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Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
8 signs that you have found your life's work .....
- 1. It doesn't feel like work.
Your life's work is not a "job"--it's a way of living. Your work enables you to create the lifestyle you want for yourself and your lifestyle includes your work. You frequently stop and think to yourself, "Wait, am I seriously working right now?" You can hardly distinguish between work, play, and life--as they are all intertwined. In everything you do, you are constantly pursuing your vision of optimal living.
2. You are aligned with your core values.
Your life's work is an extension of your beliefs and worldview. You live in integrity because what you do is in accordance with who you are. This alignment will inspire you to move a small mountain if that's what you have to do to realize your vision. Every day you work to manifest and actualize the world you imagine because by making it so, you'll make the world more alive, beautiful and well.
3. You are willing to suffer.
Passion comes from the latin word 'pati,' which means 'to suffer.' Your life's work is less about following a passion and more about your willingness to suffer along the way. The journey will be immensly challenging at times. You'll be exposed to unexpected challenges and setbacks and you may endure hardship, rejection, and sacrifice. These roadblocks will motivate you. In fact, you see the short-term pain and discomfort as tremendous opportunities for learning, growth and depth; they're critical to appreciating the beautiful and joyous moments.
4. You experience frequent flow.
You naturally and often fall "in flow," deeply immersed by your work and the present moment. At 1:13 p.m. you realize five hours have gone by since you looked at the clock last. Or, you look up and realize it's 12:21 a.m. and your instinct is to keep creating. Flow isn't something you have to force; it just happens.
5. You make room for living.
Your work provides you the ability to live fully and enjoy life. Though you feel captivated and enthralled by your work, you make room for healthy routines like fitness, connection, spontaniety, and play. These activities re-energize and enable you to live a holistically fulfilling life.
6. Commitment is an honor.
When you discover your life's work, the question of commitment is easy. There is no hestitation or analyzation as to whether or not the work is right for you. Your heart says yes. Your mind says yes. Your body says yes. Commitment to your work feels like breahting. You cannot imagine spending your time dedicated to any other purpose.
7. The people who matter notice.
"You look vibrant!" and "I've never seen you so healthy and happy!" and "This is without question what you're meant to be doing!" are among the comments you may hear from the people closest to you when you're on the right path. It's important to note that these people who care for you deeply may also be the first to question and worry in the early stages. But, once you are thriving, they'll notice and lovingly support your efforts.
8. You fall asleep exhausted, fulfilled, and ready for tomorrow.
You go to sleep each night grateful for the day. You know you're on the right path, you gave the day your all, and you can't wait to do it all over again tomorrow. This is your life and you cannot imagine living it any other way.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
Says Dr Oz .....
Ask Dr. Oz
Quick Health Secrets for Men & Women
If you had one of the world’s foremost medical experts cornered at a party, what would you ask him? Probably one of these questions.
Mehmet Cengiz Oz, also known as Dr. Oz, is a Turkish-American cardiothoracic surgeon, author, and television personality. Oz has been a professor at the department of Surgery at Columbia University since 2001. He directs the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. With his collaborators, he has authored over 400 research papers, book chapters and medical books and has received several patents. He performs around 250 heart operations annually.
Time magazine ranked Oz 44th on its list of the 100 Most Influential People in 2008 and Esquire magazine placed him on its list of the 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century. He was called a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum and one of “The Harvard 100 Most Influential Alumni”.
Is reading in dim light actually bad for your eyes?
No. You'll probably get a tension headache from all that squinting, but your eyesight isn't affected at all.
When someone sneezes, then touches a doorknob, how long before the germs disappear?
In general, the time viruses live outside the body varies with the type of germ and whatever surface they're sitting on. For the common cold, you can figure anything from four to twenty-four hours. Wash your hands.
What do you personally use on your face after you shave?
Dr. Perry's DaySkin from New Vitality, because it has a mechanical sunblock (zinc oxide). Chemical sunblocks usually have to be absorbed for fifteen or twenty minutes before you get protection. But the important thing is to use an aftershave that contains sun protection, period.
Those powdered drinks that supposedly ward off the flu: marketing bullshit?
Judging by the evidence, they don't help.
There's nothing wrong with my skin that I can see...
...but someone told me it's a good idea to see a dermatologist once in a while. Do you agree?
For the most part, your skin takes care of itself, so I'm not big on seeing a dermatologist unless you actually think there's something wrong. Now, what's wrong could be obvious, like a rash that won't go away. But unfortunately, the big thing that could be wrong, melanoma — the deadliest form of skin cancer — isn't obvious unless you know what to look for, so remember the ABCD rule: If you have a mole or other mark that's Asymmetrical, that has irregular Borders, that isn't a solid Color, and/or has a Diameter greater than a pencil eraser's, see a doctor. Check yourself every month or so.
For the most part, your skin takes care of itself, so I'm not big on seeing a dermatologist unless you actually think there's something wrong. Now, what's wrong could be obvious, like a rash that won't go away. But unfortunately, the big thing that could be wrong, melanoma — the deadliest form of skin cancer — isn't obvious unless you know what to look for, so remember the ABCD rule: If you have a mole or other mark that's Asymmetrical, that has irregular Borders, that isn't a solid Color, and/or has a Diameter greater than a pencil eraser's, see a doctor. Check yourself every month or so.
You don't hear people talking about MSG anymore. Did it turn out...
...not to be bad for you after all?
The panic that surrounded MSG appears to have been unfounded. It's simply not toxic in the levels you encounter in food. But it does cause some people to become flushed, wheezy, or headachy. If you're one of them, just avoid it.
The panic that surrounded MSG appears to have been unfounded. It's simply not toxic in the levels you encounter in food. But it does cause some people to become flushed, wheezy, or headachy. If you're one of them, just avoid it.
How come cold weather makes your joints stiffer and in warm weather...
...they feel looser? Isn't it always 98.6 degrees inside the body?
In the winter, you have less vitamin D because you're getting less sun, which means some of your immune functions become weaker. So you end up with a less resilient body across the board, and that tends to result in stiffness. Try taking a vitamin D3 supplement during the winter in addition to your daily multivitamin.
In the winter, you have less vitamin D because you're getting less sun, which means some of your immune functions become weaker. So you end up with a less resilient body across the board, and that tends to result in stiffness. Try taking a vitamin D3 supplement during the winter in addition to your daily multivitamin.
I'm looking for a new physician. What's the single most important skill a doctor can have?
That they treat people like you. They'll be familiar with all the common (and not-so-common) issues people your age face. And, not to be morbid, but you want your doctor to be around your age or younger (unless you're 17). That way you can have a doctor for life, and that continuity is a big help in diagnosing and predicting problems as you age.
I don't want to have flab. I don't want to get winded. What can I do?
Without question: Walk more. It's simple, you won't get hurt, and it's the foundation of every other physical program. But it has to be automatic — you can't have to think about it every day. So just pick one simple thing — I'm not using the elevator anymore, or I'm not going to drive to our local store — that from now on you're going to do to be more physically active. It'll add up. The Amish walk more than 14,000 steps a day, and they have an obesity rate under 5 percent.
What is the healthiest candy bar? If you had to pick one.
Any dark chocolate with nuts (not peanuts — the kind that grow on trees). Nuts contain good fats and fiber. And compared with milk chocolate, dark is lower in saturated fat and full of antioxidants called flavonoids.
Is there any truth to the five-second rule about dropped food?
Most food you drop is still perfectly edible. If it was in your eyesight the whole time, you can pick it up and eat it.
I get these e-mails about colon cleansing. Is it a good idea?
You'll get rid of more crap by deleting the e-mails. The intestines empty themselves completely if you eat a high-fiber diet.
What's the best headache treatment, other than painkillers?
Take two fingers and press firmly on the bridge of your nose, right beneath the brow line, for a few minutes. There's an acupressure point there.
Is pizza really so bad?
The only thing that's good about pizza is the sauce: It contains lycopene, an antioxidant. It does help to switch to wheat crust, because at least you get whole grains instead of white flour.
I drink one Scotch a night. Good or bad?
In that amount, any alcohol, including Scotch, has a health benefit.
Is antibacterial soap bullshit?
It is bullshit.
Is there anything wrong with replacing a meal...
...with a PowerBar and Gatorade once in a while?
The rule I use is, If it doesn't come out of the ground looking the way it looks when you eat it, be careful. There's no such thing as a PowerBar tree.
The rule I use is, If it doesn't come out of the ground looking the way it looks when you eat it, be careful. There's no such thing as a PowerBar tree.
How much coffee is too much?
You get the health benefits of coffee up through about the first twenty-four ounces. It's the biggest source of antioxidants for Americans, and we think it helps prevent Alzheimer's and Parkinson's as well.
Are horizontal ridges on my fingernails a bad sign?
No. You probably had an illness or a bad injury when the nail was growing in.
What's the healthiest fruit?
Blueberries.
Is all seafood good for you?
Nope. Some of the crustaceans have cholesterol — shrimp, crab, lobster. And top predators like swordfish and tuna can contain elevated levels of industrial toxins, so you shouldn't eat them more than three times a week.
I'm young, healthy, and I haven't been to a doctor for a while. Is that stupid?
The basic things that you need to do with a doctor up to the age of forty are minimal. But there are some standard tests — cholesterol, blood pressure, that sort of thing — that you want to get done at least every five years. Make an appointment.
I sweat too much.
Sweating's one of the ways your body copes with extra weight. So weight loss helps. But also get your thyroid function checked. Hyperthyroidism causes excess sweating, but it's treatable.
If I exercise for an hour every Saturday...
...is that as good as twenty minutes three times a week?
Is it better to brush your teeth every day or for a long time on Sundays only?
Is it better to brush your teeth every day or for a long time on Sundays only?
Does mowing the lawn count?
You bet. Be sure not to overarch your back, and pull your stomach in. There's a great Velcro rubber belt at any athletic store. Get one and use it over a T-shirt.
I drive forty-five minutes each day commuting. Is there anything I can do...
...while I'm behind the wheel to tone up?
Squeeze your butt cheeks as tight as you can for five thirty-second reps with ten-second breaks. Then go back and forth — squeeze your right butt cheek, then left — twenty times each. Next: Shrug your shoulders up as close as you can to your ears, hold for ten seconds, relax, and repeat five times. And watch where you're going.
Squeeze your butt cheeks as tight as you can for five thirty-second reps with ten-second breaks. Then go back and forth — squeeze your right butt cheek, then left — twenty times each. Next: Shrug your shoulders up as close as you can to your ears, hold for ten seconds, relax, and repeat five times. And watch where you're going.
Is money really that dirty? Do I have to wash my hands after touching it?
In one study, 94 percent of bills had pathogenic or potentially pathogenic organisms on them. (Interestingly, another study showed 92 percent tested positive for cocaine.) But at the end of the day, are they dangerous? No. Our skin provides a barrier. Just avoid sucking on dollar bills, and do less cocaine, please.
What's the popping sound in my hip (or elbow or knee)...
...when I do certain stretches or exercises?
When you stretch a joint, it creates a vacuum that literally sucks gas out of the fluid inside the joint. Pop. No big deal.
When you stretch a joint, it creates a vacuum that literally sucks gas out of the fluid inside the joint. Pop. No big deal.
Does warm water quench thirst as effectively as cold water?
No. Cold water actually slows gastric emptying, and because the water hangs around longer, it gives your stomach time to tell your brain that you're hydrated.
When I notice a new problem, how many days should I wait...
...for it to go away before I talk to a doctor?
If you have crushing chest pain that feels like an elephant is sitting on your chest, maybe see a doctor, because you're having a heart attack. Same if you're passing out. But if you've got diarrhea or the flu, two to three days is very reasonable. Five to seven days for a sprained joint.
If you have crushing chest pain that feels like an elephant is sitting on your chest, maybe see a doctor, because you're having a heart attack. Same if you're passing out. But if you've got diarrhea or the flu, two to three days is very reasonable. Five to seven days for a sprained joint.
Carrots: honestly good for the eyes or old wives' tale?
Lutein is the best for eyes — and it's in leafy, green vegetables. The carrot rumor was started during the Second World War. The Nazis realized that the British were getting a lot of lucky shots on their aircraft, and so the British started the rumor that their pilots were being given carrots to improve their eyesight. Which was hogwash. What they really did was discover radar.
I've had lower-back pain for years. Flares up when I run on concrete...
...like when I play tennis or basketball. Any athletic shoes or equipment that you can recommend to soften the impact?
You want orthotics. They work. I like Zapz (masterfitenterprises.com).
You want orthotics. They work. I like Zapz (masterfitenterprises.com).
My dermatologist asked me how many sunburns I got before I was 18...
...Is that when I screwed myself with the melanoma?
We used to think you got most of your UV exposure before age 18. Now we know it's more like 25 percent. But even if you burn once, you increase the chance of developing melanoma. But we're talking about blistering burns, like in The Heartbreak Kid. Not just a little redness.
We used to think you got most of your UV exposure before age 18. Now we know it's more like 25 percent. But even if you burn once, you increase the chance of developing melanoma. But we're talking about blistering burns, like in The Heartbreak Kid. Not just a little redness.
What kind of stories do heart surgeons tell at the bar after work?
It's usually jokes. Medical jokes. "You hear the one about the constipated accountant? Worked it out with a pencil."
Are fresh berries healthier than frozen ones?
There's not that big a difference — probably 20 percent — in the nutrient levels. But the good thing about frozen berries is they don't lose those nutrients over time. Net, frozen berries are a great value.
My bum knees mean I can't jog. What are your recommended alternatives? And please don't say...
...elliptical machine. Boredom's worse than joint pain.
Elliptical machine. But if you want something more athletic, cycling or swimming are both high-energy and low-impact.
Elliptical machine. But if you want something more athletic, cycling or swimming are both high-energy and low-impact.
When it comes to vitamins and supplements...
...can there be too much of a good thing?
Yes. Just go with a complete daily multivitamin plus DHA-omega-3 fats. Add some extra vitamin D if the multi doesn't give you the 1,000 IUs (international units) you need.
Do women really have smaller bladders than men...
...and is that why they have to stop to pee every 17 miles?
Yep.
Yep.
What is the best multivitamin for a man under 60?
One-a-Day Men’s Health Formula or liquid Vemma.
I read that the heat from my dishwasher can cause toxins to be released...
...from plastic things like food containers and water bottles. True?
It depends on the type of plastic, but yes. Just hand-wash them.
It depends on the type of plastic, but yes. Just hand-wash them.
Aspirin, Tylenol, ibuprofen, Aleve: What are the differences......and when should I take one and not the others?
Tylenol (acetaminophen) actually is better at reducing fever than pain. Take it when you’re running a temperature. For pain without fever, take one of the others. Never take more than one kind at once.
Tylenol (acetaminophen) actually is better at reducing fever than pain. Take it when you’re running a temperature. For pain without fever, take one of the others. Never take more than one kind at once.
I quit smoking five years ago but still chew the nicotine gum...
...about ten pieces a day. Problem?
The only problem is that it’s harder to chew than regular gum, so people get jaw pain. But there’s no issue with toxicity or anything like that — that we know of. The problem with smoking is the smoking.
The only problem is that it’s harder to chew than regular gum, so people get jaw pain. But there’s no issue with toxicity or anything like that — that we know of. The problem with smoking is the smoking.
Does cracking your knuckles really lead to arthritis?
Nope. Total myth.
Thinking about my weekly diet, am I wrong to put sushi...
...in the "good for me" column?
Sushi is great, but sashimi — that’s just the fish without the rice — is even healthier.
Sushi is great, but sashimi — that’s just the fish without the rice — is even healthier.
I usually treat myself when I have the flu. What are some signs...
...that I should seek medical help?
High fever that lasts more than three days, trouble breathing, and localized pain. These may signal a serious infection.
High fever that lasts more than three days, trouble breathing, and localized pain. These may signal a serious infection.
How can I tell whether it's just a muscle strain or actually a torn muscle?
All strains are muscle tears, and they’re all treated the same way: ice for 24 to 72 hours, then warm compresses. And rest.
Are there any vegetables that are bad for you?
Not exactly, but colored veggies are better than white, starchy ones.
Are there any drawbacks to all these new raw-food diets?
You’ll definitely lose weight and improve your cholesterol numbers eating only raw foods, but you may not get enough protein and healthy oils. Keep some cooked fish in the mix.
I'm going gray early — like in my mid-20s. Is this likely just genetic...
...or could it be a sign of something wrong?
It’s probably genetic, but it could point to a thyroid disorder or B12 deficiency. If you’re really freaked out, get tested.
It’s probably genetic, but it could point to a thyroid disorder or B12 deficiency. If you’re really freaked out, get tested.
When it comes to exercising outdoors, how cold is too cold?
Zero and below, or a windchill of minus 20 or more. This is frostbite territory. If it’s warmer than that, you’re fine. Just don’t overdo it.
If I'm otherwise a pretty healthy eater, is one doughnut a week really so bad?
No.
What are common dietary deficiencies in American men?
Vitamin D3 and DHA omega-3 fatty acid — the vast majority of American men don’t get enough. One cod-liver-oil pill a day fixes that.
I use sleeping pills a couple times a week. Any long-term risks?
The studies haven’t been done. But know this: Good sleep hygiene — dark, cool room; good mattress; loose clothes; regular routine — helps more than half of all insomniacs.
What are your thoughts on acupuncture? In my case, it'd be for chronic back pain.
It works in China , and 1.3 billion people can’t be wrong.
Is my distrust of nonstick pans justified?
I think so. Especially if the coating is chipped or cracked.
Are there any common household chemicals that you don't think belong in the home?
Pesticides and mothballs. If it’ll kill a bug, it’ll kill you.
What's the best way to wash my face?
Unless you work under a car, you don't have to wash your face with some harsh astringent that smells like kerosene. Harsh soaps strip off what's called the acid mantle, a layer of oil that you're supposed to have — it's like protective cellophane. Plus, 7 percent of men are allergic to the artificial scents and chemicals in soaps.
Why should I moisturize?
In the morning, a lot of men splash on alcohol-based astringents, colognes, and aftershaves. This is okay and gives you a nice, bracing sting, but there's no health benefit, and they can dry your face out. I use a cream-based moisturizer that contains the most important ingredient in any unguent: sunblock. Then at night, smear on a moisturizer that contains antioxidants, which actually rejuvenate your skin while you sleep.
And how do I choose the right moisturizer?
How to choose a moisturizer: Start by asking a woman what she uses. For a long time women have been doing things to their faces that men are just waking up to. There are products being made now that are designed for a male audience; one of the fastest growing segments of the cosmetics industry is men's products. The major difference between men's and women's products is the smells they put into them — our products are simply packaged differently. But skin is skin is skin.
Why should I exfoliate?
Women do this, yes. But do you really think that only women have dry, dead skin on their faces that needs scrubbing off? That's all exfoliating means. Do it once or twice a week using a cleanser that says "exfoliant" on the label. A generation ago, people used natural chemicals like apple-cider vinegar; crushed apricot pits are a common ingredient in today's exfoliants. In a pinch, drying with a rough towel after a wash will do the trick. Your face will actually appear fresher and younger.
How often should I wash my hair?
The purpose of hair, biologically, is to crown your head with a big, impressive mane that attracts mates. But hair is fragile. It's brittle. And you want to hold on to it as long as possible (or at least until you're married). Be gentle. Don't wash it every day. Body and shine, the very qualities shampoo purports to provide, occur naturally, thanks to your scalp's natural oil. When you do wash, always use conditioner (a two-in-one shampoo-conditioner is fine) and don't dry or comb your hair aggressively. That's like delinting a cashmere sweater with a garden rake. Try styling with your fingers.
What's the best way to brush my teeth?
If you don't floss, we have nothing to talk about. You must floss, if you enjoy your teeth. But here's a note about brushing: I've discovered that sonic toothbrushes are far more effective than the throwaway drugstore brushes. I use a Philips Sonicare I bought from my dentist. They're not trying to sell you something you don't need. I've interviewed countless dentists and I've studied these products. Dentists themselves use these things. They really believe in them, and so do I.
If I start eating less food, I'll be hungry a lot. Will my body reprogram so that I need less food?
Yes, you can train yourself to want less food. But it's got to be a slow transition. You generally put weight on slowly, and you generally lose it slowly. If today you take in four hundred fewer calories than you did yesterday, you'll go blind from the hunger. Aim for about a hundred calories less than you normally eat — don't have the English muffin with your eggs. Get used to that, then shave off another hundred. This takes you where you want to be and makes it easier to stay there.
What's the healthiest thing to order at a steakhouse?
It ain't the steak. Order something with tomatoes. They contain lycopene, which counteracts the effects of the saturated fat in the steak: The meat constricts your arteries, and the tomatoes dilate your arteries. Tomatoes that are heated release their lycopene more effectively, so cooked tomatoes are even better than the traditional side of sliced raw ones. And when you eat tomatoes with fat, you absorb the lycopene more efficiently. That's why the Mediterranean diet is so healthy: When you combine oil (fat) plus heated tomatoes, it's called pasta sauce, which they eat constantly.
My wife told me not to take a multivitamin right before bed. Something about the way it's absorbed.
She's right, but for the wrong reason. The best reason not to take it right before bed is that B vitamins can give you weird dreams. Because they are metabolic cofactor vitamins, they stimulate neurotransmitters in the brain, so you blast off into dreamworld. The best way: Split the vitamin in half and take it with breakfast and dinner so you have a constant level throughout the day even as you pee them out.
Rickey Henderson used to eat a bowl of ice cream every night before bed. Can I?
Rickey Henderson always had a lot of muscle mass. Muscles, whether they're being used or not, burn more calories than fat does. So Rickey could eat his bowl of ice cream because those muscles were going to churn through it no matter what. He's made of muscle. If you're made of muscle, you can have ice cream, too.
Is chewing gum an appetite suppressant?
Yes. People offered food plus gum will eat less food. The only thing to be careful of is that sugarless gum — which is what's recommended — gives some people stomach problems. So if you're having diarrhea ten times a day, you'll also lose weight, but that's no good. Coffee is also an appetite suppressant. You know what else works? Those Listerine strips. Highly pungent tastes tend to blow your mouth out, so you don't have a taste-bud response to food anymore. Oh, and cigarettes work — you'll be a great-looking corpse.
What's the best time of day to exercise?
Morning. It focuses your mind, you won't blow it off later in the day, and it won't keep you up at night with pounding adrenaline surges because you just benched your all-time high.
I only want to exercise for seven minutes. What should I do?
What a coincidence: I do an amazing seven-minute workout each morning. I developed it with the help of my trainer, Joel Harper.
What do I need to know about my heart at age 25, 35, 45, and 55?
You need to know this — and doctors learned it only recently: The heart muscle actually regenerates throughout your life. We used to think it stopped after you were grown. But your heart will stop regenerating if you don't keep challenging it. So exercise. At every age.
Are there any car-care products that aren't full of chemicals?
I don't favor specific brands, but there are a bunch — citrus-based cleaners, natural waxes, that kind of thing. Rule of thumb: no skulls on the label.
Job security, the stock market, my home's value — I have anxiety.
Talk to someone — wife, brother, doctor. You'll need their support. Step two is to begin some sort of treatment. Maybe that means counseling, maybe it means a lifestyle change, maybe it means yoga. And yes, maybe it means drugs. But not by themselves. Think of them like crutches: They'll help you get along for a while, but your priority is to fix the broken bits.
I get pollen allergies in the summer. Any natural remedies?
Butterbur. It's an herb you can buy. Or rinse your nose out with warm saltwater. Use a neti pot (ask at any drugstore) or just a spray bottle.
Do I really need a tetanus shot?
Absolutely. Tetanus is a bacterial infection, but it works in such a way that by the time you discover the infection, it's often too late for antibiotics to help. While you're at it, get a pertussis — or whooping cough — vaccination, too. It's a nasty infection that's making a big comeback.
Can I get by without a humidifier?
Yes, if you enjoy the problems caused by dry air — cracks in mucous membranes, which can lead to colds and throat infections, plus dry skin, cracked lips, and allergies. Good Housekeeping rated the Honeywell HCM-300T tops last year.
My coffee mug has a sticker explaining that California believes its paint might cause cancer. Huh?
Unlike the federal government, California has rigorously analyzed the most common substances used in industry and agriculture. In many cases, it's not that California disagrees with, say, the FDA; it's that only California knows anything. I expect the feds will begin to adopt a lot of California 's findings. Meantime, use the mug for pencils.
Did the media create swine flu?
No, but most folks missed the big point: the possibility that the virus could mutate into a deadly form. And because our immune systems have never seen it before, we can't respond to it. In 1918, when the so-called Spanish flu hit, it was initially very mild. When it came back six months later, it killed something like 50 million people.
Can I feel good about eating Kentucky Grilled Chicken?
You can feel better than if you were eating the fried stuff.
What's your favorite summer drink?
A mojito.
Any particular health reason?
No, I just like mojitos.
Which bad-health ruts should I avoid while eating and drinking during the holidays?
The first is lack of sleep. You've got parties to go to, family to visit, you're not sleeping in your own bed — it wears you down. I avoid sleeping aids if I can, so instead try an old trick: naps. Even 20 minutes in the afternoon can make a huge difference in your energy level. Second is alcohol. Calories, hangovers, and mood swings generally do not make for merriment. At the same time, a hot toddy can make all the Bing Crosby music easier to deal with. What can I say? Drink in moderation. And alternate each drink with a glass of water. The third is exercise. Each morning, before anything else, do a quick and simple workout.
What kinds of accidents spike over the holidays?
We get a lot of car crashes, falls, burns in the ER. It's icy, people are drinking, they're messing around with the oven or fireplace. But here's the surprising thing: I see a spike in heart transplants. Part of that's the car accidents, but part of it is family. Family-related stress can skyrocket when everyone gets together. And you're more likely to be murdered by someone you know than anyone else. But seriously, if things are really unbearable in your clan, consider just sending a card.
We'll be traveling a lot. Any tricks for avoiding jet lag?
Two. One is just to stick close to your natural sleep routine instead of trying to adjust. Even coast to coast, the difference is only three hours, so if you go to bed at midnight in D.C., try going to bed at, say, ten at Grandma's in Sacramento. But if you want to adjust, take melatonin. (Pills are available at any drugstore.) It helps the brain adapt more quickly to a new sleep cycle.
Any tricks for getting a free upgrade?
I can tell you that unless you're dressed very well, don't even try.
Do people really have heart attacks while shoveling snow?
Here's the thing: The shoveling doesn't cause the heart attack; it accelerates its arrival. In other words, if that little bit of activity triggers a heart attack, he was probably going to have one anyway. But if he's in decent health, he can shovel away.
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Saturday, October 6, 2012
Will India and China fight a War again ?
A fiftieth anniversary is always a moment to celebrate or contemplate a long gone event of some significance. Most Indians still rightly see the 1962 border war between Indian and China, and a relatively small military defeat and the major national panic that followed as a cathartic event and one that is never forgotten. While 1962 will still be the semina
l year for Sino-Indian relations, it is in 1967 when Indian and Chinese troops last clashed with each other at Nathula. Since then not a shot has been fired across the border by either side. Nathu La at 14200 feet is an important pass on the Tibet-Sikkim border through which passes the old Gangtok-Yatung-Lhasa Trade Route. The very same route taken by the Younghusband expedition that embarked from Gangtok to Lhasa on 3 December 1903. Although the Sikkim-Tibet boundary is well defined by the Anglo-Chinese Convention of 17 March 1890, the Chinese never accepted Sikkim being an Indian protectorate with its army deployed there. During the 1965 War between India and Pakistan, the Chinese gave an ultimatum to India to vacate both Nathu La and Jelep La passes on the Sikkim-Tibet border. Inexplicably, the 17 Mountain Division, under whose jurisdiction Jelep La was at that time, vacated the pass. It still remains with China. At the time of the 1967 clash, 2 Grenadiers was holding Nathu La. This battalion was under the command of Lt Col (later Brigadier) Rai Singh. The battalion was under the Mountain Brigade being commanded by Brig MMS Bakshi, MVC.
I am reproducing in full the account of a young officer of what he witnessed: “The daily routine at Nathu La used to start with patrolling by both sides along the perceived border which almost always resulted in arguments. The only one on the Chinese side who could converse in broken English was the Political Commissar who could be recognized by a red patch on his cap. Sentries of both the forces used to stand barely one meter apart in the centre of the Pass which is marked by Nehru Stone, commemorating Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s trek to Bhutan through Nathu La and Chumbi Valley in 1959. Argument between the two sides soon changed to pushing and shoving and on 6 September 1967 a scuffle took place in. In order to de-escalate the situation it was decided by the Indian military hierarchy to lay a wire in the centre of the Pass from Nathu La to Sebu La to demarcate the perceived border. This task was to be carried out by the jawans of 70 Field Company of Engineers assisted by a company of 18 Rajput deployed at Yak La pass further north of Nathu La. The wire laying was to commence at first light on the fateful morning of 11 September 1967.
That morning dawned bright and sunny unlike the normal foggy days. The engineers and jawans started erecting long iron pickets from Nathu La to Sebu La along the perceived border while 2 Grenadiers and Artillery Observation Post Officers at Sebu La and Camel’s Back were on alert. Immediately the Chinese Political Commissar, with a section of Infantry came to the centre of the Pass where Lt. Col Rai Singh, CO 2 Grenadiers was standing with his commando platoon. The Commissar asked Lt Col Rai Singh to stop laying the wire. Orders to the Indian Army were clear. They were not to blink. An argument started which soon built up into a scuffle. In the ensuing melee, the commissar got roughed up. Thereafter the Chinese went up back to their bunkers and engineers resumed laying the wire.
Within a few minutes of this, a whistle was heard on the Chinese side followed by murderous medium machine gun fire from north shoulder. The pass is completely devoid of cover and the jawans of 70 Field Company and 18 Rajput were caught in the open and suffered heavy casualties, which included Col Rai Singh who was wounded. He was awarded MVC later. Two brave officers – Capt Dagar of 2 Grenadiers and Major Harbhajan Singh of 18 Rajput rallied a few troops and tried to assault the Chinese MMG but both died a heroic death. They were posthumously awarded Vir Chakra and MVC respectively. 2 Grenadier opened small arms fire on North shoulder but it was not very effective. Within the first ten minutes, there were nearly seventy dead and scores wounded lying in the open on the pass. Within half an hour, Chinese artillery opened up on the pass as well as in the depth areas but it was mostly prophylactic fire due to lack of observation and failed to do much damage. Meanwhile we as artillery observation post officers asked for artillery fire, permission for which came a little later.
Because of excellent domination and observation from Sebu La and Camel’s back, artillery fire was most effective and most of the Chinese bunkers on North shoulder and in depth were completely destroyed and Chinese suffered very heavy casualties that by their own estimates were over 400. The artillery duel thereafter carried on day and night. For the next three days, the Chinese were taught a lesson. On 14 September, Chinese threatened use of Air Force if shelling did not stop. By then the lesson had been driven home and an uneasy ceasefire came about. The Chinese, true to form, had pulled over dead bodies to their side of the perceived border at night and accused us of violating the border. Dead bodies were exchanged on 15 September at which time in the presence of Maj. Gen. Sagat Singh, GOC 17 Mountain Division in Sikkim, Lt. Gen. Jagjit Aurora 33 Corps Commander, and Lt.Gen. Sam Maneckshaw, the Eastern Army Commander.”
On October 1, 1967 this event repeated itself at Cho La when 7/11 Gurkha Rifles and 10 JAK Rifles were tested by the PLA and similarly not found wanting. The lesson of 1967 has been well learnt by China, just as the lesson of 1962 has been absorbed by India. Not a single shot has been fired across the border since then and even today the Indian Army and the Peoples Liberation Army stand eye-ball to eye-ball, but the atmosphere now is far more relaxed and the two armies frequently have friendly interactions.
In 1971 as Pakistani armies in the east as well as the west were crumbling, Henry Kissinger, US Secretary of State met China’s ambassador at the UN, Huang Hua at a CIA safe house in Manhattan. William Burr, a Senior Analyst at the National Security Archives, has gathered the transcripts of the secret talks, which were only recently declassified and against Kissinger’s wishes, in a just-published book. In them Kissinger told Hua: “The President wants you to know that it's, of course, up to the People's Republic to decide its own course of action in this situation, but if the People's Republic were to consider the situation in the Indian sub-continent a threat to its security, and it took measures to protect its security, the US would oppose efforts of others to interfere with the People's Republic.” The Chinese declined the invitation. Sam Maneckshaw was now COAS and JS Aurora was the Eastern Army Commander, not men of straw like BM Kaul and PN Thapar who were at the helm in 1962. And above all, Indira Gandhi was not Jawaharlal Nehru. She was made of firmer stuff and knew when to leave things to the generals.
Now we come to the question that bother many Indians. Will China provoke a conflict with India or even vice versa? I don’t think so. Both countries are now well settled on the actual positions held. In Ladkah, China is pretty much close to what it desired pre-1962, which is along the old McCartney-MacDonald Line Line, which British India hastily abandoned in favor of the Johnson Line which encompassed the Aksai Chin after being spooked by reports of Soviet Russian presence in Xinjiang. The McCartney-MacDonald Line, long favored by Whitehall, was dispensed with and in 1942 British India reverted back to the more forward Johnson Line that encompassed the Aksai Chin as Indian territory. In the eastern sector, India pretty much holds on to the alignment along the McMahon Line. Thrice in the past the Chinese offered to settle this vexatious issue on this as is where is basis, but India baulked because the dynamics of its domestic politics did not allow it, as they still do. In his last conversation on this with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Chairman Deng suggested freezing it as it is and leaving it to history to resolve. Good and sagacious advice, if the dynamics between the two countries did not change.
In the mid 1980’s when the two leaders met, China and India’s GDP’s were about the same. Since then China’s GDP has grown to become more than three times as big as India’s. Its rapid economic ascent has now more or less conferred on it the role of the world’s other superpower, the USSR having demised in 1991. China today is also a technology powerhouse and has built a modern military industrial complex, far bigger and superior to India’s. India’s ascent is a more recent story and there are still some decades to go before it can aspire to be once again on par with China.
China’s rise has now seen the manifestation of a visible and more strident nationalism. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently said, its China’s growing assertiveness that is causing concern. We see newer manifestations of this assertiveness in its conduct with Japan over the Senkaku Island chain, now in Japan’s possession; and its claims in the South China Sea, to effectively make it a Chinese backwater. In doing so China has stirred up concerns among all the littoral ASEAN states, and even in more distant India which has been had oil assets there since the early 1990’s. The entire international community with interests in the region, with the possible exception of North Korea, has insisted that China’s bullying is unacceptable. Yet China persists with its tone and forward postures. While India has made its position clear in that it considers the South China Seas an international commons and passageway, and that it will not be deterred from oil exploration in Vietnamese waters, there are concerns that still find resonance in New Delhi’s dovecotes.
In the recent years China has built as many as eighteen forward airbases in Xinjiang, Tibet and Yunnan that put most northern and eastern Indian cities, industrial centers and military targets within striking range of its new generation fighter-bombers like the JF10 and JF17. By contrast most Chinese cities and industrial centers are deep within and not easily reached by Indian aircraft. Its somewhat ironical that Tibet that India throughout history had seen as a buffer protecting it from China has become a buffer the other way around. The Chinese military build up has been unprecedented and quite unnecessary also. Yet China has built a huge military infrastructure and of a kind that would be quite redundant against threat the freedom loving Tibetans may pose to its control over their motherland. This is the kind of power you need to assert your will over a neighboring country. India has taken note of this, and has sought to suitably counter it with a build up of its own. But build ups also lead to more build-ups and put you on an ascending spiral of mistrust. But of one thing we can be sure. If there is a conflict again, it will not be the limited war of the kind seen in 1962. The use of airpower is implicit. China threatened it in 1967 when it got bloodied at Nathu La. Both countries maintain large and powerful air forces, and it would seem that they would come into play quite early in the conflict. There is also every possibility that it could extend into the Indian Ocean region soon after, effectively internationalizing the conflict.
India has for decades had good reason to distrust China and see’s its malevolence manifested in its increasing close military relations with Pakistan and its constant supply of nuclear weapons technology and an array of missiles. Every Pakistani missile threatening to deliver nuclear weapons on distant Indian cities is of Chinese origin. India draws the logical conclusions from this.
Conflicts are generally the result of a serious military asymmetry or by misjudging intentions or by local conflicts spiraling out of control or when domestic failures require a diversion of attention or when domestic dynamics make rational discourse impossible. In 1962 we saw the last two at play. After the colossal failure of the Great Leap Forward and after over 30 million died of starvation between 1959 and 1962, Chairman Mao desperately needed a diversion to assert his control of the CPC and the PLA. His great rival, the popular Marshal Peng Duhai was still in Beijing after being purged by Mao. Many speculate that anticipating a putsch against him by the reformers opposed to the personality cult, Mao busied up the PLA in a low cost high return limited war. On the Indian side the unthinking escalation of attacks on Jawaharlal Nehru by the Opposition, and from within the Congress party, forced the government to adopt a strident note and embark of the ill-fated Forward Policy. This was despite advice by its Northern Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Daulat Singh, that a policy without the military means to support it would have grave consequences.
As Indian and Chinese forces jostled for space on the narrow ridges of the eastern Himalayas, India’s declaratory policy and Chinese realpolitik clashed and the die was cast. As wars go, it was a small war. In all three Indian divisions and maybe a few more PLA divisions took part. But the dramatic Indian debacle in the Tawang Tract led to a panic that had the nation cowering in fear and its leaders flopping around like headless chicken. When Bomdila fell, Nehru went on AIR and effectively announced the abandonment of Assam by saying his heart went out to the people of the state in their moment of dire peril. Members of his coterie embarked of theatrical ventures like seeking to raise a guerilla army and fight behind the now expected Chinese lines in Assam. But Mao was made of wilier stuff. After administering a quick and telling blow, he ordered the PLA to withdraw back to pre-conflict positions. Fifty years later India still hurts with the rankling memory of those dark days never allowing the wound to quite heal. Neither India nor China is now ruled by imperious Emperors, like Nehru and Mao were. In their place we have timid bureaucrat politicians, vested with just a little more power than the others in the ruling collegiums. Collegiums are cautious to the point of being bland and extremely chary of taking risks.
As for serious asymmetry, it does not occur now. India’s arms build up and preparations make it apparent that a conflict will not be confined to the mountains and valleys of the Himalayas but will swirl into the skies above, on to the Tibetan plateau and the Indian Ocean. In 2012 both countries have sufficient arsenals of nuclear weapons and standoff weapons to deter each other. But above all, both countries have evolved into stable political systems, far less naïve and inclined to be far more cautious in their dealings with each other.
This leaves a local conflict rapidly spiraling out of control, or another Gavrilo Princip incident where a single shot at the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, plunged the western world into WW1, highly improbable. After 45 years of not shooting at each other, and not even confronting each other by being at the same contested space at the same time, local commanders have evolved a pattern of ritualistic behavior and local bonhomie that is very different from the rigid formalities of international politics. Both sides have invested enough to have a vested interest in keeping the peace and tranquility of the frontier.
While China has ratcheted up its show of assertiveness in the recent years, India has been quietly preparing for a parity to prevent war. Often parity does not have to be equality in numbers. The fear of pain disproportionate to the possible gains, and the ability of the smaller in numbers side to do so in itself confer parity. There is an equilibrium in Sino-Indian affairs that make recourse to force extremely improbable. Both modern states are inheritors of age-old traditions and the wisdom of the ages. Both now read their semaphores well and know how much of the sword must be unsheathed to send a message. This ability will ensure the swords remain concealed and for the plowshares to be out at work.
Mohan Guruswamy
Email: moha...@gmail.com
18 September 2012
I am reproducing in full the account of a young officer of what he witnessed: “The daily routine at Nathu La used to start with patrolling by both sides along the perceived border which almost always resulted in arguments. The only one on the Chinese side who could converse in broken English was the Political Commissar who could be recognized by a red patch on his cap. Sentries of both the forces used to stand barely one meter apart in the centre of the Pass which is marked by Nehru Stone, commemorating Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s trek to Bhutan through Nathu La and Chumbi Valley in 1959. Argument between the two sides soon changed to pushing and shoving and on 6 September 1967 a scuffle took place in. In order to de-escalate the situation it was decided by the Indian military hierarchy to lay a wire in the centre of the Pass from Nathu La to Sebu La to demarcate the perceived border. This task was to be carried out by the jawans of 70 Field Company of Engineers assisted by a company of 18 Rajput deployed at Yak La pass further north of Nathu La. The wire laying was to commence at first light on the fateful morning of 11 September 1967.
That morning dawned bright and sunny unlike the normal foggy days. The engineers and jawans started erecting long iron pickets from Nathu La to Sebu La along the perceived border while 2 Grenadiers and Artillery Observation Post Officers at Sebu La and Camel’s Back were on alert. Immediately the Chinese Political Commissar, with a section of Infantry came to the centre of the Pass where Lt. Col Rai Singh, CO 2 Grenadiers was standing with his commando platoon. The Commissar asked Lt Col Rai Singh to stop laying the wire. Orders to the Indian Army were clear. They were not to blink. An argument started which soon built up into a scuffle. In the ensuing melee, the commissar got roughed up. Thereafter the Chinese went up back to their bunkers and engineers resumed laying the wire.
Within a few minutes of this, a whistle was heard on the Chinese side followed by murderous medium machine gun fire from north shoulder. The pass is completely devoid of cover and the jawans of 70 Field Company and 18 Rajput were caught in the open and suffered heavy casualties, which included Col Rai Singh who was wounded. He was awarded MVC later. Two brave officers – Capt Dagar of 2 Grenadiers and Major Harbhajan Singh of 18 Rajput rallied a few troops and tried to assault the Chinese MMG but both died a heroic death. They were posthumously awarded Vir Chakra and MVC respectively. 2 Grenadier opened small arms fire on North shoulder but it was not very effective. Within the first ten minutes, there were nearly seventy dead and scores wounded lying in the open on the pass. Within half an hour, Chinese artillery opened up on the pass as well as in the depth areas but it was mostly prophylactic fire due to lack of observation and failed to do much damage. Meanwhile we as artillery observation post officers asked for artillery fire, permission for which came a little later.
Because of excellent domination and observation from Sebu La and Camel’s back, artillery fire was most effective and most of the Chinese bunkers on North shoulder and in depth were completely destroyed and Chinese suffered very heavy casualties that by their own estimates were over 400. The artillery duel thereafter carried on day and night. For the next three days, the Chinese were taught a lesson. On 14 September, Chinese threatened use of Air Force if shelling did not stop. By then the lesson had been driven home and an uneasy ceasefire came about. The Chinese, true to form, had pulled over dead bodies to their side of the perceived border at night and accused us of violating the border. Dead bodies were exchanged on 15 September at which time in the presence of Maj. Gen. Sagat Singh, GOC 17 Mountain Division in Sikkim, Lt. Gen. Jagjit Aurora 33 Corps Commander, and Lt.Gen. Sam Maneckshaw, the Eastern Army Commander.”
On October 1, 1967 this event repeated itself at Cho La when 7/11 Gurkha Rifles and 10 JAK Rifles were tested by the PLA and similarly not found wanting. The lesson of 1967 has been well learnt by China, just as the lesson of 1962 has been absorbed by India. Not a single shot has been fired across the border since then and even today the Indian Army and the Peoples Liberation Army stand eye-ball to eye-ball, but the atmosphere now is far more relaxed and the two armies frequently have friendly interactions.
In 1971 as Pakistani armies in the east as well as the west were crumbling, Henry Kissinger, US Secretary of State met China’s ambassador at the UN, Huang Hua at a CIA safe house in Manhattan. William Burr, a Senior Analyst at the National Security Archives, has gathered the transcripts of the secret talks, which were only recently declassified and against Kissinger’s wishes, in a just-published book. In them Kissinger told Hua: “The President wants you to know that it's, of course, up to the People's Republic to decide its own course of action in this situation, but if the People's Republic were to consider the situation in the Indian sub-continent a threat to its security, and it took measures to protect its security, the US would oppose efforts of others to interfere with the People's Republic.” The Chinese declined the invitation. Sam Maneckshaw was now COAS and JS Aurora was the Eastern Army Commander, not men of straw like BM Kaul and PN Thapar who were at the helm in 1962. And above all, Indira Gandhi was not Jawaharlal Nehru. She was made of firmer stuff and knew when to leave things to the generals.
Now we come to the question that bother many Indians. Will China provoke a conflict with India or even vice versa? I don’t think so. Both countries are now well settled on the actual positions held. In Ladkah, China is pretty much close to what it desired pre-1962, which is along the old McCartney-MacDonald Line Line, which British India hastily abandoned in favor of the Johnson Line which encompassed the Aksai Chin after being spooked by reports of Soviet Russian presence in Xinjiang. The McCartney-MacDonald Line, long favored by Whitehall, was dispensed with and in 1942 British India reverted back to the more forward Johnson Line that encompassed the Aksai Chin as Indian territory. In the eastern sector, India pretty much holds on to the alignment along the McMahon Line. Thrice in the past the Chinese offered to settle this vexatious issue on this as is where is basis, but India baulked because the dynamics of its domestic politics did not allow it, as they still do. In his last conversation on this with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Chairman Deng suggested freezing it as it is and leaving it to history to resolve. Good and sagacious advice, if the dynamics between the two countries did not change.
In the mid 1980’s when the two leaders met, China and India’s GDP’s were about the same. Since then China’s GDP has grown to become more than three times as big as India’s. Its rapid economic ascent has now more or less conferred on it the role of the world’s other superpower, the USSR having demised in 1991. China today is also a technology powerhouse and has built a modern military industrial complex, far bigger and superior to India’s. India’s ascent is a more recent story and there are still some decades to go before it can aspire to be once again on par with China.
China’s rise has now seen the manifestation of a visible and more strident nationalism. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently said, its China’s growing assertiveness that is causing concern. We see newer manifestations of this assertiveness in its conduct with Japan over the Senkaku Island chain, now in Japan’s possession; and its claims in the South China Sea, to effectively make it a Chinese backwater. In doing so China has stirred up concerns among all the littoral ASEAN states, and even in more distant India which has been had oil assets there since the early 1990’s. The entire international community with interests in the region, with the possible exception of North Korea, has insisted that China’s bullying is unacceptable. Yet China persists with its tone and forward postures. While India has made its position clear in that it considers the South China Seas an international commons and passageway, and that it will not be deterred from oil exploration in Vietnamese waters, there are concerns that still find resonance in New Delhi’s dovecotes.
In the recent years China has built as many as eighteen forward airbases in Xinjiang, Tibet and Yunnan that put most northern and eastern Indian cities, industrial centers and military targets within striking range of its new generation fighter-bombers like the JF10 and JF17. By contrast most Chinese cities and industrial centers are deep within and not easily reached by Indian aircraft. Its somewhat ironical that Tibet that India throughout history had seen as a buffer protecting it from China has become a buffer the other way around. The Chinese military build up has been unprecedented and quite unnecessary also. Yet China has built a huge military infrastructure and of a kind that would be quite redundant against threat the freedom loving Tibetans may pose to its control over their motherland. This is the kind of power you need to assert your will over a neighboring country. India has taken note of this, and has sought to suitably counter it with a build up of its own. But build ups also lead to more build-ups and put you on an ascending spiral of mistrust. But of one thing we can be sure. If there is a conflict again, it will not be the limited war of the kind seen in 1962. The use of airpower is implicit. China threatened it in 1967 when it got bloodied at Nathu La. Both countries maintain large and powerful air forces, and it would seem that they would come into play quite early in the conflict. There is also every possibility that it could extend into the Indian Ocean region soon after, effectively internationalizing the conflict.
India has for decades had good reason to distrust China and see’s its malevolence manifested in its increasing close military relations with Pakistan and its constant supply of nuclear weapons technology and an array of missiles. Every Pakistani missile threatening to deliver nuclear weapons on distant Indian cities is of Chinese origin. India draws the logical conclusions from this.
Conflicts are generally the result of a serious military asymmetry or by misjudging intentions or by local conflicts spiraling out of control or when domestic failures require a diversion of attention or when domestic dynamics make rational discourse impossible. In 1962 we saw the last two at play. After the colossal failure of the Great Leap Forward and after over 30 million died of starvation between 1959 and 1962, Chairman Mao desperately needed a diversion to assert his control of the CPC and the PLA. His great rival, the popular Marshal Peng Duhai was still in Beijing after being purged by Mao. Many speculate that anticipating a putsch against him by the reformers opposed to the personality cult, Mao busied up the PLA in a low cost high return limited war. On the Indian side the unthinking escalation of attacks on Jawaharlal Nehru by the Opposition, and from within the Congress party, forced the government to adopt a strident note and embark of the ill-fated Forward Policy. This was despite advice by its Northern Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Daulat Singh, that a policy without the military means to support it would have grave consequences.
As Indian and Chinese forces jostled for space on the narrow ridges of the eastern Himalayas, India’s declaratory policy and Chinese realpolitik clashed and the die was cast. As wars go, it was a small war. In all three Indian divisions and maybe a few more PLA divisions took part. But the dramatic Indian debacle in the Tawang Tract led to a panic that had the nation cowering in fear and its leaders flopping around like headless chicken. When Bomdila fell, Nehru went on AIR and effectively announced the abandonment of Assam by saying his heart went out to the people of the state in their moment of dire peril. Members of his coterie embarked of theatrical ventures like seeking to raise a guerilla army and fight behind the now expected Chinese lines in Assam. But Mao was made of wilier stuff. After administering a quick and telling blow, he ordered the PLA to withdraw back to pre-conflict positions. Fifty years later India still hurts with the rankling memory of those dark days never allowing the wound to quite heal. Neither India nor China is now ruled by imperious Emperors, like Nehru and Mao were. In their place we have timid bureaucrat politicians, vested with just a little more power than the others in the ruling collegiums. Collegiums are cautious to the point of being bland and extremely chary of taking risks.
As for serious asymmetry, it does not occur now. India’s arms build up and preparations make it apparent that a conflict will not be confined to the mountains and valleys of the Himalayas but will swirl into the skies above, on to the Tibetan plateau and the Indian Ocean. In 2012 both countries have sufficient arsenals of nuclear weapons and standoff weapons to deter each other. But above all, both countries have evolved into stable political systems, far less naïve and inclined to be far more cautious in their dealings with each other.
This leaves a local conflict rapidly spiraling out of control, or another Gavrilo Princip incident where a single shot at the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, plunged the western world into WW1, highly improbable. After 45 years of not shooting at each other, and not even confronting each other by being at the same contested space at the same time, local commanders have evolved a pattern of ritualistic behavior and local bonhomie that is very different from the rigid formalities of international politics. Both sides have invested enough to have a vested interest in keeping the peace and tranquility of the frontier.
While China has ratcheted up its show of assertiveness in the recent years, India has been quietly preparing for a parity to prevent war. Often parity does not have to be equality in numbers. The fear of pain disproportionate to the possible gains, and the ability of the smaller in numbers side to do so in itself confer parity. There is an equilibrium in Sino-Indian affairs that make recourse to force extremely improbable. Both modern states are inheritors of age-old traditions and the wisdom of the ages. Both now read their semaphores well and know how much of the sword must be unsheathed to send a message. This ability will ensure the swords remain concealed and for the plowshares to be out at work.
Mohan Guruswamy
Email: moha...@gmail.com
18 September 2012
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Foundation Day Speech at Indian Institute of Management, Indore 3rd October 2012 by Nadathur S Raghavan
A copy of the speech by the Chief Guest Nadathur S Raghavan ( Mr Raghavan is one of the 7 founders of INFOSYS and he retired as a Joint MD in 2000)
Foundation Day Speech at Indian Institute of Management, Indore
3rd October 2012
by Nadathur S Raghavan
------------------------------
Distinguished members on the dais and dear friends,
It is a matter of great pleasure and privilege for me to speak on the occasion of the13th Foundation day of IIM Indore. I am particularly happy that I have been given thiswonderful opportunity to address such an august audience as this.
The subject I have chosen to talk about, may be some-what unusual, but I feel that it is a subject that deserves in-depth understanding, much better appreciation and lot more emphasis, especially in the management education circles in India.
What I am referring-to,is the amazing insights that brain research has been throwing up in the last three decades and its extreme relevance to the understanding of the current challenging environment.
There is a tidal wave of new information pouring out of research labs on how our brains control our behavior in a variety of situations. Let me give you an idea of the magnitude of the work that is being done in this domain. There are more than ten thousand Neuroscience researchers in the US alone, according to a recent estimate.
The increasing importance that this discipline is receiving can be gauged from the fact that Cass Sunstein,Harvard Law Professor and one of the authors of the best selling Behavioral Economics book called “Nudge”, runs the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for Barack Obama, and his co-author Richard Thaler, Behavioral Science and Economics professor at the University of Chicago Booth School,has been advising the Behavioral Insight Team in the Cabinet Office of Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron.
Neuroscience not only challenges many of our long-held assumptions of human behavior butmore importantly, it compels us to question the very nature of reality.
For instance, it is now well accepted in the scientific circles, that the "external world", as we refer to it, is simply a collection of perceptions and beliefs that is created by our brains.
Take vision as an example. The commonly held view is that light bounces off an object and enters the eye, causing the neurons on the retina to fire and send a mirror image of the object to the optic nerve in the brain.
But that’s not how vision actually works. The image reflected on the retina is digitized and travels through the optic nerve as 125 million bits of information and then gets processed by over one billion neurons in the two dozen areas of the visual cortex. As this processed information travels to the seat of consciousness in the prefrontal cortex, it receives inputs from several areas of the brain that are linked to memory, emotion, and even our desires. What we perceive, therefore, is not the direct image, but the creation of the mind based onwhat we remember, how we feel, and even what we want. Thus when ten people look at the same scenario their brains will interpret and encode ten different versions based on their own previous experiences and perceptions.
Michael Shermer in his very interesting book “Believing Brain” explains that reality exists independent of human minds, but our understanding of this reality depends on the beliefs that we hold at any given point of time. He, in fact, calls this process, wherein our perceptions about reality are dependent on the beliefs that we hold, as belief-dependent realism.
You may all be still wondering what Neuroscience has got to do with management education. Let me simply say that Neuroscience insights on human behavior has the power to change our fundamental approach to running organizations.
Experts in fact believe that the organizations that we strive to build can be effective and sustainable only when they are designed and run,keeping the brain in mind.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Before I take you through the amazing and, some times, amusing manifestations of irrational behavior in humans, I would like to salute Bertrand Russel who had the wisdom to appreciate this behavioral underpinning in human beings, when he remarked “It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this”.
All of us, as human beings, are inherently biased and this has been firmly established over the past 50 years by literally hundreds of empirical studies. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman received the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in this area. The conclusion reached by Kahneman and his colleagues is that people use unconscious shortcuts, termed as heuristics while taking decisions.
Our unconscious biases make us behave irrationally most of the time and I will try to highlight some of these biases and their insidious effects in our decision-making.
Human Beings, ladies and gentlemen, are social animals. As social animals we have evolved over the years to depend on our tribes, literally, for our safety and survival.
The idea that humans have a need to belong to social groups is so fundamental in psychology that one of the seminal papers on this topic has been cited almost 3000 times since its publication in 1995.
It's a well-known principle in social psychology that people define themselves in terms of social groupings and express their loyalty to their own groups by denigrating others not belonging to their groups.
The theory of Cultural Cognition, in fact, postulates that we shape our opinions to conform to the views of the groups with which we most strongly identify.
There is some survival mechanism at work, in creating and supporting in-group and out-group distinctions. In our desire to feel safe, we bond together with all those who look more like us and then build virtual fences to keep outsiders away.
It is only when we look thru the lens of tribalism at work, that we can make sense of extremely irrational behaviors includinglarge scale genocides, uncontrollable religious terrorism andwide scaleregional extremism, to cite a few.
Psychologists Henri Tajfel and John Turner have demonstrated thestrong bias that people show in favor of ‘in-group’ members, even when the groups are arbitrarily formed. In an interesting experiment when people were randomly assigned into groups and everyone was well aware of this random assignment, volunteersstill showed a marked preference for members of their group. They even went on to give rational arguments on how unpleasant and immoral the ‘out-group’ people were.
Organization Leaders have therefore the challenging task of evolving strategies to manage group dynamics in their own organizations such that itchannelizes the energiesof its people towards fruitful endeavors instead of getting dissipated in fissiparous tendencies.
David Rock, Co-Founder ofNeuroLeadership Institute says that the brain experiences the workplace, first and foremost, as a social system. Once leaders learn to manage the social dynamics of a workplace, they can effectively engage their employees by forming collaborative teams that work in harmony. David Rock goes on to say that the ability to intentionally address the social brain in the service of optimal performance will be the distinguishing leadership capability in the future.
Let us now look into the all-pervasive Optimism Bias.
The belief that the future will be far better than either the past orthe present is the core ofoptimism bias.Both neuroscience and social science suggest that we tend to be more optimistic than realistic most of the time.
This Optimism Bias severely impacts both microeconomic and macroeconomic activities. For example, Optimism Bias influences high-stake financial decision-making, such as startup investmentsand merger decisions. It was found that 68 percent of startup entrepreneurs believe that their company is more likely to succeed than similar companies, even when they were fully aware that in reality only 50 percent of startup companies even survive beyond the first three years of activity.
Research also finds that 65% of CEOs are so over-optimistic about the future that they overpay when acquiring target companies and also undertake value-destroying mergers.
On the macroeconomic level, Robert Shiller in his book “Irrational Exuberance” makes the case that irrational exuberance is the prime contributor for generating bubbles in the financial markets.
An example closer home is that this very same bias makes second-year students of MBA, overestimate not only the number of job offers that they expect to receive but also the magnitude of their starting salaries.
The question we need to answer is what makes people maintain this rosy bias even when information challenging such forecasts is readily available.
Neuroscientists tried to find the answer by scanning the brains of people as they processed both positive and negative information about the future. The findings are striking. When people received inputs that enhanced their beliefs, it was found that their neurons faithfully encoded the desirable information. On the other hand,when pessimistic information was passed on totheir brains, they completely ignored them.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Many of the problems that the world faces today can be attributed to the issues related to perceived fairness.
Brain science has offered some remarkable insights into how fundamental the need for fairness is, for all humans.Prof GolnazTabibnia of Carnegie Mellon University, who has done extensive research on fairness, says that the tendency to resist and fight against unfair outcomes is some thing that is deeply rooted in all human beings.
Scientists claim that there is a specific area in the brain that processes “fairness issues”. A study at the California Institute of Technology pinpointed the insular cortex, a region of the brain that is the seat of emotional responses, as the location where issues concerning equity are processed.
Fortunately for us, we can increase feeling of fairness in the work place by making people believe that their voices and opinions are considered important andby recognizing their contributions as having positive impact on results.
Fairness, it turns out, activates the same network in the brain that monitors physical pain and pleasure.
Managers need to appreciate thatany work environment that is perceived as unfair has far reaching consequences. People in such environment will experience anincrease in the levels of the stress chemical cortisol,impacting not only their health and wellbeingbut also their motivation levels for any type of work. It should therefore come as no surprise that employees tend to leave their well-paid jobs when they feel that their organizations have been unfair towards their workers,towards theircustomers ortowards the community at large.
We all suffer from “Status Anxiety” even though we may not be aware of it, most of the time.
Status is our place in the social pecking order, relative to others. Our brains constantly monitor our status and send signals of threat or reward based on their assessment of changes in our ranking. Much of this happens subconsciously. Our status is easily threatened when at any time we feel belittled or subordinated by the words or actions of another. At that time we literally feel smaller and less worthy.
Not surprisingly, improvement in status is considered by most peopleas lotmore valuable than financial rewards.
Ironically, status also generates vicarious satisfaction inpeoplewhen they meet otherswho are worse off than themselves, the German concept of "Schadenfreude”. Status even explains why people love to win arguments, even pointless ones.
The importance that people attach to social ranking was clearly demonstrated by researchers in an experiment. The volunteers were asked to select one of two programs, the first option being a plan that will earn them a sum of $50,000 a year in a scenario where other people in the same plan earned only $25,000 or half the amount. The second option was for the volunteers to earn a higher amount of $100,000 a year, but in this scenario others in this plan earned a whopping $250,000 or two and half times.
Surprisingly, the majority of people selected the first option,clearly indicating that they are willing to give up the opportunity to earn $100,000 as opposed to $50,000 just to make sure that others in the group earned less than them.
This result is one among thousands of experiments in behavioral economics, neuro-economics and evolutionary economics conclusively demonstrating the importance that people attach to relative social ranking in preference to financial gains.
Naomi Eisenberger, a leading social neuroscience researcher at UCLA, wanted to understand what goes on in the brain when people feel rejected by others. She designed an experiment that usedFunctional Magnetic Resonance Imagingto scan the brains of participants as they played a computer game called "Cyberball."
Cyberball was designed as a ball tossing game over the Internet with two other people. The ball got tossed between the volunteers and two others represented as avatars on the computer. In the experiment, half way through the game, the volunteers stopped receiving the ball while the other two players continued throwing the ball to each other. The researchers found that this experience generated intense emotions inthe participating volunteers. What Eisenberger found was that when people were excluded, their brains showed activity in the dorsal portion of the anterior cingulate cortex, which is the neural region that is involved with pain thus demonstrating that exclusion and rejection was physiologically painful.
This has tremendous implications in workplace dynamics since there are any number of activities and situations that can engender such feelings.
Fortunately, it is not that difficult to build among employees the feeling of improved status. People experience an increase in status when they are acknowledged for their efforts or recognized for their expertise, or simply compared favorably with others. Interestingly, such feelings are also generated when people are actively involved in addressing issues that are normally reserved for the senior leaders in the organization.
Demonstrating ones value to the group that they belong to,hasalsobeen found to improve the status.
In terms of brain chemistry, when an increase in status level is experienced, dopamine and serotonin levels go up in the affected people making them feel happier, and cortisol levels go down reducing their stress levels. Testosterone levels go up increasing their focus and making them feel strong and confident. With more dopamine and other happy neurochemicals, an improvement in status increases the number of new brain connections that are made every hour. A feeling of high status, therefore,enables people to process lot more information and subtle ideas with much less effort.
Let me now draw your attention to the stranglehold that our internal beliefs have on us.
It is well established that we are all driven by our beliefs. We form our beliefs for a variety of subjective, emotional and psychological reasons that are basedon our interactions with family members, friends and colleagues and also influenced by ourculture and society. Once we form our beliefs, we defend, justify and rationalize them with a great degree of passion, making use ofvariety of tools including cogent arguments and rational explanations. It is now well proven that our beliefs come first andall explanations then follow to justify these beliefs, however irrational some of these beliefs may appear to others.
Interestingly, neuroimaging studies have shown that, at the level of the brain, superstitious beliefs like existence of ghosts or religious beliefthat ten-headed king Ravana was vanquished by Lord Rama are no different from the beliefs that two plus two equals four or TajMahal is located in Agra.
This is the reason why we live most of our lives as though our beliefs were really facts. Beliefs become amazingly resilient because they form strong neuralconnectionsin the brain and these well-entrenched memories and emotions play out as behaviorswithout our explicit awareness.
This leads me to the theory of Cognitive Dissonance by Leon Festinger, an American social psychologistwho claimed that when people are persuaded to behave in ways that are inconsistent with their beliefs, an uncomfortable psychological tension is aroused in their brains. This tension, he suggested, will compel people to change their beliefs so that they fit their actual behavior.
Cognitive dissonance occurs in the world of investing too. Very often, investors buy a stock based on certain analysis and criteria. However,subsequently, when they receive information that contradicts their original hypothesis, they distort, manipulate or completely ignore this new information so as to relieve the discomfort caused by the conflicting views in their heads.
We confront, on a daily basis, any number of situations in which people resolve cognitive dissonance through rationalizations. The criminal who justifies his crimes blaming his difficult living conditions, the person who feels he got fired simply because his boss did not like his looks, or the self-made billionaire who keeps away from meeting people from his past since he is convinced that all they want is his money - are all examples of rationalizations to manage cognitive dissonance.
Nearer home, this bias is present in academic circles, where a researcher will deliberately choose to overlook all data that contradicts his theory in an attempt to increase the credibility of his study.
What we need to introspect seriously is how we can prevent ourselves from falling prey to “Believing our own Lies”, which is the dangerous consequence of cognitive dissonance.
The potential tools at our disposal are somemeditation training practice that will improve our awareness of this tendency and lotmore of self-introspection questioning our own points of view.
Psychologists Daniel Kahneman of Princeton and Amos Tversky of Stanford University published in 1979 a breakthrough paper called “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk,” on how people think about and handle uncertain rewards and corresponding risks.
In the ensuing decades, this seminal paper in Behavioral Economics became one of the most widely cited papers in Economics. The authors argued that the ways in which alternatives are framed had strong influence on the decisions that people made.
Edward Russo and Paul Shoemaker provide an amusing story to illustrate the power of framing. A Jesuit and a Franciscan were seeking permission from their superiors to be allowed to smoke while they prayed. The Franciscan simply requested for permission to smoke while he prayed. His request, as to be expected, was straight away denied. The Jesuit, on the other hand,framed the question in a different way: “In moments of human weakness when I smoke, may I also pray?’’ He got the approval.
Similarly the “loss aversion” theory posits that the pleasure people derive from gains is less intense than the pain from equivalent losses. In fact people prefer the option that avoids losses even when the alternative option of gains is twice as much. Marketers fully understand this and frame the expected results of their products or services in terms of "gains" and “successes” and avoiding words that connote "losses" and "failures."
AldertVrij in his book “Detecting Lies and Deceit” gives an interesting example on effects of framing.Participants in the experiment were shown a film of a traffic accident involving several cars. Among various questions about the accident, one particular question was differently framed for various groups. In the question “How fast were the cars going when they contacted each other?” the verb ‘contacted’ was replaced by ‘hit’, ‘bumped’, ‘collided’ or ‘smashed’ for various groups. While the question with the verb ‘contacted’ elicited the lowest speed of 31 miles per hour, the verb ‘smashed’ got the response of highest speed of 41 miles per hour.
One week later, the participants were asked whether they had noticedin the videobroken glass at the accident site. Although the correct answer was ‘no,’ 32% of the participants who got the ‘smashed’ verb in their question responded that they did see the broken glass. This shows that the framing of the question can even influence the memory of the incident.
The strategic implication of all this for organizations is that when managers are pitching a proposition to their employees or to their customers or to any other stakeholders for that matter, they need to take special care to frame the proposal using appropriate words that will influence the recipients in the right direction.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As one intimately involved with Human Capital Management strategies for more than three decades, I would like to take upthe findings from Neuroscience on the critical issue ofTalent Management.
We are all familiar with bonuses and incentives that are extensively used in the corporate world as powerful tools for motivating staff for superior performance. Behavioral Economists are criticizing this overemphasis on financial incentives and are in fact questioning the effectiveness of these incentives in the absence of Intrinsic motivation which they advocate is lot more critical to deliver results.
Social scientists talk about two types of motivation, the intrinsic motivation, which makes us indulge in activities for their own inherent satisfaction and then the extrinsic motivation that makes us do things for some external incentives including financial rewards, promotions and performance recognitions.
The interplay between the extrinsic inducements that are expected to influence an individual’s behavior in the right direction and the intrinsic motivation that is inherent in human nature is the territory of Self-Determination Theory.
Research indicates that certain types of extrinsic motivation tools like financial rewards, deadlines, and the threat of punishment may actually turn out to be counter productive as the following case will illustrate.
AnIsraeli daycare company with two centers tried to evaluate the effect on behavior induced by punishment and comparing it with the behavior that is generated by implicit motivation. Both their daycare centers had a rule that parents must pick up their children well before four pm in the evening. This was to avoid the necessity, for one teacher to stay back late till the last child was picked up. To improve compliance by parents, they tried an experiment, just in one location,of imposing a fine of $3 for each time the child was picked up late. At the end of three weeks, strangely, the center with the $3 fine for late pick up, saw a doubling of the parents who came late. It was as though the fine removed the implicit moral motivation or a certain feeling of guilt associated with making a teacher stay late. Insteadthe penalty felt like a service payment for the extra time spent by the teacher.
Similarly, researchers found that employees showed the least improvement in the areas that were criticized during performance feedback, indicating that criticism actually had a negative effect on their performance.
This behavior isexplained by the compelling need that all people feel for maintaining a certain positive self-image. When their self-image is threatened by any negative feedback, peoplesimply ignore, discount, or rationalize it away.
At a macro level, the same logic holds good when evaluating effectiveness of regulatory versus voluntary compliance. According to studies published in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, the threat of penalties tends to crowd out the honest behaviors that most people, most of the time, try to display. Research suggests that heavily regulated economies are more likely to have higher levels of moral violations andIndia is a prime example.
It is, some times, very amusing that all of us, without exception, can be so irrational in our decision-making and I will illustrate this using the ‘anchoring bias’as an example.
Anchoring Bias refers to the tendency of relying too heavily on one reference anchor or piece of information when making decisions.
All experienced salesmen effectively leverage this weakness by showing you a higher-priced item first, anchoring that price point in your mind.
Let me explain this using a scenario.
Imagine that you walk into a clothing store and instantly get attracted to a leather jacket.You try it on, look in the mirror and decide that you must have it. You imagine yourself in that jacket attracting a lot of attention. Then you lift the sleeve to check the price and it shows $800.
Well, that’s too much to pay. You start to head back to the hanger when a salesperson stops you. “Do you like it?” he asks.
“I love it, but the price is just too much” is your comment.
“Not really, that jacket is on sale right now for just $400.”
If you analyze, the jacket is still expensive, and you don’t need it really. But a great jacket from a well known brand at half the regular price seems like a steal.
You walk to the payment counter, make the payment thru your credit card, unaware that you’ve been tricked by the oldest retail con game in the business.
Here is another fascinating experiment.
We are all familiar with auctions. Let me take the example where people enter an auction for several items, such as cordless phones, books, chocolates, bottles of wine etc. The bidders write down for each of the items, the maximum amount of money that they are willing to pay. Whoever submits the highest bid for an item, wins that item and pays the amount. People who are keen to buy a specific item are expected to enter higher bids than others, because they place higher value for the item at that point of time.
But here’s the ingenious twist introduced by Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely. Before people entered their bids for each item, he asked them first to write down the last two digits of their Social Security number and then write down their bids for various items.
Ariely’s experiment threw up surprising positive correlation between the last two digits of the Social Security numbers and the bids that people entered. In other words, bidders whose last two digits of the Social Security numbers were larger in numerical value, for some reason, were driven to enter higher bids for a given item. For example, those whose last two digits were between 00-19 were willing to pay $8.64 for a cordless trackball on an average. In sharp contrast, those whose last two digits of the Social Security number were between 80-99 were willing to pay $26.18 for the same item, more than three times as much. The question to ask is, how the last two digits of bidders’ Social Security numbers, by any stretch of imagination, can possibly affect how much they are actually willing to pay for a whole host of items?
Daniel Kahneman, considered the "father" of behavioral economics, has an explanation. He says, that when people are thinking about quantities, the first number that gets their full attention has enormous impact in all future numbers.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Much of our behavior is strongly influenced by other people’s behavior and it therefore becomes imperative that all leaders demonstrate good behavior all the time. Neuroscience strongly endorses the need for leaders to lead by example.
Researcher Michelle vanDellenhas shown that picking social influences that are positive can improve ones own self-control and more importantly, by exhibiting self-control, they are also helping others around them to do the same.
While it is generally known that people do tend to mimic the behavior of those around them, what vanDellen's study showed for the first time was that self-control is contagious across all behaviors.
What this signifies is that thinking about someone who exhibits good self-control by regularly exercising, for example, can make you improve your own self-control in many other areas like sticking to your financial goals, or attending to your self-improvement programs, or cutting out those unnecessary calories etc.
The effect is so powerful, that seeing the name of someone with good or bad self-control flashing on a screen for just 10 milliseconds had direct impact on the self-control behavior of volunteers in an experiment.
Similarly,the theory that bad behavior begets bad behavior was well proven by a series of field experiments in Groningen in the Netherlands designed to test this "broken window" theory. The theory posits that If someone sees, say, graffiti scrawled on a building, he or she will be tempted to do the same or commit some other illegal or mischievous act.
In fact, sociologists often cite this theory as a possible reason that petty or small crimes in New York City dropped substantially in the 1990s after the city scrubbed its buildings, trains, buses, walls etc. clean of graffiti.
From the organization perspective, it is found that merely observing a leader publicly blaming an individual for a problem, greatly increases the odds that the practice of blaming others will spread with the tenacity of an epidemic, according to research from the USC Marshall School of Business and Stanford University.
Nathanael J. Fast and Larissa Tiedens conducted four different experiments and found that publicly blaming others dramatically increases the likelihood that the practice will become viral. The reason they cite for this behavior is that blame spreads quickly since it triggers the perception that one's self-image is under assault and must be protected.
On the positive side, researchers have found that kindness is equally contagious and good acts by a handful of individuals can really make a big difference.
Professor James Fowler of Harvard claims that co-operative behavior is contagious and will spread quickly from person to person to person. When people benefit from kindness from some one, they tend to "pay it forward" by helping others who were not originally involved, and this creates a cascading effect of co-operation that positively influences many more in the social network.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Without our explicit awareness, our brains are being primed all the time.
To bring out the unconscious priming effect, psychologist Aaron Kay of Stanford University had students take part in a one-on-one investment game with another unseen player.
One half of the students played the game while sitting at a large table, at the other end of which was a briefcase and a black leather portfolio. The other half of students sat at a table that had a backpack placed at the end.
It was found that the students at the table with the briefcase and leather portfolio were far stingier with their money than the students at the other table.
The mere presence of the briefcase, noticed but not consciously registered, generated business-related associations and expectations leading their brains to get into a competitive mode of playing the game.
In another experiment, Dutch psychologist HenkAarts made the undergraduates sit in a cubicle to fill out a questionnaire. Out of sight, he placed a bucket of water in the room with a splash of citrus-scented cleaning fluid that gave off a faint smell. He also arranged snacks in the next room, for consumption after the test. After completing the answers to the questionnaire the young men and women were provided crumbly biscuits as snack.
The researchers covertly filmed the snack time and found that the students who had smelled the cleaning fluid went on to clear awaybiscuit crumbs three times more often than the comparison group, who had taken the same questionnaire in a room with no cleaning scent.
Dr. Schaller at Northwestern University asked undergraduates in an experimentto recall either an unethical action from their past, like betraying a friend, or a virtuous deed, like returning a lost property. After completing this task the students were asked to choose one of two gifts, an antiseptic wipe or a pencil. It was found that those who had recalled bad behavior in the experiment preferred the antiseptic wipe twice as much as the others. They were primed to psychologically “cleanse” their consciences.
In another interesting experiment, psychologists at Yale managed to alter people’s judgments of a stranger by simply handing them a cup of coffee.
The study participants were college students who had no idea that their social instincts were being deliberately manipulated. On the way to their laboratory, the students had bumped into a laboratory assistant, who was carrying textbooks, a clipboard and some papers. He was also holding a cup of either hot coffee or iced coffee for which he requested students to give a hand in holding the cup.
That was all it took to prime their brains. When asked to rate a hypothetical person that they later read about, all those students who held a cup of iced coffee rated the person as being much colder, much less social and lot more selfish compared to their fellow students, who had momentarily held a cup of hot java.
Findings like this one, as improbable as they seem, have been pouring forth in psychological research over the last few years.
One area that is attracting lot of attention in the recent years is Neuro-marketing.
Neuromarketers study and analyze the brain activity of consumers while subjecting them to various stimuli, as opposed to market researchers who depend on conscious responses to survey questionnaires.Neuromarketers use leading-edge technologies to measure brain activity of consumers using fMRI, EEG, galvanic skin response, eye-tracking sensors and other biometric approaches.
Advertisers have known for a long time now, that it is the unconscious mind and not the conscious mind that drives people’s response to advertisements, brands and products.Research now confirms that, by and large, customers do not really know what drives their decision to buy a product or service. This is exactly the reason why traditional market research fails to provide meaningful and reliable results most of the time.
Neuro-marketing on the other hand claims to possess effective tools to better understand the customer minds. Well-known brands like Google, Facebook and ITV are commissioning neuro-marketing companies to help them createmore impactful advertisements for their products and services.
US company NeuroFocusfounded by Dr. A.K. Pradeep, now part of The Nielsen Company,is pioneering the concept of neuro-marketing by using brain scanners to probe emotional responses of customers.
Significantly, Citi, Google, HP, and Microsoft, as well as soda companies, brewers, retailers, manufacturers, and media companies have all become clients of NeuroFocus in the past six years.
Barry Hersteinwho left American Express to join PayPal is one who successfully leveraged Neurofocus tools to accurately identify brand attributes of PayPal that people really liked.
When conventional online survey threw up attributes very different from those of Neurofocus, he trusted thefindings of NeuroFocusand set out to create a coherent global branding for the company, based on these attributes.
Herstein said that his boss, PayPal president Scott Thompson was extremely skeptical about this new technology, but Herstein staked his reputation on the new approach.
His gamble paid off and in the world of direct marketing, where going from 1.2% to 1.3% improvement in response rates was itself considered significant, his campaign managed unheard of improvement from 4% to 16%.
Gemma Calvert, a former Oxford University neurologist, founded rival company Neurosense and claims that her advanced neuro-marketing techniques that monitor blood flow levels in various parts of brain can predict with high degree of accuracy how customers respond to various advertisements.
Neurosense also has an impressive list of clients including McDonald's, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and GlaxoSmithKline.
Let me quickly touch upon the role of Instinct that experts rely upon while taking decisions.
Let me first define who an “Expert” is.Niels Bohr, the physicist, defined expert as one who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field. Brain research supports this perspective. Research indicates that when an expert evaluates any situation or an idea, contrary to popular expectation, he does not follow the process of systematic comparison of all options available. He also does not do extensive analysis of data or use complex spreadsheets or ‘what if’ analysis tools. The expert, in fact, depends on the emotions naturally generated by his dopamine neurons. The reason why the expert’s advice still turns out to be good is because of his rich knowledge base. All of his previous prediction errors have been converted into useful knowledge and is stored away in his brain and this stored knowledge generates a set of accurate feelings while evaluating a situation. For instance, Gary Kasparov, the grand master of chess, obsessively studies and analyses his past matches and stores away all the slightest imperfections in his past games. However, when he sits down to play his game, he simply plays by instinct or feelings.
It should be clear by now, ladies and gentlemen, that I can keep talking aboutthe fascinating findings of brain research, if only there was no time constraint.
I would have, for example, loved to explain why our memories are wrong at least as often as they are right and how false memories are the primary cause for mistaken eyewitness identifications contributing to approximately 75% of the 297 wrongful convictions in the United States. These convictions were later overturned by post-conviction DNA evidence and very unfortunately, these wrongly convicted people served on an average 13years in prison according to “Innocence Project”.
I would have liked to talk about Self-Serving Bias that causes an individual to attributeall positive outcomes to personal and internal factors while completely blamingexternal factors for all negative outcomes.
I would have also liked to show you that we are all without exception unaware of what “we are unaware of” and that all of uswho are more than six years old operate from unconscious levels of mind almost 95% of the time.
I would have liked to show that our minds have evolved over the years to maintain the status quo and thiscomfortable status quo bias keepsaway many senior leadersfrom taking bold initiatives and new strategies that are so critically needed for the growth of theirorganizations.
There are so many interesting topics.
However I will stop here before you ask me to.
It is my fervent hope that I have kindled enough interest in all of you to think seriously of incorporating in your MBA curriculum, some of the more critical insights from brain research.
I have even a better suggestion. Create a short Senior Management Program with emphasis on Neuroeconomics and Behavioral Economics. The title of such a course could be “Unleashing Human Potentialkeeping the Brain in Mind”.
Such a course should address the issue raised by Prof Robert Grant of Bocconi University in a recent interview with DNA. Prof Grant rightly feels that the critical role of any CEO is not really decision-making, but to build and manage robust organization culture and enable initiatives that will develop the skills, knowledge and intrinsic motivation of his mangers. Hepoints out that CEOs of large companies are aware of just about 2% of what is going on in their organizations. They should, thereforedelegatemost of the decision-making responsibilities to the enabledand empowered managers at various levels of hierarchy.
Let me stop here and once again thank the organizers for giving me this wonderful opportunity.
Thank you all for your patient hearing…………
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