Tag: politicians

A strong government and a weak opposition.

~ PA ~ Leave a comment

Well if thought, what this title has to do with the world of business or even individual empowerment, think again! At the end of it all of us, each one of us come from the same social set, whether we choose a private job, run for government employment or wear uniforms or perhaps lead the nation as policy and public matters, end of it all, things will eventually come back to a singular truth, which is not about how strong the government has been, but rather how weak an opposition we have earned! Join me here, we we take a look to decipher this dynamic, see how it can empower and perhaps how things can go wrong and what is that you and I can do in our limited way to adopt and practise a way of life which enables us to create a dynamic equilibrium for all engagement points within the society that we live! So here we go!

Masters and specialists of the political world have always thrived and furthered one singular goal- the never ending desire to hold power to never relinquish it! The bygone age of Kingdoms and Empires- almost always ensured smooth transition within dynastic rulers always survived irrespective of the cost at what it came. This lunatic obsession of blood lines leading the future of empires and kingdoms coupled with the diminishing incompetence and rising impatience within the ruled areas- created a prudent environment either for bringing in a radical change of governance models- from a Crown led- autocracy to People led democracy- which again could have multiple variations based on what the thirst for power and control is! Needless to say you always have the element where the uniform too wants to be part of the hustle- simply because either they don’t really have something to defend and fight against or perhaps because their approach and orientation is in that way- because someone wants it that way!

Irrespective what the reason is and what the variation is, the fundamental goal of any government or governing body is always about control and power! There is nothing to complain about this, why would you, I mean who would want their nation’s government to be weak and submissive, end of the day every member of a given society thrives on a sense of national pride, no matter how big or small your nation is! This is what makes the pursuit for power and control so intoxicating and endless. This is the space where everything right or wrong begins to emerge and when it pertains to the matters of a government, it all depends on which side of an invisible social divide you are viewing it from! If you observe close and long enough more often then not, what unfolds- irrespective of who rules or governs is the debate and competition on whose approach to things (read ideologies) is better even as the end result that is always aspired remains the same- seeking national interest!

The only way to tackle, deal with and engage with a government is by having a potent opposition which can discuss, deliberate and audit the progress being made or not as promised by the government of the day! Sure enough, the government will do what it can and always will- deflect questions on what it has not done and seek attention only to what it has done, unless the opposition is not coherent, congruent and focussed enough, sieving through this maze of conflicting narratives shared by a ruling government can be simply overwhelming and many a times weakened opposition succumb to this, resulting in further weakening and erosion of meaningful presence to even engage with a government, let along debate or audit! You see the real problem with any nation is not that it has a strong government, but rather a fragmented and perhaps weakened opposition. This, is not only the cause of worry for the people but ironically enough enough a problem for the government! Let me explain!

For a government to stay strong is needs two basic things, one an intrinsic strength and sense of direction through policy and action and secondly- perhaps the most important one- a competitive, focussed and constructive opposition which has an adequate representation to ensure meaningful and directed debate and audit around what the government does or not! When this opposition is missing, the government ends up being lost under its own spot light, unable to see it’s own shadows, which a working and focussed opposition can do it with much ease and partner towards ironing out finer aspects of what’s not working and make better what’s working! When the opposition goes missing, with it the government ends up having to do double the work- first carry on the works that it needs to and then, because the opposition is nonfunctional- also get into the space of introspection and self-critique to find out yet better ways and means of working and serving the society! This is where the major problems begin to occur! The government not only ends up doing it’s bit but also begins to take up the responsibilities of the opposition- not because it wants to – but perhaps because there is no real meaningful choice left to engage and deal with in a constructive manner! This is why when a strong government faces a weakened or fragmented opposition, it ends up having to do two jobs, one that it does and the other which the opposition doesn’t!

But why is this bad, well simply put, as long as the purpose and chosen direction of a powerful government aligns to the greater good, fosters humanity and gives common-sense a chance- everything will be just fine, the moment experimentation begins to border on unwarranted risks and respect given is misread as a license to start bullying everyone and anyone around- chaos is slowly but surely unleashed! This also then, is a factor of how weak really the opposition has got, because beyond a point you and I as members of the society will not give a damn to an opposition which has lost it’s relevance political or otherwise! Once this stage is reached and if the government decides to behave like a run away train, you have only one option, either be on that train or get out of the way- nothing and no one will be able to stop it! An opposition that is considerably weakened, at the best is given some compensatory presence by government giving attention now and then, just to have the record maintained that there is an opposition (at least on paper if not in spirit).

A weakened opposition not only fails to hold the government of the day accountable but also fails to draw attention to things that are important and this fleeting loss of focus and action goes on to further compound the problem of an already diminishing opposition. It is not always about the opposition being right or the government being wrong, it is also about being able to deliberate and debate with intent focus and direction on things that matter, which is essentially all but lost. With a weak opposition any discussion just goes on to solicit academic value more then any meaningful political or social engagement or drive! So, by now you may want to ask, how does all of this matter you and me and why should you care for it? Well read on!

Just as a strong and functional government is vital for the progress of any society, equally importance is the presence of a thriving and active opposition. An opposition which has the requisite numbers and more importantly a plan to ensure that the government of the day adheres to what it must and conform to the broader outlines of what the society stands for, beyond these fundamental spaces everything else can be negotiated, constructed and build upon – for that is the real essence of democracy- the rule of the people! A collaborative space of engagement and debate with intent and purpose is critical and essential for any government to perform irrespective of how strong it is; a measured and calibrated opposition is also necessary and important!

If you thought this is limited only to the space of politics, well, think again! If you see what unfolds in the corporate offices you will perhaps know what I mean here. You see the social construct remains the same, irrespective of what vocation we choose and once you have succumbed to the concept of consolidation of power in a unipolar manner in any one segment of the society, sooner or later that will transpire and be witnessed the way society conducts itself across all the other facets that go one to make it! Observe the business leaders around, see the sector leaders around you will be then able to relate how unipolar consolidation of power is so infectious , dangerous and a matter of concern- especially when you have the problem of diminishing incompetence looming over the horizon!

Well there is nothing right and wrong as I said earlier, the important point here is that skewed consolidation of power any side of a line should have any progressive society worried and alarmed for sooner or later as the power intoxicated government begins to erode, most of the times it doesn’t make a pretty picture and when power is given away reluctantly, well we have seen enough examples across the world what unfolds and how the new chapters begin to get re-written!

I leave you with these thoughts for now, take your time off and do reflect! Life is beautiful when there is a dynamic equilibrium and a reversible equilibrium within the spaces of power and control, whether you want to lead a society, an organization or yourself- try too hard one or the other- sooner or later- failure alone will be your enduring legacy!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another one! Until the stay safe sand stay wise!

We have opened up time slots for April 2022 for virtual coaching, for more details drop in a mail to us at simplify@simplifylives.com

The Story of Hope.

~ PA ~ Leave a comment

In these wonderful times, dotted with a deadly pandemic and politically charged hysteria; what more can people offer each other than some healthy dose of hope! For Hope alone (at least for now) seems to be the only constant that has always been there with us in this ever changing dynamic world that we face each day- which seems to get more and more volatile and insane! Join me here for a quick read to decipher Hope and why it works and why it doesn’t and thereby try to understand how much hope is healthy and when does hopelessness help! So here we go!

Through evolution of human societies, if there have been silent sentinels to humanity, hope is undoubtedly one of the foremost of them all! So what is hope and what is that makes “hope” so contagious? The genesis of “hope” can be found throughout our history- whether we were at peace and engaged in creative pursuits of grandeur or we lived in times when war and conflict ruled, “hope” has always made it’s way into our lives- at times to empower us further and make us more creative and at other times coming in to strengthen us to develop enough courage to deal with what we would have been facing! But how does “hope” manifest? Like everything else, “Hope” too is a figment of human intelligence, wisdom and knowledge ( each of these aspects, similar yet completely different) amalgamate to form what we term as “hope”. Without “Hope” there can be no humanity, but at times, this very misplaced “hope” endangers humanity like nothing else!

Hope has always been about allowing the human intelligence to expand and explore what lies beyond what is visible. Hope is what made crusades possible and the made explorers who they were! Hope being a function of the human mind- drawing its strength on rational thinking, a generous sprinkle of intuition, empowered by virtues like courage and patience is what has made the human society reach where it has reached today! The advancements of civilizations through the ages, the breakthroughs in science and engineering, the renaissance of the creative world , each and every element that you perhaps see around you is a story of the victory of human hope under some testing times, some years back! Consider this, today when we get the flu (not the pandemic one) we know we will be alright, that was not the case about 150 years back! With time as science and medicine advanced and a better understanding about the illness and the causes came to the forefront, scientific and rational approach to cure the sick has saved many lives and these lives continue to be saved each day all over the world, all of this became possible only because a few healthcare workers and scientists were ever hopeful and pivoting on that hope they were able to find the cure to a medical condition. This is what has made us to arrive at a stage- where we are in a better space to decipher all that gets opened up around us, all the time no matter how high or complex the challenge, a healthy does of hope is all it takes to turn the tide in the favour of humanity! But then why does hope end up getting mis-sold? How do peddlers of hope at times place humanity at the cross hairs of disasters and unleash untold misery on fellow humans? Well here, like in the case of all vices, it has to do more with human greed- individual and societal rather than a problem about hope! Let me explain!

Humans come in as many hues and colors as nature can present us with and needless to say each of those variations come in with their own package of intelligence, wisdom and knowledge. When there is a dash of the wrong ingredients a self-serving approach begins to take precedent, that’s when problems begin and that’s how these individuals begin to sell “hope” when it is actually something else (basically an agenda, a narrative- which looks and feels like hope- but sadly isn’t) and what’s more worrisome is that fact that these “pseudo-hope” stories end up creating skewed and fractured societies and individuals thereby bringing around the whole debate about “how much of hope” is alright and when does “hope” begin to turn into despair! So what’s the way ahead?

Once “hope” starts getting mis-sold or rather should I say, once everything else begins to get sold as “hope” is when the problems start to compound and depending on how high an individual is in the social frame, what that person’s span of control and circle of influence is. It is this, which leads to the systematic and structured decay of real “hope” and with time what you end up having, is a society replete with individuals who are high on unfounded hope and eternally waiting to see the Sunrise even as they stand facing the west! It is these spaces where people don’t lie but neither offer rational or realistic understanding that false narratives get sold as hope and that takes away whatever limited courage and strength individuals are left with to deal with what they may be facing! But the question why would people do that? Why would anyone falsify and mis-sell falsified narratives disguised as “hope”? Well that really depends on the people who are involved in that space and the purpose of why that is been done! You see, a parent telling a kid that the grades will be better next year (knowing well they may not go beyond another 4-5% points) is just helping the kid stay aligned and not go astray! Genuine and Valid, this is how real “hope” is encouraging, progressive and harmless, on the other end, you have that parent who wants you to lead the pack and stand number uno (knowing that in the whole family people have struggled to get a B grade) is where stress will start to creep in and false and fake perceptions and narratives then begin to outdo “real hope” and thereby manifest everything but the desired outcome!

Likewise when it comes to dealing with people, whether be relations, work, social interactions or even in the instances where societies and nations have to be led, as long as individuals and leaders stay aligned to the space which offers, “real, meaningful, directed and objective driven hope” it works wonders and creates a vibrant, engaged and proactive individuals and social cohort. The moment people begin to sell fake narratives and falsified hope, social decay commences and sooner or late, both (the person who offers these misleading narratives and the people who soak into it) come back to the very same cross-roads where they had earlier met, only to realize what a waste of time it has been for both- the only person who perhaps will not mind that- is the person who would have profited from that exercise and this is the space where those sooth sayer’s and hope sellers operate- without thinking for a minute- what hardship and challenges will individuals face once the narratives fade away! Few politicians operate in this space, come election time, you hear the same sob story of “they did what they could” which is the underlying narrative and all time favorite, rarely will you come across a politician who says, “Inspite and Despite of all this, I did this and will continue to this, knowing well the obstacles on the way”! When you do find someone speaking this line- You have found a rare gem! So what’s the takeaway, you may ask?

Well, it’s simple, always know that “hope”- that is real hope is as rustic and unglamorous as our lives are- it is equally vulnerable as all our other virtues and feeds on your ever changing levels of confidence and fear. Real hope is hard and needs patience and courage for one to withstand the time of their lives hanging on the sliver of hope- simply because the strength and impact of hope always is proportional to an individual’s courage and patience! Hope too is intrinsic and how hopeful one person is the other will never be at the same level- the broader frame may be the same, but the depth and intensity will differ and that depends on the social context of the individuals and other ambient factors! It is when there is a broader social alignment to few issues among the many that societies tend to see the change and that’s when hope begins to manifest! Whether that cohort is a force of fire-fighters , people having a similar political ideology or pursuit of some defined cause, when these are aligned and synchronous is when hope begins to manifest and that’s how “being hopeful” consistently begins to translate and bring in the aspired transformation within individuals and around societies! It has never been a question about being hopeful about “hope”, what matters is staying clear and away from narratives which are disguised as “hope” (which are replete around us) and this is perhaps the leading cause of all strife and tribulations that individuals’, societies undergo, given the times that we live in!

If you ask me, I will say, stay hopeful about what is rational and all that looks unglamorous, hard-work and vital; all else that looks too easy, too loud and too glamorous in all probability is nothing more than a falsified narrative which is being peddled as hope!

I leave you with these thoughts here, urging you to stay “hopeful” for yourself and humanity on all things that matter and must be dealt with, no matter how difficult or challenging they seem to be! Take that pause and check, how much of “real hope” you have received and how much of it have you offered to others! Did you ever fall prey to something else that was peddled as hope?

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another one! Until then stay hopeful and stay wise!

Why News Channels go rogue.

~ PA ~ 1 Comment

News evolved as the wise person’s genie to ensure that people who matter and what mattered reached to people who could do something about it, so that in time the greater good to serve the society could be done! In our present times, this seems to be a fairy tale, and this is why we are here for- to know and try to possibly see why and what makes news channels turn rogue, especially when they too have risen from the cradle of the same society where they keep barking, shouting and yelling every few hours, never realizing that they are in a way- doing it to a mirror for every time a finger is raised, three go back to them! Join me here as we try to unravel this space and figure out what really is possibly happening!

Right now, in 2020, even as the pandemic ended up killing thousands across the world,if you take a moment to analyze what the news has been all about- more often than not it has been about a political rhetoric around the pandemic, rather than covering and real picture and helping policy makers and government by being that extra ear or eye to the ground to possibly cover what has slipped! The political rhetoric is importantly more damaging, especially when it goes on and on and starts to follow the same formula at international, national and even at local or community levels- what than unfolds is chaos and division- people who lived like extended families for generations or more overnight in the span of few months end up believing there are groups in the society and as the socio psychological aspects start to play out- social confirmation bias takes precedence and the urge to belong to one group or identity over the other and being vocal and loud about it starts to take precedence over anything and everything else! What’s more worrisome is this rogue approach by news channels has not now remained limited to only the ideological battles of the political theater, now it’s coming after every thread tat goes on to weave the intricate social fabric and the last mistake that anyone can do is to think that it’s not happening around you or you have not knowingly or unknowingly erred and moved beyond the side of caution at some or the other time!

If political theatrics by news channels was not bad enough, which in yesteryear’s had the potential to cause greater rift and confusion among nations (who are adversaries or possibly wanting to amicably settle something and then step back because some channel sends out a “breaking news” which basically ends up breaking the only hope and ends up creating more damage than anything else!); in today’s times, these very rogue channels can pick and choose establishments that run a nation, bureaucracy, law enforcement, judiciary, social sectors, private organisations, celebrities, public representatives, you and me, if they perceive any of these sets as a threat which can scuttle their agenda of peddling what they have! So now the million dollar question? How did we reach this place? How did we allow this to go so far beyond repair? Well read on!

If you see the genesis of human growth and progress the world over- irrespective whether the social set up was aligned to democracy or autocracy or whatever political style you want to call it, the singular fact has been that every and any social set across the planet has always been the case of a few leading the many and it always has been the quality of these few which has either accelerated the growth and development of the societies in question or has regressed and finished them off, sending them back by years and decades! As I said earlier, as long as the news channels stuck to their oath and delivered what they were supposed to all was fine, the decay and regression began as the news channels decided to cross that line of vintage journalism and get into selective game hunting under the garb of investigative journalism- which by the very own genesis of the word “journalism” has no place! Once news channels realized the vulnerabilities and the voids in the systems as they worked or began to get dysfunctional, soon their stance changed from being journalism and society driven to proactive exploitative approaches aimed to facilitate agendas of the “other” bosses especially as they are aligned to their own! But why would this happen?

You see, societies have been always governed by the “few”. These “few” could be anyone or all of these- kings, President’s, Prime Minister’s Rulers, Few Private business houses (the real original blue eyed tycoons!), visit any of the 196 nations on this planet and the chances are you will see only one or multiple of these core pillars playing the pivotal role in shaping or sizing the today and the tomorrow of the millions that rely on them! As long as these elements of the “few” agree to disagree on a few things and pledge to work collaboratively with mutual respect and defined boundaries, the news channels have no role, except for covering the occasional announcements, reading out the press releases and those odd accidents that happen in any society, but as confrontation and greed sets up in these governing elements either as a cause and effect of each other or independent of each other, the news channels get the small break in the fabric of governance and once they latch onto it, instead of the good old vintage days of journalism instead of stitching the wound up, they take devilish pride and pleasure in accelerating the depth and degree of the break and simply allow the society to bleed even as the founding elements end up coming up with narratives in an vain attempt to course correct- for by now- the drama is already playing out and the audience who anyways are suffering (as the society begins to hemorrhage) have nothing else to do but get sold into one narrative over the other and it is this space where the war of the narratives are born which threaten to rip off all remaining values, functioning elements and systems of governance. So what’s the plan you may want to ask? Well read on!

News Channels and their rogue behaviour can be only allowed and go on as long as the governing elements of a society allow that to happen and why they would or any of them would allow it to happen is a direct relation to the amount of greed, power play and ego warfare among the elite- these egos are not the usual ones’ these egos ride high, real high of millions of dollars of business awarded/rejected and plum positions offered to taken away! This is what is the real root why news channels go rogue! Fix this one aspect and you will see the good old value based vintage journalism making a come back even before Christmas rings in!

At the end of it, the news channels, the “few” who (mis)govern the “many” all are a product of the same social bucket and once in a century, there comes a time when that bucket does get punctured and then the onus lies on the “few” then to create a new bucket- hopefully learning from the lessons why the old one failed! Human greed and the aspiration and desire for power has been the core to our evolution, the only problem is that now, in a few pockets this aspiration and greed is crossing the lines of morality like never before, sure enough one person’s moral grandstand could be not of the other’s liking, but when it comes to the very existence of the other person, there will be competing and conflicting narratives coming up and with that you will also see the coming to rise of the rogue news channels- who know only one thing- profit- profit from chaos, profit from division, profit from hate and profit from turbulent times, knowing well that the very society that they are operating within is being exposed and becomes even more vulnerable with each histrionic show that is allowed to be played out by the rogue channels and the society then not only gets expose to vulnerabilities internally but as a nation too external agents then proactively begin to seek weakened organs to penetrate and damage- these organs then could be the people, sections of the society or the very establishments themselves! So the solution?

Well to begin with as individuals just log off the rogue news network! Stop unverified circulation of things that you may not be sure off, have opinions on logic and science and propagate a rationalist mindset! Political alignment has nothing to do with common-sense and being scientific, you may be extreme right or extreme left- for both the cases the Sun still rises in the East and rivers still flow into the oceans, the only difference is what these two ideologies do, when they get eggs, one goes on to make poached eggs, the other may go ahead an make an egg sandwich- that’s the simple singular truth of life! Give common-sense and science a chance! Once at the individual level this unwarranted and unwanted intellectual garbage consumption is halted, the “few” who (mis)govern will be left with no choice at all then to begin to govern and redraw the lines of agreement to disagree and once that is done, it will be he final nail in the coffin of the rogue news network and in no time, they will vapourise as if they never existed in the first place!

It is the collective effort of the gifted and talented “few” of each society alone that can put an end to the rogue news network, locally, nationally and internationally and for that to take effect, individually we need to switch off from what doesn’t seem right! The easiest way to do that is, use your rationality, go by facts and figures and always remember Great Leaders and Great Nations are not the ones’ who never fail, but rather are the ones’ who fail, accept it and make amends to move ahead and overcome their setbacks over and over again! Rogue News Channels are like insects; the first ray of Sunlight and they are dusted!

I leave you here, take your time, reflect upon the society that you are in, wherever you are, see who are the “few” that make decisions for your life, identify the real news channels who still are standing there and weathering the storms for you-align to them and as soon as you the see the “rogues” among the news network, well by now you possibly know quite well what you need to do!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another one, until then stay wise, stay informed and stay safe!

Saving democracy (in the digital era).

~ PA ~ Leave a comment

Whether you are in the US, India or some other nation or any society for that matter, 2020 has shown us in greater contrast and vivid detail the power that the digital world and the elements therein have when it comes to creating competing narratives and stories which hold a formidable power to destabilize/ impact functioning democratic societies and place them on the edge- either forcing them to become operationally dysfunctional or change them completely into a new entity- which may serve or dis-serve the people living in those societies! Join me here as we take a quick look to figure out why and how democracies get nailed in today’s digital space and if there’s any real way around or through this to safeguard the values and principles of democracy for our collective today and tomorrow!

Democracies have thrived and survived without major glitches around the world since time in memorial, however as societies began to advance, gain access to more and more knowledge and as the power of print and the documented word began to be taken as a gospel, democracies the world over were beginning to set themselves up for failure in due course! The unchecked, unregulated and disproportionate access and power of media through agenda driven deployment the world over has done more harm to democracies than anything else! Think about it! Every time you hear about a scam, a scandal, an ideological narrative, the whole spread about labels like “RW”, “LW” who gives birth to them? Think about it! Whether these are endorsed by political establishments or not is a different matter, but the fact that these labels very often come from the cradles of media houses who desperately try to make news for themselves! Think about it, whether you like or not like a politician, whatever your ideology is, “why would any successful, right thinking politician want to jeopardize their individual careers as politicians and let go of all that power and control that they get to have by involving into something which at the very foundation of it, threatens to take that away form them!” So now the question, if politicians are not keen on this, why would media want to get into something that has the potential to threaten the existence of their business?

Well, the answer to this is embedded in the societal framework and how societies forgive and forget! Forgetful societies are often vulnerable to onslaught of media garbage with or without political endorsements! The simple reason why these societies are forgetful are, is because a large section of these societies is simply struggling to make their lives meaningful by surviving and rising just perhaps one notch higher then what they had inherited in terms of life standards and aspirations! This small step too is at times so all consuming that, in the very struggle of survival and touching their next aspirations, they are left with no choice but to keep ignoring every now and then what is unfolding around them and thereby the whole social ecosystem ends up being a blind animal with sensory perceptions intact but not wired to any purpose driven action or effort! Furthermore, as these onslaughts increase in frequency and variety (based on which section and for what reason they are coming from the society), these societies become vulnerable , anxious and thereby more narrowed down in their outlook to life and survival, simply taking away any remaining resistance, dissent or question that they may have for those who govern them, and who makes this happen- well who else the omnipresent media with or without the clout of the political system at work either behind, alongside or leading the charge!

Societies that are hard to forgive, are paradoxically spared and the media and the political clout weigh their options a thousand times before tinkering with these societies, because they know it too well, that one wrong move or perhaps even a right move at a wrong time and their careers are surely coming to an end with unprecedented speed and certainty! Societies which are not forgiving are the ones’ who have established themselves as a core and a foundation to nation building for generations together! These are societies which resemble small clusters developing into larger towns and cities, where growth has always been slow, steady and calibrated enough at all times to ensure that the local flavors are not trampled over and that essence is the key why these societies become successful and retain their strong identities even after 50-75 years or perhaps over 100 years in the case of some societies and nations! So what is really getting played out and why has democracy become so vulnerable especially in the last 20 years?

You see, based on what type of society you are part of , you perhaps witness a generous dose of narratives from the media spaces every day, every hour and in case of few societies (which suffer from information overload and are necessarily societies running on (mis) information steroids!) perhaps very few minutes! Now these narratives very rarely have anything to do with “you” and very often are at their very best “teasers” being sent out by “someone” who is managing the show. How and what reactions begin to crop up gives that “someone” the power to negotiate, bargain and leverage “something”, “somewhere” in the elaborate fabric which has interwoven spaces of media, political clout and bureaucracy!

With the advent of the digital ecosystem the abuse of democracy has only accelerated; knowing well the vulnerability of people across societies (not because they are dumb, simply because they are too busy fighting and figuring out their survival- the next meal or the next pay check!) it has just unleashed a relentless onslaught to drive agendas and narratives with little or no time for people to think, evaluate or even fact check! The result, is chaos- again based on the type of society and which part of the world map you are in, the impact can be mild or severe and the consequences of this agenda driven media hype (with or without political benevolence) is almost always detrimental!

This is how it always has been and this is how it will remain to be, the point is, earlier there were unspoken and unwritten rules, a point beyond and below which neither the political clout and nor the media would ever want to navigate and explore, but once those lines have been erased, it is a virtual free for all and with every person, every element of the “someone” trying to out do the other, the value systems begin to evaporate and societies start to appear like predictable simulations, wherein set pieces get played out before every major political event, announcement, strategic announcement or before regulatory changes are made! Depending on what type of society you live in and who that “someone” is (whether there is more power in the political clout or the media has enslaved the political clout) the rules of engagement will keep shifting and needless to say, the price will be heavy and more often than not paid by the members of the society who almost never realize what hit them and why! So does this mean that there is no respite for a democratic set up to survive in a space where the political clout and the media, either by themselves or hand-in-glove are working to erode the foundations?

The answer is a YES and a NO! Yes there is away to get over and beyond this heady cocktail of political clout and media nexus and NO if Inertia gets the better off the society! Societies and importantly democratic suffer from what I call as the “Curse of Democracy”, like Democracy has multiple blessings and people can write and write poems, essays and even their PhD Thesis on why Democracy is vital, fundamental, progressive and the true personification of the human spirit, nothing wrong with all or any of that, but what a lot of people fail to factor in the singular fact that democracy is not a state of a society or an end destination; it is rather a lifestyle, approach chosen by the society for empowering its people to reach their aspirations, it has to be and should be always in Action, it has to be practiced, preached , lived and kept alive by ensuring that the conduct of every member of the society is aligned to the laid down democratic principles and guidelines that have been chosen and adopted by the society! It is when this sensitive element fails, that the political clout and the media are able to drive narratives, (mis) represent intentionally or by error and create competing views and postures not for debates, but for confrontation and if you have read the story of human evolution, confrontation and aggression brings the best of animal behaviour among humans and that is what we get to see all around us, in one way or the other!

The only way to safeguard democracy and ensure that the adopted values, principles and the future are protected, is by breathing in and practicing what we have adopted! As individuals, don’t bribe that official, follow those rules, don’t ask for favors for jobs and business, be who you are, stay authentic, live a lifestyle that you can afford and then see how the things begin to change when a major section of society embraces this! Sounds utopian? Sure seems like that for me too, but that’s the essence, societies get driven to false narratives and unwanted ideological confrontations simply because of the latent inertia of speaking out when it matters the most and standing by what is right and allowing too many exceptions! Societies are at times forgetful and at times forgiving, what is needed is that they need to be unforgiving at all times and unforgettable each time, that’s when the political clout and the media will dare not drive false narratives or (mis” lead thoughts, (mis) plant ideas or resort to under the belly tactics to pursue their own selfish agenda of exercising demonic control and a falsified sense of achievement at the cost of millions of tarnished aspirations!

Democratic societies have the been a witness to milestones and achievements of scientific and creative excellence in the last 300 years of human history and also in the medieval and ancient times! There is a reason why the “I” matters alongside the “WE” and it is this spirit of finding the individual excellence among the collective good that hold the promise to the future of democratic societies! Shun the clout whether political or media, switch off that shrill channel, spend that time to develop yourself and your family, each house doing it, you will have a changed town in a year, a changed city in three years and a changed state in five years and in a decade a whole new breathing, vibrant and alive nation with a promise of the future!

Democracy is like a flowing river, dam it right, it will nourish and give you the bounties of nature, dam it wrong and it will wipe you off unleashing the fury of nature! The change begins with you, the next time you go to Vote, know that well! Vote today to align your future!

Well, honestly, switch off that “idiot box” and whenever you are presented with information, make a rule to fact check and do bother to know, if what you consume are candies or garbage coated in sugar!maybe it’s easy, maybe it’s difficult, perhaps will take an effort, but remember, as humans fundamentally we all are hardwired to care and share for each other, we lived millions of years earlier on that way and in these modern times it only makes simple plain sense to step away from all that puts us onto a path of confrontation and contradiction with each other to a level where we begin to think that “You” and “I” is greater than “WE” and nothing can be far away form the truth than this!

So I leave you with these thoughts, grab that coffee and switch on that news channel/entertainment channel and try to run a test to see what you are being served today- candies or garbage!

Ciao for now, stay safe, stay wise and I will be back with another one soon!

The Leadership Void.

~ PA ~ 2 Comments

Whether it’s the corporate world, the ever pulsating world of politics or about leading ourselves, there comes a time, when we experience or get to see the manifestation of the Leadership void. Join me here, we take a look at what this leadership void is about, it is not about having a leader for sure, it is about the reasons behind that and we also explore ways on how we can get this space fixed! This is the same void from where great icons emerge either to serve themselves (salvage of who and what they are) or at times they plunge ahead in the selfless service of the organisations & communities that they are part of- whichever path that they choose to go ahead with- it’s an empowering, enriching experience as long as the new found direction and motives align to the greater good! So where and how does all of this begin?

Whether it is about us, as Individuals, or about us as someone who is responsible to lead a firm or a nation, we will hit that odd patch at some or the other time, for one or the other reason and when that happens, the immediate reaction is to give away the reins- it’s like you have been driving just fine and it takes just those few seconds over your years of experience to change your whole outlook and approach towards driving! This is what creates the void- an incident, an accident, a missed deadline, a compelling commitment, promise, a promise which could not be delivered not because your competence was compromised or ineffective, but because the time that you traversed was meant to create that block at that moment and your reaction to it, is what sets up the void in the first place! In many cases, most of the cases rather, people will recollect themselves and will get their act together and keep walking ahead, so the void doesn’t precipitate further and in no time even perhaps forgotten as new achievements and new positive stories start to be created. There are those odd cases though, which emerge (and it happens when the stakes are high, really high) and hence you see this leadership void being played out in large stages of business and politics!

As Individuals when we loose that target, we have no other option but to gather ourselves back and again go for it! For example, say, you set a goal to get your self fit and arrive at a weight number in three months. When those three dreaded months are over, you find that you actually have ended up adding a few pounds rather then reducing- so what option do you have? Either begin to ignore and let live be- the Leadership Void impact- or analyse the issue and get going at it again because you know very well that your health is the key to your existence and irrespective of the social appeal that your fit body may get you- the fact remains that a healthy body alone will ensure you walk this planet for those many extra days or hours! Hence when it comes to matters which rare essentially individual and intrinsic, the void to lead oneself seldom remains long and deep and is quickly altered or replaced with some other pursuit and that’s how the story goes on for individuals either from one achievement to the next or one leadership void unto the next!

When it comes to the big stage of business and politics the ramifications can be deadly and intense! Consider this, you have a company whose CEO decides to quit and no one wants to take up that position! Call it acquired levels of incompetence or the complexity of the shit that needs to be managed or whatever the case may be the fact remains that the Leadership Void that gets created when you lead thousands of people- can be far damaging and may have irreversible consequences! When this reluctance of not wanting to be the CEO begins to manifest it starts to send signals which are subtle yet powerful internally and externally about the firm! Employees begin to evaluate if their individual growth is now going to be bottled up, if so how soon and at what level and what’s the economic damage that may come with it ( no one wants ton work for charity or passion- no one does and is they say so- fire them- because they are lying!). Externally vendors, clients all take note and begin to wonder if the problem is more fundamental and start to re- calibrate the competencies and abilities of the firm- few cases leading to law suits and termination of contracts etc. So you see one person’s exit and the inability of anyone else to step in, can cause an impact which is beyond ones’ control but plays havoc with all the stakeholders involved!

If you thought, this looks pretty bad and what could be more worse than this, welcome to politics! When a leadership void is created either by a leader stepping down or being made redundant by the polity (not necessarily form the same political party), chaos ensues! You see, most political parties (as long as you experience some kind of fair and free democratic process of elections in your nation) are evaluated by the voters by factors like the charisma of the leader, the promise, the vision, the track record, the future, the available strength of the team that a party has, level of acceptance internationally and nationally and the quality of views about the social fabric of a nation so on and so forth! So when the leader quits for whatever reason that could be intrinsic or a politically engineered plan; with the leader goes all the elements that were glued on to that party’s purpose and promise! So strangely enough, knowing politicians the way they are, you will find that when shit happens and a political leader quits, even as people may rumble, rush or create lobby groups to stake claim for that chair, the real truth is, everyone is wishing for the same person to come back and lead all over again until a time that there is more calm and clarity in the political waters and await for a time when they would want to make the move when acceptance will seem more natural, like a corporate success plan! In the ensuing period when this void thrives, needles to say the other parties, called normally as political adversaries make the most as the sun shines and are provided with enough of political ammunition that can last for years to come- where they keep on hitting hard on the other party- asking a simple question- That you could not lead your organisation, how can you manage the nation!

So, here it is more about playing to the audiences (the nation) like in the corporate world to the board of the company and the show goes on! When current leaders drop the ball, trust me even that, in a few cases would be a leadership move and if you were that odd person to end up catching the falling ball in a hurry, the weight of that will break your fingers and bury you in a lot of mess than you can ever think off! So the rule says- When leaders pull the brake for no reasons- put on your seat belts and be responsive – not reactive nor proactive! So what can be done about this and how can organisations or even the polity arrest this from manifesting?

It all starts and ends with how sensitive (as in- an acute ability to sense) the people experts are in the organisation or how astute and politically suave the members within a political party are for being able to judge whether a person should lead or not in the first place! Only when this space is analysed in detail with the allowance for failures, setbacks, rip offs , scandals, media assaults and all that you can think of; is when a wise people office of a major corporation or a mature political party will ask someone to lead! It all starts with the individual under the cross hairs to lead and it all ends with that- within the range of the highs and lows once it is understood how much of that swing will remain within the permissible limit- life is a party as long as the rope to the swing is not shredded or ripped off due to the ever increasing burden of the individual who is leading the team!

As long as this first step is fixed and a firm foundation is built around what the limits of leadership are and those are communicated and made clear to the person who leads- things are normally taken care of- most of the times! You see, even leaders are humans and being humans- at some or the point they will break down for one or the other reason and while if it happens for reasons of their own doing like health or some scam, that’s alright and an emerging void can be rapidly replaced and completed, but when that breakdown starts to spread like sepsis and the leader in chief starts to transform into the whiner in chief- that high level sabotage can not only wipe off organisation off the market map but in the case of political parties, end up altering the political landscape of a nation! When Leadership void begins to attain these level of massive unmanageable proportions- you see splintering of political parties and realignment of business units, mergers, acquisitions, stake sales, everything and anything that can be done to ensure that the organisation survives, the nation stays and does not get consumed by the leadership void which threatens to create an unsettling period for everyone around!

A few final thoughts, as I wrap this piece, Leadership Void assumes greater intensity, impact and influence in proportion of who the individual is, what that organisation is or what a political party is in a given contextual setting of a society or nation! The only way to stem this across any of the chosen levels, is about knowing the Individual, the gifts and the curses that the person brings along and how much of what is allowable , manageable and workable to ensure that the ecosystem stays intact when this person occupies the chair! Sure enough there could be, and certainly are, many more details that go on to make sure that these leadership voids are far and few in between and that again depends on the levels of competence of the people across the organisation or within a political party! What we see played out across society is nothing more than the presence or absence of human competence and the extreme manifestation of it, is the emergence of Leadership Void!

I leave you here, with these thought, reflect and seek the competence that you find or don’t within and round you and fasten your set belt, for the void may already be there or on its way!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another article! Stay safe, stay wise and stay relevant!

Guard your intelligence.

~ PA ~ Leave a comment

Waking up every day to some next level of crap seems like has become the new normal in the times that live in! Even in times of global pandemic societies the world over have been blessed to witness arson, rioting and looting for one reason or the other. If this political and social unrest is not enough, we have the never ending surprises springing up at the workplace that we are yet engaged with or we were engaged with! Whether it’s the uncertainty of the next paycheck, or the heavily laced work environments as each person tries to protect their turf and survive the job cuts and pay adjustments as much and as far as possible- Every sense and sensibility seems to have been thrown right out of the window and people are now, more than ever before in the recent history of humanity are reacting and reacting to situation as they evolve rather than proactively altering the narrative and responding to what emerges! Join me here as we try to understand what the real stories are behind the ones that get played out and is there anything that one can do in these contextual time warps to guard their intelligence and sustain their sanity! So here we go!

So, to begin with what does your mormal day seem to be like- well chances are you are waking up to that piece of aggregated advertorial- which some refer as newspaper- where the headlines are nothing more than a well curated orchestra of the collusion between the politicians of the day and the business that owns that piece of information thrown in front of your doorstep. Depending on who has how many such pamphlets are thrown public opinion is been swayed and directed to think in a particular manner about a certain topic and this is where the real game begins! If that was not enough- you have other avenues of intrusion that come into your life- that post on a social media handle, that craze for the likes you want to garner, or that comment which either puts you on cloud 9 or throws you into the abyss which either calls you to start with a smoke or start getting worked up for no real sense of reason! Add to this the real or created challenges at the workplace where you are possibly still hanging around by a thread or the business that your struggling to keep afloat! Politics, corporate bitching, undercutting, changing polarities, missing common sense and that rare arrival of intelligence among all this noise- sure seems to be too much to be handled by an individual for even one day! Well, the fact is that we actually ending up whiling away our whole lives doing this same thing or variations of these day in and day out and seldom realize what we have really achieved in the sense of the word called achievement and what we have really missed- missed as in something that web should have been anchored to and which we have lost never to get back! To all of this when you add that penultimate layer of your inner circle of your family and friends- well that is almost all about it and beyond this point you are already drowned enough, at times even forgetting to breathe for yourself to ensure that you stay alive! So what’s this chaos and noise all about, which simply doesn’t seem to go away and the more we try to fix it, it ends up fixing us and our approach to it and life in a way that we even forget what we had set out to do!

This, my friend is the modern day warfare of information which attacks, continuously and repeatedly your mind and more importantly your intelligence! You see, knowledge is about knowing what has already happened and all the entirety around it- What helps humans to keep progressing ahead and moving ahead is Intelligence- Intelligence which uses, Knowledge coupled with experience to create a pathway using ingenious ways to secure a pint in the future which moves away from the problems of yesterday and today as we see them emerge and dissipate and at tims compete around us all the time! Once Intelligence is attacked it is the proverbial death sentence to our very existences- because then we are no longer thinking and feeling humans- we are rather directed biomechanical units which perform what is expected of us by the people who have the power to have that done from us- this is that dangerous place where the top 1% control, strategise and direct humanity to perform and execute what works for them! Think about it a planet with over 7.5 billion souls all controlled and directed by a few thousand people- politicians, businesses, technocrats, innovators, authors,mercenaries, spiritual gurus- there is virtually almost one representative from every imaginable sector that you can think of who are part of this elitist of the elite club that wants to reduce humanity to cyborgs and biomechanical machines who think less and feel nothing and this is why the very critical need to guard your intelligence so that you don’t end up being the next victim in this scheme of things! Don’t trust or find it hard to believe- well live you life and tell me ten years later- if thats’ the way you think it works! Being a scientist, I can tell you one thing, you don’t have to burn your finger to know if the water is bling or not and this is what separates people who guard their Intelligence and those who outsource it! So why does this occur and is there a way around, through or over it? Well read on!

As societies evolved we have had different ages or definitions of power, there was a classical ancient time when knowledge was power and the ones’ who had it, manipulated and directed kingdoms and empires to their whims and fancies at times for the greater good and at times leading them to catastrophic disasters especially when a layer of human greed and the aspects of cardinal sins was applied around that! We then had a period of medieval history and recent modern history which saw the maturity of kingdoms and nations as governance matured and innovators and scientists arrived at the scene as new age heros and they were hailed and nations/kingdoms who had more of them invariably saw more progress and development and this has been the foundation of the last century and this is what has lead us to where we are now in this moment! If there has been any singular common thread running through the centuries, it has been the fact that each time humanity has worked cohesively for the greater good of society the society or nation has thrived and made great progress benefiting every person associated with that network! Each time the efforts have been subverted, sabotaged owing to greed of a few in those very societies we have seen downfall and misery arising again and again and all the negative aspects of humanity, whether that be wars, famines, capitalistic greed, political and social unrests all of these and many such challenging connotations of society have made their presence felt and very often robbed away those societies of all the progress that they would have done in the last few decades! Now the question you may want to ask is, why do supposedly intelligent sections of the society fall into this kind of unsettling trap? Well as statisticians say, numbers are very funny, once you learn how to play around with them, you can have 1 being greater than 2 depending on where the decimal lies and where the zeroes fall!

Once people let their guard down and start to consume everything that they see, read, hear or are spoken about as true and fail to apply common-sense and science to verify and test the veracity of the claims, individuals and societies set themselves up for their downfall by shutting down their ability to think! This is why you must guard your intelligence, because intelligence alone is what gives the potent power to analyse, debate and critically test everything and anything that is presented and this is why people who are locked into the prison of their knowledge seldom shake hands with intelligence- as they are trapped in the times bygone which hardly have any or have a rapidly losing contextual relevance to the present moment and for those yet to arrive!

Sections of societies, that elite group knows this fact quite well and hence the war of the narratives– eternal and evergoing- where they want to create issues where none exist,want to sweep away what needs to be addressed and all this done- with a single purpose- to direct your thinking to the way that suits their agenda and purpose and unwittingly people succumb to this and before you realise it, you have diminished your ability to think afresh, anew or be innovative and than are permanently resigned to the instructions and apparent guidance by these very 1% lords that hold the power to sway individuals and societies the way they wish to! So if this is that bad, is there a way around it, can individual make a difference? What’s the path ahead? Read on!

The most assuring part of intelligence is that it is there- it’s about whether you use it or not! So it’s like that electricity supply which is always on and you need to flip that switch to access the light you need to or that AC that you want, but the whole point here is that there has to be an effort made to flip that switch! Flipping the switch and the right one is the essence of using intelligence sparingly like salt is to food to create magic and outcomes that have the promise for the masses and serve the greater good rather than becoming a self-centric exercise! This intrinsic power of intelligence is what is feared by the 1% club and hence the ever aggressive race to create smokescreens and false narratives to try and blind out intelligence! So where and how do we begin?

The easiest and the the perhaps the right place is to begin with you- beginning with oneself- as the foundation – as an aspect of self-awareness and knowing well what serves you and what doesn’t- is the first step to ensure that your immediate circle remains free of unwanted garbage, clutter and nonsense that can creep in- under the guise of “critical or breaking news”. Once you have sanitised your immediate area- you have ample space to think, deliberate, maneuver and progress at a pace, time and path chosen by you- yes you alone and that is what makes the whole difference between being a leader/clutter breaking individual or a follower and part of the masses! Once you have secured his inner space, the next step and perhaps equally important one is about building gates that check and recheck what’s been allowed into your clean zone, ideas, people, opportunities, thoughts, everything and anything- because like a virus on the prowl, one bad entity is enough to unleash a cascade of unfortunate events which can bring down even the most intelligent of people, ideas and opportunities! I will stop short of getting into details of how we do it and what steps does it entail, because each one of us is unique – as unique we can be and our contextual truths of life are perhaps stranger than fiction and that’s where the opportunity too lies to defeat and win over the 1% elite club- by creating distractions and moves banking on our intrinsic intelligence to help us achieve what serves the greater good for us and the society around us! This, my friend is the essence of guarding deploying our intelligence, no matter what the pressure we face or what the odds that we face!

I will leave your here with these thoughts, urging you to take a moment to notice what’s driving you- rather what is that you are driving you life through or are you getting driven around! Wisdom lies in deciphering Knowledge from Intelligence and applying Intelligence to make knowledge work for your present and future and not allowing Knowledge to entrap your intelligence to the bygone eras!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another article, Until then stay wise, knowledgeable and intelligent and yes, don’t consume all that comes your way- remember -even the virus got sent!

The Work From Home pandemic!

~ PA ~ 5 Comments

I know you may think, I am out of my mind, but trust me, when I say the next challenges pertaining to human creativity , collaboration and trust are all going to arise from this so -called magic bullet of work-from-home! Join me here as we try to gauge what is perhaps greatly amiss and why what’s missing here will eventually end up causing the next pandemic with connotations spanning the mental health, financial health and work health of individuals and corporations world over! So here we go!

As the virus came calling, governments did what humans are great at doing- imitation- yes imitate what’s happening with the other nation; so as one nation locked down, so did others- well not to blame anyone for so much little was even known as things started to go from bad to worse and by the time people knew what had to be done and there was too much of cheese all over the place to avoid people from tripping, falling and breaking their bones- so the holy answer to all problems became the lock down and with that piece of unwarranted medical harakiri came the second unintended consequence of “work from home”!

People forgot in no time,even their ability to think and see how suddenly, just because the law of the land said so,working from home became fine! It is the same company perhaps, which would have made you move houses so that you could cut the traffic and reach on time, perhaps it is the very same firm which said, the offer letter could be given only if you stayed within a 10 mile radius and can make it ot the office on time, these are the very same offices which cut your leaves, salaries because you clocked in ten minutes late , three times over in a month just as recently as a few months back, now they all seemed to be just fine- for them- even as your privacy and peace at home has been plundered, looted and laid threadbare- whether it is that pet calling for you attention, that maid coming in at the critical moment through you presentation or the small kid who simply doesn’t understand what the parent is doing toying around with an electronic gadget- all and many such more minute scenarios are laying the foundation for your next disaster in the making and if you are not careful, the next one will even shame the virus- because the next challenge coming your way will be more personal- created by you and can only be solved by you!

To begin with, let’s try to understand what has actually happened! One fine day, your organisation was informed it’s not business as usual- like many others you too rejoiced with the thought of being able to work in your pyjamas and seem cool- to post snaps from your kitchen and show your superhuman skills of being able to work at home and for office at the same time- well this was the first checkmate- you just proved to your firm that the work given by your firm- and the price at which it was given to you doesn’t seem to make any sense- so as a consequence- your work-from-home hours suddenly started to stretch beyond your levels of comfort and sanity- so that now forget the kitchen you also find it a challenge to relieve yourself! Add to this the next layer of complication that gets added when you have more number of family members “working from home”- conversations overlap, conversations are overheard, jokes become a pain point and tonality becomes a point of debate- next any remaining confidentiality- whether its that email to your colleague., vendor or boss- doesn’t miss the attention of the other members and often your emails will be spell checked and langage refined- finally at some point your people from office will know- you have got a communication expert sitting by you helping you counter your one more incompetence which now lies more exposed than ever!

Likewise there will be countless odditties that will come to the forefront and few of them will many a times not what you had been saying all the while to the people with whom you worked at the workplace and now that they have intruded your private space- well the sad fact is there is no place to go further and create ambiguity- so what does this to the trust between people? Well as colleagues you have mental images and comfort evolved dealing with specific individuals- not everyone you know makes you equally comfortable hence- you tell what you think is the level of comfort for both of you- but with this private space intrusion there is a new level of problem- a lot of people come to know what you have perhaps not told- because it may not have been necessary- or required or because you didn’t want to- in any case what that ends up doing (which again is unwarranted) is erodes a small amount of trust and once this process starts, trust me there is no going back and it’s just a matter of time that you will see so-called team re-alignments and working dynamics change and in extreme cases people shuffled across the board and in a few other case ejected from the system! All simply because your privacy got intruded and you really had not planned for this shit coming your way!

To all this drama when you add multiple stakeholders and also add the other work-from-home members from your residence (now which resembles kind of a public arena-because of the kind of activities that seem to start at 8am and end only around midnight!) the chaos and confusion only adds up and in some cases is bad enough to drive you crazy enough to either share some unpleasant exchanges with the people in the zone or simply hang up your boots and say a hasty goodbye to what would have otherwise been a smooth career pathway- the one that you had aspired for and set out to achieve right from your college days! So what’s really happening here? Is there a way out of this and way to manage this? How long will this go on and what’s really the matter- the work or you?

Let’s start from the beginning! Do you remember few of the conversations that you had when you took up this job (which has now intruded into your privacy)? Yes, topics like- work-life-balance, respect for private time, no calls or emails on holidays and weekends, why you must move closer so that you can commute and be in the office! Why the office discourages working from home- because they respect your privacy! and now this very office is advocating the very opposite of all that was said and agreed upon- why? The Virus- not at all- you see, global businesses, whether you are selling donuts or some high end jwellery have been under stress even before the pandemic broke out and globally the capitalists led- world of corporate blue collared elites have been waiting for an opportunity to correct the systemic wrongs and the pandemic just happened to be the blessing in disguise that they were ecer waiting for! This once in a lifetime opportunity gave them the reason to dishonour their corporate lease agreements, defer payments to vendors and staff indefinitely (unless in few nations where in the governments intervened and set the rules of engagement – to salvage some sanity), get even with the governments of the day to extract deep discounting for the next few years so on and so forth, not to forget the reset of their banking terms and conditions (the corporate ones- even as at an individual levels you still get hounded by debt collection calls!) So you see, the real thing about asking you to work from home is the least interest of your safety- but in the larger interest of corporate finance and the compulsions that go around with the nexus of business and politics the world over- nothing to say good about and nothing to whine- because neither I am the business nor the government! and you ended up thinking the work-from-home- intrusion to your privacy was a sacrifice that you are doing for upholding your company! Well keep thinking that way- and wait for the next nightmare!

The other serious level problem that has happened is that as individuals begin working connected through distributed spaces- human brain the way it is- trust erodes rapidly and you add a personality angle to it, this differentiating rate of trust erosion for all the right and wrong reasons helps accelerate the fall of teams and bring in the “new order”- read creating lean teams as the new need of the day- thereby kicking in pay cuts and job losses- each and every aspect of this is linked to the innocent looking solution of “work-from-home”! The things that help this, are the ability to track meticulously- time everything to the nth second and no more- lobby meetings, board room chats and walk around the office so the sudden addition of a 60-80 minutes of additional time through the day- ironically enough ends up making you look more non-productive than ever before and you too begin to loose a grip as the normal way of planning does not help as work seems to get over sooner than you think and as the battle to prove efficiency amongst colleagues takes centre stage- each one send sup undoing the other one and eventually create enough fluidity so that when the time comes- all are swept away in one masterstroke of team realignment! The only way that individuals hope that the organization still holds interest in them is by understanding if their home-office furniture ordered is coming in or not! I mean really! So is there anything that we can do, if this is all a game cast at the upper crest of societies and nations, do we stand a chance?

Well, as history says, when the war is with the system, you need to be in the system to beat the system or develop and evolve it, never has anyone been able to alter the course of history by staying aloof, unaffected or away from it! The fact remains that even as we engage and present ourselves to work with corporates or business houses- irrespective how experienced or inexperienced you are- you need to have your own intrinsic non-negotiable terms and conditions! Like all offices have a office rule book or a manual or better still a code of work , you too need to come up with a code book for your life- I mean, after all isn’t that the most important thing that you should ever be bothered about? Something that core and intrinsic, because when all else and everyone leaves you at some point in time- which they will certainly do- what stands with you apart from your shadow will be the core values systems and the intrinsic systems that construct and make you who you are! This, my friend is the essence of being able to stand firmly and face all the storms and high waves that may ever come your way- by harnessing the strength of who you are and for that to happen you need to be connected within and know yourself as well as you know the vocation that you pursue nor the people who matter you! Once you have cracked this essential adb vital code, rest assured, there could be a hundred more vurusses coming your way, the next time an organization asks you to work-from- home,you will know what is coming your way and chances are you’ll either insist to work form office or politely ask them to get in touch with you once the offices reopen! Exposing your private life for the capitalist greed of businesses and politicians is the last thing that you should ever do- this is similar to a soldier allowing spies into the nation! Think about it! Is anything really worth it -at the cost of peace, harmony and the wellbeing of the core unit that you represent in the society- the family that you have!

The work-from-home pandemic is the greatest illusion and perhaps even more dangerous than the virus, the virus will eventually will be tamed- there be vaccines and solutions through medical interventions, but the pandemic of work-from-home if allowed to get a foothold- will end up eroding the basic functional units of the societies the world over- these units could be families- small or large, could be partners living together, could be friends, or good people working on something bigger and better together! All of it will be lost to be enslaved to the greed of the growing capitalist clut with or without collusion of the political class of the day! The only way through this and to stem this, is by knowing who you are, what your value systems are and very importantly having the courage to say No- when enough is enough and guarding your private zone with every ounce of courage that you have!

I leave you here with these thoughts, for you to reflect, what your experiences have been and possibly urging you to create a blueprint for yourself and the unit that you hold close to you- so that you guard yourself from the next attack that may come your way disguised as yet another some new way of living or working!

Ciao for now, grab that coffee and I will be back soon with another article!