Weekly Digest (310705)

What differences have I made last week than the last two weeks?

• I think I've made better improvements on how I performed. I almost always have stayed at office at 17-20 PM, usually for writing emails and blogs, or having discussions with students.
  
• I have not been able to catch up with the sunrise. I should do better.
• I asked more questions, many times on things that I observe everyday. The result was that I gained more ideas than before.
• I have got more victories than losses in the daily spiritual battefields last week. But reducing the number of losses should always be on top of my list.
• My student groups under my supervision are doing a good job on their final projects. Of course there were still corrections but overall, they are good, I think.
• I think I have spent more time for uproductive chats, especially when others come to me and start the conversation. I need to find decent ways to excuse myself from the conversation without getting somebody pissed off.
  

What lessons have I learned this week?

• I learnt that it's important to always see the positive sides of every persons I met. They may behave in ways which are unusual for me and they have reasons for that. The point is stop making assumptions on people without directly ask them the reasons they are doing that. But it'salso important that you retain the right to disagree or agree with them, with what they say.
• I learned the skill of delegation. In order to be more efficient, delegating tasks which are not on my top-priority list to others will give me extra time to do more important jobs.
• I learned how to motivate others. I come to the computer labs to meet my student groups on the spot, seeing how they made progress. I also learned how to create fun and enjoyable athmosphere for them doing their final projects.
• I learned that optimism can be infused and spread to others through daily interactions. Unfortunately, the same thing applies also to pessimism. But in my opinion, being realistic doesn't automatically mean pessimistic.

How should I live the next seven days?

• Wake up earlier to be much luckier. This is your main mission for the next seven days. Many people in Jakarta wake up at 5 AM only to spend three hours doing nothing but driving their car or sitting in bus, rushing to their offices and doing exacly the same in the afternoon. In this case, you are luckier.
  
• Keep on writing. You've already had some topics to write about next month.
• Read last week's weekly digest and see where you have not been successful.
• Be fun and be an agent of optimism. The reward is guaranteed.
• Be mindful of your weight, but don't torture yourself.
  

An Interview with John Perkins

This is a free-of-charge transcript from http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/09/1526251
I copy to my blog for your convenience.

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We speak with John Perkins, a former respected member of the international banking community. In his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man he describes how as a highly paid professional, he helped the U.S. cheat poor countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars by lending them more money than they could possibly repay and then take over their economies.

John Perkins describes himself as a former economic hit man - a highly paid professional who cheated countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars.

20 years ago Perkins began writing a book with the working title, "Conscience of an Economic Hit Men."

Perkins writes, "The book was to be dedicated to the presidents of two countries, men who had been his clients whom I respected and thought of as kindred spirits - Jaime Roldós, president of Ecuador, and Omar Torrijos, president of Panama. Both had just died in fiery crashes. Their deaths were not accidental. They were assassinated because they opposed that fraternity of corporate, government, and banking heads whose goal is global empire. We Economic Hit Men failed to bring Roldós and Torrijos around, and the other type of hit men, the CIA-sanctioned jackals who were always right behind us, stepped in.

John Perkins goes on to write: "I was persuaded to stop writing that book. I started it four more times during the next twenty years. On each occasion, my decision to begin again was influenced by current world events: the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1980, the first Gulf War, Somalia, and the rise of Osama bin Laden. However, threats or bribes always convinced me to stop."

But now Perkins has finally published his story. The book is titled Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. John Perkins joins us now in our Firehouse studios.

AMY GOODMAN: John Perkins joins us now in our firehouse studio. Welcome to Democracy Now!

JOHN PERKINS: Thank you, Amy. It’s great to be here.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. Okay, explain this term, “economic hit man,” e.h.m., as you call it.

JOHN PERKINS: Basically what we were trained to do and what our job is to do is to build up the American empire. To bring -- to create situations where as many resources as possible flow into this country, to our corporations, and our government, and in fact we’ve been very successful. We’ve built the largest empire in the history of the world. It's been done over the last 50 years since World War II with very little military might, actually. It's only in rare instances like Iraq where the military comes in as a last resort. This empire, unlike any other in the history of the world, has been built primarily through economic manipulation, through cheating, through fraud, through seducing people into our way of life, through the economic hit men. I was very much a part of that.

AMY GOODMAN: How did you become one? Who did you work for?

JOHN PERKINS: Well, I was initially recruited while I was in business school back in the late sixties by the National Security Agency, the nation's largest and least understood spy organization; but ultimately I worked for private corporations. The first real economic hit man was back in the early 1950's, Kermit Roosevelt, the grandson of Teddy, who overthrew of government of Iran, a democratically elected government, Mossadegh’s government who was Time's magazine person of the year; and he was so successful at doing this without any bloodshed -- well, there was a little bloodshed, but no military intervention, just spending millions of dollars and replaced Mossadegh with the Shah of Iran. At that point, we understood that this idea of economic hit man was an extremely good one. We didn't have to worry about the threat of war with Russia when we did it this way. The problem with that was that Roosevelt was a C.I.A. agent. He was a government employee. Had he been caught, we would have been in a lot of trouble. It would have been very embarrassing. So, at that point, the decision was made to use organizations like the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. to recruit potential economic hit men like me and then send us to work for private consulting companies, engineering firms, construction companies, so that if we were caught, there would be no connection with the government.

AMY GOODMAN: Okay. Explain the company you worked for.

JOHN PERKINS: Well, the company I worked for was a company named Chas. T. Main in Boston, Massachusetts. We were about 2,000 employees, and I became its chief economist. I ended up having fifty people working for me. But my real job was deal-making. It was giving loans to other countries, huge loans, much bigger than they could possibly repay. One of the conditions of the loan–let's say a $1 billion to a country like Indonesia or Ecuador–and this country would then have to give ninety percent of that loan back to a U.S. company, or U.S. companies, to build the infrastructure–a Halliburton or a Bechtel. These were big ones. Those companies would then go in and build an electrical system or ports or highways, and these would basically serve just a few of the very wealthiest families in those countries. The poor people in those countries would be stuck ultimately with this amazing debt that they couldn’t possibly repay. A country today like Ecuador owes over fifty percent of its national budget just to pay down its debt. And it really can’t do it. So, we literally have them over a barrel. So, when we want more oil, we go to Ecuador and say, “Look, you're not able to repay your debts, therefore give our oil companies your Amazon rain forest, which are filled with oil.” And today we're going in and destroying Amazonian rain forests, forcing Ecuador to give them to us because they’ve accumulated all this debt. So we make this big loan, most of it comes back to the United States, the country is left with the debt plus lots of interest, and they basically become our servants, our slaves. It's an empire. There's no two ways about it. It’s a huge empire. It's been extremely successful.

AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. You say because of bribes and other reason you didn't write this book for a long time. What do you mean? Who tried to bribe you, or who -- what are the bribes you accepted?

JOHN PERKINS: Well, I accepted a half a million dollar bribe in the nineties not to write the book.

AMY GOODMAN: From?

JOHN PERKINS: From a major construction engineering company.

AMY GOODMAN: Which one?

JOHN PERKINS: Legally speaking, it wasn't -- Stoner-Webster. Legally speaking it wasn't a bribe, it was -- I was being paid as a consultant. This is all very legal. But I essentially did nothing. It was a very understood, as I explained in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, that it was -- I was -- it was understood when I accepted this money as a consultant to them I wouldn't have to do much work, but I mustn't write any books about the subject, which they were aware that I was in the process of writing this book, which at the time I called “Conscience of an Economic Hit Man.” And I have to tell you, Amy, that, you know, it’s an extraordinary story from the standpoint of -- It's almost James Bondish, truly, and I mean--

AMY GOODMAN: Well that's certainly how the book reads.

JOHN PERKINS: Yeah, and it was, you know? And when the National Security Agency recruited me, they put me through a day of lie detector tests. They found out all my weaknesses and immediately seduced me. They used the strongest drugs in our culture, sex, power and money, to win me over. I come from a very old New England family, Calvinist, steeped in amazingly strong moral values. I think I, you know, I’m a good person overall, and I think my story really shows how this system and these powerful drugs of sex, money and power can seduce people, because I certainly was seduced. And if I hadn't lived this life as an economic hit man, I think I’d have a hard time believing that anybody does these things. And that's why I wrote the book, because our country really needs to understand, if people in this nation understood what our foreign policy is really about, what foreign aid is about, how our corporations work, where our tax money goes, I know we will demand change.

AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to John Perkins. In your book, you talk about how you helped to implement a secret scheme that funneled billions of dollars of Saudi Arabian petrol dollars back into the U.S. economy, and that further cemented the intimate relationship between the House of Saud and successive U.S. administrations. Explain.

JOHN PERKINS: Yes, it was a fascinating time. I remember well, you're probably too young to remember, but I remember well in the early seventies how OPEC exercised this power it had, and cut back on oil supplies. We had cars lined up at gas stations. The country was afraid that it was facing another 1929-type of crash–depression; and this was unacceptable. So, they -- the Treasury Department hired me and a few other economic hit men. We went to Saudi Arabia. We --

AMY GOODMAN: You're actually called economic hit men --e.h.m.’s?

JOHN PERKINS: Yeah, it was a tongue-in-cheek term that we called ourselves. Officially, I was a chief economist. We called ourselves e.h.m.'s. It was tongue-in-cheek. It was like, nobody will believe us if we say this, you know? And, so, we went to Saudi Arabia in the early seventies. We knew Saudi Arabia was the key to dropping our dependency, or to controlling the situation. And we worked out this deal whereby the Royal House of Saud agreed to send most of their petro-dollars back to the United States and invest them in U.S. government securities. The Treasury Department would use the interest from these securities to hire U.S. companies to build Saudi Arabia–new cities, new infrastructure–which we’ve done. And the House of Saud would agree to maintain the price of oil within acceptable limits to us, which they’ve done all of these years, and we would agree to keep the House of Saud in power as long as they did this, which we’ve done, which is one of the reasons we went to war with Iraq in the first place. And in Iraq we tried to implement the same policy that was so successful in Saudi Arabia, but Saddam Hussein didn't buy. When the economic hit men fail in this scenario, the next step is what we call the jackals. Jackals are C.I.A.-sanctioned people that come in and try to foment a coup or revolution. If that doesn't work, they perform assassinations. or try to. In the case of Iraq, they weren't able to get through to Saddam Hussein. He had -- His bodyguards were too good. He had doubles. They couldn’t get through to him. So the third line of defense, if the economic hit men and the jackals fail, the next line of defense is our young men and women, who are sent in to die and kill, which is what we’ve obviously done in Iraq.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain how Torrijos died?

JOHN PERKINS: Omar Torrijos, the President of Panama. Omar Torrijos had signed the Canal Treaty with Carter much -- and, you know, it passed our congress by only one vote. It was a highly contended issue. And Torrijos then also went ahead and negotiated with the Japanese to build a sea-level canal. The Japanese wanted to finance and construct a sea-level canal in Panama. Torrijos talked to them about this which very much upset Bechtel Corporation, whose president was George Schultz and senior council was Casper Weinberger. When Carter was thrown out (and that’s an interesting story–how that actually happened), when he lost the election, and Reagan came in and Schultz came in as Secretary of State from Bechtel, and Weinberger came from Bechtel to be Secretary of Defense, they were extremely angry at Torrijos -- tried to get him to renegotiate the Canal Treaty and not to talk to the Japanese. He adamantly refused. He was a very principled man. He had his problem, but he was a very principled man. He was an amazing man, Torrijos. And so, he died in a fiery airplane crash, which was connected to a tape recorder with explosives in it, which -- I was there. I had been working with him. I knew that we economic hit men had failed. I knew the jackals were closing in on him, and the next thing, his plane exploded with a tape recorder with a bomb in it. There's no question in my mind that it was C.I.A. sanctioned, and most -- many Latin American investigators have come to the same conclusion. Of course, we never heard about that in our country.

AMY GOODMAN: So, where -- when did your change your heart happen?

JOHN PERKINS: I felt guilty throughout the whole time, but I was seduced. The power of these drugs, sex, power, and money, was extremely strong for me. And, of course, I was doing things I was being patted on the back for. I was chief economist. I was doing things that Robert McNamara liked and so on.

AMY GOODMAN: How closely did you work with the World Bank?

JOHN PERKINS: Very, very closely with the World Bank. The World Bank provides most of the money that’s used by economic hit men, it and the I.M.F. But when 9/11 struck, I had a change of heart. I knew the story had to be told because what happened at 9/11 is a direct result of what the economic hit men are doing. And the only way that we're going to feel secure in this country again and that we're going to feel good about ourselves is if we use these systems we’ve put into place to create positive change around the world. I really believe we can do that. I believe the World Bank and other institutions can be turned around and do what they were originally intended to do, which is help reconstruct devastated parts of the world. Help -- genuinely help poor people. There are twenty-four thousand people starving to death every day. We can change that.

AMY GOODMAN: John Perkins, I want to thank you very much for being with us. John Perkins' book is called, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

Insights from Inside (040705)Jesus and the People (1)

Read: Matthew 1 - 11

How did Jesus deal with various kinds of people? It will be a pattern for us to deal with people we meet. Of course, we've got to consider the context. Below is only from the Book of Matthew. I'll continue with the other books of Gospel, each in a blog.

1. Satan: "It is written... It is also written... Away from from me, Satan!..." (4:1-11)
2. Simon, Andrew, James and John: "Come, follow me... and I will make you fishers of men." (4:18-22)
3. The sick, demon-possessed, and the paralyzed: He healed them (4:23-25)
4. The crowd: He gave them the Sermon on the Mount (5-7)
5. The leper, asking to be healed: He reached out his hand and touched the man. Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Jesus gave him warning and what's next to do. (8:1-4)
6. A centurion (a non-Jew), asking for help: Jesus healed his servant remotely. He gave praise for the man's great faith. (8:5-13)
7. Peter's mother-in-law, lying with a fever: He touched her hand and she was healed. (8:14-15)
8. The demon-possessed and the sick: He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. (8:16-17)
9. A teacher of the law and a disciple, who said they want to follow Jesus: He told the cost of following him to the teacher but he challenged the disciple. (8:18-22)
10. The Twelve, in the boat in the storm: "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" (8:23-27)
11. The Gadarenes, the demon-possessed: He drove out the demons and sent them into the herd of pigs. (8:28-34)
12. A paralytic: "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven... Get up, take your mat and go home." (9:1-8)
13. Some of the teachers of the law who said to themselves that Jesus was blaspeming when they heard Jesus saying, "your sins are forgiven": Jesus rebuked them. (9:3-6)
14. Matthew, the tax collector: Jesus told him, "Follow me," and he had dinner at Matthew's house, together with his disciples, many tax collectors and "sinners." (9:9-10)
15. The Pharisees, grumbling when saw Jesus ate with Matthew and "sinners": He rebuked them by saying, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick... I desire mercy, not sacrifice... For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (9:11-13)
16. The Twelve, asking Jesus about fasting: He taught them on fasting using parables. (9:14-17)
17. A ruler, asking Jesus to raise his daughter from death: Jesus took the girl by the hand and she got up. (9:18-19, 23-26)
18. A bleeding woman, touching the edge of Jesus' cloth from behind: Jesus turned and saw her. He said, "Take heart, daughter, your faith has healed you." And she was healed at the moment. (9:20-22)
19. The flute players and the mourners at the ruler's house: "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep."But they laughed at him. (9:23-24)
20. Two blind men, believing that Jesus could restore their sight: Jesus touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you" and their sight was restored. But Jesus gave them stern warning. (9:27-31)
21. A man, demon-possessed and therefore could not talk: Jesus drove out the demons and he spoke. (9:32-33)
22. The crowds whom Jesus saw: He saw them and had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (9:35-36)
23. The Twelve, after Jesus saw the crowds: He taught them that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. He told them to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field. (9:37-38)
24. The Twelve: He sent them out with detailed instructions and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. (10:1-42)
25. John's disciples, questioning him whether he was the one who was to come: He answered them implicitly that He is the Messiah. (11:1-6)
26. The crowd, after John's disciples gone: Jesus taught them about John the Baptist. (11:7-19)
27. The cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent: He denounce them. (11:20-24)
    
28. His Father: He praised him. (11:25-26)

(to be continued)

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Jesus is socially very active. His main business was people. He spent almost all of his life with people. He spent almost no time only for himself. He knew his time was very short and the best and God-pleasing way of living his short life was to live among his people whom he created.

He show the same patterns of response to the "sinners", the sick, the demon-possessed, the Twelve, the crowds, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. But his responses are radical and counter culture.

His main activities were wandering from places to places, teaching, preaching, socializing with people, healing the sick and the demon-possessed.

Christians should also be like their Master in dealing with people: active and counter culture.

Insights from Inside (300705)I am not alone

Read: 1 Kings 19:1-18

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.... "I have enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors... I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."

The LORD said to him, "...Yet I reserve SEVEN THOUSAND in Israel - all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."

Read: 1 Samuel 17:45-47

David said to the Philistine, "You came against me with sword and spear and javelin but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by the sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's and he will give all of into our hands."

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If I am alone, I should know that it's wrong. I have many brothers out there and I am not alone.

But if I am really alone and nobody is left but me, I should know that it's also wrong. If I am on God's side, I know God is with me and, again, I am not alone.

With God, I'll never be alone and therefore there should be no reason for me to be afraid.

One of the greatest losses on earth

Have you ever thought how much wisdom, knowledge, and creative ideas someone can have during one's life on earth? Of course they depend on the person oneself. But even for an average person like most of us, they are uncountable, good or bad. Now, what will happen to them if the person die? It's certainly gone, gone like the wind if they are not passed to any living human being or documented in oral or written forms. And it happens every minute under the sun. Someone out there is dying now, I am sure.

The message is that there will be a great loss in the history of mankind if distinguished individuals who are rich and deep in wisdom, knowledge and brilliant ideas do not take a small fraction of their lifetime to make records of them in audio or, preferrably written forms, like books, pictures, photographs, notes, videos, or tapes. Records from people's memories are OK too, but they may be not authentic and original anymore, due to the subjectivity of the living witnesses and the volatility of man's memory.

Writing your principles, wisdom, knowledge, ideas and hard lessons of life (everyday) may become your greatest contribution to the world. Who knows that you know something that some day will determine the future of man?

How bad do you want it?

Have you ever come to make a commitment only to find out that you broke it in the next few days? I have, a lot of time. Have you ever come to a condition when you really need to do something and you are ready to sacrifice anything only to make it happen? I have.

What is my point in writing these? My thesis is that the level of enthusiasm and energy in accomplishing something is proportionally related to the level of its importance, meaning and value to us.

For example, if my beloved mother suddenly suffers from a terrible heart attack and gets hospitalized, dying while I am 250 kilometers away from home, what will I do? An easy question. I will at the moment contact my boss and share the condition and I tell him that I'll go to Medan for seeing my mother, maybe for the last time, with or without his permission. I'll leave without any single thought about anything except my dear mother. No doubt.

I think this can be a good tool for fighing against idleness and laziness. Before doing something, you'd better take time first to define what's the importance of doing it for you. What is the meaning of it for you? What benefit can you and others can get from it? Why do you want to do it? How bad do you want it done? This will be complete if the Scripture is the foundation.

I think this will give us a clear way out when falling into any of these two categories of nearly all problems in decision making.

• NOT DOING what you really like and want to do, yet bad and harmful for you.
  
• DOING what you don't like or want to do, yet good and necessary for you.

That's the theory class. Now comes the hardest yet most enjoyable part: the laboratory session of life. Practices make perfect, eh?

At last it works

This morning I received an email from a friend of mine. He is doing his graduate study in one of the northest countries in the world. He told me that he has been reading my blogs from quite a time ago and he said that through them he felt blessed. My heart was filled with great joy because at last what I have been tryin' of doing has come to its main purpose: to be a blessing for the visitors and readers. Thank you bro! I see this as a strong signal from God that I've got to try harder to practice writing, digging the potential God has given me which has been lying dormant in me for so many years.

From this, I become more convinced on the powerful impact that (written) media may create. I've finished reading a book about someone "great" that you must have known. See, his life was changed because of the influence of a cheap magazine. I'll write another blog on this, I promise you.

Besides that, I also learn how the Internet is key in modern human life. As a technology, it can be used for good or bad purposes. For God's Church, it's a golden opportunity now to use it as media to spread the Good News very effectively. It can reach so many people at the same time, unlimited by nearly any thinkable borders, and in a relatively low cost. I think the Internet, and also wireless communication technology, is a clear sign that Jesus will come soon since without it, I guess, it will take much more years for the Good News to be heard by all people and races of the world (Mark 13:10).

This is a huge movement that paints the history of the world and I'm now a small part of it by writing blogs.

How about you?

An Inspiring Conversation with Mother Teresa

I have been reading a book about Mother Teresa, her people and her work in the last couple of days and I read this extremely inspiring conversation between Mother Teresa and the author, Desmond Doig. It's blessed me so much that I want it does the same to you too by writing it in my blog. Hope that my time for writing all these will not be in vain...

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...When they ended their prayer, the young Sister began reading the Bible and Mother a well-thumbed copy of Seeds of the Desert by Charles de Foucauld.

'It's a very beautiful book. He was a very holy person.'

Mother explained when I asked her. She passed me the book and the paragraph I read had to do with the need to submerge completely the ego in the service of God. It was the moment I had been waiting for. Was it true, I asked her, that it was on a train journey like this that God had revealed to her His wish that she should serve Him amongst life's derelicts?

She nodded, but I knew from experience that she was loathe to talk about herself. Yet here I was sitting next to someone to whom God had personally spoken, and I wanted to know about the awesome majesty of such an experience.

So I persisted. 'Mother, how did you know? Were you not for a second in doubt? After all, Christ himself had moments of doubt. In Gethsemane.'

'No. There was no doubt. It was only for a moment that He felt unsure. That was as a human being. That was natural. The moment you accept, the moment you surrender yourself, that's the conviction. But it may death to you, eh? The conviction comes the moment you surrender yourself. Then there is no doubt. The moment Jesus said, "Father, I am at your disposal, Thy will be done", He had accepted. That was His agony. He felt all the things you and I would feel as human beings. That's why He was like unto us in all things, except sin.'

But what if uncertainty remains?

'That's the time to go on your knees, eh?'

And I wondered whether on that train journey to Darjeeling twenty-seven years ago this indomitable woman had sunk on her knees in prayer. For a while the powerful vision obliterated the race of fields and trees and piled clouds outside the windows. If God had spoken to us then I wonder if I would have been amazed.

'In that prayer,' she said, 'God cannot deceive you because that prayer comes from within you. That is the time you want Him most. Once you have got God within you, that's for life. There is no doubt. You can have other doubts, eh? But that particular one will never come again. No,' she said looking pensively out of the window so that I hardly caught the words, 'I have never had doubt.'

And then turning to me she said with intensity, 'But I am convinced that it is He and not I. That it is His work, and not my work. I am only at His disposal. Without Him I can do nothing. But even God could do nothing for someone already full. You have you be completely empty to let Him in to do what He will. That's the most beautiful part of God, eh? Being almighty, and yet forcing Himself on anyone.'

'But Mother, you surely have to use your initiative?'

'Of course. You have to do it as if everything depends on you - but leave the rest to God.'

'Mother, do you feel that everything is directed by God? Right and wrong?'

'There may be mistakes, many mistakes. We may make mistakes. But He cannot make mistakes. He will draw the good out of you. That's the beautiful part of God, eh? That He can stoop down and make you feel that He depends on you. The same thing with Our Lady?, no? When the angel was sent to her and said, 'You are to be the Mother of Jesus,' Our Lady emptied Herself and said, 'Do unto me according to Thy will. I am the handmaid of the Lord.' Until and unless She had surrendered, Christ would not have come into the world. There would have been no Christ, no Jesus, born. Because She was so humble, so empty, She became full of grace. At the moment She received Jesus, Her first thought was to give Him to others. She went in haste to John's house. And what did She do there? She did the servant's work. That's the most beautiful part of the goodness of God and the greatness of God's love for the world. God loved the world by giving Christ to the world, and Christ loved the world by giving His life for the world. Always giving,' she said, laughingly, 'constantly giving.'

--

Source:
Mother Teresa: Her People and Her Work
by Desmond Doig
Harper & Row, Publishers, San Fransisco, 1976
ISBN 0-06-061941-4
(pp. 23-24)

About vision statement and mission statement

Some people may get confused on the differences of the vision statement and mission statement. Here is a helpful explanation from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_statement

Organizations sometimes summarize goals and objectives into a mission statement or a vision statement:

• A vision statement describes in graphic terms where the goal-setters want to position themselves in the future. It may describe how they see events unfolding over 10 or 20 years if everything goes exactly as hoped.
• A mission statement resembles a vision statement, but has a more immediate focus. It details what one will do today to attain one's goal, purpose, or mission. Ford's brief but powerful slogan, "Quality is Job 1" could count as a mission statement. However, most mission statements involve more detail, often describing who will do what, for whom, how, and why. For example: "Our mission consists of meeting or exceeding the demands of business-computer users by offering a level of service that surpasses anything available in the Tritown area while providing our employees with a stimulating environment in which to grow and providing our shareholders with a return above the industry-average."

Vision statements often appear more graphic and more abstract than mission statements, which tend more to the concrete and the proscriptive. A vision statement "paints a picture" of ideal future outcomes. Whereas the mission statement provides immediate guidance; a vision statement inspires. An athlete might have a vision of walking up the steps to a podium where she accepts a gold medal. Her vision statement might describe this event.

In the 1980s, Bill Gates had a simple vision: "A personal computer on every desk, and every computer running Microsoft software." Variations of this vision have allegedly inspired and guided him throughout his career (anti-monopoly law suits notwithstanding).

Features of an effective vision statement may include:

• clarity and lack of ambiguity
• painting a vivid picture
• describing a future
• memorable and engaging expression
• realistic aspirations
• alignment with organizational values and culture
• subjection to customer needs (in the case of a vision statement for a business organization)
  

In order to become really effective, an organizational vision statement must (the theory states) become assimilated into the organization's culture. Leaders have the responsibility of communicating the vision regularly, creating narratives that illustrate the vision, acting as role-models by embodying the vision, creating short-term objectives compatible with the vision, and encouraging others to craft their own personal vision compatible with the organization's overall vision.

I did it!

I am finally successful in completing my research paper for this month. It's a research on the first years of three most leading US schools in science and technology to find out the answer to this question: how to build a university in science and technology from scratch and make it a stable and sustainable leading university in teaching and research?

It's true that writing our own ideas and original concepts is the most difficult language skill to master. But most difficult does not mean impossible, eh? Yet it's the one of the greatest influences a man can leave to the world.

Mm, I'm now thinking of the topic for my next month's paper. Challenging yet doable... Any ideas?

Insights from Inside (260705)From eternity to eternity

Read: The first and last chapter of the Bible

God does exist.

Man is eternal being.

God's presence in the world creates heaven-like world.

Weekly Digest (240705)

I am trying a new style of evaluating this week. First, I'll compare how I have performed this week with Weekly Digest I wrote last week. Second, I'll write some lessons I learnt in previous seven days. Third, I'll put a new section in which I proposed important practical things to do next month. Let's start.

What differences have I made last week than the last two weeks?

• I have done better I think in how I worked as a Christian employee. Yet I know I could have done much better.
• I have tried more to consult my eight faithful advisors every day and I got some good ideas for research. One of them willbe the topic or my private paper writing project for this month. I am still working on it.
  
• I have been successful in pushing myself to write at least a blog every day.
• Productivity means how many important things I have finished doing in how much time and what level of quality. I have not been a good performer in productivity, I think. I need to be more focused and have that important finish-it-best-ASAP mentality, though I am not too fond of doing the tasks.
• I enjoy my quiet time with God better than before. I think I need more time especially in morning prayer time.

What lessons have I learned this week?

• Again, I need to be more focused and concentrated on doing my top-priority responsibilites as well as I can.
  
• I learn about vocation this week. I learn that having a clear persobal profesionnal calling from God is very prominent in helping me how I live and work every day. I need to take more time to find it for myself tonight, before starting this week.
• I learn that there are some times that will put me in temptations more than other. First is still browsing while I'm dropping with fatigue. The best thing I have to do in low-battery condition is taking a good sleep. Second, being alone. There is Holy Spiritthat will remind me when I'm actually in these dangerous moments.
• When doing some research on my paper, I learn that how I (and all my colleagues) perform as a lecturer is a main factor that really determines the quality of the school and its graduates later. I realize how big is a responsibility on my shoulders in this profession.
  

How should I live the next seven days?

• To be more effective with my eight hours at office, I'd better in read mode at 8 to 12 and in write mode at 13 to 17.
• To be more effective in using the Internet, I should wake up earlier to use Internet at 5 to 7 and start browsing at 17 to 19.45. It means having dinner at 20.
• Try to make it a habit to strive finishing all your jobs in office hours and in five working days so that you are free to live the other hours to develop yourself. This many times means doing things which are not relevant to your main responsibilies as lecturer.
  
• My ideal daily schedule:
• 5-7 Internet@home
  
• 8-12 read/practice@office
  
• 13-17 write/practice@office (never read on these hours!)
  
• 17-20 Internet@office/home
• 22-23 read/learn@home

So? Just do it, lah....

Insights from Inside (240705)Teach Me Thy Way, O Lord

O Lord, I know you are there and you know me better than I do myself. You know all my struggles and you are the holder of the future. I believe there is no other better life I can have than that you have prepared and planned for me before the beginning of the universe. Teach me thy way, O Lord.

--

Teach Me Thy Way, O Lord

B. Mansell Ramsey

Teach me Thy way, O Lord, teach me Thy way
Thy guiding grace afford, teach me Thy way
Help me to walk aright more by faith, less by sight
Lead me with heav'nly light, teach me Thy way

When I am sad at heart, teach me Thy way
When earthly joys depart, teach me Thy way
In hours of loneliness, in times of dire distress
In failure or success, teach me Thy way

When doubts and fears arise, teach me Thy way
When storms o'er spread the skies, teach me Thy way
Shine thro' the cloud and rain, thro' sorrow, toil and pain
Make Thou my pathway plain, teach me Thy way

Long as my life shall be lost, teach me Thy way
Where'er my lost be cast, teach me Thy way
Until the race is run, until the journey's done
Until the crown is won, teach me Thy way

--

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here I am. Send me!"
- Isaiah 6:8

The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

"Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."

But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everywhere I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 1:4-8

The LORD said, "...So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt."
...But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."
Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses....
- Exodus 3:7,10; 4:13-14a

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name."
- Jesus Christ, John 15:16

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
- Jesus Christ, Matthew 7:13-14

Could you have gotten into MIT in 1869 and 1876?

Could you have gotten into MIT in 1869 and 1876? Try your hand at the Entrance Exams in these links below.

http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/exam/index.html
http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/exam-entrance1876/index.html

No multiple choice, right? I think, the business of Bimbingan Belajar will come to an end if SPMB is like this.

Insights from Inside (230705)The Unity of Love and Obedience

Read: John 14:15-15:17

"If you love me [Jesus], you will obey what I command." (v. 14:15)

"Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." (v. 14:22)

"If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." (v. 14:23)

"He who does not love me will not obey my teaching." (v. 14:24)

"...I love the Father and ... I do exactly what my Father has commanded me." (v. 14:31)

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love." (v. 15:9)

"If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love." (v. 15:10)

"I have told you this so that my joy will be in you and that your joy may be complete." (v. 15:11)

"MY COMMAND IS THIS: LOVE EACH OTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU." (v. 15:12)

--

Obedience to God's command is the only product and prove of one's love to God.

No other highest reasons in obeying God's commands than to love God.

Everyone who loves Jesus must obey his command which is to love each other as Jesus has loved him/her.

True full joy will be in the lives of those who love others as the result of their love to God.

Insights from Inside (220705)God's Love and Ours

Read: 1 John 4:7-21

"Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." (v. 8)

Q:
"How did God showed his love among us?"
A:
"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him." (v. 9)

"No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." (v. 12)

Q:
"How to live in God and God live in me?"
A:
"If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God." (v. 15)
"God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." (v. 16b)

Q:
"How to know that I live in God and God live in me?"
A:
"We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit." (v. 13)

"We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet he hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." (vv. 19-21)

Eureka!

Have you ever experience a jolt of joy and shout "Eureka!" because you find a brilliant idea? I did it today. Continuing my quest for a paper topic to write this month, I finally got one. I'll tell you after I finish composing it. All I need is a good Internet connection, time, common sense, enough energy and perseverence to write.

So, now I have something interesting to do. I hope I can finish what I start.

Insights from Inside (210705)Extraordinary and Excellent Life

Read: 1 John 4:1-6

"You, dear Children, are from God and have overcome them [the false prophets], because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." (v. 4)

"If the people who do not have and know Holy Spirit can live such a productive and extraordinary lives that can transform the world, how much more should be the lives of those who are controlled and empowered by the Holy Spirit who lives and rules in them?"

"No life of those whose greatest passion is to live under full control and power of the Spirit should be mediocre or average."

"For Christians the branches of the Vine, the only key to a fully blessed and fruitful life that blesses others is to remain in Jesus Christ the Vine by the power of the Holy Spirit." (John 15:1-16)

The Characteristics of Good Coaches and Leaders From A Passion For Excellence

What is the definition of leadership? It's as tough as finding the anwer to the question "what is the definition of love". It's easier instead to tell the charachteristics of leadership. I quote this part still from Tom Peter and Nancy Austin's book, A Passion for Excellence, page 357-359.

The real question for you if you finish reading: Are you a good leader and coach?

--

Effective coaching means creating winners, keeping the faith in the thick of turmoil, building momentum, finding tiny glimmers of light (to reinforce) in the midst of darkness, building on the strength that ninety-nine out of a hundred have.

We've learned about coaching from participants in our seminars. Here's what they've said about the characteristics of good coaches:

• Challenges me to do my best.
• Sets a good example.
• Never divulges a confidence.
• Explains the reasons for instructions and procedures.
• Helps me polish my thoughts before I present them to others.
• Is objective about things.
• Lets me make my own decisions.
• Cares about me and how I'm doing.
• Does not seek the limelight.
• Won't let me give up.
• Gives personal guidance and direction, especially when I'm learning something new.
• Is empathetic and understanding.
• Is firm but fair.
• Keeps a results orientation.
• Makes me work out most of my own problems or tough situations, but supports me.
• Lets me know where I stand.
• Listens exceptionally well.
• Doesn't put words to my mouth.
• Is easy to talk to.
• Keeps the promises he or she makes.
• Keeps me focused on the goals ahead.
• Works as hard or harder than anyone else.
• Is humble.
• Is proud of those managers he or she developed.
• Gives credit where credit is due.
• Practices MBWA.
• Never says "I told you so".
• Corrects my performance in private.
• Never flaunts authority.
• Is always straightforward.
• Gives at least a second chance.
• Maintains an Open Door Policy.
• Uses languages that is easy to understand.
• Lets bygones be bygones.
• Inspires loyalty.
• Really wants to hear my ideas, and acts on them.
• Lets me see my own deadlines.
• Celebrates successes.
• Is open and honest.
• Doesn't hide bad news.
• Gives me enough time to prepare for discussion.
• Is enthusiastic.
• Follows through.
• Is patient.
• Wants me to "stretch" my skills.
• Gives me his or her full attention during discussions, won't be distracted.
• Has a sense of humor.
• Handles disagreements privately.
• Reassures me.
• Makes me feel confident.
• Tells me the "whole story".
• Says "we" instead of "I".
• Makes hard work worth it.
• Can communicate annoyance without running wild.
• Is courageous.
• Insists on training.
• Is a stabilizing influence in a crisis.
• Gets everyone involved.
• Wants me to be successful.
• Is optimistic.
• Operates well under pressure, or in a rapidly changing environment.
• Has a reputation for competence with his or her peers.
• Has a good understanding of the job.
• Is tough and tender.
• Believes we can do it.
• Sets attainable milestones.
• Communicates philosophy and values.
• Is perceptive - doesn't require that everything be spelled out.
• Has a strong sense of urgency.
• Preserves the individuality of his or her team members.
• Thinks and operates at a level above what is expected.
• Want to make the organization the best in the industry.
• Is willing to act on intuition; believes feelings are facts.
• Empowers us.
• Is there when we need him or her.
• Enjoys his or her job.
• Likes to spend time with us.
  

The list has one stunning characteristic: there is absolutely nothing new on it. Leaders want to do all these things. Most get distracted by the technical aspects of their job. They don't get around it. New managers find that time spent doing those things "doesn't feel like work." No leader practices all these traits all the time. What they best do (usually intuitively, because most leadership training is so shoddy) is to realize that these are the "it." Effective leadership is full-time people development. Moreover, it doesn't take an extrovert personality, or special flair or a flashy style, to coach well - it only takes consistent attention and vigilant action. In coaching, the name of the game is execution.

Lessons from A Passion for Excellence

I have read some parts of a superb book titled "A Passion for Excellence. The Leadership Difference" co-authored by Tom Peters and Nancy Austin. Written after the best-selling "In Search of Excellence" in 1985, it can be considered a classic book on management. Albeit I found many principles which are still relevant to any present and future institution that strives for excellency. Few of them I'll write here.

• The brand we propose has a simple base of MBWA (Managing by Wandering Around). To "wander", with customers and vendors and our own people, is to be in touch with the first vibrations of the new. The topic of MBWA is at once about common sense, leadership, customers, innovation and people. Simple wandering - listening, emphatizing, staying in touch - is an ideal starting point.
  
• The surviving organization is the adaptive organization. The adaptive organization is one that is in touch with the outside world via living data. All four of our variables - two that you would expect (customers and innovation) and two that are novel (people and leadership) - are focused on sensing changes and adapting to it, not via great leaps and genius paper plans, but via constant contact with and reaction to people on the part of every person in the organization.
• Consumers are statistics. Customers are people. (from Stanley Marcus, chairman emeritus of Neiman-Marcus)
• ...in fact this entire book is about quality. Because quality, above all, is about care, people, passion, consistency, eyeball contact and gut reaction. Quality is not a technique, no matter how good. (p. 98)
  
• The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (from George Bernard Shaw)
• When you have a true passion of excellence, and when you act on it, you will stand straighter. You will look people in the eye. You will see things happen. You will see heroes created, watch ideas unfold and take shape. You'll walk with a springier step. You'll have something to fight for, to care about, to share, scary as it is, with other people. There will be times when you swing from dedicated to obsessed. We don't pretend that it's easy. It takes real courage to step out and stake your claim. But we think the renewed sense of purpose, of making a difference, of recovered self-respect, is well worth the price of admission. (p. 419)

I'd like to buy and own the book later since it deserves a place in my private library. Just buy the books that can serve as your references and advisors. A masterpiece.

Source:
A Passion of Excellence
by Tom Peters and Nancy Austin
Random House New York 1985

Insights from Inside (200705) Spirit Testing

Read: 1 John 4:1-6

"When someone talks to you, make it a habit to digest what he says. Test it first before you throw it out or swallow it."

"Don't be surprised if people don't listen to you when you speak God's Word. Everyone must make their own choice and be responsible for it. The most pathetic people in the world are they who have heard the Good News later but before the Lamb of God, find out that their choice is wrong yet cannot do anything to fix it."

This is My Gethsemane

My fellow lecturer was back from Holland for having his summer vacation in Indonesia. I am glad to meet him so I can ask him as many questions as I want about graduate study in the Netherlands. The coming days in this month will be one of the most determining moments in my life. I am looking forward to the final result of my scholarship application this year. The selection committee will contact me anytime if I am to be awarded the scholarship.

I pray to God that I want to pursue graduate study abroad and I want to get back to Indonesia for the sake of my people here, especially the school where I work now. I think a good lecturer must resolve to getting the highest degree in his field for equipping him to be a professional teacher. I have promised him that I'll give my best if he grant me my wish. In all the phases of the scholarship application that I've undertaken, I can see clearly the kindness and mercy of God's hand to me. Many times I faced situations which I thought impossible, yet in the right time God open for me doors which I've never thought of before. So, now all these miraculous steps have been passed and I am waiting for the final result. And what is my response?

Again, this is my Gethsemane. Gethsemane is the place/time where/when man's will confronts with God's will, and Gethsemane demands a decision from the man. God knows my will and I have done my best during all the application processes. Not only that, he has showed me his goodness so many times. Now, I must prepare myself for God's very will for me: I go or not go. How should I act in a Gethsemane? My Lord Jesus has given me the best example that pleased God the Father in the most difficult Gethsemane that determined the eternal fate of all the universe:

"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."
-John 22:42

Here I am your servant, my Lord, and this is my prayer unto thee:

"Father, if you are willing, please let me go; yet not my will, but yours be done."

This is My Gethsemane.
What is your Gethsemane?

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
-Rome 8:28

Insights from Inside (190705) Love

Read: 1 John 3:11-24

"You do not love God whom you can not see if you do not love your brothers whom you can see."

Q:
"How do we know what love is?"
A:
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us." (v. 16)

Q:
"How do we know that he lives in us?"
A:
"We know it by the Spirit he gave us." (v. 24)

What would you do if you know you'd die next month?

My friend have just told me a shocking news: someone I know had just died some minutes ago because of a heart attack. He is a good man but he is still young, maybe not even thirty years old. One question that immediately popped into my mind is why God gave such a good man very short time to live? Why do many bad people live longer than good ones? Then another terrible question came to me making me afraid of what answers I should give to it. That question is the title above.

What are the lessons I can learn from the bad news?

1. How valuable is time for you? Life is so short because time flies so fast while there are so many things to be done. We know more about the value of something when it's gone. So do we about how valuable time is.

2. It is good to regularly remind ourselves that we will die someday and must be responsible before God for anything I've done in my life. It's good because it will remind us about what the true meaning of our life is. I know that I'll be gone in the same way I was born, bringing nothing to world and bringing nothing from the world. I know that I must NOT spend my life for vain things like money or riches. I know that I must invest in ETERNAL things, which are human lives. Money, power, intelligence, anything that I have are to be used for people. Things are for people, NOT people for things. And people are for the glory of their Creator. So, how have my life today became a blessing for others?

3. What would you do if you know you'd die next month? This is a hard question, yet essential and demanding personal answer. Not many people like to be asked the question, maybe because death is not in their wish list. But personally what is my answer? Honestly I can't give my reply now but I'll think about it seriously. My life will never be the same if I keep on asking it to myself everyday.

4. Are you ready if you die in the next hour? Where will you go in the afterlife? Still many people are afraid if they are inquired these questions. But again, whether you like or not, make sure you have a good answer for yourself.

5. What do you want people say about you in your funeral? I have the answers for myself but I won't tell you now. Maybe it's a good idea of pretending to have an accident and die, and we can hear what people say about us after we inexist. What do you think?

"Life in this world is like a dot in the divine line."

Insights from Inside (180705)Yet Another Litmus Test of True Christianity

Read: 1 John 3:1-10

Q:
"How do I know that I lives in God?"

A:
"No one who lives in him keeps on sinning."
"No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him." (v. 6)
"No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him: he cannot go on sinning, because he is born of God." (v. 9)

Q:
"How do we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are?"

A:
"This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother." (v. 10)

How can Indonesian TV sinetrons harm you?

Sinetron is abbreviated from Sinema Elektronik or electronic cinema. The prime time of almost all Indonesian TV stations are now filled with this type of TV production. After watching almost all sinetrons during prime time, I find some similiarities which may be dangerous and mislead the viewer, especially children.

• Usually there are appearances of peri, angels, or genie. They can be very good or very bad. The good ones will help the protagonists all the time while the bad ones will always try to put the good actors in troubles.
• There are usually the antagonists which are very, very, very bad and cruel. Sometimes their acts are not natural, non-sense and very exaggerated. Many acts of them can be considered as first class crimes that deserved lifetime prisonment or death sentence, like conciusly planned murder or santet.
  
• Many times the good actors act like stupid people, do naive things which make me doubtful whether they have brains or not. So many acts which make me laugh in my heart and think how come a person can do such a nonsensical thing.
• Some titles of the sinetrons absolutely do not match with the story. For example, one sinetron's title is about love but the story is about ghost hunting! Okay, let's think positively. Maybe they love ghosts.

What is the harm of these examples above? Here are two, especially for children. I can not add more for now because I'm already sleepy.

• Getting used to watch good angels and genies, children and teen viewer will think divine phenomena like God and his works as physical. When they are in trouble and pray to God for help, they may hope that God will manifest himself in physical forms and help them. Unfortunately, in real life, God mostly doesn't work like that. God prefers to working in mysterious ways.
  
• Viewers may use all the acts of the antagonists and protagonists in their daily life if they can not filter them out. No wonder if they may commit crimes because of getting fed by the bad sinetrons.

I really wonder what is inside the skulls of the producers with such hazardous stories. But because they are profit-oriented, then AC Nielsen TV rating will be their master. If these are stories that most Indonesians like to see and the producers produce them, I can not figure out what the future of this nation will be in the hands of leaders whose mindsets have been influenced deeply by sinetrons.

"You can not avoid the flood of information. But you can protect yourself from drowning or getting forced to follow its current. Only living fish that can swim against the current of the sea."

What Would Jesus Do If He is an Employee?

There are two questions that can help you in making right decision on ethical issues.
1. What would Jesus do (WWJD) if He were in your position?
2. If a newspaper write what you will do and all people who know you well read it, will you be embarrased?

Let's get down to business. I think, if someone works for an employer, it is his obligation that he spent all his time from 9 AM to 5 PM doing only the things that relate directly to his job for the good of his company. That's what he is paid for.

So, how should a Christian employee work? Here are some of the things that should NOT be done by a Christian employee in office hours.

• Unproductive chatting with fellow workers or on the Internet. Office hours are not for chatting about things that have nothing to do with job.
• Opening, reading and writing e-mails which are out of your job responsibilities.
• Come late to office and go before appointed time.
• Sleep!
  
• Reading newspapers
• Eating and drinking
  
• Practically doing anything that fails any of the above two test questions.

Let's make your work life this week a sacrifice pleasing to God, your employer and, of course, yourself.

"The productivity of a nation is the sum of the productivity of all its citizens."

Weekly Digest (170705)

Lessons learned from this week.

• I noticed how fast time past by if I was so busy, particularly in doing what I enjoyed most. So then, how can you know what you really like to do? One of the answer is if you forget about time even anything else when you do it. On the other hand, time can run so slowly. Wanna know how? Just look at your watch or clock now and see how long a minute really is. Btw, when I am writing this blog, I seems to me that I have written my weekly digest about last week just now.

• I came up with a thought on how a Christian should work differently than others. I'll write a special blog on this. I know a truth is sometimes like a bitter pill yet a healer for a sick.

• This week I spent two days as examiner and advisor in seminar of students' final projects. This is a new experience for me and I learn that finding a research topic is not an easy thing. It's like finding a pearl but it is worth our efforts when it's discovered. I also learn that this world is full of unlimited things that can be examined in researches and experiments. Many of them are lying around us. They may be the things that we see, hear or sense every day. They will show up if we make it a habit to ask the eight faithful advisors: WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, HOW, WHY, WHY NOT, and WHAT IF. I think it's a must-have habit for anyone who wants to be a true learner. A true learner is someone who finds that life is for learning and that learning is what makes this life full of joy.

• This Friday, two high-calibre persons gave me a serious challenge. Challenge that I've been dreaming of but I'm not confident to give my best shot. I know that if I get it, my life will never be the same again. It will open many doors for me that I've never tought of before. It will elevate me to unthinkable heights, if only I'm willing to pay the price. OK, I'LL TRY MY BEST AND WON'T LET IT SLIPS FROM MY FINGERS. I'LL DO MY PART THE BEST. THE REST BELONGS TO GOD.

• Last Monday, I was called by a guy from a well-known publisher. He offered me chances to be a book writer. I said I'll think about it. I found two interesting topics to be written as books. But, when I browse the Internet today, unfortunately someone else have done it. That's fine. This world is full with unlimited possible topics. But what I learned was that I must give serious thought on becoming a serious writer, be it in fiction or non-fiction. I can write in many forms like papers, articles for newspapers, short stories, blogs, or books. I should realize the powerful impact of a well-written ideas. It's one of the way to leave my legacy to the world. Writing quality blog(s) every day, I think, will be a good start. Maybe I can start writing a research paper every month. The topic can be anything, but I want to relate it with education. The most important is the habit of documenting my ideas into quality written products that can give benefits to the readers.

• I have been less productive in writing Insight from Inside every morning. I only wrote it once this week and I felt that it contributed a lot to my productivity which, I think, is lower than last week. I'll be more serious in writing quality blogs.
  

A Leadership Primer from Colin Powell by Oren Harari

A Leadership Primer from

General (Ret.) Colin Powell, Secretary of State

By Oren Harari

Lesson 1

Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.

Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions. It's inevitable if you're honorable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: You'll avoid the tough decisions, you'll avoid confronting the people who need to be confronted, and you'll avoid offering differential rewards based on differential performance because some people might get upset. Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices, by trying not to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone equally "nicely" regardless of their contributions, you'll simply ensure that the only people you'll wind up angering are the most creative and productive people in the organization.

Lesson 2

The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.

If this were a litmus test, the majority of CEO's would fail. One, they build so many barriers to upward communication that the very idea of someone lower in the hierarchy looking up to the leader for help is ludicrous. Two, the corporate culture they foster often defines asking for help as weakness or failure, so people cover up their gaps, and the organization suffers accordingly. Real leaders make themselves accessible and available. They show concern for the efforts and challenges faced by underlings-even as they demand high standards. Accordingly, they are more likely to create an environment where problem analysis replaces blame.

Lesson 3

Don't be buffaloed by experts and elites. Experts often possess more data than judgment. Elites can become so inbred that they produce hemophiliacs who bleed to death as soon as they are nicked by the real world.

Small companies and startups don't have the time for analytically detached experts. They don't have the money to subsidize lofty elites, either. The president answers the phone and drives the truck when necessary; everyone on the payroll visibly produces and contributes to bottom-line results or they're history. But as companies get bigger, they often forget who "brung them to the dance": things like all-hands involvement, egalitarianism, informality, market intimacy, daring, risk, speed, agility. Policies that emanate from ivory towers often have an adverse impact on the people out in the field who are fighting the wars or bringing in the revenues. Real leaders are vigilant and combative in the face of these trends.

Lesson 4

Don't be afraid to challenge the pros, even in their own backyard.

Learn from the pros, observe them, seek them out as mentors and partners. But remember that even the pros may have leveled out in terms of their learning and skills. Sometimes even the pros can become complacent and lazy. Leadership does not emerge from blind obedience to anyone. Xerox's Barry Rand was right on target when he warned his people that if you have a yes man working for you, one of you is redundant. Good leadership encourages everyone's evolution.

Lesson 5

Never neglect details. When everyone's mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.

Strategy equals execution. All the great ideas and visions in the world are worthless if they can't be implemented rapidly and efficiently. Good leaders delegate and empower others liberally, but they pay attention to details, every day. (Think about supreme athletic coaches like Jimmy Johnson, Pat Riley and Tony La Russa). Bad ones, even those who fancy themselves as progressive "visionaries" think they're somehow "above" operational details. Paradoxically, good leaders understand something else: An obsessive routine in carrying out the details begets conformity and complacency, which in turn dulls everyone's mind. That is why even as they pay attention to details, they continually encourage people to challenge the process. They implicitly understand the sentiment of CEO leaders like Quad Graphic's Harry Quadracchi, Oticon's Lars Kolind and the late Bill McGowan of MCI, who all independently asserted that the job of a leader is not to be the chief organizer, but the chief disorganizer.

Lesson 6

You don't know what you can get away with until you try.

You know the expression "it's easier to get forgiveness than permission?" Well, it's true. Good leaders don't wait for official blessing to try things out. They're prudent, not reckless. But they also realize a fact of life in most organizations: If you ask enough people for permission, you'll inevitably come up against someone who believes his job is to say "no." So the moral is, don't ask. I'm serious. In my own research with colleague Linda Mukai, we found that less effective middle managers endorsed the sentiment, "If I haven't explicitly been told 'yes,' I can't do it," whereas the good ones believed "If I haven't explicitly been told 'no,' I can." There's a world of difference between these two points of view.

Lesson 7

Keep looking below surface appearances. Don't shrink from doing so (just) because you might not like what you find.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is the slogan of the complacent, the arrogant or the scared. It's an excuse for inaction, a call to non-arms. It's a mindset that assumes (or hopes) that today's realities will continue tomorrow in a tidy, linear and predictable fashion. Pure fantasy. In this sort of culture, you won't find people who proactively take steps to solve problems as they emerge. Here's a little tip: Don't invest in these companies.

Lesson 8

Organization doesn't really accomplish anything. Plans don't accomplish anything, either. Theories of management don't much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds.

In a brain-based economy, your best assets are people. We've heard this expression so often that it's become trite. But how many leaders really "walk the talk" with this stuff? Too often, people are assumed to be empty chess pieces to be moved around by grand viziers, which may explain why so many top managers immerse their calendar time in deal making, restructuring and the latest management fad. How many immerse themselves in the goal of creating an environment where the best, the brightest, the most creative are attracted, retained and most importantly, unleashed?

Lesson 9

Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.

Organization charts are frozen, anachronistic photos in a workplace that ought to be as dynamic as the external environment around you. If people really followed organization charts, companies would collapse. In well-run organizations, titles are also pretty meaningless. At best, they advertise some authority an official status conferring the ability to give orders and induce obedience. But titles mean little in terms of real power, which is the capacity to influence and inspire. Have you ever noticed that people will personally commit to certain individuals who on paper (or on the org chart) possess little authority but instead possess pizzazz, drive, expertise and genuine caring for teammates and products? On the flip side, nonleaders in management may be formally anointed with all the perks and frills associated with high positions, but they have little influence on others, apart from their ability to extract minimal compliance to minimal standards.

Lesson 10

Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it.

Too often, change is stifled by people who cling to familiar turfs and job descriptions. One reason that even large organizations wither is that managers won't challenge old, comfortable ways of doing things. But real leaders understand that, nowadays, every one of our jobs is becoming obsolete. The proper response is to obsolete our activities before someone else does. Effective leaders create a climate where peoples worth is determined by their willingness to learn new skills and grab new responsibilities, thus perpetually reinventing their jobs. The most important question in performance evaluation becomes not, "How well did you perform your job since the last time we met?" but, "How much did you change it?"

Lesson 11

Fit no stereotypes. Don't chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team's mission.

Flitting from fad to fad creates team confusion, reduces the leader's credibility and drains organizational coffers. Blindly following a particular fad generates rigidity in thought and action. Sometimes speed to market is more important than total quality. Sometimes, an unapologetic directive is more appropriate than participatory discussion. To quote Powell, some situations require the leader to hover closely; others require long, loose leashes. Leaders honor their core values, but they are flexible in how they execute them. They understand that management techniques are not magic mantras but simply tools to be reached for at the right times.

Lesson 12

Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

The ripple effect of a leader's enthusiasm and optimism is awesome. So is the impact of cynicism and pessimism. Leaders who whine and blame engender those same behaviors among their colleagues. I am not talking about stoically accepting organizational stupidity and performance incompetence with a "what, me worry?" smile. I am talking about a gung ho attitude that says "we can change things here, we can achieve awesome goals, we can be the best." Spare me the grim litany of the "realist"; give me the unrealistic aspirations of the optimist any day.

Lesson 13

Powell's Rules for Picking People: Look for intelligence and judgment and, most critically, a capacity to anticipate, to see around corners. Also look for loyalty, integrity, a high energy drive, a balanced ego and the drive to get things done.

How often do our recruitment and hiring processes tap into these attributes? More often than not, we ignore them in favor of length of resume, degrees and prior titles. A string of job descriptions a recruit held yesterday seem to be more important than who one is today, what she can contribute tomorrow or how well his values mesh with those of the organization. You can train a bright, willing novice in the fundamentals of your business fairly readily, but it's a lot harder to train someone to have integrity, judgment, energy, balance and the drive to get things done. Good leaders stack the deck in their favor right in the recruitment phase.

Lesson 14

(Borrowed by Powell from Michael Korda): Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.

Effective leaders understand the KISS principle, or Keep It Simple, Stupid. They articulate vivid, overarching goals and values, which they use to drive daily behaviors and choices among competing alternatives. Their visions and priorities are lean and compelling, not cluttered and buzzword-laden. Their decisions are crisp and clear, not tentative and ambiguous. They convey an unwavering firmness and consistency in their actions, aligned with the picture of the future they paint. The result? Clarity of purpose, credibility of leadership, and integrity in organization.

Lesson 15

Part I: Use the formula P=40 to 70, in which P stands for the probability of success and the numbers indicate the percentage of information acquired.

Part II: Once the information is in the 40 to 70 range, go with your gut.

Powell's advice is don't take action if you have only enough information to give you less than a 40 percent chance of being right, but don't wait until you have enough facts to be 100 percent sure, because by then it is almost always too late. His instinct is right: Today, excessive delays in the name of information-gathering breeds "analysis paralysis." Procrastination in the name of reducing risk actually increases risk.

Lesson 16

The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise.

Too often, the reverse defines corporate culture. This is one of the main reasons why leaders like Ken Iverson of Nucor Steel, Percy Barnevik of Asea Brown Boveri, and Richard Branson of Virgin have kept their corporate staffs to a bare-bones minimum. (And I do mean minimum-how about fewer than 100 central corporate staffers for global $30 billion plus ABB? Or around 25 and 3 for multi-billion Nucor and Virgin, respectively?) Shift the power and the financial accountability to the folks who are bringing in the beans, not the ones who are counting or analyzing them.

Lesson 17

Have fun in your command. Don't always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave when you've earned it: Spend time with your families. Corollary: Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard.

Herb Kelleher of Southwest Air and Anita Roddick of The Body Shop would agree: Seek people who have some balance in their lives, who are fun to hang out with, who like to laugh (at themselves, too) and who have some non-job priorities which they approach with the same passion that they do their work. Spare me the grim workaholic or the pompous pretentious "professional;" I'll help them find jobs with my competitor.

Lesson 18

Command is lonely.

Harry Truman was right. Whether you're a CEO or the temporary head of a project team, the buck stops here. You can encourage participative management and bottom-up employee involvement but ultimately, the essence of leadership is the willingness to make the tough, unambiguous choices that will have an impact on the fate of the organization. I've seen too many non-leaders flinch from this responsibility. Even as you create an informal, open, collaborative corporate culture, prepare to be lonely.

"Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible."

Colin Powell was born in Harlem to immigrant parents. He rose through the ranks of the U.S. military to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a steel-willed Desert Storm hero, and on to become Secretary of State.

Powell's 18 leadership principles along with an explanation of how they apply to business, were the subject of an article in the December 1996 issue of Dr. Oren Harari Management Review by Oren Harari, a professor of management at the McLaren Graduate School of Business, University of San Francisco. Harari then expanded the primer into the current best seller, The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell, published by McGraw-Hill, 2002 (which was one of the most inspiring books I've read. The 18 principles are taken from Mr. Powell's best-seller autobiography "My American Journey", which I've read too. An excellent book.).

Source:
http://www.chally.com/enews/powell.html

Insights from Inside (130705)Binary Love

Read: 1 John 2:15-17

"The only one that deserves your true love is God and your brothers."

"These three things deserve your holy hatred: the cravings of your sinful flesh, the lust of your eyes, and the boasting of what you has and does."

Q: "How do I know if I am loving God?"
A: "If you love any of the three above, you are not loving God."

"Love for God is binary. If it's not a 1, then it is a 0."

GOALS! by Brian Tracy (15 - 21)

15. Review Your Goals Daily
Take time every day, every week, every month to review and reevaluate your goals and objectives. Make sure that you are still on track and that you are still working toward what is important to you. Be prepared to modify your goals and plans with new information.

16. Visualize Your Goals Continually
Direct the movies of your mind. Your imagination is your preview of your life's coming attractions. Repeatedly "see" your goals as if they already existed. Your clear, exciting mental images activate all your mental powers and attract your goals into your life.

17. Activate Your Superconscious Mind
You have within you and around you an incredible power that will bring you everything and anything you want or need. Take the time regularly to tap into this amazing source of ideas and insights for goal attainment.

18. Remain Flexible at All Times
Be clear about your goal but be flexible about the process of achieving it. Be constantly open to new, better, faster, cheaper ways to achieve the same result, and if something is not working, be willing to try a different approach.

19. Unlock Your Inborn Creativity
You have more creative ability to solve problems and come up with new and better ways for goal attainment than you have ever used. You are a potential genius. You can tap into your intelligence to overcome any obstacle and achieve any goal you can set for yourself.

20. Do Something Every Day
Use the "Momentum Principle of Success" by getting started toward your goal and then doing something every day that moves you closer to what you want to accomplish. Action orientation is essential to your success.

21. Persist until You Succeed
In the final analysis, your ability to persist longer than anyone else is the one quality that will guarantee great success in life. Persistence is self-discipline in action and the true measure of your belief in yourself. Resolve in advance that you will never, never give up!

There they are, the twenty-one most important principles of goal setting and goal achieving ever discovered. Your regular review and practice of these principles will enable you to live an extraordinary life. Nothing can stop you now.

Good luck!

Source:
Goals! : How to get everything you want - faster than you thought possible
by Brian Tracy
Berret-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
San Fransisco, CA
2003

GOALS! by Brian Tracy (8 - 14)

8. Start at the Beginning
Do a careful analysis of your starting point before you set off toward the achievement of your goal. Determine your exact situation today and be both honest and realistic about what you want to accomplish in the future.

9. Measure Your Progress
Set clear benchmarks, measures, and scorecards for yourself on the road to your goals. The measures help you to assess how well you are doing and enable you to necessary adjustments and corrections as you go along.

10. Remove the Roadblocks
Success boils down to the ability to solve problems and remove obstacles on the path to your goal. Fortunately, problem solving is a skill you can master with practice and thereby achieve your goals faster than you ever thought possible.

11. Become an Expert in Your Field
You have within you, right now, the ability to be one of the very best at what you do, to join the top 10 percent in your field. Set this as a goal, work on it every day, and never stop working until you get there.

12. Associate with the Right People
Your choices of people with whom to live, work, and socialize will have more of an effect on your success than any other factor. Resolve today to associate only with people you like, respect, and admire. Fly with the eagles if you want to be an eagle yourself.

13. Make a Plan of Action
An ordinary person with a well-thought-out plan will run circles around a genius without one. Your ability to plan and organize in advance will enable you to accomplish even the biggest and most complex goals.

14. Manage Your Time Well
Learn how to double and triple your productivity, performance, and output by practicing practical and proven time management principles. Always set priorities before you begin and then concentrate on the most valuable use of your time.

GOALS! by Brian Tracy (1 - 7)

Because I've got so many benefit from Brian Tracy's book titled GOALS!, I'd like to share the conclusion of the book with you. It is taken from pages 274-278 and I'll separate the 21 points in three postings. But please keep on put them under the light of God's Word.

Here we go.

The MOST important quality you can develop for a lifelong success is the HABIT OF TAKING ACTIONS OF YOUR PLANS, GOALS, IDEAS, AND INSIGHTS. The more often you try, the sooner you will triumph. There is a direct relationship between the number of things you attempt and your accomplishments in life. Here are the twenty-one steps for setting and achieving goals and for living a wonderful life.

1. Unlock Your Potential
Always remember that your true potential is unlimited. Whatever you have accomplished in life up to now has only been preparation for the amazing things you can accomplish in the future.

2. Take Charge of Your Life
You are completely responsible for everything you are today, for everything you think, san, and do, and for everything you become from this moment forward. Refuse to make excuses or to blame others. Instead, make progress toward your goals every day.

3. Create Your Own Future
Imagine that you have no limitations on what you can do, be, or have in the months and years ahead. Think about and plan your future as if you had all the resources you needed to create any life that you desire.

4. Clarify Your Values
Your innermost values and convictions define you as a person. Take the time to think through what you really believe ini and care about in each area of your life. Refuse to deviate from what you feel is right for you.

5. Determine Your True Goals
Decide for yourself what you really want to accomplish in every area of your life. Clarity is essential for happiness and high-performance living.

6. Decide upon Your Major Definite Purpose
You need a central purpose to build your life around. There must be a single goal that will help you to achieve your other goals more than any other. Decide what it is for you and work on it all the time.

7. Analyze Your Beliefs
Your beliefs about your own abilities and about the world around you will have more of an impact on your feelings and actions than any other factor. Make sure that your beliefs are positive and consistent with achieving everything that is possible for you.

Conversation with Pak Sas

Our school director here is Pak Saswinadi Sasmojo. Prior to becoming director of Del Poly, he served as a professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Department of Engineering Informatics of Institut Teknologi Bandung. I have worked with him since I was here from April 2004. This afternoon Pak Sas spent hours talking with me and I learn some important lessons from it. Some of them have been explained by him in previous other conversations or meetings.

• When conducting a research or anything with a research taste, all you have to do is to find the answer to these four questions:

1. What is the question you want to address?
2. Why do you need to address it?
3. What is the approach/strategy should be used to address it?
4. How to carry out the strategy?
   

• Do not immediately believe in a person who claims that he is highly experienced in doing something. You'd better give him some tests because his long experiences may be totally wrong.
• There are four main skills of engineering. They are:

1. How to ANALYSE a system?
2. How to OPERATE a system?
3. How to CONTROL a system?
4. How to DESIGN (SYNTHESIZE) a system?
   

• He gave me these simple complete definitions to some important engineering terms. They are actually written in Bahasa Indonesia in Chapter 2 from his book titled"Sains, Teknologi, Masyarakat & Pembangunan" published by ITB, 2004. Here are their free translation from me.
• PHENOMENON is something that we can see, sense and feel.
• STRUCTURES of a phenomenon are components that build the phenomenon and interdependence patterns which exist between them.
• SYSTEM is a phenomenon which all structures have been defined.
• SYSTEM ENVIRONMENT and SYSTEM BOUNDARY can be implicitly defined when a SYSTEM can be defined.
• FUNCTIONS of a system are abilities of the system that enable it (a) to do operations that make the system do its role in its environment and (b) to influence the development of its environment.
• ANALYSIS is a study of recognizing the structures of a phenomenon.
• MODEL is a description of structures of a phenomenon which can be stated in media that can be communicated e.g. iconic model, graphical model, computer model, tabular model and mathematical model.
• SIMULATION is the activity of recognizing the behaviors of a system by studying its model.
• SYNTHESIS is the process of manage the previously known structures to produce another structure/system/object that can perform particular targetedbehaviors or functions.
• DESIGN is the activity of creating a system in which the process of creating the system structures and how to form the structure are defined.
  
• You have to have good reasons in doing and not doing anything.
• A good lecturer or professor is like a mesin bubut, a machine that can produce itself.