Philip Andreae’s Thoughts

This week I took  a course offered by the Ontario Government called “Thought Patterns”,  presented by the York region franchise of the “Academy of Learning”.  The facilitator was a woman names Judith Seki.  Her background was amazing and her ability to engage and stimulate our group’s discussion was outstanding.

Some of the interesting things I learned and would like to share are:

We have 3 seconds to make a first impression and 3 minutes to fix the other party’s impression of us.  Once set, it could take us years to overcome and turn that person, from someone who has a low opinion of us, into someone interested in spending time with us. 

If we think about how much we can say or do in 3 seconds, let alone 180 seconds; we are limited and therefore must focus on some very simple, yet, ultimately essential attributes.

People will of course, unless it is a telephone call, immediately react to how we look. They will then think about things like: are we on time, do we know their name, are we smiling, are we standing up straight, do we look them in the eyes, is our attire appropriate, do we demostrate the appropriate level of respect, what is the tonality of our voice, how do we greet them and how do we respond to their greeting? 

Obviously if the conversation is over the telephone, via email, IM or in a chat room we are limited by tools we can use.  Therefore our focus must be on the tone we employ in our written or verbal communications and the content we convey.

So 3 seconds is up, they have formed a first impression.  Now we have another 177 seconds of time to set that impression in stone.   Is our posture appropriate to the setting and conversation, do we have a good opening story (the 30 second helicopter or elevator pitch), do we listen attentively to what they have to say, do we let them talk two thirds of the time, are we pacing ourselves accordingly, is our tone and volume appropriate and do we show the right level of emotion?

Assuming we achieve a positive result in this first 3 minutes, the balance of the discussion is to determine if you are the right person for the job, is the product you are selling matched to their needs or will they hire you to help them achieve some specific task.

We then spoke about the three attitudes we can take in such initial meetings or frankly whenever we encounter others.  These attitudes are:

• Aggressive which can be either positive or negative
• Passive which can also be positive or negative
• Assertive which is always positive and allows us the opportunity to take on an aggressive or passive attitude, based on the circumstances and what we are discussing or why we are having the discussion

Next we spoke about perception and how our brain processes input and develops output.  Interesting statistic -  more than 75% of daily conversation is negative.  During this part of the discussion I came away with a different understanding of perception and reality.  Bottom line, ”My Reality” is unique and is based on how my neurons have been imprinted. 

Can we change the way we perceive things and adjust the pathways of our brain?  Absolutely, we must understand our existing habits, attitudes and beliefs and determine which ones are not working for us and adjust our thinking and change, in a positive way, our attitudes, habits and beliefs. 

Once we know what our negative habits, attitudes or beliefs are we can work on changing our thinking by thinking about what, why or how we would prefer to think and then:

• Say It!  Earn one point for every-time you say it.
• Do It! by exhibiting the new behavior. Earn ten points every-time you do it
• Get It!  by having others provide positive reinforcement.  Earn 100 points every-time someone provides you with that affirmation.

The more points you earn the faster that new pathways will be established and the sooner the old negative pathways will cease to exist.

On the second day, after talking about what beliefs are and understanding that we have the ability to choose how to believe,we were ready to move on to the next step. 

We focused on how one goes about establishing goals and developing an action plan to achieve our goals.  We all knew that if we set our goals too big or made them unachievable then the results will be as one would expect.  So we must focus on defining bite sized goals.

As a consultant and executive I thought I knew how to set goals for companies, divisions, units or teams.  Yet even though I was on the right track, I learned some interesting lessons.

• A goal can not be longer than one sentence.  It must start beginning with the words “I will be, do or have …”
• They must be “SMART” Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Recorded and Time specific.

As a result of this session, I set my first three goals:

• I will start talking to a minimum of 10 people every weekday by March 31st, 2008.
• I will be recruited as an executive with responsibility for strategy, innovation, projects, products and/or sales support by the end of 2008.
• I will take two trips for pleasure by December 31st 2008.

They are now recorded, they are measureable they are specific they are achievable and they are time specific.

At one stage during the course we were asked to develop four statements that began with the words “I have …”.  Each of us developed our four sentences and told them to another person.  Then Judith asked us to change the word “have” to “choose” and restate our four objectives.  Interesting how different it felt when we used the words “I choose …” verses “I have …”.  Suddenly from being a command, they become objectives that we each decided would positively improve our lives.  It was an eye opener to see how one word can change our whole emotional and physical feeling about what we set out to do.

Not wanting to simply record what I learned over the four days I will focus the balance of this blog on insights that I acquired.

Visualization, an interesting word with the powerful ability to allow us to focus on changing our attitudes, beliefs and habits from being negative to being positive.  Affirmation and self talk are tools we can employ to help focus our minds and help us to move forward towards a more positive attitude about ourselves and our situation.  Talking to ourselves in a mirror will remind us to have a happy face and look ourselves in the eyes.

As we progressed, each of us exhibited negative feelings, fears or distress.  As we discussed the obstacles that could delay or stop us from achieving our goals, many of us exhibited frustration.  As we explored the list of obstacles, we came to realize that obstacles are not external, but instead they are self imposed. 

We came to understand that setting our goals requires that we: 

• Understand what you really want
• Understand what it costs both in monetary and non-monetary terms
• Understand that we might have to make sacrifices to achieve our goals

Obviously, as previously mentioned, our goals have to be achievable or they are not SMART.

Clearly in developing our action plan we may find that others are involved or affected.  If we think about military tactics it is clear that if you surround your enemy and give them no means of escape; they will fight to the death.  So always leave those that could prevent you from achieving your goal a back door, so that they can get out of your way gracefully.

While understanding that we must make sure we leave others a way of exitting gracefully; we must also make sure that we close all doors that we could use to escape.

At one point during the session we had the opportunity to watch and discuss the film “Patch Adams”.  Our discussion focused on first impressions, perception, beliefs, goals, naysayers, memory joggers, visualization, self-talk, choice and obstacles.  Using Patch Adams, as an example of someone who emerged from being suicidal into the visionary and inspirational medical professional he is today; provided us with the clarity to understand that if we set our minds to something we can achieve amazing results.  It also reminds us that the most succesful solution in many situations is laughter and making sure everyone has fun.

On the last day we moved on to addressing the subject of stress.  Judith reminded us that obstacles are self imposed whereas stress has chemical and physical ramifications.  Therefore we needed to pay attention to what caused us stress, what would or have been the results and how can we minimize or better handle stress.

The first time we identified what causes stress, we all focused on the negative.  Clearly how we identify the cause of stress comes from our perception.  We learned that how we cope with stress is a balance between the stress we are under and our coping skills. 

The interesting thing about stress is that stress can be either a positive or a negative force in our lives; so starting out with the assumption that stress is all bad and therefore must be eliminated is not going to get us where we want to go.  Clearly each of us must develop methods and mechanisms to cope with the negative effects of stress such as meditation, music, hobbies, vacations, sex, laughter, having an attitude of gratitude and seeking help and support.  Obviously, this is one person’s abbreviated list.  Others might include painting, aroma therapy or lying in the sun as part of their inventory of coping skills. 

Bottom line, to address the negative causes of stress, we must develop an arsenal of tools and techniques to help us cope with these causes of stress.  Simultaneously, we must make sure that we employ the positive stress to accomplish our goals and get on with our daily lives.

To close the session we were introduced, through a video called “The Joy of Stress” to an extrodinary woman, Loretta LaRoche.  For fourty minutes she had her live audience and those of us watching the video constantly laughing. 

Through her use of humour she reminded us of what we had already learned; stress can be either positive or negative.  She told us that we had to “work to prevent a hardening of the attitude”.  She told us that one of our greatest fears is what will others think and “is anybody watching”.

She asked us to commit ourselves to “Stop Global Whining”. 

She demonstrated the power of humour.  She showed us that “laughter makes you happy”.  She reminded us that “laughter is contagious” and that working to make others laugh will brighten your day and better yet brighten their day.

She told us that if we walk around looking grumpy we will feel grumpy.  But, if we start out with a smile on our face we will feel happy inside.  “You feel how you think”, “your mind mimics your expression”, “how you look is how you feel” and ”how you look makes you feel a certain way”.  All demonstrated by how we felt when she forced us to put a smile on our face and forced us to laugh.

She repeated a phrase we had heard earlier in our session when we listed the obstacles to moving towards a positive self; “fake it till you make it”.

She told us that it had been proven that if people introduce some form of play in their work the bottom line is that productivity increases.  Imagine the shareholders reward if they demand that management makes coming to work fun.

She reminded us that we all think that we worry because it helps us to prepare.  Then she rattled off a series of statistics.

40%   of what we worry about will never happen
30%   of what we worry about are historic events
22%   of what we worry about are trivialities
  4%    of what we worry about we is outside our control and cannot change
  4%    of what we worry about are real events that we can act on

96% of what we worry about we can’t do anything about anyway. 

So why waste all that energy.

One frightening thing she said and quite a sobbering lesson. 

“Optimists live longer” 

and

“Pessimists are accurate, but, don’t live as long”

In closing she reminded us that

Yesterday is history

Tomorrow is a mystery

Today is a gift

That’s why it’s called the present

As I come to a close I am reminded that when I was a child I had very few things to worry about, I laughted at all sorts of things, I didn’t worry about what you thought of my antics and I had fun. 

So in conclusion “Find Your Inner Child” have fun, laugh, smile and be happy.  That’s what I am going to try to do to help myself.

 ______________________________________________________________________________________

If you are interested in this program you can contact the York region of the Academy of Learning either on +1 (905) 836 8973 or +1 (905) 508 5791.  At this stage their program is  only available in the York region on Ontario, Canada. 

Maybe you can convince them to license it to a franchisee near you.

This morning my wife and I were embraced in the oneness that God created to bring man and woman together as said in Genesis 2:24 Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and will join with his wife and they will be one flesh. and Again Jesus says in Mark 10:6-8 But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.  For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife.and the two will become one, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh.  Again in Matthew 19:4-6 Matthew once again quoted these words from our Lord Jesus.  In each of these passages God, both as father and son state very clearly that Man and Woman will bond and will become one with each other.  One can see that this is the beginning of what we know as the intimate act of a man and woman when they physically join as one.

Yet we must think deeper than this.  Not only does man and woman join as God has ordained they also find deep and lasting enjoyment in this joining of the flesh.  For each the feeling and the sense of intimacy is different.  For the man, who I can speak for, I find that it is an act that can in some instances, be overpowering, it is an act that requires work as the man enters and pleasures his wife, it is a demonstration of his power and is work.  For the woman, I can only imagine, it is a time when she receives her man within her womb.  It is a time where she shares in the intimacy of the oneness and it is a time where the woman cherishes and brings comfort to her husband.

So this oneness of a couple must also be a demonstration of the difference between man and woman.  The man is the stronger and more viral participate while the woman is the more giving and receiving participant.  Is it in this, God ordained merging of flesh, that we begin to note the differences that God built into man so that he would be the stronger, the one that would go out and work the fields and hunt for food.  While the woman is the more sensitive one that focuses on building a binding relationships and meets her man in an act of intimacy that is pleasing to the two, reproductive of the species and most importantly a way of demonstrating her cherishing and giving spirit.

From these thoughts I then remembered that in Genesis 1;26 God said, “let us make man in our image, after our likeness”.  This plurality suggests that God is not alone and that he made man in the image of the maleness of God and woman in the femaleness of God.  Does this suggest that God is actually two who have joined as one?

Then we read of angels and wonder from where they come.  Maybe it is from the joining of the male and female that is God.

Maybe the ancients or the gentiles who believed in concepts of an earth mother is simply an expression of the half of God that is female. And these same ancients who saw the powerful images of Zeus and Apollo, were they simply recognising the maleness of what we know now as the one God, the union of the earth father and the earth mother?

Today during a most enlightened networking meeting, beyond what someone in transition normally speaks of, we got into a most interesting and thought provoking conversation.

Electronic Health Care Records

Somehow we got into a discussion of the evolution and problems involved in developing the eletronic patient record.  The gentleman, who will remain nameless, remembered a conversation he had with a man who was involved with the United Kingdom’s work on the exploration of space.  This knighted individual apparently suggested the key issue with developing the electronic health record was the issue of creating the patient’s electronic history from the previous pencil and pen records. 

His approach to solving this problem was to use prisoners as the codifiers.  Of course such an idea immediately causes one to worry about privacy and the threat to the patient and doctors when these prisoners were freed. 

As we talked an interesting thought occurred.  How often is a patient’s history relevant?  How often is the doctor quite happy to meet with a patient and simply focus on the symptoms described during that  persons visit? 

As we reflected, we both realized that often the patient’s history will never be pertinent to a future diagnosis.  In those situations where the history is relevant, let’s say 10%, then there is value to the effort of codifying historic medical records, charts and the like.  The doctor and his office staff can find the time to organize the codification of the relevant data.  Clearly such an approach with the reduction is the cost of establishing the basic health record, is connected with the value a complete electronic health record will have in reducing the cost of long term care, something insurance companies and public health authorities can understand.

For that 90%, after the doctor has become automated and is part of a system designed to capture and retain the Patient Health Record, at the next appointment the doctor in conjunction with the patient can record important facts such as allergies, reactions to drugs, existing conditions and any pertinent operations or procedures the patient can remember. 

Only when this basic profile indicates conditions that will have future implications, is there a need to go through the effort of backtracking through the records and recording any pertinent information.

China and Socialism 

I asked my companion what he was up to.  He talked about the five companies he was working with in China and the various trips he had taken to remote parts of that great country.  He said three things that stuck in my mind. 

1. He remembered a bus trip where he asked about unemployment.  His Chinese companions asked him to look out the window and tell them what he saw.  His response “everyone is working”, “there are no beggars on the street”.  They smiled and he was reminded that in this socialist environment one of the fundamentals is that everyone has work however menial it may be.
    
2. We then spoke of the economic divide that is emerging and like in all countries this is a reality that will always exist unless we can evolve to that social utopia described as the purest form of socialism where every man works to his ability and everyone shares equally. He then reflected on the reality that mobile phones, TVs and other luxuries were everywhere and the age old work ethic that is China, will drive these people to want more therefore work harder to get more.  It is this work ethic that is China’s strength and will be the issue we will have to address as the world moves forward in time.  If we in the west continue to expand our leisure time and the Chinese continue to follow their nature and continue to focus on work.  Who will win?  I think the answer is evident.  Those that work  will be the ones who win.
3. He then spoke of issues within the industrial complex where mine accident occurred or dangerous products are released.  The interesting comment was that those in power, the top three managers, are shot when such things happen.  Of course this form of behaviour is abhorrent and clearly a violation of Christian thinking or western thoughts of punishment. 

Yet what is interesting, assuming they learn to balance the punishment (100 dead in a mine cave do to poor conditions and insufficient safety standards) to the crime, is that those ultimately responsible are ones that are punished. 

I then reflected on what happens in our society.  The executives always seem to go unscathed.  They successfully push the blame down to the supervisors and little people who work and manage the place where the disaster occurred. 

If we were to dig deep enough I am sure we would find that they did all they could do with the tools and budget they were provided.  Budgets and tools authorized by executives sitting in big offices taking down big salaries and only getting worried when shareholders not employees come screaming for justice.

Assuming that China is going to continue to evolve.  That they are going to embrace compassionate forms of punishment.  While at the same time maintaining their work ethic and maintain the premise that responsibility is top down not middle down.  They will become not only an economic power to deal with, but a country with a strong moral sense of responsibility and thus a threat to the soft life that has become the western dream. 

A dream that balances not working more than 40 hours a week with demands for more and more vacation.  China will be a country where hard work is rewarded, pleasures are sought and people have a moral sense of responsibility to each other.

We in the west need to be mindful and learn from those countries that take the goodness of socialism, merge it with the power of capitalism and the forces of the global economy.

Each day I receive a variety of articles on the subject of mobile payments and find countless opinions about the evolution, risks and capabilities of mobile payments.

As is always good form a definition is in order.  I could begin by suggesting a mobile payment is any time that while moving about I can purchase something from someone using some recognised means of payment or currency.  So at the most basic level of understanding carrying cash in our pockets was and still remains a form of mobile payments.  Yet this is not what we mean when we discuss mobile payments.  What we have done is combined two words from two worlds into a new thought.  Mobile emerging from the arena of telephony and the use of the concept of a phone that does not need to be connected with a piece of wire.  Wireless, cellular and mobile all are terms that we associate with the use of radio waves to connect a telephone to a network allowing us to make phone calls from someplace that is in proximity to a receiver or cell tower or satellite.  Now I’m sure all of my readers know these things and are wondering what is the point.

The point is that we also talk about contact-less payments that concept of waving a card in front of an antenna, thus  allowing the card to receive power through induction and then communicate with the device controlling the antenna.  Some people call it that “Tap and Go” feeling others refer to it a PayPass, Visa Wave, Express Pay card and if we travel the world we will find an assortment of other brand names such as Dexit.  In many cities transit agents discovered that by employing contact-less cards interfacing with - terminals they could create efficiencies, improve information about ridership and maybe even reduce fraud. 

So now we have to discuss the application of the technology.  This brings us to the idea of closed loop and open loop systems.  Neither are new thoughts, charge cards issued by department stores are closed loop they only work at that companies stores.  Open loop refers to systems that are widely accepted because someone has gone out and branded a concept, convinced merchants it is convenient and then offered a “Card” to you and I so that we can be identified and employ this “Means of Payment”.  Classic brands that we think of as Open Loop systems include money, MasterCard, Visa, Interac, PIN, eurocheque and an assortment of national brands.

Yet all of these systems have inherent inefficiencies.  Inefficiencies that some see as benefits and others see as highway robbery.  Then there is that class of people who enjoy getting something for “nothing” they like the idea of counterfeiting money, replicating credit and debit cards, capturing our PIN and ultimately stealing our identity and more importantly our hard earned money.  I could also mention merchant discounts, late fees, interest charges, interchange but those are all for another day.

The operators of these systems understand or learn about these various methods of “Stealing” identity and money and have built systems to mitigate the risk, eliminate no minimize yes.  In Europe and throughout the world (except the USA) the members of MasterCard, Visa and the various domestic systems are working to reduce these threats by introducing Smart Cards or Chip Cards all cards employing the EMV specification that have a computer embedded within.  The benefit is that PIN can easily be introduced on credit cards, the cost of telecommunications can be reduced by allowing the computer in the card to make intelligent decisions when ever that card is used to effect a payment.

This movement to secure payment cards with the technology and specifications defined within the EMV specifications began first in France where they went out on their own developed their own specifications and proved to the world that smart cards or chip cards can and will reduce the level of card present fraud and can if employed properly also reduce the cost of telecommunications.  their success can easily be  seen in this chart that tracked their progress and success.

Remarkable success, yet they were now faced with an issue.  First the criminals understood if they disabled the chip (computer) the merchant could still swipe the card and read the magnetic stripe.  This one easily could be solved by eventually not allowing cards that should have a chip to be swiped through the magnetic stripe reader.  But what about when these cards were used in Holland, England or anywhere that had not, and at the time no one had, adopted the same means of defense.  The net result fraud migrated from being a domestic issue to the cards being used in neighboring countries.  Obviously the French became proponents of a global migration to smart cards and convinced Visa, MasterCard and Europay to develop the EMV specifications, recognising that they would have to eventually convert.

I could continue to digress from my main theme and talk about how each country went through its decision making process.  I could then go on and talk about how far along they are in their implementations. Suffice it to say some are finished, others are diligently working towards completion and others are moving at a pace that does not cause undue expense and allowing natural replacement cycles to drive the timescale for implementation.

Here in the country where I live they also have a Chip Migration strategy.  Canada is inpilot or a trial depending on how the lawyers interpret the efforts of banks potentially colluding together.  By the summer cardholders in the Kitchener Waterloo area will be using these chip cards and the media, banks, merchants, processors and associations will be monitoring and learning how the Canadian’s feel about and their willingness to embrace the change.

The following chart outlines Interac’s schedule for deployment.  MasterCard is playing along without committing.  Whereas Visa has stated that they will push the liability for fraudulent transaction not protected by EMV to the Acquirer if their merchants are not compliant by October of 2010. 

So how does all of this affect the introduction of Mobile Payments or Contact-less Cards.  A mobile payment is simply, today, a contact-less payment performed using a mobile phone with the contact-less interface inside as apposed to to using the card as the form factor..  Well some will say not at all, the drivers are different the business case is not the same.  Yet the core technology is a computer in the card.  So why worry, eventually all of this could come together.  Or will the USA decide to take another path all together.

So to end this particular blog I ask a simple question, based on the premise that the mobile and contact-less payments that we see emerging are all about speeding up low value <$25 dollar transactions. What happens when I want to use my contact-less mobile phone for a payment for say a $1,500 hotel bill.  Will I tap my contact-less device “mobile phone”.  Have to find a place to put it while I either enter my PIN or sign the receipt.  Today the clerk typically holds the card for me while I sign the receipt tomorrow what.  Or will they decide to merge contactless and EMV creating a more interesting problem.  I’ll need to keep that phone near the antenna while my PIN is verified and the transaction is authorized.

 Or should we go on and talk about the security concerns that everyone has described in countless articles and numerous logs.  The idea that the criminal will walk down the street reading the content of your purse or wallet with their hidden antenna.

 Or should we talk about who is going to pay the price of adding the contact-less antenna to the merchants point of sale equipment.

 Let me hold those for another day and another flow of thought.

Often as I explore how our culture and our planet evolve I am amazed at how we try to change everything with each succeeding generation.  We, and I remember when I was young, think that our thoughts are original and therefore believe that we were the first to dream it up.  Yet if we explore history we will find that the great and the unknown have probably already put forward the concept.  As an example think of the Helicopter, invented by Da Vinci yet he did not have the tools to make it work.

 The change occurs as we build and create new machines, we suddenly find that we can create and build those things that before were only of our or someone elses imagination.

Yet all this being said we also circle back and adopt patterns that once were in vogue and did not test the passage of time.  The best example is our explicate use of sexual overtones in advertising.  The idea that the spam we receive for male enhancement products is no longer spam but are now commercials on prime time TV is simply an example of how we have lost sight of the value of prudence and morality.  Do we want to learn about feminine products or is that something our mothers will teach us and or doctors and health classes will provide education about.  Do we need to know that your product is more absorbent than theirs or that you can go swimming if you buy this one.

Maybe in a generation or two we will once again realize that by exploiting the art of sex we create and stimulate thoughts that are not biblical and can in some cases harm people.  Yes, a naked body can be a beautiful thing, when an artist exposes it on canvas.  But, is that same naked body art when we use it to advertise cars, shampoo and who knows what else.

As a technology I find that people think I have lost my edge given that I no longer understand the terminology they are using today.  Give me a thesaurus that matches words like a self contained subroutine to an object.  Then we talk about methodologies.  Do they imporve productivity I am sure that people beleive they do and nore importantly then assure us that we are doing a better job of documenting what we are building and mechanisms that assure the original user that he gets what he asked for

As an observer of our times I sometime wonder if we have taken things to an extreme and if our desire to lure people into buying this or that product has turned our world from one where it is all about loving god and your neighbor to one about simply doing anything to earn a dollar, euro, yen of pound.