OBLIQUITY

The “PLAN” was the most interesting chapter for me, because I experience this too much every day. The plans I make sometimes do not come real and I am disappointed of that every time it happens. May be we have to try to be more flexible while doing the plan. When I plan drinking coffee with a friend may be I find myself in a very different place. For example yesterday I had to be in University and join my lesson, but my son got ill and I couldn't.

Another part of the book was that we try to reach the success in shortcuts. But maybe the right way is to choose the best way, not the shorter one. For example when I come here I do not prefer the bus because of the traffic jam, I mostly walk to Epoka. I avoid the stress of traffic jam, and I am on time in the class. Sometimes the best way is the normal and the longer one.

HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD

In fact the topic of this book really attracted my attention, but I think in a different way. Before changing the world we must change ourselves, because we are those who could make the world change?when?

If you eat nice meals, and do not think for the others who cannot find food, if you sleep in warm beds, when the others are lying in the street ... we have to firstly change our thoughts to start changing the world.

I cannot be Florence Nightingale, but if I think about those who do not possess what I possess and if I twinge of conscience, that means I have begin changing.

POZITIVE DEVIANCE

The employees in work places are not observed eight hours a day so they have the chance to spend the time with their private works. But if we have responsibilities for our work we keep ourselves in accordance with the working discipline. We can show positive deviance samples in most of work places. In my previous workplace, there were many opportunities for escaping or evading the work. But many of my former colleagues were working carefully and with discipline. Me and most of my friends decided to work conform these positive examples and our work was more appreciated and more successful. I believe that in every ambient there are people to be considered as good examples.

How to Change the World

Inside the book it's been claimed that the idea of Social Enterpreneurship started with Fransiscan Brotherhood. Although these may be considered as examples of this type of social activities, I definitely disagree with the book that these were the start of the concept.

The concept of foundations welded to the Islamic Institutions are examples of a social support model, at least 500 years before Fransiscan Order. During first period of the Prophet, Islam Masjid built in Medina had educational center called ZuIle or Suff 'e; these were the first institutions with the characteristics of "Foundation" or the arabic original word "Vakif" but this didn't stop there. It continued in the Turkish Islamic States and Empires following the Arabic era.

Our Albanian friends are familiar with the Bektashi Vakifs which are linked to Haci Bektash who migrated from Central Asia to all the way to Anatolia to become one of the most influential religous/cultural leaders in the formation and growth of Ottoman Rule in all Balkans and elsewhere. Many vakifs were built by followers of leaders like Haci Bektash and Rumi (Mevlana) and can be seen everywhere in the region from Bosnia to Hungary, Greece and even Cyprus. These were also early examples of autonomous self sustaining acts of charity, social solidarity and humanity.

However even these may not be the source or roots of this concept; there are researchers who link the idea to Budhist Viharas and even one source, Halim Baki Kunter, claims that an ancient Hittite tablet found in Anatolia, now in the Istanbul Museum of Archeology, dated back to 1280 BC. was the oldest known "vakfiye senedi" which means the "charter of social foundation".

Final word: Don't look at "far away" for examples of Social Enterpreneurship, they're right beside us, in the lands of this "deeply rooted culture", in Balkans, in Anatolia. Our ancestors knew how to change the world and there's no need to reinvent the wheel, just re-check the blueprints, abundent in the history of Albania and Turkey.

Regards and Good luck to all in the exam,
Mehmet Zirek

Click

When everything clicks! Is this possible? Technically it looks like is impossible but there are trainers who know how to make it click...

As we all are aware that clicking is something magic that we all try to catch, is like going to a job interview where you would like to give everything just to click with the manager or the one interviewing you, or maybe when you go in a date and you would still give your best just to have a click with the person sitting in front of you.

Recently I participated in Team Building training, during our three day training we also spent a session in learning the process of “clicking”. We went throw some study cases to see the behaviour the individual participating in a certain event.

During my working experience I have meet a lot of other trainers or managers who know how to have a click with the person in front of them. And they were successful for that.

So, I think we all have to learn how to make a click in our life.

Anri

The Flight of the Creative Class

Dear all,

I wanted to start my writing with a nice phrase from 1960’s: The time to start making sure that every moment count is NOW...

On these years a trend started putting importance on Creativity and Service. Till that time all the industries and group of individual were working on the quantity not putting much importance on creativity or service. One of the countries that supported Creativity as we all know was and still is America. Everyone was aware that if wanted to have a chance then go in America...America, the free country of free men where all the dreams become true...Of course on the other hand was not easy because not everyone could understand and there was also a flight between the richer class and as a result of that we have a lot of immigrants entrepreneurs that have started as a normal worker but who nowadays have been sitting in the place of CEO of world level companies.

To sum, this immigration gave also to the world economy something new and that was the creative economy which was giving nearly to everyone a chance to become someone.

Anri

OBLIQUITY

Obliquity: Why our goals achieved the best indirectly?

“Obliquity is the principle that complex goals are best achieved indirectly.”

I would like to start with one phrase everyone in Russia hears from their childhood (probably in Albania or Turkey it is the same? Dear Classmates, please advice): A smart (wise?) person won’t climb the mountain; a smart (wise?) person will go around the mountain.

One of my friends told that it is too hard and that why it is probably a bad idea…

I don’t know why do we prefer indirect roads. Based on my experience, while looking for workaround solutions, we never choose any easy way. For me it is just too simple. But I hope to understand this tendency better when I will read the second part of “Obliquity” book, why such complexity is necessary to reach our goals.

To sum up, I would like to thank everybody:

Dear Professor, thank you very much for advising us such useful non-fiction books. I could almost never find before any interesting business book (maybe, because of indirect way or because there are only 5% of them), but reviewing the books from the lessons (and other books from their authors) most of them I found not only helpful, but I am enjoying and delighting while reading them.

Dear Classmates, thank you for sharing your opinions and a good team work we achieved while preparing our Team Development Presentation. I wish you success and luck in today’s examination!

Have a nice day,
Tatiana