Story about 'Coach'

 Swasdee ka, everyone. The Queen Mother's passing sure makes us all feel real sad na ka. On a little comforting note, I've been listening to HM's generosity, caring across countries, and tireless efforts for all. Feel so blessed we were born in this country ka.

Today, there's another thing I'd like to share after listening to the latest episode of How Leaders Lead by David Novak. His guest speaker is Lew Frankfort, Chairman Emeritus and former CEO of Coach....leather goods so popular in our country too na ka.

Learning kaa:

- Firm belief in kids is super encouraging.

Strong belief of Lew's mother enabled him to aim for college studies instead of the vocational track as advised by his guidance counselor at school (who missed to see Lew's potential).

- Building a brand needs one to see the gap. 

In the case of Coach, Lew sees that there was no American leather goods brand that the middle income group could reach. So he chose to help build Coach into the market where there were only cheaper products and luxurious brands from abroad then.

Before deciding to work with Coach, his investigative mind (curiosity-led) turned him to act as a freelance reporter to cover news on emerging small brands. It was so cool to know that he went to one small shop in Manhattan to find that there was only one coach bag which was reserved and hidden behind the cash register. He learned then that Coach was in good demand and he went for an interview after that. 

- Hire those who know best: 

When AI is in the picture, Lew says he learns about it insufficiently and he has to look for younger, almost AI native to help him

- Love this question David Novak asks:

In my own words na ka: When you like some ideas from your competitors, how do you handle them?

Lew says, 'carefully'. He mentions that even with careful interpretation about the thinking and innovation behind the competitors' ideas, it didn't always sell. So, he came back to the very unique quality of Coach from its materials, stitches, and pockets ka.

- Fear of failure and drive for excellence lead him the way.... though he learns to use different leadership styles and nurture the appropriate culture...from family to performance family to performance culture.

Sanuk mak ka....ep#262 if you wish to listen and get some other key points ka.

Hidden Truths

Hello all! I attended a talk with my sister on 'Hidden Truths', which turned out to be quite interesting ka.

It went for about 3 hours to share 'facts' and 'direct experience' stories of three people, i.e. former Commander of the 2nd Army Region, Lieutenant General Boonsin Padklang; Wassana Nanuam, Military Affairs reporter ; and Ajarn Songrit Phonngern, expert on Mekong Basin.

Here are what I got and how I felt ka:

- I was very impressed with Lt. Gen. Boonsin's humble self, sharp mind, sense of humor, and touching stories including his expression of love of our country and his team.

He told us that as soon as one soldier became conscious, he asked if the army was able to take over the dispute territory. This is the sense of duty of all who've been fighting for us. 

Lt. Gen was wondering if the central administrators cared enough about our national interest and motherland. He said at one fight, the army planned carefully to seize one prasat back, which could take some days. After having been in operation for only 6 hours, 'someone' called them to stop the mission and the best for the army in action was to negotiate to go on fighting for 4 nights and 5 days. Otherwise,  we could have won.

- Reporters must be impartial but if it's about our own nation's security, the media must do their best to help protect our sovereignty ka.

- HS lost his left eye from a bombshell explosion and he has to go to Japan to change the eye every year, costing him $1m ...money could be from the scamming business.

- Cambodians hate black, custard apples and guava so if anyone wishes to send the fruits in a black box, it'd scare them off.

- Gen Chavalit Yongjaiyut helped train Cambodia's army to become more modernized that has made Hun Sen get highly capable soldiers by his side.

- Challenges about geographical features make it hard to use missles for specific targets so as to avoid civilians. So, comments must be made with understanding. The use of phones, pix and vdo's must be most careful not for the other end to track the exact locations. We also use this strategy to target their key persons. 

A little funny story ka.....Lt. Gen. Boonsin himself turned off his phone to get an RIP from Cambodia.

A not funny story ka.....It was the first time someone called me ยาย ..... a security guard who wasn't that young at all called me so. 

Lessons from Tattoos

 I wish to share while my brain still keeps several stories at the ok level kaa!

The other day, I had a breakfast buffet with a Fulbright alum who came back home for a visit during his break as a postdoctoral fellow in Tucson, Arizona...very hopeful to have one more expert to help handle climate change challenges.

With 3 hours of breakfast, we discussed a whole lot with really good takeaway learning:

- He has tattoos on the two arms and all will be done soon. They show the stories of science like atoms and marine life, which to him, turn tattoos to be meaningful and integral with his passion.

In Tucson, anecdotally,  about 80% have tattoos. So, his attitude from young has changed. In fact, we also see many younger ones have more tattoos laew na ka.

Time changes, social attitudes change. We gradually get used to newer ways.  Fixed mindset and some people could be quite frustrated.

- His life lessons getting an F from an undergraduate course (making him eligible for honors even iwth GPA of 3.6) and being involved in school and university activities have shaped his mindset about successes and failure. He learned that he was ready to accept failure. In the case of tattoos, it was fine with him if they didn't turn out right after having communicated with the tattoo artist.

Life lessons from failure and learning as well as hands-on activities enhance growth mindset and maturity. Reflections and ability to apply learning in an integrated way are essential skills. 

We all need to be adjustable and flexible as time goes by ka.

Good Listeners

I wish to send you another note, highlighting what I learned the past weekend on, 'Listening to the Core of the Messages' ka.

My learning was:

1. Good listeners are those who look into the eyes of the speakers, have non-verbal behavior showing attention, don't judge what's said, listen till the end, never cut the speakers short of their talks, and let the speakers think and get to the solutions by themselves.

Listeners should practice to be open-minded, appear friendly/approachable, to know how to do the follow-on questions.

It could sound simple but when we practiced listening, it was quite challenging ka. It helps us be aware of our own thinking, reactions, and interactions and what to do to become one good listener ka. All need practice and mindfulness to look into our inner selves ka.

2. I like the 4 types of listening ka:

- I in Me -- sharing what we have in our own selves from mindset to knowledge and skills as well as possible actions, I in It -- giving only the essence of the talk without any emotions, I in You -- telling the speakers from what we learn about their feelings, and I in Now -- offering anything we have in mind listening to the speakers.

I observed that I basically could lean toward 'I in Now' while quite a few participants think that they are 'I in Me' ka. I was surprised to see that younger ones....those in my group, didn't really know how to capture key messages ka.....something we need to stress more and with the AI as helper, our younger gens could lose this ability if not properly guided ka.

3. When listening, I think in our hearts, we need to have kindness and respect while letting loose our sense of seniority and authority to make it effective ka. I feel this could be vital to create 'psychological safety/safe zone' for all ka.

4. Deep listening is when we're able to grasp what's said without prejudice, without spacing out or getting too emotionally caught up with what the speakers say,

5. Attending this kind of training enables me to learn about other people's lives, including their sufferings. It helps me pause to think that behaviors seen can't be judged immediately about the persons since each has been through some struggles/traumas ka.

One case was about a participant from a Chinese-Thai family who was sent to be brought up in another family when she was 2 months old. She's Wednesday's child who came back home before 10 to find her elder sisters and two younger brothers very close to each other. Her dream to yearn for her parents' love wasn't fulfilled and it took her decades to move on ka. Several of us were emotional, me included to be teary loei ka. Listening to such a story with our caring hearts sure helped her feel lighter.

Will attend another listening course next month and will see if I could get more practice to become a better listener ka.

Gists and Gifts from 75th Anniversary Celebration of Fulbright

Happy Monday with lots of sunshine kaa after some rainy days na ka.

I'd like to share what I learned from attending the 75th Anniversary Celebration of Fulbright last week at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ka.

It was awesome to listen to various perspectives from a keynote and panelists who are our Fulbright alumni from different sectors, discussing the theme of 'Reimagining Ourselves in the Age of AI'. Some key takeaways for me were:

- Good intention and money can't transform our cities to be 'smart'. It has to combine with purpose of creating a good life, people-centered to know their real needs , practicality for users to fit appropriate behaviors in their living, and proof from research and studies that the approaches work.

- On AI, several from different sectors see growth mindset needed for people to know how useful and how-to, and strive to learn for 'future ready' progress. They value critical thinking as one crucial skill to justify the responses generated, not blindly follow everything till we lose our human skills.

As many more will live longer, healthcare needs to offer prevention before getting diseases. Many applications will be helpful, yet, it needs to cater to correct understanding and convenience of use.

Everyone, especially the younger gen, must not take deep learning for granted. The age of AI opens rooms as well as gaps for our children to grow intellectually Many things come at the click of their fingers, making them lose the process of learning the elders have had. All must spend enough time to learn in some depth to understand the contexts, factors involved and ability to manage some of things manually. All also have to be aware that there's no shortcut to acquire relevant needed skills so 'take time to learn and excel'.

One big aspect is for our younger gens to have self-awareness, know their own selves like strong and weak points as fast as possible to keep up fine with the world challenges.

On the whole, the skills needed for all in the age of Ai are: critical thinking, communication, empathy. Yet, the most important is 'to learn how to be humans' with proper behaviors (interactions, ethics, artistic side) to design/shape themselves, communities, and the world with some sharp sense of possibilities to grow and move forward.

What we can offer continues to be human exchanges while offering 'future literacy', and cybersecurity with trust building along the way.

The first section of the celebration ignited further thought while the reception warmed my heart with joy of reconnecting with quite a few alumni from all parts of the country, and with newer ones joining in the Fulbright Family.

Life is a blessing -- one true gift for me ka. 

Recent Reflections

Hello hello all!

I've been running around a little and it seems there could be several things to summarize and reflect ka.

1. A workshop I helped on 'KM/AAR' enabled me to learn more about the following:

- Organizers could learn a whole lot from the preparatory process, using AAR, if they think and reflect more deeply, not only the logistics, but the content required by the key speakers.

- 'Jump-in' technique is what my little team tends to term it, for us to step in while the main speaker is doing the talking, to pose some questions or share comments. This is quite effective if both the speaker and the jump-in person know each other quite well and are open for such an intervention ka. My key speaker welcomed it to say she could elaborate some matters even further or it could be responses for the participants who may not want to ask. I had to focus on the presentation closely while thinking of questions, basically from my own curiosity, which could be the easiest way ka. I only felt then that this technique, though added to some content and mood of the workshop, could hinder participants to think and interact by themselves. 

- I noticed the gap between ajarns and support staff, which is a normal culture in many universities....yet, it needs to be bridged for all to be motivated to develop themselves, to benefit from diversity, and to join hands to work toward the shared organizational goals.

2. A meeting relating to 'life-long learning (LLL)and innovation' offered several lights ka:

- LLL needs to be from internal motivation to continue as one person's learning habits. The focus therefore, needs to be on people over tools and platforms though the latter could be used to promote learning at the very beginning for awareness and inspiration, and for joint and individual initial actions. 

- Projects and activities could be out of the traditional thinking frame of the institution's main missions to ignite interests and identify hidden potentials in its workforce. 

- Face-to-face meetings are more effective when the participants feel safe and relaxed to share their ideas and stories, which could be beyond what's on the agenda. Yet, it could well be linked when managed properly.

- It is a pleasant opportunity to get to know some people in the meeting who are influencers in some way, learning about their thinking and interests. I was very impressed with Ajarn Thanaboonsombat from the National Science and Technology Development Agency. He calls himself, 'Happiness Creator through Knowledge'..... very fun to chat with him and hear his stories ka. He also mentioned about Carl Jung several times, making me rush to search for this person loei. It helps me produce my podcast programs with more quality, especially for November when I've started working on the 'extrovert/introvert' theme.

3. It was the first time to be up close and personal with a junior friend who's passionate with coffee, serving me 'Dirty Coffee' from her coffee shop. Sitting with her to observe how one type of coffee is made amazed me with not just the systematic process and the exact time set but her application being a chemist-turn-barista and the way to appreciate drinking coffee much better.....need more stories to learn and more chill time to drink to get to the taste and flavor kaa!