10 laws of simplicity

10 laws of simplicity

1. Reduce

The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.

2. Organize

Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.

3. Time

Savings in time feel like simplicity.

4. Learn

Knowledge makes everything simpler.

5. Differences

Simplicity and complexity need each other.

6. Context

What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.

7. Emotion

More emotions are better than less.

8. Trust

In simplicity we trust.

9. Failure

Some things can never be made simple.

10. The One

Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

Source:

The laws of simplicity

John Maeda

Budget Airlines 3.0

On 26 Oct 2006 Oasis Hong Kong Airlines' first flight took off. It flew from Hong Kong to London. The travelling time was 14 hours and 20 minutes.

At the moment, budget airlines flew domestic ( Southwest Airlines ) or regional ( Tiger Airways ). Is this the beginning of Budget Airlines 2.0 where they start flying from from domestic and regional to global? The current airline industry is very competitive; will Budget Airlines 2.0 make it more competitive?

What happen if Southwest Airlines, Ryanair, Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, Tiger Airways and Virgin Blue form a global budget airlines alliance? This will be Budget Airlines 3.0. Will this make it even more competitive? How affordable will long distance air fares be? Will there be two distinct airline groups in the future - affordable and high cost?

Initiative

Each year Buckminster Fuller receives and answers many hundreds of unsolicited letters from youth anxious to know what the little individual can do. One such letter from a young man named Michael – who is ten years old – asks whether I am a “doer or a thinker.” Although I never “tell” anyone what to do, I feel it quite relevant at this point to quote my letter to him explaining what I have been trying to do in the years since my adoption of my 1927 - inaugurated self-disciplinary resolves. The letter, dated February 16, 1970, reads:

Dear Michael

Thank you very much for your recent letter concerning “thinkers and doers.”

The things to do are the things that need doing that you see need to be done and that no one else seems need to be done. Then you will conceive your own way of doing that which needs to be done that no one else has told you to do or how to do it. This will bring out the real you that often get buried inside a character that has acquired a superficial array of behaviours induced or imposed by others on the individual.

Try making experiments of anything you conceive and are intensely interested in. Don’t be disappointed if something doesn’t work. That is what you want to know – the truth about everything and the truth about combinations of things. Some combinations have such logic and integrity that they can work coherently despite non-working elements embraced by their systems.

Whenever you come to a word with which you are not familiar, find it in the dictionary and write a sentence which uses that new word. Words are tools and once you have learned how to use a tool you will never forget it. Just looking for the meaning of the word is not enough. If your vocabulary is comprehensive, you can comprehend both fine and large patterns of experience.

You have what is most important in life – initiative. Because of it, you wrote to me. I am answering to the best of my capability. You will find the world responding to your earnest initiative.

Sincerely yours,

Buckminster Fuller

Source:

Critical Path

Buckminster Fuller

Page xxxviii

St. Martin's Press

ISBN: 0312174888

Buckminster Fuller leadership principles

Buckminster Fuller leadership principles

1. Think comprehensively.
   
2. Anticipate the future.
   
3. Respect gestation rates.
   
4. Envision the best possible future.
   
5. Be a trim tab - an individual who can initiate big changes.
   
6. Take individual initiative.
   
7. Ask the obvious and naïve questions.
   
8. Do more with less.
   
9. Seek to reform the environment, not man.
   
10. Solve problems through action.
    

Source:

The anticipatory leader

Medard Gabel & Jim Walker

Futurist 2006 Sep

Service-Learning

What is service-learning?
 

Picking up trash on a riverbank is service.
Studying water samples under a microscope is learning.

When science students collect and analyze water samples, document their results and present findings to a local pollution control agency... that is service-learning.

Service-learning is a teaching method that enriches learning by engaging students in meaningful service to their schools and communities. Young people apply academic skills to solving real-world issues, linking established learning objectives with genuine needs. They lead the process with adults as partners, applying critical thinking and problem-solving skills to concerns such as hunger, pollution, and diversity.

Source:
National Youth Leadership Council

Never panic, life is never easy

Never panic. We all experience a crisis at some time or other, either in our personal lives, professional activities or in my case, often on a mountain or in the jungle. The greatest piece of advice I can give is
Don't panic.
Try to avoid reacting immediately.
First of all work out all possible options or alternatives.

There is usually a way out or at least an opportunity to deal with the problem, no matter what it is. Often the problem itself can be the making of you and give you another chance to take another direction.

( By the way, it's interesting to note that the derivation of the word 'panic' arises from the sight of Pan; the primal fear of meeting this half-man creature. ) Sometimes you don't have so much time, but if possible, sleeping on a problem, waiting 24 hours, is all that is necessary to see things in a different and more acceptable perspective.

Maxim for the millennium 
Life is never easy, even for those that seem to have more than most. I always remember Sylvester Stallone saying in one of his interviews that if he'd understood at the beginning that the downside of fame was going to be as it really is, he wouldn't have taken that rocky road. Perhaps then he would have muscled in on another profession! Always keep your mind open and above all learn from your mistakes.

The philosophical tenet I would offer is:
He who learns but does not think, is dead. He who thinks but does not learn, is in great danger.

Source:
Seize the Day
3 Jan
Tips by Neville Shulman OBE
Edited by Nicholas Albery & Stephanie Wienrich
Chatto & Windus
ISBN: 1-5573-8290-5

Scout Values

What are Scout values?

 

Scout values are in the Scout Law. The Scout Law is:

A Scout is to be trusted.

A Scout is loyal.

A Scout is friendly and considerate.

A Scout belongs to the worldwide family of Scouts.

A Scout has courage in all difficulties.

A Scout makes good use of time and is careful of possessions and property.

A Scout has self-respect and respect for others.

 

Source:

Scout Law

Scout Association