An enduring dilemma for any economy is that once entrepreneurial companies successfully turn into larger firms, they often become the enemies of innovation and the next generation of firms. This is a problem that economists and policymakers and corporate leaders have wrestled with for a century with no resolution. ~ Karl J Schramm
Is Kahatika the Answer?
Tony Robbins contends that people are in general more motivated towards the absence of pain than they are by the pursuit of pleasure.
I wish it weren’t so but I’m not disputing it. What absence of pain is in play for those joining the following movement?
Short term alleviation of the pain of remembering you’re in overdraft, your partner left you, you haven’t got work or you’re going to work tomorrow when you don’t want to. The fear and anxiety of just living.
The buzz you get from overcoming the fear of being thought a fool gives you a chance to forget the fears and anxieties you live with every day. Likewise the buzz from being part of something or simply the buzz from doing something physical with your body. The natural drugs we use to get us through our lives.
What happens to the movement when the music stops? Like the rate of hits on this video there is a peak and then a waning of enthusiasm. Viral distribution can only go so far.
How can we keep the buzz going by systematically tackling our fears and anxieties and thus moving forward as individuals and as a group?
Kahatika is the answer and I’m looking for the First Follower.
If you are intent on Saving the World do you take a Top Down or Bottom Up approach?
Bottom up, as in, rally people to a cause. Get at least some enthused enough to take some action. i.e. Change to buying energy efficient light bulbs. Excellent work but when you do the numbers pretty ineffectual in your effort to save the world.
Top down, as in, I am global supreme leader, you will only use energy efficient light bulbs or I will ensure you are punished for not doing so. We have the United Nations and the Security Council to dictate and enforce but that too seems pretty impotent with respect to saving the world.
This is the stage where many give up, the realisation that no matter what we do, the world is running head long towards a cliff and there is no stopping it. The rationale is “I don’t think it will happen in my natural lifetime – what happens after that is of little consequence to me”. Our thoughts are probably true, we don’t reflect on them too much because they make us think of ourselves as selfish bad people, we use it just enough to be able to live with the enormity of the problem. Some get to old age, thinking we are that much closer to the cliff than when they were born, feeling sorry for the generations to come, but happy that they won’t be around to experience it. Many believe the top down approach is working with things going perfectly to plan. God (The Global Supreme Leader) has it all in hand. Revelations is literal and we should all rejoice as we approach the edge of Armageddon.
The jeux de position Top down versus Bottom up presents in a quest to save the world would indicate the quest is pointless.
If we look at risk versus reward. It it is personally less risky to believe in God. (A supreme Global Leader whoes existance can’t be proven and must be taken on faith) If God doesn’t exist you personally no worse off than those who didn’t believe in God. However if God does exist, and paradise is something you aspire to, the the reward is high for no risk.
Unfortunately as a group the same analysis doesn’t hold. If motivation to take action of individuals believing that the future is under control and it isn’t, then Armageddon is a self-fulfilling prophesy regardless of your beliefs. Personal saviour, group demise.
Our motivation for personal survival, here on earth, and in the afterlife for those who believe in it, could be used to veer us away from the cliff. No Armageddon. We would all survive. Including future generations.
A mechanism which hooks into our primordial survival instinct to accentuate activities that promote group survival is required.
That primordial Survival Instinct is often interpreted as Greed. Was Gordon Gekko right? Can Greed be good?
I’ve not posted a new Blog for a while because I’ve been playing an online game called UrgentEvoke. I came across it through following a Linkedin group called Social Impact Games. The objective of the Game was to “Save the World” although I note from their latest Home page they are now purporting to only “Change the World”. Never-the-less the essence of the game is to make positive change by crowd-sourcing support for ideas that impact on issues identified through crowd-sourcing. Ultimately the game wants to inspire its participants to act in the real world by taking action based on ideas. It is run by the World Bank and directed by Jane McGonigal who designed the game.
Given that their were prizes of mentorships and seed capital I thought I would give it a go. Another opportunity to further consolidate and document my thoughts about Kahatika.
I have long since realised that the design of Kahatika could be interpreted as a never-ending slow moving game. In today’s real time communication environment you may observe that the attraction of something that moved slowly might have limited appeal. Like only appeal to those that engage in postal chess. Kahatika has elements in it’s design to ensure engagement and to retain interest between rounds of participation.
I have contributed multiple items related and unrelated to Kahatika over the last Month or so to UrgentEvoke, some of which contain circular references back to this blog. My Profile on UrgentEvoke is the access point for all of this content and can be found here.
As I finale of the game and a mechanism to make yourself eligible for prizes there is a process of submitting a final blog to say what you would do if you were successful in attracting seed capital from the World Bank. Combined with a private email to the game administrators my final submission can be found here.
The content I submitted which relates to Kahatika is as follows:-
http://www.urgentevoke.com/forum/topics/challenge-the-network?comme…
http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/learning-compassion
http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/the-dangers-of-designing-a
http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/more-realistic-look-at-money
http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/we-need-to-make-practical-use
http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/others-also-see-the-need
http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/barry-schwartz-on-the-loss-of
http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/learn5supply-of-money
http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/need-to-open-the-debate-to
http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/act1-shadowing-richard-branson
http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/act6-donation-lifespring
http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/imagine5-a-new-direction-in
http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/act4-philanthropists-need…
http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/commitment-four-the-long-…
http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/distilling-the-evidence
http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/this-social-innovation-game
http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/the-little-red-hen-revised
http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/the-journey
http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/kahatika-1
http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/what-motivates-you
http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/act1-shadowing-richard-br…
http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/learn1-innovate-on-existing
The following TED talk delivered by Bill Gates speaks of his one wish to halve the cost of energy while simultaneously reducing carbon output from the production of energy to zero. He speaks of energy miracles and explains his preference for a particular miracle he favours.
I started to wipe the sweat from my brow. I don’t have to do this “Save the World” thing. Someone else is about to do it. Not only that, it’s Bill Gates. He has a track record of performing miracles. He has more resources at his disposal than any other individual on the planet. This will get done.
Then again, if you take note of what Bill has to say 15:20 -> 17:00 into his talk about the 2020 report card. He realises his punt on a miracle may be wrong. To reduce risk, others must also take a punt. We must accelerate innovation in all realms and even he doesn’t have the resources to back all of it.
His releasing fireflies into the audience indicated that we need to think about all ideas as it’s ideas where innovation comes from.
Only a small proportion of the global population regard their individual role as one of Research and Development, yet it’s Research and Development that we hold responsible for innovation. Bill Gates pleads for Government direct investment and incentives for R & D and yet delivery mechanisms will only deliver investment to a small portion of potential innovators. This is conventional wisdom and doesn’t look outside the box.
Perhaps changing the system of innovation to increase individual participation is the way of meeting our new world goals. Not surprisingly, this smacks of Open Source Philosophy and hence not mentioned in his speech. What is mentioned in the Question and Answer session at he end of the Talk with Chris Anderson is Bills inability to share detail due to the conventional wisdom of non-disclosure agreements.
At this point I remember that Kahatika is a way of having your cake and eating it too.
- David Cameron suggests the wisdom of yesteryear can be brought to fruition through modern technological tools.
- “The gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play; it does not include the beauty of our poetry of the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate for the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country it measures everything in short except that which makes life worth while.” ~ Robert F Kennedy 1968
- “Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations; only 49 are countries (based on a comparison of corporate sales and country GDPs).” ~ Institute of Policy Studies 2001
- “I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country; corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in High Places will follow, and the Money Power of the Country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the People, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war” ~ Abraham Lincoln 1864
- In 2007, the wealth disparity grew to its highest number on record, based on US tax data going back to 1917. ~ University of California-Berkeley economist Emanuel Saez 2007
If management of corporations is just as influential if not more influential than management of our countries then systems of corporate management are to be scrutinized and upgraded in the next wave of global change.
Since the end of WW2 democratic systems have broken out the world over. 
If devolution of power to citizenry for our countries is so popular, could some additional devolution of power to individual employees work in corporations?
The case could be made that poor internal communications are responsible for this interesting statistic. The employees just don’t know what is in the heart of their power brokers?
A more probable answer is that the employees are in fact the most reliable source of true understanding of the heart and mind of an organisation.
Either way, a method of measuring that heart and mind that doesn’t require expensive surveys by tiresome consultants but still ties into existing philosophies and systems of improvement would seem sensible.
I’d better get on with this Kahatika thing. I’m falling well behind the aspirations of this youngster. On the other hand, I hope I’d be just as happy if someone else was to “Save the World”. To be happy that I go to my death knowing I did my best, recognised or not.
I found the following video when searching for potential training partners to help with implementing Kahatika.
Again the Video is worth watching all the way through, in fact this clip comes from a cut down two hour interview.
If you are running short of time, skip through to about sixteen minutes in where Dov Seidman talks about individuals and businesses pursuing significance.
Interesting enough his words inspired me to make contact via his Company’s Web Contact form. No reply after over a week. I tried again and still no contact.
Whilst I am still inspired by the words I am at present a little underwhelmed by it’s approach to potential partners seeking to pursue significance.
Interestingly enough Dov is in good company. I also tried contacting the Case Foundation through their web contact form with no response.
There are a couple of other contact point’s in the world of “I really want to make a difference” whose contact systems I’ve tried that are such that they are the equivalent of ignoring someone at a party who had just said “Hello, I’d like to help”, to you. Earning respect and building reputation also needs to be built into the systems you present to your community. You will never know if the person who has just said “Hello” has the capacity to save the world unless you engage. “Thanks, but no thanks”, is better than no engagement at all.
Perhaps Kahatika could be integrated into their systems to provide consistency between rhetoric and action?
In no particular order I list some quotes that have relevance to the intentions of Kahatika.
- “For it is in giving that we receive.” ~ St. Francis of Assisi
- “All communication must lead to change” ~ Aristotle
- “When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” ~ Jimi Hendrix
- “Integrity is the essence of everything successful.” ~ R. Buckminster Fuller
- “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” ~ W.Edwards Deming
- “Everything is practice.” ~ Pele
- “You (never) change the existing reality by fighting it. Instead, create a new model that makes the old one obsolete.” ~ R. Buckminster Fuller
- “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” ~ Nelson Mandela
- “If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.” ~ Buddha
- “When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” ~ R. Buckminster Fuller
- “Love is the gift of life. It’s a human need and a privilege. It’s one of the few energies in life where the more you give it the more you have!” ~ Tony Robbins
- “The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives.” ~ Tony Robbins
- “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” ~ Dalai Lama
- “There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” ~ Ronald Reagan
“The truth is not in the middle, and not in one extreme; but in both extremes.”― Charles Simeon
The design of Kahatika embeds the essence of these words. Truely we “Stand on the Shoulders of Giants” ~ Bernard of Chartres, made famous by Issac Newton