Voices from the Future

SEALA 1, DAY 3

Purpose is an animating principle of leadership, and without it you cannot set priorities, make decisions or allocate your time properly, as Andrea Bednar (CEO, The Practice of Practicing) explains.

Adeel contributes to the discussion with characteristic zeal.

The company is asked to imagine themselves on their 100th birthday, after having spent a fulfilled and purposeful life, addressing a letter to their more youthful selves today. What pointers and encouragement, what illuminations and admonishments might a wiser future self send back in time to guide them along their present path?

One hundred-year-old Priscillia looks thoughtful, but wonderfully spry and vibrant (for her age) as she composes her letter.

Groups distribute themselves around the room to read the letters.

Navneet, Izam and Anil hang on every word of Priscillia's voice from the future.

The sage of Jaipur, the ancient graybeard Raj, has a message that reverberates across the gulf of time. 

Dan White's co-facilitators concur: he's as hilarious at age 100 as he was when they knew him back in 2014.  

Like good Asians, the foursome in the corner show respect to their honored elders by standing up.

Even once we are able to articulate a personal purpose that is boldly inspiring and future-oriented, we need to bring that purpose to life. That in turn requires bringing various initiatives into being. Andrea sets out a typology of seven stages through which an initiative must pass to come to fruition.

Alok adds his two cents to the conversation (1.24 rupees at current rate of exchange). Despite the American idiom, Alok's ideas are always far more valuable than two cents.

The same applies for Izam and his interventions, as he takes the microphone and puts in his 0.07 ringgit.

Shamama and Rahul match the seven-stage typology to their own projects, considering what next steps to take to push them forward to the following stage.

After lunch the group reconvenes in a rearranged ballroom for the Star Power simulation under the tutelage of Jim Crupi. The game teaches uncomfortable truths about organizations and power, by illustrating people's behavior within a system that stratifies them economically or politically.

Vickie Neighbour offers the participants chips. (Not potato chips.) Chips are traded according to fixed rules as players seek to increase their scores. A handshake indicates an intention to trade.

There's something about Tasneem's openhandedness and her "you can trust me" smile that makes Adeel apprehensive...

Tanu and Sunil both think that they got the upper hand in that trade. Somebody is in for a disappointment.

The mongoose and the snake. But which is the hunter, and which is the hunted?

Forget the New York Stock Exchange. For real excitement, the trading floor of the SEALA Chip Exchange has got it all: triumph and tragedy, exhilaration and heartbreak.

Also like the NYSE, the SEALA Chip Exchange produces winners who like to stay on top. Their message to the rest of the room is, "Kindly stay where you are."

"Don't shoot the messenger," adds Rabian.

Debrief of the simulation.

The Indian delegation (including new honorary daughter of India Su Aung) is definitely up to something...