I’m venturing in to an experiment in discipline and perhaps torture. I’ve ventured to follow a UC Berkeley Rhetoric 10 class. Specifically, it is a class taught by Daniel Coffeen from Spring 2008. Rhetoric is one of the oldest disciplines of Western Education (see Aristotelean Rhetoric).

Through some quick googling, I found the UC Berkeley webcast of the course, plus the accompanying blog (with syllabus) and the course reader (See links below).

Rhetoric has been something I find readily applicable when trying to shift to the current landscape of media (production and consumption) and as someone in the field of Marketing. When I attended the Strategic Decision Marking & Risk Management courses at Stanford, we did a lot of framing and seeing situation not in trying to find “the truth” or coldly ambivalent, but rather multi-bivalent. Indeed, for me, this very well relates to Rhetoric.

As far as what is Rhetoric, I will take from Coffeen’s description of the course as the definition:

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I’ve listened to the first two classes and while I’m very much a visual learner, Coffean’s energy and style translates well to a mere, simply podcast. There are 30 podcast (~1hr in length), so it means I should be able to “complete” the class in 2-3 months, reading and essay writing aside.

References:

• UC Berkeley Rhetoric 10 Blog:
  http://arhetorslife.blogspot.com/2008/01/introduction-to-class.html
• Rhetoric 10 Reader via CopyCentral:
  http://www.copycentralreaders.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=1159&=SID#MOREINFO
• iTunes University Berekely Webcast for Rhetoric 10:
  http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details.php?seriesid=1906978535

First Day of Decision Quality in Organizations course

Last Thursday, I’ve completed the first section of Stanford’s “Decision Quality in Organizations (XSDR120)” (DQO) class. DQO is of one the core courses for Stanford’s “Strategic Decision and Risk Management” certificate program, which is offered both online and offline.

DQO is one of the six courses I’ll be taking to complete the certification program this year. Indeed, I’ll be in on campus at Stanford later this June to take “Enterprise Risk Management” and “Strategic Portfolio Decisions.” So if you’ll be in the area, let me know.

Thus far, the DQO course has been very interesting. As is often in business-related classes, the concepts are straightforward even perhaps seemingly obvious. Yet, what is difficult – and why I’m taking these courses – is to have that mental shift from “oh that seems obvious” when I read about these concepts in HBR to a whole other level: internalizing these ideas, making them a habit, and have applied understanding of them (via reviewing case studies).

The DQO course, and probably most of the program, is heavily visual. The course itself came, not only with your standard textbook, but with a +400 slides covering many key concepts in illustrative charts of various sorts.

In the first section, there were alot of “big ideas” generously shown through dozens of PowerPoints and conceptual charts. I’ve picked out three ideas that I found especially illuminating in helping me better under decision making process.

1. Organizational Complexity v. Analytical Complexity

As in often the case, a B-Grade Strategy with an A-Grade Execution is far better than vice-versa. The DQO instructors showed a four-quadrant chart with a Organizational Complexity/Analytical Complexity axis. The four quadrants were: Quick Decisions – low OC/low AC, Facilitative Leadership – high OC/low AC, Decision Analysis – low OC/high AC, and Rigorous Decisions – high OC/high AC.

What caught my eye was “Facilitative Leadership”, which has been a style of leadership I have been increasingly reading about form various Get-Things-Done (GTD) blogs to the Harvard Business Review as the prime example of leadership.

It is not always possible for the leadership to have access or understanding to all of the data and analysis available to the organization (low quantitative analysis). Thus, “Facilitative Leadership” is about maximizing other people’s contribution (high organizational complexity) to the organization and decision making process.

2. Decision Quality Spider Chart

The most readily actionable concept I found was the “Decision Quality” spider chart. It was a simple spider chart to measure the overall team’s confidence that a decision has been made with the proper evaluation of:

1. Framing the Issue
2. Alternative Routes
3. Reliable Information
4. Clear Values/Trade-Offs
5. Logical Reasoning
6. Commitment to Action

I have a “Project Management” cheatsheet I bring to meetings to make sure that goals, responsibilities, follow-up process are decided before a meeting ends. I’m definietely adding this as another cheatsheet to quickly evaluate decisions made.

3. Advocacy-Based Decision Making v. Dialogue Decision Process (DDP)

One basic concept is that decision-making based on advocacy turns the whole decision making process into a lobbying effort. And like all lobbying effort, your job is to advocate only on that position, thus most likely presenting both biased information and neglecting alternatives.

In contrast, the dialogue-process promotes both the decision makers and the project team a stake in the decision. It allows for a process to understand the context & requirements, evaluates the decision, consider alternatives and outline the planning.

As someone who is part of a growing company, I definitely feel that I need to mentally shift from advocacy-based to dialogue-based decision planning.

Admittedly, I have been unsophisticated and for some time made internal decisions based on “hey we should do this” gut feelings. While Gladwell (of Blink) places values on gut feelings, it is no way to help be apart of a growing company: 1) the decision quality is poor and not rigourous; and 2) organizationally it does not promote decision holder’s buy-in.

A few months ago, my friends held an “unconference” for our friends – mostly non-US born but not necessarily – to learn more about the US Pop-Culture in the 80s and Americana culture in general. Being a fan of all things 1980s (fashion excepted), I was ecstatic and decided to combine two of my many joys of the 1980s: Red Dawn and Ronald Reagan.

And voila, here’s the presentation above. Comparing “Red Dawn” with the Cold War political climate of the Reagan era and how it compared to other Cold War influenced movies of the time, mainly Rambo and Rocky IV (with Ivan Drago).

Somehow or another, the Red Dawn slideshow, “American: Red Dawn and the Reagan Era”, made it’s way as a top pick by the editors (making it on the homepage) and chosen as a showcase for the education section.

An alarm is going up amongst tiki-lovers and all those who appreciate San Francisco’s eclectic (hic!) history! The Tonga Room, the much loved tacky tiki bar in the Fairmont Hotel’s basement (California @ Mason in Nob Hill), is at great risk due to its owner’s plan to convert a large portion of the hotel into condominiums.

The plan would replace the existing Fairmont Hotel Tower with a new Residential Tower and in the process convert 226 hotel rooms into 160 condos. The Tonga Room is at the base of the existing tower.

As anyone who has visited the Tonga Room knows, the Tonga Room is a historic 1940s tiki bar, which features it’s very own pond, boat and…yes, rain:

Laughing Squid goes on to describe the history of the Tonga Room

“The Tonga Room is a unique San Francisco icon which has evolved over time with the city and the trends of popular culture. Its origins date to the 1920’s when what would become its centerpiece debuted as an indoor swimming pool called “The Plunge”, which by the 40’s was recast into the S.S. Tonga in the midst of a nautical and Asian-themed restaurant.

So what can we do? Make sure our voices are heard! Let the SF Planning Dept. know.

I’m not sure, but I’ve already sent my letter to the San Francisco Planning Department and I’m sharing the letter with everyone else so you can easily send off an email yourself:

Devyani Jain (Devyani.Jain@sfgov.org):

I have just read a recently posted article on LaughingSquid.com that the famed Tonga Room of the Fairmont maybe at risk under the Fairmont’s condominium development project. I learned that the deadline for feedback is sadly February 20th, but unfortunately I was not aware of this until today and I hope you will be able to include my feedback and the feedback of others San Franciscans in the SF Planning Department.

The Tonga Room is rare jewel of San Francisco and the tiki-bar history. As a lifelong San Franciscan resident, I have been there countless times since a child and well into today. The tiki-bar has been a part of San Francisco since the 1940s and while it has been an era away since the heydays of the tikibars, the Tonga Room remains as unique and eclectic as San Francisco itself. I understand that the Fairmont owns the Tonga Room and is free to make its own plans; however, the Fairmont should not only acknowledge but help preserve their cultural contribution to San Francisco.

While I am not opposed to new development and changes in San Francisco, what I am opposed is the needless destruction of San Francisco’s culture. I believe that the Fairmont management can invest in keeping the Tonga Room for the sake of San Francisco’s cultural heritage that will benefit the San Francisco community at large and the condominium’s future residents.

It is my hope that the San Francisco Planning Department will recognize that the Tonga Room, and other historical and cultural San Francisco institutions, are not only to be preserved but incorporated as integral parts of any development plans.

Thanks,

Daniel Riveong

Enforce Discipline & Process
Discipline is first and foremost. Needless to say, planning is nothing without execution. To help aide this, I need to implement a process of doing a biweekly (once every two weeks) review of my immediate goals and reminding myself of my long term goals.

Writing: Blogging, Self-Reflection, Commentary
Emergence-Media has been a great way to better my writing skills, yet I need to diversify the type of writing I do. Marketing is one thing – commentary, self-reflection, analysis and review are another. Thus, I see a need to diversify the type of writing I do.

Implement Project Streamlining
I had plan as far as five months ago to do at least 6-7 projects in one month.. Of course, I’ve done absolutely nil. I need to forsake my ambition to do them all concurrently and do them one by one.

Create an Information Filter
My Promethean lust for infinite knowledge – such as constant reading of everything from Roubini’s blogs to New York Time’s columns every day – is self-defeating and delusional. I need to go on an information diet and only pursue my “information lust “ hobby on the weekends.

Read a Book a Month
Going along with the “Information Filter”, I need to replace my constant blog reading with actual substantial reading: novels, non-fiction, instructional, classics etc. I’ve got a ten page plus long reading list, which I should focus on rather than constantly refreshing Digg for tid-bits to read.

Less Drinking and More Donations
I’ve always been a sturdy drinker – be it hanging out at the Slav Dom at Stanford, at the Pub at SFSU before class, or livin’ up the “Agency Lifestyle” after work. But honestly, I don’t really need to drink that much or that expensively. So, I’d do four less drinks a month. The cash for those four drinks – say $40 since I mostly do cocktails – will be saved for either an Iraqi charity or for Iraq War veterans.

DJPR, as a personal blog, will be different. It will not be topic based nor will I strive for it to achieve some sort of C-list blogger fame. DJPR.us began as a place for hosting my resume, basic contact information and some of my published papers. And now it’ll act like as an exercise for my general writing by acting as an extension of my academic/professional life.

What does that mean in terms of topics?

Outlining projects, notes on GTDing, book reviews, notes on online classes I’m taking and so on.

So it’s more for myself than for public consumption, but I thought it maybe helpful to have my writings made public. This may change.

And there you have it. Let DJPR’s next incarnation begin!

Location:
San Francisco Bay Area

Interests:
Chess, Emergence, South Park, Kaffeeklatsches, International Affairs, Central Asia/Russia, Food (Seriously), Energy Issues, Interactive Marketing, Russian Literature (In Translation), Social Media, Bourbon

Current Job Title:
Head of Search Marketing Services at e-Storm International, San Francisco Office

Writings:

• Emergence Media
  Interactive marketing blog focused on the interaction of social media and search marketing.
• StrategyUnit
  International affairs focused blog relating to international security issues from energy security to network-based warfare tactics.

Writings have appeared in ad:Tech San Francisco blog, SocialMediaToday and 9RulesNetwork with mentions from Shel Holtz to E-Commerce Times.

Research Experience:

• Central Asian Energy Issues at Nathan Hale Foreign Policy Society
• Wrote on the Sino-Kazakh Pipeline and Kazakhstan’s Foreign Policy Position
• Wrote on viewing Islamic Terrorism as a Network System and a Global Social Movement

Area of Education :
B.A. in International Relations with a concentration in Intelligence and International Security Issues