I found the speech by Dean Ricardo Lim of AIM to be compelling and practical. He started his talk by saying that AIM anchors both DLSU and AdeMU who are high in the air with their basketball UAAP rivalry.
He says that a business school, our country is confronted by several challenges:
1. lack of resources (as we experienced in the Leyte disaster relief and recovery operations) the devastation was so much, and we lack communication, fuel, and logistics to deploy the aid that arrived;
2. complexity/duality (there are always two sides to an issue, good and bad; problems are not linear but systemic - Senge)
3. ideal vs real;
4. complex student make up (as in AIM which is populated by foreigners, mostly Indians)
So he proposes:
1. constant debate to handle complexity
2. purposeful bargaining
3. seek small starts (baby walk) rather than large monolithic gains
4. Truth is in the middle.
Truth is somewhere in the middle
Truth in the middle
There are many stories that we can share as Asians/Orientals to move forward. Let us not go by extreme values.
The truth in the middle applies to:
1. Looting in Leyte is it good or bad?
2. Charcoal making - it destroys the forest, but stopping it kills livelihood of people in the mountains
Be more practical and realistic, rather than being idealistic and cogent?
