I first came across Benjamin Franklin’s method of taking decisions while reading one of the books that described the many practical pieces of advise he gave. I have always found this piece of advise useful in my life (all though I use it partially). Recently, I shared this with my son when he was to take an important decision. I am sharing it here for the benefit of others.

The method has three parts:

1. First frame the issue that needs a decision and write it down
2. Franklin observed that when we feel confused and unable to take a decision, it is due to our mind recognising different reasons for taking the decision on way or the other at different times independent of each others. At any given time, we are not able to keep all the pros and cons together in our mind. His solution: Write down all pros and cons.
3. Once you have a list, how do you decide?  He suggests matching one or more pros with one or more cons based on comparable degree of importance and ruling those out from further consideration until you are left with only a few pros and cons to decide between.

I personally like Point 1 and 2 above and use it often.  However, Point 3 requires a certain degree of algebraic efficiency that I find difficult to do. But  the good news is that just doing 1 and 2 helps you take a decision with more confidence and assures you that you have taken a decision after careful consideration.

For those who are interested in reading more:

• Link to the original letter: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-19-02-0200
• Wikipedia entry on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decisional_balance_sheet
• Couple of blogs describing the process with examples: https://fs.blog/2012/09/benjamin-franklins-rule-for-decision-making/  | https://www.smartdraw.com/collaboration/making-decisions-ben-franklin.htm
• A blog presenting arguments against the method: https://medium.com/the-polymath-project/franklins-gambit-how-to-not-make-a-decision-like-benjamin-franklin-21dcdf181f71

“Fire in the belly” — that is my latest fancy! I have been looking around to meet young people with “fire in the belly”.

Recently, I had a chance to listen to a talk by Dr Devi Shetty, the famed and visionary heart surgeon and social entrepreneur from Bangalore. In his talk he mentioned about his new initiative to catch young people from deprived backgrounds in West Bengal and train them to be medical doctors. His thesis — these young people will have the fire in the belly to work long hours as medical doctors in the service of the people (which he implicitly suggested that young people from well off backgrounds lack).

While I do not know if there is a rigorous correlation between “fire in the belly” and deprived backgrounds, I see his point and share his thinking. People who pursue goals with great vigour and obsession often need to be highly motivated and have a “hunger” for achievements. They cannot be seeking comfort and luxury. They cannot also have a philosophical view of “nothing really matters”. (Classic case being the case of ancient India which after years of global leadership, turned complacent in end of the first millennium to only be ravaged by “barbarians”  who did not hesitate burning our places of learning and centres of philosophy.) They need to be driven.

While one cannot say it is true for everybody, on average it does seem to hold that societies go from deprived and driven to complacent and content, and as this happens they go from growth to decline.  One can also see that refugees/ immigrants  seem to be excelling in most countries (while future generations of migrants do not seem to be very different from the natives). Even within India, one can see complacency setting in on well off states with the labour force not willing to take up certain jobs and the same jobs being taken up by migrants. One can see young people within one’s own families placing a greater premium on comfort, luxury and entertainment as India grows and becomes affluent.

It is in this context, that I would like to recommend to young people to be wary of complacency setting in. Seek the “fire in the belly”. The only way to create the “fire in the belly”  is to set the most challenging goals for your self and seek role models who have “fire in their bellies” —- basically identify the Mount Everest you wish to climb and be “hungry” to climb that and seek the Edmund Hillary to inspire you.

This blog posting is an opinion piece for young friends who find themselves versatile and good at many things but often find that the world seems to favour those who are specialised narrowly. Say, you are good at studies, sports, music and organising teams but everybody seems to only talk about the geeky topper in your class or the dumb sports star in your class.

One of my strengths is versatility — and I have always enjoyed it. I like learning/ doing many different things and combining them creatively in my work. For example, I can combine understanding of science, technology, business, finance, law, and philosophy in my work and use it creatively in the practice of technology management and entrepreneurship. But I can tell you that it is hard to build on your versatility (except in roles where you are in the driving seat and building/shaping the organisation’s agenda).

Most large organisations and societies like specialists.  They like people who conform to the ideal of that organisation/ society. For example, I work for a research organisation and the ideal is of a conventional scientist pursuing his/her narrow area of specialty over a career of 30 years with a solitary focus on peer recognition. In such large organisations,  versatile people are mavericks. And often such organisations are puzzled on how to deal with these mavericks.

Leaders of such organisations often worry how to recognise and reward versatile people and pen up opportunities for them. I was once advised by one of my mentors that I run the risk of “falling between stools”. What he meant was that my organisation had a “scientist”  career track and an “administrator/manager” career track and it would be suicidal for me to try to do both. He had a point! But then should I have chosen one “stool”  to stand on or follow my heart?

Based on my experience, I have the following recommendation for versatile people — if you wish to follow your heart and continue enjoying/leveraging your versatility, then build your own organisations (or work in small organisations)!  You have to be leaders who set the agenda so as to thrive as versatile people. Or else chances are that you will have to sell your soul to the specialists and conformists, and end up as a mediocre specialist!