The book is about three Chinese protagonists, the grandmother, the mother and the daughter and their respective true life stories in China.

It captivates me, because it is told from an individual perspective and brings color to the corrupt imperial time ( -1911), the chaotic warlord time (1916-1928), the brutal time under the Kuoming Dang and the Communist Party during Japanese occupation (1937-1945) over to eventually the Mao and Post-Mao era (1945 - )

 I had little idea of what an emotional, restless recent history China had and the book leaves me dumpstruck.

While naturally I have a strong personal interest in the matter, I do believe it is worthwhile reading it for anyone who is interested in current affairs with China, from an economic or geopolitical point of view ― I find that there are a lot of elements in this book that help explain the mentality of Modern Chinese people and why they think the way they do.

Brand simplifies choice.

It makes it easier for consumers to choose amongst the mass. Likewise, we should think about our personal brand, because we should always make sure that we get remembered: 

Our bosses should immediately think of us, when it comes to assigning the next really important project. Our network should reach out to us first, when they seek a certain expertise.

Because business is about people, and to advance and to succeed, what really matters is who we know and how we personally can add value (and our brand should convey exactly this).

So:

What do you want to stand for?

As a generalist consultant, I always found it hard to "nail myself" on one field or function, but I realize that it wasn't about choosing one skill and voiding others, but rather which skill I wanted to highlight and be remembered for.

The Concept of Love or Fear is simple and yet it explains so much about how individuals, teams and organizations work together.

Helping a large airline corporate with reorganization right now, I observe the following:

• People fight for ownership - over the tiniest task while hovering over their teams like protective lions
• People crave to shine in front of their bosses - even if it means to backstab someone else
• People hide information - to gain leverage and advantage

It creates massive inefficiencies. 

When I am not in the middle of episode 4 season 5 of Airline Game Of Thrones, I ponder over why organizations are sometimes so disfunctional -- especially in crisis.

I'd love to create something with you, here.

Perhaps it is boredom during lockdown, but I decided to start collecting great leadership speeches and dissect them to learn what actually makes them great.

I have a lot of respect for good writing and well performed speeches, which I find both such masterful skills to have. And secretly, I hope to consciously remember these speeches for when I may need to write and give my own speeches.

If this is also of interest to you, I would love to have you collaborate on this by sharing speeches you find interesting and tell us why you liked a certain speech. (Simply reach out to me).

By the way, I think the crisis is a fantastic time to find great speeches, because it is the time where societies, companies and teams all need a bit of hope and encouragement.

One that I came across recently is the speech by Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, who recently had to lay off 1,900 of its employees. 

Here is what I believe makes this speech great

Having a child is a daunting thought. Creating a family doesn't really seem to fit into our busy lifestyles and travel plans -- let alone, fit into a life of constant moving around the world...

However, the topic does creep up in our heads: It is perhaps the many friends' baby pictures popping up on our Instagram, or perhaps it is an internal debate we have with ourselves, as we get older or feel the (societal) pressure of the ticking clock.

Some of us actually don't want kids. We are single and perfectly happy with ourselves. We have loving friends and family. We do sports and eat healthy, and we excel in our careers, reaching for our dreams. Life is so so so good. All doors are open for us, and we don't require a man or a child to make us feel good - we are inherently happy with ourselves and we challenge the purpose of having to find a man, get married and have kids.

There are others amongst us that want a family. It is simply nicer to share our happiness with someone. Perhaps the thought of growing old alone is unbearable or we want to  leave a legacy  through a child. But as a freedom-seeking female, we may struggle with giving up our independence. Even if we prioritized having a family, the thought of how it impacts and changes our current lifestyle is at minimum uncomfortable.

Paul Graham wrote an article about what constitutes genius. Commonly, a natural ability and determination are ascribed to genius.
 

Genius = natural ability + determination

In his Bus Ticket Theory though, he argues that there are people who are obsessed with collecting bus tickets. They will be able to tell you all about those tickets. They experience joy when they do it, although their craft may be purposeless.

He further argues that all great geniuses have a bus ticket collector attitude towards their respective subject: Darwin was obsessed with natural history. Ramanujan was obsessed with mathematical series.

Contradicting to the beautiful narrative you can tell in hindsight, none of these geniuses had a grand master plan or vision to change the world.