Alphabetica - a Book Review
Alphabetica is Kaushik Roy’s novel written under the pseudonym Roy Phoenix
The best teams - not the best players
Corporates have tried to create posters and events to tell the world that they are inclusive. We also know that there is evidence to show that a diverse workforce is a competitive advantage. While corporations celebrate “star players”, research shows that they should focus on building the best teams. It is not the brilliance of the individuals, nor the coaching they receive. It is actually the interactions among them that makes the team perform at a superior level. <read Greg Satell’s post for more>
Planet Typewriter’s key villain — Consonant “Y”, wants to exile the minority Vowels.
The National Transportation Safety Board, for example, found that 73% of fight incidents happen on the crew’s first day together, before they had a chance to build a team dynamic. Another study showed that surgeons perform markedly worse at unfamiliar hospitals. The role of the manager is much like the director of a play during the early days of dress rehearsal when all the mistakes are being made. The mood of the team AFTER the play has been staged is a better indication of the team’s cohesion. <read Why Teams Don’t Work>
Diverse teams outperform homogeneous teams
The vowels and consonants all look surprisingly human. This is the letter E for Epsi
Diverse teams challenge each other’s assumptions and ideas. They share counterfactuals as they go, they don’t take things for granted, and there is minimal "social loafing"—of just accepting things at face value. When the business is relying on the development of an innovative product or idea, or grappling with uncertainty or facing a crisis, diverse teams are critical. <read: why diverse teams outperform homogeneous teams>
The problem of majoritarianism
Imagine the meeting room where everyone has agreed on the way forward. The team is going to step out for a drink together. Then one person says, “Why are we even doing this at all?” That is the deviant who refuses to be bullied by the silent curses of the majority. Everyone groans. Being a deviant needs extraordinary courage. Being a team player means not questioning the decisions that have the majority rooting for it. We can all think of someone who is the deviant in any setting.
Planet Typewriter was also home to a diverse group of happy inhabitants. Apart from Ypsi, of course. With Alphabetica on the western hemisphere, Numerica on the east was the land of the ten quiet Numbers. And then there were the Punctuations and Signs who all contributed to make this magical planet the epitome of ‘unity in diversity’.
Kaushik Roy’s book Alphabetica talks about vowels and consonants coexisting in a country called Alphabetica. The consonants make up the majority and the vowels are the quiet minority. The villain of Planet Typewriter is the consonant Y who wants to do away with the minority ie the vowels.
I asked Kaushik why he chose to write Alphabetica like an allegory. He said, “I thought it’s a wonderful analogy for peaceful coexistence. No two letters look or sound the same. Yet they remain as one family. But I have to confess that I have the habit of looking for life and meaning in the inanimate. They have their stories to tell that can be allegorical in nature.”
Any resemblance with the Corporates…?
Kaushik adds with a smile, “Often, like in my story, the first bunch of devotees are weak and insecure especially when the boss is powerful. Then there are the spies and the bullies who destabilise the minority groups who oppose the tyranny of the majority. Even the experts keep silent because they fear rejection. This is particularly true of an insecure male leader who is insecure and feels threatened about the female colleagues who refuse to kowtow to the ‘Boss’.
My recommendation
The book reminded me of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Both books tell a story that can appeal to a child as well as to the parent. Kaushik is a talented artist whose illustrations make the book a collectible. Corporates would do well to put this book in the holiday reading list of their leaders. They may come back in the new year with a greater tolerance for diversity and the deviants.