Intellect v/s Intelligence – are we aware of the trap?

The fall of Human Intellect
– A Parthasarathy

(My understanding of the message in the book)

Swami Parthasarathy is an acclaimed exponent of Vedanta and a tireless crusader for reviving the logical thinking capability amongst humans. This book is an important part of his body of work emanating out of his research of ancient philosophical teachings and wisdom of thinkers from the East and the West.

Unlike other creatures, humans need instructions or have to be told how to lead their life. Other creatures' life follows a fixed pattern which is already set at birth and they do not have a choice to exercise to change the pattern. E.g. a tiger will always be ferocious carnivore whereas a lamb will always be a timid herbivore no matter how different is its upbringing. Only the humans have the option as well as the necessity to exercise a choice of action between various alternatives. The choice could be as mundane as which set of clothes to wear on a particular day to as important as whether to marry or not and if yes, with who.

We exercise "CHOICE" under the influence of two very different and distinct faculties which we posses: Intellect and Intelligence.

The vital difference between the two approaches of making CHOICE is "thinking" and "non-thinking".

We, the human beings, each one of us of the six billions who populate the hospitable planet earth, are gifted with a faculty or a mechanism called 'Intellect'. The degree of usage of this faculty differentiates one individual from the other. Like muscles in the body, this faculty also needs to be used and exercised to increase its strength else it can become totally atrophied and render an individual useless. Use of intellect is an important skill which needs to be introduced at early age. It becomes very difficult for an individual to learn to use this faculty at later stages in life and then the knowledge comes after suffering many knocks.

In fact, we can claim that we are factory-fitted with this faculty from birth. We demonstrate the presence of intellect from our early child-hood when we try to make sense of things around us by asking questions. This is the faculty in action when we are inquisitive; we enquire, investigate, explore, reason, and find logic. What we call 'making sense' is actually establishing effect-cause-effect relationship of our observations around us. This faculty is the force behind the scientific method of experiment and empirical observations which helps in seeking the causes behind physical principles through abstract reasoning. The scientific method involves creating a hypothesis to explain the various observations and then predicting more effects based on this hypothesis. If the observations support with presence of these effects then the hypothesis is proclaimed as a law of nature. This law holds till someone comes up with observations which run counter to the predicted effect or creates more evolved hypothesis which explains wider and contradictory set of observations. Over the ages, scientists have used their intellect to almost conquer the nature to make our lives easy and comfortable with their discoveries and inventions. On the one end of the spectrum, scientists have created understanding of sub-atomic particles and on the other end; they have created understanding of various occurrences in the distant parts of the universe. The quest more and more understanding still goes on.

The basic principle of usage of intellect is to not accept any explanation just on hear-say but to investigate and confirm the cause-effect relationship to our own satisfaction based on irrefutable facts and observations. Intellect helps us not to be a blind follower or a fanatic because it allows us to be always open to new facts which might influence what we consider as a done thing.

This is "Thinking".

Intelligence is the mechanism by which our MIND gains information and knowledge from external sources. Most of our education is focused on imparting information on wide variety of subjects throughout our formative years till we complete graduation and even post-graduation. The analogy of data fed into a computer could be apt for the mechanism of building intelligence. All the information stored in a computer does not enable it to function independently. It cannot use that knowledge on its own. We need the intellect to think, plan and programme our life with the available knowledge.

Intellect and intelligence do not share any cause and effect relationship between each other. Intelligence per se does not enrich intellect. Intelligence can be equated to the horse power in a car and the intellect, the steering wheel which can control and direct the vehicle. Ironically, the entire focus throughout the world is to gain intelligence while the intellect remains poor as ever, undeveloped.

The trap is created by our MIND when it forces us to believe that intelligence is the intellect. We could say that our Mind has a Mind of its own.

When intelligence masquerades as intellect, we function under a delusion that the cause and effect relationships that we have figured out are perfect and we need not re-examine, re-evaluate them even in the face of fresh and old evidences which might be contradicting our conclusions, beliefs, dogmas etc.

• Our mind is the seat of emotions and feelings. It creates in us likes and dislikes. There is no logical reason behind the likes and dislikes; they are just there because our mind wants it. It takes the help of our intelligence to give us an illusion that the likes and dislikes are supported by sound reason and judgment where as the fact remains that these are rightly termed as whims and fancies.
  
• Another disturbing attribute of the mind is worry and anxiety. The mind is worried over what has happened in the past and anxious as to what will happen in the future. Again the mind uses our intelligence to make us believe that the basis for the worries and anxieties are real and we need to take them seriously. This causes sustained mental agitation and sorrow.
  
• Our mind creates in us a feeling of insufficiency which, we wrongly believe, can be completed by acquiring something external to us. This is the basic form of desire.
  Desire is defined as a stream of thoughts flowing from us to the object of our desire. Desires go through several modifications. When we feed the desire and the thought-flow thickens, we develop greed, avarice. And when our desire, greed is fulfilled and we gain what we want we are faced with fear. We become afraid of losing what we have gained. If however, our desire, thought-flow is interrupted, intercepted by an object or being, the thought-flow gets deflected. The deflected thought-flow is called anger. As desire, greed and anger well up we get into delusion. Our emotions mounting up to this stage develop into arrogance at those below our level of achievement and envy at those above our level. Thus the feeling of insufficiency results in host of emotions invading our personality. Desires, besides developing into their modifications also multiply in number like bacteria. They cause agitation and sorrow in the mind. All through life the human mind moves from desire to desire to find fulfillment. No sooner a desire is satisfied, many others spring forth. Our mind takes the help of intelligence in equating quest for happiness with blind pursuit of desire fulfillment.
  
• Based on the support of intelligence, our mind throws us into two powerful motivations in life, actually manifestations of desire only: - acquisition and enjoyment. We want to acquire whatever we desire from the world. And after acquiring we long to enjoy what we have acquired. We look at people who have acquired a lot with awe and believe that their enjoyment quotient will also be proportionately high and get into a rat race.
  
• Another deadly quality of mind is its attachments and possessiveness for the objects and beings of the world. Attachment is love polluted with selfishness. In this case it becomes difficult for even intelligence to come to any defense. Mind just has this quality.
  

This is "Non -Thinking".

We need to examine how we go about making our 'choices'.

Do we really 'think'?

Are we under the spell of our 'MIND'?

Are we trapped?

Go figure….Vedanta Treatise is another book by Swamiji

Business Stripped Bare – A Book Review

Business Stripped Bare – Richard Branson

This is an inspiring personal account by Sir Richard Branson about his 'Business' journey which, I believe, should be a recommended reading to all the people who have done their MBAs, have tried and failed getting into a MBA institute and even those who have not tried this route to learn art and science of entrepreneurship.

The book is very easy to read and peppered with interesting anecdotes that the author brings to demonstrate his points and principles. The tone of the entire book is very engaging and not at all intimidating. If one were to go through the mind boggling accomplishments of the author in his career spanning 40 years, it would be natural to consider it almost impossible what he has achieved in his lifetime setting up 200 companies in over 30 countries in the Virgin Group. We might be tempted to treat this phenomenon as an exception, which ordinary mortals cannot aspire to achieve. This book is his attempt at demystifying the track record and distilling the principles that he has naturally followed.

Through this book, he has actually laid bare the principles of success and gives hope and inspiration to all the current and aspiring entrepreneurs that whatever situation one is in, one can entertain dreams of achieving feats unimaginable now in terms of scale and impact. The generation of personal wealth and celebrity status could be interesting side-effects but not the real purpose of the enterprising individuals.

One basic theme that he has lived is that if one shifts focus to the concerns and issues of a larger set of stakeholders and genuinely try to come up with ideas, drum up collaboration and cooperation amongst the stakeholders and work towards resolving these issues diligently, then the current personal and lower level concerns and issues get resolved on their own. He has recounted how in his lifetime he has reached a stage where he can now play a key and exciting role as an acknowledged leader in addressing global and seemingly intractable issues like climate change and struggle against HIV/AIDS without anyway jeopardizing his commercial interests. This did not happen overnight but as he moved from founding one Virgin business to another, doors kept on opening through his contacts. Although, he is humble and acknowledges the role of luck, but one can easily realize that, had he been selfish and petty, none of these strokes of luck would have occurred in the first place and they would not have propelled him to these dizzy heights. By the way, he is fond on dizzy heights literally also through his interests in ballooning, aviation and space tourism.

The other two prominent themes are having fun while being serious about business and being inspired by great individuals like Nelson Mandela.

All the markets in which Virgin operates tend to have features in common: they are typically markets where the customer has been ripped off or under-served, where there is confusion and/or where the competition is complacent.

Contrary to what some people may think, this constantly expanding and eclectic empire is neither random nor reckless. Each successive venture demonstrates their skill in picking the right market and the right opportunity.

The book is divided into chapters related to – People, Brand, Delivery, Learning from Mistakes and Setbacks, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership, and Social Responsibility. Below is a compilation of things that I consider highlights in these chapters

1. People – Find good people, set them free
   

• Business has to give people enriching, rewarding lives, or it's simply not worth doing
  
• Find energetic and enthusiastic people with the right attitude who can learn and grow into their work.
  
• Put people together in a way that will have them bouncing ideas off each other, befriending each other, and taking care of each other, and suddenly they are coming to you, not with gripes and problems, but with solutions and great ideas.
  
• Keep businesses small, spin-off when any business grows beyond a certain size, say strength of 100 people, promote from within
  
• Enjoyment at work begins where all other enjoyments begin; in good health
  
• A manager should be a considerate person who is as interested in the switchboard operator and the person who cleans the lavatories as he or she is in the fellow managers.
  
• Encourage people to take ownership of the issues that they confront in their working lives.
  
• A self disciplined employee will have the patience to conduct the routing business routinely, the talent to respond exceptionally to exceptional circumstances, and the wisdom to know the difference between the two.
  
• The more you free your people to think for themselves, the more they can help you. You don't have to do this all alone.

1. Brand – Flying the flag

• Virgin is an exception. Being in the top 20 global brands, unlike other 19, it does not ply a well-defined trade. It is the only brand that is diversified into a range of business activities, including airlines, trains, holidays, mobile phones, media – including television, radio, cable – the Internet, financial services and healthcare.
  
• We offer our customers a Virgin experience, and we make sure that this Virgin experience is a substantial and consistent one across all sectors of our business.
  
• We move into a sector to fulfill our key role as consumer's champion only when we feel that we can potentially turn an industry on its head
  
• Brands exist as a means of communicating what to expect from a product or service. A brand should reflect what you can do. You have to deliver, faultlessly and for all time, whatever your brand promises. So it's better to make your offering sound witty and innovative than to pretend you're more than you are.
  
• Customer is the only common factor to all the range of things we are involved in.
  
• The idea is to find newer ways to give customer a good time, have fun, a 'Way of life'.
  
• This has evolved over a period of time by simply following our appetites and the things we were curious about.
  
• I've always and continuously been interested in learning new things and, equally important, I've always wanted to share wanted to share what I learned with other people.
  
• Irreverent humour is one of Virgin's brand values.
  
• Befriending one's enemy is a good rule for business – and life.
  
• Get the brand right from the start, by being honest with yourself about what it is you're offering.
  
• Remember, a brand always means something, and ultimately, you can control the meaning of your brand only through what you deliver to the customer.
  
• Publicity is absolutely critical
  
• Virgin Brand is a flag
  
  • Virgin group is managed under branded venture capital governance model
    
  • Its bonding power gives many entrepreneurs an opportunity to run their businesses provided they pay due respect and agree to protect the integrity of the brand while doing business under the Virgin Umbrella
    
  • We've never let a Virgin company go bankrupt

1. Delivery – Special Delivery

• We thrive on ideas but our day-to-day business is about delivery
  
• Two most important elements of good delivery are – good communication and attention to detail
  
• Letter writing is an important way of communication
  
• Keep talking, keep explaining
  
• It's attention to detail that really defines great business delivery
  
• Keep a notebook and jot down things that need doing.
  
• The main reason why staff become frustrated is that the same problems and complaints keeping cropping up and never seem to get properly sorted.
  
• I think company owners and chairmen should get out from behind their desks and go and sample their own products as often as possible.
  
• Every change ushers in unforeseen consequences
  
• Success one day does not give you a free lunch everyday thereafter.
  
• Delivery is not just hard work: it's endless.
  
• Keep a cool head. You're in business to deliver change, and if you succeed, the chances that no one will get hurt are virtually zero.
  
• Engage your emotions at work.
  
• Plans acquire detail as you test them against questions that on the face of it are really quite simple – and more to do with emotions than figures.

1. Learning from Mistakes and Setbacks

• One thing is certain in business. You and everyone around you will make mistakes
  
• Face the facts – however unpalatable they might be. Failures usually occur when leasers avoid the reality of business
  
• Trust the people around you to learn from their mistakes. Blame and recriminations are pointless.
  
• Protect your reputation. Don't be afraid of making mistakes.
  
• The first thing we do when we're faced with a problem at Virgin is to promptly look for the answer to a single question: "Is there a way out?". And then we do right to the endgame and ask:"What is the ideal way out of this problem for everyone?" Get 100% focused on finding that way out
  
• If you're hurt, lick your wounds and get up again. If you've given it your absolute best, it's time to move forward.

1. Innovation – A Driver for Business

• The best, most solid way out of a crisis in a changing market is through experiment and adaptation.
  
• If your operations are smaller, the distinction between innovation and day-to-day delivery is barely noticeable.
  
• Larger complex businesses have higher chances of getting bogged down by normal activity related to delivery and innovating is seen as something extra, something special separated from routine activity.
  
• Innovation can occur when the most elementary questions are asked and employees are given the resources and power to achieve the answers. E.g.
  
  • Virgin America (an airline) asked "What does a great travel experience look and feel like? How would it be different from anything else US travelers have experienced? What would it take to knock their socks off?" The result of letting lose people's imagination – Customers are generating a huge word-of-mouth advertisement through their blogs, photos uploaded on Flikr etc.
    
• Government and powerful philanthropists have understood the power of direct research and development and harness innovation to their own long-term purposes by instituting prizes.
  
  • In 1714, British government created a prize (UKP 20000) for inventing a device capable of measuring longitude within half a degree of accuracy
    
  • In 1912, a French industrialist offered a trophy for seaplane race. To win a prize of 75000 francs a pilot needed to win three races in five years
    
  • In 1919, Raymond Orteig offered $25000 for the first non-stop transatlantic flight between New York and Paris.
    
  • In 1997, Ansari X prize offered $ 10 Million to carry three people 100 Km above the Earth's surface
    
  • In 2007, Richard Branson instituted $ 25 Million worth The Virgin Earth Challenge to demonstrate to the judges' satisfaction a commercially viable design which results in the removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases so as to contribute materially to the stability of Earth's climate
    
• Business has a duty to continue to push the boundaries to help resolve future challenges
  
• Local solutions and small initiatives punch well above their weight while broad-brush initiatives get horribly bogged down in their own complexity.

1. Entrepreneurs and Leadership – Holding on and Letting Go

• You shouldn't blindly accept a leader's advice. You've got to questions leaders on occasions
  
• True leadership must include the ability to distinguish between real and apparent danger. Beware of overreaction.
  
• There is something that should – no, must –be written into every business plan: This company will have lots and lots of parties and social get-togethers. Parties are a way of galvanizing teams and allowing people to let their hair down.
  
• There is a fundamental difference between an entrepreneur and a manager. Don't try to be both.
  
• Entrepreneurs have the dynamism to get something started. They create opportunity that others don't necessarily see and have the guts to give it a go. Yet an entrepreneur is not necessarily good at the nuts and bolts of running a business.
  
• The entrepreneur's job is effectively to put themselves out of a job each time the new company is up and running.
  
• I don't think there have even a letter from my office which criticizes the staff or an individual. Virgin Group has always tried to look for the best in people. That way, you get the best back.
  
• On firing people – "Decent leadership is about explaining clearly and unemotionally why a decision has been taken."
  
• I think there is such thing as natural leadership. It takes a certain generosity of spirit to trust people, and to judge their merits and limitations fairly. It takes not a little bravery to bear bad news to people. Optimism, openness to possibilities and sheer self-confidence – some people have more of these qualities than others.

1. Social Responsibility – Just Business

• There is such a thing as enlightened self-interest, and we should encourage it. It is possible to turn a profit while making the world a better place.
  
• Inasmuch as there can ever be answers to the problems of the world, capitalism – generously and humanely defined and humbly working with others who understand the issues and solutions – can create some of those answers.
  
• It's more important to do what you believe to be right in life, and if this contradicts your business interests, so be it. Business can't be allowed to float above ordinary morality.
  
• No one is asking you to save the planet. Just dream up and work on a couple of good ideas. No one expects you to find a global solution to everything. Just make a difference where you can. Local solutions have value in themselves, and some can be scaled up, so it doesn't matter how modest your budget, you can and will make a difference.

Three habits of a highly effective / clear headed thinker

Book Review - The Choice – Eliyahu Goldratt

The Choice to invest time, effort, intuition and emotions in overcoming obstacles to clear thinking and leading a full-life

This is the much awaited input from Dr. Goldratt. People who have read his business novels have enjoyed the clear thinking and the common sense ways in which the solutions are derived. But, when it comes to trying our hands at doing the same in our specific context, many of us have found it difficult to be successful to that scale. In this book, Dr. Goldratt teaches us in a very carefully written way how to find the errors we make and how to correct them. I read The Choice through quickly first time, and then read it again slowly, thoughtfully several times. The material talks much of distribution, but it is about living one’s life. To have a meaningful life is up to us; we make The Choice.

We know Goldratt has made proclamations that go against the grain of common-practice. This book helps us understand the basis for Goldratt’s assertions:

1. Instead of taking the route of saving pennies to make a million, he advises to find Archimedes point or the leverage point of the system where a small effort creates a disproportionately large results in a true WIN-WIN fashion.

2. He does not believe in law of diminishing returns, he says if we practice Process of ongoing improvement (POOGI), the system can be continuously improved and the improvement will follow an exponential path.

3. He claims that there are silver bullets whereas most of the management thought lead us to believe that there are no silver bullets.

The format of the book is unlike his business novels. There is no protagonist (Alex Rogo) stuck in a time crunch (most of the times, just a quarter) to save his plant, divisions or career. So if you are addicted to the thrill of living the life on the edge with the protagonist, you will not find it here. The book is made up of Goldratt’s conversations with his daughter, Efrat, his case reports and Efrat’s reflections. Goldratt explains through conversations with his daughter and reports on past TOC projects how we can all choose to live a challenging and meaningful life based on self expression and taking responsibility for our lives. He explains his belief of 'Inherent Simplicity' -- that all circumstances no matter how apparently complicated are subject to fast improvement. He explains clearly and directly how we must try to control our situations and problems by seeking the truth of what causes them rather than being at the mercy of them.

In order to simplify understanding the instructions, the content of the book can be summarized as Three habits of a highly effective / clear-headed thinker. These habits are:

Habit # 1 – Never Say “I Know”

Habit # 2 – Be conscious of following obstacles to clear headed thinking and beware of falling prey to the same
Obstacle # 1 “Reality is Complex”
Obstacle # 2 “Lets settle for an acceptable compromise”
Obstacle # 3 “People are not good”

Habit # 3 – Practice, practice, practice

Habit # 1 – Never Say “I Know”
The way Goldratt keeps on going on and on without becoming complacent with the early successes, it is clear that this is a basic qualifying criteria to continued clear thinking. He demonstrates that this attitude leads to an exciting and rewarding journey with no end, where each success is just a stepping stone. There is no end to deeper understanding.

I relate this to the modified Johari window that William Dettmer has presented in his book “Strategic Navigation”



It does not take too much of contemplation to arrive at the realization that what we know and we are aware of is extremely extremely minute compared to overall knowledge that might exist. We just have to compare an individual’s existence with the universal dimensions. An individual is one amongst about 6 billion humans living on earth. What is the mass / volume / lifespan of an individual compared to mass / volume / lifespan of the universe? It would be real dumb attitude to have even traces of arrogance of ‘knowing’. This is not to belittle our capability to hold the notion of infinite in our mind but I believe, the moment we get a feeling that we have reached the best solution, we become complacent and might miss even better possibilities. The impression of “we know” blocks us from using our intuition and brainpower. Goldratt has demonstrated through his case reports, how his constant quest for better and better solution does not lead to any disappointment.

There is always room for improvement – breakthrough improvement. Thinking there isn’t room for improvement is an obstacle in itself that needs to be removed.

Habit # 2 – Be conscious of the obstacles to clear headed thinking and beware of falling prey to the same

This is the core of the scientific, rational and logical approach that Goldratt has elaborated in the book. He quotes Newton – “Natura valde simplex est et sibi consona – nature is exceedingly simple and harmonious with itself”

The first obstacle that we face is our perception that “Reality is complex”. Goldratt claims that this perception stems from different ways in complexity is defined in social sciences and hard sciences. The social sciences take the level difficulty and number of data points required to ‘describe’ as a measure of complexity whereas hard sciences take ‘degrees of freedom’ or the points required to be touched (manage) to impact the whole system as a measure of complexity. He uses the diagram shown below to make the point.

Which system is more complex?

By the social sciences definition it appears B is more complex than A. But if we look at it from a systems perspective then A is more complex, because there is only one point in B that has to be touched in order to affect the whole system. Whereas for A, the number is four, meaning that it is a far more complex environment to control; and what if there are more than four?

Goldratt, being a physicist asserts any system, including human based systems are inherently simple. It takes an outlook of a scientist to look for common cause which is behind the multiple effects. So if we change the definition of complexity we will have a very different answer. Thus the first step in understanding, and thence using, inherent simplicity is uncovered – the use of Effect-Cause-Effect logic to determine the root cause of the organization, and focus our efforts there. The perception that the reality is complex leads us to look for complex solutions although we keep failing to find lasting solution in this approach.

Goldratt elaborates on “inherent simplicity”, namely the application of a thinking process that allows us to delve into the causal relationships within problems to determine those few (and there may be only one) key areas upon which to focus. It is the discovery of common causes that leads to the understanding of inherent simplicity. We need to have total faith in the existence of “inherent simplicity” keep working to understand the causal relationships that exist in our context till we have a clear understanding of the system that we are part of. A leap of faith through intuition and conviction that convergence WILL happen. There is a convergence as we dive deeper by constantly asking “Why”.

Ask Why?
1. Make an hypothesis of a ‘cause’ of a particular effect that you see in the reality
2. Predict another effect of this ‘cause’, which is observable and measurable.
3. Does the predicted effect exist in reality?
4. If not (or the reality is way different than the predicted effect), then iterate again 1- 3
5. Once you have a plausible ‘cause’ again iterate 1-4 for this entity as an effect.
6. Use categories of legitimate reservation to validate logic

Goldratt says that “good luck is preparation meets opportunity and bad luck is lack of preparation meets reality” and the best preparation is to have logical maps with causal linkages clearly understood. The current-reality tree is the thinking process tool that best serves the purpose for this effort. It would be possible to attain in our practice - “The more complicated the situation seems to be, the simpler the solution must be” - by averting collision with the first obstacle. This is applicable to every aspect of reality including people and whatever they create apart from the material world.

The second obstacle to clear thinking is our propensity to look and settle for compromises. This obstacle appears to be the result of the first obstacle. As we do not understand the inherent simplicity of the situation that we face, we take various conflicts and differences as unsolvable facts of life. With such fatalistic view, the option left to us is look for compromises. Since, we fill helpless with the fatalistic attitude we develop defensive mechanisms for camouflaging the chronic problems. The book cites how in the retail industry Stock-out situations and Outlet and end-of-season sales are talked in jest. We avoid solving larger and chronic problems and go for minor problems. Although our intuition might tell these compromises are short term fixes but we expend energy and emotions to try and make such sub-optimal solutions work.

Goldratt gives example of how the practices in hard sciences are different from the soft sciences. If two interpretations of a natural phenomenon are in conflict, the scientists do not go for a compromise but with a firm belief that, one or possibly both must be wrong, explore and develop even better understanding of the phenomenon. They explore the underlying assumptions that led to such a conflict. In Theory of Constraints there is a tool for dealing with conflicts – the ‘evaporating cloud’. This tool comes handy in our search for the underlying assumptions that hold the conflict in place and then remove the cause of the conflict by dissolving the assumptions - thereby eliminating the conflict altogether. When in an organization with a common goal, two parts are in conflict (or in a dilemma) this means that the reasoning that led to the conflict must contain at least one flawed assumption. The ideas that help us by pass this conflict / dilemma are true WIN-WIN solutions as the organization can proceed towards its goal as the constraint gets eliminated.

The third obstacle to clear thinking is our tendency to blame other people. This I believe, stems from the second obstacle. Any compromise is not a WIN-WIN solution. The party which has supposedly LOST more compared to the other feels aggrieved and develops antipathy. In a compromise, this applies to BOTH the parties. As human beings we always have our own win in mind; we are “programmed” for self-interest. Therefore, when we are involved in a conflict, in a situation that is handled as a win-lose situation, we will be more protective than generous. Goldratt takes us through the importance of harmony, of understanding and seeing the issues from the perspective of the other side and of examining the blame culture that dominates many relationships, both internally within organizations and between organizations. The key here is to recognize that for every relationship there is a change that will cause the parties to achieve what they need from the relationship and thus achieve a level of harmony previously thought unachievable. This is all about changing the mind set such that win-win relationships can be developed and encouraged to grow. The definition of win-win that Eli uses is interesting and novel: the win for my side is less than that for the other side!

Goldratt refers to the accepted wisdom that many improvement initiatives are stymied by resistance from people. He advises to be on guard when the cause contains an abstract entity, like conservatism, resistance to change etc. If we try to come up with a predicted effect with another effect that must be the result of the same cause. Then people should resist every change in different aspects of life. But the reality proves that people, in fact, look for to drastic changes in life like getting married, graduating, changing jobs etc.

Resistance to change is because people like to be in their “comfort zone”. Comfort zone is defined as an area where people feel that they have control or at least a sufficient amount of influence. An additional piece of comfort zone is where a person feels that he/she has sufficient knowledge of the cause and effect – what is going to be the likely outcome of an action and what is going to the likely response to a suggestion. So if you clearly explain the cause-effect, people may be more likely to respond positively to change. Also perform a test to validate the cause-effect that has been suggested.

Habit # 3 – Practice, practice, practice

The keys to thinking clearly are the belief in Inherent Simplicity and, not less important, the belief that people are not bad. A belief that leads to the practice that every hypothesis, before it is even entertained as a plausible hypothesis, should first pass the test of not being derogatory. This is a proagmatic approach which works without fail and leads to improving our chances of living a full life.

Goldratt says that logic doesn’t exist in vacuum. To perform any logical step we need to jump-start and constantly feed the logic with connections that are raised by our intuition. Our intuition stems from our emotions. For things we don’t care about, we have zero intuition. In short, our thinking stands on three-legged stool; emotion, intuition and logic.

We tend to concentrate on our areas of interest as our emotions and intuition are strongest in the areas that are most important to us. Now suppose that we use the intuition that we have in these areas to fuel logic to gain further understanding of other areas, our chances of success improve. The success leads to intensifying emotions in that area. Thinking clearly results in deeper emotions, resulting in stronger intuition, resulting in higher chances to apply logic successfully, increasing the chances to achieve good results, resulting in more meaningful outcomes, resulting in deeper emotions. This is like a helix that swirls upwards.

Each one of us has enough brainpower and intuition to reach a full life. No matter what the starting levels of brainpower and intuition, if we practice thinking clearly, the helix will intensify them to new heights. What we become is a matter of our CHOICE.

Goldratt calls this approach as that of a ‘practical visionary’.

We realize
1. People are good
2. Every conflict can be removed
3. Every situation, no matter how complex it initially looks, is exceedingly simple

4. Every situation can be substantially improved; Even sky is not the limit
5. There is always a win-win solution
6. Every person can reach a full life