Shanghai Girls is one of those historical novels that incorporate the historical realities of a certain time in history and turned them into a novel. In this novel, the author, Lisa See, might have captured all the stories from the Chinese people living from the early 1930’s to 1970’s. It was a time of many turbulences for people around the world, especially China, which was invaded by Japan and was subsequently involved in the World War II. The author grew up in the old Chinatown, which may be why she had the first hand knowledge of the stories of the people and how they were discriminated in this country at that time. The dynamics of the Chinese people’s attitude toward Taiwan, and the Red China were quite interesting, driven by fears of being labeled a communist. This was really new to me. Many of the people paved the road to the civil rights of the Chinese people in this country.

A summary of Shanghai Girls is as follows:

Two girls, May and Pearl, in their 20’s living in the relatively high Shanghai society in the late 1930’s were suddenly launched into poverty because their dad’s gambling habit. To pay back the debtors, the dad forced their daughters into arranged marriages with Mr. Louie’s two sons, Sam and Vernon. As narrated by Pearl, she and her younger sister May and Pearl tried to renege on the agreement and skipped the ship that would have led them to Los Angeles. It wasn’t long when Japan’s army reached Shanghai and forced the family to escape south to Hongkong. At this time, their dad had abandoned the family. With the guidance of their foot-bound Mom, they were slowly moving away from the hotspots. Then on a fateful day, a bunch of Japanese army seize the refugee party, raped and killed their mom. Despite Mom’s pleading, Pearl got out of their hiding place and was too gang-raped. When she woke up, she was in a hospital rescued by May. They eventually migrated to Hongkong and took a ship ride to San Francisco, where they were stranded in Angel’s Island and were not released to their husband until May’s baby was born. At this time, May’s daughter would become Pearl’s daughter since Pearl and Sam had done the husband-and-wife thing but not Vernon and May. There were lots of not-so-benign facts about the laws against Chinese people and how they’re being treated in Angel Island. Now I appreciate why most immigrants didn’t have good things to say about Angel Island, now a very beautiful National Park.

The girls finally arrived at Old Man Louie’s place in Los Angeles China Town, where they were plunged into poverty and isolation of Chinese immigrants. Later, more of the facts about Pearl’s husband, Sam, surfaced that he’s not a legitimate US citizen but a “paper son” (a law loophole to import cheap Chinese slaves to the US). Also, Vernon, May’s husband, was either autistic or had a down syndrome such that he would make model planes and boats all day long. At least Vernon was Mr. Louie’s legitimate son.

The family went through many tribulations of that era including the discrimination from the white, the unfair law, and the more discrimination due to China’s turning into a Communist country and its involvement in the Korean War. I can imagine how tough it must have been for the people at that time. Pearl herself almost had a baby boy of her own but the baby died during childbirth. But the family continued to bond, survive and thrive to the best their ability despite many setbacks. Yen-yen, the mother-in-law once a child prostitutes after being kidnapped out of her own home, died all of the sudden. Then Mr. Louie died of old age and cancer. The young Joy started to blossom and eventually moved away to Chicago for her college, where she met this idealistic socialistic boy named Joe Kwok. He exert lots of influence over Joy and painted a very different pictures of what China was like.

Because of Joy’s participation on a suspected communist society, her family was investigated for their fake citizenship. The harassment was further exacerbated by May’s volunteering Sam’s fake-citizenship information to the FBI and INS. Sam committed suicide to free the family from further harassment by the government.

One day, Joy overheard the conversation between her mom and her birth mom that she was the love child of May and Z.G. and her dad wasn’t a legitimate son. She ran away to China to find her father, Z.G. and herself. This was where the story ended.

I’m not sure how to categorize this book as a memoir, business management case study, leadership, or a shameless promotion of the Starbucks brand. I think it has a little of each. But mostly, I consider it an entrepreneur’s self-narrated journey, a journey that Howard Schultz embarked on since buying the Starbucks stores from its original owner and merged with his own Il Giornale stores that no longer bears their name.

The following quotes spelled out Starbuck founders’ mission and philosophy for Starbucks. “My quest has never been just about winning or making money; it has also been about building a great, enduring company.” “No business can do well for its shareholders without first doing well by all the people its business touches.” “When we love something emotion often drives our actions. This is the gift and the challenge entrepreneurs face every day. The companies we dream of and build from scratch are part of us and intensely personal. They are our families. Our lives.”

A founder know when his “baby” is going astray from its core values. It was reflected in his leaked memo “The ommoditization of the Starbucks experience.” At that time, Starbucks was growing like weeds using 2:1 first-year revenue to build cost as a criteria to build a Starbucks store. This was the main reasons he returned to Starbucks as its CEO. He started out by locking up all 7100 Starbucks store on February 26, 2008, which was a powerful signal/statement for the turn around to return to passion for good tasting coffee. Then the financial tidal wave of the 2008 hit. Things got worse. Starbucks had to fight for its survival and the respect from their existing and future customers.

The plan to surprise and fire the existing CEO, Jim Donald, and return to Starbucks reads like a conspiracy story in itself. It took lots of coordination and creativity to create a turn-around strategy especially it coincided with the 2008 financial crisis. This served as a good case study for a founder who wants to re-take his company.

Innovations play a critical role in the turn around of Starbucks: the Clover machine, IT revolution with Salesforce.com, new blends of coffee like Pike Place Roast and Anniversary Roast, Mastrena, Rewards card, Lean technique, MyStarbucksIdea.com, Use of social media, and Via instant coffee. There were failures like Sorbettos, and big layoffs and 1000 store closings.

There were other business strategies like getting back to the basic, and getting in the mud, and elevating the core, planning the big moves and etc.

Since reading this book, the constant reminder of the coffee and empathy toward someone so passionate about coffee, got me back to drinking coffee after quitting the coffee for more than 10 months. I experimented with French Press and other coffee making methods. I even tried out the Clover machine with the Anniversary blend. I was stunned how good the coffee was. It goes to tell you how powerful this book is. Maybe Michael Dell and soon Bill Gates will be writing one soon.

This is a fun read for me. The author took the journey to reach the US memory championship out of the curiosity and good journalism. With some coaching from one of the ex-world champions. He was able to reach the pinnacle of memorization, leveraging ancient techniques (like memory palace). I have learned a few memorization techniques and lots of sciences and tidbits about memorization.

There were stories of the Russian journalist “S” with perceptual disorder of “synthesthesa,” chicken sexer’s use of memory to decipher the sex of a chicken within half a second or 1200 chicks an hour.

The magic number 7 puts us at the limit of memorizing 7 things +/-2, according George Miller of Harvard psychologist in 1956. This was the reason that the phone number comes in 7 digits. Chunking is a way to decrease the number of items you have to remember by increasing the size of each number. This was the reason the phone numbers are broken into two parts plus an area code.

Chess masters tend to have a good memory especially of the various chess patterns. But we remember things in context, not isolated facts. “A great memory isn’t just a by-product of expertise; it is the essence of expertise.”

“Our lives are structured by our memories of events. We remember events by positioning them in time relative to other events. Just as we accumulate memories of facts by integrating them into a network, we accumulate life experience by integrating them into a web of other chronological memories. The denser the web, the denser the experience of time.” “Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it. You can exercise daily and eat healthily and live a long life, while experiencing a short one.” “Life seems to speed up as we get older because life gets less memorable as we get older. “If to remember is to be human, then remembering more means being more human.”

We remember nothing these days, thanks to the “external memory/information” readily available on the net where one can easily google to find things. Now with the recent advances in cloud computer, we don’t even need to store anything in our computer, even less than in our brain. Interesting history of recording facts (Mark Twain, Loisette, Gordon Bell of Microsoft and etc.)are described in the book.

Scientists generally divide memories broadly into two types: declarative and non-declarative (explicit and implicit). Within declarative memories, a further distinction divides between semantic (memories for factors and concepts), and episodic memories (memories of the experiences of our own lives). Each time we think about a memory, we integrate it more deeply into our web of other memories, and therefore make it more stable and less likely to be dislodged. But in the process, we also transform the memory, and re-shape it – sometimes to the point that our memories of events bear only a passing resemblance to what actually happened. “Older memories are often remembered as if captured by a third person holding a camera, whereas more recent events tend to be remembered in the first person, as if through one’s own eyes. As if over time, the brain naturally turns episodes into facts. Sleep plays a critical role in the process of consolidating our memories and drawing meaning out of them.

PAO (Person-action-object) technique.

OK-plateau: 3 stages in acquiring a new skill: 1) cognitive stage (discovering new strategies), 2) associative stage (concentrating less, making few major mistakes), 3) autonomous stage: as good you need to get at the task. You lose conscious control over what you’re doing. “Deliberate practice” can break the OK-plateau by doing: focusing on their technique, staying goal-oriented, and getting constant and immediate feedback on their performance – stay in “cognitive phase.” By practicing failing and putting yourself in the mind of someone far more competent at the task you’re trying to master.

Buzan’s quote: “The art and science of memory is about developing the capacity to quickly create images that link disparate ideas. Creativity is the ability to form similar connections between disparate images and to create something new and hurl it into the future so it becomes a poem, or a building, or a dance, or a novel. Creativity is, in a sense, future memory.”

Savants’ stories like Daniel Tammet’s story and Kim Peek were detailed in the book.

In the last chapter, Joshua Foer described play-by-play how he won the US Memory championship. It appears that his memory was at its best when he won.

After being an engineering manager for more than 15 years, I finally realize through this book that majority of what I do daily is about creating and shaping people’s habits. This book taught me several management techniques. I wish I had read this book 15 years ago. But it’s never too late to learn and apply the key principles of habits.

Specifically, I’ve learned quite a few things about the power of habit: 1.) Main components of habit loop: Cue, routine and reward. 2) Must have the craving for the habit to continue looping. 3). If the routines are bad for you like smoking, substitute the routine but keep the same cue and reward. 4) Addiction is a form of habit, like gambling and even sleep walking. 5) Changing an organization habit may be the key to the success of an organization, e.g. Paul O’neal at Alcoa. 6) Believing that you can change the habit is the “spiritual” element of habit changing. 7) Will power is a limited-resource habit. Kids’ learning piano is training them for more will power and the ability to regulate emotions. 8) Acquiring a good habit takes willpower. 9) Getting employees to adopt a good habit will take role-play for all possible circumstances. They need to feel in control. 9) Getting someone to adopt a new habit may take inserting new between familiar/old habits. 10) Social movements are a form of social habits.

Key outlines:

Part 1: The habits of individuals
1. The habit loop consists of cue, routine and reward.

2. The craving brain: how to create new habit. Craving is what makes the cues and rewards work; it’s what powers the habit loop. E.g. feeling the film on your teeth or craving for tingling sensation for Pepsodent and P&G’s Fabreeze lacks the craving for people who needs it because they hardly smell any odor. Reading emails habit is created by craving for distraction. Jogging routine is fueled by craving for endorphin.

3. The golden rule of habit changing: why transformation occurs. You can’t extinguish a bad habit, you can only change it and you must believe you can change. Use the same cue and provide the same reward. For examples, Dungy’s coaching career at Colts and Bill Wilson’s starting AA and creating the social routines of AA meeting instead of drinking, feeling the tension of finger tips leads to nail biting.

Part II: The habits of successful organizations
4. Keystone habits, or the ballad of Paul O’Neill – which habits matter most. Paul O’Neill of Alcoa latched onto one keystone habit – zero injury, safety habit. Michael Phelp’s winning warm up habit and the playing of the winning “video.” They are “small wins.”

5. Starbucks and the habit of success: when will power becomes automatic. Travel Leach’s adopting the Starbucks’ will-power habit turned him into a successful “partner” for Starbucks. “When you learn to force yourself to practice for an hour or run fifteen laps, you start building self-regulatory strength. Starbuck’s secret: turning self-discipline into an organizational habit. Use the LATTE habit loop (Listen, Acknowledge, Take Actions, Thank them, then Explain why the problem happened.) Howard Schultz was trained from his childhood to set goals. Empowered employees with some amount of autonomy or given a sense of “agency” tend to perform better.

6. The power of crisis: How leaders create habits through accident and design. In the heat of crisis, the right habits emerge like Rhode Island Hospital. Benefits of organizational habits/routines is that they create truce between potentially warring groups and individuals within an organization. Leader must cultivate habits that both create a real and balanced peace and, paradoxically, make it absolutely clear who’s in charge, e.g. King’s Cross fire incident. “Never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”

7. How Target knows what you want before you do: When companies predict and manipulate habits. Target uses “guest portraits” to guide purchases or take advantage of major life events (especially baby’s birth) that are known to be habit changing. Turning a song like “Hey Ya” or persuading the American to eat organ meats may take the technique of “sandwiching” between familiar tunes or “by dressing something new in old clothes, and making the unfamiliar seem familiar.”

Part III: The Habits of Societies
8. Sadlleback Church and Montgomery Bus Boycott: How movements happens. It’s because of Rosa Parks “weak ties” that made it difficult for avoid joining the boycott because of “peer pressure.” Weak ties, at times more important than strong ties, give us access to social networks where we don’t otherwise belong. Religion takes advantage of the habits (recipes) of faith – joining small community prayer groups, signal a “maturity covenant card” promising to adhere to 3 habits: daily quiet time for reflection and prayer, tithing 10%, and membership in a small group. MLK’s peace movement gives people a new habit to react to violent racism.

9. The neurology of free will: Are we responsible for our habits?
Gambling habits are something one is aware of (free will) and yet sleep walker is not aware of the action (not free will.) If you believe you can change – if you make it a habit – the change becomes real. The metaphors of the water to fish are like habits to us; we may not be conscious of them. “Water ‘hollows out for itself a channel, which grows broader and deeper; and after having ceased to flow, it resumes, when it flows again, the path traced by itself before.'”

This book consists mainly of Colin Powell’s stories about life and leadership. I enjoyed listening to the self-recorded audiobook and then reading the ebook version. Lots of lessons learned in easy-to-remember anecdotes. They are not new breakthrough leadership techniques but definitely more memorable.

First, he started with his 13 rules:
1. It ain’t as bad you think. It will look better in the morning. He cited the Minnesota Fats in the movie “The Hustler,” “Fast Eddie, Let’s play some pool” – you may be down but you’re not out until you admit it.
2. Get mad, then get over it. Control your temper.
3. Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, you ego goes with it. Decouple your position or what you’re arguing for from yourselves and see the merits of both sides.
4. It can be done. Be an optimist but not be stupid.
5. Be careful what you choose: you may get it. Don’t rush into things.
6. Don’t let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision. Based your decision on the best data you can collect and make informed decision.
7. You can’t make someone else’s choices. You shouldn’t let someone else make yours. “Wear your own T-shirt.”
8. Check small things. “Drop in and wander around.” Don’t be fooled by the “fresh paint” (cover-up).
9. Share credit, take the blame, and quietly find out and fix things that went wrong.
10. Remain calm. Be kind.
11. Have a vision. Be demanding. Have a sense of purpose. “Great leaders inspire every follower at every level to internalize their purpose.
12. Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers.
13. Perpetual optimism of a force multiplier. Believe in yourself, your purpose and that you will prevail and demonstrate confidence.

Part 2: Know yourself, be yourself
Always do your best, someone is watching. “If you take the king’s coin, you gave the king his due.” “Be loyal to your superior and the mission given.”

The street sweeper: about the street sweeper that got promoted to driving the sweep truck with a big smile. Are we more blessed than that guy? He questioned himself. It’s not the position but how he is valued by his family and community.

Busy Bastards: Don’t be a workaholics – have a life outside the office. Don’t try to generate make-work. I’m surprised that Powell tinker with Volvo engine – his favorite hobby.

Kindness works: Show kindness in depth with passion and expect nothing in return. There are no trivial jobs in any successful organizations. “Kindness is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of confidence.”

I’m all caught up. Find problems to solve, not manage.

Where on the battlefield? Travel when necessary. Commander should be where he can exercise the greatest influence and be close to the point of decision.

Spheres and pyramids: Evaluate candidates by 50-50 rule. Score 50% on their previous record, and 50% on their potential to do even better on the next level. If you hit the wall of the pyramid, find satisfaction there.

Potential, not just performance. “Leaders need to watch all of their subordinates; work with all of them, encourage the hotshots, but invest in the others.” “The leader must never forget that he may end up working for one of them.”

Part 3: Take care of the troops
Trust your people. They will follow you because they trust you. Focus on building trust in a team.

Mutual respect. Respect for leaders must be earned. Know your followers. Have competence and preserve a zone of privacy, a place form himself that his followers can’t enter. “Familiarity breeds contempt.”

We’re mammals. The adult elephants took care of the teenager delinquent elephants. Leaders passed on generations of experience. Give purpose, structure to the team and hold standards.

Never walk past a mistake. Make on-spot corrections. Tolerances of little mistakes and oversights creates an environment that will tolerate bigger and ultimately catastrophic mistakes.

The guys in the filed are right and the staff is wrong. The clients are the leaders on the line and their troops. Problem solving went both down and up.

It takes all kinds. Good managers are good leaders and good leaders are good managers.But great leaders get 110, 120 ,150% of what anyone though was possible. They are unafraid to take charge, inspire their followers who are willing to follow.

Part 4: Fast Times in the Digital World
Brainware. Permanently changing brainware is a far greater challenge than bringing in new hardware and software.

Tell me what you know. This is a jewel: “Tell me what you know (corroborated facts). Tell me what you don’t know. Then tell me what you think. Always distinguish which from which (place in different buckets – facts, opinions, analysis, hunches, instinct).”

Tell me early. Don’t hide the bad news. Powell recalled the Abu Ghraib prison issue that wasn’t handled properly as a result of hiding the bad news from the top.

Beware first reports. Take a deep breath and let a hot potato cool a bit before picking it up.

Five audiences. Consider five prominent audiences when giving press conferences for his government role: 1. The reporter asking the question (least important.) 2. The American people who are watching and listening. 3. Political and military leaders in more than 190 foreign capitals. 4. The enemy who’s watching and listening carefully. 5. The troops. “They got to pick the question. You get to pick the answer.” Answers to the final audiences. You’re the only one at risk! 30 minutes is long enough. Never give on-the-record interviews at a meal. Start talking or repeat the question while you’re thinking.

Part 5: Getting to 150%
What I tell my new aides. Tell your subordinates what you expect of them. Powell’s rules are good ones to follow. I like “Don’t rush into decisions – make them timely and correct.” “Speak preciely.” “I will develop ways to getting to know what’s happening.”

One team one fight. Work as a team – avoid infighting.

Compete to win. Set your people up for success.

Swagger sticks. No need to resort to authority.

They’ll bitch about the brand. People will bitch about something regardless. Once they have the beers machine, they’ll bitch about the brands of the beers.

After 30 days, you own the sheets. If you don’t complaint or find faults, you own it after a grace period. Don’t be like the 3-envelopes joke (blame me, re-organize, and then prepare another 3 envelopes for your successor).

Mirror, Mirror on the wall. Use AAR (after-action review) or postmortem as a training tool. High-performing, successful organizations build cultures of introspection and trust and never lose sight of their purpose.

Squirrels. Don’t bring problems to your boss what you can solve and he doesn’t have to. So he can deal with the nuts that were left for the squirrels like Reagan did to Powell.

Meetings. Decision meeting that started out with 5-min description of the issue and current state. 25 minutes of positioning by each member, 25 minutes of food fight, and then final summary of merit and de-merits and reach a conclusion.

The indispensable person. Lincoln was more concerned with losing 100 horses than the general. The indispensable resource may not be the leader. Leaders need to be ready to replace anyone who’s no longer up to the task.

Time to get off the train. “Go in with a commitment to selfless service, never selfish service, get off the train before someone throws you off… Spent a moment watching the old train disappear, then star a new journey on a new train.”

Be Gone. “After your turn at bat, head for the dugout, the bullpen, or the parking lot.” Don’t linger.

Part 6 Reflections
Powell Doctrine or Principles of War: mass, objective, offensive, surprise, economy of force, maneuver, unity of command, security, and simplicity. “Objective” and “Mass” is the cornerstone of the Powell Doctrine.

The Pottery Barn Rule: you break it, you own it.

2/5/03 – the date Powell gave the infamous Iraq WMD speech to the UN. Always try to get over failure quickly. Learn from it. Study how you contributed to it. If you’re responsible for it, own up to it.

Parsely Island. Leaders must be problem solvers.

Pizza and Milk. It’s the pizza restaurant manager that impressed the foreign teenagers than all the dignitaries.

Cousin Di. Powell described his friendship with Lady Diana. “Use the influence it gives you for worthwhile purposes… Don’t make your public life your full-time occupation, and hide frequently from the madding crowd.”

Speaking is my business. Powell told some stories on his speech trail, driving the big truck. But he mostly enjoyed observing the Americans in motion.

On the road. Powell vented his likes and dislikes about traveling and the hotel services – like having big letters on the amenities.

Gifts. Gift receiving as a government officials could be a real drag. $250 or less or you may have to buy it. The portraits tended to reflect the cultures of the giver countries.

Best and worst. Powell reflected the people who influenced him throughout his life. He talked about success and failure. “Fear and failure are always present. Accept them as part of life and learn how to manage these realities. Be scared, but keep going.”

Hot Dogs. The hot dog immigrant owner who refused to get paid and thank him for the wonderful life he has been paid. It’s like like him that gives Powell his optimism for this country. Even Hu Jintao bought his hot-dog diplomacy.

The gift of a good start. Powell recounted his start at CCNY (City College of New York) instead of the expected West Point Academy. It’s the “Harvard of the Poor.” I couldn’t believe Powell was only a 2.0 (C) student. He strongly believe in giving the kids a good start like he was given.

An American sniper, the best or the one that had the most confirmed kills in the Navy Seal, gave a pretty good account of his upbringing, his interest in military, his marriage, and his 4 enlistments/tours of the Iraq war. It’s hard for me to imagine that people would re-enlist multiple times and kept going back toward the war zone. Most sane people would probably run away from danger, but Chris Kyle is a seal, a professional trained to kill enemy. A few interesting things I’ve learned from reading/listening the audiobook.

The narrator spoke with a Texan accent and probably talked like him. It made the whole audiobook all that enjoyable.

The author mentioned that most of insurgents or suicide bombers were all drugged up to give them courage. It’s sad that doing what the terrorists do require more than just courage but also medical boost to go forward. I wonder what they’re really fighting for.

Lots of gun model names were mentioned that confused me. But I got to understand how the machines were really named after the type of bullets that were used. I supposed this book would be a great appeal to those into guns/bullets.

I came to believe that the professional soldiers are mostly for people looking for “actions.” According to him, his job is “to kill, not educate.” Throwing in patriotism, intelligence, and skills, you’ve got a killer machine. I respect those who put their lives on the line to serve the country and I can’t help wondering how else they can really excel. Chris Kyle was lucky that he hadn’t got seriously wounded in 4 enlistments. But the odd would stack against him if the war dragged on and if he re-enlisted.

Kyle ranted about the the gutless upper brass who would fight defensively, afraid of losing the men. It tends to show how difficult it is to be a great leader – not so much to fear losing the young soldiers but to fear looking bad politically.

I got to learn a lot of acronyms like ROE (Rules of engagement), IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) and etc.

Kyle stated there was collaborative spirit among the army, air forces, marines and navy seals. This is good know. Nothing like a common enemy like Suddam Hussein that could united all the different divisions of the military.

I particular like the perspectives of his wife, Taya, sprinkled throughout the book. Kyle wouldn’t be as successful as he was without the support of his wife. And I came to appreciate how much stress a solider’s wife has to endure when her loved one is fighting a war and could never know if he is coming back, dead, alive or disabled. That’s a tough life to live.

The politics of war also showed its color like having to make the Iraqis soldiers look good and giving them credit where they don’t deserve, while fighting a war. Mixing PR with wars is a recipes for disaster. But America being a free country where information flows freely, it’s an unavoidable chore.

Injuries and deaths are part of the war. Kyle was descriptive in the deaths and injury of his fellow solders, Marc Lee and Ryan Job, who were like brothers to him. I do believe that when you have to rely on them to stay alive, they become your extended family.

I can’t say I enjoyed all the vivid description of the war and killings but it did paint a reasonable good picture of the war. Let it be known so that we don’t enter into wars lightly. I wish the author well in the his private enterprise and hope he become as successful as he was in the military.