monday musings 280 - the retelling of the heretics

Monday Musings: The retelling of the Heretics!

I am told the original meaning of the word ‘Heretic’ is the one gives an alternative opinion. The current usage of the word implies someone who indulges in sacrilege; the black sheep who is foolish and insensitive enough to question the holy cows (is this phrase still allowed or has it been banned; I guess I will soon find out!)

Words change meaning over a period of time and I am sure there are many such words that current usage is way different from what it was. My all time favourite although is the word ‘cute’ which according to the oxford English dictionary has its origins in the 18^th century for the short form of thw word acute and in its earliest meanings indicated a sense of shrewed or clever; which is clearly not what I have meant, however scarce such opportunities have been for me to use it for another person and hopefully which is not what the person(s) who have used it on me meant. (my self esteem depends upon this assumption)

However the fluidity of the word heretic is of particular significance because the word is in vogue these days. What we eat can make us heretics. In fact every time the waiter rattles off the dishes in a restaurant these days, I am besieged by the nightmare of choosing something utterly delicious but potentially heretic. My only saving grace is that my all time favourite potato is on no one’s list – not yet at least. I think potato is the most secular of food items. It goes with everything else – with all kinds of cuisine. Irrespective of the class, caste, religion or community or even nationality, potato has been revered by all. Is there an honorary title called the national vegetable yet? .

But I am digressing and that too on a very slippery wicket (the subject of food can make me a fodder for a few these days). I began by wondering that the original meaning of the word heretic is one who offers an alternative opinion. There are two place where becoming a heretic is downright NOT recommended – in front of the spouse after you have returned very late on a weekday without information(read that as permission) and two in front of the boss after you have received your annual performance report. You better not be a heretic here i.e. offer an alternative opinion. I reckon it is better to remain pious and be alive than be a heretic and be roasted!!

In the not so old days, heretics were burned – now days they are trolled! Trolling a politer version of burning because burning heretics is still not legal. Lynching them is perfectly acceptable as a few have discovered at the cost of their lives. The speed with which trolling is acquiring the status of a mass art form, we will need to pass laws to regulate it. Imagine a law which says –Not more than 10 people a day can troll any one person with a unique Aadhar number. The 11^th person will have to take permission from ‘Anti – trolling squads’; Or imagine another statue which reads like this – you cannot troll a person with the surname Gandhi more than 180 days a year in the interest of human rights (this particular writer will surely support this statue – my surname which was a matter of pride during schooldays has suddenly become so out of fashion. Sigh!)

See I digressed again – and even more slippery wicket. Let’s stick to Heretics. Why do these so called ‘second opinion givers’ have an opinion to begin with. Isn’t mainstream supposed to have all the answers because they have the collective wisdom of the majority mainstream? I mean if sufficiently large number of people endorse an idea does it not automatically become a breathtakingly brilliant idea? It is like statistics – when sufficiently large data points are collected, errors are normalised. The way to understand this is this – if 1 lakhs idiots propose and support an idea, there is great statistical probability that the idea will get rid of it idioticity (is there such a word?). An even better explanation would be – if a million bulls come together to think, their thinking might ape the levels of humans. I am also recommending that the word ‘’bullshit’’ be treated as compliment hereafter because it has the word bull in it, which is bovine – and in the mood of the times, I think all things bovine are clearly sacred.   

This was the last time I digressed. I think I don’t like the word ‘heretic’. If I keep thinking about what it meant then and what it meant now, and continue to bemoan what has the world come to be, then I may end up searching the meaning of the word ‘lunatic’ – unfortunately which means exactly the same now as it meant then.

Guru

 

Monday musing 279 : Philosophise or Perish

Monday musing 279 : Philosophise or Perish

I have been looking at the world of philosophy a little more closely these past few weeks – yeah, philosophy; the same subject that was by and large so looked down upon by most who guided us in the pursuit of our careers. In fact I haven’t met a child who when asked by elders, arguably the stupidest question ever asked ‘’what do you want to become when you grow up?’’, answers he wants to be a philosopher. An engineer for sure, a plumber may be, but never the darn philosopher.

So what does a philosopher do mostly – I mean what is his job description? Well puritanically speaking his job is ‘to think’. Now imagine about all those who look down upon philosophy at the cost of other fields are basically saying – ‘sorry give me anything else to do but not ask to think’. No wonder we have what we have around. A world full of non thinkers and even worse, a world full those who think that they can think and even worse still, those who think that they can afford not to think!

The argument that is abound is that philosophy is mere theorising and has no action in built into it – which is more critical. ‘Just get the job done’ they say! A good job cannot happen without great thinking, for there is always a transmission loss between thought and action. So imagine a system which has not taught thinking to its children, because it thought philosophy was mere theorising (have you ever studied a subject around thinking in your education?) expects great action from them thereafter! Things can be much worse – a quote says it well – ‘’A society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy; neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water’’

Is there hence a space for a little bit of philosophy in whatever we do – writing codes or jingles, selling soap or oil, singing or playing – could we ‘philosphise’ a bit before jumping into action?  Can we learn to think? Not in the 2-minute noodle type of ‘’learning to think’ but deeply and meaningfully. Aristotle demands that you should be filled with ‘wonder’ before you can do any meaningful work, leave aside thinking. Do we have ‘wonder’ about what we do? Are we amazed ever? Do we want to find out more before we jump to offer opinion or solution? May be time has come to have a dash of philosophy in our lives; in a manner of speaking may be its time to have a bit of ‘thinking’ in our lives!

I can hear the sounds of disapproval. Let me share with you what the philosopher does before you say no. In the words of philosopher Bertrand Russell, this is what philosophising could do - ‘’my desire and wish is that the things I start with should be so obvious that you wonder why I spend my time stating them. This is what I aim because the point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it’’ The idea is to think about the mundane and the common things but in an entirely new way – an ability that is uncommon to say the least.

So here is my two bits to this – I am not a philosopher material and may be this life is too late to do something about it. However that does not and should not stop me from giving thinking better a shot.

I will not let Bertrand Russell’s prophecy deter me – ‘’Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so’’

Guru

Monday Musings 278 - Free Will - is it that free?

Monday Musings 278 - Free Will - is it that free?

A conversation with close friends have strange ways of opening up unknown nuances of a hackaneyed topic. The conversation lingers on even after it has ended - like the 'Zayka' of the 'paan' lingers on even after it is gone. Recently i had one such on the subject of 'choice' - whether We have the freedom of choice, which soon let to the question of if true free choice even exists. The notion of free will exists and its that notion is quite sexy, to borrow a rather inappropriate phrase - i am sure you get the drift. 

The concept of free will has haunted thinkers for long - the notion that we are the architects of our lives and can determine the course of it, if not in a limited sense then certainly in a the larger sense. The Other end of the spectrum is Determinism which claims "that all behavior is caused by preceding factors and is thus predictable" Contrast this with Free will, which is the idea that we are able to have some choice in how we act and assumes that we are free to choose our behavior, in other words we are self determined. 

What is the nature of the world - Deterministic or Self Deterministic is frankly a philosophical debate that still is unresolved. The debate in the Indian subcontinent might be even more complicated because of general tendency to be fatalistic, particularly governed by the 'karmic' notion of things. Let me illustrate it - Just imagine fretting over the current agony of our lives (whatever that is) and wanting to improve it (in whichever way it is possible); On hand believing that if appropriate actions are taken then all problems can be solved - and yet on the other hand listening to the karmic theory that the current problems are/may be result of some old bad karma, in this life or last. If the problem doesn't kill the person, i am sure the dilemma would!! 

I think the notion of free will is very liberating - so whether it is true or not is frankly not the issue. We would like to believe that it is true. The idea that we indeed are the architects of our lives is quite empowering. It makes the pain of the present a little more tolerable. If somehow we come to know that we are not in control of what will happen to our lives, the enormity of the helplessness can be very depressing, if not more. Think about this situation to understand the point. If our current problem is because of a choice which we think we did not really make (say it was dumped on us by well meaning parents or a partner) then we inadvertantly become proponents of free choice; what if we were equally unhappy with the same choice even if we had made it ourselves. Would we be still pro choice with as much vigor? Another way to say this is as follows- is our opinion based on our personal experience or on a certain principle which we hold dear? 

So where are we on this? What do we really believe in? Not the opinions over drinks and coffee table but in the starkness of our own private thoughts - what do we tell ourselves when we are the nadir of our emotional fragility? What is the self talk when it seems that the dark clouds wont ever go, and there is no conceivable way our of the abyss that we are in, when we recognise that the life that we thought we shall have is in no way possible; when the definitions of happiness have to be rebooted, redrafted and we are afraid that if we indeed have to reboot our notion of happiness that we have held dear for so long, we will not be the same person ever again and if that is even worth it? In those moments what is the premise that we base our next moment on - Deterministic or Free Will?

Guru

Monday Musings 276: Year later...

 Monday Musings 276: Year Later..

The good thing about the end of a year is that it happens every year – and that is also the bad thing about it. One gets the annual chance to make it different and meaningful. Many take that chance and many do not.  

 

Last year I had decided to take a tongue in cheek look at this boisterous exercise with a rather short shelf life – called resolutions. I thought I shall revisit all ten of them again and see what happened to them – did they survive the test of the real world or did they perish prematurely, as is their wont! Needless to say, just as they were tongue in cheek a year earlier, the tongue continues to be resolutely and firmly lodged in the cheek. Enjoy!

 

Here they go. 

 

1. I will not suffer fools easily – this has turned out to be trickier than I had thought. I suffered them quite benevolently for I realised that for every one person whom I thought to be a fool and quite unworthy of my indulgences, there were at least two who thought I was a fool too. Since they suffered me in silence, I decided to pass on the favour.

 

2. I will not say yes when I want to say no – This is work in progress, however miles to go. The greater tragedy is those moments when it is assumed to I shall say yes, instead of at least going through the motions of giving me a choice.

 

3. I will not attend get- together’s and parties – I think I did remarkable well on this one given that I was not invited to many.

 

4. I will not eat out – I should have articulated this resolution a little differently; I should have also barred myself from eating out during official lunch/dinners. The whole point was to adopt culinary simplicity and not just on my own account.

 

5. I will not watch TV – I must give myself a pat on my back on this one. I think I can claim with reasonable degree of accuracy that I must not have watched TV (minus of movies) for more than 5 hours in the entire year. I am also happy to report that I have not missed much and feel pretty much on top of my craft and trade.

 

6. I will not advise or try to motivate people – I wish I had known how difficult this will turn out to be. The urge to add ‘value’ is so deep rooted that I am its first unsuspecting victim. I am trying very hard is all I can say. 

 

7. I will not haggle or bargain with the rickshawwallah, vegetable vendor and other people who make a living on the street. – Absolute success. The fact that I stuck to this even during the demonetisation phase must be its absolute litmus test.

 

8. I will stay away from technology – as much as I can. I have been miserable failure on this. The virus has only entrenched itself more.

 

9. I will not fall for brands – refer to the answer in the next point.

10. I will not shop. – I am the most proud of this one. With the notable and very explainable exception of buying a running shoe, I am happy that I did not shop at all – I mean at all!! Not a thread of clothing, electronics, accessory, or any other item of consumption – branded or otherwise. This has been by far the best detox/rehab I have every put myself through. The closets are cleaner and the unused items significantly reduced. There was a moment when I wanted to extend this moratorium on shopping for another year. Thankfully that moment passed.

 

Happy New Year.

 

PS: I learnt a new word yesterday and that to my mind shall be defining word for the purpose of bidding the old year a grateful goodbye while I beging to welcome a brand new one.

 

Misoniesm - hatred, fear, or intolerance of innovation or change. (Do we suffer from it or pretend that we do not suffer from it? I have a full year ahead to answer it.)

 

Guru 

 

Monday Musings 275: Of books and the Characters!

Monday Musings 275: Of books and the Characters!

As I see it, there are only two kinds of problems around reading – one is around whether we like reading or not in the first place; and those who are able to overcome this problem are faced with another herculean one – what to read? There are yet others who remain untouched and unfazed with these two pseudo existential questions – they are clearly the happier lot.

There are all kinds of readers. Let me share a few types that I have bumped into.

1   1. The Imposter: they always carry a book and that is the only thing one can be sure of; that they are carrying a book. Usually the book that they will carry will also be the one which has featured in page3’s recently so that also serves the very purpose of carrying the book. Reading, for this lot is more a status symbol, an act of wannabe intellectual – the same reason why they would not wear just a suit but only an Armani or carry not just a bag but only a Louis Vitton! When you meet them they would play with the book in front of you so that you make it a conversation starter after which they will pontificate on the ‘Half Girlfriend’ (written by you know who!!), which according to them is a great book by a great writer, as if they are outlining the later Pulitzer winner. PS – take your revenge, just ignore the book and refuse to have a conversation around it. It will frustrate them to no end.

2    2. The worm: Irrespective of the title they are reading, which might range from ‘The tapeworms in your bowels’ to the ‘Climate change in Mars’ – they are immersed in it as if they are praying. The book is either close to their faces, in which case they want you to see the book and not their faces or they might be hunched on it, in which case they are the most likely candidates for cervical spondilysis – either ways they clearly are in meditative stupor. The book is larger than their persona. They are also saying the following – ‘Don’t even try to begin a conversation’ and ‘buzz off’. Chances are they have relationship issues with human beings – but that can be highly controversial, isn’t it? 

3   3. The flirt: The name says it all. They flirt with books but as is the wont of all flirts, they suffer from commitment phobias. No book can hold their attention for more than a few pages. All books, according to them, have a problem. Some are too boring, some too long, some have font problems, some have weight problems, and for some that it has no pictures (I love the last one!!).

4    4. The Show off: The show off actually reads the book, less to immerse and enjoy but to let you know that he has actually read the book. All conversation will be veered towards that book irrespective of the moment or the occasion. You will have to politely tolerate the absolute irrelevance of book to the mood. The revenge with the show off is to talk about an even more irrelevant book that you had read 10 years back! 

5   5. The Rebel: The rebel cannot understand how a normal human being can spend so many precious hours of human life so frustratingly tied up with something as inanimate and boring such as a book. The rebel believes that all the books that were supposed to be read have already been read from the KG to the 10^th – everything else is an imperialist hegemony that must be rebelled against. The rebel believes real education happens on the streets and not on the couch. As one writer friend of mine says ‘I don’t read books because they interfere with my imagination’. I have not asked him so far whether his books will interfere in the imagination of others – remember he is a friend after all.

6    6. The Occasional: The occasional reads roughly one book a year and for precisely the same reason why the diehard non vegetarians keeps the navratra fast. Some call it penance; I call it a licence to go non veg for yet another year.

Guru

PS: Some people are genuinely connoisseurs of books – in the truest sense of the word. They are few and far in between. But there is no story in that.

Monday Musings 274: James...but not a Bond!

Monday Musings 274: James...but not a Bond!

I got talking to my Uber driver named James on an early morning drive. My usual conversation starter with Uber/Ola drivers is ‘How long have you been driving and what did you do before joining  the Uber/Ola bandwagon’. Each time there is a different story but this one turned out to be the most enjoyable and inspiring.

The difference between him and others whom I had met so far was clear right from the answer to my first question that came from him – ‘I have four cabs; this one I drive and the other three have been rented to other drivers’. When I let out the cry of surprise, he switched to conversing in English, as if he had sensed that i had made the error of stereotyping him with the classical archetype of Uber drivers. Thereafter it was a fascinating ride, great conversation with a liberal dose of anecdotes.

‘’I am from lucknow and I have done my MBA and have worked in a few banks as frontline seller of banking products growing up to become a territory manager’ he shared with me. I knew I was not with someone ordinary, either in terms of the richness of journey or of grit. ‘Soon I had a house and a flourishing business of solar panels’ he continued.

‘However a business deal gone sour caused the collapse of the business with huge bank overruns. Something radical had to be done to pay off the bank. So with a heavy heart sold the house and paid the banks completely – I did not want my CIBIL ratings to suffer at any cost’.  Here was someone who in his darkest hour was more worried about his credit credibility. I could imagine the surge of confidence that lurked within the man who was down but not out.

‘So we decided to send the son back to lucknow so that both I and my wife could focus on rebuilding our lives. I did not leave my home to be a loser – something must be done to keep moving forward’ (this was said in Hindi and sounded more lyrical and inspiring).

So what are your plans in the future, I ask him. I was frankly not prepared for the answer I got. ‘’I plan to repay the banks the loan on all my taxi and become debt free. Then I want to open an NGO. Do you know that many NGOs are working to clean the Ganga in Kanpur? I want to do something around education. You see, when I worked for myself things did not work quite well, let me now try doing something for others – who knows what the outcome will be’’ (apne liye kaam kiya to nuksaan hua, doosron ke kar ke dekhte hain – the hindi rendition was clearly heartwarming!)

Any regrets, in ask him. ‘Nothing actually. Even when I sold the house I told myself, perhaps that is why the house was built – to bail us out during this crisis. The only thing that pains me is that I had to send my son away from me to tide over this. I miss him’.

‘Give me your card’ he says as we bid each other good bye. ‘I will call you when I open my NGO’. I shoot my parting sentence ‘Can I write about you James?’ He smiled but said nothing as if he did not really cared about being written. He had better and larger things to do.

James was a better Bond than all those in had seen so far.

Guru

Monday Musings 273: Alignment – An alternative narrative

Alignment – An alternative narrative

Softer aspects of leadership have always attracted multiple narratives – most of those narratives have been based on the western world view and have originated from those cradles of thought. I am sure there is great value in any narrative but when we start reposing our faith in only one of them, almost ignoring and hence rejecting the possibility of the relevance of alternative narratives, is when we allow our pursuit of inquiry to become singular and hence incomplete.

Thankfully things are changing – and my book, ‘Kabeer in Korporates’ on which this write up is based, is an addition to the growing tradition of alternative narratives to mainstream subjects.

Leadership alignment is actually a part of the larger issue of alignment in not only all constituents of the organisation but also at all levels of the organisation. The reason I use these two frames separately is because the task of creating aligned workforce is distinct in its nature and prescriptions at the top and at the bottom- and between the top and the bottom of organisations. The dysfunctionalities causing disarray at the top emerge from insecurities and ego, while the dysfunctionalities between the top and the bottom emerge from loss of credibility of the top.

The chaos at the top leading to lack of alignment has many hues – it begins with the struggle for primacy between the functional heads; so the CFO makes the financial goals as the primary goal, or the Sales head making the sales goals as the primary goal or the HR head making Peoples goal as the primary goal. The fissures that get created when these goals vie for primacy soon become fault lines – that get formed at the top but soon trickle down the slope. The task of holding all these goals together into the crucible of a broad spectrum performance mindset is a rather tall ask. The exact opposite risk to this is ‘too much friendship’ at the top – a state where no one challenges each other’s comfort and status quo. Kabeer writes at one instance about all of us being passengers on a boat – a metaphor that the top of organisations must take inspiration from if they would prefer to have alignment in its truest sense amongst themselves.

Kabeer hamara koi naahi, hum kahoo ke nahi,

Paar pahunche naav jyon, milke bichure jahi.

(No one is ours and we are no one to others;

Like passengers on a boat, we shall go our own ways (if we reach our destination)

Everyone shall reach the destination if the boat reaches the destination – no one reaches anywhere if the boat does not reach ashore. The alignment at the top must heed to this wisdom. A fractured top is not only deeply damaging but also hopelessly visible to the rank and file.

The second kind of disarray is between the top and the bottom – irrespective of the function. This usually happens after a prolonged corrosion of credibility. Over a period of time the patterns of leadership behaviour like partiality, inconsistency, self preservation, blame fixing, credit mongering, oscillating and sometimes downright incompetence so on and so forth leads to the bottom of the pyramid completely disillusioned. This lack of alignment is perhaps not even visible to the leadership who remain baffled why all strategic initiatives remain non starters. This is like the wheels of the chariot start questioning the intent of the horses who they are supposed to follow – only in this case the wheels have a mind of their own.

Finally great alignment emerges from authenticity. In organisations we must always remind ourselves of the difference between ‘Enrolment’ and ‘Conscription’ – the former is voluntary while the latter is by force. True alignment is voluntary while we only resist conscription of any kind. There is a greater probability of widespread enrolment if the person espousing the cause is perceived as being genuine an authentic. Unfortunately it is difficult to learn authenticity. The popular narrative of management literature dumbs down all attributes of leadership by presenting it as a ‘ten step guide’ – and consumers of leadership literature start to believe that it can be ‘read and implemented’ in the manner of other capabilities. It is the surest way of killing authenticity in the leader. The rank and file ‘feels like following a leader’ when they know that are getting what they are seeing. The followership and the alignment to the cause is then intuitive and deeply felt. The greatest alignment emerges when there is no difference between the leader and the led. They become one voice. As Kabeer says of the state of complete alignment –

Mai Laaga us ek so, ek bhaya sab mahi

Sab mera main saban ka, tahan doosra nahi

(As I become one with the larger purpose, I become the whole and the whole becomes me)

 

Guru

(First published in the November Issue of 'Peoples Matter' )