Humans and robots

As many Thai universities and schools have taken the 21st century skills seriously, an article, 'Humans are Underrated' by Geoff Colvin in Fortune August 1, 2015, caught my attention (and you may have noticed how behind I was reading these magazines:))!

These are what I've got from the article ka:

- Robots are getting smarter and smarter ..... it was mentioned that a robot from SoftBank could read 'your emotions by your words, tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language......and responds....' I started to feel uneasy and worried.

- There're quite few things that humans can continue to do (thank goodness!), which are: activities that require person(s) to be accountable, collective goal settings, tasks relating to satisfying deep interpersonal needs (working with others to solve problems, sharing through telling and hearing stories, creating new ideas, etc.)

- A test in this article helps us rate our own selves how ready we are to have 'deep human interpersonal abilities: empathy, social sensitivity, collaboraton, storytelling, leading, and relationship building.' These are in fact, the qualities we tend to talk about for leaders but they should be for all to survive happily (with the robots) in the future, right?

- One quote that I like is, 'Empathy is the critical 21st century skill' said Meg Bear, Group VP, Oracle.

While westerners are going for mindfulness and increased interpersonal relationship, unfortunately, Thai people are running to become far too systematic (robotic) in many cases, deserting our own treasures of warm hospitality, caring, and friendliness.

I keep thinking about us ka....we were born and have been living in the relationship-based culture (and yes...we've gone too far to witness nepotism, corruption, etc.) If we balance it well especially amid the social media craze with much less face-to-face human interactions, we should be able to lead our education to the right directions ka.

Enough isn't enough!

Good morning ka, everyone! A retiree just turned on her desktop…jealous mai ka?

This past Monday, I had a chance to listen to Ajarn Mor+ Nuthapong from Chiang Mai University (CMU) Medical School, sharing his experiences about the EdPEx journey! (Education Criteria for Performance Excellence, modelled after the Baldrige Criteria of the edPEx--US) I learned a lot from him, especially his passion and drive to do more.

Today, I got mail from Simon Tyler, who speaks, writes and teaches around the world on the importance and application of living and leading with simplicity and impact.

He is raising the issue of ‘enough’ to provoke our thoughts ka. He asks us to observe how often we use this word and how it can affect the ways we think and act ka.

He states that, ‘When left unnoticed enoughing causes stress, anxiety, tension and reduces moment to moment happiness. Someone enoughing is prevented from noticing opportunities to kick back, smile, laugh, chill out, take stock, and generally feel good. It also means that if we decide to push on, i.e. not enough yet, we move deeper into a deeply dissatisfying space.’

The statement I like best is, ‘Inspiration will leave the room when the ‘enough’ bell chimes!’

Immediately while reading about it, I thought of the EdPEx efforts exerted by Ajarn Nuthapong and his team at the CMU Medical School. They got over the set bar of 200 scores (out of 1,000), which could seem quite low. Yet, it has taken them so much brainpower, actions, and leaders’ support to reach this stage.

Had Ajarn Nuthapong said, ‘Enough’, the journey would have been stopped without any big improvement systematically and effectively to move on to the next level.

On the opposite, he pointed out that with the use of EdPEx, he has seen many issues and dimensions to be done. What he had overlooked in the past has now become essential for him to explore further, e.g. the overall strategy to enhance learning and well-being of students in other programs, not just medical students.

For him, the word ‘Enough!’ has disappeared from his EdPEx dictionary ka!

Seriously in the education circle, have we done enough or is it possible to feel hopeless to say, ‘Enough is enough!’ We can never afford to use ‘Enough!’ for the quality of the Thais that we’ve seen na ka!

Personally, I know I haven’t done enough and so in my little corner, I’ll continue my quality journey as long as I can ka!

Enough for today’s note kaJJ!

 

Thai and Japanese Cultural Clash

Hello to everyone kaaaa!

 

I finished reading the book I mentioned last time about 'Business Protocol in Thailand',by Imai Hiroshi and translated by Dr. Rangsan Lertnaisaat. It is about the perspectives of a businessman who used to be ExecutiveVice President of Toyota Motor Thailand. Quite interesting and fun ka.

 

These are what I've captured from the book:

 

How the Japanese look at themselves:

 

- Lack communication with their Thai colleagues (out of their feeling shy or insuffcient understanding about Thais and their own ways of work), seem to handle the projects (from headquarters) themselves, give clear instructions with set deadlines, tend to be hot-tempered,  work hard, favor hands-on/on-the-job training approach, prefer rotation as part of the professional development and career path, are loyal to their company

 

How they think of Thais:

 

-  love new things but resist to changes, tend to be quite generous, are used to top down administration (could be deeply rooted from centuries ago and from the western influence), seem to be too polite and not enthusiastic, order their subordinates with the feeling of grengjai so they appear to be 'too flexible', aren't risk-takers (and consequently they are quiet and seem to avoid tackling problems),  aren't able to keep secrets, take rotation as demotion, and follow 'bosses' out of authority, tend to be much less loyal

 

How the two can work best together: 

• Communicate more often especially in informal settings. 
• Lower egos.
• Offer more opportunities to make joint decisions.
• Be open-minded to learn how to work in each culture. 

The Japanese: 

• help make localization (having Thais as top administrators) possible and workable.
• need to have some cross-cultural training before they are posted in Thailand.
• don't dominate their Thai staff.

The Thais: 

• share with their Japanese colleagues/bosses some overview about Thailand in all aspects from political to economic and culture, allowing them to understand the overall picture better.
• try to approach their Japanese bosses/colleagues more...even by saying hi!
• need to be given more training to understand how things should be done for the success of the organization....yet, not the sole Japanese way.

Even though we do know some of the aspects, the book sure confirms to me how cross-cultural training is essential and how much open-mindedness means in this globalized world ka.

Enjoy exploring the beauty of our and other cultures na ka.

Porntip

 

 

Early retirement, health, and reading

Sawasdee to Monday and hope you all have started fresh na ka.

Yesterday was my first year anniversary of my early retirement and I was sick ka.

Resting in bed gave me some thought about me and my early retirement. One of (tens) reasons was about health ka....not that I was unhealthy or sick with some diseases but I looked for a 'healthy retirement' to enjoy life while I could. If I continued working at the pace I did the past decades, I wasn't so sure loei la ka!

Have you thought of your health after retirement mai ka?

After one year of staying at home, people around me especially my immediate family members said 'it went by so fast!' I felt so too and was happier to hear that because it 'could mean' my more frequent presence didn't really interrupt their own routine ka:))! Partly it could be that I still have some little projects to do and occupy myself in the study! In between, it was so nice to have more time for my family and friends ka. I coached my nieces and helped write short articles for my nephew's free newspapers while continuing doing a bit on internationalization and EdPEx.

Have you planned to have some little projects to do before retirement?

Reading-- one thing that I can do more (though admittedly, my addiction to games has stolen lots of my reading time ka!)

Over the weekend, I read two translated books, one on 'Maximize your Mind Power' and 'Motivate People'. Flipped through quite fast (in Thai ngai ka!) as I feel some aren't that applicable to our context....found something different yet useful to think further too ka. I like this one ka...'to be like a small kid' who is always curious and excited to find out new things! It creates motivation, courage, and learning dee ka! Have one question for you from one of the books ka:

Have you thought of what you want your team to remember about you after you leave your job/retirement? If yes, what have you been doing and how?

Honestly, this is what I don't find applicable to me as I didn't really think about it loei la ka! Should I have thought about it mai ka? Would life have been different and more productive had I thought about it? Um! I'll keep thinking ka.

I now move to read another one, which seems to be more interesting ka: 'Business Protocol in Thailand' by former Executive VP of Toyota Motor Thailand'....again in Thai:))!

Happy Monday na ka.