Thought Leadership

Literature Celebrates Diversity and That is Leadership    Click the Link Below to Read 👇 https://www.linkedin.com/posts/shahnawaz-qasim-ips-16583110_humanityleadershipseries-merrychristmas-kindnessmatters-activity-6747945521282920448-Aeoq  

Once we understand this then it becomes easier to move ahead     Click the Link Below to Read 👇   https://www.linkedin.com/posts/shahnawaz-qasim-ips-16583110_humanityleadershipseries-leadership-activity-6747488422371368960-1r08 Photo by Tatiana Syrikova from Pexels

Advices are  game changers   Sometimes some advice can be a game changer. It can establish as well as ruin the entire future prospects of the heeder more so particularly in the professional field  Generally such important advice is sought from experienced & professional people who have spent years in that profession. We do not seek such seasoned advice from a teenager more so if he has no knowledge of that field  Nizami took the Risk  But this is exactly what Nizami Ganjavi the 12th century AD Persian poet did when he was offered a professional literary task. Nizami was an accomplished literary figure  He was offered the project to write the famous Arabic love story of Laila-Majnu for the Persian readers. His advisors bluntly told him that a sad love story of a commoner would not attract readers. Further this would besmirch his philosophical poet image  Nizami was confused. He sought the final advice from his wife & his teenage son. They bo...

The Uniformity in Digital World  The European Union(EU) wants to create a common charger for all the phones. It wants complete uniformity in electronic accessories The EU wants to reduce the electronic waste due to diversity in the phone chargers The similar efforts in 2009 failed due to interoperability between devices But in Technology the uniformity ultimately gets achieved for the ease of doing business Diversity is Humanity  But imagine creating similar controlled uniformity in human thoughts, ideas, ideology, perceptions etc in our existence It would be a Herculean disaster in the leadership of Ideas What looks as absolute necessity when we deal with Natural Sciences looks totally unscientific when we interact with the Social Sciences We as the people must know that there are worlds existing within the world. There are mini universes being born & breathing within the same universe Let me tell you the greatest Thumb Rule of human existence “ Uniformity is a blessing ...

The couplet  "Bas-ki dushvar hai har kaam ka aasan hona //  Aadmi ko bhi mayassar nahi insaan hona" It is difficult that every goal be easily complete // Even for Human it is not easy to be humane Ghalib  The above couplet of the great urdu poet Ghalib indicates that certain qualities are to be fulfilled before biological human becomes truly a human. There are four basic qualities which every human must possess to be called human. 1. A man must believe in the equality of all men 2. A man must be kind, compassionate and full of empathy in his behaviors 3. A man must be willing to repent on his mistakes 4. A man must be just, impartial and do justice What do you say ? 

Albert Camus & the plague period  One of the few good books to read during this period is " The Plague " written by Albert Camus. Albert Camus is one of the few brilliant philosophical minds of the 20th century.  The Plague  In the book " The Plague" , he philosophizes that the human's collective fight for existence against the common threat is an ongoing process. The book philosophizes about human destiny and freedom of choice. Through the book Albert Camus is also trying to refer to all forms of organised injustices via the metaphor of the plague.  The sample passage  Sample below a passage from the book.. Thus week by week the prisoners of plague put up what fight they could. Some, like Rambert, even contrived to fancy they were still behaving as free men and had the power of choice. But actually it would have been truer to say that by this time, mid-August, the plague had swallowed up everything and everyone. No longer were there individual destinies; on...

Truth too needs symbols  Truth, even though it is truth, still requires symbolism to highlight itself. One of the most iconic examples that can be cited is of Socrates, the Great Greek philosopher. Bertrand Russell writes " Oracle of Delphi was once asked if there were any man wiser than Socrates, and the oracle replied that there was not". Socrates the philosopher  Socrates was put to trial and condemned to death by the Athenian establishment. The charge against Socrates was that he was corrupting the minds of the people specially the young generations. Most of what we know about Socrates comes from the writing of his two pupils Plato and Xenophon. Plato, himself a great philosopher, was present in the court during the trial of Socrates and he wrote the entire dialogues of Socrates in the form of the book called “𝗔𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆" The Apology  At the end of the trial Socrates addresses the unjust court and remarks “ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶...

Rumi Jalaluddin Mohammad Rumi, popularly known as Rumi, is one of the greatest and most widely read mystic poet. He lived around the region of present day Turkey in the 13th century AD.  Shams Tabrez  He wrote mostly in Persian.. Shams –i- Tabrizi was the wandering Sufi who ignited the fire of mysticism and love in Rumi. It is said that Shams –i- Tabrizi shaped the entire intellectual consciousness of Rumi. Rumi says about him 𝙁𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚: 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙧𝙖𝙬, 𝙄 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙩 Maqalat –e- shams-i-Tabrizi Shams and Rumi had intellectual discussions and these were noted by Rumi’s students. The notes were compiled by an Iranian scholar into a book “Maqalat –e- shams-i-Tabrizi, The Discourses of Shams –i- Tabrizi. This book gives us the best insight into the mystic genius of both the great souls. Rumi’s Mathnawai is regarded as the one of greatest poetry book ever written. After translation into ...

The great shutdown  No history books records of situation where the whole world is in shutdown & lockdown. pandemic is not the correct word to describe it. It's time to call it by new name the “worldemic” Every catastrophic event has seeds of hidden messages for humanity. Every crisis warns us of our follies committed The wastage of resources  The wealth and resources of the world is to protect and progress humanity rather than to destroy it. But we find that most of world's wealth & resources are used for weapons, armaments, wars and for creating disorders born out of our hubris. Look at the world over. We are not short of weapons but we are short of basic survival materials like masks, testing kits, Personal protection kits PPEs, medicines etc. We are short of things that matters  We are not short of military, soldier’s, weapon experts etc but we have shortages of doctors, nurses, trained health care professionals etc. Our controlled mind hardly appreciates the ...

Humbling Experience  Reading cosmology & space is a humbling experience. we realize that we are nothing in the scheme of things. In fact the concept of big or small ceases to exist in cosmology. our's is a measurable world. space is not. When you realize that the universe is a temporary phenomena, you suddenly turn philosophical. Then you further realize that another Universe may be created upon the destroyed one. This gives a feeling that nothing is created forever. In effect immortality of creation is false consciousness. Everyday is a new creation Everyday is a new creation. Everyday is a new learning. Every chapter is a new beginning. Every Discovery is a falsification of the earlier discoveries. Nothing is constant and nothing is truthful. Everything is in flux. So is our life. Which means we have to re-create ourselves everyday. We have to destroy the old redundant ideas. We have to defeat status quoism. We have to absorb the cosmos within ourselves. We have to die to liv...

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗣𝗢𝗘𝗧 𝗦𝗔𝗔𝗗𝗜 𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗔𝗭𝗜 Saadi was a traveler and a poet. He learnt life through his journey and that is reflected in his poetry. He proclaims the unity of mankind through his poetry. His poems have been translated into almost all languages of the world. The great Goethe, the German genius, was among the first to translate Saadi's poetry. The Europeans came to know about the genius of Saadi through Goethe's translation. The unity of mankind  This famous poem is Posted in the entrance to the Hall of Nations of the UN building, New York " Human beings are members of a whole, In creation of one essence and soul. If one member is afflicted with pain, Other members uneasy will remain. If you have no sympathy for human pain, The name of human you cannot retain " Saadi's poetry are mystical and spiritual in nature and asserts the unity of mankind in all contexts.

The equation of life  Everything exists to self destruct itself one day into oblivion. Nothing is eternal. Everything is ephemeral. Certainty of Permanence is antithetical to the existence of creation. The sun which sustains life on Earth is also destined to extinguish itself one day just like the lamp in the highway winds. Sun is nothing but a fading lamp of time. When our realities are not permanent our experiences also cannot be perpetual. High & Low are the processes of the ultimate equation of decay. When we understand the "Equation of Life" we acknowledge the solutions inherent in it Great leadership understand life  Great minds & exceptional leadership understand the Constants & Variables of the Equation of Life. They do not chase success nor do they understand failures. They only try & think about imprinting their ideas, thoughts, actions, behaviors etc on the impermanent canvas of their existence. They understand the limitations of the realities of th...

The Hunter & Prey Mindset Our way of looking at success & failure is primordial. We are still trapped in the Hunter and the Prey Mindset ( HPM). We visualize success as a prey that has to be hunted down through strategy & tactics . But this model is uni dimensional and severely individualistic in processes & effects Zero sum game model  Success & Failure has two dimensions. One is the somewhat Zero Sum Game Model (ZSGM) and the other is something like the Exponential Growth Model ( EGM). In ZSGM if someone has to win then someone has to lose. This is the individualistic personal development model. This model is purely the HPM scenario. We are more obsessed with this model The Exponential Growth Model  The EGM is the mass benefit model. It is a collective enterprise. In this the success is exponential and belongs to all. If vaccines & medicines for Covid19 are successfully discovered it will be the EGM of success. There is nothing wrong with the ZSGM per...

It is the glow from inside that makes you fly high and yet keeps you stable. The whole journey is to get that "Glow" within ourselves. We all have Potential Glow inside us. But it needs some kind of spark to lighten the embers again. Let's search for that spark and start the Glow which enlightens you and all Sometimes that spark comes in the form of leaders and their leadership style. A leader is the one who stokes that glow of hope inside us.                                               Video credit: Taryn Elliott from Pexels

What makes a successful Leader different from the rest They too are mortal and prone to influence from the common ecosystem They also face difficulties what we all face The one quality that separates great Leaders from the rest is this.... They wear their "𝗩𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡" and that is why they can see their goals which others cannot Their sight becomes their "𝗩𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡" That is why they are called " 𝗩𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗬"                                                    video credit  by   @ sound on at Pexels

Let us be bewitched... Let us be bewitched with Humanity It is in the nature of everything to fade & wither away into oblivion if not taken care of Every beautiful things exists because it is nurtured with love & kindness Relationships & our social existence Sits on the principle of Nurturing So, Nourish yourself with Tender Emotions Shower everybody with benign feelings Water the tree of humanity With Compassion Then see the Magic happen The musk of the flowers of togetherness will spread far & wide into the distant hearts & minds etched forever as memories " The Bliss in Solitude" by Shahnawaz Qasim                                                    Video credit  by  u_rjjehevu from Pixabay

𝗪𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 History is the formal and structured way of story telling based on verifiable facts. It is a form of story telling which has engaged us for thousand of years. Historians are trained story tellers The greatest stories  But the greatest stories are not buried in the history books. It lies in the consciousness of everyone. The common man is the greatest story teller. Billions of human stories lies unheard of from millions of such people Stories of love, emotion, faith, despair, hope, war, peace, turmoil, bond, separation, success, failure, life, death etc are all part of our common human heritage. We do not exist only to hear & celebrate stories of triumph. We are not here to gloat the achievements of few over many. We live to speak and converse about the stories of the ordinary. It is the ordinary wherein lies the spirit of extraordinary. We must tell the incredible untold stories of the common man Leadership tells hope s...

The early morning blues It was an early morning flight & I was getting late. Half asleep, I managed to dress and rushed to the airport I was running towards the allotted gate to board the flight. Suddenly I felt a twist and saw one of the shoe soles has come out I could do nothing but throw it in the dustbin. I wore my bathroom slipper & boarded the flight I called the cab driver and asked him whether I can buy shoes after landing on the way to the guest house. He replied in the negative. My meeting was at 10.30 AM.                                                         Photo credit : Kat Jayne from pexels  The unexpected gift of leadership  After landing I rushed out. The cab driver eagerly came & spoke “sir ji I got 3 pairs of shoes for you from my friends. Pl check which one fits you’’ He saved the day for me. I thanked him...

The audio-video civilization (AVC) The audio-visual content to our brain is simply astonishing. Our eyes & ears are the busiest of all the organs. The brain is simply acting as our dump-yard and not the storehouse. This is the age of audio-video civilization(AVC) Where is the time to process & disseminate the correct information to ourselves also. We are overwhelmed with the audio-visuals sensations to our existence The biggest casualty is the art of thinking  The greatest casualty is the art of thinking. We are no longer the proponents of “Cogito, ergo sum”. We are no longer doubting the things as we should have. We are simply accepting & consuming the information as they are fed to us Once while going along with a friend for dinner, the philosopher Socrates suddenly started thinking on an issue. He thought there standing on the road for hours till his friends brought him home There is no need to think for hours. But we must think for those hours which matters The...

Be the Nomad Within  If you get to meet yourself someday you will behold a fascinating person The more you experience that individual The higher you will know about happiness The more you may know about bliss The extra you may share it with the world So do not wander in waste lands Meander in yourself Be the nomad within #By Shahnawaz Qasim  photo credit :  Tomas Anunziata from pexels