Bamboo Innovator

Eiji Toyoda, Creator of Toyota Export Giant, Dies at 100

Eiji Toyoda, Creator of Toyota Export Giant, Dies at 100

GM’s Roger Smith and Eiji Toyoda created their joint venture NUMMI

Eiji Toyoda, who spearheaded Toyota Motor Corp. (7203)’s expansion in the U.S. as the automaker’s longest-serving president, has died. He was 100. Toyoda died at 4:32 a.m. today because of heart failure at the Toyota Memorial Hospital in Toyota City, Japan, Toyota Motor said in a statement. Funeral services will be held for close family members only, it said. During his 57-year career, the younger cousin of Toyota Motor’s founder helped reshape a maker of Chevrolet knockoffs into an automaker whose manufacturing efficiency became the envy of General Motors Corp. (GM) and Ford Motor Co. By the time he stepped down in 1994, the company was assembling Corollas in the U.S., had started the Lexus luxury brand and had initiated a project that would develop the world’s most successful gas-electric vehicle, the Prius. “He played an important role in leading Toyota’s expansion into North America, and in developing the carmaker into a global company,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, said at a press conference in Tokyo. “He was someone who was indispensable to the nation’s entire industry.” Toyoda was a cousin of Kiichiro Toyoda, the founder of the company that bears a slightly altered version of the family’s name. He was one of six presidents to come from the family. Read more of this post

Lantern master’s passion burns bright even after 50 years; “They know it’s not lucrative. My selling price often cannot cover the time and effort used to create the lanterns. But to me, money is secondary. This is my passion, and I hope to do it until i die.”

Lantern master’s passion burns bright even after 50 years

Tuesday, September 17, 2013 – 06:30

Benson Ang, The New Paper

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, most of the lanterns you see in Singapore are imported. But some Singaporeans are still hanging on to the old skills, making, designing and painting traditional Chinese lanterns. Mr Yeo Hung Teo, 75, has been designing and painting Chinese lanterns for about 50 years. He owns Yeo Swee Huat Paper Agency, operating out of a small unit in Toa Payoh Industrial Park. Lanterns, he says in Mandarin, are symbols of identity and status. “Temples, businesses and individuals want them to be hung outside their homes or premises.” Some lanterns are specially commissioned for occasions like the birthdays of deities, funerals and the Hungry Ghost Festival. Made of paper, bamboo and glue, the lanterns are lit with a candle or light bulb. Mr Yeo imports the skeletons of the lanterns from China. He pastes the “skin” over the skeleton and painstakingly hand-paints the lantern with Chinese calligraphy and motifs. The colour of the characters depends on the lantern’s purpose. Most organisations want red characters as the colour represents good luck and fortune. Martial arts organisations might want black characters as the colour symbolises strength, he says. Blue characters are only for funeral lanterns. Each character is painted over at least six times to ensure there are no uneven areas, even when the lantern is lit. Some lanterns also have a decorative drawing – usually of flowers, trees, animals or fruits. To create these designs, Mr Yeo first draws them on the lantern with a ball point pen. He then uses one brush to colour them and another to create textures and effects. He says: “These effects make the objects look more ‘alive’ and beautiful.” He can complete simple designs in two days. More complex ones can take up to a month. The finished lanterns can fetch up to hundreds of dollars, depending on the complexity of their designs. Mr Yeo learnt how to paint lanterns from his father, who set up the business in the 1960s. After two years under his father’s tutelage, Mr Yeo could paint words and simple designs. He learnt more designs during business trips to China and studying the lanterns in temples there. He also sought out other lantern masters – most of whom are now dead – to hone his craft. “After practising for so long, I think my designs have got better.” Sadly, the sun appears to be setting on this art form. His six children, in their 20s to 50s, are not interested in taking over his business.

“They know it’s not lucrative. My selling price often cannot cover the time and effort used to create the lanterns.

“But to me, money is secondary. This is my passion, and I hope to do it until I die.”

Bigmouth strikes again: How Manchester became a model for other British cities

Bigmouth strikes again: How Manchester became a model for other British cities

Sep 14th 2013 | MANCHESTER |From the print edition

MANCHESTER, wrote Benjamin Disraeli in 1844, “is the most wonderful city of modern times”. Mancunians, known for many virtues but not for their modesty, are not shy to repeat it. But they do have a point. Manchester was arguably the first true modern city. Whereas Bristol was built on the slave trade, and Birmingham on the industry of a thousand tiny workshops, Manchester was a city of enormous factories, supplying cotton to the world. Its ruthlessly competitive entrepreneurial culture became the model of Victorian industrial capitalism. Read more of this post

What does Chuseok mean to you?

2013-09-17 15:58

What does Chuseok mean to you?

Jeffrey Miller
This week, Koreans will be celebrating one of their most important and venerated holidays, Chuseok. By the time you are reading this Op-Ed piece, nearly a third of South Korea’s population will either be on their way or getting ready to head to their hometown for ancestral rites and family rituals. However, if you are a foreigner in Korea (and not married to a Korean) the extended holiday has a different meaning in the way that it is celebrated. Indeed, celebrating the holiday has any number of possibilities, from traveling around Korea or overseas (if you were lucky enough to find a ticket) to hunkering down in one’s dwelling and catching up on sleep, movies or work. Fortunately, the country doesn’t “close down” like it used to in the past when you had to stock up on food and videos to get through the holiday. These days there’s always some place open whether it’s a coffee shop or convenience store. Read more of this post

Just as Lee Kuan Yew overcame the Republic’s early challenges by being a “man of action” with an “unwavering and total dedication” to the country, Singaporeans can, and need to, aspire to these qualities

S’poreans need to emulate LKY’s total dedication to country: Heng

SINGAPORE — Just as former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew overcame the Republic’s early challenges by being a “man of action” with an “unwavering and total dedication” to the country, Singaporeans can, and need to, aspire to these qualities as they confront the issues of a “different world” today, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said yesterday.

BY TEO XUANWEI –

5 HOURS 13 MIN AGO

SINGAPORE — Just as former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew overcame the Republic’s early challenges by being a “man of action” with an “unwavering and total dedication” to the country, Singaporeans can, and need to, aspire to these qualities as they confront the issues of a “different world” today, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said yesterday. Making a call for action and unity among Singaporeans at a conference to mark Mr Lee’s 90th birthday, Mr Heng cited these qualities as the “deepest impression” Mr Lee left on him in his time as the founding father’s Principal Private Secretary between 1997 and 2000. Read more of this post

Nature vs. Nurture: New Science Stirs Debate; How Behavior Is Shaped; Who’s an Orchid, Who’s a Dandelion

September 16, 2013, 6:57 p.m. ET

Nature vs. Nurture: New Science Stirs Debate

How Behavior Is Shaped; Who’s an Orchid, Who’s a Dandelion

Researchers are making big strides understanding how genes work with the environment to shape behavior. Jonathan Rockoff and University of Arizona human development professor Bruce Ellis explain on Lunch Break.

JONATHAN D. ROCKOFF

Researchers are making strides in understanding how genes work with the environment to shape behavior, adding a new twist to the age-old debate over whether nature or nurture is mostly responsible for how people develop. They are finding that sensitivity to the environment resides in the biology of the nervous system. And some people, because of their genetic makeup and life experiences, are more sensitive to outside influences than others. Scientists point to a type they call orchids—people who wilt under poor conditions but flourish in supportive climes. Meanwhile, dandelions aren’t much affected by the world around them, whether supportive or harsh. Read more of this post

There is no secret recipe for landing the corner office, but leadership lessons from the former chiefs of Campbell Soup and Schering-Plough have helped many to the top

September 16, 2013, 11:24 a.m. ET

So You Want to Be CEO. Start Here.

There is no secret recipe for landing the corner office, but leadership lessons from the former chiefs of Campbell Soup Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. have helped many to the top.

JOANN S. LUBLIN

Many executives yearn to run a company someday. Few succeed. Doug Conant and Fred Hassan know how to up the odds. The former chief executives have helped numerous protégés make it to CEO. Five lieutenants from Mr. Conant’s decade atop Campbell Soup Co. CPB +0.33%landed the No. 1 job at a public company. They include Sean Connolly at Hillshire Brands Co. HSH +0.69% and Chris Delaney at Goodman Fielder Ltd.GFF.AU +0.27% The same dream job came true for eight associates of Mr. Hassan, a prior chief of Pharmacia Corp. and Schering-Plough Corp. MRK +0.84% Among them: Stephen P. MacMillan at StrykerCorp. SYK +1.01% and Hugh Grant atMonsanto Co. MON +1.46% (A ninth, Brent Saunders, will take the helm ofForest Laboratories Inc. FRX +1.22% on Oct. 1.) There is no secret recipe for landing the corner office. But there are plenty of ways that a strong CEO candidate can veer off track, leadership specialists say. Some fall short after rationalizing missteps by “looking at the world through rose-colored glasses,” Mr. Conant says. Other unsuccessful aspirants typically “lose their humility,” adds Mr. Hassan, who wrote a leadership book – as did Mr. Conant (though with a co-author). Read more of this post

As Education Declines, So Does Civic Culture; A generation of college graduates unable to write or reason bodes ill for liberal democracy

September 16, 2013, 7:14 p.m. ET

As Education Declines, So Does Civic Culture

A generation of college graduates unable to write or reason bodes ill for liberal democracy.

JONATHAN JACOBS

Even as the cost of higher education skyrockets, its benefits are increasingly being called into doubt. We’re familiar with laments from graduates who emerge from college burdened with student loans and wondering if their studies have prepared them for jobs and careers. A less familiar but even more troubling problem is that their education did not prepare them for responsible civic life. The decline in education means a decline in the ability of individuals—and ultimately the nation as a whole—to address political, social and moral matters in effective, considered ways. Read more of this post

When a new chief executive moves into the C-suite, the chances are about one in four the chief financial officer will be out the door within a year

September 17, 2013, 12:50 AM ET

New Bosses Often Clean House

MAXWELL MURPHY

Senior Editor

When a new chief executive moves into the C-suite, the chances are about one in four the chief financial officer will be out the door within a year. Within two years of getting a new boss, about a third of CFOs are gone, according toKorn/Ferry International, which looked at 504 CFO departures since 2010 from 1,000 of the largest companies it tracks. Among the firms with recent high-profile CFO exits: truck and engine maker Navistar International Corp.; grocery chain Supervalu; and closeout retailer Tuesday MorningCorp. Some CFOs who have successfully navigated a CEO transition offer three main tips for survival: Communication is key; identify the new boss’s strengths and weaknesses and compensate for the latter; and don’t be sand in the gears of a new strategy. Read more of this post

Get off the pitch for ideas in the boardroom; Leading a business is not like leading a sports team. In fact, it is much harder

September 16, 2013 4:36 pm

Get off the pitch for ideas in the boardroom

By Andrew Hill

Leading a business is not like leading a sports team. In fact, it is much harder

Howard Wilkinson, former manager of Leeds United, knows about pressure: “No offence to captains of industry but even a FTSE 100 chairman can postpone a board meeting. A manager can’t postpone a football match and every match is a shareholder meeting, [sometimes] in front of 88,000 people.” Mr Wilkinson’s comment also underlines what plenty of corporate executives – dazzled by insights imparted by their sporting idols – tend to forget. Leading a business is not like leading a sports team. In fact, it is much harder. Read more of this post

“To finish a piece of work, an artist [has to know how] to marshal the material [in time for an audience] coming through the door.”

September 15, 2013 1:50 pm

The art of managing artists’ egos

By Emma Jacobs

Yoko Ono has a reputation for being beyond bonkers. But not with Jude Kelly. The artistic director of London’s Southbank Centre, which had Ono curate its annual Meltdown music festival this summer, describes her as “wonderful”. Three times in fact. “A wonderful woman . . . totally untemperamental, completely wonderful . . .Totally wonderful, easy to deal with . . lovely.” Ms Kelly believes the “characterisation of creative people as temperamental” is wrong. Divas are few and far between, she says. However, on the rare occasion she does come across a prima donna (she refuses to name one) she does a quick mental calculation: weighing the quality of their output against the amount of effort involved in managing them. “It’s really annoying but if the end-product is extremely amazing, you deal with it.” Read more of this post

Can Building Great Products Help You Build Great Teams?

Can Building Great Products Help You Build Great Teams?

by Deep Nishar  |   11:00 AM September 16, 2013

Silicon Valley was built on amazing products, not on stellar leadership skills. In fact, veterans of some of the world’s most successful tech companies often look with skepticism, even disdain, on efforts to build strong management skills. The premise is that all energy should be focused solely on turning fabulous ideas into hyper growth. It’s true that if a start-up fails — or is sold — the need for enduring leadership may never arise. And in the earliest stages of a company, the need to organize, motivate and inspire large groups of people to accomplish shared goals may not be obvious. Read more of this post

Panda poop power: Microbes in pandas’ guts can help in biofuel production

Panda poop power: Microbes in pandas’ guts can help in biofuel production

Sep 14th 2013 |From the print edition

GIANT PANDAS are well known for being rather different from other bears. Having a diet composed almost entirely of bamboo is one of the things that sets them apart. It is also what attracted the interest of Ashli Brown of Mississippi State University, in a search for more efficient ways to make biofuel. Most of the nutrients found in bamboo are locked away in tough substances known as cellulose and lignin. Liberating those nutrients is an energy-intensive process that involves high temperatures and extreme pressures when carried out in a laboratory or by an industrial process. Indeed, it is the cost of doing so that makes producing biofuel out of cellulose- and lignin-rich materials, like discarded corn (maize) cobs and husks, less financially viable than generating biofuel directly from more readily digestible corn kernels. The kernels, however, can be used to feed people whereas the cobs and husks cannot. So a process that is able efficiently to turn what is a waste product into fuel could have great potential. Read more of this post

‘Everyday Sadists’ Among Us; Those who enjoying inflicting pain without provocation are not that uncommon, and not complete monsters, suggests a study trying to identify the distinct traits of such “everyday sadism.”

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013, 4:50 PM

‘Everyday Sadists’ Among Us

By JAN HOFFMAN

Try this quick word association: Sadist. And you respond… Hannibal Lecter? The Marquis de Sade? Actually, you didn’t need to come up with representatives of extreme criminal behavior or sexual torture. You might just as well have considered the colleague two cubicles over. The one who spends lunch hour splattering the brains of video game characters. Those who enjoy inflicting at least moderate pain on others, directly or vicariously, mingle with us daily. Think mean girls, taunting a classmate to commit suicide. Or the professor who grills a squirming, clueless student, lips curled in a small, savage smile. Delroy L. Paulhus, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia, calls such people “everyday sadists.” Read more of this post

When a curry puff works – but a croissant doesn’t: When Han Keen Juan acquired Old Chang Kee in 1986, blending the old and the new worked wonders. The company grew rapidly.

When a curry puff works – but a croissant doesn’t

Monday, September 16, 2013 – 15:06

The Business Times

When Han Keen Juan acquired Old Chang Kee in 1986, blending the old and the new worked wonders. The company grew rapidly. So, next, he tried blending cultures, and introduced croissants. They were tantalisingly displayed together with the curry puffs, but did not take off. That was when the company realised that while it was the norm to hold a curry puff and eat it on the go, people preferred to enjoy their French pastry sitting down. Read more of this post