The Burning Platform

"A man working on an oil platform in the North Sea was awakened suddenly one night by an explosion. Amidst the chaos, he made his way to the edge of the platform. As a plume of fire billowed behind him, he decided to jump from the burning platform even though jumping is a risky option for the following reasons: It was a 150-foot drop from the platform to the water. There is debris and burning oil on the surface of the water. If the jump into the 40°F water did not kill him, he would die of exposure within 15 minutes. Luckily, the man survived the jump and hauled aboard a rescue boat shortly thereafter. When asked why he jumped, he replied, “Better probable death than certain death.” The point is the literally “burning” platform caused the radical change in his behavior." The above apocryphal story is supposed to be the beginning of the "burning platform" paradigm in business. When Stephen Elop took over a troubled Nokia he wrote a "burning platform" memo to exhort Nokia to abandon the old certainties and jump into the freezing waters of the new and unknown. Nokia has since than jumped but it is not yet clear whether it will sink or swim. I earn a living in the discipline of marketing. I suspect that the discipline of marketing in India is facing a burning platform moment. An entire generation of marketers and advertising people have grown up targeting the X generation. They learnt every trick in the book to master the art of feeding the unending appetite of the X generation for self-aggrandizement, status-seeking and the catering to the senses. However given the bulge in India's demographics, the market is today dominated by the next generation of consumers - known as Generation Y in some circles and the Millenials- in the others. Not only does this generation move to a different beat (at Aqumena, the marketing consultancy of which I am a founder partner, we are working on an insight paper on Gen Y which we hope to soon put on the Aqumena blog - http://aqumena.blogspot.com) they are overturning the notion of mass media - 20th century marketing's most important tool and hand-maiden -as well as being actively suspicious of marketing and advertising. The result is a burning platform issue for marketers and their partners - the market researchers, the advertising agencies, the PR guys et al.I am seeing that some have jumped and are flailing about in the water. Some are on the edge, pondering whether to jump. But the strange thing is that are a whole lot who do not even acknowledge that the platform is burning. Watching them would have been funny if it was not so tragic. Sometimes it makes me wonder whether there are some other much large, much deeper platforms burning, unnoticed,under our feet. Democracy? Capitalism? India?

The Link Between Good and Beautiful

There is little denying that with most of us the classification of that which is good maps substantially with the classification of that which is beautiful.
One simple explanation is that there is an ipso facto relationship built between the two classifications. In that the way we define the classification "good" maps on to our definition of what is "beautiful". In that case the seeking of the relationship between the two is an exercise in etymology.
However could this link be in the arena of how the universe is organized instead of being through how human language has panned out?
An examination of the above possibility must begin with the question whether good and evil is a fundamental dichotomy or just an arbitrary line drawn compelled by "local conditions" (as those priests of the universal- the physicists- would call it).
If we stick to physics, at the frontiers of that science, the question is just beginning to be asked.
Much of classical and modern physics left out "consciousness" is a factor to be built into the equation. Even with the Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty where observation and its effect is at the heart of the assertion.
The collective of the highest class of human genius that built modern physics did not leave out consciousness out of oversight. Instead it was a conscious decision.
Born out of the direction of this pinnacle of Western thought. Physics is, at its heart, is the trek, powered by rational thought and empirical validation, from the material to whatever exists as the organizing principle of the universe.
And is this upward journey the need to put consciousness in the equation came later. Because the best practitioners realized that consciousness was a contender for the job of being the organizing principle of everything.
The frontiers of physics today have now reached the stage where a rational and empirical consideration of consciousness is the next step.
Now consider the progression of thought in the body of philosophical contemplation called the Vedanta (that pinnacle of Indian and Eastern thought).
It begins with consciousness and treks towards an explanation of the "world" using the power of intuition that inseparable adjunct of consciousness.
Another difference between Vedanta and Physics is that the journey of thought that Vedanta undertook is complete while that of physics has still some way to go ( you would expect that given that Vedanta has at the least a 7000 year lead).
Coming back to finding the link between what is good and what is beautiful. The way forward on this trek is also to begin with consciousness and go forward using the power of intuition.
Good is the state that state that is harmony with the "truth". The truth in its essence being fidelity to the way the world is organized through Consciousness.
Evil is the state that denies the assertion that the universe is at all "organized". It denies the Faith that underpins Truth.
Vedanta uses Faith to arrive at the Truth.
Physics use rational thought in its journey to the Truth.
Beauty is the state that is in harmony with Rational Thought.
That's why as we pursue Beauty we glimpse the peak we are heading towards- the Truth.
The worst of marketing communication denies any organization principle and is rooted only in the instinct to consume.
Brands on the other hand are constructs of beauty that are in harmony with not just with our U&A (usage & attitude towards consumption in general and a category of products/ services in particular) but at some level with human truth.
Brands today start with Beauty and work towards the Truth because they are in essence Western constructs.
Might there be brands waiting to happen that begin with the Truth and lead to effulgent Beauty? Is this the way Indian business will build global brands?
If yes, will India's best-paid who are also the most well-resourced and maybe even the most expert, brand-builders ever begin to explore that possibility while being obsessed with things like the Cannes Awards?