Category: Experience

  • GOD and the notion of Uncertainty…

    The nothing of GOD is extremely intriguing. All of us have different notions of the Generator, Observer and Destroyers (GOD) based on our own experiences. Yes I said Experiences – read on to see why I make this claim. 
    One of the comments on my last blog on the trinity of Hindu Mythology and the possible purpose behind the design mentioned – 
    “Wonderful Article 🙂
    Reading this, I could not help myself but think
    these gods are man-made; they represent what our ancestors thought a
    wise idea worth sharing. However, the mystery is not solved yet. I just
    wanted to point out, I personally feel there is nothing divine and
    supernatural about gods as they have been portrayed for millenia!”
     
    – Anonymous
    The comment got me thinking about why the notion of divinity and supernatural ability might have been attributed to GODs. I think I possibly got the answer! or may be not! However this is definitely an interesting thought – worth sharing. 

    Scientific Thinking which found its feet has been built on the concept of reasoning. The ability to question and associate a cause and affect relationship has definitely served the human society well. The near exponential growth in the number of invention, and its commercialization that has quickened the pace of economic growth and gotten more CERTAINTY into our lives. 
    Extending this, the possible origin of the notion of God, then has to be on the other extreme – when one feels or experiences UNCERTAINTY. These two observations sort of reinforce my interpretation.
    1. The first one is definitely from my own personal experience of facing uncertainty which is so much a part of the entreprenuerial journey.
    2. The existence of a high belief rate in God in the lower economic strata of society!
     Let me try explain this observation a bit elaborately:
    As an entrepreneur and you will realize the complexity of the issues that (s)he faces from various directions and the limited cognitive ability wouldn’t be completely enough to handle this. Even effectuation strategy, which through its principles provides a very very effective way to handle this entrepreneurial uncertainty, acknowledges the role of surprises (Lemonade Principle). In handling such a high uncertain situation where the distrution is unknown and hence a risk cannot be associated requires one to be positive and optimistic all through – and also believe in the strength of miracles. Miracles that just emerge when you least expect it – while some could attribute it to luck, it could also be attributed to the ability of God to influence things in one’s favor. An extension of the above claim where this relation of uncertainly in business and a religious bent of mind can be seen in most businessmen being devout to a specific deity.
    I also extend this uncertainty to the economically weaker sections of the society, where people have no idea where their next day’s meal would come from! The physical strength, minimum skill and the effort of these people is all that they would need to rely on in being able to sustain themselves on a day to day basis. This is possibly one of the reasons why this section of the society is highly susceptible to religious conversions – when there is a slightly better quality of life could be expected!
    PS: The above is just a thought that I put across and would appreciate your  feedback on the same.
  • Know-how: Realize its a team game, not an individual show anyways!

    It is never a one man show! Just that the team effort is evident in some, while in others it gets hidden or camouflaged.

    Most tasks that we do, is repetitive! We rarely find exploratory problems – i.e. problems which requires one to test various scenarios out, not as a survey or an assumption analysis, but actually exploring to see if something works.  The first time one starts of on any activity, the learning curve is exponential, almost everything is uncertain, one never knows what to expect next!

    This first exploratory learning experience is very crucial to build on… its possible that many brave-hearts who attempted this exploration could resist or resign or repent as a response to multitude of challenges that the situation presented. Team members plays a crucial role in these situations; while the experience could  demotivate the individual, the team members have to play a supporting role – assist and/or appreciate the brave-heart’s effort. Reinforcing confidence is important, else the fear of loosing the brave-heart is very real!

    The second attempt could build on the learning of the first attempt and it would benefit if the brave-heart guides the next volunteer attempting the task. Failing the guidance, the lessons could repeat and is not beneficial overall. If the follower attempting it, is innovative enough, possesses presence of mind and is creative enough and comes in with a knowledge of various technologies, it is would definitely create a leapfrog improvement and not really be a snail-paced progress!

    It is essential to build the team and constantly communicate what is learnt to really be able to leapfrog.

    To help get the abstract into a concrete, let me illustrate using an experience of mine (interested guys read on further… others could skip this):
    We recently organized a cultural event after a gap of 5 years, I still recollect the very first attempt when there was chaos with participants coming in with their request of songs and getting them in CDs (to be played on a music player! – yes not a lap-top) and confusing the person in-charge of the tasks of playing the song to the right dance/drama! The program did go on well, but there were a lot of hic-ups and the person who had volunteered for the task still to this day feel bad about not handling this well.

    Truth be told, it takes great courage for someone to volunteer in an uncertain situation, and the results shouldn’t be taken extremely personal. This was the bed-rock on which I was allowed to try my hand out this year.

    A crucial learning was to prempt the possibility of confusion, but getting all the songs in place, however given the voluntary nature and the spontenity that could arise, it would be difficult to program through the entire event… I alternatively, my understading of technology to be able to reduce the effort and at the same time be able to manage the spontenity that the event gets along with it.

    At the event, I had to only wait for the right indication from the that was anchoring, and leverage surprises taking note of the time gaps/durations to prepare for uncertainties even beyond the plan. The saving grace was that, you can still visualize some amount of surprises and prepare for them.

  • An exciting journey of starting a society – extremely satisfying

    My life has been a summation of various experiments that I have been venturing on – many of the decision I have taken and followed have really no rationale description that even I could give – forget a prescription. Experimenting with uncertainty is now a part of me… and when some of these experiments make way to something that is extremely tangible there is no bound for the satisfaction and happiness I experience.
    A recent such venture that sprouted into an organization has been setting up our own – Amba Bhavani Vividoddesha Souharda Sahakari. A cooperative which today almost every one from my community says there has been a felt need – their argument goes saying – “every other community in the region has one and we are late – none the less – better late than never”. 
    I possibly wouldn’t have ventured onto this one if it was not for a dear friend of mine – Murali who was helping me explore the possibility of owning a house in my home town – Udupi. It was he who really was the guy who sowed the seed into my head… 
    Frankly, I didn’t know much about Cooperative Society to begin with – it was entirely a new field. I just waited on for Murali to repeat his idea so that I am really sure he was interested in it – and yes he was… I kept hearing the enthusiastic idea again and again. 
    Being in Bangalore, I knew it would be relatively difficult for me to really venture out to Udupi and attempt setting up the society – I instead thought it would be best if I could focus on getting people involved into this venture. I realized that banking would be a crucial part of this venture and so, the first person whom I got on board was Manjunath Uncle…
    I discussed the idea with him and then connected Murali and uncle to chalk out the list of people we could get on board… the first of this was my father and then we went on to add in a lot more experienced people onto the list of directors and slowly we could see the action begining.
    There was still some doubt and skepticism, but these were put to rest as the team began to speak with each other. There was then the phase were people would keep meeting to chalk out the plan of action, but it wouldnt take a kick start and begin moving… I had my doubts of this begining to take off really, but thanks to the energy of uncle the engine slowly began moving….
    We got a provisional approval for the process of making shareholder… this was possibly the toughest task of the whole process thus far. We were given 15 days and were asked to make 500 members and raise a certain capital to show that the people on whose behalf we were really attempting this were also seeing the need for it. 
    Several several full-days and evening hours of pursuing finally bore results – reached the target well within the time and submitted our application… but then… the assembly elections were announced. 
    We were this close to finishing the process of registration and now we had to wait for two reasons – there was a change in the act that would define how we were to proceed next, and the second when the new act would really come into effect…. even bigger wait was… when would the time come for us to start after the elections…
    All we could do was just wait… after nearly 4 months of waiting finally we got the go ahead from the department and it was time we came out….
    The society was inaugurated after a long delay but yes.. it gives me great pleasure to see it live on the ground. I know our task is just beginning – there is a tougher challenge ahead – that of really executing the plan ahead…. lets hope by God’s grace we build on this start…
    Wishing all the best to the team and seeking the continued support of all involved…