RIPPING FAULTLINES

Admiral Sergei Gorshkov was appointed at the helm of the Soviet Navy in 1956 at age 45 and went on to command it till 1985. This duration of 29 years saw the Soviet Union’s expansion into a global sea power. Gorshkov’s 29 years as the Soviet Navy’s Chief demonstrated that he was not only a survivor and but also an extremely patient man. His tenure saw through five Soviet leaders in the post-Stalin period. This speaks volumes about his ability to play his political cards right with the Kremlin. He also survived a defense structure dominated by WWII-era party officials fixated on land power and Red Army marshals who were contemptuous and ignorant of naval matters in equal measure. Thus, Gorshkov clearly understood the limits of inter-service rivalry and intellectual rigor within the Soviet system.

Gorshkov penned forth his vision of sea power, Russia’s maritime heritage and destiny, and the naval component called    Operational Art. Gorshkov’s writings led to vigorous debates amongst Soviet naval experts in the West and established a strategic discourse for the superpower naval rivalry that, in hindsight, was truly remarkable. He was, if we may conclude, successful in bridging various fault lines which emerged as he led the Soviet Navy through the tumultuous 29 years wherein the Cold War ran at its peak.

This analogy leads us to an interesting debate which emerges on the fault lines which have been ripping the world apart in various human arenas. Each and every field of human life is seeing ripping fault lines cracking up the domains within no time. Each new fault line shifts the strategy to new corners and seams of the arenas are always getting torn apart. Can we name even a single arena where the issues are closed and chaos does not prevail?

These are interesting times. Humans have developed interesting traits. There are hardly any followers now. Each human is a leader in his or her own right. In majority of the cases, even if they follow a leader, it is for certain gains and if there are any pains then the followers simply vanish. The shift of focus is fast, furious and premature exits are the norms of the society. The challenge build up each day and not on each day the human are willing to take the challenge head on. The energy levels of each human are different and so are the capabilities. Getting a bunch to think alike for the progress of the society hardly finds any takers!!

The deep penetration of social media should have been a boon for the humans. Even in this arena, the fault lines have ripped apart the thought processes. The smallest of the issue has multiple confused solutions which eventually do not lead humans anywhere near the peace, prosperity and joy that humans always strive for. Agitations, threats, insinuations, sedition are the buzzwords of these times. Stability has been lost in a myriad of desires and broken dreams. Cracks and fissures are competing with each other at a maddening pace.    

What do humans actually need? This definition seems to have blurred approaches and therefore is the natural cause for ripping fault lines. Every human wants to breathe, but it seems that they only want to breathe for themselves. There is no space left for others to join and to gain happiness. The only bright spark is that all is not lost yet. There is scope of getting around and getting better. Maybe, many of us need to calm ourselves down and take a strong look at the future. A fractured World will be of no use to man or mankind. Calm and peaceful humanity would bring about the best results to soothe the pains. It seems to be easier said than done, but, it is not difficult to achieve either.

Each one of us in our own arena needs to calm down the nerves of our associates and to guide them to plug their own fault lines. A little help at the correct time can prevent the small issues to escalate into a full-fledged fault line. Probably, this is exactly what Admiral Gorshkov achieved many a times in his 29 year long stint as the Soviet Navy’s Chief. It must not have been easy for him to have lived through five political leaders and to put the Soviet Navy on the path of growth. With each change at the helm, Admiral Gorshkov would have meshed his plans, plugged the gaps and ensured that no fault lines are created.

Calm heads and clear visionaries are the need of the hour in any Organization. Only those organizations, where a clear path is shown and smooth movement of people is ensured will grow in the fault line strewn world. These professionals would be able to bridge the gaps and ensure that they do not topple. Each one would have to carry many individuals with them to spread the message farther and farther. The ripping fault lines are moving at a hectic pace and time is absolutely right to plug them up. The results of plugging the fault lines will bring in the much human desired and long lasting peace, prosperity and happiness.  

So, if you need to live a smooth life, get up and hold some one’s hand to stop him or her from creating yet another fault line to rip the World apart. Do you have it in you, eh?

FIRE THAT IMAGINATION

World War-II saw a pitched battle at Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. The battle was fought between the U –Boats and the Allied Ships. According to the War Shipping Administration, the U.S. Merchant Marine suffered the highest rate of casualties of any service in World War II. Officially, a total of 1,554 ships were sunk due to war conditions, including 733 ships of over 1,000 gross tons. The colossal battle reached its frenzy many a times even as the Oceans kept on throwing multifarious challenges to the navigation and control of vessels on either side. These battles saw many a men fire their imaginations and setting the records straight.

It was a black night and a strong westerly was heaving the Atlantic Ocean. The U- Boat was on surface and heavy rain was falling from the top. The visibility was almost dead zero, but, there was a sparkle in the blue eyes of the U-Boat’s Commanding Officer Kapitan Karl Wachter. He was keen to slip inside an Allied convoy, unseen and therefore welcomed the wind, waves and the stinging rain. His imagination was all fired up.

Somewhere close in the Atlantic Ocean, Captain Donald Macintyre was holding the compass binnacle on the open bridge of his Destroyer Herperus. He was all fired up and steering at the end of the convoy. His Officers and Men were continuously hunting for U-Boats and to safeguard their convoy.

Karl Wachter ordered a dive of his U-Boat to periscope depth and scanned the area. His sonar picked up the trace of convoy ahead and starboard (right) side of him. Wachter surfaced the U-Boat and searched, but there was nothing that he could find. The ocean was unending and the waves continued to batter the U-Boat. He dived again and got the bearings checked again. There was a constant bearing gain and Wachter surfaced to close to the target. Zero visibility was adding fuel to Wachter’s burning desire to carry out an attack on the Convoy ships.

Donald Macintyre was leaving no stone unturned to save his convoy and soon as he saw a blip on his radar, 5 miles astern, he shouted U-Boat and ordered a high speed turn. The alarm gongs went ringing and the big Destroyer straightened out and ran at full speed down the radar bearing. The imaginations were running based on calculations. Karl Wachter had not imagined such a quick turn of events. He thought that he was well hidden in wind, waves and rain. It was late when he ordered a swing to starboard (right) when he saw Hesperus , bow –wave creaming, running down at him out of the rain.

The U-Boat went into an urgent dive and Macintyre had seen his prey. He went silent as the U-Boat disappeared and then laid down a pattern of depth charges which inflicted severe damage onboard the U-Boat. The gauge glasses shattered as depth charges continued to explode all around. The battering was so severe that some battery cells cracked and pungent chlorine gas leapt across to capture the compartment volume. Wachter continued to dive the boat deeper. The crew fought bravely and restored the emergency lighting and one of her motors. The U-Boat started limping slowly. A difficult decision lay ahead and the only hope of U-Boat was on surface. Wachter pulled all his imagination to his side and surfaced the U-Boat. Soon as he surfaced, the good luck prevailed and both her diesels fired to life. Wachter saw the Destroyer less than 300 meters away and swung the U-Boat to its stern to vanish in the rain squall.

The Destroyer was turning around too and fired its guns onto the U-Boat. Wachter positioned his stern tubes towards the Ship and fired a salvo of torpedoes. The heavy sea were making the matters worse and the torpedoes missed their intended targets. The firing on either side was now to defend their respective skins but imaginations were running wild. Both Wachter and Macintyre were facing ferocious weather and each other’s capabilities. They both had orders in hands to finish their respective enemies, but, at this stage both lay in a different situation. The 3^rd dimension of rain, wind and heavy seas added difficult factors to this hunt. In their hearts, both had a silent admiration for each other as darkness engulfed once again around them. They both had to live for another day of action and slowly both drifted into respective darkness envelopes to steer clear of the Harm’s Way. Wachter and Macintyre were living the imaginations of their leaders and their national interests. To execute those imaginations, they had to match the mission requirements using their own imaginations. Imaginations are fluid in nature and continuously merit changes as per changing situations. If the situation changes and the corresponding imagination is not changed, the results can be catastrophic.

Imagination is the bedrock of humanity. The capability to imagine and then to build upon that imagination has been the hallmark of humans. After all humans have the niche capabilities of being able to do almost each kind of activity which other living things can do in limited quantum. This is a great gift to the mankind and its correct utilization is the responsibility of each human. However, imagination knows no bounds. Therefore, imagination has the capability to run wild. The capability to run wild leads to chaos as targets of each imagination are different. Should this deter from imagining? Imagine humans must and worthwhile should they imagine. In each one’s own way, the humans will continue to imagine and lead their lives. Each life in turn becomes a cog to churn the big wheels of society.

Now, is the time to think big. Should the humans fire their imaginations and in which direction? This is a dilemma for many humans and their imaginations take them to choppy waters in their respective life. Do they have the capability to understand that their lives gravitate towards difficult ends due to their skewed imaginations? Does anyone ever guides them? Who are their role-models? Majority blame their circumstances for their lives. They do things without realizing the repercussions of their actions. Can they be helped or guided? This is the time and topic to ponder.

We end up following various humans as role models. These are the people who fire their imaginations at the correct time and ensure that they do actions to love up to those dreams. Imagine big, imagine good and imagine correct- Life would not go astray if the path to imagination is laid out well. After all, it is the power to imagine which keeps the World moving on its axis. Let us endeavor to fire our imagination in the right direction and touch scores of lives in our human arena to motivate them to imagine for good. Humanity thrives belligerently in chaos. The reverse is also true that inventions occur when chaos prevails. Imagination is the key to keep the chaos under control.

So, are you willing to fire your imagination to better this World and to live a peaceful life?

BREAK THAT VUCA JINX

This is the VUCA Era- a common statement that is heard all over the World and almost in every walk of life. VUCA is an acronym used to describe or reflect on the Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity of general conditions and situations. VUCA has penetrated at each level and phase of human life. Confusions keep cropping up in human minds even as the World has been virtually shrunk and is commonly labelled as a Global Village.

Luxury today knows no bounds. The planet is full of amenities, devices, gadgets, life-saving paraphernalia and what not. However, the dream of settling the Mother Earth into the elusive Eden Garden remains unfulfilled. Each human is trying to outgrow his/her own self. This, surely is a biological phenomenon, as one grows. However, the lust for endless growth leads to a mix of confusions which then grow faster than anything else and thus is born the VUCA. The lives of humans have got cluttered rather than getting uncluttered with the ever penetrating technology. One does not know where to stop and what to do in case of encountering a speed breaker jump in the life’s arena.

Almost all humans are employees in some way or the other. Either they serve an outside agency, or, if not outsiders, then, they serve their own creations. After all, everyone gets up in the morning and serves himself/herself! Even breathing can be considered as a service. The service is supposed to be a comfortable process for a skilled human being. Each one gets picked up for a particular work based on their qualifications/skill sets developed.

In spite of skills and all the training, humans fall into the vicious VUCA Loop. Once they fall then the VUCA Loop continues to cast it’s never ending spell. Employees end up playing truant at works be it professional or personal and keep leaving digital traces of the misadventures. Poor delivery patterns emerge as the set datum is not reached due to lack of focus. The aim to do “much more with much less” keeps the humans tied up into myriad activities some of which are actually beyond their skill sets and natural capabilities. Technology is supposed to be breather for humans, but, here we are standing in a World where communications between humans are falling to lower levels. Technology has brought in the spoken jargon and use of the half understood jargon is leading to more of VUCA.

The clarity of the mission or the works to be achieved gets lost as VUCA emerges in simplified processes. Each process has a definition and a road-map. Difficulty levels have a natural place in any process achievement. However, the cluttered mindset blocks even the easiest of operations. What is the reason for the cluttered mindsets and its natural outcome-VUCA? Is it lack of clarity as humans are not designed to address multiple issues or is it that the cluttering of processes is the hallmark of the humanity? The human capabilities have only increased vi-à-vis their life spans. However, the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity has increased multiple fold in almost all the arenas of human influence. Too much of care, support and availability of various means has dented the human performance rather than enhancing it. Long working hours, poor health, lack of focused approach and confusions in spite of long duration meetings clearly reflect the long shadows of VUCA. Vested interests keep natural progress at bay and does not let the global village to stabilize.

So, what do the humans need to get out of the VUCA jinx? Simplicity is the key for rich civilizations. All that is required is understanding of the objective and to approach towards the mission without a negative self-interest. Humans have always succeeded when they have kept their differences aside and worked selflessly. There is no harm in calling a spade as a spade. A spade cannot be a gun, right! Keep life at its simplest boundaries and the World starts appearing round. A flat path can be long and tiring. A round path at least brings one back to the start point. Confusions lead to panic and downgraded performance is the natural outcome. VUCA emerges suddenly out of nowhere and then there is no escape from its venomous jaws.

It is true that the fittest will only survive. To remain fit, humans have to really work hard. The cluttered humans will continue to fall behind in the race towards survival. The aim is not to lose the sight of the mission but to scale it with ease. The plans should not fall apart at the first impact with the enemy or the situation. Simple objectives can be converted into complex goals and scaling can be carried out to climb the stairs of success smoothly. Each field requires humans and in each field there are cluttered and uncluttered methods. The choice would remain with humans to break the VUCA jinx by remaining alert and perform according to their capabilities.

After all, nothing remains permanent and change is the only constant. The Management Gurus have preached VUCA to the World and days are not far when something new emerges and outshines today’s VUCA. Change should always be for the betterment, isn’t it folks? So, why live with VUCA! Break that jinx, move on and do not let your mind get clogged. Take bold decisions and move along for no one in this World is actually perfect. We are all being measured against a gauge and who knows what its calibration standards are! VUCA can be captured and eased out of human lives. It just requires a bit of standing up for the harder rights instead of the easier wrongs. So, do you have it in you to capture and decimate the jinx of VUCA circling your life, eh!!