorous to mention that the Cherokee mechanic "went home with something near half the money I had" but she is also denying this isn't unfair. It can also be inferred that the author has never made such a long trip as this as this is "the closest" she has ever been to breaking down. Here Kingsolver arrives at an undeclared conclusion - she would never volunteer to go to the "Cherokee Nation" and claim something that "according to Mama" is an official "head rights". This realization also leads her to another view that she would not be able to live with other Cherokees who have adopted new identities - hence the possible (though never revealed) explanation of finding a "new name" that she mentions in the beginning.

The inner conflict, while superficial on the one hand, shows that nothing remotely interesting happens in her trip other than the confirmation that Oklahoma and the treeless landscape is featureless both literally and figuratively; there is nothing for her to connect to this "godless stretch of nothing". It almost seems as if Kingsolver proved that there is more to the outside world and its disappointment than even her mother knows. By letting fate decide the destination, the author ended up confirming to herself that nothing as been amiss.

Winter

The ten o'clock train to New York;
coaches like loaves of bread powdered with snow.
Steam wheezes between the couplings.
Stripped to plywood, the stations' cement standing room
imitates a Russian novel. It is now that I remember you.
Your profile becomes the carved handle of a letter nife.
Your heavy-lidded eyes slip under the seal of my widowhood.
It is another raw winter. Stray cats are suffering.
Starlings crowd the edges of chimneys.
It is a drab misery that urges me to remember you.
I think about the subjugation of women and horses,
Brutal exposure. Weather that forces, that strips.
In our time we met in ornate stations
arching up with nineteenth-century optimism.
I remember you running beside the train waving goodbye.
I can produce a facsmile of you standing
behind a column of polished oak to surprise me.
Am I going toward you or away from you on this train?
Discarded junk of other minds is strewn beside the tracks.
Mounds of rusting wire. Grotesque pop-art of dead motors.
Senile warehouses. The train passes a station.
Fresh people standing on the platform;
their faces expecting something.
I feel their entire histories ravish me.

-Ruth Stone

Leaders vs. Managers

Managers have employees - Leaders win followers
Managers react to change - Leaders create change
Managers have good ideas - Leaders implement them
Managers communicate - Leaders persuade
Managers direct groups - Leaders create teams
Managers try to be heroes - Leaders make heroes of everyone around them
Managers take credit - Leaders take responsibility
Managers exercise over power - Leaders exercise with power

Your impact on others
Character, Competence, Connection
Motivating others
Confronting Problems
Don't be afraid to Challenge those Around You

Responding to difficulties

Years ago, as a ocllege student, I heard a speaker say something that has stuck with me every since: Everybody hurts. No matter how successful a person is, life can be painful. Personal setbacks are a dialy occurrence. We are continually challeneged adn confronted with problems at work and in other ares of our lives. If you aren't experiencing challenges or difficulties a present, remember that you have in he past and you certainly will again.

Foundation-shaking change, increased competition, displacement, diminishing resources, and uncertainty about tomorrow are part of "business as usual" in the corporate world as well. Even those companies that are successful today realize (or should) that the distance from being a supernova to being extinct can be very short indeed.

Not all people who face challenges and difficulties admit to them. Too often we try to deal with difficulty by ignoring it or anesthetizing it with activity. The healthiest companies and individual see challenges for what they are, accept them, and work to solve them.

People who act as leaders, whether they have a title or not, in some measur eserve as merchants of hope. This doesn't mean that they try to gloss over the difficulties that are being faced. Rather, they deal with them. People who lead show us that the greatest satisfaction often comes from meeting challenges head-on. They ahve hte ability ot focus on what's right and on overcoming what's wrong. They help to find the pony in the pile of manure.

Managing people in order to ensure that they do what they're supposed to do is a necessary activity. Taking time to lead them to new levels of success is significant accomplishment.

My point is that everyone makes a difference. The choice we all have is whether we want to make a positive difference or a negative difference.

Resume
What you've accomplished
Results
The money you've made
The impression you leave
Your career
Self-improvement

Legacy
What you've contributed
Relationships
The difference you've made
The impact you have
Your organization, family, and community
Helping others improve

Next time you find yourself facing an important decision and you're not sure what to do, ask yourself two simple questions: When you've successfully confronted the challenge, how will you fell? And if you decide not to take that challenge, how will you fell, months and years later, about not having made that leap?

Critically compare Durkheim’s methodological holism and Smith’s methodological individualism

Durkheim and Smith both develop their own thesis on the relationship between the society and the individual by examining the role each plays. Smith uses individualism to reason that individual choices and actions lead to an aggregate outcome, whereas Durkheim claims that we can only correctly examine the relationship between the individual and society from a holistic approach, by considering how the collective leads to individualism. While Durkheim and Smith both show that social interactions between individuals play a pivotal role in the development of society, Smith’s way of examining the individual in isolation from society gives an incomplete account of the relationship between the two. It is limited because it focuses on economic self-interest as a factor in how individuals relate to one another. Durkheim believes that the individual cannot exist without society, and shows how the society endows the individual with notions of morals, mutual liking, and mutual dependence, underlining that the individual should be studied within a social context. Durkheim’s methodological holism allows him to understand the function of society in relation to the individual. It establishes the context from which Smith’s premise originates from: individualism from society, and henceforth, establishes how individualism supports and sustains society.
Both Durkheim and Smith consider the role of the division of labour as an example of how their methodology provides a framework to examine the individual and the society. A critical point of deviation between Smith and Durkheim, other than their different premises (starting from the individual or from society), is their investigation of the role of the division of labour. Durkheim criticizes Smith for limiting the role of the division of labour to an economic interpretation. For Smith, the reason why one should specialize, other than inherent differences, (innate abilities and disposition towards certain skills), is to benefit from the economic efficiencies of others, as well as promoting one’s own economic advantages: our actions are motivated primarily on personal and economic gains. Durkheim, on the other hand, extrapolates on this idea by considering the social division of labour. Durkheim claims that it does not simply make individuals agents of exchange, but, “whole system of rights and duties joining them in a lasting way to one another” .
Durkheim and Smith also differ in the origin of the division of labour. Smith believes that it arises out of “a propensity in human nature to exchange” . From Smith’s economic viewpoint, greater productivity brings greater prosperity to society. Durkheim states that this productivity is merely a side phenomenon, a consequence of the division of labour. He believes instead that the division of labour is an evolutionary driving process in the development of society and individualization: “the division of labour is one result of the struggle for existence: but it is a gentle denouement” . It is preceded by society, (clearly demonstrating the social context of the division of labour), but plays a social role that allow us to adapt and live in the new conditions that society has created. Competition in society becomes progressively more intense with individualization. At the same time, the degree of interdependence between these individuals increases. The social role of the division of labour is to create a more complex and diverse society, replacing society’s former homogenous conditions where mechanical solidarity played a greater role suited for like-minded individuals to a more heterogeneous society composed of dissimilar individuals. Durkheim notes as the individual becomes more specialized, the more his sense and intellect is developed, because it is exercised frequently and in an acute fashion. Thus, as he exemplifies in this statement: “without having willed it, humanity finds itself prepared to accept a more intense and varied culture” . The structure of society becomes more and more intricate because the number of links between individuals grows. At the same time, social solidarity is enhanced. Once social solidarity has been enforced and strengthened, the individual cannot live without society. If social solidarity dissolves, the individual perishes. In the absence of any social context, the individual has no reason to differentiate and specialize.
Durkheim not only shows how the division of labour shapes society but also how it shapes the individual. Rather than separating and alienating individuals from one another, it draws them closer together because of increased mutual dependence. As the social climate changes, individuals become ever increasingly distinguished from one another. At the concluding end of the division of labour is the realization that the individual will emerge from society. He also observes how over many generations, society transitions from one dominated by ‘mechanical solidarity’ to one by ‘organic solidarity’, whereby differentiated individuals relate to one another as “social functions” . Durkheim draws on an anthropological evidence of why individualism could not have been present in primitive societies: “If individualism was to such an extent congenital in humanity one cannot see how primitive tribes were able so easily to subject themselves to the despotic authority of a chief” . As Smith can only pay attention to the individual’s motives one at a time, his methodology does not encompass other factors involved in decision making, such as the recognition to live harmoniously. Smith misses this critical point: “Individuals, instead of subordinating themselves to one group, subordinate themselves to the one who represented it” .
The difference between Durkheim and Smith’s methodology serves to highlight the emphasis one places on individualism or society. Durkheim’s assumptions are sociological; all human beings are political animals, so the need to live in a society is natural. Even though Smith’s premise does include the fact that human nature is political, it places a greater emphasis on personal gain as the sole objective of all social interactions. Where Smith fails to explain how a potential conflict, where the individual’s self-interest does not correspond to the interest of the great majority is resolved, Durkheim shows that instead of competing with one another, “they co-ordinate their activities. But in every case new specialties appear” . He highlights this flaw of individualism by critically pointing out that “any personality, however powerful it might be, could do nothing alone against a whole society” . Moreover, the society takes priority over the individual, since the individual’s existence depends on whether the society is in a healthy state. The individual draws its strength from society; society is strengthened by their social interdependence. Durkheim concludes at the end of The Division of Labour in Society with this observation:
“The human consciousness that we must realize within ourselves in its entirety is nothing other than the collective consciousness of the group of which we form part”
For Durkheim, the individual not only depends on society but also cannot escape from it: “the duties of the individual to himself are duties to society” .
Durkheim further elaborates and extends his thesis to other spheres of life that arises out of society and realized by the individuals. Smith’s methodology implies that some notion of the state exists based on some vague conceptualizing of some higher authority. In reality, however, it only appears to come from some higher principle, because the task of society is to maintain social cohesion, and to “endow their blessings” on the individual. Regarding this phenomenon, Durkheim observed that the only force that is superior to the individual and the sole entity that possess such a quality is that of the group. Moreover, in realizing that the society is literally and metaphorically an ‘organism’, Durkheim’s insightful perspective shows how the society also takes an independent existence of its own: “the totality of beliefs and sentiments common to the average members of a society forms a determinate system with a life of its own” . It can be termed the collective or common consciousness Out of this arises altruism. It is interesting to note this because Durkheim sees altruism as “scarcely more than a private virtue, which is laudable for the individual to pursue” yet it prevails in society and is needed to ensure solidarity. Altruism is virtuous because it neutralizes and softens the brutal effects of the struggle for existence aggravated by the ongoing process of the division of labour.
Durkheim further shows how social solidarity is reinforced by the individuals. “The very pronounced sentiment that each one of us today possesses of our own individuality has caused them to believe that personal rights could not be restricted to such a degree save by an organization that exercised coercion.” . It is clear that in the domain of the civil society, Smith’s account fails to demonstrate how social cohesion is maintained. Without any recognition of the power of the collective – indeed Smith’s account does not include the concept of ‘collective consciousness,’ – methodological individualism fails to explain the establishment of institutions in society that could not have originated from the individual. Smith’s individualism believes that the rational individuals would not possess any personal interest or motivation to form a governing body, or a law of courts. These institutions, whose function is to maintain social cohesion, are formed when groups of individuals come together. Moreover, Durkheim shows how even if one were to base their premise on individualism, it would have to demand “a strange conclusion that social evolution has attempted, from the very outset, to produce the most perfect types [of individuals], since “no governmental force exists at first save that of the common will expressed by the assembled horde” . Thus, where Smith fails to consider the social influence of the collective, Durkheim shows how it engenders upon the individual some notion of unity and of the necessity of cooperation.
Perhaps the most powerful conclusion of Durkheim’s holistic view of society is that there are many examples of cooperation and understanding of universal rights in society that cannot be explained through the pursuit of self-interest. Morals, for example, only exist in a society, and not as an independent entity. The concept of morality cannot be reached by deduction starting from the individual. Every society is a moral society, because this involves at the most of fundamental basis learning to live together, to agree with one another, and which Durkheim observed, “cannot be achieved without making mutual sacrifices” . Smith’s methodological individualism fails to come to such a conclusion as it is grounded in a rather pessimistic and fundamentally selfish view of how individuals behave. If Smith’s point of view were absolutely correct, one would never need to interact socially beyond satisfying personal gains. Durkheim shows that this was not true, citing this example:
“For man to acknowledge that others have rights, not only as a matter of logic, but as one of daily living, he must have agreed to limit his own. Consequently this mutual limitation was only realizable in a spirit of understanding and harmony” (p. 76)
Even though Smith and Durkheim both agree on the importance of the division of labour as a self-perpetuating process that accompanies the development of society, where Smith fails to explain how different interests can still guarantee a functioning society and cohesion among individuals, Durkheim’s methodological holism provides a sound explanation by tying the role of the division of labour with social interdependence. In Smith’s account of society, the concept of morals spring from sympathy, but self-interest is a dominant ‘strategy’ in social interactions. Durkheim believed that only by examining the society as a whole do we understand the need for morals and how it arises from society:
“What is moral is a source of solidarity, everything that forces man to take account of other people, to regulate his actions by something other than the promptings of his own egoism” (p. 331)
We see how Durkheim differs from Smith’s view that morality originates from private sentiments. Durkheim believes that society endows the individual with notions of morals that could not have originated from the individual: how to best protect the collective from harm, through written laws, which are verbal representations of morals used enforce social solidarity. Morality must therefore originate from what Durkheim identifies as “social consciousness” and which can be interpreted as the ‘thought’ of society when we consider society as an ‘organism’. To elaborate, “social consciousness” shows how his methodology encompasses some aspects of Smith’s account, as the term implies how some elements of individualism, such as self-interest, influence the way that society enforces cooperation and maintains social solidarity. Smith’s methodological individualism is useful when studying the individual in more developed societies, but only focuses on one individual at a time and therefore fails to consider the greater role played by society in moderating and regulating private actions. While Durkheim and Smith’s methodologies are hermeneutic, Durkheim’s methodological holism demonstrates a paradigm shift from Smith’s methodological individualism, presenting a more encompassing perspective on the role of the individual in society.