Mein Kampf – The whole of this World yet nothing!

The interesting part is how a man could so easily understand & explain at the same the concepts relating to Psychology, Internal Parliamentary Politics, Foreign Policies, Art & Culture, Evolution of life, Faith & Religion, Education & Industries.

The learnings from this commendable journal can be used in almost any field of life from Business, Management, Politics & life in general.

I’ll try and put the learnings with things I can relate to in today’s life so as to give a better realisation of practicality of the same. You may also particularize some of these examples. So here it goes –

• No war was ever started by a goose quill or a pen, but by spoken words – The given fact is highly important in today’s world with the advent of Social Media & excessive use of text messages (email, whatsapp, twitter, messenger). We all know how much a text moves us! Even in offices so many useless mails are tossed daily which end up frustrating people lowering their productivity. And we all know how Steve Jobs conducted meetings and gatherings to make Apple a case study in management.
• A Man/Woman will never sacrifice himself for any material interest but for an Ideal – This is a very important management learning. One must always give his team an ideal to work for rather than any material incentive. Once you make sure your team believes in your belief, they will persevere till the objective is met.
• Any decline does not happen because of a lost war, the decline results as a consequence of certain people who lost their understanding of the truth first & then deny it altogether later. Also, add to it certain people who’s secret desire had been fulfilled but then they were  suddenly exposed to the fact that it was a consequence of their own collaboration – This is true for any home, organization or a country. Any breakup in family over finances, lost battle for an organization or a crooked political party dooming the nation.
• People, organizations & Nations follow a principle: Unless the disease is catastrophic, they slowly accustom themselves to it & then succumb later. They realizeit only at the last stage that it needs to be uprooted – Yes we will not see a doctor, change the management (corporate can relate) or throw a political party out of power (Congress 2014) till the time we are able to live with it!
• Above point being said, It is of utmost importance to distinguish starkly between the Root Cause & Consequences – Let’s take India. We are facing a high poverty. Many people will attribute it to large population. But population here is not the root cause but another consequence of the same root causes such as education, policies & implementation.
• There are 3 classes of people and impact of press on them – Now press plays a very important role in determining the future of a nation as explained:
• High intellectual strength & Least Numerical Strength– they are the ones who read or listen anything but analyse to determine biases of author
• Low intellectual strength & Highest Numerical Strength – they are the ones who don’t have adequate resources, time or education & believe anything they listen or read. They determine the future governments
• Don’t care – They are the ones who were earlier in ‘b’ category but got deceived & realised it later. So they don’t listen or believe any press now
• Identifying a religion with a political party is a shameful substitution – I have no examples to prove the results of it. But we all somewhat realise the same when any party endorses any religion and then sparks a row of intolerance which then stalls the assembly :p . Unfortunately that’s all the options we got in power!
• Man is not supposed to rule nature. Even the Sun & planets follow their paths, so must Man – Hitler brings about the spiritual part here. Yes it’s true our life has one bigger purpose. Every time Man meddled with nature, nature reminded him of its prowess by wiping species. We just called it Evolution and will continue to do so till it’s time up for the Human race!
• Nature’s evolution of strength – Hitler emphasized on maintaining a racial purity. I somewhat agree on it. The Aryan race was the most superior race in terms of military strength, strategy, architecture and culture. As it colonised territories, it taught the subjects civilisation, strategy, architecture. Most Aryan civilisations still prevail while others have perished. Now when the Aryan mixed with its subjects, He gradually degraded to ensure compatibility since the subject could never rise to the Aryan standards. Now as the Aryans left a colony, these half Aryans took the helm. But they were not as good and the civilisations perished. I won’t comment on modern day interracial blood. But holistically I believe it to be true! Mathematics adds up. Add 2 numbers and the resultant will always be lower than the double of the higher one! A mule is definitely not a Horse 😉
• Maintain racial stock for evolution – True for organisation as well as human race. Survival of the fittest is undebatable. If we degrade our stock, the fittest of that stock won’t last long enough.
• “The sledge hammer of Fate which strikes down the one so easily suddenly finds the counter impact of steel when it strikes at the other” – To support above argument
• It is always more difficult to fight successfully against Faith than against Knowledge – Love is less subject to change than respect. Hatred is more lasting than mere aversion. And the driving force which has brought about the most tremendous revolutions on this earth has never been a body of scientific teaching which has gained power over the masses, but always a devotion which has inspired them, and often a kind of hysteria which has urged them into action. Intriguingly true!
• Teaching to be reticent in school is also important – Many legal processes of defamation etc arise only because people were not taught that ‘to be discreet is a manly virtue’. Our nation is incurring huge economic costs just because of thoughtless remarks. (Our political leaders in the recent past have demonstrated quite clearly)
• There is only one sphere where blood/birth means less than innate talent – ART! Many artists have risen from the streets.
• Combine absolute authority with absolute responsibility – Unsurprisingly this too is evident how we fail to implement this in our organizations & politics. Imagine how many wasteful meetings could be avoided & individual productivity could rise where one person had the absolute authority (of course his intentions have to be good) combined with absolute responsibility for his actions. Of course, if followed in an extreme environment results could be disastrous. I believe We have to ensure just a level below complete militarization is maintained.
• Any movement must have very strong & tough fundamentals – This is because any organization or movement that you start, the weaklings will always stay away from joining you. Only the strong people will be willing to join you who are willing to persevere. This ensures a solid nucleus for the organisation. The weaklings follow herd mentality and will join you in later stages as mass accumulates to strengthen you with numbers.
• An Orator will be a good writer but converse is not true – This is because an orator has instant feedback from his audience & he knows his audience. A writer is completely unaware of his audience and how his words will be interpreted. For being a good orator, you must also select the right time for speech according to the audience. A post lunch session will impact differently than a 6pm session.
• Why poor remain poor? – Well this is a key insight I failed to realise. Most poor children are exposed to domestic violence and extreme hunger (for food & other materialistic things too). As they grow up, this longing always remains with them. So now they either become frustrated and end up becoming criminals or they get themselves a hands to mouth job. Now on such jobs, payments are made mostly daily or weekly. So the moment they get paid, their longings are awakened and they end up spending a huge chunk of it on an experience  ( A lavish meal or branded clothes) and mostly run out of money in the first 3-4 days of the week. The remaining week is not a problem for them since they were raised in similar condition of scarcity. And this scarcity then again leads to the same cycle of  drunkard violence and frustrations. Thus, poor remain poor. Only a few strong willed are able to get out of this cycle by budget planning.

He also talked about how trade unions are mostly a political influence rather than working for the poor worker.

I might have missed out on a few other instances from his life which are a source of learning. But despite what history tells us, this journal surely demands tremendous respect for the mind that Hitler was!

PS – This is a highly sensitive biography. I’ve only tried to gather learning for a better life. Do share your views/ feedback in the comments section 🙂