Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات · 2 دقائق وقت القراءة · ~100 ·

التدوين
>
مدونة Ali
>
Living Upside-Down

Living Upside-Down

Living Upside-Down Ali Anani

It was a comment by @Mohammed Sultan on my previous buzz that provoked the idea of this buzz. He wrote “Feedback and support from other formal studies will add incredible dimensions to leaders’ decisions and give a room for constructive ideas in their mind to balance themselves and not seen like upside-down bats!”

Leaders living upside-down made me think of other examples of living upside-down. Here are some of my findings and my conclusions:

Sluggish sloths spend most of their time living upside-down. They can do so because their internal organs are fixed in place. This way they can locate their preys as surprising them become easier. Their hair grows downwards just like aerial roots do. Maybe for same reasons.

a94ab282.jpg

How Do Bats Land Upside-down? | National Geographic


winds of rejection we should consider landing with inverted “positions” as well. 

1d29780f.jpg

Upside jelly- this is a very interesting example. This jelly is social for it is rarely found alone—it flips upside-down alongside others of its kind. Turned upside-down, with short oral arms pointed toward the sun. The jelly together looks like a flower. This is an emergent phenomenon and self-organization is a property of complex systems. Upside jelly have a purpose in living in this upside-down fashion. This jelly hosts algae inside its tissues. By lying upside-down the algae get exposed to the sun to perform photosynthesis. The algae produce food that the upside-down jelly feed on.

The image of the emerging flower shape is a screen shot from the embedded video 

2076711e.png

Facts: The Upside-Down Jellyfish

Upside-down icebergs- It is surprising that some icebergs flip over in spite of their weight. Flipped icebergs can trigger tsunamis, earthquakes, and give off as much energy as an atomic bomb. Maybe upside-down thinking and logic help in storing energy as icebergs do. Angry people may experience the same and as they flip over for a while and then later they burst out their energy of anger.

                                                                     NYU Scientists Capture 4-mile Iceberg Breaking in Greenland

Upside-down maps- A very interesting finding is turning the world map upside-down so that the north should be at the bottom and south at the top. Studies have shown that this may be weird to start with, but later we become familiar with such flipping.

Upside-down food- a domestic meal in Jordan is called “maqlooba”. It means turn upside-down. This meal consists of cooking rice with both cauliflower and meat below the rice. Upon serving the meal the cooking pot is flopped so that the meat and cauliflower be on top. The same idea is applied with upside-down cake with its toppings at the bottom of the pan, hence “upside-down”.

Upside-down human relation- this reminds me of “The Servant” movie, which was released back in sixties. In this movie the master became the servant and the servant became the master. This led to tensions that made the movie memorable. Turning the familiar upside-down is a source of energetic literature.

From the above-mentioned examples it turns out that flipping things upside-down may be rewarding if it has a purpose. It leads to interesting novels, ideas, serves as a source of energy and provide a new perspective to see -issues differently. However; it has the opposite effect when flipping upside-down serves no purpose. Turning assumptions to facts, building judgment form scarce information and assuming that one person is correct serve no purpose and are recipes for disaster.

Would you be willing to flip upside-down occasionally as some leaders do and instead of being in the front they go far behind?


#Mohammed Sultan #Bats Land Upside #National Geographic #Upside #Down
التعليقات

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #36

#46
Complicated you are dear Clau! I believe you are more of a responsible person who cares her family and country. Big dreams, big actions and big concerns may make us sound complicated, but the reality is different.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #35

#43
Get rid of you dear Clau- that is the last thing on my mind. You mentioned “It is essential to foster the capacity for adaptation or flexibility”. This is a key issue and recent studies show that we are limited by our capacity to change and adapt. Sometimes, we have the capacity, but it is restricted by the rigidity of the organizational structure and by the rigidity of our adherence to old habits and practices. We need agile minds like yours, for sure.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #34

#41
There is no question dear Clau Valerio that your thought spin with mine- indifferent directions, but to strengthen each other. This way our thoughts bond. I am saying this because of the discussions on this post have led me to think of my next buzz. I have outlined my initial thoughts and it is about how leaders- great ones- deal with obstacles and "Failing Forward". With the help of two metaphors I am going to explain how they can actually do this. The result arrived at is very similar and consistent with your comment here. You have seen fish swimming in eddies in Mexico. How fish deal with them and what adaptations in their swimming behavior they make to actually swim with the eddy effortlessly are great lessons for us. Another important point in your comment is the alignment of middle management and top management. Your comment alerted my mind dear Clau. I also thank you for sharing the buzz. I hope to read a buzz by you soon. You have been away for sometime. It is not good to the health of our "minds".

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #33

#39
Thank you Cyndi wilkins. The difference between upside-down jellyfish and volcanoes that in the fish this flipping has purpose- to be exposed to sunlight and photosynthesize. However; it is a different story with volcanoes as they become destructive to the environment, lives and even those who survive them because they lived with horrible memories. Simmering emotions are, as you mentioned, misguided in time? and lead to deep and chronic sad memories. Great analogy my friend.

Cyndi wilkins

منذ 4 سنوات #32

Thank you Ali \ud83d\udc1d Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee for alerting me to this post...I cannot believe I keep missing these 'gems'...Distracted by that annoying thing called 'work'... I think I relate more to the energy storing icebergs here...Knowing the deep undercurrent of 'simmering emotions' all bottled up for decades awaiting a time of release...The perfect volcano...Enormous amounts of energy spewing forth, however misguided in 'time'...A lot of damage done when wounds are allowed to fester too long....Nature teaches us such great lessons when we pay attention;-)

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #31

#37
My pleasire Sol Trickey

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #30

#34
Preston \ud83d\udc1d Vander Ven- agrees and I like your approach with your children. It is sensible. Thinking upside down is indeed thinking out of the box. But for me it has an added advantage as it puts the creative person in some sort of uncomfortable state and this may trigger her/him to reach to solutions that are simple and easy to apply. Turning discomfort to comfort is a real challenge.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #29

#33
John Rylance- yes, and solving a problem is the basic step towards solving it. Seeing a problem from one side is like the blind men who described the parts of an elephant they touched and the parts of the elephant (problem) were never addressed to the elephant, but to something else.

John Rylance

منذ 4 سنوات #28

#32
This links in with your Blind Insights, and my comment re blinkered approaches to problem. Emphasising the need to look at things from all angles, including turning them upside down.  Problems are often resolved if you take time to see it from the perspective of others.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #27

#30
Your practical experience and extension to reasoning are two solid pillars of your thinking dear David Navarro L\u00f3pez. You add a valuable point on dealing with customers and how looking at their complains and issues from top=down and down up perspective. Understanding the problem is at least 90% of solving it; else we solve the wrong problem.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #26

#29
ᴉuɐu∀ ᴉl∀- this is my response John Rylance.

David Navarro López

منذ 4 سنوات #25

To your words "it has the opposite effect when flipping upside-down serves no purpose. " , I would say: As a technician, I need to put in doubt each and every part of a malfunctioning mechanism, even if they look like ok at first sight. This is another way to flipping upside-down things, and has a purpose: To make sure YOU are not upside down, and the item observed is correct. Refining this idea, we can not assume down and up unless we relate it to anything else, a reference. But the reference could be upside down too. it wouldn't be the first time, when visiting a customer to make a repair, that the customer's technician denies having been messing with the mechanism. But looking the thing upside down can lead you to see that they did, and assembled it wrong. It happens all the time. And this leads us to the next question. You will need always to turn things upside down, and even more if you don't have the complete picture of the item, to make sure you are in the right path

John Rylance

منذ 4 سنوات #24

Are you aware of www.upsidedowntext.com. ?  Your post underlines what a topsy-turvey world we live in. Incidentally when I typed in the last sentence it changed it to "tipsy- turkey", perhaps that's what one needs to be to fully understand life.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #23

#26
OK, and I shall share this example which I only knew about last night. "By turning rapidly or simply tilting a bit on their axis, dunlins are able to shift the appearance of their plumage from dark (their upperparts) to light (their underparts), creating a swift flashing effect that might startle or confuse predators". https://www.audubon.org/magazine/march-april-2009/how-flock-birds-can-fly-and-move-together This is a great example of agility and purposeful of quick turning between upside- down and reversing again in flashes of a second.

John Rylance

منذ 4 سنوات #22

My immediate thought on this was Michaelangelo upside-down painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I hope to make further comments when I've re-read the piece.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #21

#24
Dear Lada, thank you so much for your comprehensive comment. I am glad that you mentioned the two eye examples- those of babies and our eyes who send upside-down image for our brains to flip. These are two worthy examples. As much as it is uncomfortable to walk on a ceiling it has some benefits. We see things from different perspectives and we get our of our comfort zone. It is tedious, but it can be very rewarding. I am not well-informed about the upside-down buildings and I wonder what makes them attractive sites for tourists. Maybe again it is experiencing the unfamiliar for a short while. I thank you again for also sharing the buzz and for your very kind words.

Lada 🏡 Prkic

منذ 4 سنوات #20

Dear Ali, a great topic as usual. I haven't heard of an upside-down house in Croatia. The only purpose of topsy-turvy homes built around the world is to be tourist attractions. The other meaning of the term "upside-down house" is a house with the layout turned upside down placing the living area on the highest floor to get the most of views of the surroundings, which is for me a great layout. As you said, flipping things upside-down may be rewarding if it has a purpose. What's the purpose of living in a house where everything is upside down except to experience what it would feel like to walk on the ceiling. :) Hanging upside-down has some benefits for our health, but, in fact, it's an unnatural state of the human body and can be risky for people with certain conditions and illness. We are not bats. :) One more example related to the topic - in your eye, the image is projected on the retina upside down, but the brain compensates such visual information making it right side up. An interesting fact I have recently read is that babies see the world upside down for the first few days of life because their brains haven’t learned to turn an image to right side up yet. The brain has the ability to adjust effortlessly. In one scientific experiment, participants wore goggles that inverted the image of everything (upside-down), before it reaches the retina. After a few days, the brain has adapted to the new reality, and people began to see everything right side up. It's one of many fascinating things about the human brain.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #19

#22
Dear Bill- I am so glad with your comment as I have just received a notification from LinkedIn stating "Congrats, your post has been trending in "Congrats, your post has been trending in #creativity View hashtag

Bill Stankiewicz

منذ 4 سنوات #18

Best buzz of the day for me living right side up :~))

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #17

Dear Lada \ud83c\udfe1 Prkic- I know of few examples of upside-down houses in different parts of the world such as the USA and Russia. I think there is one more example from Croatia. If so, what do you think of such a concept?

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #16

#18
Dear Jerry- great to know more about you. You are a "fast mover". I asked you if you write novels because of the common rising belief that great marketers are great storytellers. Maybe, better to say, short stories teller.

Jerry Fletcher

منذ 4 سنوات #15

#16
Dr. Ali, writing novels requires one to live in one's own head for extended lengths of time. There are no "real world tests" of assumptions and little in the way of relationships. I'm a marketing consultant, professional speaker and general ne'er do well which needs ongoing interaction with people. I have considered novels and have a few kicking around in very rough form. Trouble is, I can't figure out how to do what brings me joy daily and still find the time to wrap myself around the word count required to bring a novel to life. My ex wrote novels (quite successfully) and through her I came to know a number of fiction writers.that long glimpse of the novel writer's life was enough to put me off of it. I like things that move faster and have more concrete results. And so it goes.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #14

DEar Anees Zaidi- I noticed that you viewed my profile. This is a very nice surprise. I hope to read buzzes from you soon. We miss you a lot.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #13

#15
Dear Jerry, indeed "and so it goes". You must be very creative my friend. Have you ever written novels?

Jerry Fletcher

منذ 4 سنوات #12

#14
Dr. Ali, Recently I found myself asking: "What if personal vtol aircraft replaced automobiles which led me to what other applications would there be for a matter transmitter. Each time you ask , "What if?" it establishes a new norm which can have the same question applied to it. And so it goes.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #11

#12
Dear Jerry Fletcher- your comment resonates with me. In fact, I find it very relevant to my recent buzz "Extend Success". What if are two powerful words. To avoid thinking only linearly with them we may ask what if and if . This way we may change more than one variable at a time. Thank you for the great examples you provided in your comment. To make what if more relevant to this buzz we may ask what if we flipped the way car rentals operate? Your comment furnishes a ground for creative thinking.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #10

#11
I am glad you used the word ego in your comment dear Tausif Mundrawala. Your analysis is valid because ego is what steers us from doing what we do. In other words, this is the mask domain in the Johari window. Masks are deceptive and leaders who wear them are like that too.

Jerry Fletcher

منذ 4 سنوات #9

Dr. Ali, Two words come to mind when I read this article: "What if?" They are the mantra for those that would elect to turn things upside down and look at them. They are the words of the visionaries, science fiction writers, entrepreneurs and thinkers of all types. They are the words that, if we are lucky, are not denied us as we go from being children to becoming adults. The ability to think through he repercussions of changing just one thing, of getting a different perspective is why the world is undergoing significant changes commonly called disruptions. Somebody asked What if we had individuals with time and a car tied to smart phone app and Uber happened. A couple of guys got an inflatable mattress and rented out a spare room then rolled that idea out through a digital app and Airbnb was born. One company figured out that you could stream movies via digital download to customers while another pressed on promoting DVD rentals and so Blockbuster died. And so it goes.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #8

#9
Your comment and line which says “eyes are itself an enigma to me”. The paradox of the and its illusions is a great them for a poem by you dear Debasish Majumder. eyes are itself an enigma to me eyes are itself an enigma to me eyes are itself an enigma to me. To trust our senses without validation maybe worthy of adding to your forthcoming poem my friend. I thank you for introducing the eye paradox and for sharing the buzz.

Debasish Majumder

منذ 4 سنوات #7

when i take notice of a plant, i wonder how i deduce which one is the upside of the plant, root or shoot? however, upside down is a nice metaphor, but in reality of human observation, right-left, front-back and up-down, all have immense significance and i guess, without heeding to past and ponder about the ingredients responsible for transition to reveal as upside down development, the upside down development abruptly appear to us as an accident and make us nonplussed. we can see, perceive and fathom about the visual effect on our spectrum about up-down in accordance to the surface we are dwelling and we know perhaps very little about the vast expanse of sky and there the development is truly misty to me. eyes are itself an enigma to me! however, wonderful insight sir Ali \ud83d\udc1d Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee! enjoyed read and shared. thank you for the buzz sir.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #6

#6
Dear Tausif Mundrawala , we need to leave our comfort zone, notably when we stay for prolonged times in it. What you experienced from your ex-boss had an upside-down effect of what he wished for, there must be reasons for that. I agree with your saying “sometimes it becomes incumbent upon us to turn it upside down in order to see it through different perspective”, but would also add that we need to do it voluntarily because we might be blinded from the future abrupt changes if we don’t do so.

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #5

#5
Your handstand example is a good one Chris \ud83d\udc1d Guest Whether it is good or not I have an idea. Getting out of our comfort zone is a great way to see differently and explore other possibilities. It is the sweet discomfort- is this a new paradox? As for your suggestion on writing a buzz on effects of exposure to unnatural positions I shall do. How could I even think of turning down a suggestion by you?

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #4

#3
Thanks my friend

Bill Stankiewicz

منذ 4 سنوات #3

Cool 😎

Ali Anani

منذ 4 سنوات #2

#1
I say that nothing will change if we keep looking at things from the same direction. It is good sometimes to exercise upside down, if health conditions allow for it. But this is for a short time span. Having an upside-down leader for long times is a terrible experience, but for people like you dear Zacharias \ud83d\udc1d Voulgaris these people make you stronger and become antifragile. Your comment says so.

Zacharias 🐝 Voulgaris

منذ 4 سنوات #1

Having worked with an upside-down leader in the past (the worst job I've ever undertaken!), I can attest to how grateful I was afterwards to work with any leader who was not backwards-thinking like that guy. Much like having a viral infection or a disease makes you appreciate health afterwards, working with upside-down people can have a similar benefit, given you escape their delusional world!

مقالات من Ali Anani

عرض المدونة
منذ 3 سنوات · 2 دقائق وقت القراءة

A Wrong Question to Ask- Which is greater fear or love?

Three events urged me to write this post. The first one triggered me to write the draft. The second ...

منذ 3 سنوات · 5 دقائق وقت القراءة

Circular Teams

It is amazing how ideas emerge! I was researching for the different plant metaphors that people sugg ...

منذ 3 سنوات · 3 دقائق وقت القراءة

How to Write Your Next Story and Live a Full Life?

There is a feedback effect in this bright quote. · This is an on-going feedback loop. · The mo ...

المتخصصون ذوو الصلة

قد تكون مهتمًا بهذه الوظائف

  • Amazon

    Software Development Engineer II Level 5

    تم العثور عليها في: DrJobEn JO A2 - منذ أسبوع

    Amazon Amman, الأردن

    5+ years industry experience in designing software architecture and operating scalable software systems · Oral and written communication skills (ability to produce runbooks, technical, and non-technical documentation) · Experience coaching junior software development engineers in ...

  • Tree Top Staffing LLC

    UIUX Designer

    تم العثور عليها في: DrJobEn JO A2 - منذ 4 أيام

    Tree Top Staffing LLC Amman, الأردن

    bout the job · We are looking for an UI/UX Designer who will be responsible for delivering the best online user experience, which makes your role extremely important for the company's success and ensuring customer satisfaction and loyalty. You will be designing ideas using vari ...

  • Wizard Cyber

    Administrative Assistant

    تم العثور عليها في: DrJobEn JO A2 - منذ 7 ساعات

    Wizard Cyber Amman, الأردن

    The Company · Wizard Cyber are an international cyber security MSSP based in the UK and with a regional office in Amman · The Amman office covers administrative duties and 24/7 Security Operations Center · Wizard has been established since 1995 · Place of work · Based in Amman of ...