Day 192

I had never been a fan of economic subject at school. Ask my former high school teacher how many times I had to re-take econ exams just so I could achieve (or rather, "receive") the passing grade. Ok, well, maybe don't ask. Hah. But because I have a favourable judgment of Mr. Gita Wirjawan, I managed to watch his entire talk at Yale School of Management on 'Behavioural Economics: A Perspective from South East Asia' twice. Yes, twice.

As an art-creator and a designerd with insufficient knowledge of GDP, taxes, policy-making, business, market situation, and basically anything with numbers, I have to admit my left brain experienced some "flare up" when trying to comprehend the facts and figures Mr. Wirjawan shared. In my defence, detailed information (unlike big picture) tends to bring out the weakest in this intuitive head. That, or maybe I just wasn't smart enough. Ha-ha.

Another reason why I kind of forced myself to thoroughly listen to this particular lecture is because I wanted to train the left-side of my brain. In the past years, I have grown to be much more of an intuitive feeler and I recognised a need to balance it with some sensing-thinking exercises. Paying attention to factual presentation like this definitely pushed me out of my area of interest.

Regardless of the economic jargons here and there, I took away some substances of Mr. Wirjawan’s lecture (may I receive a certificate from Yale for doing this? He-he). From the notes that I took, I decided to make summaries that mash up my intuition and sensing function. Does it sound feasible?

The first one is an informative report in the form of sketch-note. It contains literal observation and data from the lecture. For me, this is an effective exercise of putting facts and figures (not my own interpretation) into drawings.

Here it is:

The second one contains more of my personal implication—the gist and my highlights of the lecture, in the form of writing. It is an exercise of putting my own inference into words.

Here it is:

From my own observation of the issues Mr. Wirjawan addressed, a good and wise way to problem-solving is by learning and analysing our data—i.e.: compile the essential facts, compare and contrast, make charts, and then come up with a game-change with longterm impact. Many of our leaders today try to solve problems by not doing enough research, but instead making a lot of assumptions and choosing the quick, popular or overused way. Hence, significant changes or progress are not evident.

Secondly, humility is a key for growth and improvement. When asked which story of Indonesia Mr. Wirjawan tends to gravitate to: "Indonesia is a major success story" (feel-good story) or "look at the gap Indonesia has, compared to its neighbours" (not so happy story), he chose the latter. Constant comparison with others is what keeps our toes to the ground, he explained. My own conclusion is, over-nationalistic attitude has a danger of birthing blinded narcissism instead of flourishing robust commitment to keep improving and expanding. Without humility to learn from the neighbouring countries, we are likely to achieve less than we actually can.

Thirdly, and this is what I found most interesting, storytelling is crucial. When Mr. Wirjawan mentioned that standpoint, my eyes grew wider (finally, a subject I am enthusiastic about!) He shared, we ought to tell stories about Indonesia in the right way. Unfortunately, clearly crafted stories have been absent. As a result, there are a lot of misconceptions and not adequate exposure of the actual condition in Indonesia. Given that we're the third biggest democracy and the fourth most populous nation in the world, it is a mockery that the only times we'd make it to CNN were at the time earthquakes or tsunamis struck our country. Though simple it may sound, storytelling can be a door, a bridge, or a gateway to start something remarkable for Indonesia. When used in the right way, storytelling can be an effective tool to communicate and educate more people. Personally, I'd like to make this as my goal and mission in the next few years.

Finally, the last in my observation is: how on earth could Mr. Wirjawan speak like a native English speaker?! That level of fluency and confidence in using non-Bahasa language without speech defect is uber-impressive!

((Mr. Gita Wirjawan, founder of Ancora Group and former trade minister of Indonesia, spoke at Yale SOM on "Behavioral Economics: A Perspective from Southeast Asia.", as part of Yale SOM’s Colloquium on Business and Society. Watch the lecture here))

Looking forward to the day Indonesia elects him as our president. "We are bigger than we think we are!"