INTRODUCTION
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to
gather wood, divide the work and give orders.
Instead, teach them
to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The
above saying aptly captures the essence of this book “Lessons from the Sands”. Too often we get caught up with the “how-to”
of things, I call it the “mechanics” of things; we get impatient when we are
unable to conceive the format of specific steps, frameworks and the whole
program management of things. We want to
know very quickly the shortest and quickest way to get the job done and reach
the destination with the least amount of effort and time.
Typically,
we want the assurance of knowledge of everything and demands minimum wastage of
time and resource to get there, wherever there is. This method works perfectly fine in light of modern
management, productivity, efficiencies and the likes.
Along
the way, amidst the “busy-ness” of everything, we forgot the original purpose
of why we want that “something” in the first place.
This
book intends reminds us to focus on that “something”: “the yearning for the vast and endless sea”,
it seeks to provide insight to the value and purpose of every single task that
we do everyday, routine or otherwise. It
will describes the “beyond” of things with greater details so that when we come
back to the daily grind of things, we will hopefully, have a better sense of
meaning, enlightened perspective and reflective insights that might endear us the long journey ahead.
The
tone and pace of this book is shown in the sub-titles: “Not Just…”; urging the
reader to really go beyond e.g. the mere existence of living, the simple
knowledge, the ordinary application, the plain achievement etc.,. It is in this mindset of “BEYOND” that
defines that there is a whole great exciting world out there that awaits us, in
the place called “BEYOND”. That is what
this book is really about: endless pursuit to get to the “beyond” with vigour
and zest.
In the last chapter, I will
be introducing a new concept,
“BUILDERSHIP” and hope to
show how it goes beyond leadership and the relationship between them. The significance of this new concept
highlights the purpose of leadership, instead of just the mere “mechanics”
From a simple fascination
of building sandcastles with Tom, Linda and my other nephews in 1993, to many
insights of the wonderful lessons of life along this great journey, this book
hopes to capture the essence, for all to enjoy.
This
is a book about inspiration, about purpose and about building lives.
Enjoy
the read.
ALVIN
LEE
There are many
other words that can describe yearning: desire, thirst, hope, optimism, wish,
longing, looking forward. Do find any of
these words that will resonate with you, as it is more important to understand
the concepts rather than using the words that might limit understanding.
PART 2:
The first lesson is a simple 4-steps process
flow. The simplicity of these 4 steps is
its very strength. Let me explain:
Summary of the 4 steps
At times, great anticipation can “kill” a great beginning by having un-realistic expectation at the early stages.
PART 3:
My summary is that builders (constructivists):
About this book: Value & Purpose
Like
my first book “Castles Can Fly”, my main reason for writing was to create a proper
record of the experiences and stories into one place; so that I do not need to
remember them, or to repeat them many times.
Unlike
my first book, which is primarily about my own story of creating a dream
sandcastle construction set, Beachworks, which was showcased in New York Toy
fair in 1997, this second book is about everybody else’s stories and
experiences, which revolves around building sandcastles, the insights gotten
from the experience and how they apply it to building lives. Since 2003, I have been sharing these stories
in my motivation talk: “Lessons from the Sands”, which received generous
positive feedback.
Both
books share the similar trait of providing engaging inspiration and more
importantly, to opening minds to a whole new world. Some call this Awareness, Realizations, “Higher
Consciousness”, others “enlightenment”.
For me, I really do not have a word to describe this great wonderful
experience, which is why I eventually called it ‘LESSONS FROM THE SANDS”
Knowledge,
for knowledge sake, is only the beginning.
To me, it is the application part, the “doing”, that really matters,
that really brings us on the journey to something, something “BEYOND”
As
you read further, I hope you will find optimism throughout the pages; you may
find some epiphanies here and there, or mild form of enlightenment along the
way. You also may discover that I do not
relate to any one single source, but rather from a rich diverse worlds of
“discoveries”; from the deep world of philosophies, forgotten great classics of
literature, the Buddhist spiritual world of Zen learning, the ancient domain of
Sufi, the source of architectural appreciation, the primal beauty of sculptures,
the exciting world of new pedagogies in experiential education, from the
Association of Experiential Education, AEE based in USA, to contemporaries like
Paulo Coelho “THE ALCHEMIST, the lives of current greats like Steve Jobs, and
lots of real life stories and experiences from the corporate world, the personal
stories of insight lives’ challenges, and still so much more.
From
it all, I hope to introduce new vocabulary and frameworks to use it for every
day’s application.
From
my little research, I put together this body of works that will hopefully
attribute to greater understanding and appreciation of the world around us.
In
a nutshell, the value of this book is to open new worlds.
To the corporate world: see new ways of building
“things”
To the education world: see new ways of learning
“things”
To the individuals: see new ways of
making sense of the world and live fullest, and yearn, once again
The
purpose of this book is only one; Awareness
to build a better world.
How
to use this book:
“the greatest
thing by far is to be a master of metaphor.”
Aristotle in Poetics,
“Metaphor is
one of the brain’s favorite ways of understanding the ‘this and that’ of our
surroundings, and reminds us that we discover the world by engaging it and
seeing what happens next.
Diane Ackerman, An Alchemy of Mind
Understanding
Metaphors
The
experiences and simple stories that I will be sharing came from building great
sandcastles and show them as a metaphor to transfer the insights for practical
workplace and life application. As such, the best way to use this book is to
have in mind a specific area which you may want to apply these lessons e.g.
building an incredible sales team or building personal lives. In that way, you
will have your own mental picture and application of the insights. You will probably form new meanings and
insights by yourself, hopefully triggered by some of the thoughts, ideas and
insights from this sandcastles experience.
Maybe, it has nothing to do with sandcastles at all, which is also perfectly
fine for me. The whole idea is to
trigger one’s thought process to open up a newer world.
This process of opening up a newer
world is what I believed the education academics called it “constructivism at
work”, i.e. we learn new things and construct newer things with it.
As the subject for building specific ”things”
is too varied and diverse, this book is not a “how-to” guide book. It does not intend to provide details on specific
steps nor exacting principles of execution.
The actual details will have to be worked by the reader only after
understanding the whole concept. Perhaps,
later on in the series of books, I may go into greater details, but just not
right now.
Neither is this book a “feel-good” book,
although I do make an effort to provide inspiration; just no specific steps
e.g. how to be a better manager, how to be a great parent etc., Guiding principles, yes, specific details,
no.
It is, however, a practical and
down-to-earth book for everyday application, filled with descriptive guides to
provide an overall feel and sense of what it takes to build “things. This is a part-inspirational and part-DIY
(Do-it-yourself) kind of book. It will
require your active mental engagement, some reflection, some stillness of the
mind and preferably read with an open mind.
By understanding the process of
building great sandcastles is only the beginning, albeit an important one. The parallel is to understand one’s nature, the
nature of “things”.
It might be helpful to know that this
method of using metaphor has been around for a very long time: from the fables
of Aesops in children storytelling , to the endless parables in the Bible, to
modern day literature, {read: Animal Farm} to the “un-explainable” Zen
experience of learning life and applying it.
So, it should be of some comfort that all I am doing is to really focus
on the experience of building great sandcastles and making references into
workplace and life application.
No, this is also not a book “How to
make a million bucks while you sleep”.
This is about how to live life fullest and enjoy its wonderful-ness.
Enjoy the metaphors.
PART 1:
THE
SANDCASTLE
TO YEARN FOR THE VAST AND
ENDLESS SEA
Architecture is frozen music
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
JOY
AND FASCINATION OF BUILDING GREAT SANDCASTLES
I
really must start with all thing good and great about what building sandcastles
can do for the soul before anything else.
Without this important first step, everything else in here will be
“meaningless” and empty.
Following
Goethe statement that architecture is frozen music, my take is that a great
sandcastle is fantasy in architecture.
It
is the pure joy of bringing to life a pile of beach sand with the mental notion
of an exciting world of soldiers and knights, conjuring images of a fantasy land
filled with possibilities and excitement.
It
is pure delight to imagine and finally made very intricate doors, windows,
arches, bridges coming out from very pure and basic material of sand and water.
The
endless possibilities in design and technical challenges bring out the pure
childhood delight of surreal-like creation.
The wow-factor that never fail to impress all with a 6 footer tall sand
tower, complete with delicate finishes.
Perhaps
it is the fascination with creating something so primal and basic like beach
sand and seeing wonderful minarets, towers, walls that open a world of amazement
and fantasy, not unlike what one would find in the fantasy art world.
Perhaps
it is the rhythm of the tides continuously lapping up the shores, the endless
white sheet of beach sand that is left behind that softly rocks the soul ever
so gently.
Or
could it be the gently breezes that kisses the cheek; the endless yonder where
the eyes can see? The clouds, the blue
skies, the children laughter and sense of awe, altogether sums up this rich
unforgettable experience.
All
in all, the real magic may not just be the great sandcastles, but really it is
the beach that makes all the difference.
You will not be able to achieve the same magic in a sandbox, nor in the
shopping centers nor the green fields’ area.
The
very act of communing with mother nature, digging and piling the sand and
returning the sand back to the same beach with basic tools that produces
impressive results is very therapeutically wonderful.
To
some, like myself, sheer heaven means no computer, no electronics, no fancy
gadgets etc.,
Just
pure human interaction and a very determined attitude to have a great time no
matter what.
My
yearning, then in 1993 and still is now, is for all the children in the world
to build great looking sandcastles. Yes,
I still yearn that.
{
Show lots of impressive sandcastle pictures with smiling faces, young and old }
Some
examples of yearning:
In
1984, Steve Jobs created Apple Macintosh and thereafter, created an almost
cult-like following of Apple Mac users.
In 2009, Steve Jobs once again started another revolution when he created
iphone. Folllowing similar philosophy of providing icon friendly to end
consumer, in the shortest time, through his sheer genius he created another magical
world.
As
I am writing this book now, the world is yearning for iphone 5.
For
high end consumer industry, the yearning is especially significant.
In
the auto industries, all the big brands are what all car lovers yearn for.
In
the fashion industries, all the ladies of the world generally agree on a few
certain brands that evokes that kind of adulation and worship. The yearning never stops, even when the girls
grow older.
In
the food industries, everyone will swear by their own favorite dish, made by
their favourite person, usually mom, or chefs and kitchen from all around the
world. That longing for that simple
taste would be easily described as heavenly.
The
purpose of describing yearning for the corporate workplace application is to
define that “something” that makes your product and services special; maybe not
to all people, but to those that matters.
Yearning,
when defined, will provide a clue to the kind of vision, effort and whole host
activities that needs to done in the later stages. But, only when yearning is defined.
YEARN, NOT JUST LIVE
It
is often said that everything begins with a vision.
I
will go one further; every vision begins with a yearning. A yearning for a better world, a yearning to
end suffering, a yearning to a better life etc.,
All
great endeavors of the humankind begins with a yearning; revolutions, products,
companies, communities, countries, statehood must all begin with a yearning,
which lead to a vision, hopefully ably articulated to the rest of the masses.
Without
yearning, it will be just a mere vision without meaning and purpose.
Without
yearning, we are merely doing a “job”, not much else.
Without
yearning, humans will be reduced to mere existence,; no better than mere
animals albeit with some greater intelligence.
The
vast and endless sea relates to the world of “BEYOND” that I will be referring
to quite often.
|
PART 2:
THE LEARNING
Understanding
building of sandcastles
This segment is devoted to explain how sandcastles
building can be a wonderful learning medium for various purposes.
From the beginning, at the lowest level,
sandcastle building is often perceived as a time for the families with young
children to spend a few hours by the beach.
It is usually associated with very young children and toddlers; and it
consists of nothing more than sandplay for the little ones to explore their
hands grabbing the plastic toys, feeling the texture of sand with their bare
palms and for the older ones, running to the sea to collect pails of water.
All in all, a few hours for everyone just to
unwind and soak in the wind, the sun and the sea. Nothing more, really. I call this state: Level 1 – Basic Level
At the next level, you have people like myself
and many others, who want the thrill of being able to construct that taller
sandcastle that bears some resembles to the real castle, those tall arches that
seems to defy gravity, the moat that comes with the castle, the bridges that
seems to lead to nowhere and those tall walls that surrounds the castle and so
much more. This is level 2 for me. –
Beginner’s Level
At the other extreme end, at the highest level,
you may come across, on the newspaper or the internet, those world championship
of sand sculptures that showcase Michaelangelo type of beautiful masterpiece
works of arts. Those, I believe, belongs
to very talented few, who possess those blessed gift of producing intricateness
and fine details with awe-inspiring designs and themes. This level goes far beyond just sandcastles,
into the world of very fine details of facial features, flowing hair, petals
and endless possibilities.
Speechless, with great admiration, is how I feel
about their works and the talent they possess.
I will call this span anywhere between level 5 to level 10, depending on
the quality of fine details. This is
Master Class levels
The purpose of this book is not about the
intricacies of these levels. Perhaps,
one day in the future, I might share with greater details. Meantime, my focus is on the learning.
Somewhere between level 2 and level 5, there
exist levels for decent looking sand castles for people without talent. That’s
the reason why Beachworks was created in 1995.
Beachworks enable mere mortals, without much innate talent and learned skills
the ability to produce decent looking sandcastles and the endless permutation
of combining the different tool and molds
to produce endless designs of sandcastles. I call this level 3 – Beachworks Level
Level 4 is about the learning from the experience
of building sandcastles. From the many
years of doing teambuilding programs for the corporate, the management staff,
the teaching staff and practically all other walks of lives, I created this
medium for the participants to translate their experience into workplace
application. Much later, upon collecting
lots of these lessons, I then realized the application into life in general.
I call this level 4: Learning level, which is
the primary purpose of this book.
The learning here does not relate to building
better sandcastles, even though with practice it can be done. More importantly, it is the ability to learn,
to see, to be aware of the building process and the ability to relate to
workplace and life, in general.
When I first start out in the teambuilding
industry, and it still exist today, it is more of activities than of learning. For example, lots of these so-called team-building
programs consists of nothing more than a series of recreational
activities. While I do not disagree for
the need of recreation, I do, however, feel very strongly that it should not be
term as team-building. It is basically
recreation with no serious effort to translate the learning process.
When there is some learning process, I found
that the level of facilitating the learning to be very basic and generic. The
so-called “teambuilding” lessons were rather superficial and there was
practically zero or very little transference to actual corporate
challenges. I told myself, there must be
more to it than just that.
It is in this light that I went a lot deeper
into the world of experiential learning, particularly with sandcastle building.
The learning part will be a lot clearer when I
explain all the different learning.
My purpose of creating this framework of different
levels is to facilitate better understanding and communication. I have great difficulties to make my customer
see what I am really trying to do with the learning part. Quite often, all they do see is only level 1,
at best level 2, and no more.
It is especially crucial in the teambuilding
industries, where lots of players who have no clue, knowledge and understanding
of sandcastle building, yet proclaim by using pictures off the internet to be
sandcastle building programs provider. I
hope you can understand my pain and agony.
This book is to provide clarity on the subject
of learning from building sandcastles.
Sandcastles
as a metaphor for learning
Sandcastle
enjoys a magical feel to it that fascinates people, especially children of all
ages. Poets, song writers, philosophers,
zen masters, story tellers would use them freely to describe something
free-spirited, whimsical and care-free. I managed to locate a few popular
metaphors here and you may think about a few more as you read on:
·
EPHEMERAL (definition: lasting
a very short time; short-lived; transitory)
It is
often thought that it is a pity that the existence of sand castle is so
fleeting and short lived. It resonates
with the thought that life is short, therefore we need to treasure it even more. However, at the same time, sadly it may also provoke
another sentiment: since it lasts so short, why bother so much effort?
·
FRAGILITY
The
sandcastle is so vulnerable to the weather and other elements. It gets easily
destroyed. It does not help that children, especially those with destructive
nature, will destroy it, for no rhyme or reason.
It suggests
impermanence, lack of protection and to most people, it really does not warrant
too much attention nor effort.
·
BEAUTY
With
very basic material, it evokes a different kind of beauty. Not the kind of Michelangelo-type, but more
the kind that ordinary people can create something wonderful like sandcastles. Beauty is also sometimes seen through
wonderment at especially those gravity defying arches, or seemingly impossible
angles of slant. In the sand sculpture
world, it is known as technical challenges.
It
resonates with the wonderment of the ability to create something from nothing.
·
DESTRUCTION
Eventually,
the waves will wash the sandcastle away.
The mighty ocean will reclaim back what is theirs. The realization that the mighty force of Mother
Nature cannot be stopped brings about sadness and pain when faced with harsh
reality of life.
·
TIME
The
sense of time passing, probably induced from the lapping waves, provides a
momentarily freeze of time, or in slow motion.
It is as if times stood still when one is building sandcastles.
·
MEMORIES
Usually
associated with wonderful childhood times spent with families and loved ones.
·
STORIES
Children
will form stories about all the exciting adventures that go on in the
castle. It is not just about the castle,
but the endless possibilities of what can be built. It is that magical feeling
of suddenly being transported to another world; a world that is only limited by
one’s imagination.
These are just some of the
popular images that are associated with sandcastles. From here, I will continue with more lessons
especially from the experience of building aspect of sand castles.
THE
NATURE OF SANDCASTLE
From
my close contacts with the creation called sandcastles since 1993, I began to
sense the true nature of sandcastles.
This I how I truly feel about the sandcastle:
Humble
and lowly grains of sands put together with great love and care to form
extra-ordinary “being” that can only last so long.
For
the shortest period of adoration and awe from strangers and passer-by, when
un-supervised and un-protected, it gets destroyed, usually not by weather or
natural elements, but by the “destructive” nature in the children.
Sad,
to see children destroying beautiful sandcastles;
Sadder
still, to look at the adults who watch children destroying them and not utter a
single word to stop them.
The
nature of sandcastle is that it is highly vulnerable, it is usually not looked
highly upon. It is made of sand or earth, something that is trodden upon. In certain culture, the hands that touches
the sand belongs to the farmers and the peasants; only the lowly class needs to
ekes a living touching the lowly earth while the rich and educated rise high
and above with no need to touch the lowly earth.
The
sandcastle is very static, very muted and have no life of its own. It takes on the life of its creator, the
sandcastle builder.
The
sandcastle has no basic purpose other than to entertain the child. It has no economic
value unlike pottery and permanent sculptures.
Nor is it able to provide any basic form of needs, e.g. shelter, food or
to end any human sufferings. Probably
that is why sandcastles belongs to the class classified under ”whimsical child
play”, much like blowing bubbles and flying kites.
Situated
at the sea shores, tightly sandwiched between large mass of land and large mass
of water, the sandcastle was born from 2 very different “parents”: sand and
water.
Yet,
without children and the adults that accompanied them, without the simple tools
that will mold the grains together, without the innate nature of man’s desire
to create, the sandcastle would not have existed.
So, I
conclude that the creation of sandcastle is never by accident. Much less the really intricated ones.
Thus,
lies the true nature of sandcastles:
Great things
never came about by accident.
Great
things came about: firstly with great desire to create and follow through by
sheer determination; and with full knowledge that all things can only last so
long.
Great
things can only be created by great people, those who are aware of the nature
of things and aware that people must be constantly reminded.
THE LEARNING
PROCESS
The
bulk of my learning process comes from using metaphors to transfer the learning
insights from building the sandcastles into the application for workplace and
life skill usage.
The
source of learning in this case is the experience of building great
sandcastles.
The
end point is the application part for workplace or lifeskill usage.
The
means to learning is the usage of metaphors.
{{ To
look for an image to show building sandcastles with people inside: a window to
the other side showing building companies, countries etc., with a big wide arc to show the direction }}
 |
Definition of Metaphor
Originally, the word “metaphor” was a
Greek word meaning “transfer”. The Greek etymology is from Meta,
implying “a change” and herein meaning “to bear, or carry”. In modern Greek,
the word, “metaphor” also means transport or transfer.
A metaphor carries an
idea from one area of thought to another.
In cognitive linguistics, metaphor is defined as
understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain.
Metaphors have an essential creative role in literature and the arts, in
planning, architecture and design. They provide a system of thought that can
supplement or bypass logic.
It is in the area of “senses” that will be most useful to
relate to: to building sandcastles, to build everything else.
The
following words will be most useful to you along the way e.g. if you are not familiar or comfortable
with some of the concepts, please exchange these words to suit your own better
understanding. I have no professional training in this field; just a lay person
attempting to understand and explain complex concepts in the most simple ways.
·
Awareness, Consciousness, Minds, Emotion, Parables,
Insights, Inspiration
·
Reflection,
Aha-moments, Enlightenment, Sense, Truism, To see parallel
·
Epiphany,
Awakening, Manifestation, Intuition, Perception
Source: George
Lakoff and Mark Johnson in Metaphors
We Live By
So, what
shall we build today?
So,
What shall we build today?
The
building process is what we do every day, consciously or otherwise. We articulate it to show the bigger picture
and to make the point that the building process requires vision planning,
effort and everybody’s help to make it come through.
Here
are some examples that I can think of:
Early
in our childhood lives, both in the schools and at home, we are often told to
build good habits, build a strong foundation of good values, build a vocabulary
of simple words, build daily routines, and build simple knowledge.
As
we get older, we become more aware of the surroundings and more complex human
emotions, we learn to build character, build friendship and build relationship.
From sports, we learn to build teams, muscles, minds, stamina, leadership and
grace in defeat. From arts, we learn to build an appreciation of beauty and
meanings. In the process of growing up, we encounter problems, challenges and rejections,
we learn, mostly by ourselves through observation, to build resilience, courage
and perseverance.
As
we begin our early adulthood by having a job, we quickly learn the need to build
competencies, build job skills, and subsequently build a career or build a
business. It may be about this time,
dreams are beginning to form and perhaps begin the serious attempt to make it
come true.
In
the corporate management world, we build work teams, work processes, networks
of business contacts, alliances, supply chains, business partnership, connections,
leadership, management skillsets etc., Terms like building consensus, collaboration,
goodwill, hubs, platforms, capacities, stockpiles become more common, all of which
require the process of building deligently. For some privilege ones, building
portfolios, building brands, building corporate culture, building social
culture, building government/administration, building professional and community
groupings. In our personal lives, we are
continuously building and rebuilding relationship as we move along.
Finally,
in the twilight of our lives, we begin to look back and ponder, the legacy we
built and left behind, the
In
short, due to our innate human nature, everyday we are building something.
Both
the tangibles and the intangibles, some are short-term, others long term.
So,
my thought is this:
Since
we are building something every day, wouldn’t it be logical to make some effort
to translate the insights from building great sandcastles into life skill and
workplace application so that everyone can have greater awareness and enjoys
the building process along the way?
Now,
isn’t that a great thought?
The first lesson is a simple 4-steps process
flow. The simplicity of these 4 steps is
its very strength. Let me explain:
Everything
begins with an idea or a single thought.
Whether it is a song, a tune with a few bars, a wonderful relationship,
a successful career or business unit, it all begins with an idea or a single
thought.
Then
it slowly evolves into a vision, as more parts begin to fill in. One of the key factor at this stage that
decides the pace of envisioning would be an indication of passion, drive and
desire. How badly do you want this
vision to come true? Do you have some
ideas how it might come about? Or is it
just a passing fancy of a very sexy idea of a business? Or it is
“everybody-else-is-doing-anyway, -so-might-as-well-get-into-it” type of
business idea?
This
initial stage can be pretty exciting and on extreme ends, causes sleepless
nights. It will be filled with almost
no-holds bar type of imagination.
Depending on the number of people who share the same vision, and the
type of personality involves, there is practically no limit to fine tuning the
vision part.
Admittedly,
it is not difficult to understand this 4-steps process, nor does is sound very profound
or original. However, the reason why
this lesson carried so much importance in this book is because it is often
neglected and quite often we jump straight from vision right into details,
bypassing the foundation and structure stages.
Or that we need constant reminders about these 2 important points time
and again. The purpose of this 4-steps process is really to re-emphasis the
importance of the foundation and the structure, which is very prominent in the
sandcastle building construction phases.
Another
aspect of this 4-steps process is really the application of it into other
non-tradition non-tangible areas e.g. human emotions, human relationship etc.,
Perhaps
for middle to senior management reader, this lesson might appear to be stating
the obvious. Perhaps this lesson will be
a lot more significant to the people at the lower levels as they may have
lesser occasions to see the big picture and lesser opportunities to put into
practice and given a chance to articulate in their own words, what they
consider to be foundation and structure.
In this modern day and age of globalization and the internet, it is all
the more important that all can participate in the building process.
Thus
the significance of this framework is the fact that it can be participated by
all. There is no need for very high
education nor lots of experience to contribute into this framework.
To
help make this lesson clearer, let me use a recent experience to explain these
4-steps process:
We
were invited to organize a major Park festival in September 2011 to celebrate
World Parks Day. I propose some ideas
for and it was revised several times before the design was finally
accepted. Because we need a very huge
amount of sand to create a very tall design estimated 13 feet, we had to
transport some 16 trucks load of sand.
Due to the nature of the soft sand on the beach, the heavy trucks were
unable to come close to the designated area, we eventually took 2 days just to
have a huge pile of sand for us to sculpt.
Once
the foundation of the sandpile was laid, we took a day and half with 8 skilled
sand sculptors to put sand exhibit together.
The
next day, some 800 participants came and enjoyed the view and took part in the
large gathering of sand castle builders.
{{
Show newspaper writeup and final exhibit}}
To
sum up the whole experience, using the 4 steps, would look something like this:
|
From
this example, I’ll now proceed to describe in greater details an open platform
for each step:
TO BUILD A GREAT “generic open platform”
In
summary, these 4 steps can be further simplified:
|
As
this is an open platform to describe these 4 steps, at this point in time, my
purpose is to show clearly the different stages and what it takes.
As
emphasized earlier, the beauty is in its application. I’ll proceed to show just some examples as my
purpose is really to show the framework, not so much the details as the details
must be gotten from the participants of building process. In other words, it must be in the words of
the participants, as there is no correct answer.
TO BUILD A GREAT
RELATIONSHIP
|
|
|
|
TO
BUILD A GREAT CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
|
|
|
|
Summary of the 4 steps
VISION
STAGE
This
is the beginning stage that is filled with wide-eyes amazement and quiet
excitement. The intention is to see
beyond the current reality into a world “beyond”; what else would we be able to
do about it?
Contrary
to popular belief, at this stage, there are usually neither fireworks nor large
celebration to herald the arrival of. I
suspect the main reason is:
Great things
usually come through a quiet entrance.
At times, great anticipation can “kill” a great beginning by having un-realistic expectation at the early stages.
In
popular management book “Good-to-Great” by Jim Collins, he outlined 100 very
successful corporations, and one common thread that runs through them is the
quiet efficient way of implementing things.
i.e. there were no flamboyant and loud outlandish programs that heralds
the beginning of a “great” era. Rather
it is the quiet way ones get about to make things happen. Same with the vision stage, with quiet
contemplation, great vision were born.
It is time for the “bigger” components to come into places first, the
details will follow behind. It is also a
risk taking time, that some of the assumptions might not be true. However, this is also the time, at some point
in time, that there is no turning back.
Plans
to be drawn, troops to be gathered, alliance to be formed and endless amount of
things to do; just so this vision will come true.
Jesus
Christ was born in the humble manor;
many modern day successful techno-preneurs were drop-outs from the
universities e.g. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs,
Thus
begins the vision stage.
FOUNDATION
STAGE
This
is the stage of sheer hard work with endless hours on setting things up. It will probably not be a good time to see the
light at the end of the tunnel. It will
be probably the time with some mistakes, errors and failures along the way, but
nothing fatal enough to offload the vision.
It
is the stage where total faith in the vision is called for. And nothing else matters except quiet
soldering on.
{{
LOOK FOR EXAMPLES OF THIS STAGE IN OTHER ENTREPRENEURS}
Structure stage
Somewhere
in-between the foundation stage and structure stage, this is the time where
traditions, practices and rituals begins to form. It is important as this form the milestones
and constant reminders of how things should be done, how the important virtues
and values can be transmitted through these practices and
Identifying
the important components and activities to build the thing.
Lesson #1: At first,
there was nothing; then we created everything.
This
is one of the most popular feedbacks from our programs. This sense of wonderment comes about usually,
as the end of the program when we look back at the amazing sandcastle results
that we helped them build. Quite often,
as we stroll along the beach, we pay scant attention to the very sand that we
step upon. The sand is humble by nature,
which really does not command your attention; unlike the waves pounding on the
shore, the beautiful skies and pretty clouds, the beautiful sunset, the
pleasing sensation of the soothing seabreeze etc.,
It
is precisely this lack of appreciation of the sand that brings about this first
lesson. i.e. We can create everything
from nothing.
It
is from these very primary elements of beach sand and sea water, plus human
ingenuity and determination that we can create the wonderful world around us
and quite often, beyond our own expectations.
From
very simple shapes and some sense of spatial appreciation, we will be able to
construct, in our minds and through simple paper and pen, some visions of the
intended sandcastles designs.
PART 3:
THE BUILDING
PROCESS
BUILD,
DON’T JUST LEAD
Ah, to build, to build! That
is the noblest art of all the arts.
“The 21st
century doesn’t need more leaders – nor more leadership.
Only builders can kickstart
the chain reaction of a better, more authentic kind of prosperity.”
The Builders’ Manifesto by Umair Haque (Harvard
Business Review)
Here’s
the problem in a nutshell. What leaders
“lead” are yesterday’s organizations.
But yesterday’s organization – from investment banks, to the healthcare
system, to energy industry, to transportation and logistics, are broken.
Endless
take over of organization and companies, by simply replacing names and without
creating and building new value and purpose, I call this “ Corporate
“cannibalism”, is another problem in a nutshell.
Today’s
greatest human challenge isn’t leading broken organizations slightly better, or
merely rearranging business units and blocks endlessly. It’s building better organizations in the
first place. It is not about leadership:
it’s about “buildership”.
Builders
forge better building blocks to construct economies, policies, and
societies. They are the true primer
movers, the fundamental cause of prosperity.
They build the institutions that create new kinds of leaders – as well
as managers, workers, and customers.
These
are 10 principles of Constructivism, according to Umair Haque:
1. The boss drives group members, the leader
coaches them. The Builder learns from them.
2. The boss depends on authority, the leader
on goodwill. The Builder depends on good.
3. The boss inspires fear; the leader
inspires enthusiasm. The Builder is
inspired – by changing the world.
4. The boss says”I”; the leaders says “we”.
The Builder says “all” – people, communities, and society.
5. The boss assigns the task, the leader
sets the pace. The Builder sees the
outcome.
6. The boss says, “Get there on time;” the
leader gets there ahead of time. The Builder makes sure “getting there” matters
most.
7. The boss fixes the blame for the
breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown.
The Builder prevents the breakdown.
8. The boss knows how; the leader shows
how. The Builder shows why.
9. The boss makes work drudgery; the leader
makes work a game. The Builder organizes
love, not work.
10. The boss says “GO”, the leader says
“Let’s go”. The Builder says: “COME”
Leadership
has a lot to do with motivation, influence, and power.
·
believe in community
·
are motivated by the desire to change
things for the better
·
are inspired by what could be
·
work to show why the destination
matters
·
draw passion for the enterprise, and
·
are there every step of the way.
And to distill it further: Builders believe in, and work for, a
mission and a vision founded on values.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
LEADERSHIP AND BUILDERSHIP
The
relationship between leadership and buildership is closely related, especially
inspirational leadership. It is not my
contention to say that one is good and the other is bad. There are not mutually
exclusive. My task is to point out the
differences so as to remind leaders go beyond just leading, which is building.
I
shall attempt to pointed out some of the fine difference for clearer
understanding: Let’s start with the
familiar.
Leadership
is the art of leading, usually leading people. It encompasses all activities to
do with leading e.g. influence, power, authority, status etc.,
Buildership
is the art of building “things”, people included, applicable to all forms, as
mentioned earlier. It encompasses all activities to do with building e.g.
partnership, consensus etc.,
Leadership
is usually about the individuals or a small group of individuals, e.g.
leadership styles, characters, charisma, attitudes, traits, fortitude and
perseverance.
Buildership
is about everyone in the organisation, community or groupings. It will talk about the foundation,
structures, process, values, basis of building.
In
leadership, we are referring to the people being led to results.
In
buildership, we are referring to the people who build outcomes.
In
leadership, people move to the drumbeat of the drum, usually set by the
leaders, or management.
In
buildership, the building process is not so straightforward, in t may be
somewhat spontaneous and the pace may be dictated by the environment,
marketplace or urgency situation.
In
leadership, the burden lies on the leaders to influence the team.
In
buildership, the burden lies on all to contribute.
In
leadership, during the change of leaders, it may involve the change of guards
and camps. E.g. everyone tend to compare the differing styles of current and
past leaders. So the focus is still back
on the individuals.
In
buildership, the leaders is merely one of the tools, minimum changes in pace
and setting is detected. e.g. the change of leaders maybe a none-event.
In
leadership, cliques and sub-groupings are formed to connote the loyalties to
certain leaders.
In
buildership, all loyalties are truly devoted only to the final outcome,
regardless of leaders.
In
leadership, getting the status or authority is key to becoming a leader.
In
buildership, it is less important who the leader is, as it may be an
administrative function.
In
leadership, it is a function of the individuals and the time the individuals is
around.
In
buildership, it is a function of values and the time the values are around
i.e.
the time for buildership will by far last a lot longer than the individuals.
E.f. 5 to 10 years as CEO, compared to 100 years old companies, still building.
In
leadership, the current mode would be about the near future e.g. 3 to 5 years
In
buildership, it will probably be about a mid-to longer term e.g. more than 5
years.
Examples
of leadership and buildership.
In
Jim Collins book, “Good to Great” the good companies probably enjoyed the
benefit of having good leadership.
However,
in the really great companies, there is a certain tendencies for the
buildership to be evident.
Buildership,
or “Constructivism” doesn’t just mean “to improve on yesterday”. It means “to build for tomorrow.”
Of
course, everyone has their own definition of leadership – and that’s why it’s a
tricky subject to discuss.
20th
century leadership is what’s stopping 21st century prosperity.
- Leadership was built for 20th century economics.
With
the event of rapid globalization and internet technology, e.g. wikipedias,
google, Youtube, mobiles, twitter, facebook, social networks and a whole
proliferation of exciting channels of information streaming endlessly, the main
factor of INFLUENCE takes on a whole new meaning. It is no longer from the top, no longer from
the leader. What we are having is a
whole mass of individuals getting together, most often, without specific
leaders.
Think:
giant draconian industrial-era organization versus superfluous very flat
“entity”
Think:
marketing, decision making,
In
the brave new world, the textbook skills of the “leader” – persuasion,
delegation, collation – somewhat sounds a bit hollow.
Build,
Don’t just lead begins to makes some sense.
- LEADERS don’t lead
20th
century created large bureaucries and orgnaisations, in turn the need for
“leaders”: people who could navigate the endlessly twisting politics at the
heart of such organizations, and so ensure their survival.
Organization
creates leader and “leadership” was built to fit it.
“
… the emergence of forms of organization relies on levels of inequality in the
environment rather than the leader…..
Even when leaders are involved, their selection, role, and fate are
controlled by events, events that are inspired by the framework of inequalities
in an era.”
A
level of inequality and events, not leadership, creates the organization.
In
“A New Leadership Ethos: The ability to Predict” by _______________, there are 4 types of
leaders: the confronter, transformer, builder, and grower.
Confronter: Seeks turnaround, confronts established
thinking, Unlocks and opens organization, shakes up and purifies.
Transformer: Searches for meaning, concerned with
internal potential, brings innovators together, searches for platform of growth
Builder: Searches for niches, concerned with
external inequalities; leads by vision and passion, builds individual and
collective loyalty
Grower: Duplicate success, concerned with
internal inequalities, leads by culture, sets boundaries, introduces
specialists and processes.
Builders
have the vision of the……………
APPLE: In the ‘60s, Steve Jobs saw a world of
computers without the pains and agonies of computer programming, created Apple
computers. John Scully, former CEO of
Coca Cola, a brilliant leader, took over the task the lead the company, which
almost brought to destruction.
Steve
Jobs returned, with a totally new vision, NEXT.
He redefines the consumer ( human) involvement in the model and rebuild
once again.
To
yearn for the vast and endless sea.
Mahatma
Gandhi: He created one of the most significant institutions in history:
Nonviolent resistance. An idea so
powerful that future generations continue building on it e.g. Martin Luther
King, Nelson Mandela, Aung Sung Suci, Dalai Lama etc.,
