Business to the Buddha

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  • How to transform society?

    We’ve seen a lot of ups and downs in last few years across the world – be it social unrest, terrorist attacks, individual gun attacks or rapes. There are good things also happening, however as an evolved and superior generation, are we really up to our own marks? The answer to this question for me was “no, we can do better”. Naturally the answer followed with another question how can we improve ourselves and transform society? This question needed a bit more understanding of the so many unpleasant issues.

    Starting 2010 we have been social uprising in Middle east to terrorist attacks in Europe or teenager attacking in school or a recent rape and killing of a girl in Hyderabad India. We can divide these incidents as individual and group incidents. Incident where a single person is involved, we can call it Individual and group where a group was involved. Society is made up of collection of individuals. In society we have groups of people who are insane and they are more active, thus we end up have bitter incidents more in our society. I believe for improving the society we must work at individual and group level both. The Buddha also said – there is cause of suffering and a way out.

    Why are social problems there?

    As a whole we as a society have become identified with race, religion, region, social status etc. This at a subconscious level makes us identify ourselves with a limited identity. We are human being and just by chance we are Indian or European or Christian – we need to understand this. Further, if we believe or feel deprived that would be manifested and would come out.

    As an individual and as a society we can give what we have. If I ask you for 100 dollars, you can give it to me only if you have 100 dollars or more. How can an individual or society be peaceful when individuals and groups are stressed? The stress manifests itself in different forms – be it gun attack, terrorist attacks or rapes. A society that feels it is unfairly treated – whether it is right or no – will created unrest, possibly terrorists. This needs a solution.

    Art-of-living-logo
    The Art of Living

    I do social service under Art of living foundation. I have conducted meditation sessions for people. My personal experience seeing the participants pre and post meditation and the participant’s experience itself makes me feel that everyone must meditate. Since, I have personal experience of Art of living courses, I can vouch for the difference it makes to people, in fact the prison program has transformed prisoners too. Have you heard of a Bandit Angulimala? He was a dreaded terrorist, The Buddha transformed him too? Many people are far better than him. Meditation has immense power to transform.

    How to improve society?

    • First thing we must do it, good people must be more activity and get more attention / coverage by media too – This is what Guruji (Sri Sri Ravishankar) says.
    • We humans must go beyond our limited identity – be it the ego or social identity (race, religion or region)
      • Stop comparing yourself with others
      • Get out of your superiority / inferiority complex
    • Know your freedom is till your nose not beyond that. This can help you understand that you do not have right to kill, steal or rape.
    • Accept diversity, anything written / spoken which signify hatred must be discarded; even if that comes from any authority book. Guruji said something similar recently.
    • The easiest is – attend an Art of living Happiness program.
    • Meditate, I have decided to make a difference by helping people meditate.

    Ethics cannot be taught in class to be followed in life. Ethics need to be imbibed, my personal experience is that teaching of ethics and being happy with oneself can be imbibed by a meditative mind only. If you need help in learning meditation reach out to me. If you want to attend Art of living course – go here.

  • How to fix your mindset?

    My colleagues Akshay Chalke and Gaurav Thosani are full pictionaries of movies. While our group has some discussion, they relate to some or the other sequence of a movie, say, the dialog and start laughing amongst themselves. At times, we’re clueless what transpired, other times few other friends also start laughing when present context and movie sequence is clear. Initially, I used to look at Akshay and Gaurav with confusion, what the heck? What’s the meaning, what’s so special in that? At times, when they used to inform about the movie sequence (mostly I’d not watched) I used to feel what’s funny in that? In some chats, when I’d watched the movie, I went back about quarter of a century (I’m very old!). These small incidents helped me learn how can you fix your mindset?

    My story

    It was 1997, I’d just started traveling, that too alone – a distance of 500km (overnight bus journey) for my engineering. Being the youngest in family, naturally, I had lived in lot of protection and guidance. On top of that I was emotional & quick to get nostalgic. Those days, about 25 years back, video coach buses were cheaper and used to provide entertainment by playing a movie till mid night.

    It’s a nuisance if you don’t like the movie and a headache if you want to sleep for next day’s college. On top of all this, my mindset and disappointment with my present situations, made me uncomfortable and disappointed by the world in general. Though, the movies used to be light comedy like- Ishq or Govinda- movies of 90s. Some movies used to be slapstick comedy – no sense, just laughter rides. But, my mental condition, disappointments and nostalgia made me hate these movies. I never liked some hit comedy movies of that time, such as Ishq, Dulhe Raja, Auntie No. 1, Bade Miyan chhote miyan etc. In fact some songs made it to the list for example song of movie Ishq Nind churayi Meri kisne o Sanam; although I always liked singer Udit Narayan over others of that time.

    You can read other blog on “Situation.” how this single word sentence changed my approach to life.

    Read more about teachings of my professors about satisfaction.

    Read another one on how our sanskara‘s create our reality and possible Karma

    Lessons

    I started giving some thoughts on the incidents when Akshay, Gaurav and colleagues laughed on that movies sequences etc. I realized, if one’s mind is disturbed anything around doesn’t feel good. In fact the association with situations and mindset can be as long as decades. The next thought was now when I know it is mind’s problem, how to fix your mindset?

    I’ve watched few of those movies in last few years. Now I wonder those were not as bad, in fact, few were hit of that period. Slowly I realized, these are small moments of fun and lightening the mood. At the end of the day, one must be happy that’s the bare minimum one can have in life.

    How to fix your mindset?

    The point is, how can one be beyond one’s mental state and situations and still be happy / balanced in tough times?

    1. one way is to be in the present moment (tough hum?)
    2. learn to differentiate between the situation you are facing currently with the general state of your mind that’s created by other situations in life. You must have heard of keep your work and personal life separate (Easier said than done right?)
    3. fake happiness (balance or equanimity) as in the movie Three idiots “All iz well”
    4. look at learning opportunity in this tough time. Focus on lesson than the pain (easier)
    5. meditate daily (the best)

    Fixing your mindset become easy if you start any of the above steps. In my opinion is a better method of fixing mindset. Otherwise we become headless chicken driven by the situations around us. Still, if you’re unable to make your mind, reach out to me, we can speak on this lesson. Lastly read this simple telephonic discussion that could give you an idea or this may give some drift.

  • How to get out of the comfort zone?

    Last week I wrote the biggest lesson that I learnt with Professor Tomas Lopez. Simple summary of the lesson, we’re conditioned to think in certain manner. It cause more trouble to our daily situation then anything else. I was fortunate to have been reminded of this problem of mine (our mind) by Professor Mankad too – read here. Professor Lopez put me out of my comfort zone many a times. Getting out of comfort zone is very important if you want to earn some pearls in life.

    Here is a short story of loss, that one must avoid in life. This story is from the book – Prayers of the frog Volume 1 and Volume 2. An awesome book with short stories and life lessons.

    Awareness

    An oyster saw a loose pearl that had fallen into the crevice of a rock on the ocean bed. After great effort she managed to retrieve the pearl and place it just beside her on a leaf.

    She knew that humans searched for pearls and thought, “This pearl will tempt them, so they will take it and let me be.”

    When a pearl diver showed up, however, his eyes were conditioned to look for oysters and not for pearls resting on leaves.

    So he grabbed the oyster which did not happen to have a pearl and allowed the real pearl to roll back into the crevice in the rock.

    From the book – Prayers of the frog V1

    The author concludes – You know exactly where to look. That is the reason why you fail to find God.

    prayer-of-the-frog

    It happens with all of us, we look for happiness in something other than what we have in hand. This is where we end up being unhappy. Many a times we know the answer to – “When will I be happy?” Yet we miss the path to the goal. In fact, when we achieve the goal; our goal post has already changed. This is the problem of our mind, we are never calm, even before we reach somewhere we find the next destination. Here the destination can be as easy as the next venue for dinner or as ambitious as next company, job, or car. What we need to change is our way of thinking.

    Our life experience and circumstances programs us to become a certain individual over time. Be it the diver of the above story, or me or you. We must ask a question to ourselves – are we ready to get out of our comfort zone?

    How to get out of the comfort zone?

    Our comfort zone is the worst enemy of our possibilities. As was the case with the Digger. I think we can get out of comfort zone by some of the ways such as

    1. Getting into tough spots with choice – life is a trouble… only death is not I was put in those situations by Prof Lopez
    2. Awareness in actions, if you had read my blog on conditioned mind, you would understand the context
    3. Get out of your ego, do something that does not conform to your definition of YOU. Read how Mumbai brushed my ego
    4. Learn from past experience (slingshot example), yet try things without getting bogged down by your past experiences
    5. Remember our perceptions create our reality, do not limit yourself with those limited perceptions of yours
    6. Keep things simple as ABC – story from Prayers of the frog
    7. Think and know, you are nothing in front of the creation, why limit yourself, why feel low, embarrassed even before trying?

    The Buddha also went beyond his comfort zone to be enlightened. In fact he had put his everything on the gamble. Let me know which one you can relate to? Or what you think is even better method of getting out of comfort zone, it would interesting to learn.

  • Exploring the unexplored

    More than 100 years back, ice harvesting was a whole business model ecosystem in USA. There were ice harvesters, ice storage (kind of warehouse), and ice deliverymen. When refrigerators were first introduced the harvesting ecosystem improved their harvesting mechanism, storage systems and delivery systems. It happens with businesses, at times, we try to increase our efficiencies of doing what we know the best even though the whole industry is changing. In few years they lost to the new industry refrigeration! It happens many a times, either organizations are blinded or do not change resulting in the death or reduced shareholder value. It reminds me of a quote of former CEO of General Electric Jack Welch – If the rate of change on the outside is greater than the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.

    I learnt this lesson practically in my MBA too. I dedicate this post to Prof Lopez. unfortunately he is no more, but his memories and teachings – specially to me, are long lasting. He always put me in a spot, not just me but other students also. When you are in a spot, either you are numb or your mind starts working faster, thankfully for me it was the later. He pushed me to think more and more and challenged me to unbind myself from my limited approach (Engineer-ish thinking style on which I wrote earlier). What is strikingly similar between my reaction and any organization is – initially I tried doing (number crunching) what I was good at, I tried it even harder. This is what happens to companies fighting for survival. As I explained from the ice harvesting industry. The idea of giving your full energy to something is great, however at times one has to think in blue sky – without inhibition. Situations that the ice harvesting industry was facing needed that blue sky approach. This was a great learning for me from Prof Lopez.

    Later the exploration of unexplored began, when I realized why am I doing what am I doing? I realized that I was digging a hole even harder, faster and deeper when I had to get out of the hole and search my unexplored dimension. There are facts beyond numbers; there are reasons when digging in numbers is not THE only thing which is required to be done.

    Besides the books, case studies and team projects other MBA lessons included sustaining and keep learning spotted by him, in uncomfortable situation. This one learning came from the sessions of Prof Lopez, the extra learning I took was – one may have to face such situations in organizations or from competitor organizations / business environment, how to handle such uncomfortable situations?

    Prof-Lopez-Pravin-shoe

    Here is a picture of me attending one of his class (extra class of other stream). In which I responded – correctly – to a question. However, the question was changed later and I got his shoe as a reward for this – literally as a beating me for that response. Source – Jaydutt Kamat’s uploads, may require login to Facebook. Missing you Professor Tomas Lopez on this day – your birthday. I would have written to you for permission to write this blog – unfortunately you are not with us today.

    Death of ice harvesting industry is not the only example for us this story has been repeated umpteen number of times. In fact some research suggests that the average life of companies are reducing drastically. Thank you so much Prof Lopez, you gave a great learning to me, I am sure I would less likely be the person who would work with an organization that is getting into ice harvesting industry type scenario, if probably I do, I am better equipped to have a direction before it is too long. Prof Lopez’s putting me in a spot helped me explore the unexplored on personal and professional level to be better equipped in decision making. I can summarize this lesson – being receptive in toughest situation.

  • Data as a narrative

    I listen to even the data driven opinions with a pinch of salt now. I did it unwillingly and learnt it one can present data to please bosses even if the findings are unfavorable. It happened with a client of ours. They’d invested about 8 Cr rupee in their Above The Line (ATL) marketing. We used to do offer data analytics solution to them. So, we were told measure the impact. We found out, there was almost no impact – statistically, even if you take p-values and seasonality and market condition etc etc. The 8 Cr had gone in drain. However, we’d to help our manager at client’s office “look smart”. We’d to make a presentation that look and feel sound, statistically such that the branding efforts have had a positive impact. We somehow did it, against my wish. I quit the organization soon after, due to various reasons.

    Actually we had conveniently changed the goalpost for the client. Our clients objective of the ATL was generating investments, however the presentation of the data was done completely for branding. All the communication for the ATL was regarding “invest with us”. The presentation was not about the impact of that in terms of call to action “investment” as such. Human being are smart, we create our own narrative from what we see, hear and observe.

    You-see-what-you-want-to-see

    So, one must take data and findings with open eyes and willingness and honesty to question. I’ve been favoring capitalism over socialism (or some sort of communism), the data suggests that capitalism is somewhat better than socialism. We have many examples – South America going through the upheaval North America is better off, USSR broke down, India moved to more open economy after 1993. Mass production or mass anything is great for economy of scale and businesses. I happened to stumble upon the episode of “Last week tonight” by John Oliver on Amazon or warehouses. John Oliver presents concepts interestingly. He adds humor with numbers and in 20 minutes drive home his point and makes you accept the conclusion.

    After watching this episode of Last week tonight, I thought of writing on this. However, as I said, I have started taking data with pinch of salt. I asked myself, are these the only few stories about work condition at Amazon? Why other such stories not coming out? Should one get to see other perspective instead of believing only one side? I came across similar thought published in NYT, so I made up my mind to type it down. My opinion still stays – the quantum can be more or less, presentation may make the statistic look appalling.

    The NYT article touches what John Oliver is talking about in his show – work conditions at Amazon. In fact Amazon is forcing competitors to match its standards, which affects lives of employees. I wonder if we really need that toilet paper at lightening fast speed, as John Oliver talked about in his show. Are we sure we want such competitive and capitalistic world? I wish no. Mass production results in unwelcome competition and possible corrupt practices example – using fertilizers for farm produce affecting the soil quality or destroying work life balance of employees for quality of service that may not be the demand of customer.

    I’d not envisioned capitalism of this kind to win over socialism – where there is no trickling down as expected by economists however not happening on ground as recently economists found out. If we do not improve our capitalist approach to be more inclusive we will surely pay a huge price of inequality – as Prof Joseph Stiglitz had pointed out in his book by same name.

    We need a world that is more balanced, the competition of capitalism can eat into mental peace of individual. Socialism as we know it, tries to make everyone equally poor that bad too, we need balance – the middle path. Few months back when I visited a village, I saw how Modi govt’s socialistic approach of govt worked. I see promise in such approach where there is a balance – in Govt trying to balance socialistic giving and encouraging competitiveness. Though currently, according to data the economy of India is not doing that great. Also some time back GDP calculation method was changed. Should we trust data that can be manipulated to suit narrative? Before trusting anything, should not we ask questions on validity of data and representative-ness of the same?

    Image source – https://www.skepticink.com/

  • This too shall pass

    I like Jab we met movie. I have written about it earlier too. Something happened recently that I remembered this movie again. Two of my friends discussed about issues one with girl friend and other with wife. There were conflicts, which relationship does not have conflict? So, we discussed – I am not a relationship counselor though – the troubles and concluded that few things are going to be there, however one must look at the big picture of life than the one of incidents. I narrated part of the movie Jab we met to them. I did not even bother to ask if they have watched it or no, I was too concerned to drive home the point.

    Plot – Jab we met

    Spoiler – part of movie the plot disclosed here. Shahid Kapoor’s girlfriend marries someone else, he is dejected and wants to leave everything. He boards a train where he meets Karina. Karina is in love with someone and wants to runaway to marry him. Shahid starts liking Karina’s carefree attitude and living in the moment. I believe one who is in love starts enjoying everything around. Karina is that person fully in love with Tarun Arora and willing to leave everything behind for Tarun. Things don’t workout as expected by Karina. She starts living on her own without connecting with family, completely changed personality. Shahid tries to bring her back to her family. She has lived like this for 9 months now. Tarun comes back in her life, when Karina wants to leave him. Now, Karina is confused, she understands that Shahid loves her. Shahid tells her – when you will look back in your old age this 9 month time period would be nothing when you have lived a long life with Tarun – which you always dreamed.

    Blogs based on movies (long list)

    Utsav movie – must love what she has and accept the love showered on him
    Kung Fu Panda – …there is no secrete ingredient, you must believe the soup is special…
    Kung Fu Panda – are we in control of our lives? Or it is just an illusion of control
    The Matrix – Morpheus is the best person to learn few things in life
    Ice age – We’ve been living our life like Scrat, there is something more beyond the cornseed
    Gulal – Brexit, Ambitions and unification – I wish in future we would not be driven fear and selfishness and, in future we would see such union and countries coming together to prosper together
    Kung Fu Panda 2 – Peace of mind comes from practicing it, not running behind things, possession for a peaceful mind
    Mehboob ki mehndi – Song Jane kyu log mohabbat kiya karte hai… and its limited interpretation of love, less possession less possed
    Rang De Basanti – Ek Omkar Satnam I am just “an insignificant nothing”, but the mind doesn’t accept it
    Guide – Duel Between Mind & Heart
    Seven years in Tibet – Religion is poison
    Network (1976) – What we see in news or opinions are they real or there are ulterior motives of someone that drive us
    The Matrix – Taking the red pill
    Salam Bombay – Our hoarding never ends, the way protagonist is trying to save 500 rupee
    Ice age 2 – we all exist like the Scrat in the mids of the fish trying to save our corn e.g. ourselves, job, loved one

    Lesson

    The suggestion is so important for everyone in life. We get angry, upset, depressed and frustrated for so many things in life. Solomon was advised – this too shall pass. We get entangled in life for so many things and at times for years we carry those grudges. Effectively we end up spoiling our present and our future for those trifling things. I know it is easier said than done. In fact those trifling things are so big issues for us at that point in life that we make those issues the center of our existence. This must be avoided. We must move on and be in the present moment. There is a great way to do that – meditation.

    It is not that I did not commit mistakes in my personal life. There is a learning curve. You Must Learn from the Mistakes of Others. You Will Never Live Long Enough to Make Them All Yourself. The examples of my friends were personal life examples, however, it happens with us in our professional life too that we end up getting upset, frustrated and angry for some or the other reason. Be it personal life or professional life, one must learn and practice meditation for a calm and peaceful present and a good life.

  • Virtues and wisdom

    I had a question some time back, whether or not should I teach virtues to Adviti. This question came in mind after witnessing a lot of corruption cases in India. I got a feeling that Karma – that a lot of Indic religion followers believe in – does not do justice at least in a visible sense. The inference of Karma missing its duties comes in mind when we see a lot of people wrongdoing and still happily manipulating systems to practically prove themselves to be on the right side of the law.

    Smiling-Baby

    In the previous blog – teaching virtues to Adviti – I had pointed to a politician. He, at last, got in custody recently. Yet the point remains, is Karma giving as good as it should? Indian judiciary is a long and mostly not very pleasant ending for cases against politicians. Why should anyone teach virtues and ethical practice to offsprings when everything can be bent as needed?

    Anand Utsav – course with Guruji Sri Sri Ravi Shankar – had been a great learning and rediscovering. Learning is a continuous process that is still going on. Now, when I have been having some more perspective on myself, I believe I should continue teaching virtues to Adviti that I had been questioning myself off late. The point is – with teaching virtues one must teach the discerning skills as well to the kid.

    One must not get carried away by what good or bad others are doing. It is their way of living. Some will be worst off and will get Scott free too, in the court of justice. Everyone must learn the basic ethics in formative years, however, in addition to ethics another learning should be the ability to make a decision who should be treated how.

  • Single word sentence that changed me

    It was year 2000, I was doing my Engineering away from home. This session was stressful; I had never failed in any academic exam until that year. I failed in one subject of my engineering. The result was about 5% for that subject for our batch – across the university. There were various discussions on the results in University, colleges and among students. Some toppers or top 10% student have also failed in the exam. Disclaimer: I was not a topper during Engineering. Once, professor who taught, set paper and evaluated the subject had openly said in classroom – “I had passed few students because I knew their parents!” It was a shock to many.

    The above mentioned was kind of first of my academic failure. Though one was inability to make it to IIT, however it was mixed feeling that time, as I had made it to State Pre-Engineering test (with rank). There are shocks and failures that teach you biggest lessons in life than any success.

    Single word sentence that changed me

    With the grievance, I went and spoke with a professor of our department. He was also aware about the whole incident of this particular subject, exam, teacher and batch. I was immature, outspoken and outraged. When you are away from home, no family support and just crossing your teens, you may become very aggressive or meek. The young age also gives you extra bit of adrenaline. With full of anger, I spoke with him– “<a lot of story>. Does the institute want me to ask my parents to come and network with professors? They are also teachers; they too have responsibility of teaching students to make their future. I never failed, had been a bright student academically, who is responsible for this result? How can I secure only 22 marks when my mathematical equation based solution worth 20 marks was correct? Who is responsible for this?” I was venting out like anything!

    He heard me carefully, looked at me patiently, and responded – “Situations!” This one word sentence I don’t know how, made an immense impact on me. Probably, the reason was not that one sentence alone, it was the countenance, the manner, care and concern. It was said with compassion that made the difference. That one word resonated with me for a long time. Perhaps, it is difficult to understand what I am saying, however this interaction left a mark on me.

    Lesson for life

    We get carried away by results, we many a times, consider ourselves something probably we are not. In this particular case – I thought of myself as a failure, though I was not. There were circumstances where someone fail, that does not prove that the person is a failure. It is like seeing a steam of water flowing. You be an observer, water keeps on flowing, as Lao Tzu said – “…grass grows by itself.” Our life situations are like this, most of the times we get carried away, the way I was. We get wet in the stream of water. However, when we become an observer, our perspective and paradigm changes for many things.

    Our problem is that we get carried away by people, situations, results and many things around us. These things make us vulnerable. When we become an observer life changes multifold. My professor’s answer “situation” somehow changed my paradigm of thinking. It was difficult to understand what has changed within at that time, now when I look back I realized that one answer changed me and involuntarily made me an observer, that time I had not practiced any meditation either, that one word somehow moved me towards spirituality.

    I did not apply for revaluation; I had lost faith in the examination system – where a teacher wanted my parents to network, rather than me study or teacher doing his duty diligently. Next semester I passed the subject, which had to happen anyway. The biggest positive for me was I became mindful, spiritual and aware.

  • Happy Dussehra

    We celebrate the festival of Dussehra as win of good over evil. The conflicts were between two different parties – be it Rama and Ravana, Durga and Mahishasura. We are taught these overt conflicts. There is a subtle / covert lesson in these conflicts – the duality of mind. Our contest is with us inside our mind.

    Ravana was very intelligent and capable ruler. As a kid, I watched Ramayana on TV. I used to ask this question to my siblings and parents – “how can a person have 10 heads?” To this I was told, it is symbolic. Ravana was so intelligent that he could have shashtrarth / serious discourse (discussions) with 10 different people simultaneously. Ravana was scholar of Shastras and Vedas, that’s the logic of saying 10 heads etc. Besides all this, Ravana was most respected devotees of Shiva. How can a devotee of the supreme lord be evil?

    Happy Dussehra

    Imagine, a person of such caliber, such profound knowledge and power be known for all the wrong reasons! There are a couple of reasons for that; one is power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Further, we need to learn – “with great power comes great responsibilities”. As Uncle Parker says to Peter Parker in the Movie Spiderman.

    When, I look at these historical (for some people mythological) events, I see the easiest way to avoid such conflict is the eight fold path of Buddhism.

    1. Perfect Vision,
    2. Perfected Emotion,
    3. Right speech,
    4. Right action,
    5. Right livelihood,
    6. Right effort,
    7. Right mindfulness, and
    8. Right meditation / Samadhi

    These are the virtues that can be explained to our generation in different manner for example – right livelihood for the Buddha was dependent on begging. In current generation I believe everyone should be self-dependent for livelihood. When some scholars say Right resolve (in the above list it is replaced with emotion), they explain it as life of a hermit giving up the world. When the Buddha attained enlightened I remember reading in some text he said, “It is not necessary to leave the world, one can be enlightened being a family person”. He propounded the Middle path for the same.

    The real flight or contest is within, we can be the best in anything – as Ravana was. However, what matters is how we remained centered to be good. So, if we start taking these eight fold path doctrine in context of our generation, we can be as intelligent as Ravana and as good as Rama. The choice is always ours. This Dussehra I wish we all learn to fight our internal conflicts and Good wins over the evil within.

    Image source – Amar Ujala

  • Cost of poor quality

    Cost of poor quality (CoPQ)

    In operations improvement, Cost of poor quality is a common management term. Sum total of all the costs that are generated due to defective material produced by a system is CoPQ. There are various costs defined in management systems for this. You can read more about CoPQ at iSixSigma.

    A naive example

    cost-of-poor-quality

    Since, management example for CoPQ can be complicated by jargon. So, I am taking liberty of making it very layman with few variations in explanation. The context is very India-centric here. There is lot of corruption in road construction projects in Indian cities. Almost every year during rain (otherwise too at some places), these roads are full with potholes. Some people say – you need to search road within the potholes. Why go to any other city – Mumbai is a living example of the same. These roads result in – untoward events (possible serious accidents), high cost of vehicle maintenance and repairs, poor vehicle mileage and at times backache to the travelers even with good quality shock-absorbers of the vehicle.

    The evident cost, in case of Mumbai roads alone, is repairing same patch of road in single season at least 3 times.

    Example of CoPQ In life

    Terrorists – they are an example of CoPQ to society, they waste their life as well as killing other people. Say one of the person’s killed is an educated, married person with a child in his 30s. Death of this person is a loss to the Society, a talent who added to the GDP. The loss to the GDP is for about 20+ years the person could do. Family and child lost a support system. This loss of support could eventually result in inability to blossom and become a better contributor to the society. Society can be better off if a terrorist commits suicide without causing any other damage. Though it is a loss again to the society that a person is dead without adding any value to the society, however it is better than the trouble that person could be to the world.

    Depression of an individual is CoPQ for self and society. The society is losing time and skills of this depressed person. Actually, interdependent co-arising plays an important role in our society. CoPQ can be derived from interdependent co-arising too. If we understand the concept of interdependent co-arising society can reduce terrorists and depression patience.

    How to reduce CoPQ for society?

    When I was thinking about what we humans ban do to reduce the cost, I came back to the same old point – meditation, spirituality and teachings of Buddha and Jain Thirthankars. Both Jainism and Buddhism emphasis on concepts such as non-violence, non-stealing, fidelity etc. Corruption is a type of stealing and terrorism is violence. If one gives proper heed to the virtues, roads will be of good quality and if one meditates regularly his quality of live will improve multi-fold. In essence, practicing these principles the Cost of poor quality can be reduced drastically.

    Image source – Cost of Poor Quality – pt4 youtube video