Individuals and organisations are hunkering down to brave this pandemic. Those on the margins of a secure life are clinging on for sheer survival. This is not an easy time to live in. Are we making it more difficult for ourselves? Why is it that we are sheltering in our homes, but feel locked out of Life – its vitality and energy? A sliver of wisdom from Tao te Ching entered my awareness to engage with these questions. We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with being, but non-being is what we use. The pandemic has forced the world into an arrested state of being. The outwardly movement of joining spokes (connecting), of shaping clay ( storing), of hammering wood ( building) is no longer completely available for us. And because we work with…
Organisations in Crisis – The Danger and the Opportunity
In times of grave uncertainty, organisations find themselves in a situation that spells both danger and opportunity. It is dangerous to go into a binary mode- fight or flight, do or not do, decide or not decide, now or never. Gripped by survival anxiety, organisational leaders want to stamp their presence on the proceedings. There is comfort in poring over spreadsheets and calculations and being able to make changes with a few keyboard clicks. They are making changes on the map and the map is not the territory. Where is the opportunity? The opportunity lies in reimagining things anew because you are forced by the turn of circumstances to return to the basics, the fundamentals. When the blueprint is taken off the dusty shelf and revisited on the decision-making table, you find yourself more willing and able to make changes in the very design and workflow of the organisation. A water reservoir in times of severe drought year can go through a complete overhaul because the water levels are so low. A dilapidated bridge on a busy national highway can…
COVID-19 – Where India stands
How do you deal with an invisible hurricane? The COVID-19 pandemic is reaching a tipping point in India, the point where numbers do not need to be interpreted, the picture on the ground speaks the entire story. For the countries who have done a decent job in combating the pandemic, this Financial times extract captures the essence. Early travel restrictions, aggressive testing and screening of contacts and strict quarantine rules have been crucial. Universal healthcare, clear management structures for the public health response and proactive communication to get the population on board have also helped. Lets break it down. Early travel restrictions Aggressive testing Screening of contacts Strict quarantine rules Universal Healthcare Clear management structures for public health response Proactive communication The WHO advice to all countries is “Test, Track, and Trace”. Test for Virus Infection. Track the infected patients movement in recent days. Trace people who interacted with the infected patients. When you trace people, you quarantine or test them. The cycle begins all over again if the people traced test positive. The WHO advice when executed to perfection…
The Fog of War
We and you ought not to pull on the ends of a rope which you have tied the knots of war. Because the more the two of us pull, the tighter the knot will be tied. And then it will be necessary to cut that knot, and what that would mean is not for me to explain to you. – Nikita Khrushchev’s message to John F Kennedy during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis as interpreted by Robert McNamara in ‘The Fog of War’ India and Pakistan sharply tugged on their ends of the rope this last week. And at the time of writing, they still have their hands on it. John F. Kennedy, the US President, knew what cutting the knot meant; what Khrushchev was alluding to. Most ordinary citizens of these countries at the brink of war don’t. And they need to. If only because the war is purportedly fought in their name and the consequences are also for them to bear. Robert McNamara in this spellbinding 2003 documentary – The Fog of War – shares his hard-earned insights…
Winning is not the only thing : Australian Cricket in shambles
Winning is not everything. It is the only thing. – Vince Lombardi The world loves winners and worships the idea of success. When Donald Trump won, there were people who against their better judgment, rationalized that the win made him fit to be the President of the United States, undoubtedly the most powerful leadership position in the world. These folks were not his supporters to begin with. Trump’s win made him legitimate to them. If he won, he must have been right, he is fit and able – so they said. Much the same rationalization seems to have been in place for the Australian cricket team, the team with the best winning percentages in cricket. They win, they must be right. Right in the way they play their cricket tough and go hard at the opposition. Now, after Steve Smith admitted to cheating, there is a sense of disbelief. This sense of disbelief is what needs to be reflected upon, perhaps more than the act of cheating itself. The cheating did not take place in isolation. It transpired against the…
Waking Up before a Crisis : What Every Citizen Can Learn from the Chennai Floods
Chennai is flooded with water. Chennai is also flooded with warmth. People are reaching out and helping each other. A crisis brings us together. Together, there need not be a crisis. If we pull together beforehand, we can prevent a crisis or limit the damage.Provided we think, plan, and do the right things. What are they? One by One. Thinking : Thinking what? A good start would be to clear our minds. Get this : “Nobody ever gets credit for fixing problems that never happened” Would you agree? There is no fame and glory waiting for us. No distractions. Clarity of purpose. We do it for ourselves. Next, ask, ” In what way are we contributing to the problem?” Yes, we must think that! The problem begins in how we perceive our role as citizens in governance.We believe that casting a vote is the only thing to do. Who cares about things going wrong in between elections? We patiently await the next polls. Meanwhile, vested interests continue causing irreversible damage to our habitats. They pass laws and undertake actions, all of them leading to polluting…