Tag Archives: thinking

Wisdom for Success in a 21st Century VUCA World

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21st Century World is characterized by VUCA of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity plus Deception (VUCAD). Successful living calls for a new mindset. The world-view of the factors, causes and proposed solutions are shown in a Visual Model. But surprisingly the wisdom that you need is not new but originated 5000 year-ago in a book called i-Ching, meaning, the Bible for Change. Applying the wisdom will lead to you the objective of harmony and abundance making up of diversities of people, races, cultures, living things in nature and in the universe.

Alvin Toffler, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn”.

So what do we need to unlearn and relearn?

The Generations of Our Mindset
1. The Deterministic World of Clarity and Confidence
The mindset of the 19th century industry age is deterministic cause-effect, which is still the mindset of many people today, even those in the government, the engineering and the scientific mindset… symptoms of the one best answer, cockiness, which we now call them presumptuous.
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2. The Probabilistic World and Control Limits – Not so sure but predictable within limits
The mindset of the 20th century, thanks to quantum and statistical theories, is a probabilistic world with predictability. We understand variation, standard deviation, and we only jump when things are outside the control limits. E W Deming’s A system of profound knowledge is a must read. It covers four areas of  an appreciation of systems, understanding of variation, theory of knowledge, and psychology.
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3. The VUCA World – What shall we do in this seemingly mess?
The mindset of the 21st century, the hot term in this week seminars, is VUCA which stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. VUCA comes from the US Military awhile back but is new to the management gurus. Some military literature have it as VUCAD, with D standing of delay in the feedback of information from the confusing raw data. But I would like to change the D to represent Deception. In the VUCA world, delay is implied. However, in this modern world of spam, hoaxes, outright sabotaging, it is important to recognize intentional Deception and be not deceived.
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The key is how do we live successfully in this VUCA world?
Do a google on VUCA and see the articles on how to, especially on leadership.
The are books that address this issue such as Strategic Speed: Mobilize People…, Leaders Make the Future: Ten New… etc.
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The Big Surprise
But the BIGGGGG SURPRISEEEEEEEEEEE, the leadership advices from the above articles and books are only a subset of the wisdom of I-CHING, the “Bible for Change”. The unchanging principles of i-Ching is a good guide for us to live in this VUCA world. To read more about i-Ching, see http://mind-value.blogspot.sg/2012/05/making-i-ching-come-alive.html.
The VUCAD World Visual Model:
Hope you like it and please share your advice with us.
Lim Liat (C) 22 Sep 2012

The Superior Mindset of A Leader – The 4 D Model V4

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The first version of the 4D Leadership Model is presented in The Superior Mindset of A Leader – The 4 Dimensional Thinking.

Here is the additional update:

The Version 4.0 Chart:

Changes: A Growth Model added.

Height: Added ‘Increasing levels of expertise” showing stages of growth.

  1. No one become a great leader at once. Leadership is developed through time. Before a leader can stand at a next higher plane than others, he must learn, starting from novice, to professional and then expert master. We grows from children, young people to parents. In the book of i-Ching, we have a 6-stage model of growth ( Learning from “I-Ching” Part 04 1-乾 Heaven – Creative Force).
  2. Length: Added – The Journey of Reaching a Predetermined Destination.
    Life is the journey. The length represents the routes we take, including the de-tours to by pass obstacles, getting lost and finding our way back, but we continue until we reach our destination.
  3. Depth: Added – Identity and Character Building and What You are Made Of
    As we grow, we discover and become more assured of our identity. We become more and more stable. We don’t sway easily nor give in to external pressure. Ancient Chinese Classics teaches us that leader develops from the inside first and then rule externally.(See Understanding The Great Learning DaXue in One Minute).
  4. Breadth: Added Inclusivity This is a word that captures the essence of Breadth – openness of the mind to welcome ideas and openness of the heart to embrace people of different diversities. It is extending of self to include others of a greater community and the environment too.
Lim Liat (C) 18 Sep 2012