The Seven Arts of Change

Change is the only constant - How many times have you heard that in life? And how many books have you read about how to deal with change? Plenty, I am sure. So what makes this book different from the rest?

Think back to the times when you have managed to tide over the change, made it a part of your life and changed along with that event. Why did that happen? Probably the main reason was because you internalised the change and accepted it spiritually. When deep down in your heart, in your spirit you accepted the change and realised that its good for you, the journey became simple and easy. But when your spiritual core did not agree to the change initiative, you fought it and probably did not change.

David Shaner's Seven Arts of Change talks about extending this concept across the organisation. Most change initiatives in an organisation fail because they end up being a top-level talk which make no impact on the individuals who are needed for the change. David talks about how it is imperitive that for the change initiative to succeed the organisation's spiritual core has to accept the change - not listen to the talk but walk the talk - and understand how it could be good for the future of the organisation. I know what you are thinking - an organisation's spiritual core? Now that's taking the talk of spirituality to an extreme. But think about it - what makes up the organisation's spiritual core? The people, of course. Make the people understand at their core spiritual level how the change is good for them, for the community, for their family and for their organisation and the change initiative will go through smoothly and will succeed.

David Shaner is well placed to talk about this process given that he has changed his life multiple times. He was the member of the Olympic Valley USA Ski Team where he gives an example of one of the Arts of change. He is a teacher of the art of Ki-Aikido and a seventh degree black belt holder. Plus he has served as a Fulbright scholar in India during Indira Gandhi's time. His credentials are impeccable to espouse on change initiatives and in some manner it does come out in the book.Gleaning from his experience David has come out with Seven Arts of Change which, if applied, can impact the spiritual core of the organisation and make the change initiative succeed.

Any change initiative has to begin with an assessment of the current state of affairs - (1) Art of Preparation followed by getting the message out to the people and making the goal personal - (2) Art of Compassion.

David implies that people have to believe that the final effect of the change can impact their personal lives. Once they believe that they will fall 100% behind the initiative. But to maintain it you need to set goals that can be measured, tracked and reported - (3) Art of Resposibility.

Change is a tough thing to do and to make it consistent the leaders need to show clarity of vision, demonstrate focus and make it visible. During a change initiative there will be negative force - distress and positive force - Eustress. It is critical to ensure that the organisation stays focused on the positive forces through (4) Art of Relaxation.

The key, of course, is execution. It is important that each person understands what their role is in the overall change initiative and knows how their actions contribute to the final goal - (5) Art of Conscious Action.

In any change initiative there are things that you can control and things that you cannot. You must focus on the things that you can impact and adapt to things that you cannot. You must sustain the change initiative but also keep your organisation prepared for future changes that will come. Keep your eye on the horizon and be connected with the world. This can be done through (6) Art of Working Naturally.

Any change initiative will succeed when you put the needs of others before your own need. Think about it from the other person's point of view and practice the other six arts every single day at every moment. When the people do this, any change initiative becomes a simple task. This is (7) Art of Service.

While the book does present interesting concepts and David pepers it with his experiences, it does become repititive and obvious sometimes. There are chapters when you feel that you have read this somewhere else. The Seven Arts of Change offers a few new ways of looking at Change but it is old wine in a new bottle.

I rate this book 3/5.

Secret of the Nagas

'Secret of the Nagas' is the highly anticipated sequel to The Immortals of Meluha. The first book of the Shiva Trilogy established Amish as an author par excellance and introduced us to the concept of Shiva being a man who became a legend and finally a God!

The Immortals of Meluha ended at a very poignant note with Shiva having led the fight of 'Good' Suryavanshis against the 'Bad' Chandravanshis in search for the ultimate 'Evil' Nagas only to realise that the Chandravanshis too believe in the legend of Neelkanth-the saviour and are really just different. While Shiva comes to terms with the fact that there is no black-and-white in Good v/s Evil but shades of grey, he is searching for one particular Naga who killed his brother - Brihaspati.

Writing a sequel to a much loved book is never an easy task. Readers are waiting for the same excitement and expectations are very high all around. Amish Tripathi manages to come out with a cracker of a book that meets your expectations while at the same time extending the story in a logical manner. His explanations of esoteric concepts like the Dashavtars - Narasimha avtar, Masya avtar, Parshuram ; the Vasudevs and how they are connected for service of Mahadev; the naming of cities and places like Kashi & Assi Ghat seem so logical that you learn a lot and understand why writing is an art that comes to a few people. I have learnt a lot from both his books and some concepts have opened my mind to new ways of looking at things. You must admit though that some explanations are naive where he takes poetic license but thats what writers do.

If in the first book Shiva comes to accept his destiny, albeit relunctantly; in the second book Shiva lives his destiny as he tries to find a path to his ultimate goal. In his mind, he becomes Lord Shiva from just Shiva and comes to terms with his destiny of rooting out the ultimate Evil. He understands that as Mahadev his role is to destroy Evil and restore the balance between the two opposing forces giving 'Good' a chance to come up again. He understands that Good and Evil are really cyclical in nature and there has to be a balance between the two forces. But the real question is: What is Evil?

Are the Chandravanshis evil? Or are they just different? Are The Nagas evil? Or are they just misunderstood? How can Neelkanth recognise the true Evil? Is it a person, a tribe, a way of life or a concept? 'Secret of the Nagas' is a story to find an amswer to that question while at the same time dealing with the question of diversity and acceptance.

Like the previous book, Amish introduces new interesting actors and gives them depth and character endearing them to the reader as we turn the pages. Unlike the previous book, this one takes some time to get engrossing. Amish has spent a lot of time in graphic descriptions of locales and places in this book painting a wonderful picture of the locations. However, once the actual story picks up - probably after the first 100 pages - it is 'unputdownable'. The twists and turns in the story keep you engrossed and at times take your breath away. The point where he introduces Ganesha into the storyline made me put the book down, catch my breath and marvel at the sheer brilliance of his story telling.

Amish has intelligently introduced all the mythical elements into his book and given them a possibility of reality - the third eye, the trishul, the blue throat, Ganesha and Karthik & the Naga. The only one remaining now is the river Ganga in his jatayu. Shiva's entourage of people who admire, adore, love and respect him has also grown in this book - Veerabhadra, Krithika, Nandi, Parvateshwar, Ganesh, Bhagirath & Parshuram - who will go to the ends of the world for him. And of course new mysteries have been opened in this book.

At the end, Secret of the Nagas is a worthy sequel to The Immortals of Meluha and establishes Amish as India's foremost mythical novel writer. I am eagerly looking forward to the final book - The Oath of the Vayuputras and the destruction of Evil.

I rate this book 4.5/5 and implore you to read both the parts.