SEIVOLUTION

Credit: Wharton School of Business

The Seven Sins list states:

- Politics without principle.
- Wealth without work.
- Pleasure without conscience.
- Knowledge without character.
- Commerce without morality.
- Science without humanity.
- Worship without sacrifice.

Someone sent me a joke.

" You are driving down the road in your Corvette on a wild, stormy night, when you pass by a bus stop and you see three people waiting for the bus:
1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
2. An old friend who once saved your life.
3. The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.
Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing that there could only be one passenger in your Corvette?

Think before you continue reading. This is a moral/ethical dilemma that was once actually used as part of a job application. You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first. Or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back.

However, you may never be able to find your perfect mate again.

Think!!!!!!     Choose!!!!!    YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS.......

The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants) had no trouble coming up with his answer.

He simply answered:

'I would give the car keys to my old friend and let him take the lady to the hospital.

I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of my dreams.'  

Sometimes, we gain more if we are able to give up our stubborn thought limitations.

Never forget to 'Think Outside of the Box.' "

Do we always have to think out of the box?

Well, it's interesting what people think that it's interesting. And I personally think it is interesting as well because it triggers my reaction. Assumption: I had a WORKING cell phone and the area was within the cellular phone coverage. If I were the guy in story, I would have called 911 because the ambulance is always ready and medically well equipped for such situation.

There is a possibility that the old friend can't drive (got wasted) or does not know how to drive or is barred from driving for whatever reasons (drink driving offense for instance). Thus, giving the key to the old friend to drive the old lady to the hospital may not be the optimal resolution. He will also have a trouble returning the car to me the next day. Also, old friend can also mean a friend who is old, not a dear friend. What I would do is to call his family or a taxi for him.
I wish I would pick the young girl if I am single and my girl friend is not sitting next to me. If I were married, I would think twice.

I am not trying to be super creative but I want to make a stance to challenge of the concept of Thinking outside the Box.

This is a very good example for two reasons. First, thinking out of the box is great yet produces so many possible answers. Some time when you were finding a simple solution, you ended up find many complex questions. Second, it helps us to think from WITHIN THE BOX sometime. Based on my above-mentioned explanation, thinking out of the box results in two possible outcomes (attached joke or my new rhetorical story). How do we make a choice? Why is that the former option is better than the latter one? or vice versa.

Countless times, MBA students were taught at school to think out of the box or laterally. However, before we start thinking out of the box we should try to think within the box first. I am not suggesting that thinking out of the box is bad. But I think that we should put the thinking out of the box aside first sometime.

There are too many ways people can think outside the box. Should they make product more expensive or less? Should they make it larger or smaller? Should they spend money making them prettier or more rugged? There are so many ways. But what actually happens is that when we tell people to think outside the box, they will go out of the wall. One guy gives one idea. Then the second or third guy gives another idea which can be different from first idea and can destroy the first idea as well. The problem here is that those ideas never build on each other. At the end of the day, they shut down because they don't know whether the first idea is the one they should build on or the second or the third. This is something left outside the box after all, but by giving them OTHER boxes to think again. As long as other boxes are different, they can focus on. I think that is another approach that encourages a new kind of idea development.

Just a penny of my thought.

Two weeks or so ago, I used a new phone number to text a friend without giving out my name. I've gotten a reply after two minutes asking me this question. "Who are you?". Actually I asked myself that very question. I was then starting to question myself about the meaning of life and to evaluate my own identity which later helped me to reveal an inquisitive side to my personality and my own world.

In short I am who I am. Like I wrote once that life can only be understood backwards but must be lived forward. My friend would dispute me if I mention that I am good at nothing. I am not sure what I am really good at and what my dreams are. Do I have to dream that dreams finally come true? Thinking backwards, my dreams, however, take their place along side my memories, experiences, and genes in the palette that contains who I am. Like Michael puts you are the product of your reality and your imagination. You're innately depraved, yet you're made perfect. I plan my day with the knowledge that "Everything is meaningless" (Ecc 1:2), bit I must "make the most of every opportunity" (Col 4:5). I searched for simples answers yet found only complex questions with so many possible answers.

Smallness and shortness are implicitly and explicitly my disabilities however I can be big in so many ways: intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally. Through ups and downs, the most important lesson I've learned is that I have many lessons yet to learn. Thus the most valuable knowledge I posses remind me how little knowledge I have. Maybe that's how I've gotten confused sometime.

Today I had a chance to update my book list. Two books have filled my spare time since last week. One is the Breakthrough: stories and strategies of radical innovation (MIT Press book) by Mark Stefik and Babara Stefik. "Breakthrough" book looks at the creative cycle. How does one prepare to become an innovator? What does an "Aha" feel like? What do repeat inventors do? Another book is by FRANK J. FABOZZI titled Short Selling: strategies, risks, and rewards. The first book is totally worth your time. If you're into management, strategy, or innovation, it is the one. It is insightful and very easy to understand. The latter book requires a little knowledge in Finance especially the understanding of exotic derivatives and investment strategies. Professor Frank is a finance professor at Yale University. So far, i have read two books written by him. One is Fixed Income Securities, second edition. Another is the Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF) Manual.

Anyway, just learned that FTTS has finally flied to San Francisco for a live concert two weeks ago. Wish I had seen their concert. I am not their biggest fan but I love their song called Missing You.