BRAINDANCING INTERVIEW ON THE MAURITIUS COLLEGE OF THE AIR

Appended below, are two parts of an interview, conducted by Ms. Shakuntala Hawoldar, a noted educationist, accomplished poet & prolific author on the enchanting island of Mauritius, with braindancer Dilip Mukerjea, in July 2002, when he visited the beautiful island in conjunction with a training program for the Technology Development & Training Centre.

Because of the interviewer's penetrating & insightful questions, Dilip was able to give a very broad & yet enriching perspective about learning, creativity, management, leadership, organisational prosperity, systems thinking & sustainability, all within the time constraints (less than half an hour).

The interview was unscripted, unstructured & somewhat "open-ended", thus reflecting Dilip's spontaneous creativity in dealing with some "tight-corner" questions, so to speak.

As a matter of fact, Dilip had met the interviewer only 15 minutes earlier, after arriving in Mauritius.




To help listeners in following the interview, I would like to put forward my share-points & tips drawn from the interview:

1) Simplifying Complexity:

Looking at the Positive Qualities of a Child; The Magic Formula [please pay attention to the 7 critical elements identified by Dilip]; How Not to be a Bureau-Rat (or Moving from Bureau-Crazy to Bureau-Creative); The Status Quo Has No Status; Knowing vs. Not Knowing; Be Successful or Be a Success-Fool; The Power of Collective ‘ I’ ~ From ‘Ego’ to ‘We-Go’; All Life is Systems; Don’t Get Imprisoned by e-lectronica;

2) Understanding Management & Leadership:

Management from the Root; Everything is Connected [“If you find it, life is simpler!”]; Waste Quotient; Inspiring People with the 4 I’s [please pay attention to Dilip’s illustrations]; Understanding Leadership: Fish Rots From the Head; Oxymoron: There is NO such thing as a Bad Leader; Leaders are Leaders, You Don’t Need the “Good” In front; The 7 Characteristics of Strategic Leadership [please pay attention to Dilip’s enumeration];

3) Applicability of Creativity:

Applicable to Everyone with a Head & a Heart; Children vs. Adults: Just a Matter of Vocabulary; Legacy for Our Children;

4) Are You Busy Dying or Busy Living?:

Understanding the Fear Phenomenon; FEAR is “Forget Everything, and Run!”; Knowing the Gap between the Rut & The Grave; Wishful Thinking vs. Wilful Doing;

5) Braindancing as The Way of Getting New Ideas:

Understanding the Spirit of Learning; The True Meaning of Freedom; Embracing Paidia & Paideia; Having Fun, Laughter & Play are Disciplines; It’s Usage, Not Age, that Determines Your Brainpower;

6) Conditioning of The Mind:

Understanding the Conditioning Phenomenon; How can We Stamp it? How Can We Breakthrough?; Going Back to the Positive Qualities of the Child; Be Childlike;

7) The Power to Choose:

Making Strategic Choices in order to Effect Personal Change; Drawing from the Transformative Experiences of Mahatma Gandhi & Holocaust Victims; Our Permission to Mediocrity; Misery is also an Option; Pearls of Wisdom vs. “We are the Pearls” [Thanks to Michael Jackson for his inspiration. For the record, it didn't happen that way for Dilip. Maybe, synchronicity. I have just added it as a fun juxtaposition, as Michael Jackson's original lyrics were "We Are the World..."!]; Deep Dive to See What Pearls We Find;

Interested listeners can proceed to explore further by pursuing & reading Dilip’s latest books:

1) ‘Brain Symphony: Brain-blazing Practical Techniques in Creativity for Immediate Application’ (replaced ‘Braindancing’, mentioned in the interview, which is now out-of-print);

2) ‘Surfing the Intellect: Building Intellectual Capital for a Knowledge Economy’; (mentioned in the interview; more targeted at corporate executives);

3) ‘Unleashing Genius, with the World’s Most Powerful Learning Systems’ (more targeted at parents, teachers & students);