Perhaps Anna is being obstinate, undemocratic and a brat. Arguably he isn’t letting Parliamentary democracy function. He will fast indefinitely until he gets his way and the Jan Lokpal draft is accepted.. He will not take recourse to law and go to the courts to change the Delhi Police’s stipulations. Perhaps Anna has some skeletons in the cupboard, allegedly team Anna have some dubious source of funding. There is also an allegation about misuse of money from his NGO. Clearly he is not a Jaiprakash Narayan, far from being a Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Most, even today, don’t know his antecedents or his claim to fame. To his advantage he looks a Gandhian and is willing to fight the system. He sports a white cap which is great branding and makes for great imagery . No wonder there are war cries about the “second freedom struggle”. There may be a lot that is not perfect about Anna. And certainly wasn’t about Baba Ramdev. But who cares?
This outcry and the outpouring isn’t about Anna, nor for Anna. People aren’t reacting the way they are because of goodwill and care for Anna. His past and bio are largely irrelevant, as long as he is largely clean ( which it seems is the case, and has been a social worker). This anger and rage is directed towards the Government machinery and governmental machinations in general and an outpouring thats especially directed against the current Congress one. This outrage is against Governments who don’t care, are corrupt and are arrogant. And more so ones that don’t care that they are corrupt and arrogant.
L’affaire Anna makes for fascinating study , and meaningful participation Clearly and without any doubt or debate its meaningful, relevant and much needed “movement” It is fascinating from two perspectives- one, its interesting to see how how social epidemics get precipitated, become viral and spread uncontrollably and usually without any central coordination. The second facet is to see how things pan out when lawyers , using laywer tactics go horribly wrong when it comes to civil society, public good and good governance, which is quite a bit like good parenting.
Good governments as do effective Parents .guide and shape, are honest, firm, principle based, punish, but above all are loving and caring entities. When governments have that energy and similar attributes they tend to succeed and do better. Imagine what would happen if Parents dealt with family issues as would lawyers in a court of law. Well that would be disastrous and that’s what is happening out there. You don’t deal with issues centred around national good using lawyer tactics. ( which by the way is no disrespect for lawyers and what they do and are supposed to do and admirably do in court.)
Currently the Government is using all the lawyer tactics it is so well equipped with. Interestingly all the others have come along with lawyers as well! The first lawyer tactic is to discredit the adversary. Use any and all means possible to grind their character and hence their credibility to dust. Witness whats happening in the French supremo DSK against the maid rape case. There is as much talk about the maids past as is about the crime that was committed. The second tactic is to intimidate...let the adversary know that there is a huge cost to fighting. Most people back off because of the above two tactics. But there are more. The third tactic that lawyers use is to harp on technicalities..and win on technicalities . The letter and not the spirit is what counts. In the Anna one no matter how many legalities and section 144 arguments that the Congress throws, no one is buying. The common man and society dispense judgement its own unique ways. Tactic number four is to obfuscate...witness all the “lawyer” debates on national television....and one sees some grand obfuscation with wonderful language, grandiose statements which are contentless, trivialisations and deflections, exaggerations and insinuations, shameless inexactitude and downright expediency. Lawyers also like to cut deals in private, with the same adversary that they so vehemently oppose in public. Its never about the principles, its about getting the job done. Sometimes when they meet a Ramdev who does a volte face, it leaves egg on the face.
The Government is going to have to alter their approach, which they probably will shortly.
How do we contribute, support?
Would love to have your views.....
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
I liked ZNMD for the same reasons that I liked Life is Beautiful. I like movies that celebrate life.
ZNMD, is about our free spirit that often and tragically remains boxed in most of us, for most of our lives.
Alas, how many will live in the Now, be aware of one’s every breath and know how precious every breath really is- to be alive and to just be.
"keh raheen hai bas ek tum ho yahan,
bas main hoon,
meri saansein hain aur meri dhadkanein,
aisi gehraiyaan, aisi tanhaiyaan,
aur main... sirf main.
Apne hone par mujhko yakeen aa gaya."
Hritik begins to know this many meters below underwater, first scared then liberated. The dive made the man cry.
How many will know what its to fly like a bird, to leave below and leave behind the angst of the past. Liberated as Farhan then feels. The flight made the man scream with joy.
Or be like the woman who rides a motorbike miles to just kiss someone, only to return to her own freedom, and leave him to his? Katrina is liberated and liberating.
If I didn’t know that the prime-movers of the film include people such as Javed, Zoya and Farhan Akhtar, I would have dismissed my interpretations and delight as misplaced. Currently I am waiting to see the film dobara, to explore and discover more through the denouement of the plot and poetry of one of the protagonists. Below the thin but lovely sheen of glamour, glitz and kitsch that they have dished out which the Junta is loving, is Spain and the breeziness of the movie thats seductive...Beneath all that there is some chicken soup for the soul. Many may disagree...but as in Life, as for a movie, its what you take from it. Its personal.
Some have commented that the films meanders around, if not aimlessly but rather leisurely before its gets to its destination. Perhaps a more than apt parallel and comment on life. Shouldnt it always be about the journey? The film has been criticized for the many and somewhat long silent moments that punctuate the narrative. To me that is life, and at the end of the journey called ZNMD its creditworthy that we look back remembering the film as breezy and fluid. The beauty is the film is neither preachy nor melodramatic. Its new but it goes down smoothly!
The ending is abrupt to some and to others, a great stroke, as lovely as the film. To me the metaphor of the “bulls” that constantly chase us now and then in life, and how fear, fright and flight give way to a smile and a frozen frame is fantastic. Death we all know allows us to be born again. Near death experiences do the same. Now how does one consciously go about embracing near death experiences?
We all want to jump, dive, kiss, fly.
"Kyun tu aise pal khota hai
Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai"
Time to chage seats to sitting in Lifes aisle seat?
ZNMD, is about our free spirit that often and tragically remains boxed in most of us, for most of our lives.
Alas, how many will live in the Now, be aware of one’s every breath and know how precious every breath really is- to be alive and to just be.
"keh raheen hai bas ek tum ho yahan,
bas main hoon,
meri saansein hain aur meri dhadkanein,
aisi gehraiyaan, aisi tanhaiyaan,
aur main... sirf main.
Apne hone par mujhko yakeen aa gaya."
Hritik begins to know this many meters below underwater, first scared then liberated. The dive made the man cry.
How many will know what its to fly like a bird, to leave below and leave behind the angst of the past. Liberated as Farhan then feels. The flight made the man scream with joy.
Or be like the woman who rides a motorbike miles to just kiss someone, only to return to her own freedom, and leave him to his? Katrina is liberated and liberating.
If I didn’t know that the prime-movers of the film include people such as Javed, Zoya and Farhan Akhtar, I would have dismissed my interpretations and delight as misplaced. Currently I am waiting to see the film dobara, to explore and discover more through the denouement of the plot and poetry of one of the protagonists. Below the thin but lovely sheen of glamour, glitz and kitsch that they have dished out which the Junta is loving, is Spain and the breeziness of the movie thats seductive...Beneath all that there is some chicken soup for the soul. Many may disagree...but as in Life, as for a movie, its what you take from it. Its personal.
Some have commented that the films meanders around, if not aimlessly but rather leisurely before its gets to its destination. Perhaps a more than apt parallel and comment on life. Shouldnt it always be about the journey? The film has been criticized for the many and somewhat long silent moments that punctuate the narrative. To me that is life, and at the end of the journey called ZNMD its creditworthy that we look back remembering the film as breezy and fluid. The beauty is the film is neither preachy nor melodramatic. Its new but it goes down smoothly!
The ending is abrupt to some and to others, a great stroke, as lovely as the film. To me the metaphor of the “bulls” that constantly chase us now and then in life, and how fear, fright and flight give way to a smile and a frozen frame is fantastic. Death we all know allows us to be born again. Near death experiences do the same. Now how does one consciously go about embracing near death experiences?
We all want to jump, dive, kiss, fly.
"Kyun tu aise pal khota hai
Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai"
Time to chage seats to sitting in Lifes aisle seat?
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Life is Beautiful
Those who havent seen Life is Beautiful...see it plese. Its one of my all time favs. I bought a dvd many years ago in USA, waited six months for the perfect day and mood and saw the movie alone. I fondly remember that day.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Great leaders don’t settle for 'OR'. They want and get 'And'
Leaders in organisations are required to make decisions all the time. Superior performance at the organisation/team/individual level does not require being correct all the time, which is impossible, rather managing a "good batting average." Good decision making is rooted in the analysis of data, the creation of models and meta models on the computer and in the mind (intuition and abstractions), embracing ambiguity (making good assumptions), getting experience to talk (having experts on the team) and some risk taking . It's a wonder, given the complexity of the Universe and the limitations of tools and techniques, that leaders not only make great decisions but are able to make them at all! Alas, the human brain is wired to do extra-ordinary things.
Leaders are typically confronted with choices where they must choose/decide between options/features/attributes seemingly available. Good Leaders are able to choose the seemingly correct choice when confronted with an "X or Y" situation. Great leaders, however, are able to turn the "X or Y" into an "X and Y" scenario.
I have observed, some have researched, that most people's brains are wired for 'or', and only a minority for 'and'. Through childhood, school, college and in jobs, we are conditioned to decision trees where we must give up something to get something. We must choose one. We lost, along the way, our ability to demand both (and all three, all four...) and the ability to find the ways to have the cake and eat it too. Great leaders, however, are able to. They want both. Theirs is, what I call the – 'And Brain'.
The 'Or Brain' chooses. The Or Brain's paradigm is one of 'or'- profits or market-share, relationship- based or task-based, long term or the short term, big picture or details oriented, being passionate or being dispassionate, empowerment or controls, flat structure or hierarchy or stable organisations. To be or not to be is the quintessential dilemma.
The 'And Brain', however, keeps two seemly opposite ideas simultaneously in the brain and not be dysfunctional. The And Brain is able to address the contradictions. Infact, it uses the tension between the contradictions for creative solutions. The And Brain can co-exist both…passion and dispassion, confidence and humility, big picture and detail, relationship and task, technology orientation and business acumen…seemingly "opposing" forces or facets which are easily reconciled.
Jim Collins ("Good to Great") calls it the "tyranny of Or versus the power of And". Recently, in the Harvard Business Review in an article titled "How Successful Leaders Think" by Roger Martin, this phenomenon was articulated. The article pointed out "that humans, unlike animals, have an opposable thumb, wherein the fingers and the thumb oppose each other, thereby allowing humans to do what animals are unable to." It was noticed that successful leaders exhibited an opposable mind. They have the predisposition to hold two opposing ideas in their heads at the same time. And then, without settling for one alternative or the other, they are able to creatively resolve the tension between those two ideas by generating a new one that has elements of both. This process of consideration and synthesis is called "Integrative thinking."
I find it possible to try and get people in organisations flirt with this concept and then get pleasantly surprised with the outcomes. It takes thinking, persistence and faith. The reactions change over time. At first, when asked to accomplish both objectives, peoples' initial reactions are "Boss wants more, he is unreasonable, doesn't he understand, what's new..." Over time, leaders show people the innovative solutions which resolve the inherent contradictions and achieve dual goals. People begin to become believers. Over time with continued success at finding these solutions they start to get converted to this powerful paradigm. Huge opportunities open up, massive resources are saved, extraordinary results manifest and a certain confidence emerges. Soon they too become 'unreasonable' themselves, realising that being reasonable allows one to do only reasonably well!
Welcome to the unreasonable world of And.
Leaders are typically confronted with choices where they must choose/decide between options/features/attributes seemingly available. Good Leaders are able to choose the seemingly correct choice when confronted with an "X or Y" situation. Great leaders, however, are able to turn the "X or Y" into an "X and Y" scenario.
I have observed, some have researched, that most people's brains are wired for 'or', and only a minority for 'and'. Through childhood, school, college and in jobs, we are conditioned to decision trees where we must give up something to get something. We must choose one. We lost, along the way, our ability to demand both (and all three, all four...) and the ability to find the ways to have the cake and eat it too. Great leaders, however, are able to. They want both. Theirs is, what I call the – 'And Brain'.
The 'Or Brain' chooses. The Or Brain's paradigm is one of 'or'- profits or market-share, relationship- based or task-based, long term or the short term, big picture or details oriented, being passionate or being dispassionate, empowerment or controls, flat structure or hierarchy or stable organisations. To be or not to be is the quintessential dilemma.
The 'And Brain', however, keeps two seemly opposite ideas simultaneously in the brain and not be dysfunctional. The And Brain is able to address the contradictions. Infact, it uses the tension between the contradictions for creative solutions. The And Brain can co-exist both…passion and dispassion, confidence and humility, big picture and detail, relationship and task, technology orientation and business acumen…seemingly "opposing" forces or facets which are easily reconciled.
Jim Collins ("Good to Great") calls it the "tyranny of Or versus the power of And". Recently, in the Harvard Business Review in an article titled "How Successful Leaders Think" by Roger Martin, this phenomenon was articulated. The article pointed out "that humans, unlike animals, have an opposable thumb, wherein the fingers and the thumb oppose each other, thereby allowing humans to do what animals are unable to." It was noticed that successful leaders exhibited an opposable mind. They have the predisposition to hold two opposing ideas in their heads at the same time. And then, without settling for one alternative or the other, they are able to creatively resolve the tension between those two ideas by generating a new one that has elements of both. This process of consideration and synthesis is called "Integrative thinking."
I find it possible to try and get people in organisations flirt with this concept and then get pleasantly surprised with the outcomes. It takes thinking, persistence and faith. The reactions change over time. At first, when asked to accomplish both objectives, peoples' initial reactions are "Boss wants more, he is unreasonable, doesn't he understand, what's new..." Over time, leaders show people the innovative solutions which resolve the inherent contradictions and achieve dual goals. People begin to become believers. Over time with continued success at finding these solutions they start to get converted to this powerful paradigm. Huge opportunities open up, massive resources are saved, extraordinary results manifest and a certain confidence emerges. Soon they too become 'unreasonable' themselves, realising that being reasonable allows one to do only reasonably well!
Welcome to the unreasonable world of And.
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