The great affliction of our age is not the axis of evil — it’s the axis of mediocrity. We are far more likely to die from a lack of passion than from some great evil.

The BIG [elephant in the room] question then is: “So what the heck am I passionate about?”

– a note on PASSION

What would you do if you weren’t too busy working?

– passion = that burning feeling

These are questions I have not pondered for a while now. Too busy as I have been with work! As they say there is no time like now, so here are my immediate responses:

“So what the heck am I passionate about?”

• People – the potential in individuals to be more than what external factors tell us we can be; the potential in the human species to transcend its pettiness and create truly amazing outcomes. The struggle against oppression, limitation, disempowerment and destruction of potential. Enabling the smallest, the least significant, and the least powerful to be more than they/the world thought they could be.
• Ideas – coming up with, talking about, generating, playing; as new ways of understanding the world, as new solutions to big and small problems, as new perspectives for greater social good.
• Education (in the broadest sense) – the creation, dissemination and consumption of knowledge; especially the potential to change individual lives. The struggle against the “wilful ignorance” of fundamentalist and ultra-conservative beliefs and practices. The enlightenment of individuals.
• Technology and design – new tools to shape the future with, to make worthwhile change with, new tools to do fun things with.
• Mastery over my own life – to live the best, richest, most interesting life possible – strictly by my definition and my rules. To only choose the things, people and situations that bring me lightness and joy and absolute “rightness” at each moment.

“What would I do if I weren’t too busy working?”

• Travel – that trip to the Middle East is coming closer…
• Read – I need to make a dent in that pile of books next to my bed!
• Write – there are at least two fleshed-out book ideas waiting to be fed. Plus hundreds of blog posts…
• Think – about the stuff I read about.
• Paint – the blank canvases await.
• Do some more 3D work – purely for the visual and mental stimulation.
• Spend time with nature – just sit and be.
• Sleep – throwing the damned alarm clock away and honouring my natural circadian rhythm.
• Meditate – being with me.
• Exercise – actually having the time and energy to go to the gym and feel strong and fit again.
• Cook and eat real food.
• Meet interesting people – with non-conventional thinking, non-conformist attitudes, and out-of-this-world lives and projects!

That’s all I can think of now.

This makes me feel GOOD!!!!

When I first learned about this, I was horrified. Mr. X is actually a good UX designer, and his email had me thinking there was hope for American Airlines. The guy clearly cared about his work and about the user experience at the company as a whole. But AA fired Mr. X because he cared. They fired him because he cared enough to reach out to a dissatisfied customer and help clear the company’s name in the best way he could. [They fired him on the grounds he broke his non-disclosure agreement by discussing his work with an external professional who cared enough about AA to present a thought-through UX alternative.]

This is so wrong on so many ways.

Innovation and excellence happens in may businesses in spite of the business and its culture; except in the very rare cases where a business is set up to enable innovation and excellence in the first place.

It is the individuals who care enough to go the extra mile who brings the light to these otherwise soulless and dull entities. Unavoidably soulless and dull because they are designed by committee, rooted in fear, and afraid to be human.

AA clearly is another company dedicated to unthinkingly following its processes and procedures. As I wrote in this post only recently: Processes make corporations stupid! Voila!

The AA experience has become a bloated policy-driven ordeal that marginalizes the customer’s experience by focusing on seemingly arbitrary rules and the complexity of their ticketing system. The flying experience is similar to the online experience; it feels broken and dated.

And this cluelessness seem to engender a whole slew of bizarre initiatives (BlackAtlas.com to target black people!!! OMG!!!). Read the full post by Dustin Curtis here.

If AA had any balls they’d re-hire Mr X and give him a promotion. I am not holding my breath. Leadership fail.

From this:

To this:

In one blog post! The designer is asking for submission from others as well. I hope Delta pays this guy and actually implements the significantly improved work! Even if they used the initial black and white version (cheaper to do).

Via Juzmcmuz on Twitter.

STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY TO YOU NOW!!!!!
STOP WHAT YOU ARE WATCHING AND LOOK AT MY MESSAGE!!!!

Just like telemarketing.

STOP PLANNING THAT FUNERAL I HAVE THE BEST STUD FARM INVESTMENT DEAL FOR YOU!!!!!
(This actually happened to me for real. Some scam out of Queensland.)

It is also rude because it assumes the recipient is stupid.

STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING – YOU NEED SKIN WHITENING NOW.
THIS SHAMPOO WILL FIX YOUR LIFE.
MARINATE YOUR CHILDREN IN DISINFECTANT AND THEY WILL NEVER GET SICK.
USE THIS SOAP AND YOU WILL GET LAID EVERY DAY…

The reinvention cannot come fast enough. Please god make it all stop.

Good processes by their nature seek to retard thinking – especially holistic thinking that accounts for matters outside those processes.

Good processes make organisations stupid!

Together with a fear-based punitive culture, the blind following of rules destroys an organisations agility. It stops the organisation from leveraging the full richness of human ingenuity, empathy, and creativity; precisely at a time when the world is presenting more and more never-before-anticipated or encountered challenges.

Large organisations have been designed to function as factories. This was appropriate in the previous age of standardisation and repetition. People are replaceable cogs. The process is the factory template into which they plugged. The process is the king to be served and fed.

This is why organisations fail often in customer service. I have had an unnecessary kafuffle with my Internet connectivity with a telco recently. A classic case of process failure. Different service people had different information. Different opposing actions were carried out by different departments, at different times. with no synchronisation with any other department. Ad nauseum. A merry-go-round of stupidity.

The people are nice and understanding. But they had extremely limited powers to act. The process had to be followed. But the process was in itself broken. Everyone knew this. But no one could fix it.

“Create a strategy for [my] life” – having a purpose enables purposeful work. Many of us strive towards mastery of a body of knowledge. But without Purpose this mastery is essentially a pointless act as an end in itself. I am struggling with this sense of Purpose at the moment. I know lots of stuff, I know how to do many things well. But what shall I use this life for? Possibilities beckon… In business, it is easier to replicate the mastery of skill and expertise than it is to copy a Purpose. A purpose a heartfelt condition unique to individuals, and is what sets us, and our businesses, apart.

Focus on what feels good to me – “…people allocating fewer and fewer resources to the things they would have once said mattered most” We struggle to control the external world, that which is essentially uncontrollable. We struggle to try and force the outcomes we want. And yet what we do have control over is how we feel inside in each and every moment. I can choose situations and responses that maximises my state of flow. And when I feel good, the outcomes take care of themselves.

“It’s easier to hold to [my] principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time … You’ve got to define for yourself what you stand for and draw the line in a safe place.” – the importance of principles, of ideals, is critical in maintaining a clear focus, direction and differentiation. In a business I once had, when we the partners stuck to our principles 100%, we attracted strong attention, passionate attention and were strongly differentiated in the market. As soon as we started deviating from these principles, we became spineless and undifferentiated. As soon as we were ready to sacrifice our principles for the sake of our egos, or any other “rational”, “business” reasons, we became same-same. We shifted the line, and lost integrity and respect. That was a powerful lesson indeed.

“if you have a humble eagerness to learn something from everybody, your learning opportunities will be unlimited” – I once thought I lacked arrogance. The go-getting, ne’er give up attitude needed to be a success in business. I then had the good fortune to work directly with an arrogant person. On the surface, the person had the stereotypical forceful drive to forge ahead. Interestingly, it soon became apparent how his behaviour quickly isolated himself from real opportunities and good people. He was so focused on imposing his will, his thoughts, and his needs on others, he was so quick to blow his trumpet, and force his own beliefs, that he drowned-out new opportunities (I realised that most great opportunities actually come quietly and softly in the most unexpected and effortless manner.) Instead he attracted other arrogant people – people who were equally adamant about imposing their beliefs and will on him!

“Generally, you can be humble only if you feel really good about yourself” – which brings us back to the first point above. I choose to do whatever I can to make myself feel good in every situation. I can then maximise my openness to new opportunities. This ties back clearly to Ingrid Bacci’s book The Art of Effortless Living. Love it!

“Think about the metric by which your life will be judged, and make a resolution to live every day so that in the end, your life will be judged a success” – in other words, I choose to define success in my own way, for myself. It is so easy to buy into other people’s or society’s definition of success. Everyone who is doing it one way wants you to do it their way too – because perhaps deep down they fear that their way may not actually be what they truly want! If there is one lesson I have learnt from living and working in conservative and status-quo Singapore – is that to NOT live by others’ expectations or rules. For to do so will only bring me regrets and grief!

Image from . The inflight safety demo is worth watching too; also from One Large Prawn.

Thanks to Martin for the initial heads up!

As with Virgin, consistency and integrity (to the stated brand values) are key. And some people won’t like it; but those who do will love it!

I discovered how to disable the Overtype Mode, toggled by the Insert key. So I will no longer accidentally type over existing text because I have accidentally pressed the Insert key. Thank goodness for small mercies.

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/1069/word-disable-the-insert-key-to-permanently-turn-off-overtype-mode/

Kill the Insert Key:
1. Start Word
2. Click on the Tools menu
3. Click Customize
4. Click the Options tab
5. Click Keyboard
6. Under the Catgories dropdown box, select All Commands
7. Under the Commands dropdown box, select Overtype
8. Under the Current keys downdown box, select Insert
9. Click Remove
10. Click Close until the dialog windows close.

It is interesting to note that the more I use Microsoft Word the more features I disable.

Research has shown that the Carrots & Sticks approach to motivating people actually destroys their creativity.

What does this say about jobs where the issue of money, of being paid a decent salary, is very much based on such an approach? Such as in sales – the commission-based remuneration model is clearly a Carrots & Sticks approach.

As Daniel Pink says in the video – there is a mismatch between what science knows and what business practice. To the detriment of business. Are businesses failing to leverage the creativity of their sales people?

I was once asked if I have ever worked on a commission basis. My answer was no. And I never want to. But I could not clearly give a reason why. I knew that I can only work effectively when the issue of money is sorted, agreed to, accepted and taken well off the table. Thus I can focus completely on the engagement at hand.

Now I am a step closer to some clarity around this issue. A commission-based remuneration scheme forces me to be constantly aware of how much or how little I could be paid for a particular engagement. The goal of trying to get paid enough, or not lose out on too much, will then impact the decisions I make – do I decide for the sake of the project, the bigger picture, or for the sake of my pay packet?

This significantly complicates the already complicated decision making and ideation, as my work is quite the opposite of a linear, templatised production process. It adds a variable that actually has no bearing on the success of the project!

I love it when watching a 20min video can bring such an unexpected shock of clarity!

More money or more threats only work on simple process-based jobs. Extrinsic motivation only works when the work does not really matter beyond doing it.

Intrinsic motivation, doing something because it is meaningful, because it matters, is what is needed to motivate the new set of idea workers. Where work is designed around Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose.

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