Business, Science & Technology and Spirituality have tremendous influence on our lives.
Separately, they create conflicting agendas. By bringing them together we can create a synergy that ignites the genius within individuals, organizations and nations.

Three Circles: Igniting Innovation and Transformation

Every organization says that the human capital that walks home every night is its greatest asset. Yet, often the case, this human talent is not engaged to bring its best at work and is only contributing a fraction of its creative energy. Meaning, tools, processes, feedback, trust and engagement are important for people to offer their best. But most organizations don’t seem to have appropriate mindset or clarity on how to create the right culture for igniting innovation and transformation in their people.

So how could an organization foster the cultural mindset to provoke incessant innovation? It is not going to happen by just focusing on what is in it for the company to survive while negotiating with its employees and unions. Companies have to focus on aligning company goals with employee aspirations. On the other hand, the individuals have to take responsibility as well. How could individuals contribute to creating a different culture that allows them to be authentic, creative and further personal and professional goals?

Working with over 30 companies in 7 countries in the last 16 years, I found that there are some fundamental conflicts between individuals and organizations that cannot be addressed by just focusing on business or management domains alone. We have to dig deep into what makes human beings ‘individuals – in divisible or whole?’

I find that most of these conflicts arise due to the apparent polarities between the business, technology and spiritual domains. Some spiritual people look at businesses wearily due to their focus on generating profit and material wealth. Businesses think that scientists and technologists sometimes take unrealistic and idealistic stands on certain issues and don’t understand how businesses are run. Scientists and technology gurus often conflict with religious and spiritual perspectives as they don’t fit into rational and logical mindsets. Employees and ordinary people who get exposed to all the three domains get confused and lose their ability to innovate and transform.

Business, technology and spirituality are the three most influential forces that affect our capacity, capability and genius. At an individual level, business represents the body – the domain of actions, feedback and results; technology represents the mind – the domain of ideas, tools, products and services; and spirituality represents the heart – the domain of passion, energy, meaning and spirit. These are the fundamentals that line the fabric of our society and they shape our deepest beliefs and values.

Reflecting on my own life, I had the privilege to be exposed to all the three intimately. I grew up in a family in India where I was taught Sanskrit from an early age. And a Hindu Temple formed the base for many important activities that shaped my childhood. I grew up studying physics, mathematics and chemistry and ended up getting a doctoral degree in physics and worked in a University (of Utah) for six years as a research scientist and a teacher. Then I was seduced by Apple Computer technology and spent next several years working as a technology consultant, marketing manager, and research fellow at Apple Computer. Finally, for past 16 years, I have been working with scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, non-profits and spiritual leaders - both trying to understand people, business, spirituality and technology and integrating them in my own life at home and at work. Hence my focus on the confluence between the three domains.

By focusing on the intersection of the three domains, I found, we begin to connect and align our body, mind and heart; we begin to take risks despite our fear of failure. It is when our creativity manifests into innovation we find meaning in our work and provide invaluable contributions to the organizations we serve. By learning to operate in the middle and drawing from all the three domains, we operate with a transformed mindset where spirituality, business and technology do not generate conflict but confluence. Because of this transformed mindset, we tap into our “genius” and operate from a state that makes us effective, innovative and successful.

Since 1990, I have been learning and experimenting with designs, approaches, processes and tools that allow people to ignite their genius within and bring alignment between their body, mind and heart. I am still very much a student in the area of ‘igniting innovation and transformation’ and am interested in sharing what I have learned and dialoguing with you on what you have learned. Together, we can discover more about making people and organizations to be aligned in their goals and success. Future newsletters will elaborate on my questions, learnings and dialogues at the intersection of the three domains and hence the name ‘three circles’ for the newsletter.

Are you interested in exploring the confluence between three circles? What resonates with you so far? How do you deal with conflict between science/technology, business and spirituality? What worked for you? What questions do you have? Do you have stories to share? Please let me know and let us explore three circles together. Mail me at pkaipa@kaipagroup.com.

Announcement: Kaipa Group is doing a research project on Leadership Initiatives by companies interested in innovation.
More on the project
. If you or anyone you know would be willing to be interviewed by us, please email my associate at ragunath@kaipagroup.com.

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Issue 2, 2006

NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

Newsletter home

Issue 1, 2006

NEWS AND EVENTS

Many Ways of Knowing
A research project by Prasad Kaipa and Mark Kriger . Learn more and contribute to the project >>

Six Principles for 21st Century Leaders: an article by Prasad Kaipa. Read it in Corporate Training Magazine, vol 2, issue 1, Jan 2006.

Boeing's Ed Wells Initiative features an article on Prasad's program How to think and act out of the box.

profiles Dr.Prasad Kaipa in the article Silicon Valley Gets Spiritual.

February 2nd & 3rd
Reinventing yourself: Clarifying your personal DNA and designing your personal strategy : A learning event for SPEEA represented engineers, scientists and technical professionals at Boeing. Location: Coast Hotel, Bellevue. Time: 8am - 4pm. If you are a Boeing employee, email Michelle Kelley for more details.

February 3-9 & 9-15, 2006 Leadership challenges in a customer focused organization for Canara Bank executives. Venue: Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

February 15 ­18, 2006Prasad Kaipa is a panelist (on 16th) and is presenting a paper on Organizational Transformation (on 18th) at the International HRM Confluence: Enabling Execution Excellence - Global Agenda. Venue: Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Conference URL. Download brochure.

April 28-30, 2006 Igniting the Genius within and transforming Quality of Life: A talk by Prasad Kaipa at the Meera and Jasvant Modi International Conference: Ahimsa and the Quality of Life . Venue: Cal Poly Pomona Campus (Los Angeles area). Download brochure

VEDANTA SESSIONS

Work for passion
Self-inquiry
Exploring purpose

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

Business, technology, spirituality - which one influences your work most? What needs to change for you to integrate the three? Mail me your response.

On Silence:
Silence is the womb of all that is spoken and heard.
Silence is the flow of the river of intelligence. Words like the banks are mere interruptions to the flow...

From the book The Circle of Love by Debashish Chatterjee. Read the full poem >>