Gary Teh

Levels of listening mentioned by Colli discussed during the management consulting session

1. ignoring what the other person has to say
2. pretenfing to listen to what the other person has to say
3. selectively listening to what the other person has to say
4. listening to what the other person has to say with the intention of responding
5. actually listening to what the other person is saying to fully understand the context and content of the communication

Come up with a ton of different options to solve a well defined problem and one of them might actually turn out to be a good solution

Overarching goal:

conserving resources while maximizing value with the least about of strain and wastage

Constrains to observe

• To maintain clear and well defined operating principals
• To constantly refine these set of principals
• To judiciously adhere to these defined them
• related concept: Kaizen

On advancement

• Max Planck – science advances one funeral at a time. When one generation passes away do new theories have a chance to root out old ones

On happiness

• Epicurus:
  • outlined an entire ethic of dos and don’ts to guide people to along the treacherous path to happiness
  • Despite our unprecedented achievements in the last few decades, its far from obvious that contemporary people are significantly more satisfied than their ancestors
• Life sciences:
  • happiness and suffering are nothing but different balances of bodily sensations
  • We never react to events in the outside world
  • but only to sensations in our own bodies
  • depression is a kind of unpleasant bodily sensation
  • our biochemistry adapted to increasing our chances of survival and reproduction, not our happiness
  • biochemical system rewards actions conducive to survival and reproduction with pleasant sensations
    • Food
    • mates

Studying History

• Aim: Loosening the the grip of the past
• Enables us to notice possibilities that our ancestors could not or did not want us to imagine
• It does not tell us what to choose
• it gives us more options, to image alternative destinies

Agricultural deal:

• Farmers justify their exploitation of domesticated animals in the name of new theist religions

Body is an algorithm

• Body feels hunger, fear, trembling
• He experiences a storm of sensations, emotions and desires
• These are nothing but the process of calculation

Individual versus Group

• Large numbers of people behave in a fundamentally different way than do small numbers

Sunk Cost Bias and Meaning

• We want to believe our lives have some objective meaning
• our sacrifices matter to something beyond the stories in our head
• Meaning is created when many people weave together a network of stories

Non-material entities / religion

• An entity is real if it can suffer
• religion / belief system is a tool for governing defined by its social function
• confers superhuman legitimacy on human laws, norms and values
• legitimates human social structures
• Asserts we are subjected to a system of moral laws that we did not invent
• Helps the state collect taxes without itself lifting a finger
• regulations on biochemical pursuit of happiness
  • good drugs – strengthen political stability, social order and economic growth
  • bad drugs – threatens stability and growth

Religion versus Spiritualism

• Religion seeks to cement the worldly order
• Spirituality seeks to escape it
• Spiritual wanders most important obligation is to challenge the belief and conventions of dominant religion – Zen Buddhism “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him”

Transition from Religion to Humanism

• From What God/central authority said is true
• What you feel is true. Its far more important to know what you think about these matters
• Assumes each human has a single authentic inner self
• The central question is if human can choose his desire in the first place
• Transcranial simulators has proven to be able to alter human consciousness, resulting in enhanced capabilities
• The divide between the Identifying self versus the Experiencing self
  • Decisions are made by the Identifying self that functions without the ability to have comprehensive data

Modernity, the rat race and technology

• In the capitalist world, the lives of the poor improve only when the economy grows
• Despite all our achievements, we feel a constant pressure to do and produce even more
• every generation destroys the old world and builds a new one in its place
• Continued belief in the growth story that is being supported by belief in the hi-tech Ark

Hi-tech Ark

• is currently one of the biggest threats to the future of man and its eco-system
• Humans are in danger of loosing their economic value because intelligence is decoupling from consciousness
• Automation
  • Types of job
    • Agricultural
    • Industry
    • Services
• The coming technology bonanza can probably feed all humans. But without something to do humans will go crazy
• AI which first starts out as an Oracle will eventually turn into sovereign

Forthcoming Techno religions:

• Techno-humanism
  • technology enhanced humans: cyborgs
• Data-religion
  • having enough data means knowing what to ignore
  • machine can know us better than ourselves
  • organisms are really just algorithms
  • Intelligence versus consciousness

Character is what allows you to reach the top and stay there

• All these people had character
• None of them thought they were special
• They worked hard
• Keep their focus under pressure
• Stretched beyond their ordinary abilities when they had to

Take charge of the processes that brings and maintain success

People who have fixed mindset count on their talent to carry through.

• they consider themselves finished products
• They feel the need to protect themselves
• and blame
• They do everything but take charge of the process to grow
• Avoid the somebody/nobody syndrome

Success is a team sport

• It maybe one person’s name on the record but takes an entire team that make its possible

Self-confidence and hubris

• There’s only a razor’s edge between self confidence and hubris
• Self-confidence is the courage to welcome change and new ideas regardless of their source
• Beware of success, it can knock you into a fixed mindset – the I won because I have talent attitude
• You never stay the same, you can either go one way or the other

CEOs and the Big Ego

• History
  • Prior to Iacocca’s rise to prominence
    • CEO is a buttoned-down organization man
    • well treated
    • well paid
    • essentially bland
    • characterless
  • After his rise to prominence
    • Fixed-mindset executives started vying for those labels
    • CEOs became super herods
    • People who preen their self egos are not the same people who foster long-term corporate health
• Fixed Mindset executives
  • The CEO becomes the main thing people worry about rather than reality being the primary reality
  • Instead of learning, growing and moving the company forward
  • It starts with the boss being worried of being judged and it ends up with everyone being worrying about being judged
  • It breeds group thinking

   

• Growth Mindset executives
  • Lou Gerstner CEO of IBM
  • Opened up the channels of communication up and down the company
  • Create ways to foster alternative views and constructive criticism

On Negotiations

• Mindset has an important impact on Negotiation Success
• Ability is changeable and can be developed
• Experts in the field now believe that negotiating is a dynamic skill that can be cultivated and developed over a lifetime

On Relationships

• A no-effort relationship is a doomed relationship
• it takes word to communicate accurately
• it takes work to expose and resolve conflicting hopes and beliefs
• They worked happily ever after
• Choosing a partner is like choosing a set of problems
• Change from a judge-and-be-judged framework to a learn-and-help-learn framework

On False growth mindset

• People take what they like about themselves and call it a “growth mindset”
• There is a difference between being flexible/open-minded to being dedicated to growing a talent
• Couples who shifted from fixed mindset to growth mindset during counseling when sliding back into the fixed mindset again experience fiercer than ever bickering resulting from disappointed hopes

New research

• The brain is more like a muscle
• It changes and gets stronger when you use it
• Scientist have been able to show how the brain grows and gets stronger when you learn

Personal Insecurities

• many People with fixed mindset understand their cloak of specialness was really a suit of armor they built to feel safe, strong and worthy
• earlier on it may have protected them
• later on it constricted their growth
• sent them into self-defeating battles
• cut them off from satisfying mutual relationships

On Child rearing

• Communicate that feats of intellect or physical prowess are not all you care about
• Help them love the idea that they have to work every day for some little gain in skill or knowledge

Additional Readings:

• Slate by Kames Surowiecki
• Who says the elephant can’t dance by Lou Gerstner
• Money ball: The Art of winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
• Michael Jordan Speaks: Lessons from the World’s Greatest Champion by Janet Lowe

Started questioning this propaganda that has been widely accepted. The notion of going to work everyday with the hope of acquiring resources to eventually gain financial freedom, independence and autonomy.

Four main concerns identified:

1. giving up on now in hope that the future will become better
2. unrealistic expectations that one will no longer need to deal with resource constrains at some point in the future
3. mistaken belief that one can ever function independently of society
4. diversion of the precious commodity called time/effort towards goals not aligned with personal intent

Reminder to self

1. Free Will in terms of personal resource allocation exists. While this may not necessarily be true in the moment by moment short run due to immediate situational constrains, true across other time periods.
2. Critically examine all conscious or unconscious choices you are making in every single  moment.
3. Rectify your decisions immediately when they are out of alignment with your goals
4. Embrace constrains and make deliberate  trade offs.
5. Beware of sunk cost biases – avoid committing any further additional resources/time to objectives not aligned with personal goals

Sources: gleaned from conversations with Tony and Sujit

Operating at the VP level, it’s about stringent deployment/investment of monetary and engineering resources to remove bottle necks and meeting deliverables through the implementation and control of processes

Guard against over investments and deployment of resources. Market conditions often changes resulting in the inability to reap ROI.

Guard against falling in love with any projects.

Thoroughly examine all available options and choose the most suitable one for the situation.

Justify and make hard if not unpopular choices

Sources: Lessons gleaned from conversation with Ambarish

 

Pre-requisites

• Need to proof 20% in bank
• get pre-qualified by bank for mortgage loan
  • imporyant to note that mortgage might not be granted even if pre-approved

To Maker offer

• Make available escrow ernest 1% down
• Longer property is listed on the market, the lower the price we are to offer
• Can withdraw Ernest 1% down anytime within the 14 days period
• make sure to check how refund is handled

Escrow process

• starts as soon as seller accepts offer
• 14 days for completion
• Paperwork 1: Assessment by bank
  • Comparison of closing price for similar houses in the neighborhood to make sure they are not financing mortgages above actual valuation of the house
• Paperwork 2: Inspection
  • Check to find out if there are any structural problems

Getting mortgages

• Avoid dealing with mortgage brokers
• Deal directly with the bank for better rates

On negotiation:

• It’s ok to always ask for anything, the worst thing that u will get is a NO

Different buyers have different decision making process. They consider different things

• Analytical profiles –
  • determines key matrix fast and makes decision fast using decision tree modeling.
  • Example
    • Save cash here,
    • tear down wall and
    • room there to make space
• Others slower:
  • consider the size of rooms too small
  • cant see pass what is currently there to what could be there

Dealing with Game Theory situation:

• Make offers for multiple properties
• withdraw lower ranking offers as soon as higher ranking offer is accepted

source: Rommel, my Chiropractor

 

To check for:

• Match of in sole arch with actual foot – too high an arch would result in strain on knees and hips as body tries to compensate the pain felt by the sole
• stability of sole’s outer rim to prevent accidental spraining of ankle outwards
• traction under heel to prevent outwards shifting of heels

Model bought:

• Fila Forward 2
• Running type
• Big 5 Sporting goods
• USD 27.25 after tax

The role of media is to capture and direct mass attention in exchange for currency in the form of Ads/subscription revenue. Romantization, dramatization and sensationalization of stories are often means to this ends.

The role of a builder of company is to build an engine that consistently and systematically delivers value to its customers. All pathways and exceptions identified, accounted for and systematically removed if not managed. A well ran and calibrated process should be iterative and uneventful.

Notice and see clearly the divergence between the nature of these two functions. It is important to not take the media’s portrayal of what building and running a company should be at face value but rather see any such stories as coverage on what the media considers to be an exceptional event that might draw a lot of eye balls.