“Cogito ergo sum”, “I think therefore I am” Descartes proposed as a philosophical statement to us in the 17th century while shut up in a stove into which he had taken refuge from the cold of the night.

He did not come to this now world famous conclusion by studying hard in his library or by memorizing tables and tables of fact. No, he locked himself in some kind of boiler room to escape the cold and claims he had an epiphany where the divine spirit provided him with answers.

Perhaps it was the lack of oxygen in the room which made his mind wander or it might just have been the dullness of spending all that time in a dark room alone which made his brain go off on a tangent. We will never know and in fact it does not matter since the statement has now made its way into text books, blogs, wikipedia and the minds of the literati all across the globe.

The human mind is a beautiful thing and if you feed it correctly it will astonish you with the beauty that it can create. Starved of stimulation however you will undoubtedly end up in the grey mass which is average, bleak and of very little interest to the world.

The modern world has been created for us so that we now have to do very little thinking on our own. Food comes from the supermarket rather than us having to hunt for it. Water from the tap and all you have to do is press a button and entertainment simply flows straight into your living room.

So we go through the motions……………..

Think about your normal day:

Wake up at what time?

Eat first or do you like to shower first?

Read the paper, watch the news on TV?

Get dressed, go to the bathroom and start making your way to work.

How do you get to work?

Car, Bike, Train, Walk?

Coffee before work?

Lunch:

Bring your own, go to a restaurant, order in?

Afternoon snack?

After work beer, workout, shopping?

Dinner:

Cook, ready-made, order in?

Watch TV, read a book, play a game?

What time is bed time?

————————————————-

“This is your life and it is ending one day at the time”  Tyler Durden says in the movie fight club and he is right.

We go through the motions of our normal day like there will always be a tomorrow but this is not true.

Every day is unique and special and if you do not realize this and just keep going through the motions your are just wasting time. By going through the motions your turn yourself off and say “Fate is not in my hands, I am doing the best I can”

But this is not true.

Think about the list above again, if you can change one simple thing, then you have made something unique.

There is no need to “throw away your television” but perhaps turn it off for a whole night and see what happens.

Create randomness and uniqueness in your life and I promise that the amazing human mind that you were born with will astonish you again and again.

Carpe Diem!

My way or the Highway The greater good The Blame Game

Margaret Thatcher has left this earth and whether she goes to a better place or not is perhaps one of the most hotly debated topics in media and on various internet forums at the moment.

There is no questioning that the the changes pushed through by the Tory political party during her reign were drastic, far reaching and had a very large impact on the British society as a whole. People lost their jobs, the health sector was cut and the few gained through the sacrifice of the many.

Margaret Thatcher supported apartheid, called Nelson Mandela a terrorist and now, once she has gone and can not defend herself anymore Australian politicians are publicly calling her a racists.

I am not infallible and have long ago made the decision that I have the right to judge no (hu)man. Therefore I am not willing to discuss whether she was an evil human being or if Alexis de Tocqueville’s saying that “We get the leaders we deserve” is really true.

What has been going through my mind as I see people taking the streets to rejoice the demise of this, after all, publicly elected leaders passing, is:

Is it actually all right to cheer the demise of another human being?

When our loved ones pass away we are naturally sad. We will never have another chance to tell them we love them or to say thank you for all the things they have done for us.

Yet on the other hand death itself is only concerned with the human body as the home of the spirit for the limited amount of time that we all get on this earth.

Many religions teach us that we should indeed not feel sad about the passing of our fellow man but rejoice! Life is a struggle and a test and as our bodies pass away we are released and, depending on who you believe, go to a better place or get reborn to repeat the cycle.

Through the ages we have seen people celebrating the fall and death of hated leaders. Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Ghadaffi, Hussein. All represented regimes of oppression, violence, fear and totalitarianism. Is Margaret Thatcher’s name now to be included and mentioned in the same breath?

When the wicked witch of OZ died the whole land was brought out of the shadows and into the light. The oppressed were liberated and could finally live free of the yolk of fear that had been pushing them down for eons.

Mrs. Thatcher might have been the British personification of the wicked witch and her death might be rejoiced by more than half of the population but the brutal truth of it all is that, in contrast to the magic kingdom of Oz, this will not change a single thing.

Even though we might applaud the execution of a criminal and truly believe in our hearts that they had it coming to them this in itself will not eradicate crime itself.

So the conclusion that I reached in my pondering is that “Yes, it is perfectly fine to rejoice in the death of a human being”.

Personally though, I would rather focus on changing the future than reliving the past….

Growing Humanity - Nobel prize for Medicine Morals & Dogma Internet training from Pre-school

春一番

季節の交差

嫌な余寒

The first wind of spring

a seasonal sand storm

leaves a lingering chill

This haiku is a word play on the “changing of the seasons” and a “seasonal sand storm” that blew over Tokyo in March of 2013. The last line has another dual meaning which takes meaning both from the lingering cold of winter in the first spring wind of the year and the fact that the sand storm feels like bad news to come…..

I read this at the annual Swedish Chamber of Commerce Sakura party at Happo-En 2013-04-03

Kawaii Japan shifting gear? Finding a Job in Tokyo

You can only do so much planning and modeling before you have to go out in the real world and execute.

There comes a time when all the NPVs in the world will not give you the answer that you are looking for. If you would like to put it in the context of sports it is the same thing as drilling fixed positions again and again until you can execute it with your eyes closed.

It is now time to implement your well thought out strategy.

So you have the approval from your stakeholders, whether they be admirals board members or your wife, and you put your first piece in play.

Then comes the hard part,

Doing nothing at all……..

The problem with the world as opposed to the “plans of mice and men” is that it is not static. So as you start putting pieces into play not only will the world react but also those who oppose you.

The first overwhelming urge is to act, to get busy, to do something to improve the situation that has now shifted from what you originally expected.

This is usually the wrong answer.

To throw your reserves in to early often spells disaster as you over commit and lose your ability to maneuver further on into the game.

There is no advice that can be given on when to commit further or when to hold back and wait…..Timing can be learned but it can not be taught. Having it might not mean success but you can be absolutely sure that not having it will spell utter defeat.

If you wait and are patient and calm then the opportunity that you are waiting for will come to you.

However to keep chasing it will only make it flutter and escape your grasp like that of a feather fluttering in the wind.

Wait for the wind to change and stay still and perhaps the feather shall land in your outstretched hand.

My way or the Highway An idea is like a seed Strategy vs Tactics

Forcing ultimatums on friends family or people that you work with is one of the most fatal mistakes you can make both professionally and personally.

This particular phrase brings forth, at least in my mind, images of juvenile rebels on motorcycles who have had it with the authority of their fathers and decide that they can no longer live under the same roof.

Seen from the view of the patriarch it is the ultimate challenge to the child to either follow the rules of the house as set up by the top dog or choose to leave the pack.

But if all roads eventually lead to Rome then are we sure that as leaders we want to force those who follow and look up to us down a path of our choice?

As a leader you should always be aware of the fact that you might be wrong. In fact chances are the most of the time you are actually wrong. Finance guru George Sorros is often famously quoted for the lines in his book where he explains that “he is wrong 49% of the time and right only 51% but these 2% have made him a billionaire”

In fact I would say that if you make anything more than 40% of choices in your life correctly you are more than likely to end up on top. Just think about it…… All the times you had “just one more beer” or did not say no to that extra large drink or decided that staying on the sofa was nicer than going for a run. How many times have you shunned work that you knew you should do because it was annoying, boring or you were tired. There are times when resting instead or working/training is the best choice but can you honestly say, with the ambitious goal you had in mind, that this was really the case….?

Falling into the trap of believing in your own greatness is an easy path to failure as not all victories get repeated as history has so often shown us. Not listening to the signs and warning signals around you is another certain fatal error about as grave as ignoring a red light at a traffic stop.

And yet even though you know that you are no better than those around you and that no matter how good you are at hiding your flaws you have them just like all the rest of us you. You know this and still you cling to your version of the truth as if it was the word written by one of the sages themselves.

The way has not changed for thousands of years or it would not be the real way. When you find it you will not be amazed but almost let down since it was in fact there, right in front of your eyes, the whole time. You can not make anyone see the way much like you can lead a horse to water but you can not make it drink.

The way is not your way, or my way, or the right way, or the wrong way, it is just the way. When we speak of knowing it we are simply making an educated guess of the most likely outcome of an action based on our previous experiences.

If we want to build people who can think and act autonomously do not give them ultimatums. Set goals, give guidance but do not force anyone to follow your way.

After all, chances are that you are more than likely to be wrong.

Going through the motions When nothing is everything An idea is like a seed

It seems like every year there is a new buzz word from one of the large consulting firms that slowly nestles its way into the vocabularies of CEOs across the globe.

Cloud, or cloud solutions, or cloud technology, have now become mainstream to the point where they are not only words that are used to show that you are hip and with the times but also that you in fact understand that there is no more a need to host all your applications and their data in an expensive in-house data center. Instead you can take advantage of Economies of scale and use solutions provided by Amazon or Google or any of your other favorite providers for whom adding another Terabyte is simply a drop in their ever expanding server ocean.

Just when you thought you got it here comes another one to eat up your budget and occupy your time in trying to explain to board members, most who did not grow up with computers, why not jumping on the band wagon will not mean that you get left behind competition who just announced that they are betting the bank on this new thing that has come along.

What is big data?

If you are mainly a sales organization chances are that every day your staff sit at their desks typing away at word documents, entering figures into Excel sheets, creating presentations with power point. Over time this all adds up to a very large amount of data.

If you also have an R&D function or perhaps a creative team that works with Computer graphics, Video or other types of data that contains massive amount of bits you could be creative Petabytes of data on a yearly basis.

In your average company you have databases to keep track of all this work that is being done. The problem is that with the amount of data that is being created it is becoming near impossible to do any sort of analysis on it since it requires more computing, or rendering, power than anyone but organizations with supercomputers like NASA and IBM can get their hands on.

Now by a stroke of genius the same hardware providers that are selling you online application hosting and storage realize that you might possibly need to analyze all the data that you have been gathering over the years.

Do I have Big Data?

Do you deal in visuals data such as maps, geographical surveys, satellite data of perhaps live video feeds from sporting events or surveillance cameras?

Do you produce Computer graphics, 3D renderings, architectural drawings.

Is your business analysis of financial data, weather data, biological data or perhaps physics.

Should I start learning more about Big Data?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above then the answer is a resounding YES! you should immediately start looking into solutions for not only organizing but also analyzing your data.

If however your data is comprised mainly of Word, Excel and Power point documents your efforts would be better focused around creating processes for organizing and removing outdated files.

And of course, if you work with information technology even in the most general sense you should learn more so that you can keep your CEO informed and dazzle your friends with your knowledge at dinner conversations.

When nothing is everything My way or the Highway An idea is like a seed

Last year on this, the memorial day of the Tohoku Earthquake I wrote a post called “Where were you”. The year after the quake this phrase turned into a greeting phrase among people who were in Japan at the time. It was our way of relating to each other and to bond through an experience that made us all realize that we are in no way as invincible as our youth leads us to believe.

In that post I promised that I would tell another story which was that of not what happened during that day but during the days following it.

As many things do it started with a telephone call…..

The days after the quake I was nervously pacing my flat watching the news non-stop and trying to keep my phone battery fully charged just in case I would be needing it for a quick evacuation when my phone rang:

“Are you free to guide a Dutch TV crew to Ishino-maki?”

I had a quick talk with my wife and after a solemn promise to be as careful as humanly possible I decided to give the producer Peter a call. From what I understood they were camped out near Narita airport with a car, gas, food and everything they needed but a guide and driver who could speak the local language.

The first contact was quick but I wanted to make sure that these fellows knew what they were getting themselves into. We were going into a disaster area and I needed to know that they knew what they were doing. As it turned out my concerns were unfounded as they had all trained survival skills with the SAS and had been both to New Orleans after Katrina and followed the Dutch army into Basra.

I took a train out to Narita to pick them up at their hotel and arrived before lunch. The last thing I explained before we set off is that I wanted them to understand that since I was the only one that could understand the language my word was law. If I say we go it means we go. They agreed and we set out.

Before leaving I had gathered all the information I could possibly find. There was some very contradictory information about the nuclear power plant going out on the news with most Japanese claiming that “Everything is OK”. Seeing the pictures on TV of a plant with no roof I was pretty certain that it was not OK and called my good friend on the news desk at NHK. He confirmed my fears and told me to stay as far away as possible from Fukushima so I decided to drive across the country to Niigata and aim for Ishinomaki from there after waiting it out another night.

The drive to Niigata was uneventful but Gasoline queues were long and you knew things were not normal anymore. Everywhere we stopped we picked up gas and water and any kind of dried/conserved food we could find to make sure that we would be able to get through the days ahead.

At the hotel in Niigata we found a Sky news crew who couldn’t get a car and driver to take them no matter how much they were willing to pay. I spent the night calculating miles and gasoline to make sure that we had enough to get back. Reports were that there was nothing in the area and only one route to get us there.

I was expecting things to go from bad to worse once we got closer to Sendai but the truth is that it was not that bad. The earthquake itself had not really done all that much damage and roads were in very good shape. The main problem was of course that the large Route 5 which is the artery for goods along with train lines were all closed down which meant that not much food stuff or necessities were getting through.

Our first stop was Sendai city hall. Hundreds of fire truck with markings from all over the country were outside and all continuously running shuttle traffic to the beach areas. Army trucks loaded with soldiers made a strange impression on me as I have never seen the likes in Japan before.

Having done a couple of interviews at city hall we slowly made our way down towards the beach. I do not know how to explain it but the feeling as we got closer was extremely primal. You could almost feel the rage from the ocean to which there was no way to get closer than 3km from all the rubble in the way. The information was that we would get a 15 min warning if there was another Tsunami coming in so we parked the car facing in the escape direction and I gave the instruction that no one moves further than 500 meters.

Filming down by the sea we met locals and managed to interview them as well. I am not sure if I would be up for speaking on camera after having lost 4 members of my family so I must express the strength I felt from these survivors. They were picking among the rubble made up of everything from roof tiles to a suitcase to ski boots and a ladies hat. Someone found a photo album which turned out to be his high-school graduation album amongst all this and carefully cradled in his arms while slowly walking away towards the shelter were he was staying.

We followed in the car and went into one of the schools which had been designated as a temporary shelter. Every single person we asked had a story where they had lost members of their families and friends. One gentleman had been swept away by the tsunami while driving his car and managed to escape through the back window. His son, who had been in the passenger seat, no one had seen or heard anything about since.

As the day drew to an end and we had finished the interviews for the night we made our way back up into Sendai to look for a place to stay for the night. Needless to say the hotels were all full and we started to get used to the idea of sleeping in the car as we roamed around the city with a soft bed after a long day on our minds.

And then it hit me……Love hotels…..For the uninitiated these are rooms you can rent for a couple of hours to spend with your special friend when staying at home is just too cramped. We found the area and after a quick search there it was, like a beacon in the sky, the Sakura Inn. Not only did they have 3 rooms available but what was even more incredible was that they had both electricity and hot water!!!!

We checked in and went in search for food. Sendai is known for barbecued cows tongue but of course we were willing to take just about anything hot we could get our hands on. Most restaurants were closed since there was no electricity but our luck held to the point were we came across a local hole in the wall barbecuing outside and selling it in plastic bags. They even had beer. So I had grilled cows tongue and a cold beer in Sendai on March 13th 2011. Thinking about it today I almost feel guilty…..

As we settled in for the night  I could not sleep. I had been up 18 hours and driving for 12 but with the news it was just impossible. Rumor was that the second reactor at Fukushima was about to blow and I was not sure I wanted to be in Sendai when it happened. There is a mountain ridge between Fukushima and Niigata and if I had a choice that is where I wanted to be.

I gathered the team and asked their advice while translating the news on radio and TV as they came in. In the end we made the decision to drive back to Niigata which with hindsight proved the right decision since the second reactor went up like a firecracker later on that night.

The trip home proved uneventful even though we nearly ran out of gas on the Shuto-Ko highway after a wrong turn. My dutch friends went home and had a radiation test done which showed that they were not exposed to any large degree which made me calm down as well.

With hindsight perhaps going up there was a fools errand but I simply could not sit still and do nothing when It was in my power to do so. Spreading the message to the world meant more support and aid from the international community and I hope I at least played a small part in bringing that about.

Never forget!

3.11

Where were you? Young Chamber Network The routine of an earthquake

Did your mother never tell you it is not polite to point fingers?

There are a myriad of proverbs, sayings and old folks tales that in very plain language talk to us about not being hasty about assigning blame to another party.

The Swedish saying is that “You should make sure your own porch is clean before you criticize others*

In the bible (John 8:7) you find Jesus telling the crowd gathered for the stoning of an adulteress “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone”

Aesop’s fables have provided us with stories of morality and humanity since 500 BC and the two best example of the blame game are perhaps the Dog owner who lashes out at his dog for not being ready and for the rivers blaming the ocean for making them undrinkable.

When we are faced with a situation that we believe is out of our control we instinctively look for someone or something to blame. Be it the gods or the neighbors we do anything to not have to examine our own actions to see if it is not the case that we ourselves were perhaps at least partially responsible.

Worst are the situations when a problem is large enough to threaten one and all and we are caught simply arguing about who’s fault it is rather than finding a solution to the situation at hand.

So before pointing a finger always point it at yourself and say “What can I do”. Should it later turn out that the situation was caused by someone other than yourself you will have an opportunity to not only forgive but also to teach and to ensure that the same mistake is prevented from happening again.

No good has ever come of being hasty.

Positive Vibrations Going through the motions Rejoice Death

I would say that University was for me a great time for reflection. Even though I have always read a lot on the account of my father being an avid fan of falling asleep with a book covering his face there was never a lot of time spent reflecting on any of the truths contained in the material that I went through.

I was always just to busy with playing sports or meeting friends or any of the other myriad of things that occupy the day of your average youth. In many ways I did these things because I enjoyed them but also because I always felt that my mind was very loud. If I did not fill my waking hours with activity my mind would race at 100 mp/h with thoughts on all kinds of topics. To some part this is true even today and I find that if I do not make sure to exercise properly my mind catches up with my body and drives it to absolute madness.

There needs to be balance in all things and for me the hardest part is that of the mental vs the physical.

During University I dare say however that I spent less time focusing on my body and more time focusing on my mind. This is what University is for so in no way do I regret wandering the huge library to randomly pick up books and spend hours reading on obscure topics much of which will probably never really benefit me in the real sense of the word.

The environment was filled with scholars and thinkers from all parts of the world and if there was ever a time when I consolidated thoughts that I had always had on the equality of man and race this was it. Walls were broken, borders crossed and pre-conceived notions on what the world was/is and how it works were shattered into a million pieces.

Having gone through an incomplete metamorphosis I remember going home to my father and asking him in a most insensitive fashion “at what time in life one gives up his ideals” My father answered me as best he could but no answer would have been right as my thinking was still very much in an infant stage.

One never gives up on his morals and I dare say my father never did.

Dogma then is the way that we organize these morals into a system of belief that we make work for ourselves.

The morals are the good and the bad and the luggage we carry with us.

The dogma is how we fit these into our daily lives to create who we are and how we interact with society.

I want to live a life where I added something to the equation.

I want to be remembered as someone who always tried to shine light into the shadows.

I  want my friends to know that I care about them.

I want my actions to always be based on love.

When truth stares you in the face know that you are blessed.

Only a fool ignores the truths that are put before him.

Rejoice Death The Blame Game Internet training from Pre-school

An idea is like a seed,you have to give it room to grow.

When you plant a seed people only focus on the outcome and the fruit that your tree will bear.

In their rush they forget that between there and now there are countless hours of caring for the seed to make it grow. Many are the obstacles on the way and the pitfalls that you must navigate in order to have oranges for your orange juice.

An idea,like a seed, needs space:

If you plant an idea in too small a space it will never grow into its full potential just like a tree in too small a pot.

An idea, like a seed, needs light:

An idea unspoken is nothing more than a pipe dream. It needs to be put into the light for critique in order to bloom.

An idea, like a seed, needs nourishment:

An idea is never finished but should always be polished upon. Keep feeding it input and just like the plant uses water your idea will expand its reach.

An idea, like a seed, needs time:

Given space, light and nourishment your idea is ready to bloom. But just like in nature things will take their natural course. Nature can not be hurried and neither can ideas. Have the courage and strength to say that the fruit is not ripe yet and therefore should not be picked until it is.

If you can adhere to these rules perhaps your idea will flourish and you and those around you will have sweet tasting oranges.

But if you give into pressure maybe you will find that the oranges are still hard and bitter and instead of praise you will be scorned for growing such low quality produce.

After all, no one likes a bitter orange…..

When nothing is everything My way or the Highway Japan shifting gear?