Business Upside [BU]: What’s one recent problem you solved creatively?
Adam Azim [AA]: I’ve essentially come up with more than just a book and a blog and set of essays and interviews. Altogether, and when considering the body of work in its entirety as opposed to looking at the work through its fragments or individual pieces, the work consists of an entire thought system, and a thought system is pretty much the backbone or the fallback for culture and civilization itself. A thought system is far more complex than fact and opinion. Moreover, we have plenty of facts and opinions floating around and flung at our faces every second in our digital and information age, but we have fallen short of an actual thought system which is complex enough to serve as a backbone or a fallback for the entire culture and civilization. A culture and civilization rely on something complex in order to survive. Without that complexity, a culture and civilization die out over the course of time. Thus, we have filled that void in a sense. It was a void that needed to be filled in our culture and civilization, and to the best of my abilities, I tried filling that void.
[BU]: How do you handle setbacks or unexpected obstacles?
[AA]: You have to consider that when you are already above the fray per se in terms of your content and work, others have a lot of catching up to do. You are in a league of your own, and that makes you very lonely. So, you wait patiently until others realize how far behind they actually are. People with deep literacy are in short supply. It is all a learning process or learning interaction in the end, we overcome a lot of the problems and issues in international society through a learning process or interaction. And with everything I have experienced and have gone through, I have assumed the role of a teacher in a sense. It has been said that people come into your life for two reasons only: either to teach you, or you teach them. I have picked up a lot from people, and I have given a lot to people as well. But that is all part of the game. Or rather, that is the essence of the game.
[BU]: What’s your process for generating new ideas?
[AA]:Brainstorming, assessing the thought which has emerged, crafting a particular question, and then getting through primary and secondary writing material, all while placing one’s own ideas and perspective into the mosaic or patchwork of ideas and perspectives which have already preexisted mine. Aligning your ideas and perspective with what has already been set before. We are essentially building something on top of an edifice or foundation that has been set by others. By our predecessors. We are contributing to something which has already been developed, namely, a collective consciousness of sorts which consists of a range of ideas and perspectives and viewpoints and works of art and literature and poetry, and it is all inherited by us over time and it is passed on generation after generation.
[BU]: If you could improve one thing in your field, what would it be?
[AA]: Arguably, improvements in this field would require evolutions in the culture of the whole society. And that does not come easy. Culture is quite intransigent and resistant to change. At times, we have to tackle the question of whether the official line or the government line is actually a reflection of the worldview of the society as a whole, or if it is out of touch with the worldview of the society as a whole. Also, we were forced to choose between ‘dumb and dumber’ in recent times, or the lesser of two evils as the Pope said, and if this persists, it does not bode well for the future. We need an alternative to ‘dumb and dumber’ or the lesser of two evils. I believe that is what the people demand now.
[BU]: How do you build trust with colleagues or clients?
[AA]: Put the content and work forward, and let others be the judge of it. I would say that the best form of salesmanship is when you are not pushing or imposing your content and work on others, but rather, letting them come to it after you have put it out there based on their assessment or evaluation or judgment of the quality and value or worth of it based on their own preferences and normative values and taste.
[BU]: What’s a piece of advice that’s stuck with you?
[AA]: Focus on your mental and physical health above all else. Relax as much as possible. You will know that nothing is really worth it once you stumble upon a major health problem. Nothing will set you back more than a health problem. Thus, the best advice I got was to focus on my mental and physical health above all else.
[BU]: How do you encourage new ideas from others?
[AA]: By asking them what they think and then listening. Let people speak their mind. We don’t really listen. Yet, listening is the most important part of communication and getting things done and moving the ball forward and making progress in the world. If anything, they will appreciate the fact that you listened. Sometimes, people simply want to be heard. Communication is a two-way street in the end. But most of it consists of listening to what others have to say and then keeping it in mind. Listen to what others have to say.
[BU]: What helps you stay focused on your goals?
[AA]: The fact that I have been able to do a lot of my work in isolation from others really helped in keeping me focused on my goals. People and the environment can end up being your worst enemies. Thus, working in isolation from others for many years now was a boon and a plus.
[BU]: What’s a tool you rely on for efficiency?
[AA]: I highly doubt that I would be as efficient as I am had I not pinned down the ‘frame analysis’ and the oeuvre and initiation that I mentioned before. The West is an oeuvre above all else. Culture and civilization develop out of an oeuvre. Without knowing the oeuvre, you know nothing about the people and your surroundings. I would be lost or highly inefficient at best or even in trouble without these aforementioned methods and techniques.
[BU]: What excites you most about a new project or challenge?
[AA]: A new project usually means finishing with an old one or a set of old ones. Thus, moving from one project to another, and the satisfaction that comes with having fulfilled a particular project or task which then enables you to move onto another one is perhaps most exciting. Moreover, the French existentialists such as Sartre and Camus suggested that the meaning of life itself is derived from moving from one project to another. There is no meaning to life, but we derive meaning from life when we place meaning into it. And we place meaning into it by moving from one project to another. Thus, one cannot downplay the profundity or the significance of being able to move from one project to another, especially when you are doing it successfully and succinctly.
More Information
Company URL: www.adam-azim.com
LinkedIn URL: http://linkedin.com/in/adam-a-azim-94bb111b2
