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 […]
An ODE to Judea Pearl, Causality and Bayesian Networks
Introduction On this anniversary of 9/11, I would like to offer a blog in the form of a tribute to an extremely courageous and brilliant scientist, but more importantly a great human being known, as Judea Pearl, whose work has pioneered the science of Causality and AI. Judea Pearl epitomizes great courage and humaneness, because […]
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.
Integrating Andragogy, Gamification and Digital Learning – Trends, Opportunities, and Challenge
This post explores adult learning in today’s age and how it can democratized and made effective through gamification and digital learning
Seeding Diversity in the Desert of Managerial Rationality
This blog questions the chimera of percentile numbers claiming inclusion and diversity and seeks to throw light on real issues that get shrouded by firms today
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.
The Grand Experiment at Antelope
INTRODUCTION Wild Wild Country is a remarkable and beautifully narrated documentary on Netflix, covering six episodes, each episode covering a milestone of a surreal tale across four years in Antelope, Oregon, USA. The narrative begins in a small nondescript town of 75 odd denizens, living in Orlando USA, who one day discover that a large […]
