Imagination is more important than Knowledge

The caption was my Orkut fortune for the day.I could not comprehend if Imagination is related to creating any fortune or not.But when I checked Wikipedia, I found an interesting example on Imagination and Perception :-

From the work of Piaget it is known that perceptions depend on the world view of a person. The world view is the result of arranging perceptions into existing imagery by imagination. Piaget cites the example of a child saying that the moon is following her when she walks around the village at night. Like this perceptions are integrated into the world view to make sense. Imagination is needed to make sense of perceptions.

It clearly signifies that we form our perceptions based on imagination and hence when we are dealing with an object,imagination can take precedence over our existing knowledge of things.Perhaps this could be the reason of so many poets,writers and painters with more imaginative powers have been able to make sense of mundane and ordinary things surrounding us.

Its also well known that things normally happen twice,'Once in the mind and second time in reality'.So we create some images in the subconcious mind and then do those things consciously.Seems logical.

The greatest example in Imagination for me are the people who wrote the ancient texts in different religions.They have created such a document through scriptures and other texts that majority of us find it difficult to even question them and fight over them inspite of the strong scientific evolutions and marvels.

Infact ,research has also proved that some of the instances mentioned in those books seem to be true through rigorous experiments.For eg. astronomical calculations to prove that Mahabharata war did happen based on the eclipse timing and all.There is a simple explanation to this phenomenon :-

Apples used to fall since time immemorial.It was Newton who suddenly got this insight that all this is due to a force called 'Gravity' and explained its nature and behaviour.

So all these texts and body of knowledge could be mere imaginary creations but they form the very basis of the Knowledge that we all live upon.Perhaps Philosophy is nothing more than imagining a different or better world and Wisdom is something that we all gain through more imagination in our experiences.

A better imagination can overrule the existing knowledge as has happened in the case of  the crisis of 2008 where people created imaginary financial products,profits and what not for years together inspite of the knowledge that it was not sustainable.

A winner we love - Sachin Tendulkar

Posting after a long interval of 4 months.Haven't received some good gyaan of late.So from now on,I am going to discover the winner among the different people we meet,talk,see ,believe etc. in our daily lives.I hope that it will be inspirational to whoever reads it and carries forward their own set of stories.

To start this series, I will like to share some info about some one the whole of India has gone crazy after his record of 200 in ODI - 'Sachin Tendulkar'.People have started calling him 'GOD' and are now mad that he must get a Bharat Ratna.

I do not favour crazy cricket fans who behave like maniacs.They worship the new cricketer like a great person by showering gifts and awards on his success and will also be first to blacken the house of the cricketer the next day.

Sachin has his share of greatness of being the Superman to hit the 200 mark,maximum number of centuries in Test and ODI format of Cricket,serving the Indian Cricket for the last 20years with immense talent in different capacity and what not.

Sachin for one has had his share of controversies of not acting like 'GOD' when it mattered esp. World Cup,some matches with Pakistan and some crunch match situations where it mattered that he should play and win the game.

• So what is it that makes him a winner ?

He is a winner because he believes in giving his best in his craft.He is successful in many such situations and keeps improving on it.He has grown with my generation and people look up to him when they want an ideal so that they emulate the same in the area they work in and be successful.

We can't expect Sachin to be a run machine and avatar ,just because he has achieved some milestones, that had not been reached till now and should continue to do so and help the country win every cricket match.

• What do these milestones stand for ?

These milestones for me are more personal in nature and stand for the society so that tomorrow, when one goes to work in his desired career,he does that with perfection.Their will be errors,brickbats and what not in spite of your best efforts.But the winner will not fret over them and continue to work to achieve his aim.
Sometimes we all need some one to show that dedication and determination is a must to achieve the "Ends".Sachin is one such person who has achieved his personal ends and also helped the team by being 'a one man army' in many occasions. We all can do the same if we know our goals and give our efforts accordingly.

LTL - Post Midterm

Writing this one for Sridhar, the Neo Gandhi.

On Character
As per Satre,

• Existence precedes Essence
• Stable disposition of feel,think and behaviour are due to Project (Mobile and Motif)
• Mobile -> Fact about agent that acts (I cleaned my room)
• Motif -> Agent environment ( My room is dirty) -- anticipation of future
• Motif causes Mobile

As per Aristotle

• Building due to habituation (Safety > Honour) i.e. from experience

From all this ,

• Character is non -deterministic - This is due to freewill (Difference b/w human and animal..You can plan your suicide)
• Freewill with anticipation of right and wrong makes one responsible

As per Rouseau,

• Freewill of common good -> Utility theory of ethics

Again,

• Choice of Projects define character (Good or Bad)

Difference between thinking and feeling ->

• Feeling -> Subconscious
• Thinking -> Conscious -> Cognitive
• [Hriday,Man,Buddhi]

Hence Character is not behaviour and Unexamined life is not worthy of living.
Gandhi believed in Deorontological theory against utilitarinism or ethics of consequnce.
The Course
Previous defn of leaders were unique and hence heroic in nature.
Business were driven by interest but no ethics.
Managers brought ethics but were in subordinate position
So a combination of Manager + Entrepreneur needs ethics more than before.
Ends vs. Means Debate
Terminal vs. Instrumental values
For Gandhi, Nationality was ends while for Joan , it was divine works.
Machiavelli believed in autocratic democracy,while Socrates in aristrocracy (to rule after working for 50 yrs)
Chankya believed that welfare of people was welfare of king.He proposed the following to be given maximum salary (Minister,Bureaucrats,Teachers,Army chiefs)
Leadership comes from role and not position.
Arthashastra framework for leadership

1. Control on 5 senses
2. Clear soul
3. Control ego
4. Control anger (Manifestation of attachment)
5. Speaks well (In good language , thoughts,words and means)
6. Humility
7. Integrity (Truth)
8. Moment you do not get attached to extrinsic rewards
9. Not happy/sad in adversity
10. Education,Continuous improvement of conscience

As you sow,so shall you reap.

Leadership through Literature

I have taken one of the most creative elective of this term i.e. 'Leadership through Literature'.Its not going to make a leader out of me any ways.But its really a good course for one to reflect on what's right and wrong.Does everything necessarily has to be black and white or we need shades of grey everywhere.
After reading 4 books,there have been lots of learnings and unlearnings.Concepts created ,shattered and what not.Its the most dynamic course of all the course and must have.
Some of the key lessons derived :

1. Heroism -- With 5 important paradigms of leadership i.e Personal capability i.e. vitality and endurance,Decisiveness,Persuasiveness,Responsibility and Intellectual abilities.The 4 important things that make heroes are moral greatness,action,action in face of historic cause,death/martyrdom/spiritual triumph.
2. Selfishness is the act of keeping one's desires above others
3. 4 battles to win in 'Alchemist' -Fear of thinking the dream is realizable,Fear of losing love when its the stimulus,fear of failure and fear of realizing the dream when its near.
4. Human being is made for Action('Yoga'). Other species do not have such purpose as such and are thus made to enjoy ('Bhoga')
5. Morality is to differentiate between 'Good and Bad' while Ethics between 'Right and Wrong'
6. In some cases means are more important than ends (Gandhiji during the freedom struggle) and in some cases ends justify means(Krishna teachings to Arjun).Never thought that this is conceptualized at the entrance of the college.
7. 3 kind of trust - coercive,knowledge based and Identification

Some are just repeat of the BIO lessons ,but more necessary anyways.Many more gyaan to come in the coming days.

On Leadership

Yesterday was an eventful day for me.I was part of the crowd listening to the CyberMedia CEO doling out gyaan on strategy and leadership.In the evening,we had a MTS case on BMG International CEO Rudi.
The learning that came out for me is very important for all leaders.All CEO's should be responsible for delegating certain things and not delegating some things.Things that must not be delegated are formation of organization culture (the DNA of the organization) and the top level decisions.Other things like strategy formulation,operational activities,financials etc. should be delegated to the next level.
This gives the next level a sense of responsibilty and prepares them for the future challenges.CEO's need to look at increasing the toplines and not just cost cutting to improve the bottomlines.Cost cutting can help to only in a short term benefit.For long term vision, the leader must show the path to the managers and have trust in his team,that they will perform.
People like Steve Jobs,Rudi,etc. have shown charismatic leadership but have not been able to pass a good organizational culture to their organization to develop the next generation of leadership.This has resulted in failure of many companies in the past.