Session 4

Week 4 at SMU started with a great class of TWC. DRIVERS OF WORLD CHANGEProf discussed about how the first industrial revolution went from non-mechanized to mechanized. The second one will move from energy intensive, non-sustainable to more sustainable and energy saving technology.“If everyone consumed as much energy as the average Singaporean and US resident, the world’s oil reserves would be depleted in 9 years". To say that Singapore cannot do anything about this is the same as saying that US cannot do anything because they only have 5 % of the population.We then discussed the concept of north and south countries. The north in the 1960s was considered to be all the wealthy nations, while the south countries were the poorer countries. The northern countries outsourced all the production to the south ones, while the southern ones undertook more production to move towards development. This led to major depletion of resources. After the cold war, the first world countries were the capitalist countries, the second world countries were the communist, pseudo rich countries, while the third world countries were the ones stuck in the midst of this, the underdeveloped countries.We also discussed the importance of conserving resources. Once Singapore, and other countries of the world, decide it wants to work on renewable source of energy, it can undertake that target. The people, the consumers need to indicate that they want change, they want sustainable energy, only then will the government and industries decide to move towards this goal. A driver for world change is a factor that can play a direct role in bringing about a change in the world. It changes the rule of the ball game and thus people will have to change accordingly.Prof quoted a few famous, dead people, like Charles Darwin says that the one who is able to adapt to change as the world changes, only that person can survive. If you cannot change with time, you are screwed, you cannot survive. Only if a business environment can change with the changing market conditions, will they be able to survive and prosper. Neither the strongest, nor the most intelligence will survive. Only that who can change will survive.George Bernard Shaw- the reasonable man adapts himself to the environment, accepts the norms of the society but the unreasonable man wants to change the world, he does not accept things he does not like. Progress depends on such unreasonable people. Only they will fight for a change. An unreasonable man says that I want things to work in this way and I am prepared to make it happen.Oliver Wendell Holmes- once we see a different way of doing things, we realize there are many other ways to do it. Our minds don’t go back to the old concepts. Once you have been stretched to a new idea of doing things, you wont go back to the old ways. You change the way you operate.Each game comes with a set of rules. If you change the rules, the game changes. We discussed the various types of Environmental drivers- evolution: growth, change, and metamorphosis. Environmental drivers are also exposures to germs, which changed people, their immune systems. Scientific drivers: new technologies, new discoveries, and easier and faster way of solving problemsCompetition- big driver for change.As people evolve, they want faster and better things. So progress changes all of that.APDC- Action, Plan, Do, Change. It is a circular process, it is slow and developmental.When we talk about technology revolution, we mean a radical change is technology. Revolution allows you to radically transform the way you operate.Disruptive change- it is an irreversible change in your expected future. Disruptive change is akin to revolutionary change.We also discussed how people adapt differently to change in the environment. Accordingly, there are 5 kinds- Innovators, Early adopters, Early majority pragmatists, Late majority conservatives and Skeptics.The chasm between the early adopters and early majority pragmatists is very difficult to cross over.The individual presentations by Eric, Alister and Chong Hui were really interesting, especially the concept of WikiCells, which provides a bio-degradable solution to food wrapping.CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND CHANGE LEADERSHIPProf told us about the three kinds of people, who are like 3 birds- people like eagles, who are informative and soar high in the sky, then swoop in and take advantage of the opportunity.People like Ostrich bury their heads in the ground and pretend like they do not know what is happeningPeople like Dodo who do not adapt to change, and in the process become extinct.It is important to undertake change and not just sit and complain. Unless you are prepared to majestically fall and smash your face on the ground, you will never achieve greatly.W. Edwards Denning says that it is not essential to change. If you want to survive, change, if you don’t want to survive, don’t change. It is not essential to survive. It is a personal choice. If we don’t change with time, we will be left behind and be like the dodo birds.We then discussed the difference between leadership and management:A manager follows an existing trail, but a leader explores new ideas and leaves a new trail behind.A manager works well within a paradigm. Once he knows what has to be done, he gets the work done within the scope.The leader creates the appropriate paradigm for the people to work in. A leader gives the organization a new vision and direction, while the manager ensures that the work is done according to this vision and direction.The concepts of reactiveness and pro-activeness were also discussed. When you respond to change, you are being reactive. When you are leading change, you are being pro active. When you change before you are required to, you are being pro active. Preparing for growth that hasn’t taken place yet is being pro active.We were shown a video about a guy, dancing like a maniac, and how he ends up getting followers. The lesson learnt was that you can't be a leader unless you have followers. Without the first follower, a person is just a nut case. The first follower is the one who generates the other followers. The leader should consider the first few followers to be equals, as all the other followers will follow the first few followers and not the leader. If you can create a movement and followers, you can become a true leader. Anyone can be a leader.Prof also discussed about the Pessimism Time Curve, which has the following stages:Uninformed optimism- you are excited about the future, as it is unknownInformed pessimism- when you actually face reality, you realize the difficulties and then you understand the hard work, you want to give up, can’t handle it.Crossing over from informed pessimism to informed reality is a very hard one.Informed reality- you accept the challenges, you accept the realityCompletion- you finish it off.The individual presentations by Chermaine on Steve Jobs vs John Kotter was really amusing. It was really interesting to see Steve Jobs management skills being judged on the basis of some basic management principles. Shien Tah, also, presented an enlightening perspective on Jack Welch's personality.I would rate this class an 8 on 10. A lot of interesting and innovative ideas on sustainability were discussed, along with the very conflicting ideas of leadership and management, which has always created confusion!