They say we are all different.
They are right yet they may be also wrong.

Our nature is rich in its variety. Let us take the example of the food that we consume each day for our sustenance. Depending on the place where we live, we end up consuming a wide variety of food. Not one human race can claim that their cuisine is superior to the other. Through the different languages we speak or the different religious beliefs that we follow or the different professions that we follow, we may be different yet we are connected in many ways than we would like to believe. Our fates swing like a roller coaster between the masculine and feminine forms of life.

I read the entire works of the famous Indian author Amish Tripathy this year. His semi fictionalised take on Shiv and Ram takes the tales of the giants of Hinduism to a whole different level. Hidden in Amish’s books are his great hypothesis on the great masculine and the feminine versions of life. Though explained in the context of Devas and Asuras, Suryavanshis and Chandravanshis I believe his perspective on both these ways of life have a greater impact of our life as we know it. They exist ingeniously through the various stages of our life. Just as we are nothing but mere cosmic dust, we also follow one of the basic rules of the cosmos- the duality nature. What is this duality nature? In the context of light, another cosmic form that we are exposed to daily it is as follows- light can exist both as a particle or wave. If one understands the Heisenberg’s principle, it exists in both forms simultaneously though one cannot be certain which exists when.

What is this masculine and feminine versions of life? The masculine version is simply the macho version where strict laws are created and enforced. You live life according to pre-set rules, systems and processes. There is no space for error, you follow this pattern throughout your life-incessantly. The masculine version follows order. For example, if you look at your life once you are established, it is very difficult to change status quo and any change to an established pattern is generally frowned upon. You wake up when it is day and you sleep when it is night. Everything follows a set pattern with no or little space for error. If you look today at the giants of the world, they follow this pattern. They simply do not change and follow a rigid approach and pattern. This system of order and discipline provides great benefits and is generally favored. But there is also a bad side to this orderly masculine nature-intolerance for a different way of life or even an opinion. The masculine order abhors anarchy and mayhem.

On the other hand, the feminine way of life abhors order or even for that matter discipline. It is free, creative and do not generally like to be under a system or even a pattern. The feminine side is established on the bedrock of freedom and innovation. Creativity is a way of life. There are no set patterns and you do not wake up just because it is day neither do you sleep just because it is night. Life is unfastened and unattached. As the second law of thermodynamics literally signifies that the universe is expanding- change in entropy is always greater than zero, the feminine side is abound with waywardness and anarchy.

The human life simply follows the duality seen in nature in establishing itself around these two ways of life. Whether you know it or not, there are times in your life where you follow the masculine way of life: for e.g., the professional development that commences with you beginning to read and write till you make important decisions that involve millions of dollars and sometimes even the lives of many people around you. Or for that matter making critical decisions in one’s life. One simply cannot be wayward in these stages and most people follow the masculine way of life. But the feminine side also creeps up when one is forced to have creative streaks in cooking, travelling to even learning how to woo a girl!

From the Heisenberg’s principle, it is not clear which state (i.e., masculine or feminine exists among humans). For example, your boss can be really serious about meeting deadlines and chastise you for being disorderly or being imperfect at one time to shaking a leg with you later that day in the pub with no discernment to any system or order. Life consistently swings between the masculine and feminine ways of life.

Concluding, life is a journey traversing between creation to death. Like a star that gives out light till the day it burns out to be a black hole and then begin to absorb the light, the journey of life just like light swings between a dual nature of masculine and feminine. There are no absolutes in this cosmic journey, only the switch between the dual ways of the cosmos.

One of the chief tasks associated with the profession of a Process Safety Engineer is to focus on what is often called as a process safety culture. Is the company culture one that encourages its employees to do the right thing, speak out fearlessly and make calculated risk based decisions or is the culture one that encourages the employees to be reckless, being scared of speaking up and a culture that promotes retribution? Process safety incidents that has happened throughout human history has always found one critical root cause- company culture.

What is culture? One simple definition of culture would be as follows: our behaviours drive our habits; our habits are the building blocks of what we call as our culture. Why is culture important? In our professional and personal lives, our culture symbolises our identity in an ever evolving world. Where does our culture come from? I would say, just as it takes years for a person to metamorphose physically from being a baby to a boy to a teenager to an adult, culture in a person originates as follows:

• Culture from home: A home is the prime unit of a society. As we grow up we see and imbibe certain behaviours from our parents, siblings and everyone we are faced with at home.
• Culture from our social interactions: As we interact with our society, in education institutions, we see certain behaviours that aim to challenge us to be accepted and be part of.
• Culture from the media: Since the world is hyper connected than ever before since its history, the media plays an important role- internet etc. in shaping up the popular culture i.e., being a rebel, individualism etc.
• Culture from our experiences: Our struggles and varied experiences in life also form an integral part of what we call as culture.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the sum of our habits both positive and negative forms what we call as culture. They are the building foundation of what we pass on to our future generations. It is what keeps the human race progressing forward in its march ahead.

Today when we are faced with a problem and while we try to derive solutions to that problem, little do we ever understand that our approach to that problem is based on how we handle facts, assumptions and derivatives (based on both). Our method of thinking comes from the culture that we are accustomed to or that we are faced with.

When I came to Canada years ago, I was very fortunate to be in the company of some very successful and enterprising people. These were normal people like me who came to this great country years ago, went through all the struggles both in their professional and personal lives and fought their way through the system and made it. Sitting together sometimes in the cold winter months, stories were shared about various facets of life and how they made it overcoming all obstacles and odds. These stories were highly helpful to me in ensuring the culture I needed to have once I decide to call this great place home. In my previous company where I worked, to improve the company culture, I remember story telling was used as a tool. I do believe stories that we hear and listen create our culture. Sharing stories is one of the best ways to develop a culture.

Margaret Hefferman in a TED talk about productivity talks about William Muir who did some certain experiments with chickens. The only thing that a chicken does productively is to lay eggs. Hence, he setup the chickens into two flocks. One group contained only the super productive chickens, that is the highest egg producing chickens. In the other group he had an average set of chickens. He selected the productive ones among each flocks in each generation for breeding. After 6 generations he found out that the average group had dramatically increased production and was doing great. In the super productive group, all but 3 chickens survived. The super productive ones, pecked the rest to death. This finding is contrary to what we have seen in life. We have been told that we should have a culture of individualism that intensely competes with others to get the best job, the best car, the best house and so on. Companies have been told to hire superstars (super productive and super aggressive) to move ahead. In the above experiment and throughout her talk it was showcased that in all cases, aggression, dysfunction and waste ensured.

Does this mean that a culture of superstars is bad? Nope. Further on to her talk, through various anecdotes, Margaret mentions about how companies are trying to break the silos that can be created intentionally or unintentionally between employees, so as to foster a culture of inclusion, empathy and respect for each other. It is often said that there is no ‘I’ in the team and hence everyone in the team is a vital part of its overall success.

In Walter Isaacson’s book on Steve Jobs, I fondly remember Jobs’ reply when asked whether Apple would survive after his death. He clearly mentioned that he has left behind a culture that is a critically part of Apple’s DNA which would ensure continued success henceforth. He was right. Apple grew exponentially during the time when Jobs was not in charge.

This year, if you look at companies failing, political parties losing elections, there is one common thread that can be found- they did not fail because they did not have the right people (in fact they had the best people), money, political capital etc. They lost because they did not have the right mindset, the right culture or consistent and focused approach.

I believe that at the end of the day it boils down to one thing- culture. What was your team doing, when you looked away? If you can answer that simple question, there you have your culture.

In the end, culture matters and it is all about the culture.

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