And we perfect, most dangerously, our children. Let me tell you what we think about children. They're hardwired for struggle when they get here. And when you hold those perfect little babies in your hand, our job is not to say, "Look at her, she's perfect. My job is just to keep her perfect -- make sure she makes the tennis team by fifth grade and Yale by seventh." That's not our job. Our job is to look and say, "You know what? You're imperfect, and you're wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging." That's our job. Show me a generation of kids raised like that, and we'll end the problems, I think, that we see today. We pretend that what we do doesn't have an effect on people. We do that in our personal lives. We do that corporate -- whether it's a bailout, an oil spill ... a recall. We pretend like what we're doing doesn't have a huge impact on other people. I would say to companies, this is not our first rodeo, people. We just need you to be authentic and real and say ... "We're sorry. We'll fix it."
"And we perfect, most dangerously, our children. Let me tell you what we think about children. They're hardwired for struggle when they get here. And when you hold those perfect little babies in your hand, our job is not to say, "Look at her, she's perfect. My job is just to keep her perfect -- make sure she makes the tennis team by fifth grade and Yale by seventh." That's not our job. Our job is to look and say, "You know what? You're imperfect, and you're wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging." That's our job. Show me a generation of kids raised like that, and we'll end the problems, I think, that we see today. We pretend that what we do doesn't have an effect on people. We do that in our personal lives. We do that corporate -- whether it's a bailout, an oil spill ... a recall. We pretend like what we're doing doesn't have a huge impact on other people. I would say to companies, this is not our first rodeo, people. We just need you to be authentic and real and say ... "We're sorry. We'll fix it."
But there's another way, and I'll leave you with this. This is what I have found: To let ourselves be seen, deeply seen, vulnerably seen ... to love with our whole hearts, even though there's no guarantee -- and that's really hard, and I can tell you as a parent, that's excruciatingly difficult -- to practice gratitude and joy in those moments of terror, when we're wondering, "Can I love you this much? Can I believe in this this passionately? Can I be this fierce about this?" just to be able to stop and, instead of catastrophizing what might happen, to say, "I'm just so grateful, because to feel this vulnerable means I'm alive." And the last, which I think is probably the most important, is to believe that we're enough. Because when we work from a place, I believe, that says, "I'm enough..." then we stop screaming and start listening, we're kinder and gentler to the people around us, and we're kinder and gentler to ourselves..."
For millions of years Homo sapiens inhabited this planet and evolved with time once they stood straight, making a perpendicular angle to the land beneath, unlike all other species that move parallel to ground. This one small change made a big difference and Homo sapiens not only become the super-species soon but also left their footprint on almost every traversable surface of the planet. However this journey took millions of years before the Man become settled and started a civilization.
At these times of Bullet Trains, Hyperloops and recent Bugatti Chiron Car [with record-breaking, literally, and unimaginably insane speed of 304 Miles per hour – 7 times faster than the fastest Horse of the planet!] it might sound absolutely unbelievable and almost crazy to imagine that our predecessors explored this planet on foot by walking all that cross-continent distance. Apart from their tenacity and perseverance to map this globe on foot, what’s more interesting is their patience and endurance to continue the expedition without having slightest idea of where to head, how far the destination(?) is, how long will it take to reach there and what are the challenges that are waiting en route.
The real development per se started with the invention of Agriculture and it shifted gears with industrial revolution when humans discovered various means of energy that could be put to good productive use. Latest phase of Digital revolution is the fastest one and within a span of less than 40 years it has changed everything that we used to do for ages in an evolved manner and pattern. It has not only changed our physical activities with invent of latest gadgets and robots that are able to ‘sense’ a pending ‘task’, complete it immediately and efficiently, also report it articulately in a most professional manner, but this revolution has also changed the way we cognize, sense, engage, think and act or (mostly) react!
The life (of only humans) has become so incredibly hasty (perfectly rhymes with nasty!) that the scarcest commodity of the date is TIME! Everybody is in a mindless hurry and hence moving from point A (Ambition) to point B (Business) at a rocketing speed in anticipation to reach point C (Contentment) at some point in future, couldn’t see the D (Delusion) it is hitting at every signal on route!
When there is a downpour and all the water streams and rivers are flooded overcapacity, everything that falls in the flow gets carried away with the strong current of the water and even the living beings couldn’t escape this drifting because of the power of the flow that drags them. Entire human civilization seems to have got stuck in such a powerful current that is towing it mindlessly and the species couldn’t do a thing about it… most helpless state of the most evolved species at most developed times... what a pity!
Coming to the point, this entire process of evolution that is in the top gear at the moment and moving almost with a speed of that Bugatti Chiron, has made some fundamental changes in the age-old behavior patterns of humans like, unlike their ancestors who walked from continent to continent, today’s Smart man doesn’t even move an inch before checking availability, quality of the provisions it needs and running a quick comparative analysis for the options it has for them. In another example it has become a thing of past to tune in the radio and wait for your favorite song to play as Gaana and Carvaan had made that entire experience obsolete.
At such hurried and self-centered times, it won’t only be insane but almost stupid to expect people to read a long 2-3 pages of (Social?) message (without images?) in anticipation of a paradigm shift in people’s mentality and demeanor. However it is not only imperative but almost inevitable to spread a word about a social change for a wrong-doing that is either unrecognized or presumed otherwise in certain set of conditions, like - peeing in open or smoking in public or telling lies for short-term gain at the cost of someone’s permanent loss. Technology has made it easy to share audio-visuals (videos) and it’s a fact that if a picture is worth thousand words, a short film is worth a book.
How short is long enough is the question, though! Well, an advanced psychological study of human mind says that the attention span of humans has reduced to 10 Seconds! Yes, you read it right… just 10 Secs! If you find it hard to believe, just pick up your Smartphone, go to gallery and open any WhatsApp video that is of about 2 minutes length. Now see how many times you would forward it to rush through what seems irrelevant to you and where you stop to find some meaningful ‘action’! That explains the findings of the study and what a marketer would be if he won’t make most of the psyche of his target audience?
The bottom-line is, it’s okay if you have a story to tell, its good if you know how to tell it effectively and its great if you have all the resources to make a full-fledged feature film… the million dollar question is… would it find any audience, lest being viral on YouTube with millions of hits unless it features Nora Fatehi…? So the biggest skill of the day is to share your story with an eloquent message that is not only spot on but fits within 10 Seconds and still has an impact of a full-length movie or a 1000 pages book. If you think this is impossible and could only be imagined, here’s what Facebook has come up with…
Thumbstoppers – A platform to showcase and celebrate creativity in Mobile Video Advertising by bringing together best of advertising & marketing talent that is launched in partnership with CCOs from the top 6 Advertising Agencies in the region to redefine storytelling that evoke emotions under 10sec to change human behavior. Thumbstoppers is aimed to inspire, educate and empower creative agencies to believe that powerful storytelling is possible in less than 10 secs video ads… Creatively yours, indeed!
Check out Top 16 films produced by Facebook, selected from 3500 scripts across 4 categories, out of which 4 winners will travel to Cannes 2020... and get inspired!
This man is not just realizing and living Gandhiji’s dream of Gram-swarajya but is also helping the society to take a holistic perspective of life. This Seventh Grade educated Sarpanch of village Patoda in Aurangabad District of State of Maharashtra is imparting the practical knowledge of education, active participation, coexistence, good governance and agriculture market dynamics.
Apart from being an ISO Certified Grampanchyat, his village has received about 26 Awards and about 3 Crore Indian Rupees as token of appreciation of his efforts. I salute this Management Guru Mr. Bhaskar Pere who has transformed a small village of about 600 households and population of only about 3,500 that is today living an enriched and fulfilled life under his able guidance. India definitely needs more such villages than the broken cities that are on ventilator despite their ‘SMART-ness’!
Lest his language and mannerism that might sound little crude at times owing to his strong roots of typical rural Indian background, his ingenuity radiating wisdom of a Varkari is extraordinary. In a completely urban-dominated scenario and a self-centered destructive understanding of 'developed' life and times when nothing seems positive to look up to, this discourse is not only absolutely comforting and optimistic but it transfuses inspiration and motivation with each of its word. Believe it or not, this seemingly ordinary uneducated villager who would easily go unnoticed in any ‘conditioned’ environment, has learned life extremely well and also posses the acumen to present it brilliantly with excellence of an orator and composure of a philosopher without any flamboyance of being any type of Guru!
He talks about Anthropology, Education, Agrarian Economy and Models of Good Governance with the same flair and authoritative disposition. His own example fits on him best when he says that Jijau, mother of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj could spot the talent of a blacksmith for noticing the defilement in the sword iron just at a glance and appoint him the head of weaponry. Had this been that era of good governance, Jijau must have made Mr. Bhasker Pere Head of Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, if not Minister of Agriculture, Finance or Human Resource Development. Alas, we have this FPTP (first-past-the-post) system of elective governance that can be manipulated and not the HTTP (no, not Hyper Text Transfer Protocol; honor-the-talent-performance!) selective system of governance.
May we see more and more such true philosophical leaders with practical approach that are truer in deeds than their words, transforming villages like Patoda leading from the front incessantly, selflessly and impulsively…!
Neither CSR is just aboutspending 2% of booked Net Profit nor Governance is about finding the
reasons, analyzing the situations and get into the blame game in aftermath of a
calamity by labeling it a natural disaster. If we are to accept that such
horrid things, wherein living beings including citizens get drowned and things
including cars disappear making people feel like refugees, happen because of
the heavy downpour, illegal encroachments and blocking of drainage waterways…
who is responsible for all this?
If nature has changed its
course and behaving erratic of late, climate change is the culprit, alright.
But what causes Climate Change? Is it global warming? Then what causes global
warming? If people are forced to live on banks of a waste-water stream by encroaching
the reserved space, isn’t something wrong with the Slum Rehabilitation and
Redevelopment Schemes? If the natural course of even the river, forget the streams
and trenches, is ‘adjusted’ to suit the ‘development’, who is to blame? If
heavy downpour has caused this, so is the ostensibly compromised Slum
Rehabilitation Schemes, so is the rampant developments carried out with
stakeholder’s hand-in-glove and so is the irresponsible Corporate Governance of
all relevant bodies and regulating authorities who pushed all this absolutely imminent
catastrophe that must have been foreseen in the policy and practice, comfortably
under the carpet.
Social Responsibility
is neither about philanthropy nor is it a way to show your generosity to donate
and offer help and aids - a noble gesture, nevertheless - during an aftermath of a disaster; it is about adapting
ethical practices in purview of larger good, it is about designing, defining
and ‘practicing’ policies for ‘our common future’ and moreover it is about being
proactive about long-term consequences of short-term decisions and actions for ‘instant
gratification’… the biggest enemy of sustainable development.
Whatever Pune has been
put under for last couple of days is neither tolerable nor forgettable, it is
absolutely unacceptable and Punkears who lost their dear-ones, their expensive possessions
and valuable belongings like laptop and mobile phones with loads of important data
directly related to their existence and livelihood, deserve an answer, not an explanation.
And giving that answer by accepting all the wrongdoings that caused this havoc
would be real Social Responsibility!
For the first time on this blog, I am sharing TWO videos in a single post for a simple reason, they are not just on the same page but on the same lines when it comes to thinking differently about the Status quo.
In the TED Talk above, Nick explains how the Capitalism and the Neoliberal Economy Theory is fundamentally flawed and what needs to be changed and how. In the course of elaborating his topic of discussion, he advocates the principles of coexistence and cooperation drawing similar strokes of ideas that are intrinsically similar to concepts of CSR. For example in the following passage, Nick eloquently presents the inner force of humanity to become those super-beings and evolve as master-of-universe.
"But, if instead we accept the latest empirical research, real science, which correctly describes human beings as highly cooperative, reciprocal and intuitively moral creatures, then it follows logically that it must be cooperation and not selfishness that is the cause of our prosperity, and it isn't our self-interest but rather our inherent reciprocity that is humanity's economic superpower."
In this second video Capt Raghu Raman, an Ex-defense officer with not only his name rhyming with the great visionary economist of present times Raghuram Rajan, but having similar progressive perspective of inclusive vision to boost the unorganized sector for its potential to contribute to the GDP in a great way with decentralization of concentrated economic power, lucidly explains how this supposedly India unInc is actually more organized, more proficient and also has about 50% of its fair share in nation's GDP. This is a perspective that must be pondered on particularly in times of jobless growth and concentration of economic power leading to an apparent recession.
To complete this with a triology, I have published my recent paper 'Status quo and Paradigm shift' on ResearchGate. Read it HERE.
Way to go for a decentralized economy and a balanced ecosystem for peaceful coexistence...!
'Disorder afflicts the land...' has been the most commanding narrative for all the Religious and Political Powers to spell their cast on their poor, helpless and vulnerable 'subjects', indeed and George makes a very strong point here by painting a picture of 'Restoration' that has been shown to us for centuries together. It's high time we wake up to all these false narratives of a Superhero as our savior and pretentious approaches with deceitful intents.
'These are the central, crucial facts about humankind: our amazing altruism and cooperation.' The much needed New Narrative could be built around the capacity of Humans to cooperate with their altruism rather than the heroics of an individual or a fallacious nexus wherein 'We' replace our imaginary savior Superhero.
'Our good nature has been thwarted by several forces, but I think the most powerful of them is the dominant political narrative of our times, which tells us that we should live in extreme individualism and competition with each other. It pushes us to fight each other, to fear and mistrust each other. It atomizes society. It weakens the social bonds that make our lives worth living. And into that vacuum grow these violent, intolerant forces. We are a society of altruists, but we are governed by psychopaths...' This is the story of this planet and not of any singular country or society that we must understand, analyze, interpret and react positively to!
'The commons is neither market nor state, capitalism nor communism, but it consists of three main elements: a particular resource; a particular community that manages that resource; and the rules and negotiations the community develops to manage it. Think of community broadband or community energy cooperatives or the shared land for growing fruit and vegetables that in Britain we call allotments. A common can't be sold, it can't be given away, and its benefits are shared equally among the members of the community. Where we have been ignored and exploited, we can revive our politics. We can recover democracy from the people who have captured it. We can use new rules and methods of elections to ensure that financial power never trumps democratic power again.' This could be a hypothesis for rest of the world, we Indians have models of this theory very much active and effective in forms of Mendha Lekha, Hiware Bazar and Ralegan Siddhi.
'Politics of Belonging' is the keyword of this new story of fighting those nefarious forces by building rich, engaging, inclusive and generous communities that would restore harmony to the land. We definitely need a new restoration story to guide us out of the political mess we're in, a story that tells us why we're in the mess and tells us how to get out of this mess. 'And that story, if we tell it right, will infect the minds of people across the political spectrum. Our task is to tell the story that lights the path to a better world...' This ray of hope full of optimism should be our New Age Mantra towards a cohesive and harmonious society that we deserve!
