Posts

Recent Post

KNOWING YOUR TRUE SELF by Dr Cyrus Varan

               Knowledge is the source of human strength and prosperity. Knowing your true self is no exception and is a life changer.   It helps a man walk with greater vision.   It transforms human values, objectives, and the experience of life.               Humans are unique creatures with immense capabilities.   The human brain is a small mass of flesh.   What gives the human brain its immense power is the key to the recognition of man’s true self. I.                THE DUAL NATURE OF MAN               Science focuses on the nature and response of material elements.   Human senses have limited capability.   They can only detect matter.   The combination of the nature of science and the limitation of the senses has led to the common misunderstanding that matter is all there is.   However, based on both physical and biological sciences, matter is not all there is.   (1) Sunlight is not composed of mineral elements; yet, it is instrumental in the existence of all of the plants
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Do Smart Managers Make Bad Decisions?

Image
  What do racial injustice, pandemics, financial crises, globalisation, poverty, stock market, climate change, traffic, movement of billiard balls, swarming of birds, and your diet have in common?     Complexity .   Complexity lies beneath all natural, physical and human systems – as in ecology, biology, business, and economy. According to Peter Senge, complexity occurs where cause and effect are not close in time and space – like the lag time between a seed and a grown tree, injustice and revolt, eating and gaining weight. Unlike ‘complicated’, complexity is unpredictable (a car is complicated, traffic is complex) – as complexity arises from dynamic interactions of numerous variables encompassing, social, political, cultural, historical, and psychological domains. Biologist Lewis Thomas, observed “You cannot meddle with one part of a complex system from the outside without the almost certain risk of setting off disastrous events in other, remote parts. If you want to fix something y
Post a Comment
Read more

Decision making in times of crisis ...

Image
Decision making in times of crisis ... W hen “Multi–Stakeholder Decision Making for Complex Problems” was published about 3 years ago, I could not have imagined a more relevant time for its messages than now. During emergencies, decision making tends to be hurried, with a focus on the immediate. This is apt – as one must put out the fire first before thinking about its consequences, and how to prevent the next fire. But what if the crisis affects multitudes and critical decisions must be made by many. Do the decision makers understand the big picture - grasp the full range of the variables at play and their complex, non-linear interactions? What if decisions made during crises – as they often do – produce long–term unintended consequences – some of which counterproductive? What about the timing of decisions – do information delays and decision lags matter? The current corona pandemic is the perfect storm for these scenarios. Critical decisions are made by leader
Post a Comment
Read more

Is Corona Pandemic a Boiling Frog Syndrome?

Image
For too long humans have been struggling with poverty, inequality, environmental degradation, conflicts and oppression of all kinds: race, class, gender, religion – to name a few. Why, now all of a sudden, the whole world is pouring attention on corona pandemic? What is the difference, then, between the corona crisis and the other ones?   The answer is rather obvious – urgency.   Which reminds me of the boiling frog syndrome:   If you put a frog in boiling water, it quickly jumps out and saves itself. If you place the same frog in normal water and slowly raise the temperature, the frog body will adjust to the rising heat – it becomes numb and will remain there until it dies! The difference is panic reaction vs gradual decay. Humanity’s other crises have been evolving slowly, albeit steadily, over decades and centuries. Plus, they have not threatened everyone equally – albeit, they have helped to create huge chasms of the haves and have nots around the planet. The curren
1 comment
Read more

Can the Corona Crisis Change the World - Forever?

Image
Amidst the global uncertainty, fear and turmoil that the Corona pandemic has brought to the world, it is difficult to discern any long-term positives from this crisis.   No doubt, the systemic effects of the pandemic, be it loss of lives, economic downturns, financial hardships, or psychological stresses will be felt by all for a long time to come.   Yet, history has abundant examples of resilient societies emerging out of crises ­ – stronger and more progressive. The Black Death of the 14 th century – one of the most destructive pandemics in human history – decimated about one third of Europe’s population. Yet its social, political, economic, and religious consequences changed the course of history. The 15 th century Europe became a “golden age”, bringing an end to serfdom, questioning religious traditions and dogmas, and paving the way for scientific discoveries and social and economic opportunities for masses.   The American Civil War, while devastating, it forged th
1 comment
Read more

Why do we think the way we do?

The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking , and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophes.                                                                                                             Albert Einstein  Let me ask you another question. If you were sick, would you go to a doctor whose medical knowledge and training is based on the sciences of the 17 th century? The answer is predicable.  Yet, it surprises people when they learn that our prevailing worldview and the way we work and relate to each other are deeply influenced by the thinking that originated in the 17 th century! This worldview is often referred to as the “Machine-Age” thinking. Order, hierarchy, predictability, stability, control, absolute, replaceable parts, and individuality characterize this thinking, aka,  reductionist . The machine metaphor still persists in our vocabulary and consciousness: “Cogs in the Wheel”, “Wheels of Government”, and “Machine
Post a Comment
Read more

Why This Blog?

For long I have been asking myself this question: Why the human race, despite all its achievements has got stock with the “either-or” mindset: I can either be a vegan or a meat eater, a Christian or a Muslim, a democrat or a republication. Why not Both, why not All?    I believe our education and upbringing have conditioned us to see life in fragments: mine, yours, theirs. This has caused a collective mindset of separation and isolation with considerable cost – personal, social and material – leading to, among others, disconnection, loneliness, and anxiety. Could seeing the big picture change that?
1 comment
Read more