To Pass or To Throw?

To Pass or To Throw? This decision was atop my head during the third quarter of the Golden State Warriors’ home game last night, at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California, which I attended with some friends from Graduate School.

After two quarters, the Warriors team had at least 20 point lead, which quickly changed during the third quarter. Throughout the third quarter, I quietly offered suggestions to the players such as pass the ball to either #10 Lee or #30 Curry, or throw the ball into the hoop. It seemed to me that the players had spent some of their valuable times making decisions on their feet, as if they were debating who on their team was available for passing the ball to.

During these times, I could see that the player with the ball had clear open space within the Low Post, which is the area close to the hoop, for throwing the ball into the hoop, instead, which could benefited the Warriors with additional points. The apparent intent of passing the ball could have been translated into cutting and faking play strategy by the post players.

Regardless of the positions such as point or shooting guards, perhaps the players can factor into the availability of the basket within their peripheral vision field, to see if the shot is open and clear.

These split-second decisions may have caused the team to reduce their 20 point lead to 5 point lead, quickly during the third quarter. Of course, the team won 96-89 against Philadelphia 76ers.

During the game last night, I recollected a book that I downloaded for Kindle several months ago, which was titled, “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg. In this book, the Duhigg provided case studies, augmented by scientific research regarding cues, within our daily routines, which translated into habits with expected rewards.

Based on Duhigg’s central thesis, “Habits can be changed if we understand how they work,” the decisions that we make during our routines can become a habit, as long as we’re able to conceptualize this habit loop.

A quote found within Duhigg’s book, by Tony Dungy, Super Bowl-winning coach, who stated “Champions don’t do extraordinary things. They do ordinary things, but they do them without thinking, too fast for the other team to react. They follow the habits they’ve learned.” Rather than spending the time making decisions on the field, the team practiced the memorized plays until they became a habit. Thus, when the cue triggers, the habit kicks in.

This concept of the habit loop was on my mind while watching the Warriors’ players spending time anticipating, which included figuring out whom, on their team, was available for passing the ball to. At the same time, the player with the ball was wide open and clear for throwing the ball into the hoop, but was quite intent on passing the ball instead. I observed this occurrence throughout the third quarter of the game.

During the first two quarters, the Warriors took advantage of throwing the ball into the hoop, which included at least a 3-point Bomb shot from the side , thus affording them at least, a hefty 50 points, and prior to half-time. This strategy appeared to have changed during the third quarter.

One of my many passions is sports; as I have been part of several teams throughout Jr. High and High Schools. Thus, my attending the recent Warrior’s game with good friends was a nice treat.

I look forward attending many more professional basketball, football, hockey, and baseball games with friends and colleagues in the future!

Reference:
The Power of Habit …in 30 Minutes: A Concise Summary of Charles Duhigg’s Bestselling Book Garamond Press. Kindle Edition. Garamond Press (2012-07-12).

English, Please

“English at this table, please,” was a comment that I recalled while attending this early morning meeting consisting of executives and major stockholders.

During this meeting, I had an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter sitting, facing directly me on the other side of the center of the conference table. Before the meeting started, I was having a brief conversation with the ASL interpreter using ASL, with no voice.

With both my hearing aid and cochlear implant turned on, I could sense that overlapping verbal conversations around the table had quickly ceased, while my peripheral vision inputs suggested some of the heads have turned to watch me.

Quickly scanning the table to my right and left confirmed that all eyes were on me. I knew instantly that everyone was starting to use their imagination in figuring out what was conveyed between the interpreter and me.

For example, the guy sitting across me, on the right, averted his eyes away while quickly attempting to fix the stubborn strands of hair standing up on his crown. Apparently he must have thought that both the interpreter and I were discussing this, thus attempting to correct this.

Simultaneously, the woman sitting next to me, slightly averted eyes in a different direction while making feeble attempts to cover the roots of her mane with her slender fingers as an attempt to conceal the discoloration, which indicated a poor dye job.

On one side of my peripheral vision, another guy sitting across from me to the left, quickly readjusted his jacket, which appeared to be small for his body frame.

Subtle behaviors around the table quickly became apparent that everyone was starting to use their imagination and feel conscious that I may be discussing their faults with the interpreter, and were starting to appear annoyed.

Upon quick assessment, an immediate rescue was necessary. That was when I started to use my voice and explained what I was discussing with the interpreter, which was my background.

Even my ASL has its own unique accent since “Olde ASL” was my first language at 6-months old, taught by my CODA (Children of Deaf Adult) mother with deaf parents, both whom attended the deaf school in another state around the beginning of 1900. Also, my sign language included some SEE (Signing Exact English), followed by modern ASL.

Oh. Everyone settled and returned to their normal selves around the table…

Everyone became assured that the conversation between me and the interpreter did not include their individual characteristics. Of course, had we done so, that would be unprofessional of both the interpreter and I, and this would go against the interpreter’s code of ethics. Also, this would go against my stellar reputation.

I noticed that everyone has relaxed, and shifted their thoughts to other things. Since then, I noticed that everyone had opened up to me, become warm towards me and began to trust me.

During another meeting a short while back, the official of that meeting verbally stated, while clearly enunciating the words “English at my table, please.” Everyone laughed when I found myself and the interpreter were the last ones conversing around the table and everyone was watching us. At first, I didn’t think this applied to me since my mode of communication was sign language. Quickly, I was astounded with this high-ranking official, and others around me respected ASL as established lexicon. It seemed like yesterday when ASL was yet acknowledged as a foreign language.

Upon adjournment of that meeting, during our hallway discussions, other professionals brought up a point, that everyone has imaginations which will be used to a certain length, in order to fill in the gaps and satisfy the unknown. Also since then, I’ve learned that I needed to include others within my conversations and allow them the opportunity to participate.

As mentioned within Col. Garrick Mallery’s address in 1881, as published in Science magazine, the richness of the information conveyed, through spoken word, or gestured via sign language has significant value between the conveyer and recipient. This referenced to the sign language among the American Indians.

This address was published within Science magazine in 1881 by Col. Garrick Mallery, who was Chairman of the Anthropology subsection of the A. A. A. S, during the Opening of the Anthropology Subsection within that year.

In summary, in order to have my input highly regarded among professional peers within professional organizations at this date, spoken English has been the most successful language for me to communicate with. Of course, any other language is excellent for establishing specific bonds within individual level while networking.

References:
ADDRESS OF COL. GARRICK MALLERY, U. S. ARMY, Science. 1 October 1881: 470-471. Accessed December 20, 2012 from http://www.sciencemag.org/content/os-2/67/470.full.pdf?sid=71e45a06-6c3e-4ca8-993d-fcf14cf317d4

Future of Biotech Companies: Patient Involvement

Oftentimes I’m asked for my option on the direction where the biotech companies are heading and my response would be more patient involvement.

A year ago, I attended the FDA Town Hall Discussion With the Director of CDRH and Other Senior Center Management on September 22, 2011 in South San Francisco. During the meeting, I had expected to meet Regulatory, Quality, and Compliance professionals from all local biotech companies. Instead, I was in for a surprise.

Majority of the comment input and feedback during the meeting were from various patient advocates and patients who have traveled from various western states such as Texas to have their voice and concerns heard by the FDA. The Regulatory professionals I sat next with or interacted with before, after, and during break traveled from other parts of California such as San Diego and other states such as Seattle, in addition to the San Francisco Bay Area companies. The silence from the Regulatory professionals within the Biotech companies remained throughout the meeting was interesting, since, like myself, they may have wondered if the town hall meeting would shift focus to the regulatory/quality/compliance issues within the Medical Devices companies.

Or perhaps they were surprised on how much input and feedback the various patients have on the medical device such as hip, shoulder, or other joint replacements that have resulted in more harm, than benefit. Additional inputs were made by patients taking prescription drugs with adverse reactions.

An excellent example stemmed from my personal experience, when a family member broke a shoulder in 3 different places in mid-2011. She has an option for a shoulder replacement surgery. After lengthy consideration, she has declined this option, allowing the shoulder to heal on its own. This decision has surprised me since this family member has the final say on her own medical care and we did not interfere or looked back on this decision. In fact, I’m amazed of this loved one making a coherent and final decision. This is quite the contrary of my own decision of having an implant surgery of my own several years ago, a personal decision I’m still quite pleased with at this date.

These examples brings us back to the future of the biotech companies, where additional patient involvement will be considered. Oftentimes, during dinner table conversations at home or at friends, colleagues ‘ houses during the past several months, the constant denominator I’ve heard was the patient having insufficient voice in his/her medical care decisions or having enough patient involvement in the healthcare. Suffice to say that the opinion was that the patients were not considered as partners or final decision makers.

Additional patient involvement can be encouraged as an aspect of the Customer Feedback, which is a required stand-alone component of the ISO 9000, 9001, 13485, etc, within the biotech companies. Other ISO standards consider customer feedback as part of the complaint handling process. Bottom line, customer satisfaction has been the driving force for quality improvement within the biotech companies and I expect this trend to translate into an exceptional human factor.

Historically, doctors’ offices have been the direct customers of the medical devices and pharmaceutical companies with their prescriptive authorities and final say. With customer feedback as a stand-alone and critical component within the majority of the companies’ quality systems, the patient input is starting to carry additional weight which has started to reach the biotech companies through ease of website access, which is the future of the biotech companies.

Perhaps in the future, there will be a way that the biotech companies can include the patients and end-users within their product development, design controls, and marketing strategies, since it may be cost-prohibitive for biotech companies to materialize a concept, putting together a team and invest large sums of money, only to abandon the idea at a later time since the benefit of the product may not be sufficient when compared the risks, rather than having the product progress to fruition and revenue and investing the large sums into the judicial system, post facto. In this case, ab initio patents filings for the multitude of inventions will have to be immediately rushed, thus investing hefty sums into patent attorney retainer fees, when the biotech companies open up the research and development areas to the public by including them, thus exposing their ideas and inventions.

Thus, a balance of wholeheartedly including patients within each detail and heeding their every advice with the product design and development, and marketing may be optimized and the future of the biotech companies. This will be a delicate balance, which will benefit both the companies and the patients in the longer run.

References:

Town Hall Discussion With the Director of CDRH and Other Senior Center Management, September 22, 2011. Website: http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/NewsEvents/WorkshopsConferences/ucm258228.htm

The Story of My Unique Accent

One of the most commonly asked questions I’ve been asked since I was quite young was: “Which country are you from?”

Earlier this morning, while attending an Executive Networking Breakfast, I worked the room, networking and introducing myself to everyone, as I usually do.  Two professionals sitting at my table asked me where I was from.  I responded that I was from San Leandro, which was slightly up north in East Bay, from San Jose.  One of the guys then clarified his inquiry, by stating that he meant, from where did I come from previously?

At that moment, I knew the exact answer this person was looking for.  That was when I explained that I had a “Deaf Accent” due to my profound hearing loss since birth.  Ah, it all made sense to everyone at the table.  From then, we continued with our discussions on other introductory topics.

While I was in 7^th grade, one of a fellow classmate asked me this same question during a break in a P.E. class outside, where I was from, since he couldn’t quite place my accent.  As an attempt to be silly, I told him that I was from Mars.  Then, I told him that my accent was part of the “Olde Country” and that I was just a unique American, due to the culmination of my ancestors settled in the East several hundred years ago from various ships dating back to the early 1500’s.  Kidding aside, I finally mentioned my most famous word:  “What? Can you please repeat this?”  This is usually followed by additional request for others to either speak slowly or enunciating the words, since I’m hearing impaired and need to lip-read clearly.

Now, what is a deaf accent?  Well, the best way I can explain this is the individual’s unique way of speaking, based on the cumulative experience of life-long speech therapy, augmented by continuous correction by a parent, when the slightest mispronunciation occurred, and the strive to fit into today’s hearing world, based on the strength of pronouncing specific sounds, coupled with the various aspects of the individual’s personality.

For me, whenever I speak, I have a “script” memorized that would allow me to mimic my speech patterns over again multiple times.  Also, I’d monitor whoever I’d be speaking with to ensure that every word I’ve spoken were clear.  There were many times several years ago, while as Regulatory Affairs Officer at Antibodies Incorporated from 1997 to 2003, one of my most memorable speech snafu was the mispronunciation of one of the company’s product line, GiardEIA, which I pronounced the beginning with a hard “G” like the name, Garcia.  I felt quite silly, and remember this time the most because this was one of many times when I was running team meetings, thus taking the reins and steering the meetings.

At that time, I learned quickly that I had to allow myself to be open to continuous improvements, while strategically maintain my composure.  The most important lesson I learned at a younger age was that others focused on how successfully people handled things that arise, with grace, which everyone remembered and respected.

This brought back memories when I lived and worked at L’Institut Pasteur in Paris, France during Spring of 2005, which was a place where I could fit in right away and felt at home among my peers and colleagues.  Everyone I worked with strived to practice their spoken English with me, which prompted them to speak slowly while enunciating the English words.  Other times, when I walked into a room full of French-speaking professionals, I felt right at home since my residual hearing does not have clarity of human speech, without the visual inputs, which include lip-reading in individual setting.  I’m proud to share that I was successful within my daily interactions in Paris.  In the end, after learning to speak, read, write, and dream in French, my “Exit” presentation at L’Institut Pasteur was briefly in French, which I’m extremely proud of!

My life during the past year and half has involved constant interaction with other professionals within my network at the events that I attend, participate into, or contributed to.  Nearly all of these events include interaction with everyone who relies on the spoken English and finely tuned and keen hearing.  Thus, I strived to do the same so I can gain the respect of my peers, whom may be potential clients, or offer me introductions to their clients, which occurred this morning.

Earlier this morning, during a brief introduction of everyone within the room, we each took turns standing up and speak briefly our name, background, and current company.  Immediately after the individual introductions, one of the partners of a firm approached me at the end of the event, and told me about two of his clients, whom he thought that would benefit from my contributions of background and skills.  I was thrilled to hear this!

Again, sounding like a broken record, I couldn’t believe it that one of the partners within a top firm, which also reputed one of the best places to work at, approached me at the end of breakfast and asked me if I’d be willing to help out two of his clients with their projects.  Definitely, I’m in the right place!  I guess my accent made me unique, or got me noticed in the first place.

Also perhaps how I handled the situations during the entire morning impressed everyone, which showed everyone the type of person I am.  As a Management Consultant, I’m able to view the corporate structure and interactions from my own unique way and offer solutions.

In summary, in response to another of the most commonly asked question regarding my accent, I do not know which foreign language my accent closely resembles to.  Why don’t you find out for yourself and invite me for an in-person meeting or to deliver a talk during an event?  This way, perhaps you can determine for yourself, and when you do, please let me know!

My Wired Brain for Sucess Within Executive Management Level and Executive Board Rooms

“Sorry, I can’t really offer any suggestions; my brain is just not wired for it!” That was a note I received from a colleague this morning letting me know that I was in the right place, thus making significant contributions. This was music to my eyes as I read this note, in response to an action item that needed to be accomplished at this client company, which utilized my executive management skills. This was right up my alley, and my cue or “Batman” signal to jump to the rescue by chiming in solutions.

Also, this was not the first time I’ve received this type of comment or responses, which made me feel extremely valuable and cherished during the past 12+ months I’ve contributed to executive level management consulting since I relocated to Northern California during Fall 2011.

Suffice to say that I’ve become accustomed to solving complex problems, improving intertwined processes throughout organizations. The amalgamation of skills and background were built on my life-long history of problem-solving skills and process improvement suggestions and applications.

While growing up with a profound hearing loss, I thought that I would be stuck in first gear for the rest of my life. Instead, I quickly saw that there were many different options and avenues that could be explored in response to various types of adversities and vicissitudes. My first-hand experiences with these types of life-long situations, which I have improved and solved, have instilled an inherent need and strive to solve many situations and improve the quality of the processes within the organizations I’ve been at.

A recent on-line article by Ray B. Williams, “Wired for Success” pointed out that successful CEOs have “self-awareness” and make people around them successful. My unique perspectives allow others explore the options while thinking outside the box, thus helping the organizations and the teams shine within their industries. My approach, as a management consultant with profound hearing impairment, stems from various complex problem-solving experiences.

In my opinion, professionals with disabilities within executive management level and board rooms are in the position to prove themselves and demonstrate their track record, thus are wired for success. Over a century ago, the general public started to consider the value of contributions made by women, within societies, especially pointed out in the letter in Science magazine published in 1887. This letter was written by “L” and pointed out the valuable contributions of women by using examples of well-known contributors such as well-known female English authors and female Russian mathematicians.

Two decades ago, significant growth has occurred within the corporate culture, since women alone, have come a long ways in attempting to crack the codes of corporate culture as more women grow vertically within management positions, as described within Science magazine’s 1993 edition.

During the past several years, professionals with various diversities have contributed to the corporate culture as persons with disabilities have made significant contributions over time, and have proven themselves to be exceptional problem solvers.

Recently, we have both men and women, from various backgrounds, making significant contributions across the fields. Some of them may have a disability. In 2003 Science letter to the editor, Cooper and Seelman stated that “People with disabilities are among the lowest represented groups in science, engineering, and medicine.” This was nearly 10 years ago, and I’m pleased to have witnessed lots of positive changes that have occurred since them, which included having professionals with disability within executive management levels and executive board rooms.

According to the Department of Census, in 2010, 54 million Americans identified themselves as having disabilities, which is 19% of the United States population living independently. There are hundreds of specific types of disabilities, which can be placed into categories. Some of the types of disabilities are “visible” types while others are “hidden,” meaning that others can notice the assistive technologies such as wheelchair, crutches and other types of assistance such as animals, sign language interpreters.

For me, I wear a hearing aid and a speech processor for my cochlear implant, both covered up by my hair. My disability has not been quite visible within groups of others who can hear and speak effortlessly. When I speak out, others immediately notice my accent. A funny example occurred during a professional function that I attended couple weeks ago when a colleague asked me where I was from, since he was trying to match a country with my accent, in order to quickly build a common bond such as a potential visit to my homeland. I’ll save this experience for another article.

In summary, professionals with disabilities were able to succeed in the workplace, through perseverance and their unique problem solving skills, which have been adapted from years of practice. Professionals with disabilities have proven themselves and demonstrated their impressive track records. With assistance of executive coaches, professionals with disabilities can be successful in applying their own practical skills and ideas within management level, the organization can become successful. The inclusion of professionals with disability brings the true meaning of diversity within the board rooms and executive management levels, as I’ve recently experienced. Knowing that I’m wired for success, I look forward to many more years of continuing contributing my background and skills within the executive management level and corporate boardrooms for many years to come, and help the organizations grow and shine.

References:

Cooper, Rory A. & Seelman, Katherine D. Science 20 June 2003: Vol. 300 no. 5627 p. 1877. DOI: 10.1126/science.300.5627.1877a. Retrieved November 26, 2012 from http://www.sciencemag.org/content/300/5627/1877.1.full.pdf?sid=482ad334-c38b-4b4d-8de3-4c2f0b1fca1c

Culotta, Elizabeth. Women Struggle to Crack the Code of Corporate Culture. Science. 16 April 1993: 398-404. Retrieved November 26, 2012 from http://www.sciencemag.org/content/260/5106/398.full.pdf?sid=65a81f52-6a02-4cad-820f-db1e007fc916

L. Women. Science. 1 July 1887: 10 [DOI:10.1126/science.ns-10.230.10]. Retrieved November 26, 2012 from http://www.sciencemag.org/content/ns-10/230/10.1.full.pdf?sid=8b9c58bf-7f23-4157-a0f0-165cf234baf2

Williams, Ray B. Why Every CEO Needs a Coach. Wired for Success. Published online August 13, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2012 from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201208/why-every-ceo-needs-coach?goback=%2Egde_2835253_member_183557891

Views On Fiscal Cliff

Earlier today Tuesday, November 13, 2012, I received an e-mail from Mary Huss, the Publisher of The San Francisco Business News reporting the statement made by Bank of America’s CEO, Brian Moynihan pointing out his concern that the looming “Fiscal Cliff” is hurting the economy.

Fiscal Cliff is a term applied to the aftermath of the piling debt, despite attempts of making funds in available through higher taxes and additional cuts within the $600 Billion Federal budget, should Congress fail to provide a long-term solution, following the Budget Control Act that it passed in 2011.

Forbes magazine has described the Fiscal Cliff by comparing this event to the weather, in the case of Hurricane Sandy at the end of October 2012.  Forbes’ view was that suppose Hurricane Sandy had additional contributing factors such as multiple cold fronts and additional force, then its effect would be much more powerful, than actually experienced.

An alternate simple comparison explanation of Fiscal Cliff, that I can think of, is like a one-lane bridge along one of the foggiest portion of California Highway 1, with speed limit of 55 mph, with the absence of any regulatory signs such as “Yield,” “Reduce Speed,” “One-Lane Bridge,” or “Stop” on either side of this one-lane bridge.

At first, when I saw the term “Fiscal Cliff,” the first possible explanation that came to mind was the image of the falling of folks carrying big bags of cash, like Santa Claus carrying a big bag of toys on Christmas Eve.

Granted that the economy has been slowly improving at the same rate as molasses, the recovery within the economy has been slow and gradual, especially in the state of California after the November 6, 2012 elections, which include Proposition 30 on California’s ballots in order to raise revenue for California public schools.  In the state of California, Proposition 30, which passed by the state’s voters by 53.9%, authorizes the state to increase taxes on sales, also income taxes for higher tax brackets.

The supporting views for Proposition 30 focused on the raised revenues in order to protect the public school programs.  Opposition pointed out that this increase would hurt the already-struggling economy and provides a Band-Aid to the situation without fixing the root causes.  Also concerns were raised in regards to underperforming schools receiving additional funds from the increased taxes.

By increasing the sales tax, the concerns would include consumers spending more through the tax increase, or less, should the consumer decide not to spend at all.  Thus, the delay within companies’ spending that includes expansion, hiring, and investment have been further stalled. 

Indeed, the banks are the entities that are able to view trends within customers’ spending and savings.  In this case, customers are appearing to reeling into the reins in regards to their funds.  Also, the banks are the first one to observe the business use of credit or loan applications.

As I’m finishing this article on Wednesday, November 14, 2012, additional talk has been focused on the Fiscal Cliff, which included President Obama delivering his public address assuring the public that he will continue to work with Republicans and other members and is open to ideas and suggestions.

Also, earlier this morning, I attended an Executive Networking Breakfast series, sponsored by the BYU Management Society of Silicon Valley in San Jose, the guest speaker, Alan Olsen, Managing Partner of Groco, LLP, whom served on Mitt Romney’s National Finance Committee during his run for President, commented that this time is important for us all to focus on paying off debts.

After thinking about this, a possibility considered whether United States of America choose Chapter 9 Bankruptcy protection, like other cities in California such as San Bernardino, Stockton, and Mammoth Lake had accomplished in 2012?  After thinking about this for a second, this did not seem like a viable option since this may open up many types of vulnerability on an international scale, which may be applicable to international debtors.

The next idea was for the entities with debts to merge with stronger and financially solid entities.  This idea stemmed from one of the non-profit organizations, where I’ve served as the Treasurer of.  This organization merged with another non-profit organization and made the latter organization stronger, thus forming coalition and debt-free non-profit entity.  Since my experience was on a much smaller scale, would this idea be applicable to larger corporations or government entities?

Calvey, Mark. Bank of America CEO says fiscal cliff already hurting economy. San Francisco Business Times, Published November 13, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2012 from http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2012/11/bank-of-america-fiscal-cliff-economy.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2012-11-13

Ungar, Rick. The Fiscal Cliff Explained. Forbes, Published November 10, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2012 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/11/10/the-fiscal-cliff-explained/

Smart Management for Intelligent Future

Management can be fun, due to the interaction and leadership duties, albeit challenging at various levels.  An author (James, 2012) suggested asking direct reports three questions: how they expect to be managed, what specifics of management annoy them, and how to assist them with excelling within the workplace.  Based on the various responses and situation, there is no single prescriptive formula for managing direct reports.

In the world of Politics, Smart Power is a combination of both Soft Power and Hard Power.  Typically, Soft Power considers the history, culture, and diplomacy while Hard Power considers coercion and payment.

Smart Power was a term coined by Former Assistant Secretary of Defense, Harvard Professor and former Dean of Kennedy School of Government, Joseph Nye, Jr.  In 2006, Nye stated that combining both hard and soft power with strategy is identified as smart power.  In order to be successful, we must provide what everyone want, but cannot attain without American leadership.  For example, in utilizing Smart Power, the leader must utilize a combination of tools of coercion and persuasion that includes diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal, and cultural, depending on the specific situation (Etheridge, 2012 and Rooney, 2012).

Historically, America has been utilizing hard power within its dealings with foreign governments, which oftentimes lacked strategic visions.  In order to establish and maintain global political and financial stability, strategic visions are important in order to address both current and future challenges, thus incorporating soft and hard power into smart power (CSIS, 2012).

If this Smart Power is applied within levels of management within the industry, as it had been within the government sector, then the corporate environment interacting within today’s global and foreign markets replete with suppliers, distributors, external customers, vendors and other business relationships can be more efficiently utilized.  Also, the internal culture within the corporates can benefit from the application of Smart Power within the upper management levels.

The idea of extrapolating Smart Power into the industry, thus translating into Smart Management stemmed from an article in Science magazine that discussed challenges of Federal laboratories developing business commercialization relationship with the industry sector in regards to technology (Walejko, et al, 2012).  Oftentimes, this inter-sector collaboration faces funding and management challenges due to the variation within the strategic visions of both the industry and Federal lab.

Inter-sector relationships between the industry and government sectors, are observed for other purposes such as business liaison within various governments throughout the world.  For example, within medical device industries, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the government agency for authorizing sales of approved devices within the United States and.  In order to be successful within the industries, professionals learned that it was best for them to strive to maintain positive working relationship with the FDA.  Positive relationships between industries and government sectors within other countries are also valuable.  For example, approved medical devices sold in other countries, Japan are regulated by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) while medical devices within Australia are regulated by Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).  Therefore, professionals can focus on managing the relationships intelligently, with not only the FDA, but with MHLW, TGA, and other foreign regulatory agencies.

In 1979, Harvard Professor, Michael E. Porter first published competitive interactions within the industry that led to workable strategies within various companies, such as Bargaining Power from Suppliers, Buyers, Threats of substitute, Emerging competitors, and rivalry among current competitors (Porter, 2008).  Also, if the competitive forces had become intense, then this would result into the companies investing large sums of resources to attract new customers with an advantage over their competitors, such as healthcare, airlines, and hotels.  In this case, the return on investment would be smaller due to the amount of resources input as compared with the new many companies such as soft drink, toiletries, and software, where an attractive return on investment has been larger.

Within today’s ever-changing and competitive environment, perhaps an addition to the corporate management formula can be a customization of management style through combination of both smart power and leadership, thus augmenting the current list of different Management Styles, such as Consultative, Aristocratic, Democratic, Laissez-Faire, Persuasive, Paternalistic, and Management by Walking Around.  Each of these styles has advantages and some downside, depending on the situation, thus smart management or intelligent management can successfully add portions of prescriptive management through interjection of bits of Smart Power into the mix within the corporate environment.

Perhaps in the future, there would be additional management styles based on the improvement within the human interaction and communication.  Additionally, scientific discoveries that lead to augmented understanding usually translate into enrichment into the human lifestyle, behavior, and interactions within the environment.  The smart management allows us to take the next step in moving forward with the growth in operating within today’s global markets that overlap with various sectors.

References:

Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Smart Power Initiative Part of the: Archived Programs.  Retrieved October 28, 2012, from http://csis.org/program/smart-power-initiative

Etheridge, E. How ‘Soft Power’ Got ‘Smart’. New York Times, The Opinion Pages. Published January 14, 2009.  Retrieved October 28, 2012, from http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/how-soft-power-got-smart/

James, G. World’s Simplest Management Secret. Published on Inc. on October 24, 2012. Retrieved October 29, 2012, from http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/worlds-simplest-management-secret.html

Porter, M. The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy. Harvard Business Review. January 2008 issue. Retrieved October 25, 2012, from http://hbr.org/2008/01/the-five-competitive-forces-that-shape-strategy/ar/1

Rooney, Katie. Clinton Vows to Lead Using “Smart Power” Strategy. Times The Page. Published January 13, 2009. Retrieved October 28, 2012, from http://thepage.time.com/2009/01/13/clinton-confirmation-hearing-set-for-tuesday/

Walejko G & et al.  Federal Laboratory–Business Commercialization Partnerships. Science 14 September 2012: 1297-1298. Retrieved October 9, 2012, from http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6100/1297.full.pdf

Passions for Development and Growth from Within Each of Us

Isn’t part of the fun is coming up with ideas and suggestions for new projects or processes within teams? This is one of the many reasons why I love my job. After the initial concept, follows project initiation, which gets more complicated. Later on, verification and validation come in all forms, depending on the project or processes. After a while, depending on the industry, the project or process would either result into one of the three things: (1) evolve into an entirely different project or process; (2) follow the straight path to fruition; or (3) abort project or process. The latter two focus on tough decision-making whether continue or extinguish the project or process.

For example, within the Harvard Business Review Blog Network, Kanter identified 12 critical questions that the entrepreneurs can ask themselves and others within their networks in order to make the tough decisions. For me, it boils down to the passion and whether this passion for the specific product or service that the company focuses on, still exists, or extinguished. Depending on the entrepreneur, if the passion persists, then the project or process can take various turns and end up elsewhere with a different purpose.

In addition to the passion for running a company or project, various strategies play a role in shaping the direction in steering the project/process, which would result into a desirable return on investment, either attractive or unattractive. In 1979, Harvard Professor, Michael E. Porter first published competitive interactions within the industry that leads to various strategies within various companies, such as Bargaining Power from Suppliers, Buyers, Threats of substitute, Emerging competitors, and rivalry among current competitors. Also, if the competitive forces are intense, this would result in the companies investing large sums of resources to attract new customers with an advantage over their competitors, such as healthcare, airlines, and hotels. In this case, the return on investment would be smaller due to the amount of resources input as compared with the new many companies such as soft drink, toiletries, and software, where an attractive return on investment has been larger.

Ultimately, the decision to initiate and move forward with specific projects lies within each of us. For example, recently, a group conversation I was part of lead to conversations of preserving species yet on the U.S. Endangered Species Act. An article in Science magazine (Brosi & Biber, 2012) demonstrated that citizen involvement has been successful in driving the force of placing endangered species on the list, thus formally identifying them as endangered and thus, protected by federal law. This is an excellent example of groups of citizen sharing their pursuit of passion of preserving and conserving the dwindling species.

For me, my passion lies within executive management and leadership within companies, especially the ones that play a significant role within the healthcare and biotech markets. Passion can be identified as a driving force in allowing ourselves to pursue towards specific goals on what we’d like to accomplish, as long these passions do not result in conflict of interest as brought up in another Science magazine article where Marshall (1992) stated that intellectual passion can be viewed as a conflict within the scientist’s personal interest into their own research projects as a personal bias.

I can allow my own intellectual passion within both the sciences and executive management and leadership to drive my efforts throughout the days and use that as a daily strategy. Also, I can allow this strategy to adjust and take form in order to allow me to visualize the future directions and see if these specific goals excite me. My passions for development and growth, thus translating into successful projects are part of my personality, which I enjoy very much and look forward accomplishing each time I walk into the board rooms or conference rooms.

References:

Brosi, B. & Biber, G. Citizen Involvement in the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Science 17 AUGUST 2012 VOL 337: 803-803. Retrieved October 9, 2012, from http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6096/802.full.pdf

Kanter, R. 12 Guidelines for Deciding When to Persist, When to Quit. Harvard Business Review Blog Network. Retrieved October 25, 2012, from http://blogs.hbr.org/kanter/2012/10/12-guidelines-for-deciding-whe.html

Porter, M. The Five Competitive Forces that Shape Strategy.  Harvard Business Review.  January 2008 issue.  Retrieved October 25, 2012, from http://hbr.org/2008/01/the-five-competititve-forces-that-shape-strategy/ar/1

Marshall, E. When does intellectual passion become conflict of interest? Science 31 July 1992: 620-623. Retrieved October 25, 2012, from http://www.sciencemag.org/content/257/5070/620.1.full.pdf?sid=ec1972e4-abac-4cad-992b-4111e44a758

Data Mining for Intelligent Management of Personal Health

Data mining is a growing and explosive field, stemming from sudden availability of the massive wealth of data accessible through the internet.

It’d be interesting to have a database compilation of all of my medical history, but this would demand the strictest level of privacy, as compared with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, altogether.

In fact, this idea stemmed from reading Haak’s article from Science magazine where the authors discussed the benefits of mining data in order to make them accessible to other researchers across multiple disciplines and many borders around the globe.  Different countries have their own regulations as to which restrict access to specific data sets in order to maintain privacy and security, which can be challenging, since data can be compared against many different other groups of data for a specific translation of a scientific question.  In determining levels of accessibility, it’s important to involve groups of private and public data within the local and international level.  Although there are prominent databases that store and mine data such as CERIF, the responsibility and authority of maintaining such database infrastructure should be shared among several stakeholders in order to ensure that the balance the availability of data among maintaining privacy on a global scale in order to allow policy-makers ensuring informed decisions within their areas or countries.  In order to do this, an international standardization of data exchange is necessary.

Reading Davenport’s article within the Harvard Business Review discussed the benefits and thrills of surfing the data mine harvested from many on-line profiles and usages, thus structuring the wealth of data in order to capitalize the large data.   The discoveries within the translation of data lead to solid executive decision-making.  In this case, I’m the top executive in my life and always have the need of making informed decisions throughout the day.

Of course, I’d expect complete access into my health data and my ancestor’s health data, while restricted to nearly everyone else in order to research into the gene-related developments that has occurred over the generations and what health issues I can watch for as I age gracefully.  Also this information will be helpful for my future generations.  Lesser restrictive access would afford professional researchers the luxury of investigating my phenotypic information such as hair or eye color for others to research into the correlations of populations, environment, specific family history, and genetic information in order to postulate how I had derived a specific characteristic or trait.  Also, predictive environmental factors such as temperature and pressure within a geographical region, coupled with my health information can predict onset of arthritis within specific times, for example.

A question remains is the expiration date of the restriction of access into families’ health information after they have passed on.  Also, the level of access may vary among specific group of people such as my healthcare providers, which would be different than the insurance companies and employers.  Perhaps the creation of Health Data Scientist education and training can involve creation of specific certification equivalent to doctors and attorneys in which they are expected to maintain strict client or patient confidentiality and only focused on the needs of the clients and patients.  Of course, ethics in sharing personal health data with loved ones or potential mates for  predicting outcomes of interaction will need to be debated considerably.

As with sealing records though the courts, perhaps specific health data can be sealed by the patient while allowing access to other health information with particulars generally already available while allowing certain family members additional access to less generalized health data.

Having a centralized and global database would contribute to the health of my travels such as keeping immunization records current while allowing healthcare providers in other countries access, should I become ill overseas.  In this case it’s possible to harmonize specific access to certain health database among various countries, depending on the control of the database.  It’ll be like a “health passport” whenever I am in the world.  If possible, this could be easily accessible through international apps program on the mobile devices with dual band capability.

Later on, with my current genotypes, it’d be interesting to account the environment within other areas or countries in order to virtually translate the predicted phenotypes such as air quality affecting my exercise routine, while would result in asthmatic symptoms, for example.  Additionally, this daily health monitoring device while accounting for the environmental factors can be managed through a mobile device.

In summary, there is extreme wealth of information for extrapolating correlations and make sold predictions, which can assist with decision making throughout the days and weeks to come.  The whole point is taking the steps in mining data effectively through intelligent management while everyone adheres to the same guidelines for access everywhere.

References:

Davenport, T. and Patil, D.  Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century.  October 2012.  Retrieved October 15, 2012 from http://hbr.org/2012/10/data-scientist-the-sexiest-job-of-the-21st-century/ar/1

Haak, L., Baker, D., Ginther, D., Gordon, G. Probus, M., Kannankutty, N., Weinberg, B. Standards and Infrastructure for Innovation Data Exchange. Science 12 October 2012: 196-197. Retrieved October 16, 2012 from http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6104/196.full.pdf

Working Conferences to Review Off-Grid Energy in Asian Countries

Promoting a specific way of saving energy may prove to be successful within an area or community, while other areas prefer a different approach of accomplishing the same goals within their specific areas.  An example is the October 5, 2012 Science Magazine’s Policy Forum article in regards to various examples of active participants of energy providers and consumers for both off-grid and on-grid production within the 10 Asian countries, through various program and incentives, which goal is to assist approximately 4 billion of the world’s population living with lack of access to modern energy.  Also delineated was that off-grid domestic energy production include solar and other renewable energy sources or through wood, charcoal, and dung.  Once energy provider and consumer relationship has proved to be fruitful and successful, the local population provider and consumer have been quite focused on promoting the same design principles of delivering and receiving energy.  Thus, energy generation within the countries varied, with each community promoting their own success.

 

Perhaps the 10 Asian countries can organize a working conference to explore the commonalities and successes of their various approaches in regards to off-grid energy usage.  Also, this working conference can focus on establishing credibility of the most productive and successful off-grid energy approach.  As Mo Ibrahim wrote in his article in this month’s Harvard Business Review drawing his experiences in establishing his telecom company, Celtel, in Uganda, Africa, within the world’s poorest continent, he was successful through the support of the Africa Union.  Solid credibility, stability, and protection afforded the CEO of Celtel through a network of support from Africa Union and various members of Celtel’s board from various parts of the continent such as Tanzania, thus ensuring that the corporate operations focused on best corporate practices and common goals, and not lose hold on this focus.

 

Back to the off-grid energy usage in the 10 Asian countries as described in Science, drawing on examples of Ibrahim’s networking with various other professionals, perhaps the 10 Asian countries could form Off-Grid Energy Usage with delegations meeting for a working conference in order to compare and contrast successes.  Through this avenue, each group can continue to promote their own pride and joy in order to establish commonalities within successful energy harnessing within continuous, stable, and most efficient method with no pollution.

 

This working conference will allow the 10 Asian countries to come up with their own map of success.  As Moysidis mentioned in her article titled, “Setting Sail Without A Map” published on Women 2.0 website on October 9, 2012, the gut is an excellent starting point in setting sail in order to navigate the uncharted waters within the specific area currently in.  Also Ibrahim has successfully demonstrated this through the successful start-up and growth of Celtel since 1998, despite lack of support due to history of African countries succumbing to corruption and political instability.  Ibrahim followed his gut in 1998 and depended on his network within the business communities across various African Countries within the Africa Union.  This similar approach can support Sovacool’s article since the communities within the 10 Asian Countries have followed their guts in devising the best off-grid energy deliverables for their areas.  It’s time to move this up to the next level, which is unification and education.

 

References:

Ibrahim, Mo.  Celtel’s Founder on Building a Business on the World’s Poorest Continent.  Harvard Business Review.  October 2012 (accessed October 10, 2012)  http://hbr.org/2012/10/celtels-founder-on-building-a-business-on-the-worlds-poorest-continent/ar/1

 

Moysidis, Nayia. Setting Sail Without A Map.  Women 2.0 Published on: October 9, 2012 (accessed October 9, 2012) http://www.women2.com/setting-sail-without-a-map/

 

Sovacool, Benjamin K.  Deploying Off-Grid Technology to Eradicate Energy Poverty.  Science.  5 October 2012: 47-48 (accessed October 4, 2012) http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6103/47.full.pdf