Acquiring a Holistic View of an Enterprise - The story of the elephant

There is this age-old story of the elephant and blind men told in different contexts since my childhood. I heard some even wrote poems based on it. Some others found it useful to promote religious unity. It has been illustrated on the walls of Buddhist and Jain temples and is said to have existed in Vedas, ancient scripts. The story despite being so widely interpreted, retains the same essence across its interpretations - Subjectivity provides a fragmented view, whereas a good vision gives an integrated view. Having worked in the software industry for so long, it is natural that I see the principles of the story in the way people view enterprises and vice versa. Here is my take on what the story says about enterprises and their stakeholders.

The Story:

A group of blind men who never knew of the existence of elephants were brought to inspect an elephant. Without the faculties to view the huge animal, each one tried to understand the animal by touching it and comparing it with their knowledge of other animals. One held the leg and described it as a long log. Another felt the trunk and described it as a fat snake. The man who touched the tail thought the animal was lean, another who touched the body thought it was strong, and another judged the animal to be delicate from its flappy ears. None of them could understand the pachyderm correctly despite their belief that they are all logically correct.

One part of the story that I’m not very fond of is, it stresses the inability of the differently abled. I want to say that blindness here is only metaphorical and depicts a lack of understanding of the vision. It is not a block that one cannot overcome by expanding one’s view. If we change the story a bit, it may be interpreted as a dark room that provides no view to the men, or the men may be trying to identify the elephant with their eyes closed or while looking away. Rumi, the 13th Century Persian poet and teacher of Sufism, ends the poem based on the story like this - "If each had a candle and they went in together the differences would disappear."

Can our experience lead us toward truth?

Our experiences are the primary source of knowledge. However, they can mislead us many times. From a vantage everything looks like a fact, while ultimately truth is only one. And sometimes experiences may be insufficient. In the story, each of the men tries to understand the animal from touch and they were wrong. But if they had vision, they would’ve identified the physical aspects of the animal correctly. Even that is not complete knowledge. They can’t know from looks that it is called an elephant, its nature, traits, etc. unless they have been taught about it from fellow humans. However, they need to learn it from objective sources and not from subjective opinions.

We can conclude four points from the story, linking to limitations of empirical knowledge in philosophy:

1. Understanding our own experiences may not lead us toward knowledge.
2. Additional tools and capabilities extend our knowledge.
3. Knowledge grows broader when shared.
4. Knowledge should be based on objective truths and not subjective opinions.

Is it okay to understand an enterprise from a single perspective?

The story can be extended to people’s understanding of an enterprise. An enterprise is much more than an entity’s experience or a single point of view. Everyone’s experience may be true, but incomplete or sometimes even incorrect. The same can be said about subjective opinions or a single point of view.

The solution a company offers to an enterprise, may be fitting in the overall ambitions of the enterprise in some form, but it is not the necessary and sufficient condition for the enterprise’s ultimate objective.

If we try to know the true north of the enterprise, our solutions can get broader and much more effective.

For example, consider an enterprise called A, whose needs are addressed by various providers called X, Y and Z. These providers may be offering a wide range of services and solutions to businesses in varied domains. The technology needs of the enterprise A fulfilled by the X, Y and Z may be vastly different, thereby giving an obscure view of what is the ultimate solution requirement.

Each one of these understanding may be true, however, it’s fragmented and not complete. And thus, the fragmented views coalesce to build a holistic and more accurate view of the enterprise.

What is a holistic view and how does it translate to business?

There are ways to understand an enterprise’s vision clearly. Or good connections and communications can help various stakeholders view different perspectives. To broaden our understanding, we should start with establishing clear and honest communication channels.

• Know your customer, what is their purpose statement? It is again a fragmented view if we just look at their products and services. This enterprise exists for a reason and try to find out what that is.
• Know the customer’s customers. This will help in recommending solutions proactively and be part of the innovation cycles of the enterprise we are serving.
• You don’t solve their problems, you are part of their solution to their market. I would never ask a customer, what are your pain points, but rather ask what pain points do you want to solve for the market. A change in the narrative actually brings up the real challenges and opportunities.
• Are we offering something strategic? Is our solution a means of making money or helping the enterprise stay competitive in their market. This is a very important element to assess the needs vs solution fit, a short-term need may not lead to a strategic engagement.
• What is out footprint? There is business for almost everyone in this world, someone is buying and someone is selling because of that. How do we measure our impact in an enterprise with our products and solutions, what is the percentage of the total spend, are we enjoying?
• Be a partner, not a vendor. True partners are there in good and not-so-good times for each other. Partner gets seat on the table to discuss most important things. Vendors get assignments.
• Offer the big picture but execute in agile manner: Once we are able to empathise with the mission of the customer, the key is in execution. Being able to manage the program as manageable and well defined projects is critical.

At Xebia, we are on a mission to create digital leaders and build resilient enterprises at scale. Our ability to work with enterprise with a holistic perspective is the main reason why customers love our work. This, we are able to accomplish by leveraging various chapters internally organized as centres of excellence but coherently delivering a lasting experience from our customers’ stand point. Should you want to know more about this, I am very happy to discuss further.