It means fast and rapid movements of goods and services, including information and values, across national boundaries beyond the control of national governments.

Information technology and internet are at the heart of globalization.

Globalization is here to stay, whether we like it or not. It can either hurt us or help us, depending on our approach and strategy.

Gap between rich and poor societies use to be 3 times. It then went up to 11 times. With IT, it may soon go up to 70 times.

We use to talk about rich/poor or north/south gap, now we have a new gap in the making-information gap. In a short while from now, it will be much harder for "the poor" to catch up.

Globalization dose not have to mean zero-sum games.

Free competition no longer means the big ones will always win. Now, those with up to date information and effective strategy will win.

Over 80% of internet is in English.

Students here have the advantage.

Thai people in general are at a disadvantage.

Information is key to success but success depends on effective strategy and action as well.

Three keys to success : information, strategy and action. Negotiation skill becomes indispensible.

National security does not only mean military security. Economic security becomes vital.

What is he real meaning of "power"?

"Power" should be seen as the ability to make others do what they would not do otherwise.

Power labels, i.e. super power, major power, large power, medium power and small power, may all be misleading.

One can no longer assume that superpowers will always win over smaller powers. Big corporations will always win over small ones.

Examples : US vs. Vietnam; gun behind the back. In reality, no one has the same amount of power across the board.

The amount of power someone has is not a constant and will change depending on each target.

Power is relational, psychological and tends to be issue specific.

Power is relational means that we have as much power as we are able to convince our specific targets to give us.

Our size, our assets, etc are merely our attributes.

Success in all fields depends on our ability to translate our attributes into actual power.

Much depends on our ability to negotiate.

This includes the ability to link issues, agenda setting, coalition building, packaging of ideas or goods and our presentation abilities.

Emphasize mutual gains.

Whatever one does in life, negotiation is vital to success.

Success depends on our ability to use minds.

The mind is the real source of power.

The possession of good cards in hand will not ensure success.

Success depends on the ability of our minds to use the most updated information that we have and to come up with effective strategies.

Education must mean teaching students how to think in a comprehensive way, solve problems and predict problems.

Education must lay the foundation for students to think effectively, beyond the specific fields of studies.

In globalization, we need digital thinking rather than analogue thinking.

Real winners see opportunities in undertakings, losers see problem.

Don't overly focus on winning battles; just make sure you win the war.

Thai youth (people under 25 years old) makes up 48% of the country's population of over 60 million.

In this age of globalization, there are so many things out there that you can do for yourselves and for your country.

Success in any field means benefits to the doers as well as to the country.

Success is not only measured in money terms. All depends on the fields of your choice.

You will have to think about the future now. You must make globalization work for you.

You must understand the world and the people you will deal with.

You must have up to date information in your field. You must be creative.

You must have effective strategy. You must negotiate well.

Infinite opportunities exist out there and will benefit those who see and use them effectively.

This applies to all fields of interest, in the private as well as the public sectors.

You must be open to new ideas. No one has a monopoly of wisdom.

You should be goal oriented. Don't muddle through. Be willing to abandon the old way when appropriate. Must think out of box.

Many managers still prefer subordinates who are "yes men" or "yes women" -I should say "yes persons". This will hinder success. It is beneficial to hear objective criticism for long term success.

Identify and understand comparative advantage.

Decide whether you would prefer to be an employee or an employer.

Look at SMEs, niche market.

Create brand names.

Look at the national as well as the world arena.

Be willing to initiate ideas.

My example : United Nations Early Warming System and Preventive Diplomacy.

Thailand has suffered so much from lost opportunities.

Thailand always had good cards in hand (geographical location, natural resources, size of country, population, etc.) With the right strategy, we could do much better in the world. The standard of living and the quality of life for everyone in Thailand could be much better.

Examples of Thailand's problems : coordination problem (i.e. digging roads); insufficient attention on the need to prevent problems (i.e. traffic problem); prefer to wait for problem to arise, damage don, then tackle them in piece-meal manner (the muddling through approach); poor planning if any; cut corners to cut initial cost but at great expense for the future (i.e. sacrifice quality - come up with inferior products, hard to compete in quality markets); weak in English; weak in marketing.

We need to re-think and re-do in Thailand.

Globalization is here to stay, whether we like it or not. Whether we are winners or losers depends on us.