miércoles, 30 de julio de 2014

The dog with the two cakes (according to me).

I wake up thinking in this story, I hope you like it.



There was a dog that was walking on the street looking for food. He found a piece of cake on the street and he ran full of happiness to eat that awesome piece of cake. When he arrived and just before eating he saw that there was another piece of cake at the other side of the street, he was unable to be at the two places at the same time so he decided to think how he could have both pieces of cake at the same time. Also he could not to grab the piece of cake and run to the other side because he needed all his ability to cross the street with cars going from one side to another at full speed and he had to act fast.



After few minutes he decided to run really fast to get the other piece of cake bring it to his side and then eat two pieces of cake. he ran like never before and just before arriving to the other piece of cake a lot of cars started to pass making the other piece of cake unreachable. The dog was trapped in the middle of the street full of cars, without hope and a car hit him making him fly away, just like the song.







The next day he waked up in a hospital sad because ha lost the two pieces of cake and health, he looked outside the window and he saw two dogs with two pieces of cake eating together near to the river...

Which is the lesson of the story?

Luis O

sábado, 5 de abril de 2014

What makes a genius being a genius?

 
Pablo Picasso immortalized by Ruben Brenner


What makes a genius being a genius? Is a question that we have been thinking through history. All the world wants to be excellent but only few can achieve it and also we don't understand how someone can achieve what he as. How Picasso did to maintain his high level during all his painting production? How did Stockhausen got the time to create 363 pieces? In which moment Einstein has the idea to write the Theory of Relativity?

There are people who thinks that geniuses are born, not made: Simply it has to be the talent of some specific activity and he only needs to develop it until he achieves excellence. But that's a simplistic vision of realty and is proven by different studies that is false. Also there is no doubt that a genius is a talented person by nature but talent is not the main reason to become one. Here are five things that according to the pattern of several people considered genius have without exception.

1. They are curious and impulsive.

To create his book "Creativity" (Paidós, 2008), the professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi interviewed 91 geniuses of all disciplines including 14 Nobel price One of his main conclusion is that the people with privileged minds that achieve exceptional masterpieces have two abundant things: Curiosity and Determination. "They are just fascinated by their work and even that there are smarter people than them their enormous desire of achieve what they want is a decisive factor", according to Csikszentmihalyi.

2. The education is not the key factor, are the hours that they use for their specialty.

We are used to think that the academic profile is a result of excellence but there are things that are not always related. The professor of the University of California in Davis, Dean Keith Simoton, did studies of the academic profiles of more than 300 geniuses born between 1450 and 1850, between them he had people like Leoardo da Vinci, Galileo, Beethoven or Rembrandt. He determined the amount of formal education that they had and measure their levels of excellence through their work. The results where amazing. The relationship between education and excellence when you put it in a graph had form of a bell: The most prominent creators where the ones that had a medium level education. In our times would be something like a diploma. The ones that had higher education or less where less creative.

There is no doubt that the most prominent geniuses where still studying but they where selflearners and also addicted to work. "Geniuses are all the same", V.S. Pritchett, "They never stop working, they don't lost a single minute, it's depressing. The reality is that without effort the talent is useless. The most outstanding inventors are always the ones that have worked more in their specialty and they live for it, they have learn everything that could be learned and they take their passion to the limit.


3. They are huge critics of their own work

According to the Psicologist Howard Garner, Asturias Prince in Social Sciences 2011 Award, the greatest geniuses like Picasso, Freud or Stravinsky they had a very similar pattern of work that was based in try and error: They analyzed a problem, had a solution, they tested it and they had a constant process of feedback. "The creative individuals", according to Garner, "they invest a considerable amount of time in think about what they want to achieve", if they have had success or not, if they have failed what they have to do different to achieve it.

The most creative minds are also the most methodical minds.

4. They are sacrificed, lonely and in occasions neurotics.

The geniuses are all the time thinking in their masterpiece and that has multiple disadvantages. Invest all your time to your work implies and enormous sacrifice and lost of social relationships. According to Csikszentmihalyi, most of geniuses are outcast people during their adolescence, in part because "Their intense curiosity and focused interest are strange for their partners" and also because adolescents are  gregarious people and they don't like to waste time being lonely to develop their own talent. "Practice music or study mathematics require an scary loneliness"

Sometimes, the necessary sacrifice for a genius can become a pathological issue. The passion can become obsession: Excellent people are not necessarily happy people. We just have to see the asceticism that was achieved by Freud, T. S. Eliot or Gandhi, or the auto impose loneliness that Einstein developed. A lot of geniuses develop a neurotic personality: their work transform them into maniac or selfish people.

5. They work always for passion, not for money.

The real geniuses they give their life for their work and they never change it for money, only for pure passion and vocation. "The artists that had developed their paint and sculpture by the only pleasure of the activity instead of the monetary reward had produces an art that has been recognized socially superior", according to the thinker and writer Dan Pink in his book "La sorprendente verdad sobre qué nos motiva (Gestión 2000). "Also, are those that are not interested in extrinsic rewards the ones that will receive them". 

Translate by: Luis Oscar Mendoza Guzmán from : "Las cinco cracterísticas que cumplen todos los genios (sin excepción)" by Miguel Ayuso



    

miércoles, 26 de febrero de 2014

The useless vote of AIESEC in Mexico.

      The past days we had the elections of the next President of AIESEC International and in an exercise of democracy the MCP's of each country elected the person who will lead the next generation to reach the 2015 goals and we should be proud of it, yay! :)

      But this is not why I am writing this. I am writing this because something caught my attention that is concerning to the people of AIESEC Mexico.

      Between the candidates there was a Mexican candidate that was the MCP of Mexico Last year, he and his team lead us to a successful growth 
in the entity, like +/- 70% Growth, and is one of the most remarkable members that AIESEC Mexico has ever seen in years. 
      He was also the one that changed the mindset of my LC, AIESEC in ITAM, and also he has given his best years in pro of the people of the organization to make a change in the mindset of
all of us to have a better country. Personally he did it for me, I remember his speeches during conferences and a lot of the things he said are the ones that I have been using and I'm using to support my personal and professional carrier, this phrase...




      But well coming back to the election process, he was between the candidates, after the selection process he was not elected. The network decided that he was not the one they wanted to be President of AIESEC International. But also in the result we could see that Mexico didn't vote for him...

      For me it's hard to understand how Mexico didn't vote for him knowing what he represented for us and it was the moment to give a clear message.
There can be a lot of reasons behind that he was not the strongest candidate, that it was not the best in the selection process and the others where better but that is part of the election process but there is a fact that is there and I believe that we had to vote for a country because a generation is being represented not vote because is the best for one or two.

      It is a great responsibility being there and that should not be taken lightly at the moment of show a preference.  

      At the end the candidate that Mexico decided to vote wasn't chosen, the vote we gave was not useful because the result was clear for the winner but we also gave a message... 

  • Mexico didn't vote for his P.A.I candidate in years
  • Mexico vote based in personal reasons and based on an interest of a position in the next A.I. team and not if it was the best for the organization.


      Maybe I am wrong, my ideas are 20th century ones and I am always open to discussion, but I feel as a Mexican, as an AIESEC Member and personally I was really excited we had a PAI candidate.
Is like going to the FIFA World cup and see your country playing but support the other team because he has a better futbol and it is completely valid but at the end there is something there that is not fitting at all.

      To conclude, I perceive that AIESEC in Mexico is making decisions based in other values and is not thinking in the people that are representing to make decisions. 
I wish this can be fixed to give the next generations this feeling that I had when I joined the organization nearly five years ago and I really wish to see another Mexican saying "Do it for the Children..."

Luis O

domingo, 19 de enero de 2014

Another Mexican Drug Dealer No. 522223N45332E busted



"Mexican DRUG LORD BUSTED BY HIS INSTAGRAM FEED"


Another Mexican Drug Lord
Today I read this on Internet  and I couldn't avoid to think that is interesting how this "bad" guy was arrested in Amsterdam, where Marijuana is legal but they don't produce it so guess who is the supplier?

This guy is just like all the other Modern Drug Lords, he has facebook, twitter, instagram, fancy places, cars, money, he's carismatic and a great ability to be fit in any situation that he has to face and that's not the problem. Drug dealers are smart, creative and like the D.E.A. agency and other intelligence agencies they are the most creative people in the world because they know how to run a successful business , the most successfully in human history, with all against them, handle a war in several places, get huge profits and even enjoy their way of life. Also, they come from poor families and they just take the opportunities that they have in life, in this case they receive huge amounts of money to make a job and there is no other job in the world that can offer to them a better payment based on their personal knowledge. In resume they are businessmen.


But let's go back to our Drug Lord, we can see that in his pictures are in really cool and fancy places and he even has a photos with Paris Hilton, what it doesn't mean he's related to her but means that he has the resources to reach this type of people because he moves at the same level. For me is really funny how the main markets are Europe and the U.S. and they are the main countries that dare to point the finger to countries like Mexico as the "bad" guys. 

I don't remember to read or watch in the news things like "European Authorities involved with drug mafia" or U.S. D.E.A. Agents busted with drugs, who are the responsible authorities in U.S or European of give protection to allow drug dealers pass the drugs to their countries? at the end there is also the same or even more corruption than in my those "bad" countries but of course those KPI's are not available.

Another thing that always comes to my mind is: Where are all those cars, money, houses and bank accounts that are in U.S. or European countries or banks. All of us remember how the American,Swedish and Chinese  banks where involved in money laundering millions of U.S. Dollars.

Well just to set an example: Here we have the case of HSBC and our great friend in Mexico Shen Lee Ye Gon



HSBC Money Laundry : Well at the end HSBC was guilty of money laundering drug money for the Mexican Cartels and payed a fine for it but the fine was not even then 10% of the amount of money that this bank was moving and at the end nobody knows where is this money.

Zhenli Ye Gon : The President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, granted the Mexican citizenship to this Chinese businessman in 2003. After that he installed the biggest chemical laboratory in Latinamerica to synthesize pseudoephedrine. He had contracts with the Mexican Health system to provide flu remedies with the pseudoephedrine compound and the supply of this medicine was remarcable, I remeber take this type of remedies when I was working to the Mexican Health System.



W
hen this guy was busted they "discovered" that he was selling the same pesudoehedrine to the Sinaloa Drug Cartel. Let's remember that this is a precursor for methanfetamines, yes the same drugs that are showned in Breaking Bad. He was caught in march of 2007, then he went to the U.S. asked for protection and now he's living in the U.S. without any kind of restriction. In Mexico was a huge scandal, now the pseudoephedrine is illegal but the supply from China to the Mexican Drug Cartels still intact so are we playing or what?

I think that the only difference is that we decided to accept the problem and fight it with a frontal strategy in all the possible ways (army,  government,  health institutions,  diplomacy,  religious and education institution,  through the education of families, laws, etc). It's not a perfect strategy because the drugs problem is so big,  complex and has so many nations involved that a single country can hardly finish with this,  I hope day can be a multilateral solution between the consumers / producers to really hit this problem.

This is  nice documentary of the National Geographic that allows to see the problem with a better perspective:





Finally, I hope that with this you can have more information available, be able to see with other eyes and the next time you know about a friend or hear a story of someone that visits Amsterdam or any European Cool Country or the U.S to buy some "legal" drugs you know that it was produced illegally, passed through corruption and packed by cynicism the only thing is that nobody is telling you that part of the story and in that precise moment they're part of the problem that makes the drugs war and news so terrible.

Cheers and have a nice day

Luis O

jueves, 9 de enero de 2014

"A Poor man is the one that needs a lot to live..." - Jose 'Pepe' Mujica Persident of Uruguay

Hello,

I hope you are having a good day. Now I'm writing in English to make my post more accessible to the internet people that they understand more English than Spanish.

I have been always worried about my personal preparation, development and worried about my own limitations and how I can use all my strength and intelligence to be  a better person to achieve my own development, being able to make the right decisions being happy, being able to make the people around me aware of this also and if I have family or a couple make them happy too, give them the elements to achieve the same things that I am looking too, because at the end and from my perspective that is the real thing that matters in life. But first I have to start with myself

During this past months I've living in Germany and I can assure is one of the most relevant experiences of my life. I traveled to Egypt during their revolution time and now I'm in Colombia on a holiday trip visiting my girlfriend. I am the Information Manager Director of a non profit organization in Germany called AIESEC. In resume I am the IT guy. I have been working in technology since I have nine teen years old. I studied Telematics Engineering at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, ITAM, and all my life I have been thinking that the solutions to all human problems are the knowledge, technology and the right distribution of this to every human being so that is why I decided to become an Engineer of Technology and I understood the world in this way. I also was worried in having a complete formation and that is why I decided to become a Scientific SCUBA diver and I got my degree in the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM. I practiced martial arts and oriental philosophy during ten years to have another perspective of how the things work. I also was worried in knowing my roots and country so I decided to travel from north to south and read about their most relevant cultures like the Mayans in the south east, the Aztecs in the center and the Yaquis in the north west and I understood that my country is unique and I do not know all about it. In my university I read about occidental philosophy and was part of the United Nations Model of my University ITAMMUN and the subject I took par was Sustainable Growth. Finally, all my life I've fully connected to the internet and is one of my passions I enjoy it's power and how fast the knowledge can travel through this powerful tool and also know the damage that is can cause to the others because I used to be a "friendly" hacker during my early ages. After all this I thought that I had a complete understanding of how world worked. This experiences transformed the way I see the world and now I know that I was wrong.

During this months I've thinking about the structure of the society, I've been reading the news, I witnessed the German Elections and I was asking my friend about their point of view and why they where voting for some specific candidate. Also the way of living of people from Europe is always challenging me because some of the things that they have I just never had them in my country and never though about them.

Now I feel that my perspective is more complete and I just can say that I still need a lot to learn about a lot of things in my life.

Why is all this personal history?

Well, today I was working, reading the news and I saw a post of a friend with a particular video. This video and post cached my attention because it was about sustainable growth, a subject that I've been interested since I think that I know what I want. 

The post was a critic for our modern society and all the speeches of the modern leaders through the times about this subject and after reading it I couldn't avoid to think. Man this is what I was always thinking off too so I was happy to see more people worried about the same thing I was worried about so I decided to write this and also to make a promise with myself that I will not be part of this modern society making small changes at the time. I don't know If I will be successful but I know that I can't live without trying it. Just the time will be able to tell me if i took the right decision.

Here are some fragments of the post (translated by me), also the video and the link:



"What would happen to the planet if the Indian people could have the same amount of cars per family that the Germans have? how much Oxygen we would have to breath?..." 

"Does the world has the elements, materials to make possible that 7,000, 8,000 million people can achieve the same rates of consumption and waste than the most opulent occidental societies have? is it possible? or we will need to have another type of discussion another day? Why we had to create this civilization? product of the  market, product of competition that has the definition of progress based on a portentous and explosive material..."

"The development can't be against the human happiness, it has to be in favor of happiness, love, human relationships, to take care of children, to have friends, to have the elemental things. That's why is the most important treasure that you can have. When we fight for the environment, the first element of the environment it's called human happiness..."

Fragment of José 'Pepe' Mujica's speech, President of Uruguay, during the Sustainable Growth Summit of United Nations in Brazil (Rio+20)



I hope that my post can move something inside of you to make you start the change because the change of this starts with each on of us

Have a nice day

Luis O







jueves, 17 de octubre de 2013

Why Mexico?

Hello again, here am I with another post

During the past months several people have approached to me and asked me Why should I visit Mexico? What does the Mexicans do that is so awesome? 
Why Mexico is now the Emerging Economy of Latin America?

Well first some geographical things. We are in America, exactly in the center, from the economic point of view we're considered North America, from the Geographical point of view we are in central America and, finally, from the cultural point of view we are Latin America, so the three ways are right just keep in mind which point of view you're using.

Now, to make the things more interesting and less boring here is a video that can give you a visual Idea of what I'm talking about: 





If you are the one that likes to read instead of watching a video here you have a few facts:

The Central Bank Governor of the Year is Agustin Carstens

How Mexico is Back in the game?

"We are growing faster and becoming an strategic economy in Latin America and the world, reaching Brazil and hitting hard the Chinese and Indian markets"

"We have 44 free trades agreements, more than any country in the world"

"50 % of population is less than 30 years old", half of the present but 100% of the future

Mexico grew 3.9% last year, the world Grew at 2.5% average, and is predicted to grow at 3.8% to 4.4% this year.

These are some data from Mexico but of course you can find more. I hope some of your doubts and questions are now answer and that you are out there planning your vacations, investments or whatever you want to Mexico because I can assure you, you'll not regret it.

Have a nice day.

Luis O

domingo, 4 de agosto de 2013

Friedrich Nietzsche vs José Vasconcelos y la ideología del superhombre

Hola, espero que esten bien y que bueno que me leen. Hoy hare una de mis post más densos que por los temas tratados sería,  fácilmente,  un tema de tesis. Por desgracia no poseo tanto tiempo, tratare de ser breve pero lo más claro posible. Por lo mismo es posible que las ideas esten muy resumidas pero con gusto podemos,  en otro momento,  discutir al respecto. Bueno ahí voy:

Las experiencias vividas y continuas comparaciones, recientes, me hicieron ir, necesariamente,  a los momentos historicos de la humanidad y surgió la comparación de la idea del "Superhombre" de Nietzsche vs "la raza cósmica" de José Vasconcelos y aquí les cuento un poco más.

Para hacer un breve resumen, el superhombre de Nietzsche establecía que la humanidad alcanzaria su punto máximo al dominio de la razón sobre todas las cosas. De dicho pensamiento vininieron muchas cosas que llevarían a la conclusión "lógica" de la razón es más importante que el hombre mismo o para ponerlo en algo más coloquial.  Algo así como la película de "yo robot" y libro de Isaac Asimov.

La idea de la raza cósmica, hecha por José Vasconcelos, en epocas de la revolución mexicana y fue creada para dar identidad a un pueblo dividido y seria la que marcaría hasta nuestros días, junto con Simo Bolívar y los libertadores,  la concepción latina de nuestra identidas, raza y espíritu. La cual sostiene, a grandes ragos, que la verdadera fuerza social, de los pueblos y naciones radica en la diversidad y mezcla de todas las razas y que generarán al hombre de bronce o latino.

Despues del resumen de estas dos ideologías regreso a mi historia.

Apenas cumplí poco más de un mes viviendo en Alemania y debo confesar que he pasado por varios momentos que me han hecho ver que ya no estoy en México,  que este es un país de primer mundo pero también me deja ver que muchas cosas del pasado aún siguen latentes y en mi mente hay más claridad del porque si México es un país "en vías de desarrollo" pues también es un país de una fuerza incomparable que se basa en la riqueza de su territorio pero sobre todo en su gente.

Las primeras semanas aquí no paraba de admirar cada detalle del país teutón,  la perfección de sus calles, el orden de su sistema de transito, su planeación extrema, la ciudad en calma, la ausencia de delincuencia y muchos detalles más. Sin embargo,  pasó poco tiempo para percatarme de otras cuestiones que también marcan a la economía más rica de europa y de las mejores del mundo. Es conocido la alta cantidad de turcos que viven en Alemania pero nunca pense que la división fuera tan marcada y me hizo pensar en México y EUA.

Por otro lado, la juventud es muy crítica,  analítica y educada pero al mismo tiempo temerosa de hacer algo que, sin lugar a dudas, es referente de la juventud y espíritu y eso es "la creatividad,  cambio y espontaneidad" pareciera que eso aquí es una idea que se conoce pero no se lleva a la práctica. Es decir,  planean tanto que terminan por no hacer nada y quedarse con lo establecido sin cuestionarlo muchas veces.

Por último,  hace unos días supe que el gobierno Alemán cobra impuestos a los católicos y protestantes,  ademas que se encuentran registrados, y el dinero lo entrega a la (s) iglesa (s) cosa que no pasa para los judíos y musulmanes.  No se ustedes pero eso me hace pensar en una práctica medieval en tiempos post-modernos con el fin de beneficiar a un grupo sobre otro.

Al fin, la verdad no busco cambiar al país Alemán pero si me hizo ver que en México, y puedo atreverme a extenderlo a Latinoamérica, igual tenemos problemas de otra índole nuestras sociedades son más dinámicas, pujantes. Eso lo atribuyó a que en cierto modo hemos aprendid de la historia y explica,  en parte, la importancia estratégica de México y Latinoamérica para el mundo.

Si bien nuestras ciudades parecieran "caóticas" también puedo asegurar que vivimos la diversidad día con día.  La mezcla de las razas y culturas nos hace muy fuertes y nos ha permitido crear grandes culturas que son únicas y no tienen comparación en ningún lado. La famosa "raza cósmica" de José Vasconcelos.

Nuestra juventud, a veces, es incendiaria y siempre va buscando generar y abrir nuevos espacios de manera activa. Hemos aprendido a ser creativos y desarrollar la inteligencia porque a nuestros paises lo que los mueve es el hambre.  El hambre de saber, el hambre de conocer, el hambre de hacer más pero sobre todo el hambre de comer. Esa hambre nos da la capacidad de soñar, planear y luchar por cada cosa que conseguíamos y disfrutar en cada momento y en cada oportunidad de las cosas que tenemos. Siempre regresando una sonrisa.

Nuestros gobiernos,  no son los más avanzados y aún hay muchas cosas que aprender pero si algo tenemos claro, hemos avanzado y luchado ,por encima de los países "desarrollados", es la apertura de nuestras sociedades y el trato hacia las personas. Nadie podra decir que al visitar un país latinoamericano se sentirá excluido o discriminando. Nosotros abrazamos a judíos,  musulmanes,  negros, indígenas,  blancos,  amarillos, rojos, azules, perseguidos y refugiados de guerras. Siempre dando ayuda aún cuando en nuestra mesa falte el pan.

Para concluir,  cada día me doy cuenta que la idea de "desarrollo" es únicamente un adjetivo que no explica la realidad de una cultura y al menos me siento cada vez más orgulloso de ser mexicano, de ser latino y de saber que poseo y represento a una de las culturas más ricas y diversas del mundo. Aún me falta mucho tiempo aquí pero, hasta el momento, es inevitable pensar y ver día a día la comparación de estas dos ideologías que marcan a estos dos tipos de sociedades.

Espero haber podido explicar mi punto y no terminar confundiendo mas.

Muchas gracias por leerme y nos vemos en el siguiente post.