The importance of creating a culture of communication
We all come from a certain type of culture. In some cultures, polygamy is normal. In some, child marriage is. Some cultures salivate at the sight of beef, others consider the cow holy. Some worship all forms of life and a few practice female infanticide. Some are born out into nescience, others out of ignorance.
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In giving face, colour, and perverted meanings to different cultures, we have succeeded in convoluting the fundamental meaning of the word ‘culture’. Any dictionary will tell you that culture stands for a place of growth, which to most becomes and remains their house, hostel, school, and office. However, true culture is not something that changes with geography or inclination. True culture is a place where all differences become one single reason. And that one single reason is – communication.
Therefore, the only culture that anyone ever comes from is the culture of communication.
Communication is both biological (genes communicate information, cells and neurons communicate to receive and transfer signal), and physical (individuals connect with each other via communication). In a natural world, all cultures would maintain a balanced communication within individual aspects of culture (biological, physical, spiritual, emotional) and harmony between all. However, our world is as far from natural as anything synthetic can be.
Our internal communication – our conversation with ourselves – is the outcome of the quality of the communication that makes up our immediate physical environment – parents, school, relatives, neighbourhood, and workplace. As we grow, our internal communication becomes a jigsaw puzzle with several pieces missing. This occurs due to the fact that it has begun reflecting the many confusions, unnatural complexities, anxiety and fears that were trending when we were children. And once our internal monologue is plagued with doubts and wanting in clarity, we begin to corrupt our conversation with the world outside us – fast driving, cheating, lying, threatening, and bribing are but symptoms that have appeared like ugly moles on the beautiful face of our planet.
Einstein once said that one cannot use the same level of consciousness to find a solution that was used to create a problem. What he meant was that solution must come from a consciousness that can see the problem from a higher perspective (ability to see the big picture). And when one looks at the quality of ‘modern-day’ conversation from a higher perspective and estimates the number of people who are unhappy, disillusioned, chained to their own mental prison, solipsistic, confused, and lost, it becomes self-evident that people do not come from their true culture – a culture of internal and external conversations – anymore. Instead, they come from the culture of this geography or that history lesson, this pop group or that baritone icon, this cause or that solution – a confusion deepened further by a lack of true comprehension of their belief.
The need of the hour is to restore true culture back to its throne. It is important for startups and entrepreneurs to give people something real to talk about. If your idea can ignite meaningful conversations among people, both internally and externally, and if your product can help tune up their internal and external worlds, it's then that you'd really shake things up. It's time for startups to start real conversations. And the only place to begin is within and the only person worth talking to first is you. So, let's start talking like we've never talked before.
