Journal 7

Another wonderful evening receiving new information. My subconscious was screaming at me that imagination is limitless and the only limit is yourself! Creating a future and coming up with solutions are definitely challenging. Most of the groups focused on environmental issues. And I think this is natural when the Earth is shouting for help!. If we are not going to do anything, that shows what kind of human beings we are.

Our group shared living under water. Another group shared living in space. One group shared on fixing global warming. Two other groups shared medical devices to bring medical services to the next level. Overall, the world in moving with technology. Blending the impossible to the possible. I believe it will all be real in the future, just a matter of time and urgency of the need. An example will be the Covid-19 vaccine. Who would have thought that Covid was coming and a vaccine is urgently required. Same for what is the next disaster coming. A solution will sprout out from urgency.

Talking about environmental and sustainability issues. The argument of “oh, you have now destroys and dirtied the Earth, instead of fixing the mess, now you are planning of going to any planet or dimension to start afresh!” persists. As we mentioned, creating underwater lifestyle should be a zero-waste and sustainable solution. That is to ensure that the humans and marine lives are able to co-exist and at the same time efforts are put to heal the Mother Earth. Likewise for space living. I would like to believe that humans would be sensible and responsible to own up that they have destroyed Earth by now. If the next one they are going to create should be from this lessons learnt. It will be complete idiotic to make the same mistake again. It has to be a win-win strategy to create a new world. However, that said, I honestly do think that we can be stupid. 30-40 years ago, some people invented plastic straws, Styrofoam then plastic takeout boxes/cutleries, plastic this and plastic that. Who would have projected the amount of waste and how it will be handled? If this was predicted, we probably would not be in this current situation. So, responsible inventions and management of the aftermaths are as critical as creation. One time creation is a lifetime maintenance.

Another captivating topic our lecturer mentioned: Empathetic Leadership. This triggered me to find our more and I want to learn this skill. Empathetic leadership means having the ability to understand the needs of others and being aware of their feelings and thoughts. It is a soft skill that has been overlooked as a performance indicator. After reading an article from the Harvard Business Review, “Connect with Empathy, But Lead with Compassion” left me sorting out past experiences. I was glad to discover that I have this skill and was practicing it past 20 years. It was a skill that I was coached by an ex-boss and had been sharpening it as I grow with it. However, this article had brought me to another level to identifying this skill in a clearer picture and answers my question if I have been doing it correctly.

Whether will I be an empathetic leader or not in the future, I guess it does not matter. Being an empathetic follower is just as important. In the world of influencing, I believe it is of equal importance that we learn from all dimensions and it did not specify that we can only learn from leaders. We are in a universe where if you can see it, you can learn from it. But, if you cannot see it, then its not yours and maybe next time.

I am glad that I took this module. I am grateful to my lecturer and our unit coordinator for putting in much efforts in the materials that had impacted my thoughts. I learnt far more practical life skills and was able to look beyond the surface compared to the other modules. I had many insights and reflections and it had lifted me to a next level. I wish education could be of like this from the beginning and not so much of the old theories. It's like wasting decades learning things that I will never use in my life.