Michael on ‘The Problem of Business’ …

Nearly all of business education–even at postgraduate level–is misguided, even misleading. It is, for the most part, faithfully based on a false premise–that the problem of business is growth. When, in fact, the problem of business is survival.

Most business leaders spend their time and energy on solving the wrong problem. Yes, of course, growth is critical in business but the MAIN PROBLEM is that most business fail to survive long enough to grow.

Of the Fortune 500 class of 1974 only 22 of those businesses still survive. These are the big companies. The failure to survive of smaller companies is ten times worse.

Since Darwin explained the reasons 150 years ago, we know that it’s not the strongest or the largest that survive but it’s those best prepared to cope with change.

On this BIG PROBLEM of survival, most business executives are shockingly ignorant and deplete in their formal education. They know little or nothing useful about the science of strategic darwinian thinking. They venture forth naked and ill-equipped in their approach to the chaos of the marketplace–the whirling, howling, cacophonous wilderness of the global marketplace with its ferocious fads, toxic wastes, and vicious moods, its callous explosions and cruel extinctions putting capricious end to the blind and righteous rivalry across pointless medieval double-entry boardrooms.

Extravagant expenditures of directors’ time and energy are squandered on the talmudic reading of balance-sheets and P&Ls, like the obsesive pre-scientific study of entrails, when less than one director in a hundred could give an intelligent, educated account of what strategy it would take for their business to survive in the fast-changing environment of the next decade.

Experiment: Ask any director you know to demonstrate their strategic understanding of darwinian evolution and to show how s/he uses that knowledge to safeguard the future of the company in the faster-changing environment of the marketplace. If you get a clear, articulate response it will be a surprise.

Is there any business school in Australia that insists their graduates understand the strategic business application of the darwinian imperative? Are there any of the endless ‘case studies’ churned out by business schools devoted to darwinian business strategy?

Do let me know if you find one.

As we yawn and open our eyes in the morning, the brain stem sends little puffs of nitric oxide to another part of the brain, the thalamus, which then directs it elsewhere.

Like a computer booting up its operating system before running more complicated programs, the nitric oxide triggers certain functions that set the stage for more complex brain operations, according to a new study.

In these first moments of the day, sensory information floods the system—the bright sunlight coming through the curtains, the time on the screeching alarm clock—and all of it needs to be processed and organized, so the brain can understand its surroundings and begin to perform more complex tasks.

More on this article …

I just googled ‘god’ to get an image and this is the first image that came up:

“God is a dangerous delusion“, writes Oxford Professor Richard Dawkins in his best-seller The God Delusion in which he explains that ‘the god concept’ is little more than a dangerous mutation in human thinking .

Not since Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code has a book created such a thinking phenomenon around the world.

Yet, billions still persist in their belief in the pantheon of gods or in a personal god of one kind or another. For example, recently a group in Iraq were annihilated because of their belief in angels and in a Peacock Angel.

THOUGHT EXPERIMENT: What do you believe? If you were asked to describe your own personal belief in 25 words, what would be your definition of god. I will publish the results online when we get 100 posts.

You can post your own ‘definition of god’ here:

Meet Professor Richard Wiseman who holds Britain’s only chair in the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire.

Prof Wiseman’s latest book, Quirkology, explores the curious science of everyday life, including the psychology of lying, love, and laughter. His work is fun, quirky and science-based. Find out:

How does your surname influence your life?

What does the way you walk reveal about your personality?

Why should women have men write their personal ads?

What is the funniest joke in the world?

Why are people in Delhi more helpful than Londoners?

How can you tell when someone is lying?

Why do incompetent politicians win elections?

What is the best chat-up line?

This New York Times (07/01/07) article was reprinted in GOOD WEEKEND August 11, 2007:

The Geelong Grammar School, a prestigious boarding and day school in Australia, is planning to shape its curriculum around the precepts of positive psychology in 2008, and the government of Scotland has also been in touch with Seligman to see whether the discipline might help its citizens. “Our old nation has been renewed through our new Parliament, and if we can embrace this new science of positive psychology, we have the opportunity to create a new Enlightenment,” one government official announced.

See: Positive Thinking Makes You Happier 

More Americans accept theory of creationism than theory of evolution …

PRINCETON, NJ — The majority of Republicans in the United States do not believe the theory of evolution is true and do not believe that humans evolved over millions of years from less advanced forms of life.

This suggests that when three Republican presidential candidates at a May debate stated they did not believe in evolution, they were generally in sync with the bulk of the rank-and-file Republicans whose nomination they are seeking to obtain.

Read more …

   Brain Facts:
Your brain weighs about 3 pounds (1,300-1,400 g).

Your brain has about 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) neurons.

There are 1,000 to 10,000 synapses for your “typical” neuron.

The total surface area of your cerebral cortex is about 2500 sq. cm.

Unconsciousness will occur 8-10 seconds after loss of blood supply to your brain.

Neurons multiply at a rate 250,000 neurons/minute during early pregnancy.

You have 12 pairs of cranial nerves.

You have 31 pairs of spinal nerves.

There are about 13,500,000 neurons in your spinal cord.

You can hear in the range of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.

“Creativity is the process of having original ideas, but there are several steps. The first step is imagination, the capacity that we all have to see something in the mind’s eye. Creativity is then using that imagination to solve problems — call it applied imagination. Then innovation is putting that creativity into practice as applied creativity.

There are several common misconceptions about creativity. The first is that people think that only SOME are creative. yet It’s in the nature of human beings that we ARE creative.

The second misconception is that creativity is about design and marketing. What the TED conference shows is that creativity is central to the practice of science and business and more. Creative initiatives should help you find what you are passionate about.

The third misconception is that you can’t do anything about it. Yes, you CAN cultivate creativity.”

———-

Special Treat: Stop everything! Sit back, take a deep breath, relax for 15 minutes and enjoy one of the world’s best speakers on Creativity & Innovation–Sir Ken Robinson–who will entertain and inspire you and make your day.

MELBOURNE: Saturday, 28 July 2007
The Saturday Age, MY CAREER section, Page 6

MARCELLA BIDINOST: The writings of Edward de Bono fascinated the young Michael Hewitt-Gleeson. Now, aged 60, he is principal of the School of Thinking, which he founded with de Bono …
I WAS halfway through a marketing degree at RMIT when, at the age of 20, I was called up for national service in Vietnam. I was sent on an amazing 22-week leadership training program in Scheyville (west of Sydney) in 1967. Tim Fischer, Jeff Kennett and head of natural health company Marcus Blackmore also did this training.

When I returned from Vietnam and while I was working part-time in the air force, an education officer gave me a book by Edward de Bono, author of Lateral Thinking . I started raving about it to everyone and when I learned de Bono was coming to Australia, I paid $500, a lot of money in 1973, to attend his seminar in Melbourne. By that point, I was hooked.

My idea was to combine the army training technology with De Bono’s CoRT syllabus for thinking.

I offered to work with de Bono free, so we met in New York and soon enough founded the School of Thinking together. I stayed in the States for 14 years.

Read the rest of the article here …

Blair to Branson, Gorbachev to Gerry Adams: many and varied are those who have sat at the feet of the lord of lateral thinking and pope of H+. Dave Waller tracked the philosopher/guru to his Maltese birthplace but found it an unsettling experience.

I had a meeting at the Russian Politburo once.’ Edward De Bono, the father of lateral thinking, is reminiscing. ‘The chairman of the foreign affairs bureau had my book on conflict resolution open on his desk. “This isn’t Gorbachev’s copy,” he said. “He’s got his own”.’ A senior politician later told Dr De Bono his work was required reading in the Kremlin. De Bono probably wasn’t too surprised about that: he’s used to moving in high places. After all, this is a man who dined and advised at Chequers with the Blairs.

Read the article here …