Kategorie: Schreibtisch

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Have we all gone mad?

Conscious machines. Software that empathizes with you. Code that can think…

Have we all gone mad?

Let’s get the virtue signalling out of the way, before I continue. I am not a technophobe. As my daughter can testify to you, I once sang to Shazam because I believed in its endless power to identify tunes. It didn’t work. Still, Shazam is one of my all-time favourites. Also, I typed up my master’s thesis on an electric typewriter, handed down by my ever curious grandfather. Thus, there is hardly anyone more grateful than me for the advent of the word processor. And with my daughter thousands of miles away from me, video calls are an absolute lifeline for my heart and soul.

Having said all that, I wonder though: How is it that human beings can seriously claim or believe the delusional concept of “conscious machines”? Because marketers call processing “thinking”? Because the machine output is getting more linguistically fluent? Whenever I hear the qualifier “fluent” in connection with language proficiency, my first question is: “Does it only have to be fluent, or must it also make sense?” Fluency is easy. You just ramble on and make it sound important. It is no yardstick for mastery of anything, though.

The same is true for machines. The output of machine translation, just to take an obvious example, has indeed become more fluent. It also has become more accurate to a certain degree and in certain settings. It does have its use for anything inconsequential. Still, it remains a guessing game of probabilities. The underlying Large Language Models are basically playing dice with words. Interestingly, these systems get more dangerous the more fluent they get, because fluency suggest a level of trustworthiness that is simply not justified. A bit like with pompous, motor-mouth speakers.

Professionals do not play dice. They know what good looks like.

As Einstein said: “God does not play dice.” Neither do professionals. Real pros in whatever profession make informed, conscious choices. They know what good or excellent looks like and work towards it. They gather insights to feed their three decision making instances – the brain, the heart and the gut. They sense the vibes around the matters at hand and how things resonate with. They ask questions to make sure they get the full picture. Having done all the gathering, they digest the intake, applying their knowledge, experience, critical thinking skills, and their hopefully well-trained gut feeling, while all the time being mindful of their own filters and triggers. Once the digesting is done – which can take mere minutes or several days – the result of that process is fed back into the world as best as one can and the environment allows. When feedback comes back, it is basically rinse and repeat.

This is roughly how conscious decisions are made, leaving aside the funky possibilities opening up once you access meta-cognition or a completely different source of knowing.

Machines don’t care

No matter how all of this beauty plays out in individuals, one thing is for sure: It requires a human body and human emotions. Machines have neither. Thus, they will also not fret about potential outcomes, no matter how much they are potty-trained to give the illusion of being considerate. Real fretting is visceral. It is result of real caring, even if it’s just caring about covering your proverbial. Machines don’t care.

You cannot hold this against them, because they are just not wired that way. Also, machines actually don’t have to care, because they never have to answer to anyone for their so-called decisions. Your bot body gives you a wrong translation that creates misunderstanding and actual damage down the line? Oops, sorry. It gives you wrong “medical advice” and you suffer the consequences? Buddy, you know you should not have relied on me, man. I hope you get better soon.

A very interesting word that is used to describe the machine botching it up is “hallucination”. That’s cute. Hallucination in human beings is about sensory perceptions. A machine has no senses. Consequently, a machine is not hallucinating, it produces bullshit. It produces falsehoods. If a human being were to do this, she would have to face the consequences. She would be personally liable. Machines are no liable. But you will be, dear reader, if you sign off on AI info and decisions that you do not entirely understand, because your senior management “encourages you” to use the machine like this.

Now, it is also true that currently not every human being on this earth acts as consciously as described above. Perhaps their internal decision making instances are not properly in sync yet, or the environment they operate in does not give them the time or space to make conscious decisions. This does not mean, however, that they can’t. They can. They just got to learn. If we all got better at this, this would indeed be major progress in the grand scheme of human evolution.

Why would anyone want machines to outsmart human beings?

We might never know, though, how much real progress we can make, if we allow human beings to be gradually de-skilled through machine use and to lose trust in their own abilities.

There is a plethora of studies on the depletion of cognitive abilities of human beings through the use of digital entertainers and helpers. Our kids can concentrate less and less. They lose the ability to read for meaning. This is not progress.

Many years ago, I sat with one of the finest minds in computer science in Germany – an academic as as well as a practitioner – to do research on algorithms for something I was writing. He sat with me for three hours, and it was probably one of the most interesting and enlightening conversations I have ever had. He found fault with the “I” in AI, and he said to me verbatim: “Intelligent ist nur der Mensch” – only human beings are intelligent.

Perhaps we should thus take a step back from all the AI hysteria (which, by the way, shares all the characteristics of the subprime hysteria of 2008/2009) and ask ourselves some very basic questions, such as: Why, the hell, would anyone want machines to outsmart human beings? What type of aim is that?

I totally understand why we would want performant tech that serves us. Great tools in the hands of discerning experts that help make further progress in medicine or engineering? Easy access to precious knowledge for all of us? I am all in on that. However, tech that keeps us from expanding our consciousness because it erodes our cognitive abilities? Tech that makes us lonely, depressed and dumb? Tech that is used to harvest skills and knowledge from human beings to train the machine and then ultimately replace human beings? Honestly?

If you use the machine to do away with entry level jobs for graduates, for example, where do our future lawyers, engineers, doctors, translators, nurses and about everybody else gain the experience which will help them to build their knowledge and skills, their confidence, their priceless gut feeling, and, ultimately, their ability to take conscious and responsible decisions? Where will be their spaces to fuck things up and learn? Who will show them the ropes, and in which language?

Standardized minds don’t innovate

Human language, the ability to have an internal dialogue, express ourselves and cooperate with others, is one of the main things, if not the main ability, that make us human. The language that is pushed through LLMs, though, makes language its whore. It is a soulless attempt to press the beautiful chaos of applied human language into mathematical models by ripping it apart into tokens and glueing it all back together on the basis of probabilities and English as a master. The more we will be subject to this standardised and sterilized language, the more standardized our thoughts will become. The more standardized our thoughts are, the less true novelty and innovation will come into the world.

Performing a life instead of living it

AI, in particular in combination with so-called social media, gives people endless opportunity to perform a life without actually living it. Such as giving the impression of being a writer without putting up the effort of having a painstaking internal dialogue searching for the words, the sentence structure and the rhythm that gives the best possible expression to what you carry inside.

Without being able to have an effective internal dialogue, there will be no individuation in the sense of Carl Jung, i.e. becoming a whole human being. The more this ability erodes, the less we will be able to have meaningful and nuanced conversations with our fellow human beings, which is the prerequisite for making any social contract work. We have seen increasing polarization in the world. It is bound to get worse the more we lose nuance, because with nuance we lose discernment, without discernment we lose the ability to deal with other realities, appropriately relate to our fellow human beings and cooperate effectively.

Some people say AI will be all hunky dory, and we will eventually all live fulfilling lives in leisurely abundance. I actually do believe that this is possible. For this to happen, though, the way of shaping and using AI will have to change radically. It cannot be our master. It must be our servant. It must be radically “human beings first”.

The essence of totalitarianism: Making human beings superfluous

I have my doubts as to whether the current usual suspects will get us there. Looking how they make people redundant to pay for compute (or push the stock price) or how they speak about human beings, strongly suggests that they are not too fond of humanity and don’t think too highly of it.

Several years back, the former Google CEO Eric Schmidt gave a speech at the technical university of Munich (TMU). Amongst other things, he said that employees who just come in to do a 9-5 job (i.e. the people who keep the show running on a daily basis and probably take care of their families and communities when they get home) are “not very interesting”. In his biography of Elon Musk, Walter Isaacson describes how Larry Page, another Google man, accused Musk of being a “specist” when Musk spoke about his love for humanity and human consciousness.

Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters just recently told investors that the next job cut of 7000 positions affected “lower-value-human capital”. Ladies and Gentlemen, take it from a German, that’s pure totalitarian playbook speak. It is testimony to the assumption that you are a superior being who is entitled to decide what other human beings are worth and what to do with them. He apologized later after some uproar, but he gave us a very juicy look into how his mind works and how he obviously thinks he must speak to investors to sound all sexy.

In The Origins of Totalitarianism, the philosopher Hannah Arendt argued that the ultimate goal of totalitarian regimes is to organize society so that individual human beings become completely superfluous.

Don’t panic!

So, what the hell do we do? Don’t panic, people! Much of it is just a big circus, and many of the clowns will eventually leave the stage.

In the meantime: Ask questions. Question yourself and those around you. Use your own mind. Do not only listen to what people say but how they say it, and challenge the pompous. Speak up.  Be mindful when you use anything digital. Don’t get paranoid, but be mindful. Ok, perhaps a little bit of paranoia might be warranted here and there.

Most importantly though – please go out and mingle. Know that you are unique and that everyone you meet is unique as well. That there is more awesomeness inside of you than could ever fit on any chip. Let your consciousness flourish and expand – go for walks, meditate, read good books or just sit and stare at the ocean/mountains/hills/fire. Stretch your cognitive skills and trust them. Get talking, exchange your unique stories and takes, and combine them into something great. Laugh, fight, make-up, have great sex or not, travel if you can, share good food, or just sit next to each other in silence. Dare to love and trust.

And, by all means, take your socially-challenged tech bros along, so that they might lose some of their fear of human interactions and think a bit less about how to control humanity by standardizing complex human beings into neat boxes that they can handle. While you are at it, don’t forget to tell them that you love them.

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Wirtschaft außer Atem – wie Kurzatmigkeit Operational Excellence im Wege steht

Diesen Monat saß ich mit Claudia Maradof – Atemtherapeutin und Executive Coach – zusammen, um über die Bedeutung des Atems zu sprechen – im konkreten und übertragenen Sinne, für Individuen wie für Organisationen. Und darüber, was das alles mit Operational Excellence zu tun hat. Spoiler Alert: Eine ganze Menge…

Sabine Breit (SB): Claudia, erzähl uns doch gerne ein Wenig über dich. Wer bist du? Wo kommst du her, auch beruflich, und was hat dich zur Atemarbeit gebracht?

Claudia Maradof (CM):Beruflich komme ich aus einem großen, weltweit tätigen Finanzkonzern. Dort habe ich 30 Jahre meines Berufslebens verbracht, klassisch als Kreditentscheiderin und Unternehmensbetreuerin, bin dann aber schon nach wenigen Jahren in den Bereich Programm- und Projektmanagement für IT-Projekte gewechselt. Schließlich hab ich im Transformationsmanagement meine Heimat gefunden.

Letztlich geht es in einem Unternehmen immer um die Menschen und wie sie miteinander arbeiten. In einem so großen Konzern, wo so viele verschiedene Kulturen und Menschen zusammenkommen, braucht es nicht nur ein gutes Maß an Respekt, sondern auch an Verständnis und ein Verstehen wollen, um operative Prozesse zu etablieren und die vorhandenen zu verändern.

Oftmals kommt dieser Veränderungswunsch ja von oben, vom Management, und es hat nicht unbedingt jeder Mitarbeiter Lust, da mitzuziehen. Da war es meine Aufgabe bzw. eine Notwendigkeit, die beiden Welten, die nicht immer in gutem Kontakt miteinander sind, wieder gut in Verbindung zu bringen und Projekte erfolgreich umzusetzen. Letztendlich ging es darum, den Wandel zu unterstützen und möglich zu machen, und das eben nicht nur intern, sondern ich habe auch viele Jahre mit externen Ansprechpartnern gearbeitet, u.a. Partnern auf der regulatorischen Seite, Softwarefirmen und anderen Dienstleistern.

SB: Du hast von zwei Welten gesprochen, die wieder in Kontakt zu bringen waren. Was meinst du damit?

CM: Ich nenne das jetzt einfach mal die Hauptentscheider, die das Unternehmen nach außen vertreten, und die, die die eigentliche Arbeit machen. Die dafür sorgen, dass das Unternehmen Kunden hat, dass die Produkte vertrieben werden können etc. Da habe ich wahrgenommen, dass es zwar verschiedene Instrumente und Anlässe gab, Kommunikation oder, noch wichtiger, Beziehung herzustellen, diese aber oft nicht nachhaltig war. Nachhaltig in dem Sinne, dass man echte Berührungspunkte gefunden hat. Meine Aufgabe war es deshalb auch, dafür zu sorgen, dass diese Kommunikation in beide Richtungen besser funktioniert und Menschen in Verbindung kommen.

SB: Spannend, dass du diese Abkopplung verschiedener Unternehmenssphären so deutlich beschreibst. Was macht diese Abkopplung Deiner Erfahrung nach mit den unterschiedlichen Sphären?

CM: Letztlich habe ich es so erlebt, dass beide Seiten frustriert sind. Die Arbeitsebene, weil sie immer mehr rackern muss, insbesondere jetzt, in Zeiten des Fachkräftemangels, und die zumindest adäquat bezahlt werden möchte. Das Wort „Schmerzensgeld“ haben wir früher im Unternehmen viel verwendet. Ich finde, das ist eine sehr spannende Begrifflichkeit, weil sie die Frustration so auf den Punkt bringt. Die Frustration und den Schmerz auf der Arbeitsebene.

Was das Topmanagement angeht: Das sind ja auch Menschen. Ich glaube, das wird oftmals vergessen. Die spüren auch einen unglaublich großen Druck mit Blick auf die Erwartungen der verschiedenen Stakeholder. Und auch Frust. Da denkt man vielleicht: „Wir entwickeln doch jetzt hier gerade eine neue Strategie. Wir nehmen uns doch schon einmal im Vierteljahr die Zeit für ein Town Hall. Warum verstehen denn die Leute das nicht?“

Wenn Unternehmen laufend unter Druck sind, werden sie kurzatmig

SB: Und warum verstehen die das nicht?

CM: Ich glaube, beide Seiten stehen so sehr unter Zeitdruck, dass sie sich nicht die Zeit nehmen, sich außerhalb solcher Formate noch mal wirklich auszutauschen, wirklich von Mensch zu Mensch. Ich glaube, dass das zu wenig stattfindet.

SB: Geht es vielleicht gar nicht so sehr ums Verstehen, sondern eher ums Zuhören?

CM: Es geht sehr um‘s Zuhören. Darum zu verstehen, was der andere mir da gerade wirklich sagt. Stattdessen wird ganz viel hektische Aktivität entfaltet. Dabei bräuchte man nur einmal einen Schritt zur Seite oder zurück zu machen, und dem anderen wirklich zuzuhören, das Gesagte wirken zu lassen und dann vielleicht auch später nochmal eine Frage zu stellen. Viele Unternehmen tun das nicht mehr, da sie laufend unter Druck sind. Dabei werden sie kurzatmig.

Kurzatmig heißt ja nichts anderes, als dass ich zu schnell ein und ausatme. Gerade wenn unser Ausatem nicht gehen darf, laufen simple physiologische Prozesse nicht mehr sauber ab, die dafür sorgen, dass Sauerstoff überhaupt in die Zellen kommen kann. Im übertragenen Sinne ist das im Unternehmen auch so.

SB: Das heißt, wenn ich ständig den Atem anhalten muss, im konkreten und im übertragenen Sinne, dann laufen irgendwann gewisse Prozesse nicht mehr richtig. Operational Excellence wird so unmöglich.

CM: Genau. Wenn wir uns ein Unternehmen mal als Körper oder als Mensch vorstellen, dann wird auch dieses Unternehmen sehen, dass die inneren Prozesse nach und nach gestört werden. Ganz einfach weil die Menschen, die diese Prozesse ermöglichen und durchführen, schlichtweg nicht mehr den Raum, die Energie und eben den Atem dafür haben. Die haben wortwörtlich keinen langen Atem mehr, um bestimmte Aufgaben regelmäßig und in der Qualität umsetzen zu können, wie man sich das wünschen würde.

SB: Unternehmen werden kurzatmig und haben keinen langen Atem mehr. Was bräuchte es denn, damit es entweder gar nicht erst so weit kommt oder sich die Kurzatmigkeit legen und Unternehmen wieder einen längeren Atem bekommen können.

CM: Ich denke, das sind zwei Komponenten. Das eine ist tatsächlich diese Entscheidung, zuzuhören. Was wir vorhin auch schon gesagt haben. Wenn wir einander wieder mehr zuhören, kann zweitens das Verständnis füreinander wieder wachsen.

Man kann z. B. verschiedene Angebote machen, um diese Form der Kommunikation und der Begegnung zu üben. Dafür gibt es Techniken und Methoden, wobei es wichtig ist, dass das nicht nur übergestülpt sondern ernst gemeint wird.

So kann ich Mitarbeitenden z. B. ganz praktische und bodenständige Atemübungen anbieten, die die Menschen im Arbeitsalltag stärken. Einfache kleine Übungen, damit man seine Energie wieder spürt. Teil davon kann sein, dass wir morgens ein gemeinsames Dehnen und Rekeln machen. Das klingt vielleicht albern, und das ist hochprovokant. Das würde nicht jedes Unternehmen und nicht jeder Mensch mitmachen, weil sie dadurch sehr menschlich werden. Viele möchten ja gar nicht, dass sie in ihrem Arbeitsumfeld in der Tiefe als Person oder als menschliches Wesen auch erkannt werden. Sie gehen dahin, weil sie arbeiten wollen, und ansonsten haben sie ihr Privatleben.

Es braucht die Bereitschaft, sich wieder mit den Menschen zu beschäftigen

SB: Da berühren wir eine für mich schon lange faszinierende Frage: Inwiefern zeigen sich Menschen in Unternehmen noch als Menschen? Inwiefern ist es gewünscht, dass sie dort mit all ihrer Menschlichkeit erscheinen, und nicht nur als sogenannte Rolle oder Funktion?

Natürlich ist jedes Unternehmen anders, und in jedem Unternehmen gibt es Bereiche, die im oben genannten Sinne noch lebendiger sind als andere. Wenn man jetzt aber mal an die Interaktion mit der Außenwelt denkt – Kunden, Zulieferer, Regulatoren etc.: Inwiefern können Unternehmen, denen im Innen Menschlichkeit und Lebendigkeit abhandenkommen, externe Stakeholder noch als Menschen wahrnehmen und als solche behandeln? Inwiefern kommen diese Gruppen in den Prozessen der Unternehmen noch als Menschen vor statt nur als Zielgruppe oder als Zahl? Und wie werden solche Unternehmen wiederum von der anderen Seite aus wahrgenommen?

CM: Nehmen wir einfach mal Aufsichtsbehörden und deren Anforderungen: Da will jemand was von mir und vielleicht empfinde ich diese Anforderung gar nicht als so sinnvoll, oder es dauert lange, bis ich sie umsetzen kann.

Ich habe das in meiner Zeit im Konzern oftmals so wahrgenommen, dass sich in solchen Situationen jede Seite auf ihre Position zurückzieht und die Strukturen verhärten. Das ist nicht hilfreich. Aus meiner eigenen Erfahrung kann ich sagen: Natürlich war ich in Gesprächen mit Regulatoren die Vertreterin des Unternehmens. Aber wenn ich dort meinen Gesprächspartner als Mensch angesprochen habe und nicht vorrangig in seiner Rolle und Funktion, dann habe ich gemerkt, dass er sich vermitteln konnte. Dass er die Gelegenheit bekam, nicht nur Forderungen rauszuhauen, sondern seine Perspektive nochmal genauer zu vermitteln. Dann kann man wieder ins Gespräch kommen, wenn der Wunsch da ist.

Ich nehme jetzt mal diesen abgedroschenen Begriff der „Achtsamkeit“. Aber es geht tatsächlich darum, achtsam zu sein. Wahrzunehmen, wie der andere gerade da ist, was er sagt, was er eventuell wirklich von mir will. Dann kann ich für mich entscheiden, wie ich damit umgehe. Das heißt ja mitnichten, dass immer Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen oder „wir haben uns alle lieb“ herrscht. Nein, es geht ganz bewusst darum, für sich zu sehen, wie weit man mitgehen kann, um dann dem anderen auch signalisieren zu können: „Ich hab Dich verstanden, und trotzdem kann ich da jetzt nicht weitergehen.“ Das ist eine Klarheit, die beiden Seiten gut tut.

SB: Und dann kann man auch im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes den langen Atem miteinander haben. Letztlich geht es um Beziehung, oder?

CM: Ja, genau. Es geht um eine Beziehung zu einer Aufsichtsbehörde oder zu einem Kunden. Diese Beziehungen werden wahrgenommen und ins Leben genommen durch Menschen. Wenn ich dann im Unternehmen nicht mehr als Mensch aufscheinen darf, wenn das nicht opportun ist, oder wenn ich Angst habe, das zu tun, wie sollen dann tatsächlich Beziehungen – zu aller erst im Innen – gepflegt werden? Wie soll dieser lange Atem dann entstehen?

SB: Wenn der lange Atem als erstrebenswert angesehen wird, d. h. wenn es nicht mehr darum geht, mit dem Regulator einen schnellen Fix hinzukriegen oder das nächste Produkt schnellstmöglich an den nächsten Kunden zu verticken, sondern um den Aufbau langfristiger Beziehungen, dann entsteht auch mehr Toleranz für Menschliches und Leichtigkeit im gesamten System. Auch und besonders in den Momenten, wenn mal was schiefgeht. Auch das ist Operational Excellence – Beziehungen zu pflegen, die tragen, wenn es mal schwierig wird.

CM: Was es überall braucht ist die Bereitschaft, sich wieder mit den Menschen zu beschäftigen. Und das braucht Übung. Sowohl für unseren Körper als auch in Unternehmensstrukturen braucht es Übung. Wenn es aber zu viel zu schnell Transformation gibt, wie soll ich dann Neues einüben?

Aber selbst wenn ein Unternehmen in seiner DNA hat, sich ständig schnell zu ändern, etwa um Kundenbedarf decken zu können, dann ist es umso wichtiger, dass ich Menschen auf der Arbeitsebene habe, die weiterhin kritisch mitdenken, die gestärkt sind und auch sagen können: „So weit geht das Tempo, jetzt kann ich aber nicht mehr. Können wir hier nochmal was wandeln und wirklich was ändern, so dass wir wieder besser unterstützen können.“

Das braucht aber eine Vertrauensebene, und Vertrauen wächst durch Zeit, das wissen wir alle.

Den Wandel souverän und entspannt meistern, wenn alles im Fluss bleiben darf

SB: Streng genommen ist Wandel ja immer. Wandel ist eher die Norm als die Ausnahme. Muss es dann nicht darum gehen, wie sich ein Unternehmen grundsätzlich so aufstellen kann, dass es diesen Wandel souverän und entspannt hinkriegt, egal wie schnell es getaktet ist? Damit die Mitarbeiter ausreichend (Atem)Raum in sich selbst haben, um Wandel nicht als Bedrohung zu empfinden, sondern als etwas Normales, was sogar freudvoll sein kann. Damit selbst auf einem längeren Sprint keine Kurzatmigkeit auftritt.

CM: Ja genau, weil alles im Fluss bleiben darf. Da muss der Atem dann nicht angehalten werden, oder sich zusammenziehen, sondern ich kann mich dieser Kraft nicht nur hingeben, sondern sozusagen auf ihr surfen. Dazu gehören dann auch immer mal wieder Ruhepausen. Das können ganz praktisch kurze Übungen zwischen zwei Meetings sein oder eine Pause, in der die Menschen einfach mal tagträumen, wo sie einfach nur dasitzen und sich langweilen.

Wenn ich in eine Hierarchie eingebunden bin und bekomme was von oben vorgelebt, mit dem ich mich dann vielleicht auch identifizieren kann, dann darf das auch eine Natürlichkeit entwickeln, statt dass es so etwas Verschämtes ist, nach dem Motto: „Nee, das mach ich jetzt nicht mit, da mach ich mich ja zum Affen“. Ich würde mir wünschen, dass es mehr Führungsverantwortliche gibt, die dies wirklich ermutigen und vorleben. Die beispielweise ihre Meetings mit einer Pause beginnen.

Das ist übrigens – wie ich es wahrnehme – weniger ein Problem im Mittelstand. Ich glaube, dort ist eher die Gefahr, dass die Unternehmer etwas für ihre Belegschaft tun und sich selbst manchmal vergessen. Dabei ist das natürlich auch wichtig, dass in so einem Unternehmen der Unternehmer oder die Unternehmerin sich selbst auch gut kräftigen, um für ihre Mitarbeitenden da sein zu können. Auch da sind wir wieder beim Vorleben.

SB: Wenn ich eine Belegschaft habe, die gut bei sich und gestärkt ist und gut miteinander funktioniert, dann muss ich als Unternehmer auch gar nicht mehr so viel tun und vorgeben. Dann bekomme ich als Unternehmerin auch meine Atempausen. Dann kann ich mich auch immer mal wieder zurücklehnen und genießen, was in dem Garten, den ich da angelegt habe, Wunderbares gewachsen ist.

CM: So ist das.

Zum Abschluss: Wie hat die Atemarbeit dein Leben verändert? Ich weiß, du hast schon an mehreren Orten in der Welt gelebt. Nun bist Du wieder im wunderbaren Eckernförde. Warum Eckernförde, außer dass du da aufgewachsen bist?

CM: Weil dieser Ort hier einfach viele meiner Bedürfnisse stillt. Es ist tatsächlich das Meer. Ich habe eine ganz besondere Beziehung zum Wasser. Sobald ich das (Salz)Wasser rieche, spüre, sehe, merke ich, was für eine Energie da ist, auch wenn die See ganz ruhig ist. Es ist einfach Energie da, und die darf fließen.

Ich war lange auch in Städten unterwegs, in denen auch immer Wasser war, aber ich habe gemerkt, ein Fluss ist was anderes als das offene Meer. Selbst an einem Meer wie der Ostsee spürt man, dass da einfach ganz viel Austausch ist. Außerdem habe ich hier durch meine Eltern wunderbare Möglichkeiten gefunden, meinen Traum von den Räumlichkeiten für meine Praxis und mein Unternehmen zu verwirklichen. Da habe ich für mich und mein Mann und ich für uns entschieden, dass es jetzt eben mein Ort ist, wo ich aus der Ruhe heraus agieren und dann wieder in die Welt rausgehen kann. Was ich ja eben auch für meine Kunden tue.

Und wie die Atem-Arbeit mein Leben verändert hat? Lange bevor ich meine Ausbildung gemacht habe, habe ich vor gut 30 Jahren mit dem bewussten Atmen begonnen. Am Anfang war es zufälliges Ausprobieren getriggert durch die Mutter einer Schulfreundin, die damals ihre Ausbildung zur Atemlehrerin gemacht hat. Dann habe ich mehr und mehr gemerkt, dass mir die Arbeit gut tut, ohne den Finger drauflegen zu können, was da eigentlich passiert. Es ist die tiefe Ruhe und Klarheit, die die Atem-Arbeit für mich bewirkt. Ich bin sicher, dass ich nicht so lange in Konzernstrukturen hätte arbeiten können, wenn ich meinen Atem nicht gehabt hätte.

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„Our products are empowerment tools“

Having a bank account has become a fundamental prerequisite for having a life and participating in society around the world. In my quest for a bank account in South Africa, I met Gretchen Marais from imaliexpress – a South African Fintech – who is well aware of what her true service to society is and who get’s stuff done to get there. A few weeks ago I sat with her to listen to her story. Here is what I learned.

I met Gretchen in Paarl, at the 10th Anniversary function of the Foundation for Communities of Excellence. We hit it off immediately, talking about anything under the sun. She struck me as not only an incredibly kind person, but also someone who is wise beyond her 30-something years and equipped with a laser-focused business acumen. So I wanted to know more about the story behind this intriguing combination.

Gretchen is a business developer for imaliexpress, (a South African Fintech and part of the Finex Group of companies) that offers highly innovative products, such as a Cash Passport (a multi-currency debit card), company solutions for handling travel allowances for employees, or voucher based debit and foreign exchange services that can also be white-labelled by clients. In doing all of this, they also find banking solutions for the unbanked.

Gretchen has been working for the Finex Group founded by her father for 10 years now. Although having grown up in a business-minded family, she never saw herself going into the corporate space. Let alone the financial industry. Thus, she went to study youth work at the University of Stellenbosch, where she learned a great deal about social empowerment: “I learned a lot about how to work with people. How they are structured, the way people think. About people’s behaviours and where they come from. Why they act the way they do?”

After graduation, and in spite of herself, she joined the Finex Group, starting off in the HR department. It turned out to be the perfect place to start off for someone who’s first interest is in human beings: “I kind of found my love for HR. The recruitment line is a very special field. You learn a lot about people and the industry. About different personality types and ways of thinking, and about how to position individuals into different positions in the company depending on their personality.”

After several years in HR, she joined the Finance department of Finex, where she acquired essential knowledge but was also happy to hand over after three years, because, as she says: “It’s not a people thing.”

“Our products are empowerment tools”

With the acquisition of imaliexpress to the Group, Gretchen joined as a business developer there. A space where she is obviously thriving: “The knowledge that I have, the people skills that I learned in HR, all of this really helps me in the market. It helps me build the relationships I need to have in the sales environment and have different conversations with different personality types. The most exciting part for me about my job at the moment is being involved with our people on the ground and customers in the field. Learning how the customers operate their ways of living, how they manage their finances, how they get their finances from one country to another, and how it’s so flippant difficult for them to just receive and send money from and to their homes if they are foreigners living in South Africa.”

In doing what she is doing, Gretchen does not segment clients according to their income brackets. It does not matter to her as to whether she is speaking with a lady who’s boss refuses to pay her salary before she has a bank account, a gardener from Zimbabwe who wants to send money to his family back home, or to a “newly arrived” from Europe who needs to find her ways in becoming a member of the South African society and business community. “It doesn’t matter to me at all”, says Gretchen. “We are all the same. I don’t care where your house is situated.” All that is relevant to her is finding solutions based on what clients are really struggling with: “Our products are empowerment tools.”

Such as the Cash Passport, or a voucher based remittance system that helps under-age recipients of funds in the account owners home country to responsibly manage the funds that are sent to them (75% of the recipients of funds sent from South Africa to other African countries are children at the age of 18 or younger).

“You have to actually listen to your customer”

The ideation process that finally leads to these solutions is grounded in real life experience, i.e. fed by the information that is brought in from the field or that comes in from clients contacting the Customer Service Centre. “You have to actually listen to your customer”, says Gretchen. “They are the ones using the product daily. So they would be the ones who know it best.”

Thanks to flat hierarchies, the information gathered goes directly to the Sales Manager, who is also the Operations manager and a member of the ExCo, where final decisions are taken. As these conversations happen in weekly meetings, reactions can be very timely and close to the market.

The results of this process are products and solutions that can be explained to potential clients in three sentences. Such as when Gretchen went on a field trip, and, when looking for a bathroom, got chatting with the owner of a tiny store who asked Gretchen what she was doing. Just three sentences into that conversation, the lady wanted to have a debit card. Just as did the gardener Gretchen got into a conversation with when visiting a school. “Take the remittance app. We keep it simple”, Gretchen explains. “Because, why do you need to have all these fancy features, when you just want a simple feature to work.”

“If your mind is scattered, your decisions are”

 Keeping things simple for clients ties in with her values, which are the same in her private and her business life. Such as being respectful of people’s precious time, and contributing towards positivity in people’s lives: “If you want to make a deal with me just to feed off of people and gain something out of them, I do not want to do business with you. Because, how are we going to live long, if we eat of each other where we should actually feed one other?”

Asked about what brings her most joy apart from empowering her clients, she says: “What gives me joy in life? Definitely my family, I have two beautiful kids. And yeah, music, I absolutely love music. And I think what keeps me centred is my relationship with God. Life can throw you in different directions. So it’s important to always find your equanimity. And to know where to get that fast. Quiet time is important. As is reading and being out in nature. I think that is what keeps us alive and makes life beautiful.” According to her experience, operating from this position of equanimity has a positive influence on decision making: if your mind is scattered, your decisions are. When it’s calm and composed though, your decisions reflect that as well.

“Looking for God in everything means looking for the good in everything.”

Just like that, we effortlessly slide into a little conversation about God and the importance of faith in her private and business life. “My relationship with God has an effect on everything I do. And I think the biggest thing is discernment”, Gretchen explains. “I always pray for discernment on which deals to take, which deals not to take. I think about the Holy Spirit as a kind of best friend to have by your side. Your little voice telling you when something’s not sitting right with you and trusting in what some people call intuition. For me, intuition is based on my relationship with the Holy Spirit. It’s about meditation and quiet time. In the last analysis, it’s about understanding that everything is connected.”

According to Gretchen, looking for God in everything means being present and looking for the good in everyone and everything. It means operating from the basic assumption that people are generally good, even if individual experiences might sometimes suggest differently.

Thus, when asked what she wishes for her business and her country, it comes as no surprise that people and connection play a big role in both: “My biggest wish for my company would be that people could understand the value of what we really offer. Namely, that it is truly sustainable in the sense of it always changing, adapting towards what the people need and want. My biggest wish for this country is that we can truly start cross-trading with each other.” When Gretchen speaks about cross-trading, she means different businesses helping each other out, cooperating and also referring customers to providers that can serve them if your company cannot. It struck me that this is a very different concept from one-directional cross-selling. “Well, I wish all of that could happen”, she says in closing. “But, you know, it is already happening. Slowly but surely, everything will fall into place. If we keep looking at the good things, good things will come. For our business and for the country.”

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We need to be receptive to each other

Earlier this week, I sat down with Dr. Hamilton Pharaoh to speak about how to create creative spaces for Excellence. It turned into a stroll through his lived experience as a university lecturer, an NPO founder and Strategic Director of a rugby club. Here is how all these dots connect.

Sabine Breit (SB): Good afternoon Hamilton. Howzit? What’s keeping you busy currently?

Hamilton Pharaoh (HP) I’m good, Sabine. I’m trying not to be busy, but it sort of catches up with me. So, at the moment, obviously, I am busy at the university, where I am looking at how our health related research can become interdisciplinary, so that we can create a research platform across faculties. Basically, it is about staff and the students building the capacity to work in that way. The idea is to create an environment for everyone who is interested to come and share, which would allow students from various faculties and departments to work together and gain an understanding of how to operate collectively.

SB: So you are basically creating an environment where people feel encouraged and safe to make a contribution. Are there any factors or qualities that you find particularly important in that context?

HP: Actually, it’s very simple. All we need is to be receptive. There’s an Afrikaans word: “Ontvanklik”. We need to be receptive to each other.

SB: “Empfangsbereit” or “Aufmerksam” could be a German word.

HP:  Sounds like it. So, that’s the first thing. As a community we are still sort of divided into all kinds of clusters. You know, the guys with a Phd are the clever ones, so we can’t really teach them anything. Or it should only be certain ranks around the table. Things like this. Whatever cluster we have created, it makes all of us less receptive to the skills and the knowledge of others. In the last analysis, we are all here to learn. So, although I am a Phd holder myself, I go into these environments as a lifelong student. I have no doubt that I am going to learn from anyone I engage with.

As soon as people can feel that they are received and that what they have to share is valued, they start opening up and express their lived experience and the knowledge that they bring with them. Then things start getting easier, because there is less fear and more trust.

SB: Creating a space where people can experience their worth is also what you do with your foundation. I’ve known you for a while now, and I know that something that keeps you always busy is your foundation. What’s going on there?

HP: Yeah, look, for the foundation, we are slowly building to where we need to be regarding the grade 9 programs. Within the next months, we will hopefully start piloting that in two new schools in one of the towns at the West Coast, so that over the next 4 to 5 years, we can help learners understand what they are passionate about, what talents they have, and how they can use that to pursue a different future. You know, a school is basically a place where you are directed in one way. But within that direction, the question is, what is your direction within that as an individual. For us, this means: how do we get to ignite the fire that is inside of them and help them to navigate through this system at the same time? We know it will take a lot of work and patience, but we are excited to take on that challenge.

SB: Talking about fire, Hamilton. How is the rugby going?

HP: Laughs You know, I’ve got a very fancy position now. It’s called Director of Strategic Management. I’m still trying to figure out what that means. But it sounds really fancy. I’m quite chuffed with that, because when people ask you what you do, I can say, well, that’s my job. And then, I think, they don’t ask anything else because they are too scared to ask.

Seriously, for me, it means that I am allowed by the club to live out my passion to impact those in the club. Firstly, it’s about understanding strategically where the club wants to go. Then, it’s about creating an environment where everyone in the club starts speaking the same language. And from there, also creating a safe place where we can be authentic with each other.

I am fortunate that with all my Rugby knowledge and expertise gathered in the last 30 years, I actually now get a chance to live it out and share it. That part is absolutely incredible. Looking back at my career, I now realize that I’ve gone through all the experiences so that I can now use it in the greater scheme of where communities want to go.

In that job, I connect with the executive, i.e. the management of the club. I connect with the coaches and the development of the players. I connect with the players and the medical team, and I connect with the spectators and the entire community. So basically, with my rugby knowledge, my community building experience and my medical knowledge, I’m sitting in the middle and am connecting all of these things. Hopefully, one day we will also be able to have workshops where players and the families can come. That, to me, is exciting. Somehow, all the dots seem to connect.

SB: Between the two of us, we always speak about individual and collective communication reservoirs that come together in communication interfaces between people. It looks as if your individual reservoir has become so big that you can understand the individual reservoirs from everybody and help to create a new shared one for the club and the community as a whole. To create ever increasing circles of receptiveness, so to say.

HP: Absolutely, and it might be too simple to explain it in this way, but it’s almost like if I have 4 people together, and they use different words. Then I’m able to understand that those 4 different words mean the same thing. Then we can create a joint understanding together. It’s about clarification.

You must never forget that everyone in the club comes in with their different things. Understanding that is challenging. When we look at nutrition, for example, the food that we give someone to eat after practice might be a person’s only meal for that day. Or coming to practice might be that person’s safe space that he comes to, to get away from things. So, when we create an environment that’s full of fighting, that person doesn’t have a safe place anymore. Sometimes, people come from a difficult environment which makes it difficult to be receptive.

One must also understand that the club has different meanings for different people. Where it all comes together is the love for the club. When you boil it down to this, it’s also about making sure that people understand that using the club to pamper their ego or to gain power from it has nothing to do with love.

That’s part of the challenge and requires constant work. It also requires constant communication to avoid and clarify misunderstandings, to listen what is really needed and to make sure it happens eventually, so that people know that they have been heard.

And finally, it’s about understanding the facts and structure, because this is what you can work on. If I say to one of the players: “You are a poor player”, then how can you make that better? You’ve already been told you are poor. Or if I say: “I don’t like you” – how can you change that? But if I say “You cannot pass the ball through the lift” or “You must practice your kicking”, that’s something a player can work on.

SB: So you have a starting point for conversation?

HP: Exactly! And that just makes such a difference for everyone working within a system. Whether it’s a team, or a corporate business, it doesn’t matter. And we can see the difference that it makes. In a sense, they look at things differently now. It’s almost like they understand what they are working on. And they understand that they can ask questions, give input and ask for things to be explained again. It makes a major difference. If you don’t communicate properly with a team of rugby players, and they get the feeling that they are failing all the time, they become less confident.

Sabine Breit: If they become less confident, then ultimately the performance on the pitch will suffer, right?

HP: Absolutely!

SB: How does all of this play out on match day?

HP: When it comes to match day, preparation for this starts early. Basically after the last match. There are specific things that need to happen until the following Saturday. On match days, it’s also a well-planned structure, from when players wake up and need to prepare themselves as individuals, to when they get together as a team, to the point where they run onto the field. Each specific group has certain tasks. Like the coaches will have certain things that they build on, etc.

SB: Is there anything like a rallying cry or a message that you always send them out with?

HP: Look, I always ask them whether they are enjoying themselves. Even during practice. I say to them: “If a practice is not enjoyable, then you shouldn’t be here. Then you must tell us.” Why? Because we are also doing this – and it is actually the most important part – for the enjoyment. Even when you have a tough game, even when you might lose the game, there can be something that makes you say: “Wow! I enjoyed this. I enjoyed the struggle, the difficulty. I don’t enjoy the feeling of losing, but it builds me.”

So that when you start winning, you understand the privilege of winning. Otherwise, you become entitled and think winning is just something that happens.

Actually, I never talk about winning a game. I speak about the things that we need to do. Because if we do the things properly, if we action it, if the guys live out to their potential and talent, the outcome will be good.

SB: And how has the outcome been so far, since you have become the Strategic Master of Disaster?

HP: Yeah. I don’t know if I can brag about it. We are on a 5 game winning streak after the team had been on a 5 game losing streak. So, there might be something happening. There might be some method in my madness. Or it might be that the guys are just brilliant, and I’m only a bystander.

The most important thing for me is, though, that I am enjoying what I’m doing. Every Tuesday, when I drive down to the West Coast in the late afternoon to be at the practice, I ask myself when I get into the car: “Am I enjoying myself?” If the answer is not yes, I will not go.

(c) Sabine Breit