This blog looks at the works of Boltanski and Ashok Malhotra as one grapples with the near impossibility of taking political stances in today’s world
Category: On Communities
The Tale of Two Speeches and Two Americas
The Tale of Two Speeches and Two Americas Is Democracy being reduced to meaningless hyperreality – a simulacrum for the monkey mind of the common man entrapped within a world that is increasingly virtual, untrustworthy, unsafe, lonely, and ambivalent? The Context & the Divide This blog leverages textual analyses of two speeches given by […]
The Microcosm of RWAs in Gated Communities – Middle class angst, schadenfreude, and narcissism
This blog explores the microcosm of gated communities of privileged elite in India and offers an understanding of dysfunctional processes as well as opportunities for transformation within.
The Two Popes, CAA and the Divided Collective
Part 1 The Film Last night, I watched the Netflix film – the Two Popes – a biographical gem adapted from a play, starring Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict XVI and Jonathan Price as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who later on succeeded Pope Benedict as Pope Francis. The narrative is very evocative, comprising a series […]
From Boom to Bust: On Organization Identity, Sustainability and Transformation
From Boom to Bust On Organization Identity, Viability and Sustainability The Context The WeWorks fiasco is not a new story … it is yet another blip reminiscent of similar fiascos in new age capitalism, each fiasco that has been shaped through orgiastic rituals involving tyrannical entrepreneurs, pipe-dreaming and perhaps delusional angel investors, and narcissistic but […]
Deconstructing the Voice of Technology: Looking through the Actor Network Theory (ANT) Lens
Preamble In 2013, Raghu Ananthanarayanan and I published our book on the Tensegrity Mandala, proposing an alternative organization design and philosophy for firms preparing to make a leap into the world of networks. We believed that the paradigm of traditional hierarchical structures and associated control mindset can only be transformed if the firm is able […]
The Case of Two WhatsApp Groups Management of Self & the Other: Intimacy, Vulnerability, Power, and Competitiveness
Preamble I have been privileged to be a member of two very active ‘WhatsApp groups’ – each group deriving its identity from one’s education with an elite business school in India. Each group comprises of senior leaders, men and women, who head or run large organizations or strategic functions – the average experience in management […]
Do Brand Managers and Marketeers need a Soul?
We all know that the greatest challenge humanity is facing is environmental destruction or catastrophe that looms larger, every second that passes. Take the latest ad campaign on PET bottles that was proudly pasted on all national dailies, possibly funded by All India Plastic Manufacturer Association, which claiming that 90% of PET bottles are recycled […]
Exploring the 3rd Prince – The Healer / Lover Archetype: The Rise of Marianne Williamson, the Self-Help Guru, in American Politics
This blog exemplifies the 3rd Prince / Lover-Healer archetype , using Marianne Williamson as a signifier, culminating into a critique of this leadership.
The Tyranny of Positive Thinking in Indian Corporations … Manipulating Optimism within, but without Faith
This blog explores and critiques the impact of positive thinking and its many derivatives on leaders and managers in India. I believe that the ideological stances and axioms behind positive thinking, positivist psychology, and its cruder interpretations by consultants, management gurus and coaches, create a set of complex defense process that not just isolate and alienate the human being, but obfuscate various ways in which corporate capitalism manipulates, and oppresses all its stakeholders.
