Chinese word for crisis does NOT mean "danger and opportunity"

“Weiji” is the Chinese (Mandarin) word for “crisis”. It combines the two syllables “wei” meaning danger or threat, and “ji” meaning, …well, that’s the pit.
“Ji” can have several meanings, depending on the context: machine or engine, aircraft, crucial point, chance, occasion, opportunity or organic. In theory Weiji could mean “dangerpossibility”, but words are not constructed that way.

The meaning of “ji” in this context means something like “incipient moment” or “crucial point” (when something begins or changes). The correct meaning of weiji is ”an important point in time where danger prevails” – a dangerous moment, a time when things start to go awry.

Weiji signifies a perilous situation when one should be especially cautious and NOT a moment when one goes looking for advantages and benefits.

In a crisis everybody wants to save their neck, not go looking for opportunities. It’s deeply human.

The Innovation Journalism Blog: Good Thoughts and Words

Curtis Carlson, President and CEO of SRI International, likes innovation journalism. Basically he says media has an unrecognized, but very important role in "helping communicate the challenges, opportunities and excitement of innovation and entrepreneurship in our time."

About innovation journalism he says: "One bright spot is a program at Stanford University called Innovation Journalism. It is not about innovation in journalism but, rather, it is a journalism program about innovation. The program is led by David Nordfors with the goal of advancing the public debate about this critically important topic. He has assembled journalists and students from many countries to be part of the program, who then become innovation-enlightened journalists at major publications around the world."

He missed that the program was initiated by VINNOVA, The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems.

More here: The Innovation Journalism Blog: Good Thoughts and Words

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