THE HOOD SCHOLAR

Ladies and Gentleman,

I want to give you guys a sneak peak into the mind of me; and introduce you to all the elements which allow me to make snap decisions. So I'm reading this book entitled, "Strategic Intuition: The Creative Spark in Human Achievement"; it is written by a professor of the Columbia Business School - William Duggan. Now, William Duggan, wrote an article right before I enrolled into LaGuardia Community College. The book is much better, however, I read this article, every day, for 21 days before I got to LaGuardia. The track record in the post before this shows that the article works. Enjoy!


June 27, 2006
Strategic intuition: The key to innovation
Combining ideas from military history, cognitive psychology and modern neuroscience, strategic intuition offers a four-step method for identifying and capturing opportunity.
Topics:

* Leadership
* Strategy

Several years ago, Professor William Duggan was intrigued to learn that while most common English words date back to at least the 15th or 16th century, the word strategy entered the language only in 1810. He set out to discover why. It turned out that in 1810 Napoleon Bonaparte was at the height of his power, and in that year Carl von Clausewitz began his classic treatise On War, which attempts to explain Napoleon’s military success. “Von Clausewitz describes something as the essence of strategy that he calls coup d’oeil, which in French means ‘glance,’” Duggan says. “And it occurred to me that it seemed an awful lot like modern research on expert intuition.”

That connection led Duggan to a concept he calls strategic intuition — a framework for understanding how great strategists set and achieve goals. He articulated the idea in two books, Napoleon’s Glance and The Art of What Works, both published in 2003. So when the U.S. Army asked him to explore the implications of strategic intuition for Army planning procedures, the idea came full circle — back to its military origins.

In On War, finally published in 1832, von Clausewitz points out that instead of pursuing territorial objectives, Napoleon looked for opportunities to win battles. A profound student of military history, Napoleon sought to apply the successful tactics of past generals to new situations. Von Clausewitz describes four elements of Napoleon’s approach to strategy: (1) examples from history, (2) presence of mind, (3) a coup d’oeil or flash of insight, and (4) the resolution to move forward and overcome all obstacles.

Research on expert intuition supports the notion that in urgent situations, people make decisions by combining analysis of past experience with a flash of insight. In the 1990s psychologist Gary Klein studied the decision-making processes of emergency room nurses, firefighters and soldiers in battle. While these experts initially attributed their choices to intuition, further probing revealed that they were actually making rapid connections between the situation at hand and similar situations stored in their memories.

Recent brain research provides further evidence that people make decisions through a combination of analysis and intuition. In 2000 a group of neuroscientists won the Nobel Prize for a new model of the brain called intelligent memory, which overturned the previous left-brain/right-brain model. “Basically as you go through life, you’re putting things on the shelves of your brain,” says Duggan. “The scientists call it parsing; it’s technically analysis. Your brain is constantly comparing what it’s taking in to what’s already there, and when it finds a combination — a synthesis — you have an insight.”

After making the connection between von Clausewitz and modern science, Duggan defined the common idea as strategic intuition: “the selective projection of past elements into the future in a new combination as a course of action that might or might not fit your previous goals, and the personal commitment to work out the details along the way.”

Last year Duggan reviewed the core procedures in the Army’s standard planning manual to see how well they fit with strategic intuition. In the resulting publication, Coup d’Oeil: Strategic Intuition in Army Planning, he notes that the manual reflects an outdated view of the human mind — the idea that analysis and intuition take place in separate parts of the brain and are appropriate for different situations. In reality, as the new brain research shows, analysis and intuition are closely intertwined in all situations.

Strategic intuition describes how breakthrough ideas happen in all realms of human endeavor, from business to politics to art. “This might sound like the opposite of an innovation, but in a practical sense this is how innovation actually happens,” says Duggan. “And even in business this is an old idea — the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter basically said this in the 1940s. So it’s something that we rediscover again and again and again. I trace its earliest origins to the Tao Te Ching in ancient China, 450 BC.”

In a course that Duggan teaches in Columbia’s MBA, Executive MBA and Executive Education programs, he introduces strategic intuition with a famous quote from Thomas Edison: “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” Duggan adds, “What we’re talking about here is the one percent. It’s only one small piece of the puzzle. But if you don’t have inspiration, your perspiration is a waste of time.”

Once you understand how strategic intuition works, you can identify opportunities that you might otherwise have missed by following these four steps:

1. Examples from history

If the shelves of your brain are well stocked, you are more likely to make an important connection. Napoleon and Patton, two of the most successful generals who ever lived, both had an encyclopedic knowledge of military history. “They were famous for not choosing a strategic objective, like a city or a bridge or a fort, but rather putting their armies in motion,” says Duggan. “When they recognized a strategic situation from past battles, they would replicate that battle or pieces of that battle to defeat the enemy. They fought battles; they didn’t conquer territory. But in doing so they defeated the enemy.”

2. Presence of mind

The key to presence of mind is expecting the unexpected. In order to open your mind to a coup d’oeil, you must abandon your preconceived notions of what the solution might be — or sometimes even what the problem is. “Sometimes people don’t see what to do, and that’s OK,” Duggan says. “They should keep searching and keep looking for opportunity. And if they’re prepared and aware and have great presence of mind, they will see the opportunity that indeed might take them in a different direction than if they had first tried to plan without an idea of how actually to fulfill the plan.”

3. A flash of insight

A coup d’oeil is not a totally new idea but rather a new way of combining past ideas from different sources. For example, Ransom Olds was the first carmaker to build a mass-produced car using a stationary assembly line, and Henry Ford copied that car quite closely in both its design and its manufacturing process. Then on a visit to the Chicago stockyards, where carcasses were hung on a rail and moved from station to station, Ford got a flash of inspiration — and the moving assembly line was born.

A coup d’oeil can show you how to reach a goal, but it can also change your goal — an idea that many people find difficult to accept. “Most strategic planning typically says, first, ‘What’s your goal?’” says Duggan, “and then it helps you plan. It doesn’t really care what the goal is. Whereas strategic intuition offers a way to answer the question ‘What’s a good goal?’ And a good goal is one that you see some way to reach, based on some combination of things you can put together from the past.”

4. Resolution

Resolution in this context is more than simply the determination to achieve your goal. It includes an element of flexibility — the willingness to move forward without a detailed plan and also the willingness to change course if a better opportunity presents itself. In Napoleon’s first campaign, his men were vastly outnumbered by Italian and Austrian troops. But because the situation resembled several campaigns of Frederick the Great some 50 years earlier, Napoleon had an idea: he would move his army between the Italian and Austrian armies and fight first one enemy and then the other.

“His goal came out of some historical sense of what would work, and he projected that into this situation, which was not identical,” says Duggan. “He had a general goal rather than a detailed plan, and he put his army in motion and indeed he defeated each enemy army in turn, in a series of battles. He had no idea beforehand where the battles were going to be, but as they emerged he saw the opportunity there. So strategic intuition is not against goal setting. It just asks the question ‘Where does your goal come from?’ And then it says your goal is as detailed as you see — not more so — and that you fill the details in as you can.”

In Duggan’s strategy course, participants create a map of all the goals that might make them happy and all the opportunities they currently see that might get them to one goal or another. “The idea of having multiple possible directions is much more realistic in life and gives you many more options,” says Duggan. “But if you already have a five-year goal and know exactly what you’re going to do and really are trying to get there, that’s fine. Just remember that some opportunity may arise that will take you somewhere better.”

It's about 8 (and some change) o'clock; I sit here, at the Kaplan corporate headquarters, alone, wondering what is my life's purpose? Is it goals? Is it money? Women? Fun? Family? What? I think for now, I will focus on family and scholarship; but while we are on the subject of friends.

I put all my chips down for friends, fake or real, because I don't have the time to differentiate the two. A couple mentors, a few friends, hundreds of associates belonging to; a couple of friends, I know that would do anything for me (countable on one hand); a couple of friends, I can't really tell what they would (or wouldn't do) for me. I will be placing a stonger emphasis on creating mentor / mentoree relationships. All I want to do is learn the game. What ever that game (or goal) may be at the time.

New goals must been established, in order to regain a purpose to that which I do. Attainment of the Rhodes Scholarship would be a lofty enough goal (allowing me to pursue graduate study at Oxford University). I have plenty of time to prepare myself for task, to study recipients, and competitors. I have many intangibly internal values to instill in myself which will be of use.

I would love for you all to see what is to come next; that which is seen right now, is a minuscule in comparison to what is to come next. I'm in transition mode again, reminiscent of when I changed from the 'hood' kid to the HOOD SCHOLAR you see before you.

EDUCATION:
Columbia University
- Intercollegiate Partnership Grant Recipient

LaGuardia Community College
Associate Degree In Lib Arts: Math and Science
- Scholar, Kaplan Leadership Program
- Governor of Public Relations, Student Government Association
- Student Member, Board of Trustees
- Liaison to the Student Advisory Council; Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society
- Executive Student Senator, Curriculum Senate
- Alternate Senator, University Student Senate
- Student Leadership Award Recipient, City University of New York

Wake Up. From now on ... nothing but Rhodes Scholarship on the brain. I will taste Rhodes Scholarship, I will breath Rhodes Scholarship. I will desire the capabilities necessary to get the Rhodes scholarship.

Sitting in my apartment at 2:00am, writing a letter to my uncle in prison, I receive a phone call from his son (my lil brotha'). Which is weird because I haven't touched base with him for a few months, and I haven't written my uncle for a few months. Both of these happening at the same time, in the middle of the night, is a weird coincidence.

Anyways, I stop writing the letter to speak with my lil' brotha'. My lil brotha' (Robert P.) tells me that my uncle and I were right (about school). He now wants to come to school, and he wants to get on the ball; but I know he has some unseen obstacles. One, the neighborhood he is in; two, his mother's, at times, shaky support. I know that I will need to be his rock in his educational transition. Getting him in a GED program in LaGuardia is my next goal, but he has to be on the ball and do all the hard work himself. I will give him what he needs to accomplish it, as far as the financial support.

However, I am in the middle of my transfer process at Kaplan. They want me to ultimately go out of state for college, and I predict they will keep telling me, "You need to take care of yourself before you take care of anybody else". However, behind decisions are consequences, and taking care of self would not have me in college in the first place. The only Patterson males living are my uncle (serving time), my lil'brotha (mentioned above), myself, and my six year old nephew; my being a high school dropout (in college) makes me the most likely to succeed in the cold cruel world.

WTF.

Imagine, a world filled with educated men, whom grew up with rusted spoons in their mouths. A world, where the problems of those belonging to the bottom, are actually addressed. I am scared for the future; a future of intellectual wars, fought between the educated descendants of victims of subjugation, and the well-informed descendants of oppressors.

Anyways, the photo shoot was one of many for a book I will be getting published in the near future, when I figure out what that future is.

Peace.

What's Poppin', Future Leaders of the Free World!

I'm creating this mini-series to shine some light on the philanthropic efforts of rappers and the music industry at large. Jay-Z was one of Obama's super delegates for some time but has not been acknowledged for it. He led numerous 'free of charge' concerts at various college campuses across America to promote for Obama. Other rappers and music executives also campaigned for Obama. However, being as I am from Marcy Projects, we will focus on Yung Hov.

Below are videos, which I felt, demonstrate the force that was behind Obama. He had an advantage people didn't realize. In low income neighborhoods, there is always a very low 'age of first birth' - meaning lots of babies always being born; this has been happening since forever. So, Obama getting the youth vote in the hood -the hood being a socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhood - ensured his victory. The proof, Jay-Z's main customer base is white America. Boom!

Marcy Projects, Let's Go!!!!!!!

Alright Degenerates.

For some time, I have been intrigued by hip-hop impresarios ability to amass large revenues in the corporate world; however, I have seen many character flaws revealed when an artist many be in different company. We will look at 50 Cent's character when in different company - rather when his audience is white, and when his audience is black. You will notice that his vocabulary changes; his speech changes; his level of confidence also changes. Start the video below.



This first video is taken from a 'hood' distributed DVD entitled, "Cocaine City". There are many important messages presented in this DVD. He describes why he doesn't believe 'beef' with other rappers is a problem and how he would use a 'hungry' rap artist to murder someone he had problems with. In addition, he describes his annoyance with people who have no money and his issue with old time drug dealers in different 'hood' magazines. He also elusively describes his method of becoming successful; which is just chilling with successful people and avoiding lames, squares, and broke 'hood' nigguhz.

During this six minute clip, he manages to speak in a way that allows him to be fully confident. In an air of superiority amongst those who are of lower incomes. He uses 'big' words with emphasis to emphasize his point. He also manages to say the word nigger about 41 times, f*ck about 16 times, and 'nah mean' like statements about 8 times. This is how he carries himself amongst his people, rather the faceless fans whom fuel his success by the repetition of his name. It is amazing to watch the change as his audience is different. The below video is a copy of the Forbes interview.



Before a Forbes interviewer, 50 Cent seems to be less confident, more articulate, more humble about the Vitamin Water deal. The words - nigguh, f*ck, and 'nahmean' - change to - ums, uhs, like, ya knows. It is really amazing. 50 Cent discusses the differences between other hip-hop impresarios and himself. He describes the importance of diversification revenue streams to Forbes; which really has the feel of him trying to impress the interviewer. He describes other things, as well, but one statement I felt helps me articulate my reasoning for pursuing my education. He says, "a lot more wealthier". Its hilarious really.

Anyways, get an education before you get the dollars. There is nothing like actually understanding and knowing your first language.

Easy.

In hazy reflection, I live life in the world of fly girls, diamond-cut ropes, peddlers of dope: All things known to the world as ghetto. Let me explain; my name alone is the reflection of an era - 1970s - when heroin was distributed through my neighborhood by Italians on Myrtle Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant. This is where I am from, a place where children live in squalor and degradation and intellectual insecurity. The convicted felons, the police, the drug addicts - all serve their purpose in the cyclical devolution of the ghetto. To break the cycle, one has to make choices; to chill with people you have known all your life or chill with people you do not know well, to break the negative cycle of one's family by not dealing with one's family or to continue trying to save a dead family tree, merged with a chain link fence, you hope to God can be revived from a branch or two. Every accomplishment - scholarship, ivy-league acceptance, networking connection - does not satisfy my thirst for more. This is dangerous, but it is real.

I thrive off the sleepless nights, the four-hour commutes, the daily hundred page readings. Not because I want to, but because I am addicted to the game. This game of life.

Andrea !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How do you want your tickets delivered?