從大自然思考組織經營，2之2。讀起來很花力氣，但應該會入選我2019的top 10

<哥吉拉II: 怪獸之王> 要上映之際，分享這個有點應景！

上一部 “哥吉拉”電影出來時，記者打趣地詢問知名科學家的作者有什麼看法？作者一本正經地回答它不可能存在，因為一隻蜥蜴照著比例放大到100公尺高，它等比例的重量是等比例的骨架所無法撐起來的，更遑論在市區走來走去搞破壞！作者的研究指出，每一個物種都有它體積的上限和壽命的上限，而且跟心跳，跟大腦灰質，以及該動物的新陳代謝率都是巧妙地線性相關的。（也就說明了為什麼不會有科幻電影中的突變的巨大昆蟲）

作者是一名物理學家。當學界開始有“廿一世紀是生物學的世紀”的說法時，他非常不服氣。適逢他當時生病，於是開始研究人類的壽命跟各種因素的關聯性，因而發現體積（物理）與壽命（動物的心跳和代謝）的關聯。原來生物的多樣性中，竟然都遵守某些最簡單的定律。而不簡單的，反而是 Complex Adaptive Systems （例如，城市，社群，生態圈，等等），才能隨著環境變異而不斷演變。

我選這本書是因為他試著回答我一直在思考的一個問題：同樣是人為組織，為什麼企業不能像城市一般用續存留？當然，歷史中也有沒落或是消失的城市，但世界上許多大城市都有百年甚至千年的歷史，甚至歷經浩劫都還能存活。作者研究公司的“新陳代謝率“（產出與花費的比例），發現它的線性關係竟然跟動物的比例很類似，也就是說幾乎可以計算出它的“壽命”。但是城市因為更加去中心化，不是top down，更加多元，也不受利潤最大化作為最高原則而得以自由創新，反而得以長久進化以及延續。

這就跟我上一本書提到，從生態環境如何學習永續的秘密：多元，分散管理，保有餘裕（不完全被效率最優化所驅動），以及社群價值。我相信很多聰明的企業家和管理者都清楚這一點，但限於現代的公司法和投資人的預期，似乎很難逃脫被要求一直快速成長並優化效率的命運。（反而少數百年公司，特別是日本或是歐洲的，都是小型組織，專注於某個非常專精的領域，年年獲利平穩而沒有大幅變動。作者指出，隨著各產業必須資訊化，這些公司能否延續下去是個重大考驗）

“Most companies tend to be short sighted, conservative, and not very supportive of innovation or risky ideas.....consequently, they tend towards becoming more and more uni-dimentional. This reduction in diversity coupled with the predicament in which companies sit near a critical point is a classic indicator of reduces resilience"

最後，作者拋出來的議題是，因著城市的特殊組成讓它規模能一直增長，全世界都加速朝著城市化邁進。有趣的是，當通訊技術越來越發達時，理論上人們可以住得更遠，但事實卻是人們越住越集中（都市化），但隨著地球的代謝率也一直提高 （暖化），全球持續都市化的步調能否繼續下去，就很難說了。

這本很不容易寫心得，但我總算擠出來了😂
有興趣的可以看看中文書介紹，有沒有比較清楚！“規模的規律與秘密”

全文與鏈接在部落格中👇👇👇
https://dushuyizhi.net/scale-%e8%a6%8f%e6%a8%a1%e7%9a%84%e8%a6%8f%e5%be%8b%e5%92%8c%e7%a7%98%e5%af%86/

#Scale #規模的規律與秘密 #哥吉拉

People I met on grand adventure (1): the young men who intruded my solo photo
旅途上遇見的人們 (1)：在希瓦和我同框的烏茲別克青年

（中文版寫在英文版後面，閱讀中文者請移駕下方繼續閱讀）

On the fourth day (5/10) of my adventure, around 5pm, I was at Kunya-Ark Citadel, a former Khanate palace in the Uzbek ancient city Khiva. There is an overlook above the citadel. Since it was nearly 40 degree Celsius (above 100 degree Fahrenheit), I hid myself in the shadow of the building for an hour while overlooking the entire city. Meanwhile, some other tourists also came up to take photos. As a solo traveler, I rarely get photos of myself; but in order to have something to share with my family, I asked some locals with gestures to take a photo for me. Surprisingly, while one of them got my phone, and another young man walked over to stand besides me, without hesitation. He had one arm on my shoulders and the other thumb up. Consequently, I expected a solo photo but ended up getting two with locals, which is even better!

The landmark on the right of the photo behind me is the Islam Khoja Minaret. Minaret is a tower where Muslims are called to worship. This minaret was planned to be 70 to 80 meters (210 to 280 feet) high, but the construction stopped at 29 meters (78 feet). The completed part doesn’t really look like a tower, but more like a giant water tank; but even if it were a water tank, it would be the prettiest water tank in the world. Other parts of the city are also filled with Islamic architecture covered by blue tiles. Probably due to their prohibition of images and icons, their gift of art is thoroughly demonstrated in those delicate and appealing tileworks.

I walked around the city for 5 times during the one afternoon and one night I spent there. It was exciting to see such densely populated Islamic architectures, but what excited me even more is the people there. Near the citadel, I ran into a boy who was playing the game of “letting a coin come down on a slope”. Upon seeing me with my DSLR, he picked the coin up to let me take a picture of him with a beautiful smile. In addition, many other kids are playing among buildings made of mud bricks. While taking sunset pictures from the top of the city wall, this scene reminded of my childhood in Hengchun, another idyllic town with a city wall in southern Taiwan, where I had lived for 3 years.

旅行的第4天（5月10日）下午5點，我在烏茲別克古城希瓦（Khiva）西隅的Kunya-Ark Citadel，也就是過去的汗國皇宮，那裡有座遊客可以上去俯瞰全景的瞭望台。當時氣溫接近攝氏40度，我索興躲在瞭望台的陰影中耗了整整一小時，期間許多遊客也上來拍照。那時我想，雖然一個人旅行拍不到什麼照，至少還是要生出幾張照片和家人分享吧？於是鼓起勇氣，比手畫腳請幾位烏茲別克當地人為我拍照。只見他們其中一人接過手機，另一個人則毫不猶豫的站到我身邊，一手搭在我的肩上、另一手豎起大拇指。我本來想要的是一張獨照，結果卻意外的獲得兩張和當地人的合照，比我原本想的更好。看來語言不通有時候還是有些意外的好處的。

照片裡最醒目的是我右後方的宣禮塔Islam Khoja Minaret，是叫喚穆斯林前往禮拜用的高塔。本來應該要到蓋70至80公尺高，卻在29公尺處就停工，留下的未完工部分不像高塔，反而像是個大水槽；但就算它真的是個大水槽，絕對可以被稱為全世界最漂亮的水槽，城裡其他地方也無處不是貼滿了藍綠色磁磚的伊斯蘭式建築。或許是因為伊斯蘭教不允許聖像存在，他們的藝術細胞似乎全部都投注在這些精美細緻的幾何圖案裡了。

在希瓦待了一個下午加一個晚上，把整個城繞了至少5圈。初次見到密度這麼高的伊斯蘭建築固然讓人興奮，但更讓我喜歡的是在這裡生活的人們。在前述的瞭望台附近碰到一個小男孩，反覆的玩著「讓硬幣從斜坡上滾下」的遊戲；一見到我拿著單眼相機，就毫不怕生的拿起硬幣讓我拍照，還很有誠意的附上相當天真的微笑。此外，大部分地區仍然保留著土造建築的面貌，傍晚孩童在街上嬉戲的景象和台灣鄉下所見並無二致，讓我走在城牆上不禁想起曾經居住過三年的屏東縣恆春鎮，一個同樣有著一座古城的小鎮。

貝貝自傳之 成長篇

我是Lydia，在香港出生和長大，有一個妹妹。從小，父母就為我提供最好的學習環境，把我送到國際學校讀小學，由於國際學校以英語教學，所以不論在學校學習、和同學聊天或者在家裏跟父母交談，我都只說英語，於是家人為我聘請補習老師惡補中文，可是沒多大作用。當時媽媽覺得中文很重要，因此在國際學校讀了一年後，便決定為我轉校。
六歲時，我轉到瑪利曼小學就讀小學一年級。國際學校和本地學校的差異很大，在國際學校完全沒有功課，小朋友都在歡樂的環境中度過，但本地學校的教學方式，卻是每一科都有不少功課和測驗。
中三後我去了英國 Malvern College 讀書，那邊是讀 GCSE 課程，相等於香港中學會考。英國與香港的教育方式有很大分別，英國的考試難度真的跟香港無法比擬。我從沒有想過自己會考可以考取到五個A，這對我而言，無疑是一個很大的鼓勵，之後在倫敦大學修讀工啇管理。
我覺得自己很幸運，可以避開香港的中學會考。在香港讀書，考試不及格是家常便飯，但當自己長期考試成績差，便會對自己失去信心，而且對讀書產生討厭。雖然成績只是一個數字、一個字母，但它能夠讓你覺得自己不夠優越，打擊自信心。
每個人都有夢想，我當然有。從小到大，我想當模特兒，想跟她們一樣瘦、一樣美；也想跟電影裏的女明星一樣有好演技。
有一天，我終於下定決心跟家人說：「我想當一個演員，當一個全職藝人。」那一刻家人都覺得很意外，但對於我能夠清晰果斷地道出自己的夢想，她們是感動的，亦全力支持我在演藝圈工作。
在父母的祝福下，我對演藝工作更有信心更起勁，母親更主動地分享了她從前在娛樂圈累積的寶貴經驗，從前不愛聽意見的我，由於找到了自己喜愛的工作，不期然會變得勤力和乖巧。
我知道我的成長過程很舒適，一切都算順利，但獨立對我而言，並不是一件容易的事。香港生活環境和樓價實在太貴，賺錢難，又會入不敷支，相信自己要真正獨立還有一段距離。媽媽亦常常教導我，做人要「鍥而不捨，永不放棄」，而這八個字已成為我的座右銘。
I am Lydia. I was born and raised in Hong Kong. I have a younger sister. Since I was young, my parents provided the best learning environment for me. They sent me to an international primary school. As the medium of instruction for international schools is English, I spoke English while learning in school, chatting with friends and at home with my parents. Consequently, my parents hired a Chinese tutor to give me tuition in the respected language. In spite of that, it was not very effective. My mother, at the time, felt that Chinese was very important. Eventually, after a year of studies in the international school, she decided that I had to switch schools.
When I was six years old, I went to Marymount Primary School to attend primary one. The difference between international schools and local schools is immense. There is no homework in international schools. Children can pass the day immersed in fun. But there are lots of homework and examinations in local schools.
After Form 3, I attended Malvern College in the UK. I took GCSE courses. They equate to the public examinations in Hong Kong. The teaching approach in the UK and Hong Kong is very different. The level of difficulty when it comes to examinations in the UK cannot be compared to those of Hong Kong. I never thought I could get 5As for my GCSEs. In my opinion, it is very encouraging. I later graduated from Business Management from the University of London.
I feel I am very fortunate because I do not need to sit the Hong Kong public examinations. It is a dime in a dozen to fail the Hong Kong public examinations. But when your grades are chronically subpar, you will lose confidence in yourself. You will also begin to hate studying. Although grades are just numbers, they can enable you to feel inferior. It will defeat your self-confidence.
Everyone has a dream. I also have one too. Since I was young, I have wanted to become a model. I also wanted to be slim and beautiful like them. I also wanted to be like female movie stars with good acting skills.
One day, I finally made the decision to tell my family: ‘I want to become an actress. A full-time artist.’ At that moment, my family was quite shocked. But the fact that I can tell them my dream clearly touched them greatly. They fully supported my work in the entertainment industry.
With the blessings from my parents, I became more confident and motivated in my work. My mother shared with me her precious experience regarding, her days in the entertainment industry once upon a time. I used to dislike listening to others’ opinion. But because I have found the line of the work that I enjoy, I subconsciously became more hardworking and obedient.
I understand that my days of growing up are very comfortable. It is mostly smooth sails. But independence seems a far stretch away. The living environment and housing prices are too high as well as, costly in Hong Kong. It is hard to make money. The money you make cannot support your living. I believe that I cannot be fully independent soon. My mother often teach me that I should have ‘perseverance and never give up’. These words became my words to live by.