My Learnings And Reflections From Nature

                                                                                                 Kaziranga National Park, May 2025


During one of my field works at Kaziranga National Park I came across this log with many shoft shell turtles. I started counting them from left to right and I found 10 of them in the wood log. The log seemed to have been a fallen tree or a submerged tree inside the water as it did not move with the flow of the canal water.

 

Looking at the log, a picture emerged. This situation transported me inside a conference room and the reflection was one of the sides presenting a unique idea and the other side prepared to critique and challenge the idea.

 

The left-side has 1,2,3,4,5 members presenting the new idea. The size represents seniority in the system. 5 and 4 are leading this presentation. 3 is little old and is one of the leaders in the making. 

 

1 & 2 are new entrants; I call them the enthu-cutlet, super charged and who also did web searching on the topic.

 

The right-side are the critique fellows, who have some or other reasons to shoot down the idea. On the positive, critique (in any organisation) also helps the left-side to prepare well and be always on top of the subject. So here we have 6,7,8,9 & 10. 

 

7,8,9 are leading the left brigade and 6 & 10 are the junior entrants.

 

7 & 8 ask question, grill 4 & 5 on the new idea. 9 is present with the right side though not convinced by the grilling done by 7 & 8. He is slowly shifting to the idea presented by the 4 & 5.

 

10 the junior most was not sure why was he called in the first place and is in physically present and mentally absent mode. He was called in the end moment, came in the meeting with no information on the topic of discussion.

 

We missed 6 a very junior entrant. He was bought in by 7 & 8 to record minutes of meeting and if things get heated up, he will raise the white flag. Call the meeting again with revised point of discussions. 

 

You can also guess what the young entrants will talk among them as the meeting gets over.

 

As I laughed, my fellow photographer asked me and I shared the above reflections.

 

Why do meetings fail? Why do we not reflect on active and passive participants? Why do we not check with passive participants what do they know of the subject & what have they learnt from the subject. How can we make the meetings an internal exploration than a war between right and the left. How can we make meetings more exciting? What do we do differently in any meetings?

 

Will love to hear your thoughts and experiences.


Thanks for reading....


Best,

Tapas Acharya

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