A friend once asked Isador I. Rabi, a Nobel Prize winner
in physics, how he became a scientist. Rabi replied that every day after
school his mother would talk to him about his school day. She wasn't so
much interested in what he had learned that day, but she always inquired,
"Did you ask a good question today?"
"Asking good questions," Rabi said,
"made me become a scientist."
-- Source Unknown, quoted from The
World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman.
In his chapter on The Right Stuff, Friedman gives four skill
sets and attitudes that will allow young people to compete in a flat
world -- it's more than just learning Chinese.
1. You will need to develop your ability to learn how to
learn.
2. Your curiosity quotient plus your passion quotient will
be more important than your intelligence quotient (CQ + PQ > IQ)
3. You will need to like people.
4. You will need to develop your right brain (emotional)
skills as well as your left brain (analytical) skills.
And if you want the details of what a "flat world" is,
then read his book.
