leader's long experiences

Hope you all are enjoying your long weekend ka.

I'm leaving for the north to help Fulbright with a group of American teachers visiting Thailand to learn more about our country so they can teach their students back home ka. I'll sure learn more from them too.

Several days ago, I was given a book, 'พลิกมุมมอง', which I finished within several hours. Even so, I reread it to read between the lines with more thinking ka.

Ajarn Prasit Tunsuwan is the author who shared his experiences working in large companies and then Thailand Productivity Institute. The stories told me what have been valid till today ka. It also revealed who Ajarn Prasit has been.....a life-long learner and thinker ka.

What I've learned from the book are:

- Vision and threat seem to go along with each other well especially in time of speedy changes when vision needs to be realistic to aim for the better of the overall organization.

- While servant leaders help guide their team to grow further like coaches, they need to balance well to be bosses to take lead and offer orders at the right time too.

- Good leaders have to be role models as enthusiastic learners for their staff to see and imitate.

- Being morally sound in business when survival is the key issue is the hardest for leaders to stand firm. I like it most when Ajarn Prasit tried it on himself to place a grey piece of paper on a bigger black paper to see that the grey one seemed to shine out in white! It ignited so much thinking ka.

- How I wish our thousands of study visits organized could have given/could generate benefits like what Ajarn Prasit got even after decades have passed, he still can share them. I wonder how many have maximized the learning for use in their organizations. Had we managed well with the great sense of learning and responsibility, our country could have achieved much higher level of development ka.

After all, leadership is a forever classic issue that requires us to have more learning and thinking with right actions at the right times ka!

Leadership with vision and positive thinking

I just had a quick read of several books summarized by summary.com ka.

What I like is about leadership again.

The first is, 'Leading with Vision' by Bonnie Hagemann, John Maketa and Simon Vetter.

This was about most-needed competencies from the next gen leaders, drawn from a survey of over 400 companies by Oklahoma City-based Executive Development Associates. They are "the ability to attract, develop and retain talent; the ability to inspire; the ability to deliver results; and the ability to manage the stress and demands of leadership."

The first on the list is the ability to create a vision and inspire others to follow that vision ka.

The author identified 4 leadership issues: courage, clarity, connectedness and culture for one to become visionary. It seems that nothing much is new but I guess because of the VUCA world, these 4 "C's" are even more needed. Clear communication is again emphasized and no matter what, the ability to create a favorable culture  for the younger generations to stay on with the organizations has to be taken into more serious consideration.

The second summary is on, 'The Power of Positive Leadership' by Jon Gordon.

The author pointed out from his own experience that the vision is powerful "when you see it and act on it.”

The other are:

"Positive leaders drive positive cultures; lead with optimism, positivity and belief; confront, transform and  remove negativity;  create united and connected teams; build great relationships and teams; pursue excellence; lead with purpose; and have grit."

These are great reminders for us to stay sane and positive especially in stressful situations na ka.....yet, the key word is still 'act on them' ka.

Global TC Day 2017

Post-Fulbright life has been busy especially these several months kaaaa!

One of the activities I did the past week was to help coordinate for alumni of Teachers College, Columbia University (TC-CU) together to signify a Global TC Day.

Ajarn Chaiwat from Silpakorn University and I agreed that we should do something more than just a fun gathering so we thought of a meeting with the Minister of Education since we all graduated from what's known as one of the very best schools of education. But more importantly, we all are passionate in education and wish we could play a little part to develop it further in every possible way we can.

Finally, we had an-hour meeting with Minister Teerakiat with 10 of us in attendance.

My lessons learned from this activity ka:

1. I was happy to signify the Global TC Day doing something more academic than just 'meet and greet'. It was really meaningful for the alumni to learn and share more when we had some sort of formal forum ka.

2. Each of us graduated from different departments and work in both public and private sectors so if there was more time, the discussion could have been even richer and more lively. I enjoyed it a lot simply listening to the interactions.

3. The minister was generous with his time and he told us what he has been doing and what has yet to be done. Two key issues I drew from the conversation were:

- The culture of the MOE is difficult to change so do what we can do.

Personally, I was glad he seems to know the culture quite well. It'd be nice to try to change some of the 'traditions' by exercising senior leadership from him and other senior leaders too. For example, the ways officials have to take care of their bosses and show their 'admiration' especially when assuming a new position or moving to another office (to literally go send them off!)....many more examples too ka.

I was saying to the minister that we didn't bring any nicely wrapped gift or flowers but several brought our books for him to read and it was great to learn what he's been reading too ka....one is, 'How to run a country' ka!

- Stay idealistic to have hope and keep going.

I like it a lot ka. We need to keep our ideals alive with more hope to go forward. It's hard to be mentally strong as wherever we visit, we may find many situations that make us feel they're far too complicated and too big for us to help tackle. Passion, hope, and continuous efforts from our ideals will be the great drive ka.

4. Homework from the minister is for us to help think of 'teacher recruitment'.....and yes, it's a complicated issue. We plan to get started from a small discussion group and see how best to have a modest share ka.

From last week till mid next month, I'll help Fulbright Thailand with its program for 16 American teachers' visits in all the regions of Thailand. Will learn a lot again for sure ka!

''tripwork'' from Japan

Dear all, I just got back from Hokkaido which has got impacts from climate change too ka. It was hotter than usual and it was like being in a huge oven especially on the first day when the sun shone unkindly ka. 

During the trip, Ajarn Chaiyod lined me with several questions so I think this would be a great reflections of myself to share ka. 

The first question is, 'what did I like most about the trip?'

I'm still very impressed with the Japanese traditions of teaching kids to be tidy, punctual, and polite. 

Then on how Japanese do it, I think it all starts at home. My Japanese friend said she had her responsibility to teach manners and proper behaviors to her kids. Good thing many Japanese mothers don't work. They have more time to care for many more from big to little stuff. Though in many cultures, it could be a challenge in terms of family finance. When compared with the desirable behaviors, we may need to balance it well ka!

Ajarn Chaiyod asked if I would go back to revisit  the place, my answer is 'to Hokkaido again? Absolutely ka!'. Each season has its own beauty and charms. We can appreciate the nature even better. My sense of appreciation has grown after I went through the extensive private tea ceremony lesson my friend taught me last year. Now I feel more connected to the Japanese philosophy and how they respect nature and art! Need to learn with the Japanese more ka!

The last question is tough to answer....what and  how we can apply to Thailand. History has influenced our ways of life and Thais equal sabai-ness to the point that we tend to be far too complacent and compromising. The Japanese retain their politeness and seniority, yet they allow room for collective thinking. They seem to compromise yet when it comes to legal issues and proper public behaviors, they are not hesitant to report to the police to make sure people respect law, consideration for others, and privacy. 

Quite a few things I saw made me think of a good small (yet crucial) start to enhance quality of the less complicated end. For example, the way they asked us to bring food trays back to the stand they provided and the way kids are required to bring their trash home show that once each of us is fully responsible for what we do and create, it is much easier to manage the following steps. 

This also brought me back to over 30 years ago when my Japanese friend stayed over at my house and wanted to discard her batteries. She was asking for a special place to throw it away. I was puzzled!?! Now it's become clear how successful the waste management of Japan can be and how great my friend has been taught to be responsible wherever she is!

Should we stress the importance of our own selves and homes as the starting point to nurture good citizenship who care more for the public? Should we individually manage ourselves responsibly to be a good example? 

My 'tripwork' is done but my thoughts keep flowing ka. 

self awareness and sense of purpose

It's me again to share what I've learned throughout this week ka....lots but let me offer several that are still hanging in my mind na ka. 

1. After all the sessions, two keywords popped up all the time, i.e. Self awareness/ self assessment, and sense of purpose. 

On self awareness/ self assessment, coaching skills and action learning all ignited my 'sa-ti' back. I gradually started to reflect on my post-Fulbright life. I've been far from being mindful. I don't sit still with my own self but tend to be too fast to go beyond self to unnecessarily look at others or issues.

Regarding the sense of purpose, when it's repeated by three speakers, it urges me to be more aware of what my life is for and how my careful and consistent self assessment should lead me to move more meaningfully.

Along with the two keywords, coaching and action learning also stress 'the presence', 'listening', and 'asking good questions'. 

2. I saw the alignment and integration of the national directions well demonstrated at CMU strategic plan and at its research center on energy. I have high hope CMU will speed its development successfully soon.

I also like what Assoc. Prof. Nuthapong from CMU medical school said, encouraging us to think more about our students and graduates (customer focus). Students should choose our universities because we can offer competitive advantages and for them to have future careers. We tend to think less mai ka?

A Myanmar representative said serious thinking of vision, mission, and organization culture is important. The Myanmar universities all have vision and mission because they are told by their ministry to do so but he doesn't think it works. Sounds familiar mai ka? Really happy to know he said it would be the very first thing to do when going back, focusing on the university culture ka. 

3. I love advice given by the director of CMU's Energy Research Development Institute.

To big bosses when selecting a director for this institute: 'Don't pick people by academic background but by character/personality with a service mind.'

To his successor: 'Bow to everyone!'

On how to motivate researchers for more papers, he said, 'once we get to know more people, we get more papers!' 

When asked for his view if faculties came to his institute to get  help/cooperation, he said, 'A big hug!' (And two kisses!) for more cooperation. 

I left this leadership and networking forum inspired again ka!

Porntip

Visionary leaders from role models

I've been involved with a Leadership forum for Myanmar and Thai university presidents in the north of Thailand, initiated by Mae Fah Luang university and funded by OHEC ka. 

Ajarn Yongyuth Yuthavong was very kind to accept to be our keynote speaker. 

Here're the highlights:

• He told us his three role models in his life and why so. 
• Prof. Satang for being humble, proactive, and inspiring to convince him and family to see the necessity for him to be on the science, not medical school track. 
• Paul D. Boyer who is the longest Nobel awardee alive, has shone with his persistence to prove his hypothesis and been able to stand firm to have a beautiful success. He isn't afraid to make and admit mistakes. His 'Open door policy' with his attentive listening and readiness to help was already raised. 
• Prof. Puey who was Ajarn Yongyuth's uncle showed him how honesty and ethics with good relations with people are the real assets. 

From these three people, I got some further thoughts about Thai leaders loei ka. 

Thinking of our culture and ask myself who we respect.

In our society where money and power blanket recognition, intelligence and good aim tend to be diluted, not even mentioning about moral principles.

With the culture of having to/ feeling the need to show that leaders 'know' what they have to do, many senior leaders could find it hard to listen, learn, mentor, and the harder one -- to admit mistakes!

In any case, Ajarn Yongyuth stressed that whatever visionary leaders want to do, they have to ensure that it is impactful, inspirational, and sustainable. The purpose must be bigger than self and that will eventually create true happiness. 

Once again, I left the session feeling so inspired!