Appreciative greetings to all of you who have the patience to read our weekly publications. I am publishing today (Monday), instead of tomorrow, because here in El Salvador, it is the celebration of “Mother´s day”. So we will be on vacation. I wish to congratulate all mothers that need a hug and a lovely salutation. This episode is dedicated to my mother, Concepción Eleonora Chinchilla De Escalante. Without her gift of life to me, I wouldn´t be here writing these sagas. ¡Felicidades Mamá!. So, let´s start because this is a long article.

If you wish to download the last material click below:

Water as an issue? Not as a theme. An offspring.

This saga wishes to offer radiography on how to think at the corporate strategy level when we land on our most important problems.  Is water a problem? And if the answer is yes, then we also land on another question: Which are our most delicate troubles? Is water one of the top problems that we have? And so on… after a question, we immediately open our mindset to more questions. Of course, as a civilization, we hold hundreds of problems, and maybe a double of those problems are questions that still we have not begun to ask ourselves yet. However, at least, we know by heart that the issue of water is just one of them and in order of priorities, a relevant one. I am not telling that this is the first problem that we have on the list of issues, it probably is; but without any hesitation, it is in the first top 10 of our vital survival concerns. Why? Because we are water. Water is inherent to our existence as much as to the rest of the species on earth. As an offspring to this article, water is of tremendous significance, we believe is an essential natural resource for everything on planet earth, because without a good administration of water as a key living resource as much as air (oxygen), energy, or earth; our whole planet and ourselves will perish.  Not just for all types of human species but for everything else (flora, fauna, etc): that includes the whole business world.

What is water for human beings?  From the last paragraph, we think this is our question of today. And to answer it, we can´t do it on a straightforward basis. We must look at it from different perspectives. And then, that is how we land into contexts. What are the contexts in which we can observe and analyze water to answer the latter question? Our publication offers a general guideline on how to answer it. How? In conjunction with more inquiries.   This will be our medulla today. I will try to synthesize the amplest 360 degrees X-ray of water, or how to define the state of water in relation to 20 contexts. Trust me we have tried to include every angle that we can, and we have tried to map the whole aggregate sum of the parts to provide a general vision of how we should start to define the issue of water; and even then, I will probably leave one or two or even three dimensions out (for example the astronomic or interplanetary context, or the artistic and educational contexts which we have mixed in the cultural one, or the historical and anthropological view of the water, or the legal perspective which is also not contained today, nevertheless all of the latter contexts are critical and imperatively decisive too).

Water as a point or matter of discussion, debate, or dispute. To answer the question “What is water for human beings?” And by considering 20 contexts to reply to this question; water should be one of our top-of-mind objects or matters of public concern. There are multiple water specialists all over the world that have been or are or will be dedicating their lives to water, and each of them has a partial view of this issue. Some are devoting their careers to solving the problem of water scarcity, meanwhile, others are contributing their time to understanding water from history. Others regard water from the chemical elements that compose it which need to be sanitized all the time. And here we can list thousands of views or opinions that hold a partial element of truth, but not all the truth. That is why when we want to answer the question “What is water for human beings”, we must set it on the table to begin a global discussion about it, with the purpose to commit for several years to cognize water. Without understanding the water problem in all its complexity, we land into fragmented initiatives that little or insufficient impact have on how to solve the problem of water for the next generations ahead.

Eleonora Escalante Strategy contribution to cognize water.  We are not building our efforts as state-of-the-creators in corporate strategy out of a technical perspective. Even though, I graduated as an environmental and civil engineer in 1994; our starting phase emerged from engineering to follow and transcend its own evolution of life. Nowadays, I simply believe that studying engineering was the first step in training my mind to see situations with a solid structure of cause and effect. Equations, problem-solving, analytical schoolwork, logical preparation, and math workouts shaped the origin of our brain power. Our mentality today is different. It must be, otherwise, we would be losers. Over time, our next steps in structured finance, project management, business administration, development finance and economics, watercolor painting, and even poverty built the balance of how our brain works nowadays. In addition, our answers to the question of water are not from the perspective of sacred preacher guidance, because my call-in life according to what God has required from me is not to be a minister of religion. I simply have been called to do the best I could with (1) my career as a state-of-the-art strategy researcher, author, and visual artist; and (2) to accompany and adore my future husband in his call-in life. In this latter sense, I am called to become a mother of the children that Alex Guillermo Lozano Artolachipi and I will be able to propagate, towards sculpting a family together. For those Christian evangelicals who are expecting a sermon from me, please remember I don’t hold the responsibilities or functions of a clergywoman, and I am not a called by God to become a spiritual advisor either.

Multidisciplinary nature of problem-solving. The case of addressing water. After setting our boundaries (we all need to set them in our personal and professional endeavors), the contexts that we must consider when defining water, a problem that is agitating us as the executive administrators of planet earth (our role was defined since the book of Genesis) must be multidisciplinary. The contexts that we will list below are coming from different branches or backgrounds, separated but interrelated. We must learn to analyze troubles that concern us from different perspectives. We must comprehend to trust in our own domains or disciplines and trust the settings of specializations of others. And that type of mindset development must be ignited to us since we are in kindergarten, and subsequently at a required degree for each posterior school-age level.  We also need to acknowledge that even if we try to contextualize everything, we probably will leave something out. The spirit of Socrates’ “I know that I know nothing” must humble each of us because each loop of queries about water will provide a must refined overview of the meaning of water. And this effort of thinking is really overwhelming if you see it as I will introduce it to you below. But please it is the way we have to learn to do problem-solving for the next generations ahead. And these things take a lot of time, particularly if we apply the DBR (design-based research) procedure too. Multidisciplinary problem-solving using DBR doesn´t have to cause us a heart attack, o anxiety, or sleepless eternal nights; but the deep desire to do the things righteously, and solve the issues integrally, with the truth, attacking the causes, not the consequences.

Look at the following contexts (regarded above): Can we mind catching them with careful detail, please? At the top of this publication, and above this paragraph, you will find slide number 3. If you look into that list, we are currently counting several additional contexts to what I have taught you previously. One of them is the philosophical context. Why? Because without a correct and fine-tuned philosophical context, all our efforts as a civilization are merely approximations of the reality or truth of water, but we will never act accordingly on a 360 degrees view. In consequence, our brain power and the intelligence degree to understand the issue of water won´t be witnessed properly. Each context is accompanied by one critical question that shows us how to start addressing the question “What is water for human beings”. In each context a different question and several more. Do not expect us to respond to the inquiries in this chapter. We are only showing you the guideline, the roadmap on how to do problem-solving, not using data analytics, but in a contextual analysis that will begin to help humans to arrive at a level in which problem-solving must be addressed. This context list is the first course, or the hors d´oeuvre for us to begin to put water into a framework of truth. By defining water well, then and only then we will be able to answer questions that will allow us to then teach well and act on why is water so crucial for us, or what needs to be done to protect, renew, and perpetuate it? So here we go with our first attempt:

1. Philosophical: what is the underlying reality and truth about water? What is the certitude of water’s existence?
2. Biological-Chemical: What is H2O as the medium for all vital reactions in humans? What does it take to keep water properties: purity, odorless, transparency, colorless and tasteless?
3. Physics: Is water existence characterized by its three conditions vapor, liquid, or solid ice? What are the forces and physical processes of water? What are the quantum mechanics of water? What is the electrodynamics of water? What does water accomplish in its interactions with humans from the physical science perspective?
4. Nutritional: Is water a nutritive source of life for humans?  What is water from the nourishing and dietetic point of view for humans, and any living specie?
5. Temporal: What is time doing with water? The cycle of water from the point of view of time in history.
6. Industrial: What part of the value chain of each company in each industry is linked to water? Are we concerned about our water supply? What is the implication of water in each of the manufacturing processes? Do we trouble water with our industries? What is water in our water systems? Do we only care about water simply because it is a natural resource for our businesses and services?
7. Technological: What is water from the point of view of the NAIQIs (Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Supremacy, and the Internet). What has been the nature of water in each of our main technological discoveries since we have records of it in history?
8. Social: What is the meaning of water in our community? What is water for the collective? What is water for our gatherings? What does water mean in our social interactions? What is the role of water in societies? What is the meaning of water in each social class of different societies on earth?
9. Institutional-Government: What is water from the government’s point of view? Is it only related to water policies of extraction and distribution? Is it seen as a milieu for investing in infrastructure? Or as a source of institutional corruption? What does water mean to the executive, legislative, and judiciary systems?
10. Organizational: From the point of view of the managerial and directorial organization, what does water implies in our organizations?
11. Geographical: What is water according to geography? What are the natural reservoirs that we hold for water? What do we do for improving the topography or layout of our water in the world? What do we do to keep them alive?
12. Spatial: What is water as a four-dimensional stream? Is it more than liquid inside the sea, or a river, or a pool, or a tank? What is water when we locate it in a place at home, community, or country? What is water in relation to the oceans that is still unknown? What is water when it travels through the stages of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation? Where do we lose water? What is water as a watering place?
13. Cultural: What is water for the educational sector? What is water for artistic matters? What is water for the literary? What is water for our traditions, customs, and rituals of interacting culturally in our civilization? Educationally, is the water well defined to be taught in schools?
14. Political: What is water from the point of view of a constitutional case? Is water a radical issue for political parties? Is water a matter of electoral priorities? What is water for the civic causes of politics? Is water an affair of political corruption?
15. Environmental: What is water from the green, ecofriendly, and conservational point of view? Is water the main priority for the environment? What is water in terms of ESG key performance indicators?
16. Ethical: Is water an ethical or moral right for all? What is water as a virtue for our survival? Is free water the decent track for all humans?
17. Financial: Does water need to be paid or can it be free? What are the ROI and the ROE (Return on Investments, Return of Equity) of water? Is water a priority for bankers, financiers, venture capitalists, or private equity firms? What is water at the top of mind of the money makers of the world?
18. Religious & Spiritual: What do God and Jesus teach us about water? What has been the meaning of water for God throughout all of the Bible? Is the circular water framework in tune with the teachings of water in the Bible?  What is the real impact of water in decision-making at the religious level?
19. Health & Medicine: What do water and sanitation mean for health and medicine fields? What is the meaning of water for physicians, doctors, and the whole pharmaceutical sector? What was water for the physicians in the past? What is the meaning today?
20. Integral Well-being: What is water for us in terms of happiness and wellbeing? What role plays the water in our personal contentment? What do we mean by offering a protagonist character to water in our daily and quotidian activities that trigger happiness in us?
21. Other additional contexts that are decisively required but not included here are: legal, astronomical, anthropological, and historical. We also need to separate the educational and artistic contexts independently from the cultural.

Strategic Music Section:

Why did we choose Anne Sophie Mutter last week? We chose Anne Sophie Mutter as our first violinist of the Summer Saga 2022 (https://www.anne-sophie-mutter.de/en/) not just because we wish to recognize her 4 Grammys, her numerous awards, and distinctive collection of prizes. Not just because to compliment for her consistency which has paid off with excellence tied to her efforts and personal exigence.  Not just because she plays with several Strads that have around 300 years of existence. We selected her because of her origin. Her beginnings. As a little kid, she had the guts to play an instrument that probably was higher in stature than her height. We were touched by her story: she left it all for the violin when she was a little girl. I am not sure what dreams Anne Sophie had when she started her violin education at 6 years old, but I imagine for a petite child to play the violin was quite a challenge. In addition, a violin is not the easiest instrument on earth. Just imagine getting used to placing the violin hanging between the left side of her jawbone and her shoulder blade. In contraposition to the piano, or other instruments, the violin is not a straightforward instrument for a kid! But she did it, and without knowing it (maybe), she was trained to develop her natural gift, her discovery talent at so youthful age… guided under her father´s direction, attracting later the correct mentors who saw in her all the potential to make her who she is in current times.  From this story, I would like you to strategically think about the importance of exploring and helping children to find their talents. The importance of a good childhood set-up and then later, the importance of excellent mentors. Whatever your discipline, it is crucial to discover your special and inborn natural abilities at earlier ages, for a dedicated success in life in the future. Earlier childhood education should be to discover the inborn talents that kids hold innately, inherently, and intrinsically.

Songs of today belong to Itzhak Perlman. Even though Mr. Perlman was already included in our saga “Portfolio Analysis: Igniting a long-term spirit in a short-term world”, we didn´t mention him as the artist, but as the performer of a John Williams oeuvre. Today, we can´t move forward with this saga, without putting him in the honor virtuoso Stradivarius spotlight.  You will find out why in our next chapter. Two songs are here for you today. The first one is The winter segment of Antonio Vivaldi´s oeuvre: The Four Seasons And Concerto For 4 Violins, Op. 3. The second song is a piece from the soundtrack of the movie “Scent of a Woman”. This tango was originally written by the Argentinean Carlos Gardel and entitled “Por Una Cabeza”. The second video combines Itzhak Perlman as a virtuoso soloist & The City of Praga Philharmonic orchestra at Parque Bicentenario in Chile in November 2010.

See you next Friday, the fourth episode of “What´s up with water: Pouring water in your corporate strategy” will be released then. Thank you for reading to me. Blessings.

Sources of Reference: Save water.

Disclaimer: Illustrations in Watercolor are painted by Eleonora Escalante. Other types of illustrations or videos (which are not mine) are used for educational purposes ONLY. Nevertheless, most of the pictures, images, or videos shown on this blog are not mine. I do not own any of the lovely photos or images posted unless otherwise stated.

Published by eleonoraescalantestrategy

Corporate Strategy Artist, San Salvador, El Salvador View all posts by eleonoraescalantestrategy