Organization of efforts

Among the feedback and questions I heard from my first post was that a lot of well-intentioned people are still at a loss to know what exact steps they could take to make a difference. This discussion is still at an early stage and we have not reached the point but I hope we can get there in due course of time. My thinking is that we need to have a solid foundation of understanding to build our efforts on.

IMHO, the first and foremost thing to understand, as I've mentioned in my previous post, is the working of a complex adaptive system. Throw out the baggage of linear thinking that burdens the mind with the enormity of effort involved to overcome obstacles. Remember, the stimulus in the system need not be extraordinarily large (as a linear system would require) ; it just needs to be there and then spread properly. Look at how the negative influences have permeated into our systems with exponential effects. The same can be done with positive influences with a little bit of dedication and conscious effort. We also have the dynamics of scale on our side. Even if 10% of the people are motivated and contribute in any way in the coming decades, we have 100 million people acting instead of whining! That’s enough to create a revolution.

In order to plan, scope and structure efforts, it would be a good idea to base it on a model. The goal of such a model is to:

• help outline the scope of improvements
• help classify areas that need efforts
• help identify areas where individuals can choose to contribute

Here is my conceptual model.

    +----------+    +-----------+    +----------+
    |  Social  |    | Political |    | Economic |
    |          |    |           |    |          |
    |          |    |           |    |          |
    |          |    |           |    |          |
    |          |    |           |    |          |
    |          |    |           |    |          |
    |          |    |           |    |          |
    |          |    |           |    |          |
    |          |    |           |    |          |
    |          |    |           |    |          |
    |          |    |           |    |          |
    |          |    |           |    |          |
    |          |    |           |    |          |
    +----------+    +-----------+    +----------+

------------------------------------------------------

    +-------------------------------------------+
    |                                           |
    |               Technology                  |
    |                                           |
    +-------------------------------------------+

There are 3 main areas of improvement.

Social

- Poverty reduction
- Social infrastructure development - basic needs for people
- Education - literacy and improving relevance of higher education
- Accelerating development in rural areas
- Religious tolerance and freedoms

Political

- Improvements in governance structures
- Efficiency and accountability from local and national governments
- Common well-defined bipartisan goals for national progress
- Improvements in law and order
- Getting the best and the brightest interested in politics

Economic

- Strategies to maintain GDP growth pace - proactive handling of issues
- Global financial leadership and innovative ways of attracting more FDI
- Culture of entrepreneurship

The 3 areas of improvement above are broad enough to encompass most issues and are mostly well understood. There are already a large number of organizations and individuals contributing in these areas. What I am also proposing is to have a foundation of technology on which the 3 spheres above rest. Technology is the lifeblood of development and has been the driving factor for radical advancements in the last decade. I predict that within our lifetimes technology will permeate the very fabric of our societies at all levels. The winners will be the nations that encourage unhindered development, proper direction and clever application of technology.

Technology

- Investments in research and development. Competing at the global level
- Watching global developments and trends
- Having free, open policies
- Astute application of technology to further advances in the 3 dependent areas

I’d like to remind once again that this could be one model that we base efforts on. Modifications and alternatives are most welcome. I will be going into the details of each area in my subsequent posts.

One thing you can use this model for is to decide for yourself in what area you are going to contribute and to what level e.g you may actively participate in the technology area but only passively support the social area. Or you may completely remain aloof from the political area. You can choose to dedicate time, money and efforts in certain areas with active formation and support of groups and societies. Or you could simply donate money to organizations that are doing work in some areas. You could engage in a profitable activity or in a charitable activity – either way you will be contributing. The higher the level of your contribution the more will be the benefits. But note that by the very definition, no contribution will be wasted even if it appears to be so in a large, complex system.

All said and done, a contribution is all that is needed – anything at all … the choice is yours to make.

Can I make a difference?

One of the most fundamental questions that bogs the mind down when you look at the current situation of India is "Can I make a difference?" Most people are convinced at the outset that no difference can be made. I went through a similar mind block for several years despite best intentions of doing good for India. In this post I propose to present my perspective and rationalization on this topic.

If I were an inspiring leader with great oratorial (or journalistic) skills, I'd probably be able to convince you that every person can make a difference by sheer emotions and influence. I could take you back in time and remind you of the history of India's freedom struggle and how if every one had waited for somebody else to do something, then we'd still be under British rule. Of course, we had visionary leaders then you say. We do even today. There are millions of brilliant, visionary people who are tirelessly doing the right thing not with the help of but inspite of the non-functional systems we have in place. You need to look no further than the fact that we have had a (nominally?) functional democracy for 50+ years and we are on the verge of becoming a top global economy in the world. How many developing countries can claim that? All it takes is the tribe of the brilliant and the visionary to increase and we'd soon be doing much better ....

But I'm not about to presume that I have what it takes to lead and influence my listeners (or readers) let alone the millions of people that will need to be motivated to make progress. Instead I'm going to rely on what I know best from my background and training. Logic and reasoning. Ever wonder how in a system a few bad influences (bad apples!) breed more and more bad influences until it seems like a pervasive, unassailable force? What are the cause and the effects? Can we even distinguish between the cause and effects after some time? Likely not. Where does this huge non-linearity enter the system - rendering it several orders of magnitude different than where it started from? I have thought long and hard about this. Are there any models that can be studied? I found some answers in modern mathematical and computational theories. There is a lot of research work available on the web for the academically inclined on complexity theory, chaos theory, complex adaptive systems - especially some pioneering work by the Santa Fe Institute. If you are really short on time, I'd recommend at least reading up Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) on:

http://www.trojanmice.com/articles/complexadaptivesystems.htm

What does this have to do with improving India? I am convinced that if we understand clearly that our whole nation (as any nation really) is also a CAS, understand its properties fully and then create the right influences one step at a time, we will be able to radically transform ourselves to a level that I dare not imagine. I'll be the first person to point out that I'm sure this idea is not novel - far more brilliant people out there than I. But this model helps me understand and gives me confidence that:

1. Whatever little I do will impact the grand scheme of things.
2. We need only simple rules. The rest will follow.
3. We don't need any de facto or de jure leader of phenomenal qualities to "lead" us.
4. We don't need to find and influence every last person in the country. The key is critical mass.
5. We need not be perfect.

I derive my motivation from my conviction in the tenets above. Understanding them removes the biggest impediments that stop me from making a beginning. The changes may happen in my lifetime or maybe not. But I'm sure they will happen. And I am content in that knowledge. I fully intend to do my part - be the butterfly that will eventually change the weather. What about you?

Next: A model to categorize and focus our energies in development of India.

Thoughts from TiECon West 2005

Yesterday I attended theTiECon West 2005 conference held at the Santa Clara Convention Center. It was a great day. I got a chance to hear Bruce Chizen talk about how he turned Adobe around and Daniel Rosensweig on what challenges he saw Yahoo through. Apart from that, of course, it was a great opportunity to network; met a lot of new people and learnt quite a bit about emerging trends and entrepreneurial challenges.

However, what I want to talk about most is the Musings section that concluded the event. The title was: Musings: Democracy & Sustained Economic Growth, Freedom & Empowerment. The moderator was Michael Krasny, Ph. D, Senior Editor KQED.

This was one of the most engaging and thought provoking programmes I have seen in recent years. This has inspired me to embark on the mission of writing this blog. My initial goal is to capture some of the fundamental ideas expressed in this session and then on an ongoing basis make this a place to exchange ideas on a subject that is dear to many of my fellow Indians - how can we improve India; make it the world leader that it should be and more importantly how can I contribute?

The following is a brief summary and the message from each of the speakers:

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute, Columbia University

An extremely well read and scholarly person, he commented on the economic disparities in India's development and in particular stressed the stark contrast in India's urban and rural development. He seemed to be very much in tune with India's political realities. His message was very crisp - eradication of extreme poverty by 2015 and enabling rural India to share the economic prosperity of urban India through technology.

Dr. Jayprakash Narayan, National Coordinator LOKSATTA

The best speaker on the panel, I was very impressed by the depth of his ideas and his fluency of narration. He emphasized his deep democratic conviction and shed some light on differences in the development strategies and execution between China and India. He also pointed out that the large imperfections in democratic India should be viewed in the proper perspective and not compared "as is" with the US and the UK today which went through similar stages of growing pains 80-150 years ago. He also gave some of his ideas on how we can improve some of our governance structures at least at the state level to improve efficiency, accountability and decision-making abilities for those in power. He called upon the attendees - the best and the brightest in many ways - to reflect on the difference they can make to India. He mentioned these 2 websites for those wanting to learn more:

http://www.voteindia.org (now hosted at http://www.janadesh.org)
http://www.loksatta.org

Kamran Eliahian, Chairman & Cofounder Global Catalyst Partners

An Iranian by birth, he is a confirmed Gandhi-phile - to the extent that he has been instrumental in buying rights and screening Arabic versions of the movie Gandhi throughout the Arab world especially in Palestine. He talked about some of his experiences, showed several snippets of the movie and made some light-hearted comments on American politics. His message was very simple - internalize and spread Gandhi's message throughout the world, "You should be the change you want to see in the world!"