Intentionality & Purpose in times of Covid-19

Understanding intentionality needs some everyday examples. Intentionality moves us from the state of our being. It drives us in varying degree, each to his own state of desires; the realm of possibilities fall somewhere in between intentionality and the conversations that drive transactional value of outcomes. In times of crisis many conversations around us stem from mere conjectures or very hazy understanding of the ground realities; intentionality therefore assumes greater significance now than ever before. Understanding time dependent variables that are difficult to comprehend also act in tandem.

Take for example the data that anything that increases by 1% daily would end by 38 times the original value in 365 days (1.1)^365 = 38, whereas in 120 days of lock-down we could be at (1.1)^120 = 3.3; which means we have little sense of where we are versus where we could be much later on given the unknown trajectory of growth. 

From individual to the collective, intentionality passes and is transformational, but it is never simply additive or multiplicative. 

Think of the situation that two people are gifted with a non-perishable item, a 100 gram 22 carat gold or a stock of a blue chip company or family heirloom that could be of value that could be exchanged in the market. 

The first person could decide to keep any or all of these for the future, permanently, to be handed over to his next generation; this person could consider a gift a result of “un-desire”, a sudden endowment and not planned till it was received. But once received it could spark off all the desires conscious or unconscious, the choice to exercise the most dominant desire could lead him to many options; his choice of doing nothing with it but leaving it for the posterity is a reflection of his intentionality. This behavior could be construed by economists who believe in the utility function as to be one that drives us to be risk averse as the additional utility in times of crisis could be seen to be far less and the concept of time value and growth could be the concepts that would be preponderant.

The other person could use this gift to the desires he was pursuing, using it as seed-money to the ventures that were appealing to him in the short or the long run. This is a different outcome, again driven by intentionality. Obviously this person is far more risk-prone and is willing to see value as it emerges.

Both of these examples of intentionality, the subtle world of consciousness, where the material and the mental states collide for an outcome we desire in the subconscious or in the real, leading us to the central question of our current times, is intentionality of individuals changing with the crisis at hand?

Anything that we receive, our earnings which are objective and affection, hatred, empathy, hardships, gifts, including all the subjective ones, are not entirely by our own making; there is an element of something outside our own doing that we get endowed with.

Some of us could be fortunate to be insulated from all the tragedies around us, thus what we get endowed with may not by our own making or doing. The outside influences are more internalized by some and less by others. This paves way for the striking difference in intentionality as well.

What we do with all the myriad of endowments is also entirely driven by intentionality. 

In times of uncertainty like this extreme crisis around us, the unknowns are rising; the more we head into the crisis the deeper our unknowns. Some who have to lead must act within these unknowns but how do we understand intentionality in these times? 

We do not have the luxury of data giving us all the evidence we desire, in fact the difference between absence of evidence and evidence of absence is growing by the day. A data that is steeped in power laws, parameterization of such data becomes difficult. 

But decisions still need to be taken. Do we take control of things to decide or do we rely on conversations around us? The conversations themselves could be based on conjectures and there could be absence of hard evidence. How much could we rely on these conversations as well?

Let us take the next example of intentionality in conversations. 

Business gets transacted when the buyer is influenced positively by a seller, the transaction must make sense from both the sides; it may not make sense to all others who did not participate in the transaction. Think of a stock broker who wants to sell a stock, he cannot say that the stock reached several times its intrinsic value and the probability of it rising further therefore diminishes so it makes great sense to time the sales right now. If he did so the other side of the deal, the trader who is buying it, will have no interest to buy. The broker who is buying it would also not say that he feels that the stock would rise further as he could have additional information on the stock, then the premium he has to pay to buy it will only rise. So both the sides will play the just the opposite tune they internally believe that suits them to complete the transaction; the real truth about the next movement of the stock has nothing to do with this individual conversations that influenced to complete the transaction, but collectively all such conversations do influence the trajectory. 

The world of stock broking is steeped in these daily conversations and what makes sense for both sides of every transaction influences millions of every other transaction that happens when markets clear. 

In a crisis the conversations are likely to change far more dramatically in the realm of uncertainties driven by unknowns. 

We are going to be far more anxious and therefore risk averse in these times. We want to take control of the myriad of possibilities, but is it the right thing to do? 

Intentionality will drive us in varying degree, each to his own state of desires; the realm of possibilities fall somewhere in between the intentionality and the conversations that drive transactional value of outcomes. 

Purpose and identity on the other hand is about finding our role in these uncertain times. It is the central idea that would propel us to the exigencies while making us aware of the larger picture in the making. While much of what is happening could be mired in hazy data and lack of clarity would abound, having the sense of purpose in all of this would mean that we do not lose sight of what we as individuals are here to do and act. Finding our role and our small niche in the things that we are straddled with is not easy, but that is what will make a world of difference to what we stand for at the end.

Inspired by the Ivey Academy program by Martha Maznevski, McNamara, et al on 23rd July.