Habits and senses play pivotal roles in our lives. This collection looks at habits and senses from various perspectives to show their impacts on our lives and businesses.

1. Habits and
Senses

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Managing Partner
Phenomena Communications

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Dr. Ali Anani - Managing Partner
Dr. Ali Anani : As General Manager, Dr. Ali Anani heads and supervises a team of
talented young professionals, and manages the overall brand strategy - ensuring
the cohesiveness and creative parts of each campaign for all Agency clients.
Dr. Ali Anani holds a PhD from the UK (1972). He has a wide experience in many
fields. His accomplishments include the writing of more than eighty publications in
international journals, the writer of three printed books in Arabic and one E-book in
English. He has written widely for the media and presented a TV program and
many radio programs.
Dr. Anani main credit is his creativity thinking where he scored among the top %5
creative people worldwide. Dr. Anani is an invited lecturer for more than fi y
international conferences and an author of many business slogans. Moreover, he
has travelled to more than fi y countries as an invited speaker and consultant and
has consulted for many international agencies including UNIDO, Atomic Energy
Agency, UNDP, ESCWA, private businesses and governmental agencies.

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index
Profiling People from their Writing
Lights of Thinking
The Distortion in Business and Lives
Candles of Hope
Can We Write While Drunk?
Opposite Thinking Is Your Secret to Success
Purpose and Performance
Rod King and I
It Is Not Always the Mind
The Habit of Reducing Choices
Fitness for Life
If We Forget Simple Rules, Nature Doesn›t
We are Captivated in the Tank of Bad Habits
Senses and Habits- an expanded view
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21
24
26
28
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34

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ProfilingPeoplefromtheirWriting
When you finish reading this post (hopefully) you shall have profiled me as a writer. You
might correctly know me from my words, style of writing, tendency to use passive verbs,
complicated words or extensive use of lengthy sentences.
Words speak about who we are. To speak means to generate sound waves that others may
receive and decipher them. Words are restless bundles of energy ever ready to explode in
our minds like bombs, to blossom in our minds like flowers.Words with the correct structure
may sing beautifully. Sand dunes with the correct sand structure sing different songs. You
may hear sand singing in this video:
If you wish to know more about singing sand (and I encourage you to), you may read my
presentation on «Buried Sand Singing Loudly:
You may know that if we imprison air and heat it then it makes sounds. Just try it by
imprisoning air in a test tube and have a loose cover of cork so that the cork may reach
near the bottom of the test tube. Use strong source of light to heat the test tube. Soon you
shall hear sound from the test tube. The light causes local heating and through thermal
expansion a pressure wave or sound. Are words imprisoned in our chests any different?
When we heat these words by the light of a burning desire to write, these words generate
sound waves that move the readers and they may here distinct sounds.

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You read a post and you feel the writer is smoky. You can›t find your way in what you write.
You feel suffocated.The words of the author are like low-quality charcoal replacing the cork
in the test tube. The imprisoned air is intoxicated with bad feelings and by the selection of
rude words. This results in writings that spur ugly sounds to the reader.
The voice that the readers hear may be croaky as if the author is sick. It is like heating low-
quality air in the test tube. Just be imaginative and think of what replacements you may
have for the cork and air in the test tube. Be imaginative and think of replacing the cork
with a sour throat. You shall hear a hoarse voice. It is not only a sore throat, it could also be
an intangible sore feelings.
Now, take an author who is full of life and cares for others. His or her chest is filled with love
for others. What do we expect from their positive energy? I may say safely say it shall be
music to our ears. Their words warm us and we feel waves of emotions running through us.
The waves of positive words turning into delight to the reader.
If sand dunes can sing then words may sing louder. Like we know the structure of sand
dunes from their voices, we may know writers from the «grains» of their words.
Show what you write, I tell you who you are.
I dedicate this post to Jessica Colburn for she made so many great comments on my posts
that enriched my heart and mind.

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Lights of Thinking
We represent creative ideas with light bulbs. What kind of lights come out of these bulbs?
And what more can we do with these lights? Are we less able to use lighting ideas than a
butterfly to shine in great colors?
When we brainstorm so many ideas emerge in different layers of thinking. A great example
is the illuminating post by Eric Halsey titled «Ever Wonder Who Mentors the Mentors?
Eagles Soaring With Eagles! This post inspired Sara Jacobovici to respond with a wonderful
post titled» When You Don›t Have Enough Space in the Comment Box». In her post, Sara
developed multiple layers of different ideas.
Ideas are the source of light that strikes. How impactful these lights on us depend how we
layer them and on the chemistry of those ideas. Like in a butterfly whereby light produces
the most striking colors because of the layers structure of their wings and to some chemicals
present in the wings. Or, are we like eagles that can look straight in the sun because have
eye coverage for the sunlight.
We say reflect on what you read and understand. A butterfly wing does much more as it
reflects, refracts and reflects again. Its wing structure actualizes this behavior towards light.
It was very interesting that Sara›s above-mentioned response consisted of layers. Equally

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interesting it shall be how these layers connect to each other. How close are those layers
to the structure of the wing of a butterfly so that we may expose the light coming from her
idea into a myriad of colorful ideas that we may see differently, depending on the «angle»
from we view this light.
Butterfly wings are made of two layers (membranes) that are nourished and supported by
tubular veins. Covering the wings are thousands of colorful scales, together with many hairs
(setae).These wing scales are tiny overlapping pieces of chitin on a butterfly. The scales are
outgrowths of the body wall and are modified, plate-like setae (hairs).
It is the structure of scales that give the butterfly the beauty of colors. The structure and
arrangement of the scale allows for the «manipulation» of light. In the case of diffraction
light is broken up into lighter or darker bands after passing through a lattice of microscopic
bubbles within the scales. Interference patterns are the result of light passing through clear
layers of varying density, and being reflected back in such a way that the colors change
according to the angle of view. Refraction is where light is broken up into its constituent
rainbow colors as a result of passing due to the presence of prismatic ridges on the surface
of the scale.
Diffraction, refraction and interference pattern of light- sounds simple, but this is a great
example of simplicity growing into complexity. A small change in the angle of view results
is dramatic changes of what you see. I dare say that the butterfly is a genuine symbol of
complexitynotonlybecausetheweatherhasabutterfly-shapedstrangeattractorstructure,
but also because of the complexity of colors a butterfly exhibits from simple manipulations
of light.
It is the structure of the butterfly wing that leads to such great variations of beauty resulting
from incident lights. It amazes me that we discuss organizational structure without due
regard to how these structures affect our perceptions. If creative ideas are the source of
light for us then on what structure should these lights fall upon?
Is the structure of say, just for example, followed by LinkedIn to post comments in anyway
close to that of a butterfly? Does this structure allow us to diffract, refract and do reflection
back? Or, can LinkedIn take a major step forward and find butterfly wing-based structure
to allow for better handling the light coming from enlightening comments? Or, shall we
always revert to expanding a comment into a full post? This is distancing ideas from each
other and the beauty of ideas shall not emerge accordingly.

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The Distortion in Business and Lives
Ifyouwanttosucceedinlifeyouneedtodowhatyouandhavepassionfor.Inasubtlearticle
« FROM PASSION TO PROFIT: HOW TO MAKE MONEY DOING WHAT YOU LOVE», Fagerstrom,
«People no longer think of business as the antithesis of art, but as an opportunity to express
theirvision.»
Beingpassionateaboutwhatyoudoisincomplete,inmyview,unlessaccompaniedbybeing
passionate about people›s desires and wants. We should do what vibrates with passion in
our hearts so that they may resonate in the hearts of interested people. Passionate hearts
speak to each other.
Be careful not to grow out of your customers› boundary of delight. Equally important is not
to grow out of your boundary of delight. It is the intersection of the two boundaries where
you may encounter your sweet success.
I re-posted this image to cater for the comment by
Sara Jacobovici in the comments section below.
It is a basic rule that you can›t give what you don›t
have. If you don›t have passion for what you do then
you can›t give passion, love or delight to people. It

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is as simple as that. The story of Thall and Goodman who made the Forbes 30 Under 30
list in the retail category provides a solid proof to what I am saying. These two gentlemen
were on a graduation trip to Costa Rica when they noticed artisans selling pretty hand-
braided bracelets. Their combined love to the craftsmen and passion to cove part of their
trip expenses prompted the two gentlemen to buy hundreds of bracelets to sell them
back at home. Notice the combination of passion for self and others (the sweet zone in the
Venn diagram above) was the starting point. People back at home loved the bracelets and
demanded them. Hence the idea grew in a way that kept the intersection of the two circles
forming the Venn diagram above. It is a hidden mistake that many parties fail to notice.
They may start with a lovely Venn diagram, but over time their intersection disappears.
This is a hugely costly mistake. The two gentlemen kept their passion to the craftsmen in
Costa Rica and to serve the communities there. Not only Thall and Goodman named their
company Pura Vida, which means «pure life» in Spanish, but also kept their passion to their
customers by offering bracelets of their passion and taste. No wonder sales today average
more than 100,000 units per month.
Hence the idea grew in a way that kept the
intersection of the two circles forming the Venn
diagram above. It is a hidden mistake that many
parties fail to notice. They may start with a lovely
Venn diagram, but over time their intersection
disappears. This is a hugely costly mistake.
There exists a tremendous feedback effect
between the circles of the Venn diagram if both
circles forming it grow together. Small ideas that
generate because of being passionate about
people shall generate eventually a butterfly effect. It is a natural process. People who trust
that they serve you will be your business
promoters voluntarily and shall spread
your name along social different social
media platform. In the case of the bracelets
people loved their passionate designs and
resonated so strongly with them that they
wished to share their joy with others. The
photos of people wearing the bracelets
flooded social media platforms. Social
jealousy surely had also its effect in selling
more of bracelets.
I love the word «invented» by Rod King,
Ph.D. which is «loveability». This is shown
in his slide that he kindly shared with me. I
wonder if this post would add any value to
his great slide.
People-Before-Profit is not only a slogan; it is success in business and life.

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Candles of Hope
You never see a shadow of a tree moving unless the tree moves. Likewise, we never feel the
shadow of our emotions unless our hearts move. Heart-moving words make our shadows
move and with their movement they produce emotional waves that we enjoy surfing. We
feel our hearts are immersed in an ocean of gratitude for being associated with people who
have empathy, caring feelings and pure attention like that of a mother to her beloved baby.
Not to share emotional words that move mountains is an act of negligence, the least to say.
Over the last two hours I received comments that would be useful to be used as a scale of
the intensity of emotions words may generate.
You can›t be deeply emotional to other people unless you are emotional to your mother,
no matter what. To have a commenter mention my name while sitting next to her mother
praying for her quick recovery is the greatest comment I expect to get and feel the surf
on the internal ocean of genuine and pure love. The words moved me so much that I find
myself writing this post. I am referring to the comment by F.K (Koetloe) Ercan-Kocer, from
which I extract the following:
I can›t thank you enough and tell you how much your words mean to me...I wasn›t intending
to share this, but since I am at it I might as well. I will be turning 50 in a couple of hours
time. My first gift was my mother recovering from a recent severe heart attack and a bypass

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surgery (I am sitting next to her bed while I am writing this to you - she is sleeping now so
no worries) my family and I are blessed and thankful to God for letting her stay with us for
hopefully many more years to come. My second gift is you; your being and your heartfelt
and warm words to and about me. What could one wish for more on this planet where
nowadays all that seems to be counting is career, status, money and power.
The good omen is that my loveable daughter Sara and I share almost the same birthday as
F.K (Koetloe) Ercan-Kocer. May I ask all readers of this post to pray for her mothers› quick
recovery? It is a great coincidence that your birthday coincides with that of a great human
and I mean JENNA STONE. Two great hearts creating synergy of hope in our hearts.
Almost the above comment was almost simultaneous with a comment from dear Dr. friend
Edward Lewellen, commenting on my last post by saying, «…Yet, you, and many of those
close to you, write about leading-edge, edge-of-the-box (one of your coined phrases), and
so many topics, or thoughts on generic topics, that cause the readers to take pause and
fully consider new thinking. Please continue on with your most excellent posts»! I abide and
I take this opportunity to thank you dear friend. This time I am writing about the feelings
your words create and you make me feel I own the whole world.
The darker it gets, the more we feel we need the candles of hope.When people reach a point
in which they see the world as dark as charcoal, one burning piece of this charcoal shall be
enough to make you see your way. Kind words are like burning charcoal as they warm us at
the same time they illuminate the way ahead. Not only that as if you experienced riding the
trainthattakesyouintoatunnelwherebyyoucan›tevenseeyourfingeryoufindpassengers
shouting. The only contact they have with the world is their voices and every passenger
realizes that there are people around. Words of encouragement and appreciation are the
voices on the «train of darkness» that reassure us that we aren›t left alone in this world.
This is how I feel because of the great comments I received. And when the train arrives to
its destination you realize that voices can be your candles of hope. Yes, words speak and
have their voices and in dark times they become the source of feeling secure and you aren›t
going naked in this world.
Let everyone us all carry a candle of hope and love. Our world shall be different and worthy.
Let us put meaning to high values, to pure friendship and love.

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Can We Write While Drunk?
If somebody drives while drunk and gets caught, h/s shall be penalized. What if a writer
writes while drunk? I am in this state now and I may get penalized from commenters. I know
a penalty is waiting for me, but still brave enough to write.
I am not drunk by alcohol directly, but indirectly. I have no alcoholic drink, but still feel as if
I had too much to drink. Is this a puzzle? Then let me explain.
My last posts drew very sweet comments from noble thinkers. The words carried beautiful
feelings and the words tasted sweeter than sugar. The yeast in my body turned the sugar
from the sweet words and fermented into alcohol. It is a self-imposed process and I don›t
know what penalty I deserve.
Here are few extracts from comments on my last post on Profiling People from theirWriting.
I›ve yet to read a post from you where you displayed anything other than confidence and
compassion. That indicates you are stable in character or wise enough to stay silent when
you find a moment of personal unbalance. Neil Sperling
You are what you write - natural, transparent, humble, respectful and open to and for others;
you are not «pretending» - if a «writer» lacks anyone of these he/she can write «heavenly» in

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his/her opinion, I won›t buy it; been there, seen-read it. Warm regards :). F.K (Koetloe) Ercan-
Kocer
I know that some eastern languages a incredible nice and full of metaphors, and I feeled a
slight breeze of them in you post. Thank you again, you brought a lot of ideas in my mind.
Kirill Sivolapov
I chose the above extracts because they came from readers with whom I had little or no
interactions before- but surely not in the coming days. It is amazing how our passions
connect because we find a common denominator that is self-discovery. It is then a paradox
when I rediscover myself I get drunk with the sweet compliments!
Far more important for me is not bonding to great minds and hearts, but also the realization
that no one person can make a star by himself alone. This is that fact that awakened me
from my drunkenness. I wrote in one of my presentations that the Star fruit produces a star
upon cutting its five ridges sideways (see Slide 11 in the embed presentation below). I need
at least five people to connect with to be a part of a star. The greater the number of minds
I connect to, the greater the emerging star is.
Dear readers, remember that when you raise an author to become a star you are yourselves
part of it. If I shine it is because you made me shine and you are an integral part of the
shining light.
We are also like the Multiple Fruits. In this plant one flower gives many fruits, but later all
the fruits merge into a single fruit body.
In my previous post I received an unnecessary sour comment, to which I replied in a friendly
way. Many readers wrote while ignoring the comment, they poured sweet words on my
person. I felt their words are like the Miracle fruit, which has the ability when eaten to affect
eventhetasteofsourlemon(words)intoasweettaste.Oh,againsweetsthatwouldferment
to alcohol and for me to get even more drunk. I better stop writing.
I dedicate this post to F.K (Koetloe) Ercan-Kocer, whose comments turned sour words into
huge sweet emotions in my heart and mind. I can›t thank you enough.

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Opposite Thinking Is Your Secret to Success
It is amazing how solid comments on LinkedIn affect our thinking. One great example is the
commentmadebyDr.EdwardLewellenonmypost«RodKingandI». Hiscommentreadsasfollows
« I agree, Ali Anani, PhD and Rod King, Ph.D., the How, the What, and the Why mean without the
Who. I wonder if this could be called the «Owl» question; it›s wise, it helps to see the 360 degree
view, and it ruffles the feathers of the other questions». The «Owl Question» is a creative idea.
This comment took me on a discovery trip. Why the owl? Why not another bird? What is special
about owl? Soon I found myself walking into areas that I have never been to before and come out
with new ideas that I wish to share with the readers daringly like a falcon, eagle, raven, owl or even
a crow. Why all these birds and what ideas to share with you are coming next. I share you my trip
of mind as it progressed.
Owls and crows are examples of bad omen in many cultures, but may be not in business. Owls
and crows represent competition in which the owls try to «eat up» the crows and how the crow
defends itself. An owl might not be a living one if it has constipation- it becomes almost motionless
and thus representing cold business like «constipated businesses».
As much as having «the Owl Question» is a great suggestion, my mind went to the opposite of
having «the Crow Question». This is to see questions from the other end. I thought of owls eating
crows. To defend themselves, crows try to make the lives of owls very uncomfortable. We need
uncomfortable questions to take us out of our comfort zones to think differently. Crows harass
owls in numbers to drive them away as not to be eaten by them. It is the cry for small businesses
to collaborate and the cry for businesses to think differently.

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More importantly is the importance of having opposing metaphors. The owl eats during day, the
crow hunt during night. In the days of sunshine in which opportunities are open a business may
strategize like an owl. In contrast, when business is facing the darkness of low business strategizing
like a crow might be better off. Owls have many colors, whereas crows are black. In time of black
business days, is it better to hide in the black color, or shine with many colors? Nor only one black
color owls have, but also fly in one pattern and make one sound. Owls, in contrast, perfect flying
in different patterns and make varieties of noises. The question is then would it be better for
business to offer many colorful products in great times and limited products in black business
days advertising them in one repeating sound?
Thinking of opposites reminds me of the equilibrium in chemical reactions. If we increase the
concentration of reactants then we activate the reverse reaction to maintain the equilibrium.
Likewise; when we think of opposite metaphors we may go in the reverse direction if the
concentrationofonemetaphorincreases.Thisbringsanotherconflictingissue,butveryinteresting
one. Say, the daylights of business are extending, would that make strong businesses think of the
reverse direction? I mean of acting partially like a crow to keep the balance? How would I answer
this question?
My mind thought of the raven, which resembles the crow but is not exactly similar. Would the
raven be the equilibrium model for businesses more than a crow or an owl? This prompts me to
make the following idea:
If you have or find no equilibrium in your business or life ideas then create an equilibrium and also
of an analogy for an idea falling between the two opposites. This shall open new horizons for you.
The raven is the in between idea between the crow and owl as is shown in the figure below:
The raven has more shiny feathers than the crow; the raven has a larger body size than the crow.
The raven has larger wings than the owl vocalizations though limited, but are not one sound; the
crow has one size. The crow has an average life span of eight years; it is thirty years for the owl. I
invite you to read my presentation on opposites:
The use of one metaphor is risky because it might give one perspective. Having two opposing
metaphors is safer. Much safer and eye-opening is having a third metaphor in the middle. This
prompts me to suggest the idea of establishing the «metaphor Scale».
Comments sending the author in opposing directions are not only blessing for him, but also
for the reader. We need both «black» comments as well as «daylight» comments to have a real
perspective. I am ready for both.

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Purpose and Performance
Some quotes are so eloquent and make you ponder on for a while. One quote is that by
Robert Byrne, which states «The purpose of life is a life with purpose». As complex life is, it
is great to find simple ways to express it.
What Is Purpose?
The dictionary defines purpose, among many other definitions, as the reason for which
something is done or created or for which something exists. Why do we exist and why
companies exist? The quality of the purpose defines the quality of life itself. Do we exist for
ourselves only? That is sheer selfishness. Do we exist just for others? That is self-denial. If
our reason for existence overlaps with peoples› reasons for same then we have a cross zone
that is great to stay within.

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I shared a recently an image post with the readers here defining the performance of a
person or a company as follows:
I was so pleased to get few sound comments from noble minds. I extract some of them
below:
Vijaya Sawant,PMP, OCP
Hmmm.....How can the purpose is the factor of the performance. It can be the outcome.
Performance can the factor to measure the «purpose» outcome.
I respect this view, but is purpose an outcome or output or is it an essential input? I shall
explain later why I believe it is an input.
Nicholas C. Westbury
I›m not sure about that expression. For each individual person in an formal organisation,
Purpose has two broad elements: an objective and a role / function.The objective is usually
shared intent, whilst the role / function can be quite specific to the individual and usually
expresses their relationship to others. I›m assuming you are referring to the objective
element, ie shared intent.
Alan Hotchkiss
I would add support. Everybody needs some level of support in order to perform to their
best

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Charles Prabakar
Charles wrote a lengthy and thoughtful message on this issue and I allow myself to extract
one line of it to share with you. «While I agree to the essence of your equation, if I may
slightly reframe it, I will say performance is the revealed value of concealed potential…»
Different Perspectives to Purpose
So, we have different perspectives on purpose. These differences might be small but might
affect drastically our approach to doing business and life itself. If we believe businesses
believe in their purpose to serve others and themselves then the question that they should
address with the greatest priority: who are we serving? These businesses seek people with
whom the business has an intersection of its purpose with those of targeted people. This
waythebusinessANDpeopleshallbemovinginthesamedirectionandtogethertheymake
profit and they progress. It is for this reason that I find the comment that Rod King made on
my previous post «Rod King and I», of which I extract the following is quite relevant. In fact,
it is a gem comment on its own.
Rod King, Ph.D.
«Start with WHO, Followed by WHY-WHAT-HOW.» Here›s a summary of me thinking aloud:
«People really don›t buy WHAT you do, HOW you do, or WHY your business exists. Instead,
people buy WHO they are or WHO they would like to become. In short, people buy present
and future WHO of themselves.»
Driving Cars and Driving Businesses
This was the title of a SlideShare presentation that I wrote almost a year ago.
The presentation reminds me that what purpose a car serves if it is driven in the wrong
direction? What kind of performance that we measure. Purpose sends us in the right
direction and enriches our energy like we enrich a car fuel by enhancing its Octane Number.
Having a better fuel will make the car perform better and shall delay the contamination of
the benzene filter.
If there is a correct performance and an incorrect one it is purpose that ensures we are going
in the right direction of performance. Going in the right direction will lead to cascades of
products and services by asking only then the why these products or services shall be
profitable, what other profitable products can we offer and so on.
«People Before Profit» is a great way of generating great opportunities for the society and
businesses if we start with the who question first. This fundamental need is irreversible

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Rod King and I
It is very pleasing when somebody deserves h/h name. Dr. King crowned my mind and
then my heart over the last five years with the depth of his knowledge. Our exchange of
comments revealed his depth of knowledge and shining character. I wrote a presentation
about his Delight/Pain ration and this presentation was widely viewed.
Few days ago Dr. King published a post explaining his -4Q diamond and why he expanded
the Gold Circle consisting of the questionsWhy, How and what to include theWho question
as well. Here is the dialogue as it happened.
Ali Anani, PhD
So, you would rather expand the Golden Circle three questions with the Who question Rod
King, Ph.D.? In principle, I say the more good questions we ask, the closer to reality we get.
Rod King, Ph.D.
Greatquestion,AliAnani,PhD.«Who?»isperhapsthemostimportantquestioninstorytelling
as well as planning, design, and innovation especially in projects that are customer-focused
or human-centered. Also, in the People-Before-Profit Movement, Who or People are at the
center; in fact, People come first. In my view, without WHO, WHY becomes meaningless.
The explicit omission of WHO is one of the biggest handicaps of Simon Sinek›s WHY-HOW-
WHAT Model. If you don›t know WHO, you can›t effectively start with WHY

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IamallthewaywiththethinkingofDr.King.Theproofismypublishingfewpostspromoting
the strategy of «People- Before- Profit». This is reversing the tide to flow in its natural
direction.The -4Q Diamond even drawn in a regular diamond, priority should start with the
Who question and if this is not handled right the whole diamond falls apart.
IfIwriteapostthefirstquestionsIshouldaddressshouldcenteraroundthe«who»question-
Who are my readers? I am not writing this post for every reader and there are readers who
may be completely disinterested in this post. Who would benefit from this post? Who shall
be happy to read the post and not regret wasting his time reading irrelevant material? Who
would find this post offensive? The more who questions I generate, the more likely I am
going to write a post that interests people and may be add a grain of knowledge to them.
The scarcity of examples because of disoriented strategies doesn›t mean that the concept
of People-Before-Profit is not a good one. In fact, if not this would mean profits are more
important than people forgetting that it is people who buy and we make profits because
they buy what they need and want. It is like putting the cart before the horse.
Take this example where the question shifted to who- the people and what a miraculous
product resulted. “Are we asking the right questions?”Think hard about this question and
what it can accomplish. For instance, consider the day Marty Cooper was tasked by his
company to create the first car phone. He didn’t hesitate from diving into the project.

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However, he did have one nagging question: “Why are we calling places (homes, office,
and cars) instead of calling people?” Questions like these during meetings challenge the
very reason you’re in the meeting, but they also lead the discussion to areas far beyond the
current thinking—like to the invention of the very first cellular phone. Shifting the focus to
people resulted in inventing the first cellular phone. Somebody might ask, but the question
was Why and not who? My answer is two-pronged. First- the «who» question addressed
people, and second- had the meeting started with the «who» question the idea of the
cellular phone would have arrived sooner.
Post to publishing_ the great comments below resulted in a great comment by
Rod King, Ph.D. in which he provided great insights on the definition of the question Who?
In his comment he also recommended watching a video on the this subject. I embed the
video here to ease the life of the readers.
It is People-Before-Profit first. Dr. Rod King, Ph.D is right in his thinking and in expanding
the Gold Circle to include the «who» question.

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It Is Not Always the Mind
I write this post with hesitation for I ask the reader without claiming I know the answer.
We say a person has a mind of a bird indicating that he is shallow in thinking. But birds do
things that we humans can›t do. One of the sign of our weakness is forecasting weather.
Because of the Butterfly Effect in which one small change of a variable that effect weather
may result in huge changes in weather far beyond our expectations. It is like a butterfly
flapping its wings in Columbia causing weather havoc in the weather of the USA.
In spite of the challenges weather forecast places on us the humans; yet birds with their
tiny minds can predict the weather better than us. A recent study Researchers from the
Universities of Tennessee and Minnesota revealed that some bird species possess a unique
ability to detect inclement weather hours or even days before it hits. In one experiment it
was found that birds, which have recently migrated from the USA to Columbia, returned to
the USA before a massive storm hit Colombia unexpectedly and even before meteorologists
even detecting this storm, which caused at least 84 tornadoes, 35 deaths, and more than 1$
billion in property damage. Somehow, these tiny birds were able to detect the storm long
before anyone else did, an amazing ability that scientists attribute to their low-frequency
hearing capacity.

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It is not only birds detect storms before human, but also that have an amazing ability to
changetheirflyingpatterns.Someinsteadofcontinuouslyflappingtheirwingstheychange
rhythmically from flapping to gliding (when the wing is extended) or flapping to bounding
(when the wing is flexed). In this way they undergo an undulating flight where first using
flapping they propel themselves forward on a slightly rising vector, then at the peak of the
rise they cease flapping and continue forward by either gliding or closing their wings and
bounding. It amazing how much we humans may learn from the tiny birds.
The prediction of earthquakes is another example of the superiority of animals over the
humans. In a research aimed at finding an answer to the clue of the observation that some
pond-dwelling animals pick up pre-earthquake signals because these animals abandoned
thepondfewdayspriortoanearthquake.Theresearchteam,ledbyFriedemannFreundfrom
Nasa and Rachel Grant from the UK›s Open University hypothesize that these animals have
the ability to sense the «chemistry of water» if it changes because of eminent earthquake.
This change in chemistry of water is the alarm clock for these animals to escape.
Senses make animals and birds change their behavior. This is a major lesson for us. Senses
can be a great source of information and even before our minds may find logical reasoning
for what we sense. We don›t even know how many senses we humans have. Humans may
have a sixth sense after all, suggests a new study finding that a protein in the human retina,
when placed into fruit flies, has the ability to detect magnetic fields. It is thought to be
very important for how animals migrate. Perhaps this protein is also fulfilling an important
function for sensing magnetic fields in humans. Do we have the same protein as fruit flies,
but we humans use it less effectively? It is interesting that humans may even have more
than twenty one senses.
Immanuel Kant quote says» All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to
the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason». The first
step has to be right and our senses, of which we don›t know how many we have, have
to be right. And this is the big question that I ask. Can›t we sense the societal disruption
taking place everywhere? The «Arab Spring» earthquake is still affecting us? It is leading
to earthquakes in other places. The butterfly effect is mounting. And yet we are still not
sensing the earthquake. What happened to the human senses? I guess this is a topic that
the «People-Before-Profit» Group should consider seriously.

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The Habit of Reducing Choices
I experienced this story sometime ago while having a cup of cappuccino in a café shop.The
owner walked to me and asked for permission to talk for few minutes. He needed my advice
because he noted that I was a regular customer of his shop.
I don›t know why most people order the small-sized cups and not the large size? It is
relatively cheaper to buy the big-sized ones. I asked him to call one of the waiters and
tell him to ask me what else I would lie to drink. He did. The water asked me «what would
you like to drink»? Cappuccino please, I replied. Big size or small size, the waiter asked? I
responded for the small sized cup.
Have you noticed anything? I asked the owner? No, he replied. I said people shall tend to
buy the small-sized cups because people remember the last thing they heard. The waiter
finished with asking for the small-sized cup. The other thing relates to our social habits.
Peopleheregoingroupstocoffeeshops.Idon›tbecausedrinkingcappuccinoisarelaxation
for me and I get my creativity juice flowing during these times. For most people, it is a social
gathering.
- So what, asked me the owner?

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- The other social habit is that normally one person pays for all. People don›t know who
shall pay. To keep the bills to a minimum people tend to ask for the small-sized cups.
- And so I need to reduce my stock of the large-sized cups to save?
- No, not necessarily as you may change of the waiters the constant habit of the way your
waiters ask customers.
- You mean the waiters should only ask customers if they wished to drink the big-sized cup
last.
- They could still do better. Let them remove the option of small-sized cups completely?
- How? The owner asked.
- By changing the constant question. Instead, they may ask customers this way «You want
the large-sized cup. Don›t you?
Few days later when I revisited the café shop I noticed that the big-sized cups were in big
demand. The owner rushed to me thankful and asking me with a big smile «you want the
big size. Don›t you?»
I remembered this story having just read the absorbing post by dear Edward Lewellen
titled» Is Change Constant or is the Constant Change? Is it this or that? Is it either or? Is it
neither nor? Is it the small cup or the large one? In his post dear Dr. Edward Lewellen writes
«I›m writing this post because there may be many more people than what I can conceive
who have this way of thinking and I want to share just how fluid the human mind›s beliefs,
thoughts, and behaviors are. I think it›s fair to say that very rarely are there absolutes in
humans and in life›.
We form habits of thinking that reflect on our lives. I call these habits»The limiting Habits»
becausetheylimitourchoicesandwearehappywiththeselimitations.Iwroteapresentation
out this habit titled «SeparationThinking».We need to change this habit if we wish to move
forward.
Shall we walk the talk? Not again as we may talk the talk and walk the walk. It is not the egg
or the chicken which comes first as much as it could be the egg and chicken together.

28. 28
Fitness for Life
The hundreds of passionate messages I received from my colleagues on LinkedIn
congratulating me on the occasion of my birthday (today) prompted me to thank them all
in a post. I hope every one of you takes this post as a special thank you in response to h/h
kind message.
As we grow older does our fitness for life increase or decrease? Is my production rate of
ideas increasing or decreasing? In one perspective I see my own fitness decreasing because
I keep saying the more I know, I more I discover how much more I need to know. I grow
not only in age, but also in ignorance. This way my fitness for life is decreasing. But it is this
realization that keeps my hunger to learn more, to interact more and to discover more.
I find myself in a dynamic landscape as I keep moving from one fitness peak to another.
Standing on different peaks provides me with the opportunity to observe the different
sides of an issue. As some colors of birds change with the angle of observing them, so are
my ideas they change colors depending on which peak of fitness I am standing. This view
reminds me of the exchange of comments I had yesterday with Sara Jacobovici made a
comment on my post «Opposite Thinking Is Your Secret to Success» that is absorbing. I
extract from her comment the following «Let me use a quote by Viktor Frankl to illustrate
the process I am trying to describe. He says: «When we are no longer able to change a
situation - we are challenged to change ourselves.»What happens in reality is that when we
change ourselves, we actually influence changes to the situation. The reverse is also true;

29. 29
when we make changes to a situation it influences changes in ourselves». I responded to
Sara by saying «Yes, I absolutely concur with your idea that as we change things we change
ourselves. It is like somebody moving from one peak of a mountain to an adjacent one-
this person will see different things and accordingly his senses will change. Metaphors are
like mountain tops with each top giving different perspective than the others. We become
what we observe, I guess. Instead of doing that I imagine somebody hanging on a rope
between two peaks then h/s shall observe a «distorted balance» and accordingly shall
change differently. Does this metaphor ring a bell on the metaphor scale?
A question clouds my mind «what is the measure of our fitness as humans»? Is it the
production rate of ideas? To be living is to produce quality ideas that benefit people. But
ideas alone aren›t enough to feed people. People don›t eat a fertilizer, but eat the plant the
fertilizer helps in growing. My ideas then at best are a good fertilizer. Is this my fitness?
Is my fitness for life based on my ability to hang between two fitness tops to have a wider
perspective and then be able to generate ideas? How would my ideas change the fitness
landscape I am in and what guarantees that my hangings between two fitness peaks are
still fitness peaks when they have turned into «fitness troughs». The generation of ideas of
value is my passion as not all ideas are equal and only few are impacting.
A dynamic change requires dynamism on my part. With my long presence on this earth a
mi still dynamic enough to bear the changes I make that reflect back on me? Well, if I am
dynamic enough to benefit the world no matter how little this help is then I feel I am still
living. If I may produce an idea that may help a plant to grow and feed peoples› mind then
I am still living. If I may contribute to the lessening of somebody›s pain then I am still living.
I might not be on the fittest peak- but still there is tomorrow. More rewarding is to help the
young people be on the fitness peaks. For this noble goal, I don›t mind losing mine. It is
giving the young my experiences that count. If I do that and be of benefit to people then I
am still fit to live.

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If We Forget Simple Rules, Nature
Doesn›t
Amazingly, how we forget basic rules. One example is the saying as you don›t like people
waste your time and so don›t waste theirs. The problem is in doing it for some people tend
to waste other peoples› times, but become offensive towards those people who waste
theirs. Time wasting may be intentional or unintentional. For example, if you talk to people
about an issue that doesn›t interest them you shall see that their attention curve drops
quickly. You may observe their eyes traveling right and left trying to kill the time while you
talk and in an attempt to urge you to stop talking.
People like to be respected and, again, unintentionally we may forget that as we like others
to respect us so we need to respect them. How often we disobey this simple rule is amazing.
I am sure most of us experienced this. You go to a lecture and you arrive on time, but most
attendees don›t. The lecturer doesn›t start his lecture waiting for the «retarders» to arrive.
If you think about this the lecturer you shall agree that h/s is sending a message that late
comers are more important than those who arrived on time and that is why h/s waits for
them. We end up not only in wasting the times of «early birds», but also we penalize them
for arriving on time.
People hate being cheated and yet some of them cheat others. This is sheer short-

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sightedness. Once people find that you cheated them they get infuriated and painful, and
most likely will stop dealing with the cheater. In contrast, a business might announce some
defaults in their selling products and make more profits- far greater than they would with
hiding defects.This realization has prompted some businesses to intentionally defect some
items and announce their defects and make more profits.You want the proof.Well, read the
presentation below for few examples on how to sell honestly defaulted products and make
more profits.
People don›t like to be insulted, but some insult others in public. They demand respect for
themselves, but deny it for others. I witnessed a lecturer telling a student who dared to ask
him a question by saying «this is the most stupid question that I have ever heard in my life.
Only stupid students ask stupid questions». No wonder that student left the college. We
tend to forget that stupid questions may be the source of great creative ideas.
The biggest reality in life is people. Either we make this reality a beautiful and worthy one
or we may contaminate it with acts that make this reality looks ugly. Not giving others what
we demand for ourselves is a sure way of blackening this reality and staining it with doubts,
mistrust and may be seclusion from people. We must do for people what we wish them to
do for us. If we don›t do we end up in living a life of double values and this is a sure way to
bankruptcy. If you have any doubt about the cost of living a double life then I urge you to
read the presentation below
We spend our lives with people. We invest our times with them. Do we need to turn
these times into waste? Do we want to squadron out «Time Capital»? Do we need to walk
on sinking sand of relations? It is our choice either to work for people or against them?
Consistency requires that we need to treat people the way we like them to treat us. This is
the real foundation for building healthy and lasting relationships. We need to build bridges
with people and those bridges shouldn›t corrode because of lack of respect, honesty,
transparency and mounting doubts. If not, the bridges shall collapse and the businesses
shall do too.
We talk about key performance indicators of businesses. It is about time to walk the talk
and introduce indicators not on what a business claims, but on how it keeps the simple
rules of people are before profit and not after it. A business that says something when it
serves it, but denies the same right for its people (employees and customers) shall end with
collapsed business. Only good seeds germinate to good plants.
If humans forget simple rules, nature doesn›t.

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We are Captivated in the Tank of
Bad Habits
A short story and the lessons derived. My eldest brother was a heavy smoker. One day his
-8years youngest son told him «dad if you don›t care for your life then at least care for me.
I need you besides me in a good health». My brother not only quitted smoking since then,
but also became a heavy anti-smoking advocate.
The habit started with my brother as smoking filled him with the desire to feel he was
grown up. He sensed the prevailing attitude then that only matured people smoke. That
sense developed into the habit of smoking. We are so faithful to habits that they seem to
act like a captivating sensory tank. A captivating tank is a way of isolating a person from the
world in a dark tank, where no light, sound or smell would be allowed in. The person floats
on a bed of salty water, but should only be done for a short while (one hour or so).This hour
help the floating person in freezing the thinking part of the brain as the brain is devoid of
feedback from all five senses. Our brains are deprived of inputs from our senses other parts
of your brain will pick up the slack. Thinking is frozen what is left is creative imagination.
This is a way of cleaning your mind cache so that it may become more productive. But that
is for a short period for if the person stays in this tank for longer times then h/s shall suffer

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from hallucination. Addiction to captivate our senses becomes similar to drugs that cause
hallucination.
My brother was captivated in the floating waters of the smoking tank. It was his realization
that he should care for the senses of others that enabled him to quit smoking. Introvert
senses alone will keep us for extended times in the floating chamber with all its terrible
consequences. Having extrovert senses towards others is the way for individuals and
societies to grow healthily.
We have limited capacities to be stay in the captivating tank. An article that caught my
attention is on Romanian children. When Nicolae Ceaușescu came to power, in the mid-
nineteen-sixties, Romania saw the proliferation of leagăne—literally, “cradles,” otherwise
known as institutional homes for the very young. Ceaușescu wanted to increase Romania’s
industrial output, and he thought that that required a larger population. This resulted in
thousands of children, from birth to the age of three, grew up neglected in understaffed
institutions, often experiencing severe sensory deprivation in their formative months.
Deprivation of children resulted from the overflowing desire of exceeding caring capacity.
Is that any different from businesses overflowing their «profit desire»? Businesses have
capacities and should they exceed these capacities they shall cause sensory deprivation
for others. What makes the situation worse is that businesses are engaged in cat-like fights.
Like a cat fighting another cat sharing same place, so are businesses fighting each other to
acquire customers. The desire of making profits led to the loss of some businesses sense
that people come before profit and not the other way round. If businesses share the desire
it is serving people first then they would collaborate and expand the captivating tank of
their habits instead of lowering its capacity and wasting their energies on making profits
before serving people.
Some people and businesses sense the heroin of just making profits. They become addict
to the idea it is profit only. This type of hallucination will only retreat if they think outside
themselves like my brother thought of his son that prompted him to quit smoking. Staying
in the captivating tank of profit for long times is the surest way to extended hallucination.
These businesses should question their sense of self-identity and start working for more
grand goals based on People-Before-Profit.
In summary, beware of the captivating tank of habits- a habit that isolates you from the
world like a captivating tank does. Back to the right senses as these senses feed our brains.
Only then we have a healthy captivating tank in which we may flow and truly come with
better ideas to help people

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Senses and Habits- an expanded view
Let me start with three stories and real ones. While attending a training course in the USA
the instructor asked a question «if you were lecturing and two people starting talking and
disturbed you what would you do?» Luckily the trainees were seated in a U-shaped table
and the instructor starting asking the first trainees what he would do. I was seated such
that I was the last to respond.This gave me ample time to think.The answers differed. Some
trainees said they would ask the two talking trainees to share their story. Others suggested
they would ask the trainees to leave. Other suggestions included that they would stop
talking till the two trainees stopped talking while others said they would ignore them. «The
instructor wouldn›t ask the question if the answer was that simple», I said to myself. When
my turn came my reply was that I would ask the two neighboring trainees a quick question
with a closed answer such as yes or no. Would you ask the two talking trainees the same
question, the instructor asked me. No, I replied.
- Why? The instructor asked
- Because they weren›t listening.This way I make them lie if they respond. Or, they wouldn›t
answer and I embarrass them in front of other. Nobody likes to be embarrassed in public
and this happens they shall become very hostile.

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- That is the right answer, the instructor said jubilantly. How did you arrive at this answer?
That brought me to another story. Moslems are supposed to do ablution (washing parts
of the body) before praying. One day in the presence of the Prophet Mohammed they had
lunch consisting of heavy meet.Then they went to pray in the mosque. Just before praying,
somebody farted. This meant he had to do the ablution. For Arabs, ablution in public isn›t
a welcome thing to do. The man had two choices either to pray with redoing the ablution
or do it and be found out that he was the one who farted. The Prophet said «Those who ate
camel meet must do the ablution». This way nobody was embarrassed or prayed without
ablution.
A third story is the story of an employee who didn›t have the habit of bathing frequently
enough. His occasional pungent smell (a sense) made people avoid him. It became so
frequent that people wanted to clash with him. No, my response was.We needn›t embarrass
the guy. I shall find a solution. I bought a piece of soap, placed it in an envelope, sealed the
envelope with his name typed on it and placed the envelope in his pigeonhole. Never again
we suffered from his bad smell; in contrast he became a regular perfume user as well.
Senses and habits go together and they don›t work in isolation. Bad habits produce bad
senses and bad sensed may generate bad habits. We have two senses: sense for self and
sense for others. I would even call them «introvert senses and extrovert senses».
and this also
If you drive a car and the driver in front of you sense is carless you may respond angrily.
If the same experience repeats daily then the sense of danger driving creates a habit of
responding angrily. This is like driving on a dangerous route.
The relationship between senses and habits is far deeper and affects our business as well as
our lives.That I shall explain in my next post.

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Habits and
Senses