What a question! Who should we learn from? Of course, we should learn from the best. We should learn from those who are experts in their fields. This has been one of my criteria for selecting my teachers, coaches and mentors all these years. I now realise I've overlooked another important criterion, which is whether the expert is a practitioner in his/her field of expertise. For example, if I am...

I was observing my 12-year-old daughter Maya incessantly memorise facts about the Opium war, and I was quick to say, "What for ?" I am a believer of what Seth Godin said, "Anything that can be looked up is not worth memorising." Maya can easily look up such facts when she needs them. But I was wrong. Yes, she may not need to memorise the factual content but the process of memorising information...

For Yoky Matsuka, childhood was a period of confusion and blur. Growing up in Japan in the 1970's everything seemed laid out for her in advance. Her parents believed in the importance of sports in her development and pushed her into competitive swimming at a very early age. They also had her take up the piano. For other children in Japan it may have been comforting to have their lives directed in...