Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 51 of 58

Faces of Insadong

Friday, February 27th

Learning Moment: Insadong Street, Seoul, Korea

If there were a vote for 'favorite place in Seoul', Insadong would probably be the people's choice. Popular with young and old, locals and foreigners, teeming with those who are curious and those who are curiosities - Insadong is filled with great restaurants, cutting edge galleries, traditional shops, music, and the entire range of human drama.

While we were wandering Insadong yesterday, I conducted two interviews with college students who are studying English. This is a normal occurance. Students lurk all over the street with notepads, waiting for a foreigner who isn't moving with a sense of purpose. When they find one, they ask, "May I interview you?"

Everyone is an artist, a subject, or both...

One student asked me, "What is your favorite thing about Insadong?"

The answer was easy - the energy of the people on the street.

Despite the restaurants, the galleries, and the historical sites that surround the area, I could be happy just standing there all day and watching people on the street - so I did.

Who needs art galleries?

Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 26 of 58

Watching People Watching People Watching

February 02, 2010

Learning Moment: Singapore

I love gatherings. Some of my favorite places in Asia are just gathering spots.

Yokohama Koen, The Bund in Shanghai, Orchard Road in Singapore, Shibuya Station, and Waikiki Beach are all locations where I love to hang out. In all of these places, you find older men who like to sit and watch the world move by in a flurry of color and sound.

These men just soak it all in - not needing to participate. They are happy just to watch.

I'll probably be one of those old guys some day.

I enjoy watching people, of course. But I also enjoy watching people watch other people.

This gentleman is sitting in Albert Mall, where Chinese New Year festivities are underway. He's witnessing thousands of people walk by: buying flowers, praying at the local temple, picking out fruit, and seeking a little prosperity from the gods of fortune.

Continuing the Mentoring Conversations Model

As I've mentioned previously, Randy Emelo, CEO/President of Triple Creek Associates, and I have been writing a series about Mentoring Conversations.

This new model suggests the conversations that are necessary to guide anyone from orientation to decision making on an issue. Randy and I wanted to provide a tool that could be both diagnostic and prescriptive.

The fifth issue of our six part series introduces the partial confidence.

Take a look at the series. When you finish our series, I recommend that you read Randy's back catalog of newsletters.

Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 13 of 58

Bharathan, myself, and Angie

Wednesday, January 20th

Learning Moment: India

Tonight, my wife and I were invited to the home of Bharathan and Sharmila Prahalad. Bharathan is the head of Human Resources for KLA-Tencor India and a great guy.

He wanted us to meet his family, eat a home-cooked meal, and see an Indian home. We were impressed by all three.

His wife, mother-in-law, and three children greeted us warmly and made us feel welcome.

The dinner was incredible: diverse, tasty, interesting - and it seemed to never end!

His home was comfortable and beautifully decorated.

All of the literature I've read extols the hospitality of the Indian people.

As we saw, the literature is right on target.

Mentoring Conversations Model

I've been fortunate to work with Randy Emelo, CEO/President of Triple Creek Associates, for the past few months on a writing project.

We're writing a series about Mentoring Conversations. This new model suggests the conversations that are necessary to guide anyone from orientation to decision making on an issue. Randy and I wanted to provide a tool that could be both diagnostic and prescriptive.

The first issue of our six part series introduces the model. Each of the following articles will explore the conversation zones in detail.

Randy is a smart, smart guy with a lot of expertise in mentoring. I highly recommend that you read his back catalog of newsletters!

What Can You Tell From Peoples' Stuff?

I love looking at people's stuff...

First, I go look at their bookshelf. Second, the CD and DVD collections. Then, I look at art and collectibles.

And, of course, I make guesses about people and their personalities, based on what they have and don't have.

Who doesn't?

Earlier today, I reviewed Sam Gosling's "Snoop: What your stuff says about you".

While the book struck me as a bit of a lost opportunity, Gosling's framework for investigating peoples' stuff is useful.

1. identity claims - objects that identify who we are, or want to think we are. These could include the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, music we listen to, or posters on our walls. These can also be outward-facing, so others can identify us; or inward-facing, so we can maintain our identity.
2. feeling regulators - objects that help us maintain a mood . These could be photos of loved ones, inspirational posters, artwork, or incense.
3. behavioral residue - the 'things between the things' - like teapots that are never used, as opposed to teapots that are never cleaned.

I decided to 'snoop' on myself, as an example.
Here's a photo of one bookshelf in my room. Click on the photo, study it, and see what you can guess about me.

First let's identify the items (left to right):

• Top Shelf: Japanese Fine Art Kokeshi (wooden doll), Frank Lloyd Wright quote paperweight, Thai brass musician figures on a bamboo mat.
• Second Shelf: Bronze Korean Buddhist gong, South American rattles, South African thumb piano.
• Third Shelf: African percussion gourd, Hawaiian ukulele, Gourd thumb piano, plastic recorder
• Bottom Shelf: A lot of books, most of which are business books, with training and coaching books in the mix.
• A Trumpet also appears to the left of the bookcase.

What can we tell?

1. identity claims - Well, this stuff says that I'm a musician, or want to be. It also says that that I travel and have an affinity for Asia. And that I 'm involved with business, training, and coaching.
2. feeling regulators - It appears that I want to be reminded of the places I've traveled.
3. behavioral residue - There are two things you cannot see here: First, there's dust on the instruments, indicating that they aren't often played. Second, the ukulele is in tune, which indicates that it is played by someone, making it more likely that it is not just decorative. A number of the books have bookmarks in them, indicating that the books get read, but not completely. Is it a reference library?

Did you find any other clues?

Sam Gosling uses this information to determine a person's personality.

Using the "Big 5" personality traits:

• Openness: Close-minded to Open to New Experiences
• Conscientiousness: Disorganized to Conscientious
• Extroversion: Introverted to Extroverted
• Agreeableness: Disagreeable to Agreeable
• Neuroticism: Calm/Relaxed to Nervous/High-Strung

Where do you think I place on each continuum, based on the above photo?

After you make your guesses, look at my results on the 'Big 5' scale for comparison.

How did you do?

Now, go forward and Snoop!!

Range of Vision - The World Through My Lens

This is a continuing series of slideshows from my travels. Enjoy!


Range of Vision 2.o - Wildlife

Here are some of my favorite wildlife photos that I've taken.

Range of Vision 1.o - Images of Asia I meet a lot of people as I travel throughout Asia and the world, and I take a lot of photos of them. Here are 125 of my favorite people photos .





Technical/design note:
I've been struggling for years with how best to present my photos.
I don't like just hanging them up on the web where anyone can download and use them.
On the other hand, I want friends, family and colleagues to be able to see the images.

My compromises has been:

• to post small photos, like I did at rangeofvision (too small)
• to watermark the images, like I do at hues.smugmug.com and deviantart.com (too distracting)
• to use a password-protected gallery and send out invite (too restrictive)

None of these were satisfactory, so I'm trying a different option - photos presented as video, assembled using Picasa software..

Let me know what you think!