By Nilson Roberto Da Silva, Economist
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder; innovation does not fall behind. Illumination on an object creates shadow – a necessary natural phenomenon to life: The Earth would not know the value of light without night shadow. Over time, silhouettes came to shine through shadow puppetry and Plato’s myth of the cave. Silhouettes became multipurpose and popular, they came to “have their own life”.
In fables, the man-made contrast between cunning and betrayal can be defined as a fox having these character traits; this dual artifice shapes expectations of the silhouette. Simplified value judgments are accurate prejudices that punish stories and histories. Vulpines – in the shade of creative license – are slandered in favour of moral prescriptions. Carlos Drummond (1902-1987) reports, “The animals were not consulted by Aesop about fables meaning”. Between fraudulent virtues and fabulous vices, reality imports, exports, mitigates or aggravates grievances.
Between factual and fictional worlds there are bridges that encourage thinking outside bounded templates: imagination which shapes resourcefulness, virtual which widens the field vision and relentless reality which demands answer to entanglements. There are simplified bridges, some of them are prudential while teaching methods; other are stereotypes. This quote attributed to Einstein (1879-1955) unveils the prejudice power or misjudgement: “What a sad era when it is easier to smash an atom than a prejudice”. Choosing either integrative path or an easy one depends on the expectation itself.
The little prince’s fox is a pattern deviation of theatrical conceptions. Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944), portrays the animal with ennobled and dramatic power to explain to the B612 inhabitant – child Highness’s home – the meaning of captivate. Romance aside, in the business world, captivation is needed to build customer rapport; frequency of contacts between entrepreneurs and clients is a precondition for consolidating loyalty expectations and driving away preconceptions.
Trends and expectations in relationships are silhouettes to be deciphered from rites, conventions and patterns; it is far from being a sphinx riddle, but understanding ciphers is convenient to strategic missions. Unlike mythological mysteries that normally have a unique response, actual and future needs for sharing and renewal require more, not more of the same.
Captivating ideas or ideas in captivity?
The more powerful the lighting, the more well-defined the shadow. Intellectual lights must spark adversities in understanding as a whole; here is the “Enlightenment”. Tistou of the Green Thumbs (1957) by Maurice Druon undertakes capitular reflections on stubborn problems: captivity of pre-established ideas, captivity of men and animals, notorious social inequality, political-psychological wars and the arms race.
Druon analyses moralistic behaviours that often overlook the inexorable changes imposed to life as time goes by. Tistou, hero circumscribed by death’s boundary, outlines the idea of operational focus and struggles with biased orthodoxy by using politics of reason, economic sustainability and spirituality. The book rekindles social pacts function.
To make decisions as the story progresses, pupil Tistou does not dispense with Mr. Mustache’s wisdom, sage counsellor-gardener; partnerships between newcomer heroes and experienced supporters is the leading role in any history. Such connections have been essentials since the Fiat Lux, previously face-to-face, now strengthened by remote connectivity; sharing knowledge and resources is the ideal work of society sustainable power – it is the art of politics.
Rapport development delays happen when the mutual discovery ripeness process is halted. As a child Tistou was not accepted at school, just like Thomas Edison (1847-1931) – famous for the lamp -, genial as Aladdin; and Einstein received a similar label. Youth Attention Deficit Disorder or inattention to them? “In order to be able to teach there is a tiny, little formality to be observed: knowledge”, Eça de Queiroz (1845-1900).
They learned, they taught. Edison ushered innovation in on large-scale: with his light, day was broadened and silhouettes designed on the night. Einstein, eager for the art of peace, assimilated the disappointment of war as no one else. Tistou instilled bittersweet feeling into the fictional denouement. The three characters gave further innovation management directions and disrupted determinisms by studying functional limits of outdated standardizations.
The upkeep token orthodoxy of general order and procedures is present in paradigms such as can opener manufacturing, fire brigade rescue procedures and company management methods. Prudential bias of conservatism has a value of its own, but it also must appreciate harmonious coexistence with innovation.
Lavoisier (1743-1794) argued that transformation is a natural process, but the common right of nature’s preservation does not need to be transmuted. Public and private organizations prudence – from Quito to Kyoto, from Gliwice to Greenwich – should be focused on raw materials efficient use considering non-aggressive procedures for the environment and global security. Understanding shortage, rights and duties assures longevity to the ludic, actual and legal characters.
A reworded quotation of Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935), “innovating is precise, innovating is not precise”, draws the economic silhouette with innovation and conservation features; there is no contradiction on phrase, just a feigned paradox. Innovation needs accuracy (innovation is precise), but it is not an accurate process to be reached (innovation is not precise): the diversity of adversarial principle helps putting together understandings.
Druon’s book makes the serene Tistou’s father character plays the warlord role as Mr. Father is the armament factory owner. On adverse effects of martial chapter, customers dwindle, remains the entrepreneurship art: manage and decipher riddles; Mirapoil – city where plot takes place – does not go into its shell, but it blossoms, rebranded as Mirapoil-of-the-Flowers. The story borrows a moral from Thomas Kuhn’s quote (1922-1996), “All significant breakthroughs are break – “withs” old ways of thinking”. Disruptive paradigms may give rise to renewal opportunities.
“The limit of the means marks the end of all kind of arts” (Aristotle, 384-322 B.C.). Silhouettes are recognizable through natural or arbitrary contrast; the definition of shadows fright or lull will depend on the ability to decipher pre-established ideas – about economics, communication, sustainability, acceptance, humanity, renewal – and how to apply them to life.
The innovation culture is determined by discernment to face disarrangements. After all, “It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others” (Tenzin Gyatso, 1935-): this is the purposeful silhouette of economic art, without a shadow of doubt.
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Nilson Roberto da Silva – Economist
Executive management experience with institutional and government relationships, information and communication technology, business retail on bank sector, budget and financial management, NGOs of support to cooperatives and to microcredit activities. Shared experience between private and public sector.
