|
 “The
great book of nature,” said Galileo, “lies ever open before our
eyes and the true philosophy of life is written in it. But we
cannot read it unless we have first learnt the language and
characters in which it is written.”
In his book, titled ‘The 7th Sense’, Kalyan Sagar Nippani
perhaps lays down the script to such a language. And this is one
book that is needed now than ever before.
Mankind in the new millennium is at the crossroads. Conflict,
uncertainty and unpredictability reign supreme. A multiplicity
of dilemmas confronts us in the brave new world. There is
increasing pressure to achieve in a ruthlessly competitive world
where the divide between means and ends, the legitimate and the
legal, the personal and the impersonal is increasingly getting
blurred. The ambiguity between 'wants' and 'needs' often induces
us to bite more than we can chew. If we do succeed in such an
attempt, we often choke. There is a discrepancy and between
planning for a future 'out there' and living ‘here and now’.
The modern world is indeed a jungle of sorts,
as Kalyan Sagar Nippani says. Beneath the patina of civility and
decorum, it is a world where primordial and immutable laws of
nature operate in silent, subtle and ruthless precision. It is
verily a predator–prey world where one must go back to the bosom
of nature and seek guidance in life’s game of survival and
success. It is time to re-learn what civilisation has made us
forget. It is the fittest who will survive, but the fittest are
not always the strongest, the richest or the most powerful. They
are the strategists, the masters of subtle manoeuvre, the
invisible warriors…
The 7th Sense tells us how we can simulate
the primordial strategies hidden in nature for spectacular
personal and corporate success.
Nature has endowed all its creatures with an
in-built and instinctual sense of cost-benefit analysis, the
author states. They know the advantages or otherwise of an
attack at a certain point in space and time. They excel in the
art of understanding the enemy. They see themselves in the
matrix of their environment.
He further declares that modern concepts of
management such as the kaizen, MBO. PERT, CPM, Core Competence,
6-Sigma and SWOT, among others, are already active in Nature. So
are the percepts of leadership, group dynamics, competitive
advantage, equanimity of the mind, loyalty and trust, commitment
and altruism. These are implicit and practised with perfection
by denizens of the wild as evident in group foraging,
allogrooming, group defence, pack hunting, worker policing,
spacing behaviour, dominance display, etc. Nippani cites
numerous such examples in the book.
What is he getting at, you wonder? Can a
praying mantis or a caterpillar teach us the art of perfect
strategy? Will a possum or a parrot fish tell us entirely
unheard-of ways of managing conflict? Could a shoal of piranha
or a flock of flying geese reveal some unknown truths about
teamwork? Once you finish reading this amazing book you will
most certainly say a big ‘yes’.
The book will tell you how to pre-empt a
threat, win through others and in spite of them, master the art
of disguise and appear stronger then you are. It will teach you
how to be the ‘unmoved mover’ and to stoop yet conquer. These
and much more are covered under 10 chapters, Viz,
1. Strategic Defense & Deterrence - The
Art & Science
2. Surviving & Sustaining Change - Camouflage & Adaptation
3. The Puppet Master - Mimicry & Deception
4. The Winning Streak - Individuality &
Identity-In-Difference
5. The Unmoved Mover - Stillness, Poise & Control
6. Leveraging Relationships - Pacts, Partners & Alliances
7. Leadership - The Power of ‘We’
8. The Clarion Call - Aggression & Counter Offence
9. The Tactical Edge - Distortion, Digression & Using Decoys
10 Stooping To Conquer - Retreat, Rejuvenate, Regroup &
Resurge
The icing on the cake is the astounding
business stories that the author cites where these strategies
have worked! A must read for all in this predator-prey world.
Highly insightful and thoroughly enjoyable.
Kalyan Sagar Nippani joined the higher civil
services in the Central government after his education at
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, University of Hyderabad
and National Institute of Personnel Management, Kolkata.
He is currently general manager and Internal
Finance Adviser, Southern Telecom. Region, Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Limited.
Kalyan Sagar Nippani is the author of The
Eight – Fold Path: Mantras for Individual and Corporate
Excellence. |
