By Thinkman ยท October 15, 2023
For those who are not near and dear to me, an introduction is needed before I narrate the dream. Sam โ known professionally as Samir Gulve โ is someone I consider a mentor. He has wound down a little to play a mentor role at EFI, compared to some short and very aggressive stints in the past. I am one of his fanboys. I genuinely do not know how many unknown, unsung technocrats like him exist in the world.
Sam invites friends for a drink and an evening of talk and discussion โ typical of him. I arrived last, though not late. Many of the people there were from the same community or nearby places. I, by contrast, had travelled by bus โ having sold my car about three months before this dream day.
Being a teetotaller, I was offered soda and equally included in the gathering. Most gatherings where drinks are involved do not always make room for non-drinkers. Not this one. Sam and his friends do not carry that notion.
My discussion starter with everyone was about how I had lost weight โ from 102kg to 65kg over 1.5 years after leaving EFI โ through a disciplined 10km daily walk and a strict practice of not eating after 6pm.
The second thread was about not owning a car any more, while many in the gathering had rides with considerable horsepower. There were arguments about whether this was realistic or wise. I ended those the way I usually do: only time will tell.
Sam โ in his usual charismatic fashion โ drew a larger discussion out of these threads. I realise now it was a continuation of conversations we had almost five years earlier when I was at EFI.
Planning is the thinking phase. Use data if you are new to a domain โ but do not ignore the gut feel of a senior person. The brain is a pattern-matching machine that picks up subtle signals others miss. Do not dismiss the "hmm", "haan", "uhh" that surfaces in a planning meeting โ those are signals. Ethics and morals belong in the planning phase too. They set the foundation and the path.
Being courageous during planning is counter-productive.
Thinking during execution is foolish. When you are executing, the time for deliberation is over. Have laser focus on the target. The heart responds โ the brain waits.
The cop waiting at the corner of a curve is doing his job โ performing his duty without overthinking the outcome. As the Bhagavad Gita teaches: perform your duty, leave the results to happen. Arjuna could not afford to think once he was on the battlefield.
Commitment to others is actually a commitment to yourself. Say it out loud. Writing down your goals is not enough โ you need to hear yourself commit to them. Speak it. The act of saying it aloud makes it real in a way that writing alone does not.
My memory of the dream fades beyond this point. These were the threads I could recover.
What I believe Sam does โ consciously or otherwise โ is follow all of these steps himself, and then help others commit to themselves. He draws out capabilities in people that they did not know they had. You see the results of it over the long term, and only then do you realise what happened.
The dream circled back to Sun Tzu โ which felt right. These ideas about planning in darkness and executing like thunder are not new. They are 2,500 years old.
"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."
โ Sun Tzu, The Art of War
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
โ Sun Tzu, The Art of War
"Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt."
โ Sun Tzu, The Art of War
"Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."
โ Sun Tzu, The Art of War
"The greatest victory is that which requires no battle."
โ Sun Tzu, The Art of War
