News – STIMS Institute

‘What harms them, harms all of humanity’

Considering the current challenges related to war and peace worldwide, it is encouraging to observe global leaders like the Pope taking initiative and advocating for responsibility and measures towards restoration of peace.

Pope on Middle East: ‘What harms them, harms all of humanity’
After praying the Angelus, Pope Leo calls for an end to violence around the world, urging everyone to persevere in prayer because “we cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of so many people, innocent victims of these conflicts.” https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-03/pope-we-cant-be-silent-in-face-of-suffering-of-many-innocents.html

The harm for the innocent citizens, children, men and women of Israel is not merely a heinous act of a few from Hamas, but it is a cruel episode in human history. The death and destruction that followed in Gazza, the ravages of life and property in Iran by their own Government as well as through bombings by U.S. and Isreal, the loss of life of U.S. soldiers and the many innocent citizens in all countries in the region, not to speak of the unending aggression by Russia and the war in Ukraine, ….. there seems like no end in sight!

For all of the above, one can blame the leaders in the many countries. Does the ownership stop there? All the death and destruction are caused by bombs, ammunition and the war machinery – all of which are paid for by Taxpayer money! At least in that sense, there is a direct connection between the savage outcomes in the battlefield and the funding for all the war machinery enabled by the hard work and earnings of every citizen in the USA and his/her taxes paid to the U.S. Government. When we look at it that way, each one of us have a share n these tragic outcomes. “We cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of so many people, innocent victims of these conflicts,” as the Pope points out.

Vedic Philosophy proclaims:
Everyone and indeed everything is integral and inseparable part of Nature, as a whole! (Tat Twam Asi).

Above is an obvious and self-evident truth! It also implies that every one of us is responsible and has a part in all the good as well as the bad that occur everywhere, even across the globe. Instead of being and becoming a “Culture of responsibility”, we tend to outsource our responsibility to a few individuals ordained as leaders in each country. This herd mentality seems to become codified in the name of organization, nationality, authority and power structure! When these leaders go “rogue”, the nation as a whole pays the price! Today we witness this herd mentality and the leaders going rogue in their authority, responsibility and work. Breaking the silence against such run away leadership and governance truly calls for a spiritual outlook, a view of equal regard for the welfare of all and against the mentality of “tooth for a tooth” and an “eye for an eye”!

In terms of management and leadership, to say a leader has “gone rogue” at work means they have abandoned established company policies, strategic alignment, or ethical standards to pursue their own agenda, or to act independently without authorization. A rogue leader essentially acts as a “dark knight” or “vigilante,” often creating their own rules while disregarding the chain of command, disregarding well established norms, resulting in dysfunctional teams, low morale, and increased risk for the organization.

No one can expect a better tomorrow under such rogue leaders and their leadership. It requires a collective engagement of all. It requires a return to leadership with a Spiritual Outlook that seeks the welfare of all. It requires action beyond merely blaming rogue leaders. The action includes communication between fellow employees, developing and forging a commitment to restore what is right and find ways to correct all that is wrong.

Generally, in a company such rogue leaders drive the company to bankruptcy. I have been a victim of such rogue leadership, and the bankruptcy of a large Co. in the early part of my professional career. International Harvester was the 4^th largest Co. in USA in the early 80s. It went bankrupt in less than one year thanks to a leader and his series of moves, each a failure compounding the next! https://time.com/archive/6855087/goodbye-archie/ A new R&D center initiated only a few months earlier was shut down. Scores of highly talented professionals recruited from all across the USA had to scurry and find their next job and career elsewhere!

In a Democracy, such “bankruptcy” is not an option! People switching jobs and place of living is not an option when the nation as a whole suffers from social, economic and political turmoil. Instead, what is needed is a resolve to exercise the rights of citizens and their duty to elect new leaders that replace the “rogue” leaders and the impact of their poor leadership!

Concerted response required for the recent letter “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” ?

The recent letter “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” and its rejection by MIT could be a welcome opportunity for the Educational Leaders and the leading Institutions?
https://lnkd.in/gYxdYv7J
The letter “Compact for ….” from the Education Secretary appears to be a Trojan Horse for power grab and an attempt to curb free thinking. The shallow intellectual depth of the administration makes one wonder, if there is even an interest to promote “Conservative” values in lieu of “Liberal” thoughts and expression in campuses! It might just be an old ploy of pitting one group against another and relishing in the chaos, as the outcome!
The challenge through the letter from the Education Secretary and this Administration goes beyond their thinking and adversarial approach to governing. In fact they stem from insidious developments over the past five decades or more that have been metastasizing our nation, its culture and our Democratic and moral fibre.
For example:
— Technology (=Science X Engineering X Managment) is now synonymously treated as reflecting only IT, Computer Science, Data Science or AI! In other words, the entire value of MIT is reduced to one Department or one sector of activity!
— Rewards of Capitalism have degenerated the society that was once heavily middle class (40/40/20 : Poor/Middle/Rich) into a nation of “haves” and “have nots” (90/10: Poor and Middle /Ultra rich). Traditional sharing of the wealth through Risk/Reward has not shifted to Risk/Effort/Reward sharing models.
— While it may be true that over 80% of MIT undergraduates are free of loan burden, that can not be said of most UGs across the nation. Being driven out of the middle class they are also driven into economic disadvantage Vs. their global college educated compatriots.
— Most of the Social Media products – with their inability to control and limit the polarizing effect on the society – are developed and implemented by graduates from top schools like MIT, aided by low wage high skilled H1B Visa workers.
In all of the above, schools like MIT are not solely responsible for the outcomes. But, systemic failure in leadership across the nation, over the decades, to challenge the above outcomes and their corrupting influence has to be acknowledged. It has been leading to despair and “throw the baby out with the bath water” attitude on our social and democratic norms. These are the undercurrent rhat fuel this administration and its political power. As I have learned at MIT, the “System and its solution” need a comprehensive approach addressing several issues at the same time! My plea to the leadership at MIT as well as at other leading institutions is to take bold action on the above (bulleted) and other similar issues. That would be a worthy antidote raising social awareness and public support against arbitrary and misplaced demands from the current administration?

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7382497220568211456/

Whose America is it? – Part 2

“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time” – quote attributed to Winston Churchill. Today with all the challenges we face in our system of Government, faith in Democracy and America as the unfailing cradle and leader of such Democracy is called into question.

Successful Democracy requires well informed citizens, who vote for their best self-interest. It also requires that self-interest is viewed through a larger perspective and not merely through polarized lens of narrow partisan interests. In the recent election, even narrow partisan self-interest seems to have failed. How else can one explain the vote of those in the Dearborn area – supporters of Palestinian’s aspirations – who now find themselves between a rock and a hard place, thanks to the policies proposed from the current administration, centered around expelling millions of Gazans from their historic home land. This is just one example of irrationality of voting patterns that might have failed the American Democracy, the greatest political experiment on earth.

Failure of ill-informed voting public goes beyond such narrow ethnic group oriented politically sensitive subjects. Nor is it our goal to dwell on them. Let us look at a couple of rather broadly accepted notions that cut across all groups and population segments. One among them is the notion that “Government must be run efficiently, like a business. Hence it is necessary to cut the cost to the bones!”. This statement assumes that “businesses are run efficiently”. This is a far cry from reality. Business leaders, part of the voting public, must be honest and truthful to admit that every successful business is run to make profit and meet share holder expectations. In this shadow boxing – the mythical notion of satisfying shareholders, the “kabuki theater” – there is plenty of inefficiency. Rare indeed are businesses that are truly run lean and mean in a sustained manner over time.

Next is the notion that ALL Government departments must be cut back to demonstrate efficiency! Another hog wash notion? In some areas like production operations, it is realistic and feasible to show efficiency and cost cutting as directly related to the resources needed. But that is not the case for R&D, Marketing, Administration, HR and all such “service” functions. You don’t hire and fire intellectual talent or critical resources at will and on demand. This concept may apply to many of the important Government Departments that affect our health, safety, security and welfare.

Here is one more: In the name of efficiency and cost cutting senior employees in the work force were seen as “fixed cost” and can be disposed off, leading severe loss of unique talent in Manufacturing operations in the 80s and 90s. Now we find the same mistake repeated by indiscriminate firing of key staff in FDA, Missile systems management, FAA, etc. Whose America is it to permit all these reckless and loose cannon approach to management of our vital resources and services?

Following are a few passages from an article titled: 2,400 years ago, Plato saw democracy would give rise to a tyrannical leader filled with “false and braggart words –https://qz.com/1293998/2400-years-ago-plato-saw-democracy-would-give-rise-to-a-tyrannical-leader-filled-with-false-and-braggart-words

Josiah Ober, professor of political science and classics at Stanford University says the passages from Plato’s Republic read as “a particularly harsh description of the most tyrannical parts of Trump’s public personality.”

Plato’s Republic, which evaluates the nature and justice of various political regimes and examines how individuals’ moral psychologies are interlinked with the moral psychology of their state, is intended as a work of philosophy rather than a prediction of how political events would unfold. That said, Plato’s critique of democracy contains a number of aspects relevant today.

Plato believed that the key and driving feature of democracy is desire for freedom; this very trait, though, ultimately leads a state to tyranny. A democratic regime involves such a plurality of interests, he believed, that the only way anything can be achieved under it is to have strong leadership that can unite interests. “It’s not a complete portrait of modern democracy but it captures something: This desire for a strong leader who can give guidance to diverse pluralistic uncoordinated desires,” says Oder.

Plato states “The tyrant mistrusts both those within and outside his circle, and so essentially ends up in a sort of servitude himself.” Role and influence of men like Elon Musk and their passion to change all things at all costs reminds us of this self-enforced slavery of an elected leader today.

For a more optimistic interpretation of today’s political regimes, Ober suggests looking to Aristotle, who understood that true democracy is fundamentally opposed to tyranny. Contemporary politics may cause consternation, but Ober says it’s worth believing in the political regime. After all, he adds, “Democracy has to be built on hope.”

Keynote Presentations at COPEN-13, @ NIT Calicut – India

Dr. Krishnamoorthy (Subbu) Subramanian, President STIMS Institute and Prof. Ramesh N. Babu, IIT – Madras and Secretary AMTDC presented a joint invited Key Note address at the 13th Conference on Precision Engineering (COPEN – 13) on Dec. 13th 2024 at NIT Calicut, Kerala, India. The presentation was followed by a panel session to further gain insights on successful models and strategy for industry/academia collaboration together with support from the funding agencies, and future directions.
It was an unique opportunity as well as experience. It was the culmination of over a decade long collaboration between STIMS Institute, IIT- Madras, several industry partners as well as support from Govt. of India. The presentations covered two themes:
Substantial collaborative work has progressed inside of India for more than a decade now. This is a remarkable demonstration of success in Industry/Academia collaboration, much sought after by Industries, Academia and funding agencies from the Govt. in all nations across the globe.
The secret for success can be summatized as a relentless emphasis on System Thinking and Transformational Skills with a determined focus on End-to-End Innovation!
This joint key note talk was presented in two parts by an academic leader with hands on experience in real world innovation and the Knowledge-Integration expertise promoted by the STIMS Institute.

Part 1: Prof. Babu: Real life experience – home grown success in Industry/academia collaboration, which is now seen as the successfully established Advanced Manufacturing Technology Development Center (AMTDC) located at the IIT Research Park, Taramani, Chennai, Tamil Nady, India.
https://stimsinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/copen13_nitc_final-1-prof.-babu.pdf

Part 2: Dr. Krishnamoorthy (Subbu) Subramanian: Origins and Strategy (based on over 40 years of experience in inter-industry and Industry / Academia Collaboration). — Strategies for End-to-End Innovation -“System Thinking” and “Transformational Skills”
https://stimsinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/copen-13-key-note-paper-final.pdf

Few images from this event and presentations are included below. We thank the conference organizers, academia and industry partners as well as industry consortium represented by IMTMA and also the fiunding agencies from the Government of India. Special thanks to Mr. N.K. Dhand, Chairman, Micromatic Grinding Technology Ltd. (MGTL) and Mr. Mohanram, adviser, Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (IMTMA) for their unstincting support for this decade long collaboration and outcome.

This successful model, for industry/academia collaboration at AMTDC has also been implemented earlier as an inter-industry collaborative effort inside the industry, by Dr. Subramanian through his industrial working career. We hope there will be more efforts to replicate this successful model and its outcomes by many in the Academia/Industry and Govt. agencucies.

Advanced Manufacturing Technology Development Center (AMTDC) https://amtdc.org/