CLEAR GOVERNMENT THINKING

ef=”http://rightselection.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/clear-government-thinking/” title=”Permanent Link: CLEAR GOVERNMENT THINKING”>CLEAR GOVERNMENT THINKING

Clear thinking is the ‘new Green’

(whatever happened to Black?)

Regularly billed as ‘The world’s leading expert on the brain, memory and

learning’, Government, Educational and Business adviser Tony Buzan has a mind sharper than Sweeney Todd’s razor. You’re never likely to see him suffering from what motor racing drivers (or anybody else looking for an excuse for an inexplicable lapse of concentration or memory) archly refer to as ‘brain fade’. And ‘Senior moment’ excuses are definitely not his thing…

‘Guru of the Grey Matter’

Tony is the author or co-author of over 90 books on the brain, learning and business principles (published in 150 countries, in 33 languages). The inventor of Mind Maps®, he has devoted most of his working life to promoting Mental Literacy – teaching people how to learn and how to use their brains effectively.His diary is packed with meetings, interviews and lectures, yet somehow he finds time to write new books, develop new Mind Map products (downloadable iMindMap software is the latest addition to the roster) – and host the annual World Memory Championships, which he originated and co-founded.Although he lives and works in a quiet part of Buckinghamshire, England, Tony travels for at least eight months of the year, and at last count had visited 73 countries over his working lifetime. And in many of those 73 countries, his mission includes imparting his thinking skills to the men and women whose job it is to govern, to shape their nation’s laws and to guide their people’s development. The results of his endeavours have been truly impressive.The focus of Tony’s work with both government and business is to help increasetheir creativity, innovation skills, and leadership capabilities at all levels, to facilitate communication and to streamline processes. He also gets involved in the management of specific projects, advises on election campaigns, and helps his subjects brush up on their negotiating skills. Plus he delves into the realms of Corporate Memory, Knowledge Management and Intellectual Property.

Educating the educators

Tony recently returned from a six-week lecturing and interview tour of Asia and the Far East. In HCMC, Vietnam, he was invited to brief the Vice Minister of Education on his ways of creative thinking and learning. She has since asked Tony to consider providing input for training manuals which are to be distributed to all the teachers in Vietnam – numbering several millions – thereby training themselves and then educating the children for whom they are responsible.

Mexican Brain Waves

Tony has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the government of Mexico,stretching back to the turn of the century and the election of President Vicente Fox of the PAN (National Action Party). A highlight of his career in Mexico so far was in 2003 – the 5th annual United Nations Conference on Quality and Innovation at the Mexico City Stadium – where Tony was the keynote speaker for the whole event. In addition, each of the other 28 speeches delivered was simultaneously Mind Mapped by a total audience of 10,000 people, led by the Buzan Centre’s Latin America team, headed up by Jorge Castaneda – that’s around 280,000 Mind Maps created over the duration of the conference!

Another highlight was when Tony was honoured to be given the prime keynote slot -addressing an audience of 15,000 – at the Farewell Convention for the outgoingPresident Fox, when he completed his term of office in 2006.

Tony’s teachings and systems were instrumental in helping to structure the election campaign which put Foxe in power in 2001, becoming the first Mexican opposition party President since 1929. Much of the ‘outreach’ campaign was planned with Mind Maps, as were many debates and political arguments. Fox’s victory was decisive (43%). One outcome of Fox’s Buzan-inspired strategy was the development of an operations manual, based largely on Tony’s Mind Mapping and learning techniques,for all senior parliamentarians, ministers and civil servants.Apart from the ex-President himself, one of Tony’s most dedicated Mexican followers is Buzan Licensed Instructor Antonio Obregon Torres, who for many years worked as a senior government official, reporting to the Mayor and Governor of Guanacuato. The Mayor presided over a massive, wide-ranging series of Buzan Learning events, reaching audiences as varied as civil servants, learning professionals, and underprivileged children – publicly supporting Mind Mapping and Mental Literacy. So dedicated was he, that he then qualified as a BLI himself – using Mind Maps to plan his campaign for election to the Mexican Congress. With Mental Literacy in Education as major planks within his programme, he won by an unprecedented majority of well over 70% – thus becoming the first BLI to become a Congressman.

Tony’s ongoing relationship with Mexico is warm and continually expanding. On his last visit he spent time with Sergio Garcia de Alba – the former Minister of the Economy, and now the brains behind the initiative for renovating the number one private University in Mexico, Tecnologico de Monterrey – helping him to evaluate the benefits of a long-term alliance.

Also on that trip, and for the first time ever in the Americas, Tony trained 40 people in Stage One of the new Buzan Learning Certification programme, The Mind Map Foundation Course. He also visited the site of the impressive building in Jalpa that will house the Mexican Centre for Research and Development of Intellectual Capital, which will incorporate a State Buzan Centre. A further return visit, incorporating an itinerary of conference appearances and workshops is planned for the last two weeks of October 2007, when the new Centre will be officially opened by Tony.

Chinese inroads

In China, the government-owned Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press FLTRP, is the publisher of seven of Tony’s books, with more in the pipeline for 2008 and beyond.To back up this initiative Tony regularly speaks, at the invitation of the Chinese government, to large audiences of leading business people. He also gives regular lectures on educational techniques at key learning centres such as Beijing University.

Tastes of the Orient

In Malaysia, Tony has worked closely with former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, a renowned ‘blue sky’ thinker, whose vision was to be a leading first world nation by applying Mental Literacy techniques as a foundation concept. Another big Buzan Learning supporter is former Minister of Transport and current President of UTAR University, Tun Dr. Ling, who is heading up an initiative to introduce Mind Mapping and its applications into future business and educational strategies throughout the country.

Singapore fling

Tony has been equally busy in Singapore, where he leads an initiative with IPAN, the Civil Service branch of the Ministry of Manpower, to train thousands of senior and middle-level civil servants in thinking, creativity, communications and a full range of complementary learning skills. Instrumental to his success – in the city-state and beyond – has been his close relationship with Henry Toi, founder and Managing Director of Buzan Centres Asia – who, under Tony’s direction, has in recent years established Centres in Korea,Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.Tony has also been involved in implementing an ongoing programme, organized jointly with the founder of Buzan Learning Centres Singapore, Dr Tan Buck Chye, to help the nation’s teachers to teach and communicate, using Mind Maps and Buzan Learning literary techniques. Thus far at least 5,000 of the 20,000 teachers

in the country have attended courses, which are always immensely well received.

School’s out…

The pair has also recently commenced a far-reaching, experimental educational concept, The Power Learning Camp, which arranges for children to go, out of school, to the Learning Centre. Here they are tutored, by qualified academic teachers, curriculum subjects such as English, Geography, Chemistry and Physics.

The teachers are all qualified to teach these subjects, and have been furtherqualified by Tony himself and the Buzan Centres, to utilise Buzan techniques throughout.

For instance, the physics teacher who teaches physics with Mind Maps also teaches them how to read faster, how to take notes… and how to translate these notes into essays. This is a major social and educational experience which is proving to be extremely popular with teachers, parents and children alike – and the school is currently overflowing.

Back on home territory

In the UK Tony has, in recent years, been involved with a number of large-scale regional government educational authorities, including a far-reaching programmerfor Bedfordshire Education Council.In Scotland, he is a key member of the Masterclass team operated by North and South Lanarkshire Councils’ The Tapestry Partnership – and has lectured to more than 5,000 head teachers over the past seven years. As part of this initiative, in May this year he lectured to 200 head tearchers at The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on ‘Strategies for the 21st Century’ – an important element of the two councils’ ‘School as the Home for the Mind’ strategy.

For politicians and government officials at all levels, Tony Buzan’s advice andexpertise can be invaluable in education, in strategy and policy development, and in communications; in fact, within any facet of government that involves thinking and the use of the brain. And while it may seem obvious to say so, that really ought to be every part of government – joined up or otherwise! – e n d s – BUZ114BX/2007

ABOUT TONY BUZAN

Tony Buzan - the inventor of the inspirational thinking concept, the Mind Map® – is the world’s foremost writer, broadcaster and lecturer on mentaleffectiveness. He has written over 90 books,achieving massive success in more than 150 countries and in 33 languages; Use Your Head alone has sold over one million copies.

Originator and co-Founder of the World Memory Championships, he is much in demand as an adviser to corporate and government leaders worldwide. In 1994 he was named alongside Mikhail Gorbachev and Henry Kissinger as one of the five greatest international lecturers.

A prominent exponent of Mind Mapping is Bill Gates who, in an article for Newsweek, wrote that ‘intelligent agents and Mind-Mappers are taking our information democracy to the next stage’. A recent edition of Time magazine showed a print-out of a Mind Map prominently displayed in the Nashville home office of Al Gore, where he regularly uses

Mind Map software to ‘order his thoughts’. Over the years, Tony has worked with the governments of Australia, China, Malaysia,Singapore, The Emirates, Bahrain and Mexico. His work with business and corporations has included, among many others: Oracle, Rank Xerox, IBM, HSBC Bank, Irish Management Institute, Hong Kong Institute of Management and many of

The Fortune 1000 companies. Tony Buzan is a familiar celebrity on the broadcast media. His programmes have been heard and seen by billions of people all over the world. In the UK, he continues to appear on numerous TV and Radio programmes for the BBC, ITV, CNN and many digital and satellite channels – and, while lecturing abroad, is constantly invited onto the top high-viewership magazine and business programmes.

Tony is living proof that his theories really work. He is a passionate advocate of healthy eating combined with mind and body exercise to achieve the most out of life, and is often to be seen expertly sculling in the early morning mists on the River Thames. He has also found time to become a prize-winning,published poet.

WE’RE HERE TO HELP YOU!

Visit www.buzanworld.com For more information on any aspect of The Buzan Organisation, for high res.versions of the illustrations included in this release, to organise an EMAIL Q&A,quotes or an INTERVIEW with Tony Buzan…Or for a REVIEW COPY of any of Tony’s latest books:Grass Roots Leaders (£25.00 from Gower Publishing)Age-proof Your Brain (£12.99 from Harper Thorsons)The Study Skills Handbook (£12.99 from BBC Active)please contact:Ms Ray Hodges at HPS-PR Direct Line: 01628 894793E-mail: r.hodges@hpsgroup.co.ukYou can also download (for free trial) Tony’s new iMindMap software(launching this Autumn) by visiting the www.buzanworld.com site