The Power of Impossible Thinking

Great book. Here are my key learning.

What you see is what you think; What you think is what you see.

What you think is what you do.

Your mental models determine your behavior.

Beware of your mental models, i.e. the way you look at and make sense of the world, the way you think, the way you believe

Need to build a portfolio of mental models and actively assess their approrpirateness to address the world currently around you.

The world is more malleable than you think. Your potential is limitless.

Models are your subjective way of making sense of the world and it is at its best a reality made up by both your mind and the world itself. Therefore, need to beware that models have a time value, models need to be assessed against current situation.

Use experimentation, drawing inter-disciplinary insights, networking with others and being open and having intellectual curiosity to reinvent your models.

Model shifts are a two-way process, more of a process of evolutaion than revolution.

Build up suprior intuition & rigorous analytical systems

Disconnects are a reflection of people having different mental models. Find common ground and build bridges.

What I learned working here

1. Style is equally important as substance. How to interact with people, how you project yourself in public (presentations, meetings, etc.)

2. People skills critical. It doesn't just mean teh ability to get along well with people as most of us do. It means, in a corporate environkent, the ability to sense the mood of a group, identify what motivates people, have the ability to influence the group mood, motivate people to achieve a common goal.

3. Focus. Success is hard work. Got to focus. Do one thing and do one thing well and right is more important than do 2 things and do a mediocer job in both. I'm still lack of focus. Got to hone in on this in 2005.

4. If you don't have formed an opinion yet, say so.

5. Acknolwedge that there are things you don't know, yet.

6. Listen for merits, not status.

7. Leadership can be a lonely thing to do. Be sure you know that before taking on a leadership role.