Umm…hmmm

It is a shame that I did not blog before..just lost it. Today, there is a urge to talk and nothing better than to the blog. I have had a wonderful last 15 months or so – I have experienced a lot, ups, downs and sideways as well and loved every bit of it. The biggest plus had been the diverse people whom I met. I miss my friends from NL, some great relationships, interesting conversations, the energy levels and the diversity around!! Though I truly am happy to be in India and seeking to meet new people and try different things.  The change is goed

Ideas, thoughts, concepts have been building up in my mind and contiune too. More I read, listen and converse, they get refined. Often it happens that when there is a very radical idea in your mind, it takes time to shape up and be put in a tangible form – be it words or a figure. That is where it becomes important to be able to express it simply and clearly and on time. 

One of the most powerful concepts is storytelling – how do you narrate your thoughts/ideas, information/knowledge(priceless) and share your passion. And its true for any emotion, any subject, any place and time, with any individual(s) and at all levels. And it so shapes how you think and approach life.. You learn this one thing even more while meeting people with different backgrounds – the way people communicate and think.

I have started to appreciate history, religion and culture a lot, have got to observe and understand the impact they have on our life and the society – the driving force in people’s lives, their approach to any and everything in life, conversations, priorities for different people, struggle and men,women and children.

I have questioned whether people are plain stupid, not because they are but they are programmed by a few to become stupid. Gradually they dont realize that they have been wired to think in a particular way – often the later is given the name of culture. (Read this just mins back – Hofstede: “In the first session of a new student class, I used to write big: CULTURE DOESN’T EXIST. In the same way values don’t exist, dimensions don’t exist. They are constructs, which have to prove their usefulness by their ability to explain and predict behavior. The moment they stop doing that we should be prepared to drop them, or trade them for something better. I never claim that culture is the only thing we should pay attention to. In many practical cases it is redundant, and economic, political or institutional factors provide better explanations. But sometimes they don’t, and then we need the construct of culture”)  There is so much power in people – if only they wish to bring about change and it always starts from oneself.

Another thing that I find very intriguing is  – we behave in a certain way or as I would put it, we are programmed to behave in a certain way – people come up with reasons for it and predict our behaviours which in other ways reinforces what we have been doing or assuming that as our base predicts how it would get worse over generations. Given this information, you plan your stratgies at every level -sadly though not everything being under your control and the fact that people are stupid you get conflicts. With due respect, all management & psychology concepts seem interesting & fascinating but in the end so dumb – brilliant will be one that comes up with a strategy for change which is more robust & sustainable. This would for sure require empowering people. Can the 80-20 rule – 20% of the people around do 80% of the work, the results of which are thrust on the remainder 80% of the junta – be made dynamic or can the ratio be changed significantly?

Thought of the day: It is difficult to get a man to understand something if his salary depends on him not understanding it – professional Wisdom