Aloysius Chan's Blog

Review: Most things in existence can be calculated through mathematics but it is a tool and not a master. This book covers some aspect of data science and how data have brought major milestones to the world. Rated: 8/10 Think of market like a vending machine, you put your coin in today and take it out later. You have to predict the demand and supply of the coin, if many people put in you will have more profit and if too many people take out it the value will be reduced AI can never learn the pattern like a human where a young person touches the flame, get burned and will never touch any hot surface with bare hand again. AI processes differently, instead of relating to pattern, it can test a huge amount of scenario at a single time Write your resume like an AI and you will have higher chance of being picked up but it Cleopening: the staff closes the shop very late for a few hours and reopen it again in the morning Telemarketing employees who are more social is actually more prod...

Review: it covers a very extensive and somewhat related topic that encompass human pattern, easy to read as it segmentise into many small sections. Time to get your hands dirty! Rated: 8.5 / 10 Those who talk should do and only those who do should talk The most intolerant wins - renormalisation group: (e.g.) one fellow in the intransigent group only eat GMO food, her family have to accomodate and in a bbq the other families have to follow to Someone who has been employed for a while is giving you strong evidence of submission The best slave is someone you overpay and who knows it, terrified of losing his status Dynamic stochastic general equilibrium modeling (DSGE) is a method in macroeconomics that attempts to explain economic phenomena, such as economic growth and business cycles, and the effects of economic policy, through econometric models based on applied general equilibrium theory and microeconomic principles Traders, when they make profits, have short communications; w...

Review: Easy read with small sections, not the beginner to finance though. Good strategic asset allocation execution at that time, some fundamentals will never change. Rate: 7.5/10 “We would rather lose half of our clients during a raging bull market than half of our clients’ money during a vicious bear market” Risk is measured as the probability that you won’t meet your financial goal, investing should have the exclusive objective of minimising this risk Expert deliver better forecast by flipping coins The whole is greater than the sum of its parts Plan for the worst but hope for the best Strong early return and weak late return vs. weak early return and strong late return Optimal portfolio parameters: expected volatility, expected correlation, expected returns (Allocation of stocks) x (volatility of stocks) = (allocation to bonds) x (volatility of bonds) Optimisation methods: equal weight, naive risk parity, robust risk parity, mean variance Tactical Alpha is often defin...

Review: this is more of a self-improvement book that covers a huge area on human resource management. Learn from this book on the various factors to scale up when you know you are ready. Rated: 8/10 Scaling mantras Spread a mindset, not just a footprint Engage all senses Link short-term realities to long-term dreams Accelerate accountability Fear the clusterfug (illusion, impatience, incompetence) Scaling requires both addition and subtraction Slow down to scale faster - and better - down the road Create a template in everything you do, it is a little more time but in case you need to do it again, there is already a prototype Stoking the virtuous circle (boosting): name the problem > name the enemy > do it where all can see > breath assumption > create gateway experience and on-ramps > new rituals, better rituals > lean on people who can’t leave well enough alone Cut cognitive load: subtraction as a way of life (e.g. Apple), make people squirm (if you ...

Review: Don’t be mistaken by its title - it is actually a book on venture capitalise. Good flow and thorough information with good example, to be a good VC or know what a VC want, you must read this book. Rated: 9/10 Different strategy to apply to companies that are way too ahead of their time Typical VC returns: 50% lose money, 20%-30% make a bit to a few fold, 10% - 20% make hundreds of times VC look out for: people and team, product, market size LP: limited partner (funder); GP: general partner (manager) LP can come from university endowments, foundations, corporate and state pension funds, family offices, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, funds of funds LP invest in growth assets, inflation hedges, deflationary hedges Valuation marks: last round valuation/waterfall (equity %). comparable company analysis (benchmark other companies), option pricing model (Black-Scholes option; different listing price) GP-LP relationship basis: investment domain, best ideas, I w...

Review: detailed and identified many interesting angles of persuasion. A little unorganised though. Rated: 8.5/10 Queueing example: too little money = unattractive, just nice = give you overtake, too much people will show empathy and give up automatically You can sound sweet and still push your way through  Sex sells, but selectively and shouldn’t be done blindly Sexual and threatening stimuli are often compelling Winner images incite winning People with common points leads to heightened co-operations Roads to change: reciprocation, meaningful and unexpected, (e.g. tipping the waitress), liking, compliments, social proofs, feasibility, authority, trustworthiness, scarcity, consistency Bossification You: boss you have a great idea to… Boss: don’t remember You: Need budget for approval but not a problem for you Boss: Obviously will fund my idea You: Delay my other projects and put them to lower priority Boss: Don’t remember You: But is was wise of you Malfeasanc...

Review: Besides having all facts, statistics and consequences of too many meetings, it also talks about how to conduct effective meetings when they have to. Rated: 8.5/10 Half of the content is not relevant, 20% of the participants should not be there, 40% of meeting time sharing information that can be delivered outside, meeting often failed to deliver Managerials and professionals spent 2 days per week in meeting, an organisation collectively spend 15% of their time in meeting, and only half of the content is relevant and necessary to do their jobs Cost consequences: salary costs of attendees, salary costs of preparation and travel expenses involved in running the meeting; indirect costs: lost productivity, too much internal focus, delays to delivery, slow decision-making ineffective collaboration, people hate it Creating bad culture; too much information and too many people = slow consensus and heavily rely on face-to-face Attend meetings only when: your expertise is needed, ...

Review: Should be more on how to jump forward in term of breakthrough, but more on sustaining and handling the situation on different phases. Still is important as if you cannot solidify you will build a weak foundation. Rated: 7.5/10 Surprises can be good or bad, better than conventional avoid, minimise, prevent or reduce words when it comes to taking a huge leap DuPont achieve breakthrough by cutting down the costs to legal agencies Housing Works become popular because they are like Salvation Army but only accept high end goods Four Seasons use web discount to attract customers to view their heritage and built global brand A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it - John Steinbeck Leapfrogging life cycle: sparks of surprise (listen) > engaged exploration (explore) > tangible focus (act) > fear & doubt (failure zone, persist) > market surprise (seize) > breakthrough Breakthrough starts from yourself, a compelling or...

Review: a very update book on the current situation between US and China, things may change and information may be renewed but it will serves as a very good history and insights between Trump and China. Rated: 7.5 / 10 China won US in term of quantum satellite, trade, railway and 5G 2013 China launch Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and it was a huge success Obama signed the new anti-propaganda act that will create momentum that may be hard to control and this handicapped Trump Online poll shows Chinese like Trump, at least he did not use physical threat like Obama to threaten China and China does not trust Hillary Clinton Trump regard Taiwan as China and he regard the one-China policy 2017 Trump ordered a missile strike in Syria as Syrian was using Sarin gas US leaders thought countries are blocking US import and therefore decided to rock the boat Market Leninism - where IS media and academe assailed (violently attack) China’s economy system China’s aircraft carr...

Review: Using many examples and experiences from the military, this book defined how battlefield is like in the business-field - as accordance to Sun Tze. To launch an attack to the market or competition, you need to face it like a life and death situation, then you will achieve the desired result. Rated 7.5/10. Credibility = proven competence + integrity + relationship A manager’s principal task is not production but coordination Snowden & Boone’s Cynefin model: (predictable & ordered environment) obvious > complicated > (unpredictable & disordered environment) complex > chaotic Cephalopod: removed a tentacle and it will still bring food to it’s ex-host A senior role does not need to be told and will recognise those needs and resources even before any planner told him so Strategic, operational and tactical will be at its peak when it have achieved shared consciousness Edmund Burkes: “when bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one...

Review: this is a book for you to achieve breakthrough, if you are not already doing something you may not fully benefit from the essence of this. When you are puzzle why many things you do doesn't matter, try create space for each area. Rated 8/10 Space is vital for deeper self-insight and sense of purpose, better strategic and creative thinking, richer relationship, delivering what really matters - therefore you can’t deliver your best or really grow as a leader unless you first create space  4 Overarching dimensions: space to think (intellectual and psychic freedom) / connect (emotional capacity) / do (prioritising) / be (step back and reflect) To think, create space to reflect > learn > decide Balancing between intuition, reflection, analysis, action Reflecting cycle: 1. What is going to happen? > 2. What do I think about this? > 3. How do I feel about this? > 4. What could happen instead? > 5. What has happened? > Back to 2. Reflective practice: t...

Review: This book went through all important aspects on building a successful business literally from 0 to 1. You can have your expansion plan or big time ambition to reach 100, however if you cannot get from 0 to 1, it means nothing. Rated: 9 / 10 Question received ideas and rethink business from scratch Dot-com crash lessons: make incremental advances, stay lean and flexible, improve on the competition, focus on product and not sales Opposite principles: it is better to risk boldness than triviality, a bad plan is better than no plan, competitive markets destroy profits, sales matters just as much as product Creative monopoly means new products that benefits everybody and sustainable profits for the creator Monopoly: proprietary technology, network effects, economy of scale, branding To succeed, you must study the endgame before anything else Success is never accidental Definite optimistic: Hegel, Marx / indefinite optimistic: Nozick, Rawls / pessimistic definite: Plato, Ari...

New AIDA: Initial consideration set > active evaluation (information gathering, shopping) [or loyalty loop] > moment of purchase > post purchase experience (ongoing exposure) New digital economy Web business model Merchant and brokerage model Community model Infomediary model Affiliate model Advertising model Manufacturer’s direct model Subscription model Utility model Freemium model Economic value (EV): market value versus book value Opportunity cost Sunk cost Depreciation expenses Allocated expenses Sales of assets Financial tips Initial and successive outlays to meet working capital Liquidation during time limit Ignore sunk cost as they are already paid Do not confuse past and future cash flow Be systematic when analysing cash flow WACC: weighted average cost of capital (operational risk) FCF: free cash flow (financial risk) Innovations: continuity > breakthrough innovation (high market development) > incremental innovation (high tech...

Review: Interesting history of how scientist debunk or agrees and further enforces each others' theories. Many of them know each other in fact. Not an encyclopaedia, a good enough material to keep the research going if you want to know more about the history. Rated: 7.5/10 Andromeda: nebule, blue shift (move closer); red shift (move away) Interspersed: scatter among or between other things Kaluza-Klein theory: a classical unified field theory of gravitation and electromagnetism built around the idea of a fifth dimension beyond the usual for of space and time and considered an important precursor to string theory Fermat’s Last Theorem: no 3 positive integers a, b and c satisfy the equation a^n + b^n = c^n for any integer value of n greater than 2 Particles in the universe: fermions (made up most stuff) & bosons (particles that carry the forces of nature) Pauli exclusion principle: no two fermions can occupy the same physical state 2nd law of thermodynamics states that ...

Review: Includes the latest trend of sales with the in depth customer’s latest requirement. Sales eventually is about a system and coaching and handing over. This book exhibited angles that new era sales are suppose to have in a detailed way. Rate: 8/10 Macro force of chance: digital first, disruption and consumption, emerging middle class, increased urbanisation, productivity and the ageing workforce, invisible sector boundaries Sales micro level: more buyers involved, increasingly formalised process, political and business-driven decisions, evolving buyer expectations and needs, longer sales cycle Relationship level: approved vendor > preferred supplier > solutions consultant > strategic contributor > trusted partner Process level: random (no process) > informal (with process but no one follows) > formal (enforced process) > dynamic (process adaptability) Companies with high relationship and dynamic process performs better Sales force enablement: A st...

Review: They have gone through many different companies and stringent criteria to know what is great. The elements are exactly what you need to build a great company, not so much for startup and right down to established corporates, still it is good practice for startup to shape the culture though. Rated: 9.5 / 10 Good is the enemy of great Ten of eleven good-to-great CEOs came from inside the company Level 5 leadership Lv 1: highly capable individual > lv 2: contributing team member > lv 3: competent manager > lv 4: effective leader > lv 5: executive Modest + willful + humble + fearless They want to see the company even more successful in the next generation, comfortable with the idea that most people won’t even know that the roots of that success trace back to their effort Creates superb results, unwavering resolve to do whatever must be done, settle for nothing less, looks in the mirror and not outside, compelling modesty, determination and not charisma, channe...

A record of the last 5 great kings. Many ancient references and words not so widely used now; wisdom come from all different aspects and not possible to achieve without Internet nowadays. Understand through all the books to have a deeper meditation state. Rated: 9.5/10 Book 1 Paroxysms: sudden attack Be grateful Sordid: dirty or squalid (extremely dirty) Philosophy conduct of a man Book 2 Existence Book 3 Don’t waste life into meaningless things, life is slowly moving to the end Physicians always have their instruments and knives ready for cases which suddenly require their skill Pure, tranquil, ready to depart Book 4 Our perturbations come only from the opinion which is within  Harmonise Book 5 Do good without returns Parallel universe is formed from someone attained enlightenment, we are living on other’s world Book 6 The best way of avening thyself is not to become like the wrongdoer Coming of Christ may be just release of “the for...

Cyber & drone war Water will run out Chinese yuan become world’s currency Resource depletion Thorium reactor (abundance) Synthetic biology Open-ocean aquaculture & vertical farming Uneven population distribution Artificial forest, cloud whitening & space mirror Personal energy harvester Pressure-driven rubbish pipes Solar-powered planes Every tree has its own IP, disconnecting from the network become illegal, data isn't worth much Internet in body, memory boost, share thoughts and dreams Personal manufacturing unit (PMU) & eradication of diseases through nanotech Real life gamification AI surpasses human & demand equal rights Upperclass DNA by personalised genomics Regenerative medicine (regrow body parts) Wearables to monitor health including depression Too many singles Dematerialisation remove schools & libraries Rich get a lot richer and emerge of trillionaire Most people will work for themselves (elimination of jobs) Search for ...

Performance gap = talent gap + technology gap + strategy gap Marketing professional Analytical Creative Intrinsically motivated Attentive Social-web savvy Strategic Tech-savvy Collaborative Core technology snapshot Analytics Call tracking Content management system (CMS) Customer experience management (CEM) Customer relationship management (CRM) Email marketing Internal social networks Marketing automation Project management Search engine optimisation (SEO) Social media Marketing score model Business core Marketing core Audiences Marketing team strength Marketing technology utilisation Marketing performance Social media marketing Lead sources Public relations Content marketing Business cores Community involvement Corporate culture Customer service External communications Financial stability Innovation Internal communications Market share Marketing team Pricing strategy Product/service quality Sales staff Tolerance for risk Vision ...

Very good depiction on how the banks ruin the economy. Unforrunately not anything about the real alchemy, but as profound and hidden as alchemy sounds, so does the financial market. Rated 8.5/10 Disequilibrium - the absence of a state of balance between the forces acting on a system Radical uncertainty - uncertainty so profound that it is impossible to represent the future in terms of a knowable and exhaustive list of outcomes to which we can attach probabilities Prisoner’s dilemma - difficulty of achieving the best outcome when there are obstacles to coopration Bob Hope: “Bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove you don’t need it” Central banks could replace lost deposits by providing official loans to a bank experiencing a run Risk premium - the rate of return required by investors over and above the return on safe government debt of the same maturity Oligopoly - a state of limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or s...

An Explanation of the three irregular steps in the first degree of Freemasonry To understand the significance and meaning of the three irregular steps in the first degree we need to set the scene. Consider the following points and see if you agree that they will cause any man to be anxious, concerned and fearful to some extent: The Candidate knows that he is about to endue a rite of passage into a society of men he really wants to join. He knows nothing of what is about to happen. He is probably feeling humiliation at being in a state of semi-undress. He cannot see because of the blind-fold. He is probably having grave doubts about the whole experience but having come this far is unwilling to back out – although it has been known and some do. He hears the knock and the doors open and he hears the voices of people inside the Lodge. The doors close and he is still outside feeling confused. The doors open again and he is now taken by the hand and lead over the Thresh-hold. At thi...

EA - Enter Apprentice FC - Fellow Craft MM - Master Mason WM - Worshipful Master AUDI VIDE TACE - Hear See Silent (Contemplation, to employ and instruct) Freemason is a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. Peculiar - unique Morality - actions Allegory - parables / fables Symbols - an idea To shape us into perfect ashlar (polished stone) Reading a bible in several ways: literal / allegorical / moral / spiritual 7 Lights Lesser lights - Sun (junior warden; beauty) / moon (senior warden; spirit) / master of the lodge (worshipful master; wisdom) Greater lights - Physical light / volume of the sacred law (light from above) / square (light from within) / compasses (light from without; shining upon others) Royal societies formed around 1500s, an oldest scientist group Questions Why is there structured learning, where are they leading us to? Is FM preparing a certain group of people? Is it a continuation of the New ...