“We shall overcome”. By 2030:

Most of us want to see a world where every life is valued, protected, nurtured and flourished. A world where there is no one dies of starvation, no one dies untreated, no severely malnourished or stunted child, no illiterate or unskilled youth, no homeless destitute, no gender stereotype, no civic choices, orientations, cultures or enterprises are violated, no hegemony, no cartel, no crony capitalism, no elitism, no dogmatism, no fanaticism.. And yes- there is ample opportunity to learn and build human capabilities- for all. Ample jobs/ livelihood options matching to the skills & capabilities- for all. Decent place to live- for all. Water, power, education, healthcare, sanitation, finance –for all. And indeed in that world there would be space, scope & patronage for creativity, for innovation, for expression, for sports, for culture, for art, for adventure, for discovery….

Much of it was envisaged at the dawn of the new millennium under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). It is now less than 500 days before the MDG is over.  Sure, there will be many targets unfulfilled, many indicators unmet. And perhaps another goal for another 15 years will be set– Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2030. It will draw criticism & sarcasm but there is no denying that humanity is getting more and more concerned and determined to make it a much better world in the foreseeable future. In the words of Bill Gates “By almost any measure, the world is better than it has ever been. People are living longer, healthier lives. Many nations that were aid recipients are now self-sufficient. You might think that such striking progress would be widely celebrated, but in fact, Melinda and I are struck by how many people think the world is getting worse. The belief that the world can’t solve extreme poverty and disease isn’t just mistaken. It is harmful…..” (from Melinda & Bill Gates Annual Letter, 2014).

We must appreciate that great strides have been made in almost all areas of human endeavor- science, trade, society, art, sports, culture…every sphere. It may yet not be as we desire it to be. But it is substantial. And directional. Again to borrow from Melinda & Bill Gates’ letter: “a baby born in 1960 had an 18 percent chance of dying before her fifth birthday. For a child born today, the odds are less than 5 percent. In 2035, they will be 1.6 percent. I can’t think of any other 75-year improvement in human welfare that would even come close.” He further comments on this optimistic trend: “I am optimistic enough about this that I am willing to make a prediction. By 2035, there will be almost no poor countries left in the world. (I mean by our current definition of poor.).”

  

A Tale of Two Cities

Mexico City 1980                                                                                   Mexico City 2011

[Courtesy: Melinda & Bills Annual Letter 2014]

While these expectations are based on reality, there are some amazing predictions by futurologists. They feel humanity will change more in the next 20 years than in all of human history. By 2030 the average person in the U.S. will travel 40% of the time in a driverless car, use a 3D printer to print hyper-individualized meals, and will spend most of their leisure time on an activity that hasn’t been invented yet. The world will have seen over 2 billion jobs disappear, with most coming back in different forms in different industries, with over 50% structured as freelance projects rather than full-time jobs. Over 50% of today’s Fortune 500 companies will have disappeared, over 50% of traditional colleges will have collapsed, and India will have overtaken China as the most populous country in the world. By 2030 80% of all doctor visits will have been replaced by automated exams and most people will have stopped taking pills in favor of a new device that causes the body to manufacture it’s own cures. Space colonies, personal privacy, and flying cars will all be hot topics of discussion, but not a reality yet.”

[http://www.wfs.org/blogs/thomas-frey/33-dramatic-predictions-for-2030]

It sounds cool. Shows great faith in human capabilities. But little sky-fi types, right? So let’s get back to track one above. Let’s make a more realistic To Do List for 2030 for our own country- India (that is 1/6^th of earth’s people anyway). Let’s flag it as #2030NOW. That envisions by 2030, in India:

1)     Absolute poverty will be thing of past. Hunger & malnutrition too

2)     All will have access to safe drinking water & sanitation

3)     All will have basic housing. And all homes are lit in the night

4)     Illiteracy will be thing of past. Higher education will be pervasive and hybrid- combination of digital & conventional

5)     All will have basic health insurance coverage. And life expectancy (at birth) will cross 70 years

6)     All will be financially included. And mobile banking a routine thing.

7)     Successful PPP models in critical services, at scale.

8)     10 medals in Olympics, qualified for FIFA cup, 5^th time World Champion in Cricket

9)     Couple of Nobel prizes more

10)  Bullet trains plying between some major metros

And

11)  Unemployment will still be a problem- but less acute

12)  Quality of public services & faculties will still be sub-optimal- but no more dismal

13)  Hardliners and regressive forces will still be there- though much less active

14)  Corruption will still haunt us- though much contained, much less rampant

15)  Ganga not fully rid of pollution yet- but floods & land erosions contained

16)  Space exploration beyond Mars yet to succeed- but in the offing

All this could be a reality in 2030. For that we need to strengthen four pillars of our society:

Youth: Our future is our youth. Any country’s is. But we have the largest young population un the earth! And they are more aware, educated and aspiring than ever before. They are more connected, more active and there is more much solidarity for worthy causes. They are eager to experiment, innovate and push the boundaries. They love fun, peace, knowledge and above all doing. And they are capable like never before. This youth power if harnessed and energized towards the greater good it can do miracle. In business, in social solutions, in science, sports & art and even in governance. We need to listen and respond to their voices- in social media or at home. And above all we need to create the ambiance where rote learning is not the order, dissent is not frowned upon, mediocrity is not thrust upon them, unconventional is not taboo. We need to recognize and reward the Malalalas and Zukerbergs we have among our youth. And believe me there are so many of them. Waiting to be unleashed. They can move the earth. It reminds Swami Vivekananda: “Give me 1000 young boys & girls, I will change the world.”

Institutions: Its our past. We cannot bask in those past glories forever. We need to modernize them- make them ‘upto the speed’. And it’s a real challenge here. Much needs to be done. Structurally indeed, but lot more needs to be done about mindsets and vested interests. Autonomy of the institutions is non-negotiable. But so is its accountability. All the institutions- whether in governance, research, education, healthcare, trade & commerce or sports or culture and yes, civil society organizations- all needs to spell out its mandates, targets & deliverables and should be evaluated on those.  All stake holders in these institutions should aspire to be world-class while delivering the best for its clients (generally public) in the most transparent & efficient ways. Here the ROI is of prime consideration- not necessarily in financial terms but definitely in terms of its stated goals & objectives. For next fifteen years the message should go loud & clear: shape up or ship out. For all concerned.

Government: Government is best as the enabler and regulator. It should be led by statesmanship- not by partisan considerations. Government should function within the framework of Constitution only- not by ruling party’s priorities (or compulsions). If the civil servants stick to this wonderful instrument of governance i.e. Constitution, and if the political leadership/ ministers stick to their oath of undiluted public service, much of the desired outcome can be achieved easily- and definitely by 2030. All it needs to do is to get rid of petty politics, archaic laws, and procedural bottlenecks and that can be done with strong political will and servant-leader attitude. If leaders set the right strategic priorities, the prospect of a virtuous cycle of development that transforms whole societies is very real. If we only follow Gandhi’s thought: “Recall the face of the poorest and weakest man you have seen, and ask yourself if this step you contemplate is going to be any use to him”, most of the policies and, strategies will become simpler, humane and would deliver results that matter. One more thing, government should do what it does best- augment opportunities, build infrastructures, harness networks, create the environment for growth and be open, flexible and responsive to the needs of the time. It should be sensitive to its potential partners in progress- civil society, private sector, academics and must take on board similar efforts of development – converging rather than monopolizing.

Citizens- last but not the least, we ourselves. We need to be less tolerant sometimes. Towards inequity, injustice, corruption & sufferings. We cannot look the other way when rights are violated, public places are littered or bribes are demanded. We cannot look through when a half-naked boy collects garbage or when homeless beggars freeze in the open. We need to be more in tune with to our children- our future. We should dream their dreams- rather than imposing ours. We should not hold them back because the convention or neighbors or extended family says so. And we should learn to take things in hand rather than a spectator. We should not live in silos, in glasshouses thinking it a tiny paradise that is never disturbed by the world outside. We should engage- whether in keeping the neighborhood clean or keeping harmony in the community or protesting against unjust social mores or institutional excesses or to respond to the call of services (in cases of disasters, poverty, illiteracy and so on) or to demand services and accountability or to exercise the voting franchise thoughtfully. A thriving citizenry will ensure a vibrant future- for all of us. This will help us overcome today’s shortcomings. By 2030. For sure.

Prayer

There is another way of doing business- a better one?

[My background in business and then in social sector has convinced me that business principles, systems & processes can be most effectively applied to social sector in creating & sustaining innovative & impactful solutions. I have been an avid follower of Social Entrepreneurship discourses, a practitioner of the same in my social sector engagements and also instrumental in designing an elective course on the subject at IIM, Kolkata. My belief has been vindicated by three occasions of hearing & meeting Nobel Laureate & “Banker of the Poor” Prof. Md. Yunus - one in Oslo, one in Dhaka and one in Manila. This post is inspired by those interactions]

There is a contrarian view to the notion that the only business of business is to make money. By fueling consumption. Or by multiplying investment. And that is the most efficient way of “creating” and “circulating” wealth.  But this simplistic & dogmatic view needs to be challenged now. Noted economist & Nobel laureate Prof. Yunus says: “The global capitalist system today is driven by the notion that people are selfish and are solely motivated by the need for profit maximization. It makes the assumption that if each individual person pursues that goal, then the world overall will be a better place. We have seen that is not true. Neither are people all happier through maximizing profits, nor are the problems of the world solved. Many would argue that the problems of the world are in some cases made more acute by the single minded pursuit of profits.” According to a study by Oxfam International, the 85 richest people in the world have a combined net worth of $1.7 trillion, which is equal to the total combined wealth of the world’s poorest 3.5 billion residents, or half the global population. 85=3.5 billion! This surely is not an effective and efficient system.

While the movement of stocks in the capital markets are watched & cheered across the globe, there’s a real world out there whose report card is not so impressive. In the words of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Mun, “We are now less than 1,000 days to the 2015 target date for achieving the MDGs. This year’s report looks at the areas where action is needed most. For example, one in eight people worldwide remain hungry. Too many women die in childbirth when we have the means to save them. More than 2.5 billion people lack improved sanitation facilities. Our resource base is in serious decline, with continuing losses of forests, species and fish stocks, in a world already experiencing the impacts of climate change.” An Oxfam report notes Women Perform 66% of the work, Produce 50% of the food, Earn 10% of the Income, Own 1% of property. ILO estimates show that, in addition to the workers that are extremely poor, 19.6 per cent of workers and their families are ‘moderately poor’—living on $1.25 to $2 a day—and 26.2 per cent of workers are ‘near poor’, living on $2 to $4 a day. Altogether, 60.9 per cent of the developing world’s workforce remained poor or ‘near poor’ in 2011, living on less than $4 a day. This again is not an indicator of creating wealth- at least not for the majority. But who is concerned? What we are seeing in reality is: development aids are declining over the years- not to worry: stock markets are rising high. So is inflation!

It is not to say that Business is responsible for these. But business is a significant social force. With its single minded pursuit of profit it has created unnecessary & disproportionate consumptions. While “creating wealth” it has championed a strange ecosystem that upholds selfish interests & self-aggrandizement and ignores the worthy considerations of equity, opportunity, sustainability etc. It’s time we revisit the basics: What is a business? Business is essentially the enterprise of responding to the needs of people-, offering products, services, technologies, structures. Business is creating solutions not making money (money is the measure and a tool for its growth). And in the process bring prosperity to both- who offers the services and who need it. But as we saw above, the current paradigm of business is creating wealth in a skewed way, increasing gaps & deprivations among people and causing irreparable damage to the planet. There are issues of poverty, hunger, malnutrition, child mortality, illiteracy, health services, housing, sanitation, clean water, clean energy, sustainable farming, forestry, natural resources, employment, productivity, finance, economic security and so many more. All these challenges are actually business opportunities- social business opportunities, if we want to look at it from a different perspective. Not from the perspective of money & greed. For example as per a recent report the large private (read corporate) hospitals are giving targets & incentives to its doctors- to make more money. And the result is unnecessary tests, hospitalization, medication and expenses. This means hospital business is thriving (at the cost of insurance business- and we don’t know how insurance business is thriving at whose cost?), doctors and managers are earning more but the patient is suffering. This surely is not an enterprise of health service. It is a business of greed. But we also have opposite examples of Narayana Hospitals & Arvind Eye care in India or Grameen Eye care of Bangladesh, who could make it possible to offer world class treatment at affordable costs- yet keep it sustainable and growing (and its doctors are no paupers, neither its employees are starving). That is business- Social business.

There are abundant opportunities to creating innovative solutions and lasting impacts while being sustainable. Social Business is just that. A common definition of a social business is a company that follows business principles, but it is dedicated to working toward solving a social issue. All profits are put back into the company in order to create a sustainable business. Social business and social entrepreneurship are often used interchangeably.

Prof. Yunus’ asked “with the world's population crossing 7 billion people, it is more crucial than ever that we re-evaluate the concept of capitalism. Will we continue to sacrifice the environment, our health and our children's future in the relentless pursuit of money and power, or will be take the destiny of the planet into our hands by re-imagining a world where we put the needs of all people at the center, and that our creativity, money and profits become a means to achieve those needs?”

To this concern, social business, could be a feasible answer- a new paradigm. Its distinctive features are:

·         Business objective will be to overcome poverty, or one or more problems (such as education, health, technology access, and environment) which threaten people and society; not profit maximization

·         Financial and economic sustainability

·         Investors get back their investment amount only. No dividend is given beyond investment money

·         When investment amount is paid back, company profit stays with the company for expansion and improvement

·         Environmentally conscious

·         Workforce gets market wage with better working conditions

·         ...do it with joy

Social business is win-win-win. For the business itself, for the people it serves, and also for the planet. Good news is it has caught the imagination of many. Social entrepreneurship is gaining momentum. Brilliant and discerning youngsters from ivy-league colleges are setting up their social entrepreneurship and many of those have become roaring successes. There are demonstrated global business models like “Fair Trade”. There is a shift in investment paradigm also- impact investment, patient capital, responsible financing and so on. Even conventional businesses are being measured by its triple bottom-line: economic, social & environmental- not profit alone.  

Spiritually it is enriching too. It doesn’t create useless consumption-production cycle, it doesn’t fuel greed, doesn’t need any unscrupulous means, not mindless exploitation of nature’s resources. Yet it gives fulfillment-as it paves the way for solving peoples’ & planets problems in an efficient and effective way and brings in sustainability & contentment. It serves important purposes which might be source of happiness as opposed to selfishness. As Prof. Yunus believes: “I have always said that human beings are multidimensional beings. Their happiness comes from many sources, not as our current economic framework assumes, just from making money.”  Perhaps the assumptions and framework of this most important economic activity called ‘business’ is reinventing itself. Perhaps we are on a pathway to happiness……...

'if you find yourself  away from God, ask who moved?'

Leap of Faith

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”- Alchemist.

What brings success? Great success? Hard work? Yes. Passion? Sure. Vision? True. IQ? Right. EQ? Sure. But most defining factor is faith. Faith in oneself, faith in one’s dreams. It is what defines greatness and also it is what guarantees success. Rest of the things fall in place.  That’s how i have seen it and experienced:

For some professional interest I was studying about the “VidyaGyan” educational model of Shiv Nadar Foundation (SNF). VidyaGyan is no ordinary school. It is a social initiative conceived by Shiv Nadar, Founder - HCL, to handpick the brightest students from 100,000 rural government primary schools covering 75 districts of UP and provide them with world-class education absolutely free.

SNF is a significant force in education sector, with rural schools, colleges & university with a pledge of $1b for this purpose. As per Roshni- Mr. Nadar’s daughter- who co-leads the foundation’s work with her father it is the largest private foundation spending in India and also in emerging economies. While this was absolutely amazing and truly inspiring, i was particularly struck by a comment by Mr. Nadar in one interview- about its beginning: “it was a leap of faith and we didn’t know where we will get. Now we have data to prove that we are on the right track”. And he goes on…. “when I see those young children (at VidyaGyan Schools) there is something about them. I have this intuitive senses much like businesses I started with sheer intuition…I can sense that ability among these rural scholars.”

I got hooked to the two phrases “leap of faith” and “sheer intuitive senses”. And when i reflect on my own experience i find its reverberations.

Fourteen years back, when i started working in the development sector, i had the opportunity to work with Prof. Anil K Gupta of Indian Institute of Managememt, Ahmedabad. Prof. Gupta always maintained that teachers & scholars had taken (learnt) a lot from the farmers and grassroots entrepreneurs and subsequently theorized that or applied in practice, but rarely gave them the recognition or reward for their knowledge & innovations. He said now it is time to pay it back as well as build on it.

He took his leap of faith by first establishing SRISTI (with his PEW award money) & Honey Bee Network and then conceptualizing & institutionalizing the National Innovation Foundation (NIF). I have seen the formative days of NIF - how a small team relentlessly worked for a big idea, how it fructified on the ground, how the Honey Bee Network grew exponentially, how the grassroots innovators found their place in the mainstream, how institutional support for value addition, IPR and enterprise creation came from academia, industry, student and all other important stake holders. Today NIF is a unique Government Institute with global innovation linkages. Innovators every year are recognized & rewarded by no less than the Honorable President of India. This extra-ordinary effort was recognized by the country by conferring “Padmashree” Award to Prof. Gupta. He galvanized all institutions and people to the idea of making India innovative from the grassroots. But this was never an easy task. Heavy price had to be paid- people ignored him, discouraged him, contradicted him, left him. Yet he stuck to his faith.

Few years back…about 4/5 years, i had the opportunity to visit the Kalinga Tribal School (largest tribal school in Asia…perhaps in the world- home to over 10,000 tribal children) and its founder Prof. Achyuta Samanta.

Dr. Samanta withstood the vagaries of circumstances to rise tall, not by material richness but by ethical values of life. Setting up KIIT-a world class university all by himself with less than Rs. 5000 in his pocket is now history. He dreamed of a world where poverty would not stand as a hindrance to one's education. In his effort's he created a slice of heaven on earth, christened it as Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), for twenty thousand neglected and underprivileged tribal children living beyond our 'civilised' world.

He hails from a very humble background- but braving through poverty and shattered childhood he completed his school, went to college and then university, obtained his masters in Chemistry and landed on a lecturer’s job. While life was comfortable with the job something inside stirred Dr. Samanta constantly.  May be his childhood adversities, may be the struggle of his mother, or may be an exceptional entrepreneurial spirit, which had driven him to do something for the hapless poor youth, who could not do well in educational fields to secure regular employment. He took his leap of Faith 20 years back as an educational entrepreneur- starting with an Industrial Training Institute in a two room rented building which today is 20 sprawling campuses with state of art facilities on a built up area of 7.5 million hectres! His endeavor flourished into a full-fledged University 10 year back “KIIT University”- the most renowned engineering college, Medical, MBA, law school in Odisha. Around the same time of birth of KIIT, Dr. Samanta set up a small school for the tribal children. That fledgling school today is house of 20,000 tribal children who get free education from primary to PG level, boarding & lodging with latest facilities, pedagogy and equipment to make it one of its kind in the world.

When I met him there were two more visitors. One of them- a professor from IIT, asked him about what was the mystery of his incredible achievement. He silently pointed to the temple in front of him: God (Lord Jagannath). Later he also mentioned that selfless work and unwavering faith in one’s work could be the reason. Faith in one’s work & convictions….

Few months back, i was in a remote tribal area called Mahuda in Odisha, where ‘Gram Vikas’ works. Forty years back Joe Madiath, a young student leader from Chennai University, alongwith his friends came to work for rehabilitation in Odisha after the ‘supercyclone” there. Since then he stayed back in this hinterland and created a magical transformation in this community. As a radical thinker in his student days and keenly aware of the growing divide between the privileged mainstream and the rural poor, Joe and his like-minded friends began to think about ways to articulate that disillusionment and came together to form the Young Students Movement for Development (YSMD) to initiate development activities for the underprivileged. They engaged in relief works of Bangladesh war refugees in 1971 and subsequently went to Odisha coastal region for rehab works, followed by many more initiatives with the rural poor. But staying on with the tribals of Odisha Joe gradually realized that there was very little in common with the YSMD back in Madras. Living in a remote village, witnessing the perils of relentless poverty and indebtedness had given him a perspective that was essentially different from any theoretical awareness. It was time to set up a new organization. It was time to take the leap of faith. Gram Vikas was born on January 22, 1979…..

It all began with water, sanitation and housing. Unlike other development models, Joe’s MANTRA model emphasized on safe & hygienic habitation followed by natural resource management and income generation, which then was supplemented by unique education, sports, green energy and rural industrialization initiatives. Today Gram Vikash is among the top 25 NGOs in the world, it has spread its activities in neighboring states of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh & Jharkhand serving over 400,000 families and won most prestigious accolades for its work. I spent about two days with Joe in Mahuda- and was astonished to see the houses, the schools, the plantations, the natural resource engineering, the solar power plants and above all the transformation of human capacities in the tribal communities there- the farmers, the youth, the girls, the kids…all. An example of the care and commitment: i visited one tribal school of GV alongwith Joe. In the sprawling campus the

main school building stood as a motif of art and skill. On the roof of this five-story building there was a massive water tank that has capacity of 140,000 litres of water. All these were most satisfying to see but one was in complete awe when one learnt that this entire building was done by tribal girls & women who got vocational training from GV…including the water tank! A feat of engineering excellence brought to the grassroots. At another place i saw how the basic principle of water flow from higher to lower level has been applied to bring water to various habitats from the hills. No pump, no electricity, only simple scientific principle applied to vast hilly areas- that solves water problems of hundreds of families! The leap of faith taken 35 years back, has blossomed so fully today.      

And there is one person I know closely for few years now. Chandra Sekhar Ghosh. Born in a family of sweet makers, he did his masters from Dhaka University, Bangladesh and then joined BRAC- the biggest NGO of the world. All was good unless at the middle of career he decided to come to India and do something on his own. Then the struggling phase started- irregular assignments, unsuccessful business ventures…with uncertainties for family. And at that crucial juncture he took the leap of faith. He set up a micro finance organization in a two room office at a suburb, with two colleagues.  Next year the struggles only intensified but he didn’t budge. And then things started falling in place. Today it’s the largest NBFC-MFI in India and recently became a full-fledged bank to cater to the low income/ middle income population. After independence (in fact after 85 years) Bengal has got its first bank- thanks to the social entrepreneur cum "people’s banker" CS Ghosh.

These are only few personal experiences. But we know of many more illustrious examples like Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple) and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) or N R Narayana Murthy (Infosys), Dr. G. Venkataswami (Arvind Eye Care) or Dr. Debi Shetty (Narayana Health)., who has given us most astonishing examples of this leap of faith and gave the world path braking innovations & institutions. But the purpose of this blog post is not to celebrate these incredible visionaries- they are already very much well known and respected. My purpose is to highlight the underlying principle: the leap of faith. All of them had one thing in common…or rather few things: they all had unique idea, revolutionary concepts; they all faced failures, humiliation & hindrances; they all had to walk alone- at least some length but all of them had the courage to take the leap of faith and then stick to it to the end.  

Apart from the above, who have done it real big, there are so many examples around us. There are numerous budding entrepreneurs (in technology, finance and social spaces) and i can tell you they are going to be equally illustrious in coming days. I remember a young girl came to work as intern in NIF. She was then studying computer science at IIT Kanpur. But she loved writing poetry. And was drawn to the cause of innovation & incubation. After IIT, s then topped her class in one IIM. And then….. took her leap of faith. She didn’t sit for campus placement and went on setting up her own enterprise. Another boy I came to know through my current organization. He was gold medalist from IIMA. Instead of pursuing investment banking in some land of gold, he chose to work some start up social venture. There was one colleague of mine (in my younger days) who left the MNC job, started on his own with a small but excellent team in the technology space and after few years owned the part of the MNC where he started his career. And there is Mansukhbhai Prajapati, who is a serial entrepreneur from a very humble background, who creates extraordinary solutions from ordinary situations- for the masses, for the poor.

This piece is dedicated to the gen next. They (today’s youth) are most capable. Most gifted. But at the same time the bar is set very high for all of them. Competition is daunting. Atmosphere is intimidating sometimes. Choices are confusing. And fulfillment is something that appears remote and foggy. But we have so many examples- modern day examples, to demonstrate that things can be done in our way, upto our liking, as per our faith. There’s nothing to be intimidated or confused of. Not to hold back. Go all out and give the best. Burn the extra 1%. Chris Carmicheal- the coach of seven times Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong once said: “The last 1 percent most people keep in reserve is the extra percent champions have the courage to burn.” Live your dreams. Discover your talents. Play it full. Work is “to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit” (The Prophet). Don’t hesitate to take the plunge…to take the leap of faith. “Wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure” (sorry, again from Alchemist)