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Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Dreams of the Heart
By Jaffer Ali
Keep your dreams closer to the fire of your heart than
to the brilliance of the mind.
--Ahmed Habib, Iraqi journalist
Today's offering was prompted by a post in my Twitter
tweet stream. My writings have been misinterpreted as
the work of a pessimistic mind. It caused me to reflect
on how easily ? and often - my best intentions are
misconstrued.
But a thorough overview of the multitude of essays and
articles I've penned reveals a style motivated more by
poets and dreamers than by the sober realities of an
industry steeped in "data reductionism" and spreadsheet-
driven sensibilities.
Just as we experience in life and religion, there is a
distinct clash of cultures that shapes our faith. On
the spreadsheet side we see unbridled faith in data and
technology; blind faith that transcends business as one
hapless driver discovered recently when she followed her
GPS directions right into Lake Michigan!
But there is a different, stronger kind of faith. It's a
faith in ourselves that dwells within each of us. This
is where our dreams come to be nurtured. And though their
source and meaning continue to elude philosophers and
philistines alike, our dreams express the very best within
us when they come from the heart. Dreams are not corporeal.
They are a simple matter of faith.
Those that misplace their faith in data and technology
are like religious fundamentalists. They seek comfort
and succor from empty ritual that neither inspires nor
sustains our dreams.
The clash between dreams and data is as much a clash of
words as it is a clash of wills. As is often the case
with people of different religions, adherents of one
tend to apply labels that marginalize the other. As a
former devotee of data, I can attest to this language
barrier.
Try speaking to a room full of spreadsheet-driven MBAs
about your hopes and dreams. Watch them roll their eyes,
and don't be surprised if one of them asks you for the
numbers to support your hopes and dreams. Thoreau may
have said, "Dreams are the touchstone of our character",
but to quant fundamentalists, that which can't be
measured for all practical purposes doesn't exist.
The older I get the less certain I am about anything,
except that certainty is no longer a goal of mine, let
alone a means to its own end. In fact I have embraced
uncertainty. Instead of grinding away at minutiae that
seeks to imprison me, I now devote more time gazing
upward and seeking refuge among the stars. And as Van
Gogh said, "The sight of the stars makes me dream".
For me it has been a long journey from blind faith in the
numbers and science of what is to the far grander vision
and art of what could be. Interestingly enough, as my
heart's eyes opened, my business began flourishing in
ways I could previously only imagine in my dreams.
On that note, let me end with one of my all-time favorite
quotations:
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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