Tag: future fit

Overcoming corporate slavery.

~ PA ~ 3 Comments

Irrespective of whether you agree to the aspect of “corporate slavery” or not doesn’t matter, because that argument is equal to not believing in the existence of the Sun because at night you can’t see it! This piece is about accepting the problems around,understanding how far reaching and deeply impacting the consequences are and what can we possibly do about it (as individuals- because according to capitalists theories they would want this to go on forever and ever!)

As students’ complete graduation or post-graduation; their aspirations are about getting a “good job”, decent salaries (to pay of liabilities accumulated by virtue of trying to get educated to that level) and race ahead to reach the top of the corporate pyramid to impact businesses, industries and policies- well there’s absolutely nothing wrong with any of these aspirations- perfectly legal and sane. The only challenge is in the deception of the term “good job” this deception almost always turns fatal and catches up with these young aspirants sometimes sooner then later. Global indicators (if you access some readily available data online from valid sources) indicate that the so called mid-life crisis (which I simply see as manifestation of the “good job” syndrome) is happening pretty earlier (around late 20s’ to early 30s’ unlike the earlier times (when it used to actually begin to hit around mid 30s’ to early 40s’)

Now to the million dollar question, “How do we negate or at the best manage this to at least have realistic mid-life crisis years which correspond to real mid-life years of a human being rather then reflecting mid-life for some other animal species! The root of the problem is in the belief and value systems that societies the world over have. The fundamental premise that the entire effort of studying and gaining wisdom (remember wisdom is different from knowledge- knowledge makes you intelligent, wisdom makes you wise- these are two entirely different things!). Essentially these need to compliment each other and an imbalance in these impacts our life quality on an ongoing basis as that reflects the decisions that we end up taking!

The fact remains that education; has a lot to do with helping build understanding about the world around you. When education is used as a tool to fetch you a job, crack an exam to get a job or get a “certification” to establish societal legitimacy about your grey matter- things start to go wrong! Flip the pages of history, you will find that among the many reasons why companies collapsed, political parties withered away, businesses houses went bankrupt- these simply happened because you had “qualified” and “highly paid” people managing and leading teams which at times had “wise” people (whom they did not listen to, well in time- to avoid the melt down) or had “idiots” who accelerated the demise of these corporations! This,my friend is the ugly face and impact of “corporate slavery- the modern day replacement of slaves working fields or plantations- now working out of glass walled air conditioned prisons”

Corporate slavery starts innocently; things like utopian value and mission statements of organisations , a few weird statements could mean or sound like these -“we never loose”, “we never delay”, “We are champions” or even better, “we have no competition”, “the competition is me”. These look as innocent and senseless as they are but when you have dumb wits who are told to act on them and they go about acting with limited number of people to deliver and have targets (which are not targets but manifestations of greed- yes one of those cardinal sins) that’s how the slavery starts. Greed (corporate greed) is deceptive, all the comforts tend to blind the mind and make people do what they do- the result- a meaningless job profile ( no personal development to tell to yourself or your kids) and preparing ground for the mid-life criss even before you have lived a quarter of your life time on the planet!

A simple test to know whether you are actually a victim or engaged in “corporate slavery”- Try and see if you get a “yes” for the following questions (and yes don’t connect your designation, career growth and money that you make when you try to answer):

  1. Has your experience enriched you as a person and developed and shaped your personality positively
  2. From your experience have you been able to suggest and create (original ideas) ideas that could add value that lasts after you leave the place or the earth (which ever happens first)
  3. Has your experience been different with each day rather then being predictable routine that resonates with months/ seasons’/ business cycles’
  4. Do you have a story to tell yourself or others that your life has been fulfilling

Well, if you answered “yes” great, you are one of the few lucky ones’ who has possibly escaped “corporate slavery” and has been contributing to ensure others are also free of those dreaded shackles- In that case you would be that corporate icon with whom everyone wants to work with!

So what do you do if you are not sure and are possibly stuck with this- well the good news is- it’s never too;ate to course correct as long as you are alive, the bad news- it takes effort- directed effort to get into this space of being a rebel and saying no to slavery like the good old days!

Unlike the real world problems- corporate slavery is very easy to predict and a good start would be by being able to apply your mind to the job profile (that has been shared with you)- If it’s a well articulated one, you know what exactly is expected and you can very well come to a conclusion whether you are signing up for a job or a term as a corporate slave! This is the point where you negotiate to your advantage (knowing what your aspirations from life are (about which you need to have clarity) or simply walk away and don’t engage any further. In other scenarios wherein you are already working and overnight some maniac has been handed over the reins to marshal the company, well this is where you, “practice the pause”, take a moment, stay away- gauge the benefits against the foreseeable problems and take a call. In life you must walk away- no matter what the initial pain or uncertainty- in the long run- it will pay off- but for this to happen you need to have a string internal beacon which is able to keep you honed on to the per-determined aspirations of your life at all times! Lastly, wherein organisations do not have a job profile and any formal structure- well you need to use your wisdom and navigate to know “How much is Enough” and you need to be aware when to say “Enough is Enough” and walk away!

Slavery of the mind or any kind, by it’s very intrinsic meaning of the word is about being bound to something to someone. Human beings are not hard wired to being bound- we have been wanderers, travelers and warriors and that’s something that we aspire for deep within- no, not all of us can be in the defense forces, or cabin crews or hippies; but what we can do and what each one of us can do is to set our aspirations and value systems to a notch that let’s us navigate with a considerable degree of freedom in what we choose to do and practice for passion or for monetary gains– N matter what it is and this notch will always blink red and let you know when your space is being invaded- the you have a choice to course correct- either by limiting your space, defending and fighting for it or simply walking away!

Leaving you with thoughts, for a wonderful weekend ahead, remember -A free mind and a energized soul can enjoy weekends through the week even as you work- as long as you are not enslaved! It’s not about passion it is about space to grow, express and wisdom to apply and share!

Grab that coffee and liberate yourself! Will catch up soon with another piece, keep writing in to me at parimal.aluri@simplifylives.com and suggest what else you would like me to pen about and yes, we are available for tailor-made meaningful training’s and workshops to empower individuals and organisations as always!

And the future belongs to…

~ PA ~ Leave a comment

No this is not a prophetical piece; but rather based on observations, readings, conversations and engagement with people whose opinions matter (and are taken into account for good or bad reasons) and go into shaping the fate of over 95% of humankind!

Irrespective of who you are , how rich or poor you are, where you are and what your likes and dislikes are, what kind of biases and challenges that you face, irrespective of everything and almost any statistical data point that you can think of or will ever be presented with- one thing and the only thing that will ensure you have a future (a future of your choice) will only and only depend on the factor of skill and competence that you imbibe intrinsically and apply it to your advantage!

So is this really this simple? Well, yes it is. Don’t get fooled by the chaos of multiple inputs and triggers that you are being bombarded day in and day out- whether it is an evaluation of a career choice that you are considering, the next move, or something as simple as what you want to cook tonight for dinner or where your next vacation should be- all of these and answers to any questions that you will ever have will always loop back to a singular granularity of “Who you are” and “What is that U want to do with what U have”. Extend this principle a little further, ” What U do, with what U have,the way U do it, to get what U want; will only be possible by what U have and Who U are”. No book, no motivational speaker will ever tell you this (for obvious reasons), it is not only about your aspirations, rather it is about the quality of your aspirations and this quality driven aspirational thinking only comes from your unique way of thinking- it comes from your strong Individuality about who U are – Always!

The above two paragraphs- read them over and over as many times as you want to – for here lies the secret to the future – future that impacts each one of us. The future of mankind will only be records of people who were able to make the difference by doing things differently- read “uniquely”- doing both the routine- already established mundane things in a new way and the new breed of innovators and scientists who will devise ingenuous ways of doing something new in a very unique manner- which will go on to impact each one of us to alter the way we live about our lives.

The reason why this is important, well in the race to carve out a niche and come up with something new- every day, month and year the race will test the limits of human imagination and science application to help wired ideas come to life!

The future will belong to those who are able to decipher the times using unique ways through their intrinsic personalities (Who they are and What they have to offer!) The future will largely resemble the bygone great age of renaissance that Europe and America had witnessed, albeit it will be with a twist of the new age tools and methods that will accelerate frontiers of art and science like never before.

If you are anywhere a kid now, or a young professional (still with your intellect intact) this possibly is the best time to be around- to soak in important nuggets of crucial information and data that’s floating around the information universe and see which of these elements can provide you with necessary tools to unleash the next big enabler for your generation and for subsequent generations– This you will be able to do only if you know intrinsically what is that you have to offer and how you want to go about it! That sense of purpose of creating something that is owned by you and created by you has to be fierce enough to withstand competing ideas and also leans enough for easy adoption and scalability!

The future will not belong to diligent workers, smart workers or people who charm the board rooms or say “yes” and “no” with assertion or respite, nothing of all this will matter anymore in the next ten years from now. The only things that matter will be what value can you create and what is the value that you bring to the table– This will be a function of who you are and on a very larger way a function of being educated (good schooling and higher education with emphasis on research- no matter what field you choose to be in). This alone my friends will be the secret to enjoy control and impact control in the societies of the future, your individual contributions that will only flow if you are empowered enough to believe in Who you are, What you have to offer and possibly know How you want to go about it (of course there is space to build on this last aspect as you go figuring out pathways in your life), but having said this, the future belongs only and only to those Who are Individuals with A Purpose- A purpose that rises from within and which aims to collaborate and create value for the larger good”

I leave you with your thoughts here, and hope you get some time to plot your journey and know where exactly you stand. Perhaps this is the moment to re-calibrate and re-draw your plans for the time ahead!

Will be back soon with another article that helps us take our fascinating journey further!

Why organisations fail!

~ PA ~ Leave a comment

Before you start wondering and jumping to conclusions; no the title is not a problem statement neither this is an answer to all the stupid and dumb situations that organisations get into these days- intentionally and accidentally either-ways! This is more about learning a simple fact that people are at the foundation and core of what you do (literally whatever you choose to do- whether that’s a hi-tech company that you plan to build or just serve tea around the corner!)

Economic slowdown- well when countries hit the brake (especially when the sabotage is complimented by faulty government policies, needless to say all hell breaks loose!). The next thing that manifests in uncertain business environment is ..well..you have read the script- loss of jobs- closing of companies and lock-outs.When you have a closer look into the space how businesses react- they start with doing away with what is good-to-have (nothing wrong with this) and what gets impacted is majorly are the costs associated with the cost centers (read marketing, internal services like HR, Admin and Finance). The problems get compounded further from this stage as the good-to-have basket is determined through prejudice and nepotistic values rather then rational thinking! This is why when eventually they are out of the storm and the worst is over- often organisations realise there is no leadership that is required to steer the ship full steam ahead! Keeping people in the good-to-have basket is a blunder which organisations commit on an ongoing basis and consequences are always felt in an ongoing manner- no matter what metric you want to evaluate the organisation!

What then starts is a cycle which thrives on incompetence and the ensuing success and failure of an organisation is determined by the level of incompetence displayed by it’s leaders rather then anything else! As long as organisations tend to tie people as commodities rather then individuals who have something to offer through way of unique thinking- these ups and downs will continue and tend to get amplified as they resonate with failing economic policies of the government of the land!

A large network group in the space of marketing communication- The group thrived on mergers and acquisitions on an ongoing basis (to it’s perceived advantage and unintended disadvantage,decisions taken overlooked and gave a damn to the people who are being impacted with the ongoing decisions!) So much so that people whom the decisions usually would impact would be informed about it at the very last hour, something like this, “Hey! from tomorrow you are re-designated as “Chief Entertainment Officer” instead of the “Chief Business Officer” and your new clients are “xyz” and your target is “dollar 123″ and you have three months to get that money else find a place!”

In some cases other short discussions have been like, “You know how its is, the times are tough, we have to take calls, suddenly we have five CEO’s we need only two, so we want to know how you want to plan ahead and want us to communicate about your moving on!” Well in either scenario- the critical aspect that was missing- The rational approach that the HR team could have provided the management with– but as the case was to be- the HR team was totally clueless as this was a “numbers call” wherein the trade off is something like this, “because revenue is “x” we need “y” people and we are now “y+20″, so decide which 20 go!”

As a coach, we never wear a hat that goes on to suggest or indicate one option over the other; the fallacy of our times (which seems to go on increasing) is that incompetent leaders go on to make equally incompetent decisions, using tools that have been chosen (again by incompetent teams) which results into these fast failing scenarios over and over again. The damaging costs to organisation in terms of brand re-building, re-hiring and re-training simply outweigh all spelled out benefits shown by these (incompetent) experts and this cycle keeps on repeating every few years- for some industries and sectors this happens every three years and for a few others it happens once every five years- but this does happen! When these things unfold and resonate with an ongoing national or global slowdown the impacts are unquestionably more damaging and equally difficult to repair with long-term consequences!

By now you are probably saying- ok- so stop all this nagging – do you have a solution! Well the answer is yes and no- yes- there is a solution- simple effective and no- because you will not go ahead and implement- because for implementation of simple and effective solutions, you do not need a blue blood MBA rather you need guts and commonsense to face adversity and stand firmly no matter what to speak and do what is right- to master this bit takes at times- a learning of a lifetime!

Frankly speaking about the simple and effective solution- organisations that thrive on value of an individual and demonstrate rational decision making when it comes to setting up teams, qualifying businesses by planing for tomorrow along with their today a lot of misery can be avoided and is avoided- unfortunately in a corporate era wherein ship captains don’t see a tenure of more then two-three years planing anything fundamentally strong and substantive is a foregone conclusion and unless this bit is corrected from the top- I guess the chaos will continue- the only saving grace will be a few good men and women from the HR teams who are able to pre-empt, avoid and manage chaos as it unfolds giving a human touch and not resigning to the “numbers game”!

I will leave you with your thoughts here and will be back soon with a new piece with a refreshing take on something new! Enjoy your coffee and start learning to tame chaos today!

When Talent Deficit becomes a curse!

~ PA ~ Leave a comment

Well the last time we discussed about leadership, but the fact remains that to lead “someone or something” it needs to have intrinsic talent within itself to begin with! This article takes a look at a few shades and manifestations of talent deficit and how it impacts all of us- in one way or the other- whether we realise it or not!

I firmly believe in the principle of something what I call as “Where’s your river?” If you closely analyse about “human intelligence dysfunction” it has a lot to do with the crucial touch points during the formative years of one’s life (the place of birth, how many cities changed, in case of a country like India- what kind of regional nuances have been picked up and have been let go off etc.). Everything that everyone becomes is nothing more but a function of distillation of the experiences that one has been able to hold on to during their formative years– if you argue that you are still forming- well- no issues- keep going- you are a masterpiece in the works! ( Well I guess each one of us- that may be the reason why we are unique!) Now coming back to the fundamental aspect of all this- “The River”- well needless to say- every society will draw it’s best and worst from the very foundations that it stands upon!

Once you have observed enough and understood this simple engaging truth- you will begin to relate to all types of dysfunctions that you see around with greater ease, pace and more importantly learn to make peace with what the world (your world) offers you and you are left with only one choice- to do whatever best you can do- with what you have- improvise upon what you have- or keep sulking and cursing your fate for the time that you exist- it’s all about the choices that you are ready to make- whether to look up into the dark skies and seek stars for navigation or search for pits and dirt in the bright daylight that shines around you as you keep apace with the cycle of clarity and ambiguity as you seek to move ahead!

Now think about a school where teachers’ are complaining about brat students’- change the lens and see the parents’ complaining about dumb teachers’, dive a bit deeper and see the disconnect increase further as you reach college and universities- wherein the growing disconnect manifests into dangerous things- below average research, below average development of research values, below average future for able minds and stunted future for a society as research is stifled and truncated briskly- all of this because of the intrinsic challenges that arise from being part of a system that is constantly depleted of its ability to rejuvenate or innovate!

As these dysfunctions transcend into more serious areas of the society- jobs in firms, power positions in government, politics- nothing but chaos is unleashed and the depletion and complete destruction of the fragile fabric that enables a society to be proactive and intuition driven is simply ripped away!

Talent deficit is an end-product of a very complex societal dysfunction (some of which we touched in the paras above- albeit in a slightly different way) and the effects are far reaching- that is how regions, states, nations get labelled in the circles of business and politics- largely defined by the crispness or the blatant absence of meaningful minds that know when to solve an issue and when to avoid it and when to ignore it!

The greatest myth that people tend to pursue with talent development (based on it’s perceived absence or presence) is that it can be developed beyond the limits of the immediate societal contexts (socio- eco-political). Talent at any level- whether that’s a kindergarten kid that you are evaluating or a CEO level hire- is always a function of the society that it is coming from- values, beliefs, attitudes, aspirations, opportunities and all that goes into creating that individualistic identity. No one ever fished out a whale out of a bucket of water and no one ever landed on the moon by wishful thinking- that is the essence and underlying fundamental problem of not experiencing talent enough as we would want to.

The ways and means to resolve this and solve this- well that would be an apt topic for another write up- but until then spend some time and do reflect to see how you have experienced talent deficit around you- are you also one with it or are you the one who has suffered because of it!

Finally, before I leave you a little unsettled to figure out your thoughts- if you still are wondering what this write up was all about- try trusting your doctor or engineer who does not want to show you their academic credentials- and then think about someone like that to run or ruin nation!

Will be back soon with another piece- and possibly with some solutions to manage your nightmarish talent deficit!

Is your rear-view mirror larger than your windscreen?

~ PA ~ 1 Comment

I was keen to provide some decent weekend motivation, so as you ramp up your weekday, if you do get time to read through this, I am sure you will plan to have an engaging and introspective weekend- some quality time with yourself! This is something that will give you some much needed hope and make your life that bit less miserable!

Observation is a powerful tool, if you take a moment off – from whatever you are doing right now (unless you are driving or operating someone!) just hear the people around you- what are these enlightened beings talking about?, what is the content that they are referring to? In all probability they are collectively looking into history- as recent as five minutes back or as old as ancient roman history and fleeting references to times in between- this my friend is the aspect of the “rear-view mirror” each one us have them on our cars and vehicles- conversations of these types are the intellectual personification of the state of mind that an individual is in (as that person speaks to you!)

Certainly rear-view mirrors have a certain value and purpose. More often then not, it is to be sure that we are not caught off guard from something that’s heading our way (as it is not intended to)! Well likewise these reflecting conversations help discuss examples and happenings from the past to help us avoid what must be and repeat what should be and can be. Problems start happening as soon as we focus more on the rear-view mirrors and loose focus of the big windscreen bang in front of us which is vying for our attention, that windscreen my friend is our present moment- our now- which ensures us that we reach our tomorrow!

The fallacy of our times, is that people spend so much time and energy discussing, debating what worked and what did not work,they often end up loosing all the needed time and focus to know where they are heading and what is that their gossip and bitching is manifesting– well needless to say, like an automatic vehicle gone wrong, they tend to just keep driving around in a big never ending circle- bitching away to glory same things over and over (only references or names change but the underlying nonsense tends to remain the same) case in point- each one of us would have had that odd colleague who speaks about all the bad bosses that this person experienced (well there can be genuine exceptions)- but more often then not, it also reflects something cranked up and broken about this person as well- either emotionally or intellectually! Move over to a societal problems- no matter which country you come from- everyone will agree politicians are f**king a**holes and do nothing, but yet- every four or five years- its is these same set of morons that keep on coming back and with every term seem to get better and better by offering more varied subjects and topics to gossip and bitch about! So what does this basically say about each one of us- what is that needs to be corrected? what are we missing in here?

The plain fact and the only fact that we have taken our eyes off the windscreen- that windscreen, my friend is our now- and the only thing that provides you a sneak peek into the destination where you are driving to arrive to a future of your choice- the constant bickering and needless glancing into a rear-view mirror can generally give you neck sprain bad enough- with you actually wanting to throw away the mirror altogether! Loosing site of the windscreen as you cruise ahead on the engine power(of your actual and perceived competencies) can be fatal and consequences often put you back by a few years if not months and you need to start for your journey all over again- this is something like the age old- snake and ladders game! So what’s the right way to go about this?

Well, as a a coach, we always ask our clients on what they feel and what they think and through an exhaustive process, enable them to de-clutter and simplify their present in context with their past and align them to the future of their choice! It’s a strikingly similar process, while your past and things may be important, what is required is to assign each incident from your past a weighted value- one simple way could be- what you do not need to remember can be directly flushed away and what was most rewarding and most threatening should be remembered and recorded so that next time you face a similar or a worse situation you have a plan to overcome the same! Societies world over rest on past and this is one of the biggest fallacies of human behavior- we tend to look more into the past to justify our present and create and develop hope for our future (which ironically we seldom believed into it with the exuberance that we must or should). Societies based on memories and past laurels never prosper- look at the difference between the developed nations and developing nations- the biggest difference is that developed nations have been as a society looking more through their windscreens – into their now and future while the developing one’s spend more time looking into past references and past standards and believe that this will help them move ahead- which never really works and these nations tend to keep going in the same cycle- much to the benefit of the developed nations- as their competition is automatically taken care of!

As for nations, likewise for us- individuals- learn to take control of the Now and trust me your next moment will be automatically calibrated to the efforts and merit you have given now! The past is a bygone cannot be changed nor altered, each one of us is a fascinating story- all of us have ups and downs- what matters is remembering what works and what does not work given in the totalitarian context of who you are where you are and what is that you are seeking! People often try finding examples- that’s the most stupid thing to do- as Is aid in my earlier blog, each one of us – each one of us is unique and one of a kind!take pride about that fact and do justice to yourself for your own sake!

So until next time, adjust the size of your windscreen in context to your rear-view mirror and ensure you don’t end up loosing focus or start driving in circles by engaging in those Friday afternoon corporate bitching sessions (often disguised as corporate strategy sessions!)

Ciao for now and have a great weekend! Keep writing in your suggestions and we will keep sharing and discussing intriguing facets about the time that we live in and about we all are! Unique masterpieces! Each one – One of a kind!

The business of politics-how it screws up your life!(and how to avoid it!)

~ PA ~ Leave a comment

Yes, too much for a Monday morning blog, I guess, could have been written over the weekend, but what better way to start a working week, by helping you look into the mirror! (me included!)

Well, as you go around doing all the chores of your life diligently; like, “always saying yes to your boss and spouse”, feeding your pet, ensuring your kids don’t kill or get killed, knowing you can travel safely and come back home alive after working (whatever work you do and wherever you do!)” ; have you ever taken a moment to realise that no matter what your age is no matter what you do and irrespective how rich or poor you are things seem to be going around in an insane vicious circle always! Basically being rich or poor is vert relative- even in the materialistic context- let alone the philosophical one; one of the most unfortunate way of getting that pathetic miserable feeling is not by being poor, but being super rich and being totally f***ed -like in India from where I am writing (ok before you call me a traitor or some shit like that, let me tell you, I love my country and and would like to see it get better- like anyone of you is the same for your Motherland and Fatherland- depending on which part of terra ferma you are reading this piece!) because you will not be able to simply drive your super luxury car above the 20 Mph mark or roll down the window- because the the air is so laced with pollutants- and yes no matter how rich you may be personally – you simply can’t do a f**k about it!

Have you wondered, when you started working- you were all this gung- ho about slogging and deciding you will work at the most till you are 40 or in your mid 40’s and then retire to a peaceful place (as defined by you!) and watch the world go crazy and keep laughing at the fools around, well the only twist in the story is that majority of us continue to get stuck in this rut- and that eternally evasive, “Retire in 40’s” never comes and we are always at the other side and part of the crazy world- which seems to just live- to pay bills and die – and many of us- whether we like it or not end up paying bills till the very last minute before we have the God sent heart-attack to liberate us from the misery of life irrespective whether you died rich or poor! So in all this – where does politics fit it- well- remember your dream about seeing the crazy world go by – getting screwed up and laughing at it- well that’s what politics is all about and that’s where the best party in the world is being hosted- 24×7 across all the world capitals and all the time!

Just think for a minute- do you really really think- that problems of the world- are unsolvable- with so many intelligent (at times outright idiot’s) people occupying chairs (for which they would use all the good and dirty tricks to arrive at in the first place!). So what is really happening?

Well, my friend, I could have gone ahead and written in more details, but this really calls for a long form of writing- possibly a book; but with no one to really corroborate it would end up landing in the fiction section (which I am a little averse- unless it is something like a Sherlock Holmes or a harry Potter!) So to cut the long story short…here we go…

Politics world over is intertwined directly with businesses. Businesses again happen in an interesting way- you have those poor businessmen who are the face of any nation’s economy who sail up and down with every wave of political uncertainty- these are the poster boys of grins during the height time in the markets and the ones’ who go bankrupt or show their teeth when shit hits the roof and they have to either file for insolvency or begin to ration their next binge eating session and lifestyle of in-despicable indulgence! Well these are the one’s who make the news all the time and constitute to about 80% of the noise but just around 25-30% of the business value globally! yes…remember our friend- Pareto– he was indeed right with his famous Pareto Principle – even on this (although he may not envisaged this)!

It is the invisible force of this minuscule 25-30% of business people and politicians- who decide what you and I do and what nation’s do and when , why and how- yes sounds like a sinister Hollywood sci-fi, but well trust me – it actually is good this way! When you have a small group of decisive people making decisions- they may go wrong sometime- but they will not go wrong all the time. The important aspect here, is to ensure that these gifted idiots- when they do go wrong- don’t end up screwing up beyond a point of no return- which they have unfortunately done in a few areas already- yes- read Climate change and Plastic abuse (well these are the same people and the same world which celebrated plastic and innovation in plastic lead- polymer industry- even giving Nobel prizes- not more then 50 years ago! and now we stand completely f***ed up- because the group then- made of choice for their today- rather than their future and our today!

I know, by now you are thinking what the f**k are you doing , if things are really this way- well I took think the same way- then it gives a solace to know we can effect change no mater how small or large- and the trick to this is by participating- go out and make your voice count (peacefully and legally- legally as defined in the society that you live in!)

Politicians and this elite club of business tycoons have all the strings unto themselves. Unless there is a considerable majority which can participate in the political arena with better ideas and better vision for the today and the tomorrow, change- any real change coming will be all but a wishful dream- all of us cannot simply build that enormous business ecosystem to effect the change we need to and we must- hence the only other way around is have some sensible gifted idiots sneak into the elite club of the political club to slow down what must, and then suggest and accelerate what must be to ensure that the world becomes a little bit more world-like and everyone gets a chance to live- and not exist- pay bills and die- irrespective of the level of opulence!

As mankind, we seldom learn from history and this one major factor, keeps screwing us up into the hell hole where none of us want to be in the first place! The only way out is to be proactive- assert positive action and make a change no matter what that may be- just take a step and decide that the coming weekend you will be alive and experience the world as you should- no binge eating, no shopping and no bitching- just you, your sane family and friends (the word sane is important here) and the good earth around you! Try this and let me know how it went!

As someone said, we are not born to slog, pay checks and die- either with surplus or deficit in the bank- we are soul-filled entities and unless the soul is nourished with nature as its should be- our existence is all but purely wasted!

So, get back to your miserable slogging now, and take time off to reflect and now that you are wiser, don’t be hard on yourself and people around- know each one is fighting a war that does not exist and trying to win over and reach a place that is nothing but a staged hallucination!

Stay safe, stay happy(as in content) and stay wise- until next time….ciao!