Posts Tagged ‘Benevolent Intent’
Zizek’s Alternative View of Altruism: Frederick Spielberg, UNICEF
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
Dear Etsko:So, I still think your “Care and Growth” model is one of the best paradigms I have managed to take away from a training course in the past decade; it certainly gave me a reason to strive for leadership without feeling like I am selling out on my egalitarian principles. (Learning as a search for excuses?) But in the meantime, I keep coming across new and fascinating counter-arguments. Without wishing to become your personal bete noire, I wanted to share with you this youtube video of the thought of political philosopher Zizek, which brings up an alternate view of altruism, charity and noblesse oblige. Does it ring true to you? Does it contradict Care and Growth? Or is it a reinforcement of your whole point? You be the judge…Stay well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAMbpQ8J7g&feature=player_embedded
Team Excellence, South Africa and the Beautiful Game: Wendy Lambourne
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
For one glorious month the Rainbow Nation came together to prove to the world that “Yes, we can!” Contrary to widespread opinion, both in and outside the country, South Africa managed to put on a great show. Fans returned home generally impressed with the country and full of praise for its wonderful people. For the first time, the African Renaissance appeared to be more than just a pipedream. But what the tournament itself provided was an opportunity, in real time, to witness and comment on, excellence at the level of a group.
Firstly, the World Cup showed what we don’t like to admit, but actually all know, and that it that it is just not possible to produce a 100% predictable outcome. This is because there are always factors outside of human beings’ control which determine any result. The fact that we relied so heavily on an octopus and a parrot to foretell the outcome proves the point. Who could possibly have foreseen the flu which whacked the Germans before the semi final? What about the sheer bad luck of hitting the crossbar; the deciding factor which took Africa’s remaining hope Ghana out of the running?
What about the coach’s lucky blue jersey or the potent omen of having Angela Merkel physically present at a game?In truth, who wins, at the end of any day, is about as certain as spinning a wheel in a casino.
Secondly, there was that dastardly moment during the World Cup which both proved that expedient action generally pays off in the moment and that there is always a price to pay for not doing the right thing. 
Diego Suarez’s handball served to take Uruguay through to the semi finals. It was nevertheless a sweet moment, and not at all surprising, that the team of which he is a member got their comeuppance shortly thereafter.Somehow the universe is set up in such a way that those who cheat are rewarded for a finite period only.
Thirdly, the French team were living testimony of what happens to a group once it is beset by conflict within. Be it a political party, a business or a nation, internal troubles tend to divert precious energies away from whatever is the group’s purpose.
When internal conflict goes unresolved the group literally falls apart. Witness France (ranked in the ±25 in the world) and their ignominious defeat at the hands of South Africa’s Bafana Bafana. The latter after all only got a chance to play with the big guys because, as the host nation, South Africa was allowed to bypass the qualifying criteria that the other thirty one teams had to satisfy in order to compete.
Fourthly, the 2010 FIFA World Cup ratified the fact that teamwork can be much more powerful than a reliance on one or two superstars to carry the day. Unlike previous tournaments, none of the so called “football greats” lived up to their projected image. It was left up to a team of youthful Germans to show the world what great teamwork can achieve.
On several occasions one of the German strikers could have been overcome by a desire for personal glory and taken a shot at goal. Each time, however, the player put his own significance to one side by passing the ball across to a perfectly positioned team mate, who then propelled the ball into the net.
What a pity that the German team did not go through to the Finals. Perhaps the moment was just too much for them? Perhaps they lacked the experience needed to hold things together under the kind of pressure which comes with knowing that your entire nation is depending on you to deliver another victory?
Lastly, the World Cup confirmed that, as with any sport, it is the coach not the players who is expendable. No matter what a coach has done to build a team, he must know that it is finally the players not himself who goes out on the pitch and plays a winning or losing game.No doubt it was this realisation, more than anything else, which accounts for the fact that throughout the World Cup any coach who was picked up in a camera lens appeared to be singularly stressed out of his mind!
It is the players then, rather than the coaches, who are justifiably the heroes of the piece. They are the ones who are relished for their amazing physical prowess, their sheer skill and dazzling finesse with the ball.In almost every one of the games played during the 2010 World Cup there were times, however brief, that can only be described as pure “poetry in motion”. Times when something quite magical happened between player and ball and when time itself stood still. Contrary to conventional belief, therefore, it is not the score on the scoreboard which actually keeps six million fans across the globe transfixed. It is those moments when fans see for themselves that the beautiful game can be played with absolute perfection.
These special moments in a game are not simply the culmination of exceptional talent, honed by mind boggling hours of practice. Nor are they purely a function of wanting go give one’s all for one’s country. These moments only happen when a player submits himself so totally to the moment itself that he is literally consumed by it. Only when a player hands himself over to something bigger than himself does he, in that instant, both lose himself to and find himself transformed by the process. When this happens the outcome takes care of itself.
Leadership Intent Exercise 2: Fayruz Abrahams
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Exercise to explore the impact of one’s INTENT on the emotional state one has at any point in time.
1) Describe a noteworthy event (recent/within the last week)
2) What was the most significant thing you did – that arose from the event
3) Explore ALL the reasons you did this
a. What was your agenda, list the full spectrum of reasons
b. The more reasons you list, the better
4) Categorise these reasons into “GET vs GIVE”
5) Which category was predominant for you when you acted
6) How did you feel and what were the implications for you in terms of:
a. Security - Insecurity
b. Fulfillment - Dissatisfaction
c. Harmony - Conflict
d. Power – Weak
Do you see any connection between your motive in the action and the implications to yourself (in terms of how you felt). If you had a different intent, would these feelings have been different?
Fakhir Found a Wonderful Video on Motivation
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJcTelenor and the Enablement of Convergence: Etsko Schuitema
Monday, June 21st, 2010
The Divergent Species
I recently did a fascinating piece of work for Telenor Pakistan, where it became apparent to me that this business was deeply benign, not only because of how it was run, but also by the nature of what iT does. To get an appropriate view of the contribution that this business (and other businesses like it) makes we need to understand the pickle we are in as a species.
If you want something from someone else that person’s ability to withhold what you want, gives that person power over you. When the self wants something from the other the other’s ability to withhold what the self wants, it creates the conditions where the other has power over the self. This makes the other dangerous to the self. However, not only is the other dangerous to the self, but from the point of view of the other, when the other sees the self trying to get something from the other, the other experiences the self as dangerous.
Therefore, when you want something from somebody else that person is dangerous to you and you are dangerous to them. The necessary outcome of this is conflict and competition. The net result of this conflict is the self and the other cannot occupy the same place. The repel each other. They diverge.
This has been our story as a species. From the days of our earliest common ancestor (reputedly an African who lived between 120000 and 150000 years ago) we have been diverging, and in the process we have become increasingly distinct, inhabiting different parts of the globe, developing different languages, cultures and physical characteristics.
However, the planet is a globe. When you move far away enough from the other on a globe you meet up on the other side. You converge. What is apparent is that the intent rules that sufficed when we were a divergent species are of little use in a convergent world. In any city today you will find people from every continent speaking languages from every content. We are living cheek by jewel with each other. There is no ‘there’ to go to. There are too many of us. Unless we learn how to learn live together, how to co-operate rather than compete, we are done for as a species.
Becoming Convergent
When you deal with the other on the basis of how you can be helpful to the other, what you should give to the other, then you are no longer looking at what you want from them. That person cannot withhold what you want and therefore no longer has power over you. The self slips out from under the other’s ability to manipulate the self. The self becomes free and safe from the other.
Similarly, because the other now experiences the self as helpful the other, the other sees themselves as safe from the self. When the self constructs its intent on the basis of being helpful to the other the self is safe from the other and the other is safe from the self. The result of this is harmony, co-operation.
While you deal with others on the basis of what you want from them you diverge. You are increasing disconnected and alienated from them. When you deal with other on the basis of the intent to give or be helpful, you converge; you become related and connected to them. You can co-exist.
The Technology of Convergence
Telecommunications businesses like Telenor Pakistan provide the connectivity that puts a Pathan villager in the Hindu Kush next door to me. They create a framework whereby I can begin to relate to this person, whereby I can increasingly experience him as a person like me rather than something foreign, alien and dangerous. They therefore create the platform that enables my compassion, my intent to serve. They cannot and do not provide the intent to serve, because only I can do that. However, they provide the technology that enables that intent by connecting me with all my fellow descendents of Adam. Life, existence, the Totality of the Other has graced us with the technological means to transcend the pettiness and moribund competitiveness of our current intent. Will we rise to the occasion?
Schuitema Heroes - Akhtar Hameed Khan
Saturday, June 19th, 2010
Some people realise their purpose in life earlier on. They keep striving for it for decades and their struggle yields fruit as they themselves age or after their worldly departure. But their earnest struggle leaves a legacy for generations to come.
Akhtar Hameed Khan was such a man. His deep desire to serve, his wisdom, humility and knowledge, and his perseverance bore fruit in the later part of his life. And yet his legacy continues to affect the lives of the impoverished masses all over the developing world to date.
In 1980, Akhtar Hameed Khan at the ripe age of 66 founded the NGO called Orangi Pilot Project in Karachi, Pakistan as a participatory development initiative. The project changed how the world saw the concepts of micro credit, rural development, community organisation and grassroots change.
Akhtar was born in 1914 to a wealthy noble family in India. As a young boy he was encouraged by his mother to read famour Urdu and Persian poets. He took keen interest in philosophy, literature and history and was inclined towards Sufism.
He served as a British Government Civil Servant before the partition took place. Before long he resigned from his prestigious job as according to him, ‘I realized that if I did not escape while I was young and vigorous, I will forever remain in the trap, and terminate as a bureaucratic big wig.’ To understand the lives of the common people better, he worked as a labourer and a locksmith in a little village in India for two years.
He went on to teach in Delhi and took up the same vocation when he came to Pakistan. He was posted as a Principal of Comilla Victoria College in East Pakistan (presently Bangladesh) in 1950 where he founded the stellar Comilla Cooperatives that used enterprising ideas of microfinance and other participatory models for rural development. The initiatives were a network of interdependent programmes that depended on community’s will and intent to change their lives.
They included the establishment of: a training and development centre; a road-drainage embankment works programme; a decentralised, small scale irrigation programme; and, a two-tiered cooperative system with primary cooperatives operating in the villages, and federations operating at sub-district level.
Under the Comilla Co-operatives scheme, Dr. Khan also introduced microsavings. Initially the villagers could not grasp the concept, and Arthur F. Raper wrote of these villagers in his book: “‘What does the man [Dr. Khan] mean — telling us [villagers] to save?’…‘When we tell him we are too poor to save, he says that is why we must save.’” Raper went on to write in reference to said scheme: “The savings in the early days appear tiny indeed. During April, savings of the first seven agriculture societies ranged from Rs.12.00 to Rs. 65.00. The per-member monthly savings ranged from Rs.0. 60 (12 cents) to Rs. 2.65.”
Crediting Dr. Khan on microcredit, Louis A. Picard, Robert Groelsema, and Terry F. Buss wrote in their book entitled, Foreign Aid and Foreign Policy: Lessons for the Next Half-Century: “The village small cooperative loan system set up through Comilla was a forerunner of the Grameen Bank, now considered a major breakthrough in terms of microcredit.”
His work at Comilla earned him the Ramon Magsaysay Award (some call it Asia’s Nobel Prize) and an honorary doctorate of law from the Michigan State University.
When Bangladesh was formed in 1971, Akhtar moved back to Pakistan but continued his advisory role to development initiatives in both Bangladesh and Pakistan. He also served as visiting faculty at the Princeton, Lund, Harvard and Oxford Universities.
The Comilla Cooperatives however failed after Akhtar’s departure. After a few years only 61 out 600 cooperatives were working due to ineffective internal and external controls, misappropriation of funds and stagnation. It also led Akhtar and the later pioneers of micro credit to introduce some level of internal control into micro credit initiatives formed later on.
Unfazed by Comilla’s lack of growth, Akhtar established his Orangi Pilot Porject (OPP) in the impoverished slum periphery of Karachi with a view to help the people change their lives themselves.
The project initially focused on creating a system of underground sewers, using local materials and labour, and succeeded in laying hundreds of kilometres of drainage pipes along with auxiliary facilities. Within a decade of the initiative, local residents had established schools, health clinics, women’s work centres, cooperative stores and a credit organisation to finance enterprise projects. By 1993, OPP had managed to provide low-cost sewers to more than 72,000 houses. The project subsequently diversified into a number of programmes, including a people’s financed and managed low-cost sanitation programme; a housing programme; a basic health and family planning programme; a programme of supervised credit for small family enterprise units; an education programme; and a rural development programme in the nearby villages.
What makes the project really special is that it is solely funded and developed by the community itself. The people are the stewards of their own destiny.
The model has to date been applied in South Africa, Chile, Central Asian states, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India. In addition, the model is being studied in Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Japan and other First World Academic institutions for further applications.
Akhtar Hameed Khan died in 1999 at the ripe age of 85 and left behind a wonderful, sustainable legacy of service.
Read on about the Orangi Pilot Project in our post:How Slum Dwellers Changed Their Fate - The Orangi Pilot Project
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhtar_Hameed_Khan
http://www.oppoct-microcredit.com/Dr.%20Akhtar%20Hamid%20Khan.htm
http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2009/10/06/remembering-dr-akhtar-hameed-khan
‘Team Success – Critical Criterion I’ by Etsko Schuitema
Monday, March 29th, 2010
We discussed in ‘Building Successful Teams - An Introduction’ that the degree to which a group is successful is determined by the extent to which the leadership of the group seeks the intent to contribute among the members of the group.
It is also true that teams that are successful are ones where the member of the team goes the extra mile in pursuit of the objectives of the team. This suggests that over and above the leadership of the team, there is something that takes place in the dynamic of how the team operates that supports the contribution of the team members. In my experience there are 4 critical criteria for successful teams:
I shall deal with each of these separately.
The Team has a Benevolent Intent:
The issue of benevolent intent challenges the prevalent view on the purpose of enterprises. In my experience, most people think that the reason why enterprises exist is to render a profit to the owner of the enterprise. This premise fails to motivate the intent of the individual in the organisation to contribute.
Assume, for example, that you are an operator in a GSK factory that produces the silver bullet for AIDS, both as a prophylactic and as a cure. This is a miracle drug. A patient could be on his death bed about to breathe his last, should he take one of this pills he is walking around within hours. Also, if a person should take this pill once they will never get AIDS. However, you and your colleagues are not very inspired by your jobs and you really do the minimum that is required, and this is noticed by management.
One day the general manager of the plant has a brilliant insight into motivating the workforce and calls a big meeting in the cafeteria. In the meeting he basically announces the following: “Work very hard at making these drugs because if you do you will make a shareholder on the LSE very wealthy.” If you were an operator in this factory you would probably be very discontented at this point and will more than likely want to know what was in it for you.
However, should the general manager say something like “Work very hard at making these drugs because if you do you will save millions of lives around the world” you would feel much better about the job that you are doing and may even be inclined to go the extra mile in making the drugs.
The difference between the first two statements really lies in intent. The first statement makes you feel like you are being taken from, while the second statement really gives one a sense of making some sort of contribution, of giving something. Clearly, if the success of the team is dependent on people going the extra mile, it is only the second intent that really solicits that possibility.
We refer to this second intent as a benevolent intent. A benevolent intent indicates how the service or product of an organisation makes a contribution to the world. It phrases a reason which is noble enough to give people an excuse to rise above their self interest. The interests of the shareholder are never enough of a reason to do this.
Any enterprise has a benevolent intent. Any enterprise has a market that it is aimed at serving, which means that every enterprise is aimed at adding value to someone outside the enterprise. It is only once that has been achieved that there can be profit.
One has to bake the cake before it can be shared. In the broader sense, when groups are purely aimed at their own preservation they generally ossify and stagnate. Robust groups are groups that coalesce around a set of interests that are bigger than the group.
Examples would be the military unit that fights for the freedom of the nation, the sports team that plays for the honour of the province, the employees of an enterprise that is making a genuine contribution to its market.
Practically this means that people find it easier to commit to a team or an enterprise when:
1. There is a clear understanding of who the customer of the organisation is.
2. There is a clear understanding of the immediate need that is fulfilled by the team. This means that the members of the team know exactly what goods and services are delivered to the customer.
3. The team members understand what transformation the enterprise is trying to effect. This means that there is a clear understanding of the difference between the before and after state for the customer. The transformation effected by an explosives manufacturer, for example, is the breaking of rock.
The transformation effected by a cement producer is the binding of aggregate.
4. The team members understand the benevolent intent of the organisation. This means that the team member can take the next step to see the implications of the transformation that is being effected. For example, when explosives break rock they unlock wealth. When cement binds aggregate nations get built.
Images courtesy:
Dr Happiness Tells the Secret of Joy
Friday, March 19th, 2010
Have you ever come across a doctor who specifically coaches and guides you towards attaining happiness? Well there is one in Finland and her name is Sofia Kauko-Valli.
Sofia teaches entrepreneurship at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland and also runs a Happiness Clinic at the university. She shares interesting facts about her area of interest:
You’ve researched largely on happiness. Could you dwell upon this interest and your findings?
Believe or not I started by studying stress and anxiety. I even wrote a book on that. However it turned out that as a result of constantly being involved in something very negative I started to feel miserable as well. It was a sign for me that it was time to change viewpoint. At the same time there was this major shift in the field of psychology and something called positive psychology emerged as a result.
In essence positive psychology is an attempt to balance the psychological view on us humans by concentrating on the positive side of functionality, looking at what already works. This line of research brought a host of topics to the forefront of study - happiness being one of them. In my own studies I have found that entrepreneurship as a choice tends to lead to happiness more often than being employed by someone else. Especially in the current time and age we live in, entrepreneurship gives you more flexibility on one hand and somewhat surprisingly a better sense of safety - both of which are essential for happiness and well-being.
What is the Key to Happiness?
One of the most surprising facts about happiness seems to be that most of it is created between our ears. What does it mean? Simply that what we choose to think about on a daily basis and what we concentrate on either leads us to a sense of satisfaction and happiness or into some kind of despair.
Happiness is not about our circumstances or about money as much as it is about what we choose to think about. In this sense each one of us can make ourselves extremely happy anytime we like. One of the quickest roads to sense of happiness is experiencing gratitude so it really pays off each day to think about the things that you have been given, the favors, the blessings and wonderful things that surround you on a daily basis.
Could you tell us about your work as the Dr Happiness?
When I received my PhD in Economics with the concentration on happiness, I wanted to do something highly practical with the knowledge that I had accumulated over the years so I started a virtual doctor’s office for anyone who would like to know about techniques to a happier and more fulfilling life. There is a sliding scale fee and I also do a lot of pro bono work just for the fun of it. I have run groups for women where I live and it has been wonderful to see how lives change as a result of knowing and applying some simple techniques to your everyday situations.
Which people are the easiest to be happy and which are the toughest ones?
I think it is very much about openness and ability to learn new things. If you have the ability to feel grateful you are well on your way to happiness. Taking yourself lightly helps a lot too in the process - it is easier to feel happy if you are not constantly worried about the impression you make and your position or the titles given to you. I think it is very hard for people who feel entitled, who are full of themselves (me, myself and I-lifestyle), who constantly think about what they can get (instead of what they can give and contribute) and who are bitter to find happiness in life.
Schuitema Hero - Mussarat Piracha
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
There are people who achieve greatness simply by living life to fullest in their own set of circumstances. Success is not to do great things all the time but to do things in a great way. The following is an excerpt from a memorium article on a lady who defied the convention of her time in dealing with her physical condition and chose to ‘give’ in whatever way she could. This has been taken from the original article written by Saira Dar and published in Dawn Newspaper Pakistan on December 26, 2008.
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Mussarat Piracha’s passing away at the age of 65 was a source of deep sadness for so many of her friends and family members. An individual who defied not only disability but also death at more than one occasion, it was hard to believe that she now finally was no more, and her fruitful yet turbulent life had come to an end. Yet the fact that she passed away on Eid ul Azha (a day of worship and celebration for Muslims), proved that Providence had marked her as extraordinary till the very end.
Born in a well to do family, Mussarat was the sixth daughter of Sheikh Fazal Illahi Piracha, who in his lifetime served as a civil servant with the Indian Civil Service during the British rule and later joined politics, holding various prestigious offices. He was among the rare breed of Pakistani politicians who shunned material gains and equated politics with public service.
Of his nine children, eight of whom were daughters, Mussarat was both a source of joy and tribulation. When she was just a few months old, she was afflicted with the crippling disease of polio, which resulted in irreparable damage to her legs and feet, making her unable to walk. It was indeed a trial for the family to see this beautiful child become ‘disabled’ and to know that she could never enjoy a ‘normal life’.
Mussarat was to prove them wrong, and her zest for leading a full life surpassed even that of those who had no disability. In those days, there was no school that would admit a child with a handicap, but Mussarat was determined to educate herself. She eventually joined a small school near her home and in due course became an avid reader and writer, her special interest being Urdu and Punjabi literature.
Her brilliant and incisive mind coupled with a wonderful sense of humour and a humanistic approach made her a favourite amongst many highly educated and literary luminaries of Pakistan. She went on to write a moving novel in Urdu titled Pukar (Call), the content of which was partly biographical. The novel not only found favour in local literary circles but was translated into a number of foreign languages.
She later wrote another book in Urdu called Ajeeb Larki (A Strange Girl), which was a highly interesting account of her travel to England in the hope of improving her condition. She came back rejuvenated in spirit even though her condition was not altered much in physical terms. She also now had a motor operated wheelchair as opposed to one which required another person to take her around, and this gave her a greater sense of independence.
Mussarat’s most remarkable achievement, however, was a school she set up in Lahore. She was fully supported by her parents in this endeavour, but it was her own determination which made the school what it was, and the quality of education imparted to many young people, at nominal charges or even free of cost, was remarkable. “Mussarat Piracha’s Home” as the school came to be known, became a unique institution in the vicinity and was a truly happy place to be in, both for the students and the staff.
Mussarat’s personal life was no less remarkable. She defied conventional expectations and ended up as a very happily married woman, with a wonderful husband and caring in-laws, a blessing at times denied to perfectly ‘normal’ women. Such was the chamr nad strength of this lady that her husband stated recently, “Mussarat was my choice and I never regretted it.”
Not only did Mussarat marry, she even produced two lovely children even though doctors had declared that in her condition, pregnancy would be a hazard to her life. However, she was resolute in her faith and suffered long drawn hospitalisation and painful procedures to turn her dream of having children come true.
Fate, however, was to put her to test again. One day, as she ventured out on her wheelchair with her maid, just to crossover from her home to her newly constructed school building, she was hit in the back by two supposedly stray bullets. Death stared her in the face, but she was determined to live. I remember her telling me, “It was as if I fought the angel of death, and told God that come what may I was going to live for my children.”
And so she lived, but paid a price for it. Being unable to walk had not been as much f a problem as the pain of this seemingly senseless affliction. Her life became a struggle with untold pain and her determination to live despite it was almost superhuman. For more than fifteen years, se became more or less bedridden, struggling through with incessant medical procedures and medicines to ease her suffering. She shifted her home within the school premises and supervised the school, while lying in bed. She carried on with her work till the school became impossible to run, more so because of financial reasons as most of the students expected to enroll for free.
At her funeral, there were people from various strata of life each of whom had a heartwarming story about Mussarat being a joy and inspiration. One recent addition to her household was a tiny girl from a poor family who had shown the keenness to study and whom Mussarat had volunteered to educate. This bright young child was moving around the house as if it were her own, keenly catering to the needs of the guests like a family member. Perhaps she was the last recipient of Mussarat’s benevolence, along with her own two children, who are now highly educated adults, both having studied abroad, thanks to the generosity of their mother who was willing to part with both of them for the sake of their education.
Indeed she will live on through them.
Images courtesy: http://fineartamerica.com/
