Earlier this Summer I wrote a few posts (here, here, and here) on "2iB." This is my handy mnemonic: integrity; intensity; BALANCE.
These are in the form of the three questions that a user of the 2iB mnemonic might ask herself or himself...
Read MoreThe ART of the DEAL: Chinese and Western Approaches
I think that Chinese, however, do have a different mindset, an approach that encourages gamesmanship in negotiation, one that relishes it. Negotiation is to business what sex is to reproduction. Negotiation, in fact is the fun part. In trying to get a deal done, the Chinese way involves feigning, indeed a measure of misdirection. The Chinese way might involve a lowball offer, just to get things warmed up, or indeed, just to tip the other party off balance. There might be an agreement on the price, in lightning speed, but with a twist, that the terms have to be heavily modified, i.e. “I’ll agree to $500,000,000. But, I have to be able to pay you in eight quarterly instalments over four years. Oh yeah, and my nephew needs a job.”
Read MoreEthnicity as Laundry List
Sure, most people don’t think that by naming 5 ethnicities they have claims to 5 different club memberships. But then again some people are that vain. The warming notion that there is something hip about being a child of the world, by being born into this world love of multi-ethnicities, well, I guess people decide, shucks “it’s kinda cool; I’ll just play along.”
Read MoreUnderstanding ISIS: What is Clan-like behavior?
You could get a darn good idea of ISIS from what it is NOT, but then again, as my 10th grade English teacher, Mr. Smith always said- "if your thesis statement is against something, there are still an infinite number of things you could be for." Well, there isn't that much wiggle room for ISIS, given the pigeonhole it has carved for itself- I can't imagine they are donating much of the seized gold taels to Orbis, or Breast Cancer Awareness, or the Girl Scouts of Lebanon.
Read MoreRebuttal to Eric Liu's 8/29 Piece in WSJ
I was browsing the WSJ, on its very capable iOS app, and came across the headline: “Why I Can’t Just Become Chinese” by Eric Liu. A headline like that jumps out at you, especially if you are writing an upcoming book on Chinese and Western culture as I am. So, naturally I clicked on it.
I didn’t know what to expect, really, but I think Mr. Liu gets it wrong. I think he gets both China and the U.S. wrong.
Read MoreThis gentleman was utterly unfazed by the Red Rainstorm Warning
Causeway Bay 19:30 August 12 2014: RAIN
A quick update on the weather in Hong Kong: it is wet, wet, wet.
Poster for HK
Floating City
Bo is referred to as 番仔, meaning "foreign kid." "番" is the character that precedes Potato 番薯 and Tomato 番茄, making new nouns out of "Foreign Tuber" and Foreign Eggplant," to describe the curious produce that the Portuguese had originally introduced to China via Macau a few centuries ago. Bo, it turns out, is half-Chinese. A mild spoiler: Bo discovers late in the movie his mother (played by Josie Ho) was raped by a British Seaman (pun not intended). That biological mother tearfully gives him up for adoption. A family of fisherman, who ply the waters of the South China Sea, living and fishing on/off their vessel adopt Bo and do their best to give him whatever attention and care is possible, amidst some rather hardscrabble circumstances.
Read More2iB: What is Balance?
It's not that Kobe is great at taking unbalanced shots; it is that he is making all manner of adjustments- he is great at setting his feet in the air, deploying his shooting "guide hand" (Kobe's left hand) and the guide arm and shortening or extending it in certain directions to counteract the source of the unbalance. He is using core control to ensure his torso twists or doesn't twist, just so- so that his shooting posture toward the basket is aligned. He is doing it all. Kobe's execution of "BALANCE" is preceded by muscle memory, and court vision (to know where the basket is for example, or where and how an opponent is likely to foul him, in anticipation of the "AND 1" play), and intensity, of course.
Read More2iB: What is Intensity?
Intensity follows Integrity. With Intensity, the popular American maxim of “go big or go home,” comes to mind. If something is worth doing, it is worth doing BIG. Warren Buffett, when prompted on the question of diversification in stock investing, said that for 98% of the people extreme diversification is the right way to invest. That means owning a mutual fund, or, even better the broadest possible global index of equities. Basically you want to own the world- if for example Venezuela turns out to be an investment dud, well, you got Ecuador. He went on to say that if you are ready to take ”an intensity” to it (stock investing), then one should take the opposite approach, i.e. only own a maximum of six or seven different shares, perhaps significantly fewer. In other words, do put all of your eggs in one basket- and guard that basket with your life.
Read More2iB: What is Integrity?
Integrity means listening. It means taking the time to reflect on what it is that you have to do, and however large or small the task is at hand, to always have good intentions. Integrity is always the first step.
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