The Chair by Any Other Name.

I saw this message at a quaint little cafe called the Haroo Cafe and Bar on Langkawi island last year and copied into my hand set and forgot all about it until last night when I was reflecting on what Malaysia's New Economic Model is going to look like. It read " A comfortable chair isnt revolutionary. But it gave people a place to sit, read or strike up a conversation. Something as simple as a chair changed the way people drank coffee...".

I was thinking about the new darling phrase of Malaysian policy makers : Creativity and Innovation. The New Economic Model is supposed to take us out of the middle income trap and move us up unto the stratosphere of high earning developed nations. And, the engine that will drive this transformation is the services industry with creativity and innovation as it's fuel. That's as much as I can understand from the little pieces of information that are availbale on the NEM so far.

My colleague told me that there was already a forum held to discuss this issue. The meaning of what exactly 'creativity' and 'innovation' are were apparently discussed. I am no expert on this and I will leave the semantics out and just focus on what I do know .ie. the workplace ecosystem and by extension, the business ecosystem.

For me, innovation is the ability to find new uses to existing creation (a result of creativity). It is the knack for fnding new uses for established processes. It is the capacity to look at things (already existent)inside out. It is not about constantly inventing new chairs but finding new uses for them.

It is easy to rattle of examples of innovation (and creativity). It is also quite nice to hear these examples as it gives us a warm feeling to know what unimaginable power exsits among our employees. Stories of how 3M came up with the post-it, anecdotes of how Google'ians develop new ideas, the feats of engineers building structures at locations not 'designed' for such structures and others are testimony to the inherent innovative ability of people. If you go to the jungles of the Amazon and the villages of India or to the remote hamlets in central China, you will see how indigenous innovation have long been a hallmark of the people's ability to live in and with their natural environment. Everything from cheap flood mitigation, pest control to traditional medicine are in essence a result of innovation The things needed for these efforts were already there. Somebody just found a new use for them.

Herein lies the enigma : Why is that some companies (and socities) seem to be more innovative than others? What makes them so?

This is my attempt to answer these questions. I believe the following must be present before a company or for a group of employees can become innovative:

1. Freedom of thought AND action
2. Generosity with knowldge sharing
3. Free flow of information
4. Dedicated experts within the organisation (something like Chief Innovation Officer)
5. A reward system that recognizes creativity and innovation regardless whether it has immediate returns for the organisation
6. Dedicated experts within the organisation who are trained to bring together the various generations in the workplace. Say, a Chief Inclusivity Officer! Her job is to facilitate the interaction between the Gen Ys with the rest in the organisation. I believe there are critical untapped competitive edge in our Gen Ys at the workplace. Unfortunately these are drowned out by the noise from the 'this is how we do it here' generation.
7. Leverage on technology. When Gary Kasparov was defeated by the Deep Blue in 1996, we thought it was only a fluke. A machine can never be superior to the human intellect and intuition. Then, the machine beat the grandmaster again. It has been doing so since then and today we play chess with AI for fun. The ability of some of the more advanced chess AI is mind-boggling. So, technology is a tool for innovation.
8. Innovation culture requires a Leadership that is 'innovation-friendly'.


On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best, I will give Malaysian organisations in general as score of 4 when it comes to having a suitable workplace evironment that can foster innovation.

There is much work to do to realize the promises of the NEM and I hope I can play a role in making it a reality.


NOTE : A few postings ago, I questioned whether I am keeping true to the essence of this blog. After much thought, I have come to realize that I have been. As I reflected back on my previous postings, I realized that I have not been as 'blinkered' as I thought I have been. I have indeed commented on the social and political set up of this nation and how it helps or hinders our business ecosystem. After days of observing, reading and listening from others I have made this conclusion : Prosperity begets peace. Poverty begets bigotry. I am on the side of prosperity. So, for me the NEM has a far deeper importance to the future of this nation. As a consultant, I will do my part: Thinking Fresh, Being Real, Doing Right.

Surprise…Surprise!

Not all Indians are Hindus
Not all Hindus are Indians
Not all Christians are whites
Not all whites are Christians
Not all Muslims are terrorists
Not all terrorists are Muslims

Not all Indians are poor
Not all poor, are Indians
Not all Chinese are busineness men
Not all businesness men, Chinese
Not all Malays are emotional
Not all emotional,Malays

Not all who shout are pious
Not all who are pious shout
Not all who preach are godly
Not all who are godly, preach

Not all reasons universal
Not all universal reasons, reasons
Not all truths are self evident
Not all evidence, truths
Not all honour, victory
Not all victory, honourable

Not all kings wise
Not all wise, kings
Not all fair, good
Not all good, fair

Not all history, true
Not all truths, history
Not all laws, just
Not all just, judge

Not all patriots, kill
Not all who kill, patriots
Not all loyalties, endure
Not all that endures, loyalty

But…
All that we are…
All that we were
All that we will become
Are but a lump of earth!

Till then though…
We are brothers.

Malaysian 9/11

Twice since yesterday evening, I wrote something and deleted it.Twice I could not decide whether I should publish it. Twice I grappled with a simple question : what is the essence of my blog? Why do I write this pieces. The answer to the latter is quite a straight forward one. I write to release the multitude of ideas,thoughts and strategies that swirl through my mind every waking moment. I write to release my creative energy. The question of what is the essence of this blog is becoming a little more difficult these days though. My ideas and thoughts are almost exclusively related to my passion for leading, managing,business and commerce in general. I view everything else in this light. So, you can almost call me a communist ( I did read Marx when I was 15 much to the displeasure of my English teacher!). I view everything that happens to man on this planet from the perspective of supply and demand. I interpret everything from the fact that man needs work and fulfillment from the work he does. I have very few other passion in life. I am not a passionately religious person. I know my relationship with the Universe and I know for a FACT that there is a power greater than mine. That is all I need to know and I am not interested in convincing others. I am not a passionately nationalistic person. I am in essence a global citizen and for me a human being is meant to be borderless both in action and spirit. For me, the idea of nation states are no longer applicable. I function on gratitude and loyalty to what is fair and just regardless of where, who or what. So, anything other than the world of supply and demand (in all is forms and functions) does not interest me much.

This is the reason that I have always kept my postings as close as possible to business and management. In the few instances when I did write on other matters, I viewed them as 'events'.

In my previous posting, I wrote about the dangers of this country heading the way of Myanmar. Yesterday, we effectively took the first steps on that journey. But, when I wrote that 'Myanmar' piece my hypothesis, if you can call that, was very much based on our failures or potential failures in economic and business strategies. Yes, I did consider the fact that the continuous functioning of our relatively harmonious social structure will be critical too but I didn't really think that that will become a serious problem. Despite all we are not a nation that are militant. We don't burn each others places of worship. We should be fine in that respect. So, I figured that the only reason we may end up like Myanmar is if we mess up our economic and fiscal policies.

I may be wrong.

Maybe, far more important than getting our economic strategies correct, we need to get our social structure correct. Maybe, before we begin a New Economic Model we need to have a New People Model. A new model where the people of this nation are re-oriented to who we are and what is the REAL and TRUE relationship we have with each other. We need to understand, all over again, who our neighbors are. We need to fall in love with each other all over gain. Then maybe after that, we can begin the New Economic Model.

But, that is day dreaming I know. It will be nice but next to impossible. In reality, the New Economic Model and the New People Model need to happen simultaneously as each will influence and play a critical role on each other's success or failure. They must happen con-currently. They must be dissected and debated and strategised together; not in different and separated pieces.

If that is true, what then should the essence of this blog be. Can I, as a consultant and trainer, continue to think and behave exclusively on management and business terms. Or, should I now also become a New People Model strategist (activist?). If the latter is one that will bring the best results to my clients and this country, then I will have to delve into much more than the safe and sanitized world of management and corporate business. I will need to look out of my window of corporate mind-set and comment on the repugnant landscape of the bigotry and social breakdown. If previously I can comment that the past failure of Proton was due to its poor leadership quality, now I will have to say that the many things left unsaid; many of which had nothing to do with the management per se. I may also have to say that Proton was almost a mono-culture company and hence did not enjoy the full benefit of a creative citizenry. If previously I can talk about the brain drain as the cause for our lack of young talents and do it in an almost clinical manner, now I will have to say that the reason why the brain drain is occurring is because of the unfairness inherent and embedded in the very fabric of our systems.

Do I want to do this? There can be a separation of the church from the state (it feels strange using this phrase under the circumstances!). But, can there be a separation of the social ecosystem from business and management?

I am not sure. I am taking a break to ponder this. Whatever it is, the only question that I will ask of my self is : How best I can add value...REAL and TRUE value? And, stay true to the motto of this blog : Thinking Fresh, Being Real, Doing Right!