everything can everybody hear me great
okay good afternoon ladies and gentlemen
when I first heard solve for y I thought
now what can I solve for y but of course
it’s a mathematical equation and it says
that there are many many questions with
many different answers so I thought I’d
tell you about some strategies because
actually there is no problem without a
solution we now as a young and green
manager working for the South African
Institute of marketing management my
boss
was mr. James Mack lucky it was a CEO
yes he’s called Mack lucky now how lucky
was I was like Mack lucky but Oh ladies
and gentlemen when I had a problem I had
to deal with it myself what happened was
Mack lucky would call me into his office
and say mmm let’s have some tea his
personal assistant would bring in the
tray of tea two cups a pot he would sit
back and pour the tea and while he
poured the tea he would verbalize the
problem and at the end of the tea
pouring ritual James McClatchy would
give me your cup take his own cup and
say now how are you going to solve this
problem don’t say I don’t know – James
Mack lucky
don’t even say I’m not sure because he
would just sit there and wait for you to
give an answer so at that young age I
had to learn how to solve problems
quickly so I could give an answer to
James McClatchy make no mistake he was
my mentor and the best boss I’ve ever
had
and he taught me a lot so today I’m
going to share with you four strategies
that I’ve learned over a long time of my
career how to solve problems not just
solve a problem how to get the best
solution to that problem now the first
one is very interesting the other day
one of my students came to me and said
to me I don’t understand where you got
this answer from that that you gave me
foolish test question there’s a table
with stuff on it with information and I
said you read it off table there and he
said oh it’s so simple I thought it was
a very complex solution I said no no no
no sometimes the simple solution is the
solution let me give you another example
I take my students to Taiwan’s
Industrial and technological Research
Institute now they were wonderful they
start to the research and they aim to
the prototype and while I was there I
saw a simple but wonderful solution I
don’t know if you know the condition
called sleep apnea people fall asleep if
they don’t breathe properly and then in
the middle of the night many many times
in the night they wake up and they
cannot breathe it’s a potentially
life-threatening condition
now machines were developed for these
people
it’s a machine was a similar to put on
your face and then you have to try to
sleep with this thing on your face I
suppose if it’s life-threatening you
don’t care about the thing on your face
but I don’t know if I could sleep
through this machine on my face they
must have been somebody else you thought
that that was not such a good idea
because it’s Eitri I saw a mattress and
it had sensors in it
that monitored the person’s breathing as
you she was sleeping and then when the
census found that the breathing wasn’t
what it should be the mattress simply
lifted and a person could breathe more
easily and then eventually when the
breathing was okay the mattress went
down again and there is a simple
solution no machine over your face when
you sleep what a wonderful idea
we have many bright minds here in Taiwan
who think of amazing simple solutions
for problems at eatery right so there’s
a second way to solve problems it’s not
the easy one do you have a fear of
failure I think there are people here I
can see some of our students here fear
of failure so some people would rather
not try than fail or if they fail once
they will put their tail between their
legs and run away because we know that
in some cultures fear of failure is
there because failure is regarded as
shameful now I’ve got a court date from
Confucius for you to read our greatest
glory is not in never falling but in
rising every time we fall even the great
Confucius said that so if we have a
problem and the solution is not that
simple and we try and we cannot find it
we can try again overcome that fear of
failure and try again now if you go to
the internet and you type in successful
people who tried more than once or
successful people who failed or whatever
you will find very interesting names
there you’ll find Steven Spielberg
you’ll find Sir
Nutan you will of course read the story
of Thomas Edison who tried they say 1000
times before the lightbulb was a success
1000 times can you imagine if JK Rowling
who is now richer than the Queen of
England didn’t find a publisher because
she didn’t try hard enough for a Harry
Potter right you know that she tried 12
times what if she stopped at time number
5 time number 10 she would have lost
iPad so would we what lovely books for
young people to read and nice movies to
not so she failed but tried so ladies
and gentlemen overcome your fear of
failure don’t be ashamed to fail don’t
be ashamed to try and try a gig again if
you persevere you will find a solution
not just any solution you will find the
best solution because every time you try
you will improve on the solution and
until the best one is there now there’s
an old cliche thinking out of the box
I’m sure all of you have heard that
thinking out of the box no don’t think
out of the box think beyond the box now
what does that mean that means that you
have to use everything you’ve learnt yes
your formal education is there but not
only that when you take a walk when you
talk to someone when you watch TV when
you watch a movie when you surf the
internet when you read you learn things
from it
but all of these things in a pool
together for you to dig into it deeply
and find your creativity in there use
that creativity and find a solution even
if it looks like the problem cannot be
solved I want to tell you a story
there was a merchant in London now in
the old days people who were put in jail
for owing money right and this merchant
in London owed a lot of money to a
moneylender
and the moneylender was an old horrible
man and he was sort of in love with a
guy’s daughter but got a bad reputation
wasn’t good to women and this is a
beautiful teenage girl and he said to
the merchant I will write of all your
debt if you daughter would marry me if
she doesn’t I’m going to put you in jail
never standing in his guard and he had
this this walkway with pebbles black and
white pebbles and he saw that the
merchant and his daughter both
absolutely horrified and he thought oh
well you know you can throw the guy in
jail but then he won get the daughter
and then he found something he said oh I
know what I’ll do I’ll it Providence
decides I’ll put two pebbles in this
empty bag I’ve got here in my hand one
black one white if the girl picks out
the black pebble she marries me you
don’t have date you go home
if the girl picks out the white pebble
she doesn’t have to marry me I will
write all third date and you go home and
he bent down and he picked up the two
pebbles but the sharp-eyed girls saw
that he picked up two black pebbles now
what to do how to solve this problem
if she tells him his cheat her father
goes to jail if she sticks her hand in
the bag and pulls out a pebble it will
be a black pebble and she’s got to marry
this old guy so and if her father
refuses for her to do this he goes to
jail so what to do this looks like an
impossible problem so the girl put her
hand in the bag and pulled it out and oh
sorry I dropped the pebble I was shaking
so much as anticipation then I dropped
the table oh no I’m so sorry and of
course they were standing amongst these
black and white pebbles now this black
pebble disappeared who knows where it
fell what color pebble fell there and
she said but Oh fortunately we can
derive from the other pebble in the bag
what the one was that I dropped very
very good thinking way beyond the box
this girl very quickly solved that
problem through very good creativity
beyond the box but I’ve got some warning
for people if you are a lateral thinker
and you find creative problems you may
find people who say to you oh no no
we’ve always done it that way before but
I’ve got a better solution you say and
they say no but we’ve always done it
that way before ladies and gentlemen the
young people in this audience don’t
become and I’ve done it that way before
her think find a solution find the best
solution beyond the box of I’ve done it
like this before now these are myths
about getting your best ideas under the
shower you know James Crocker
who puts their mirrors on the Hubble
telescope said he got that idea under
the shower and people off so are okay
but these the psychologists and
America’s name is Barry Kaufman he did a
study about this ideas in the shower and
what did he find
72 percent of the people interviewed
said but they got some of they based
ideas in the shower so he started to
investigate this it’s not a myth there
is a scientific solution foolís and
what is that solution well apparently
when we are relaxing under the shower
and the hot water streaming down our
backs and we doing the mundane task of
washing ourselves our brains get washed
in dopamine because we’re feeling happy
and we were doing something it’s mundane
and when the brain has a lot of dopamine
in it alpha waves start forming and
these alpha waves are things that cause
creativity and that is why all of sudden
when we are here under the shower we
don’t have much else to do we have time
to think we think really good ideas
because there’s dopamine all over our
brains now you don’t have to jump into a
shower every time you’ve got a problem
to solve right that’s that’s going to
cost a lot of water so there are other
ways to do this there are many mundane
tasks that actually are good enough to
get this creative process going one is
weeding a garden while you’re picking up
the weeds in the garden you have time to
think of other things
Hino ladies and gentlemen my father who
was an academic sometimes came home with
a frown on his face and a problem and
what did he do he took his fishing rod
got into his car and went fishing and
while he was sitting there waiting for
the fish to take the bait he solved his
problems he always came back with a
smile on his face
problem solved
I always wondered why my old man went
fishing to solve his problems it was
only we now read about this amazing
thing but the dopamine and alpha waves
that I realized my father went fishing
for that very same reason ladies and
gentlemen I think I should take up
fishing instead of teaching right so
today I was under the shower and I
thought hey that is why James McCluskey
had the tea ritual because that set him
free to do a mundane task of pouring
this tea while he was freeing his mind
to think how he would solve the problem
in case I said I don’t know I think I
should take up fishing so that I can
think way beyond the box and maybe find
the simplest solution possible for
things that I have to solve thank you
for your attention
[Applause]
okay good afternoon ladies and gentlemen
when I first heard solve for y I thought
now what can I solve for y but of course
it’s a mathematical equation and it says
that there are many many questions with
many different answers so I thought I’d
tell you about some strategies because
actually there is no problem without a
solution we now as a young and green
manager working for the South African
Institute of marketing management my
boss
was mr. James Mack lucky it was a CEO
yes he’s called Mack lucky now how lucky
was I was like Mack lucky but Oh ladies
and gentlemen when I had a problem I had
to deal with it myself what happened was
Mack lucky would call me into his office
and say mmm let’s have some tea his
personal assistant would bring in the
tray of tea two cups a pot he would sit
back and pour the tea and while he
poured the tea he would verbalize the
problem and at the end of the tea
pouring ritual James McClatchy would
give me your cup take his own cup and
say now how are you going to solve this
problem don’t say I don’t know – James
Mack lucky
don’t even say I’m not sure because he
would just sit there and wait for you to
give an answer so at that young age I
had to learn how to solve problems
quickly so I could give an answer to
James McClatchy make no mistake he was
my mentor and the best boss I’ve ever
had
and he taught me a lot so today I’m
going to share with you four strategies
that I’ve learned over a long time of my
career how to solve problems not just
solve a problem how to get the best
solution to that problem now the first
one is very interesting the other day
one of my students came to me and said
to me I don’t understand where you got
this answer from that that you gave me
foolish test question there’s a table
with stuff on it with information and I
said you read it off table there and he
said oh it’s so simple I thought it was
a very complex solution I said no no no
no sometimes the simple solution is the
solution let me give you another example
I take my students to Taiwan’s
Industrial and technological Research
Institute now they were wonderful they
start to the research and they aim to
the prototype and while I was there I
saw a simple but wonderful solution I
don’t know if you know the condition
called sleep apnea people fall asleep if
they don’t breathe properly and then in
the middle of the night many many times
in the night they wake up and they
cannot breathe it’s a potentially
life-threatening condition
now machines were developed for these
people
it’s a machine was a similar to put on
your face and then you have to try to
sleep with this thing on your face I
suppose if it’s life-threatening you
don’t care about the thing on your face
but I don’t know if I could sleep
through this machine on my face they
must have been somebody else you thought
that that was not such a good idea
because it’s Eitri I saw a mattress and
it had sensors in it
that monitored the person’s breathing as
you she was sleeping and then when the
census found that the breathing wasn’t
what it should be the mattress simply
lifted and a person could breathe more
easily and then eventually when the
breathing was okay the mattress went
down again and there is a simple
solution no machine over your face when
you sleep what a wonderful idea
we have many bright minds here in Taiwan
who think of amazing simple solutions
for problems at eatery right so there’s
a second way to solve problems it’s not
the easy one do you have a fear of
failure I think there are people here I
can see some of our students here fear
of failure so some people would rather
not try than fail or if they fail once
they will put their tail between their
legs and run away because we know that
in some cultures fear of failure is
there because failure is regarded as
shameful now I’ve got a court date from
Confucius for you to read our greatest
glory is not in never falling but in
rising every time we fall even the great
Confucius said that so if we have a
problem and the solution is not that
simple and we try and we cannot find it
we can try again overcome that fear of
failure and try again now if you go to
the internet and you type in successful
people who tried more than once or
successful people who failed or whatever
you will find very interesting names
there you’ll find Steven Spielberg
you’ll find Sir
Nutan you will of course read the story
of Thomas Edison who tried they say 1000
times before the lightbulb was a success
1000 times can you imagine if JK Rowling
who is now richer than the Queen of
England didn’t find a publisher because
she didn’t try hard enough for a Harry
Potter right you know that she tried 12
times what if she stopped at time number
5 time number 10 she would have lost
iPad so would we what lovely books for
young people to read and nice movies to
not so she failed but tried so ladies
and gentlemen overcome your fear of
failure don’t be ashamed to fail don’t
be ashamed to try and try a gig again if
you persevere you will find a solution
not just any solution you will find the
best solution because every time you try
you will improve on the solution and
until the best one is there now there’s
an old cliche thinking out of the box
I’m sure all of you have heard that
thinking out of the box no don’t think
out of the box think beyond the box now
what does that mean that means that you
have to use everything you’ve learnt yes
your formal education is there but not
only that when you take a walk when you
talk to someone when you watch TV when
you watch a movie when you surf the
internet when you read you learn things
from it
but all of these things in a pool
together for you to dig into it deeply
and find your creativity in there use
that creativity and find a solution even
if it looks like the problem cannot be
solved I want to tell you a story
there was a merchant in London now in
the old days people who were put in jail
for owing money right and this merchant
in London owed a lot of money to a
moneylender
and the moneylender was an old horrible
man and he was sort of in love with a
guy’s daughter but got a bad reputation
wasn’t good to women and this is a
beautiful teenage girl and he said to
the merchant I will write of all your
debt if you daughter would marry me if
she doesn’t I’m going to put you in jail
never standing in his guard and he had
this this walkway with pebbles black and
white pebbles and he saw that the
merchant and his daughter both
absolutely horrified and he thought oh
well you know you can throw the guy in
jail but then he won get the daughter
and then he found something he said oh I
know what I’ll do I’ll it Providence
decides I’ll put two pebbles in this
empty bag I’ve got here in my hand one
black one white if the girl picks out
the black pebble she marries me you
don’t have date you go home
if the girl picks out the white pebble
she doesn’t have to marry me I will
write all third date and you go home and
he bent down and he picked up the two
pebbles but the sharp-eyed girls saw
that he picked up two black pebbles now
what to do how to solve this problem
if she tells him his cheat her father
goes to jail if she sticks her hand in
the bag and pulls out a pebble it will
be a black pebble and she’s got to marry
this old guy so and if her father
refuses for her to do this he goes to
jail so what to do this looks like an
impossible problem so the girl put her
hand in the bag and pulled it out and oh
sorry I dropped the pebble I was shaking
so much as anticipation then I dropped
the table oh no I’m so sorry and of
course they were standing amongst these
black and white pebbles now this black
pebble disappeared who knows where it
fell what color pebble fell there and
she said but Oh fortunately we can
derive from the other pebble in the bag
what the one was that I dropped very
very good thinking way beyond the box
this girl very quickly solved that
problem through very good creativity
beyond the box but I’ve got some warning
for people if you are a lateral thinker
and you find creative problems you may
find people who say to you oh no no
we’ve always done it that way before but
I’ve got a better solution you say and
they say no but we’ve always done it
that way before ladies and gentlemen the
young people in this audience don’t
become and I’ve done it that way before
her think find a solution find the best
solution beyond the box of I’ve done it
like this before now these are myths
about getting your best ideas under the
shower you know James Crocker
who puts their mirrors on the Hubble
telescope said he got that idea under
the shower and people off so are okay
but these the psychologists and
America’s name is Barry Kaufman he did a
study about this ideas in the shower and
what did he find
72 percent of the people interviewed
said but they got some of they based
ideas in the shower so he started to
investigate this it’s not a myth there
is a scientific solution foolís and
what is that solution well apparently
when we are relaxing under the shower
and the hot water streaming down our
backs and we doing the mundane task of
washing ourselves our brains get washed
in dopamine because we’re feeling happy
and we were doing something it’s mundane
and when the brain has a lot of dopamine
in it alpha waves start forming and
these alpha waves are things that cause
creativity and that is why all of sudden
when we are here under the shower we
don’t have much else to do we have time
to think we think really good ideas
because there’s dopamine all over our
brains now you don’t have to jump into a
shower every time you’ve got a problem
to solve right that’s that’s going to
cost a lot of water so there are other
ways to do this there are many mundane
tasks that actually are good enough to
get this creative process going one is
weeding a garden while you’re picking up
the weeds in the garden you have time to
think of other things
Hino ladies and gentlemen my father who
was an academic sometimes came home with
a frown on his face and a problem and
what did he do he took his fishing rod
got into his car and went fishing and
while he was sitting there waiting for
the fish to take the bait he solved his
problems he always came back with a
smile on his face
problem solved
I always wondered why my old man went
fishing to solve his problems it was
only we now read about this amazing
thing but the dopamine and alpha waves
that I realized my father went fishing
for that very same reason ladies and
gentlemen I think I should take up
fishing instead of teaching right so
today I was under the shower and I
thought hey that is why James McCluskey
had the tea ritual because that set him
free to do a mundane task of pouring
this tea while he was freeing his mind
to think how he would solve the problem
in case I said I don’t know I think I
should take up fishing so that I can
think way beyond the box and maybe find
the simplest solution possible for
things that I have to solve thank you
for your attention
[Applause]
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