Jungle Survival

Survival in a jungle depends on a single most important factor which is keep travelling.

You may be lucky to have a machete, compass, first aid box, sturdy pair of shoes, hammock and a mosquito net.

To find one’s way out of the jungle, one should seek the one that is safest and which offers the least resistance.

The path which offers the least resistance is the waterway. Search for a stream and travel downstream.

Remember to prepare signals for the rescue party.

On the other hand, a ridge has sparse vegetation and less number of streams to cross than a valley.

A ridge can serve as a guide and give one an opportunity of a higher vantage point.

A jungle can engulf you,  so remember not to focus on the immediate environment.

This means to say, do not focus on the  the immediate trees and bushes in front of you, but focus at the perimeter.

Which means to say look through the jungle.

One must stop occasionally and stoop to look at the jungle floor.

Once you are aware of your environment, chances are that you will avoid getting scratches and bruises.

In case you are avoiding your kidnappers / terrorists, avoid trails or paths frequently used for the terrorists / kidnappers are most likely to watch those trails.

Watch out for disturbed bushes / trees / jungle floors as the kidnappers / terrorists / poachers may have set up pitfalls and traps for wild game.

You do not want to be caught in a poacher’s trap.

www.corporaterisks.info

Advisor, Corporate Risks

riskmitigator@yahoo.com

Assistant Professor, MBA Competitive Intelligence & Corporate Warfare program

Detecting Weather Conditions

Insects and birds fly lower to the ground than normally they would do in heavy moisture laden air.

If you sight insects and birds flying lower than usual, near the ground, it indicates likelihood of rain.

Most insect activity increases before the advent of a storm.

On the other hand bee activity increases before the advent of fair weather.

In low pressure regions slow moving or difficult to detect winds and heavy humid laden air often indicate a low pressure.

One can smell and hear low pressure. The inactive humid air makes jungle odors much sharper and easy to detect.

Further sounds have more clarity and carry farther in low pressure than high pressure.

This signals advent of bad weather and this bad weather may linger on for several days.

www.corporaterisks.info

Advisor, Corporate Risks

riskmitigator@yahoo.com

Assistant Professor, MBA Competitive Intelligence & Corporate Warfare program

Essence of Islam = Sufism

Mystical ecstasy is the only closely guarded secret of nature and needs dedication, sacrifice and labour far greater than what is required to unravel the mysteries of the visible universe. Nobody can sell the magic formula or manipulate society by offering a short cut.

Khwaja says :

“They met the Sultan’s brandished steel The crocodile’s gnashing teeth

They bowed their necks, the death to feel Who follows in their train

They climbed the steep ascent of super consciousness Through peril, toil and pain

Oh God, to us may grace be given To follow in their train”

That which intoxicates the consciousness without drinking, smoking and eating, ‘that which makes our consciousness experience the climax of ecstasy of far greater magnitude than the sensual pleasures, that because of which we experience weightlessness and suspended animation of the physical body, it is nothing else then the mystic’s wine, some call her Kundalini and some Ganga, some call her vidyut lata and some beloved.

The charlatans prostitute her as a cool breeze in the palm of hand and a tingling sensation at the back of the spine. Any misguided effort or attempt to invoke Kundalini destroys the aspirant, as when trillions of megawatts of energy is unleashed, it can result in one of the most painful deaths known to humanity.

Murshid Omar Khayyam said that

“Up from the earth’s centre through the seventh gate, I rose,

And on the throne sate, and many knots urravelled by the road,

But not the knot of human death and fate”

“While the rose blows along the river brink, With old Khayyam the Ruby vintage drink, And when the angel with his darker draught Draws up to thee, Take that and do not shrink”

The esoteric practice of Ashgal is the key to Wehdat (final merger with the Divine beloved). Through relentless spiritual conditioning of the consciousness, magical powers to know the past , present and future and the ability to understand the language of all creatures, to become invisible at will, to leave one’s body and enter other bodies at will, to levitate, to become lighter than a proton and heavier than a black hole, are some of the para normal powers which the immortal God Realised Saints developed. The final goal of Ashgal practices is Wehdat (merger with the All Pervading Divine).

Murshid Gurdial before his death sang sang :

“Is a ray ever separate from the sun,

Will a drop exist separate from the ocean, The light merges with the light,

The union is complete now, What a holy communion”

Murshid Shah Abdul Latif said :

“Unlock yourself and see HIM”

The six esoteric astral centres of the Sufi’s are :

———————————————————

Akhfa

Khafi

Siri

Qalbi

Rohi

Nafsi

Esoteric Chakras in Hinduism:

————————————

Sahasrara Chakra

Ajna Chakra

Visuddhi Chakra

Anhata Chakra

Manipura Chakra

Svadhistana Chakra

Khwaja says that through perfect Fikr (concentration on the Divine) and Perfect Ashgal ( Meditation on the Divine ) that Marifat (Union with the Divine Beloved ) is attained.

Kundalini’s descent from the Ahkfa to Khafi is an staggering encounter revealing the All Pervading Divine Light, thus making the All Pervading eternal Unmanifest God, manifested through the Khafi (Ajna Chakra). The illuminating glory surrounding the vision of God as seen by the disciples of Prophet Christ, the Noor I Allah as seen by the disciples of Prophet Mohammad, the Circling Light of the Taoists and the blazing radiance of a million suns as described in the Holy Gita, bear testimony to the sayings of All God Realised saints who have left their foot prints in the sands of time to follow and realign our goals.

Khwaja says :

“They who know God, know God, None else knows”

“God Alone exists Rest is a dream”

“Wherever you turn, there is the face of God”

Tasawwuf or the Sufi way has been described as the creed of love, the dogma of heart and religion of spirit. Sufi dynamics revolves around Muhabbat. Here Muhabbat should not be misunderstood for any thing less than love for the All Pervading Divine. Muhabbat is Muhabbat , it can only be comprehended during Marifat (union with the Cosmic Divine), before that it would be difficult to understand it with the yardstick of human love.

Khwaja has stressed that

yearning for the All Pervading Divine has to be cultivated through relentless practice of moral injunctions and fixed observances with perfection in Fikr (concentration on the Divine) and Zikr (remembrance on the Divine) with Muraqaba (contemplation on the Divine) which would result in illumination of the self. It is through Marifat that Muhabbat is felt permeating our entire being. Divine love is an ecstasy permeating our consciousness, not even the joys of our love to our spouses or to our children is as selfless as the Divine love.

Wehdat, should be then our only goal in life. For a human being who has developed the urge for the Divine would understand the wonders of love permeating the entire universe. Only on attainment of Marifat that Wahdat ul wajud (oneness of being) is perceived, before that we are indulging in intellectual delusion by using the terms such as brotherhood of man etc. The key to God Realisation is Muhabbat. It is this intensity of the urge that decides whether an aspirant will remain an amalgamation of chemicals or realise that the aspirant is a drop of consciousness in the Universal All Pervading Super Consciousness of the Unity understood as the Divine Light. Sometimes the aspirant finds that when they have developed the urge for the Divine, the Unmanifest All Pervading does not manifest itself, this could be for a variety of reasons including our lack of consistency or pre spiritual puberty level. We must understand that spiritual pleasures can be felt only when we have stilled the desire for gratification of the senses.

Spiritual conditioning through practice of instructions of the Murshid (Spiritual mentor) with renunciation of our wants which do not serve any purpose other that gratification of the physical body would aid our efforts in seeking the nectar of Immortality. The tendencies such as Haivania – carnal desires, Ammarah – desires enhancing our greed, Mulhama – the inspired motivated self, all these make up a human personality. We are forever bound by the cause effect of these desires unless we make a serious effort to improve our evolutionary positioning in the universal ladder of perfection. When an aspirant ventures for this transition, they should only make an effort under the guidance of the Murshid (spiritual mentor) for without the able guidance of the Murshid it would be very difficult for us to attain freedom from the slavery of senses. The subtle difference between Mind, Ego and Intelligence collectively making our consciousness cannot be understood by mere book knowledge. Experience is one of the gates to teachers and without experiencing it ourselves it would be difficult for us to even comprehend the realm of esoteric science and its hidden treasures. If we accidentally mistake the imagination of our thought processes or the voice of ego as the voice of the soul, we must immediately seek spiritual help for attunement otherwise we would start speaking to ourselves and be termed as a loony. It is very important to understand that without the able guidance of the Murshid (Spiritual mentor) it is next to impossible to identify the voice of the soul in the haystack of ego and intelligence lying with each other to categorise thoughts emerging in our brain.

Khwaja once said that :

“Only when the foundation is strong that a legend stands”

Marifat, the spiritual ecstasy, climax of paranormal communion cannot be possesed of as non existent for the God Realised Saints of all the religions of the world bear testimony to its Truth. Attainment of Mutminnah – tranquil self is a platform from which we can dive deep into the esoteric realm of superconsciousness. When we activate the tranquil self through relentless practice that we enter the esoteric dimensions of the hidden siddhis, unavailable to the ordinary human being in the life span of 125 years. How is this purity attained and what are we to understand by the nexus of Muhabbat and Purity. We should appreciate that the efforts of the God Realised Saints was to free us from the misery of human bondage which no amount of material comfort can justify. Are we nct scared to die and knowing that tomorrow it may be our turn, we still justify our greed as savings for the rainy day. Very true indeed, the rainy day is the day of the death of our physical bodies but unfortunately we would not be able to carry any wee bit of our accumulations. No amount of coaxing by the saints can ever make us understand the truth behind renunciation of desires. With the goal of Marifat (Union with the Divine) as our only purpose in life would enable us to have a very successful innings of 125 years if not more. The aspirant under the influence of Haivania, Ammarah and Mulhama, ensnared by the gratification urges is a slave to the desires binding the consciousness to the physical body. Therefore when we dry the juice of sense gratification that we enable our consciousness to attune with the cosmic properties of the soul,

That which is beyond the reach of the most powerful microscope and that which is beyond the realm of inter galaxy travel can be attained by the grace of the Murshid.

I was asleep in a slumber of ignorance, the jogi woke me up;

He cleansed my mind of the dirt and showed me the essence

www.corporaterisks.info

Advisor, Corporate Risks

riskmitigator@yahoo.com

Assistant Professor, MBA Competitive Intelligence & Corporate Warfare program

How dangerous is al-Qaeda in real?

The global terrorism  practiced by al-Qaeda has no easily recognizable targets – the Danish embassy in Pakistan, a nightclub in Bali, suburban trains in London and Madrid, a synagogue in Tunisia, a Sauerland – Cell in Germany. This affects not only public order and citizen of a country but also companies, agencies and organizations that send employees into crisis areas or also economically active at such places.

The violence is directed against targets with high symbolic content, such as religious places, monuments, commercial and banking centers, police and military facilities or government and parliament buildings. Also, an increase of attacks on soft targets such as public transport, restaurants, cafes, nightclubs or marketplaces is observed. As another strategic motive of terrorist activities and rising are the acquisition and mobilization of sympathizers and supporters, as well as the radicalization of politically related movements.

It must be made clear that today anyone can be taken in principle, any person in any place at any time.

Due to the current generation change in its leadership structure, the re-increasing terrorist organization al-Qaeda becomes more frequent access onto young violent  Muslims. Such people plan and organize their activities largely independently. It must be expected that there will be soon greater attacks  with more victims. The relative high proportion of young poeple who are traveling into Pakistan or several regions in Africa to be trained at terror camps must be seen as clear warning signs.

Al-Qaeda has not been defeated by military action or has been weakened in its capacity to act danger. There is no clear determination of the terror network or proofed evidence about its executive Organization. The leadership of the group remains still active and at large. Al-Qaeda has managed to turn Iraq into a global model for terrorism and insurgency, has successfully shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan and Western Pakistan and gained strength in North Africa, also in Somalia and Yemen. Also, al-Qaeda has managed to inspire radical young Muslims continue their engagement. The use of suicide bombers still remains their most effective weapon.

Is the organization stronger today than nine years ago and now also a potential threat for India?

Yes, in any case. They are highly motivated and stable while distributing their ideology and messages using among other publishing media the Internet, Twitter and Facebook. Muslims in all countries of the world – also in India – are called up to organize themselves and join the fight of the radical Islamic terrorism. It is not yet managed to find an answer to the question of how combat this high motivation. Al-Qaeda could, either directly or with the help of its allies, repeat the attacks of 11 September 2001 at any time – even with greater effect and extent.

The renewal of al-Qaeda shows that they also use their means to secure their own economic base. This comes along with a wide range of criminal activities depending not primarily to political objectives but serve the procurement of their cash flow. The methods already became forms of organized crime. They range from smuggling, production and distribution of counterfeit currency up to drug trafficking. The most particularly evident can be seen by the example of Afghanistan, which handles meanwhile up to 80% of the world opium market. Taliban and al-Qaida thus have installed a lucrative financial business at place to meet their own needs.

Meanwhile, India is playing an important role in this cycle also. The country increasingly became a hub for the logistical support of terrorist networks within the Asian region. A special feature is the structuring of transit routes on the  north-south or east-west axis by al-Qaeda supporters. Here, the transport of personnel, weapons, money, explosives and other material by car, bus or train is going to be organized.

The current strategy of the “global war on terror” is largely based on operational defense, i.e., “killing, trapping, and thwarting attacks. Groups like al-Qaeda can quickly recover from such activities, compensate their human and material losses – and fight back.

Through improved intelligence work and better operational capacities it is possible to attack supporters as well as terrorist groups in their infrastructure. If this ultimately resolves the problem remains questionable.

That biggest obstacle in the fight against terrorism is that no authority and no state are able to be prepared for all scenarios. The question remains, what can be addressed to the future handling this potential hazard. How should the strategic thinking be focused? What must be designed in view of the educational profile of this entirely new form of threat? What competencies must be present? How big is the difference between theory and practice in their daily work? These questions should be answered also by Indian authorities within the very next future.

Peter Schoor, Februar 2010

Innovation Scouting: The way forward

Companies are now proactively looking outside their walls considering all sources of innovation, both internal and external, to remain competitive, by using Innovation Scouts.

By: Avner Barnea*

Ten years ago a Japanese  electronic company made a strategic decision to leave this business because the TV set industry turned to be a commodity with rapid declining profits, and to dive into the development of the next generation. After a few years this company became a world leader with its LCD TV sets and its revenues set sky peaks.

Fast changes in the modern era forced firms to be ahead of competitors and identify innovations early, otherwise they would not survive.

A few years ago the an intriguing study was published exhibited that a third of the world’s leading companies according to Fortune 500 list disappeared from the marketplace between 1970 – 1983. This evidence supports the assumption that without innovation companies would not exist.

Innovation – the key for survival

Until recent years, companies did not allow employees to promote innovative ideas and the focus was on performing daily tasks. Management was characterized by controlled processes striving to minimize the number of failures. One result was that the spirit of entrepreneurial thinking could not “rise”.

Tom Peters, the world leading thinker in the field of management, have said – “get innovative or die” – referred to the fact that the existing managements lead companies to continue the existing on the expense of new directions.

Innovation Scouting

Innovation scouting is a systematic search for innovation in any field bringing its findings to the attention of the decision-makers to decide whether and how to proceed with the idea to make it a product.

The historical roots of innovation scouting, when it was not called by that name, were among the lonely inventors who had a tremendous urge to discover and place innovations on the map of world knowledge.

Innovation scouting encourages existing employees for search innovation and ideas that would bring a competitive advantage. It is no coincidence that from its early days, Google has encouraged its employees to engage in some of their time developing new ideas.

Recently, more decision makers are confronting with two types of uncertainties- whether to continue the innovative direction and secondly whether to enter a new business line due to the innovation.

In recent years energy took an outstanding innovation direction, including renewable energies. An exciting example of innovation in energy use is the world’s largest cement producer Cemex which was searching for innovative concrete formula in order to bring a substantial reduction of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide, through the use of substitutes derive from the sugar industry and rice by-products.

An Update on Innovation Scouting

Successful innovation scouting is a combination of several factors – internal factors within the firm itself together with external partners including research institutions, mainly in the academy.

If in the past the Americans were leading the innovation field worldwide, in recent years the Japanese are winning this race as indicating by the registration of more new patents

One of the most significant moves in the automotive industry in 50 years was the development of the hybrid engine. This technological breakthrough was definitely a creation of innovation through systematic activity of the Japanese car producer innovation scouting teams. This innovation gave the company a technological advantage over the competition for almost ten years.

Pharmaceuticals are one of the leading industries of innovation. This industry is conducting systematic monitoring in medical innovation that can produce significant competitive advantage by early identification of new drugs.

Breakthroughs in innovations often come at the expense of existing products. Professor Clayton Christensen in his famous book “The Innovator’s Dilemma” has named them as – Disruptive Technologies – i.e. new technologies that often make the existing technologies not relevant.

Facing difficulties in absorbing innovations was also true in renewable energies. Alvin and Heidi Toffler noted in their book “Revolutionary Wealth” – “The main question is thus whether we will overcome the impending energy disaster. It is depended largely on the results of the conflict between the produce profits from the existing energies and industry researchers who struggle for alternative breakthrough “.

Characterizing “innovation scouting”

A global benchmarking study published in December 2009 by Nerac, a US research firm, characterizes the status of “innovation scouting”. It indicates that to obtain information from external sources, most companies (76%) made use of competitive intelligence tools by a massive gathering from the Internet, participation in conferences, leveraging relationships in academic research and the use of networks of personal relationships. 70% of companies stated that the main objective is “early detection of new technologies”.

Serving the local renewable energy industry

In Israel, promoting research in renewable energies have to be addressed by the larger corporations already in these areas working in close partnership with government ministries that will establish research foundations, legislate relevant  laws and issue a master plan for this purpose, when innovation scouting is one of the tools to monitor new ideas

Conclusion

It seems that more companies are moving towards proactive and systematic activities to obtain early information about innovations. Althought in most companies’ innovation scouting has not yet reached a high standard of quality, it deserves a close attention, especially in competitive fields were capturing innovation can create a significant edge.

*The writer is a Competitive Intelligence strategic consultant and a lecturer at the MBA program in the Ono Academic College on Competitive Intelligence.

avnerpro@netvision.net.il

Navigating Direction while Evading Hostage Situation in Hostile Terrain [ Southern Hemisphere ].

Navigating Direction while Evading Hostage Situation in Hostile Terrain [ Southern Hemisphere ].

Once you are able to escape from the insurgents in a “Hostage situation” and are in an isolate area or unknown terrain, you need to keep composure and get your bearings right.

If you are in the Southern Hemisphere:

1.  Find a stick about a meter long and find a open clearing where the stick will cast a definite shadow.

2.  Insert the stick  it stands vertical to the ground.

3.  Mark the tip of the shadow.

4.  Wait for 15 minutes and you will find that the shadow has moved by 1” to 2”.

5.  Now mark the tip of the second shadow.

6.  Now place your left foot on the first mark of the shadow.

7.  Place your right foot on the second mark of the shadow.

8.  If  you are in the Southern Hemisphere, you will be facing in the South direction.

9.  Now get your bearings and take a decision whether you want to move North or South or East or West.

10. Stay alert and evade a hostage situation.

www.corporaterisks.info

Advisor, Corporate Risks

riskmitigator@yahoo.com

Assistant Professor, MBA Competitive Intelligence & Corporate Warfare program

Navigating Direction while Evading Hostage Situation in Hostile Terrain [ Northern Hemisphere ]

Navigating Direction while Evading Hostage Situation in Hostile Terrain [ Northern Hemisphere ].

Once you are able to escape from the insurgents in a “Hostage situation” and are in an isolate area or unknown terrain, you need to keep composure and get your bearings right.

If you are in the Northern Hemisphere:

1.  Find a stick about a meter long and find a open clearing where the stick will cast a definite shadow.

2.  Insert the stick  it stands vertical to the ground.

3.  Mark the tip of the shadow.

4.  Wait for 15 minutes and you will find that the shadow has moved by 1” to 2”.

5.  Now mark the tip of the second shadow.

6.  Now place your left foot on the first mark of the shadow.

7.  Place your right foot on the second mark of the shadow.

8.  If  you are in the Northern Hemisphere, you will be facing in the North direction.

9.  Now get your bearings and take a decision whether you want to move North or South or East or West.

10. Stay alert and evade a hostage situation.

www.corporaterisks.info

Advisor, Corporate Risks

riskmitigator@yahoo.com

Assistant Professor, MBA Competitive Intelligence & Corporate Warfare program