Wishing you a charming month of September. Probably you already know (if you are our reader since 2017), that we adore this month, not only because it is the sign of the remarkable advent of autumn, but because of the enchanting aroma bouquet of the season. Inside our places, we can grab the pumpkin spice coffee lattes intertwined with the delightful hygge seasonings of nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, ginger, and apples. Outside our lodgings and businesses, the sensation of the autumn colors palette is simply spectacular, all around us, leaves and trees singing from the range of alizarin to the vermilion or gamboge, all combined with the sepias and chocolates… Autumn is a beautiful gift from God for all of us.

As usual, we begin our articles, by always sharing our outline status. For this saga, we are employing the resource of a weekly calendar slide. And we also share additional content material. If you wish you can print the document in PDF too by clicking the download button.

Today is an equinoctial point to expose our al-dente why, our approach, and objectives of writing the saga “Loving to read as a strategist”. So, let´s begin.

The Purpose of “Loving to read as a strategist”
The purpose of this saga is framed under our purpose of existence. It is our pristine state-of-the-art contribution to the field of corporate strategy when it comes to the subject of “reading”. (The state of the art refers to the highest level of general development, as of a new theory, a new technique, or a new scientific field achieved at a particular time). I am a state-of-the-art corporate strategist. This is what we do when we write for you, we are pioneers of thought on issues related to corporate strategy. And reading is the foundation for our brain’s growth and continuous enhancement. We write for decision-makers. Any decision maker who is part of a Board of Directors is required to love to read as a strategist, and this is more important than ever nowadays.

Our sensitivity to honor reading by writing a saga about it is so simple. It emanated from our soul because we wish to reveal the message that reading matters for our cultivation as human beings.  That is our intention. To show our readers that reading makes us whole, in absence of experimentation with 360-degree multidimensional learning. Reading makes us complete

At this stage in our human development training, most of us globally, finish at least high school. Some continue with University, and a very tiny amount of people carry on with the will to be “lifelong literate” individuals. Once we choose a career that is particularly restricted to our own domains, afterward we look for a job that is also specific and related to the functions of our studies. Indeed, after high school, we lose the whole panorama of the views from other subjects or diverse meadows of knowledge. And after University, we stop to continue cultivating ourselves. As a consequence, most of us, do not know how to tackle problem-solving and critical thinking. And reading helps us enormously to overcome that handicap. We are required to read beyond ourselves if we want to cultivate ourselves properly. We are demanded to read beyond ourselves if we want to be literate enough to make integral businesses and excellent economic endeavors for the next generations. In the case of consultants, we are demanded to read from different views, otherwise, we fell into groupthink which is harmful to our humanity. And this is the purpose of this saga: we are committed to offering strategic innovation, stretching our boundaries in our literary production to promote and encourage literate people. Particularly at the decision-making levels where corporate strategy is designed, formulated, and executed.

The Philosophy of “Loving to read as a strategist”
Philosophy is the investigation or study of causes and laws underlying a real existence. We philosophy when we inquiry ourselves into the nature of our works by applying logical reasoning rather than empirical methods. Our philosophy for this saga is pivotal to the notion or concept of corporate strategy. We wish to change the corporate strategy’s current conceptualization and formulation as it is taught and applied in business schools and the business world. We don´t want to destroy what is already taught, but to transform it into the correct position, to evolve for a better “corporate strategy” for the next generations to come. So, this saga is again fine-tuned to provide a new point of view and analysis of the current fundamental beliefs of what should be ideally the meaning of corporate strategy. We are going back to the basics of corporate strategy: reading.

Our philosophy will always make you think. We are not here in this universe, just to see what passes by, but to help you think about anything and everything before you decide to embrace it without a long-term vision, or before you decide to adopt products and services without navigating the consequences of wrong decision-making at the top.

This saga is about reading. Reading is a tactic that serves the corporate strategy. Without reading correctly we are not being long-life learners, and by not reading enough we are also leaving the darkness of ignorance to surround us. When ignorance abounds in the mindsets of members of the Board of Directors, or when decision-makers are biased towards one and only one path of growth; that is the perfect setup to make mistakes.

Again, and repeating it to you as I do it at any beginning of our sagas: our political-economy philosophy is of neutrality. And it is situated in the center of representative democracies, under the “eco-friendly” umbrella.

The Rationale of “Loving to read as a strategist”
A rationale is our list of fundamental reasons or the basis in which we expose our principles of reasons to write this saga. In one word it is our bottom line.

Our reasons to write are very well known by all of you. Eleonora Escalante Strategy principles are being released every time we start a saga, so here we go again: Our main reason to write this saga, as in all the epics that we produce, is to make you think, to help you to land into the art of making decisions but with an integral 360 degrees approach. Even though we focus on terms of education, business, and economics; we can apply any of our material to quotidian lives. Our rationale is also to help people to read again. We don´t produce videos, and we won´t do it, with the clever intention that you can read us. For those who substituted reading with Smartphones around 15 years ago, this saga is specially made for you to recover what you lost, to get in love again with reading. In this saga scenario and in the context of digital transformation oppression for enterprises, our rationale is much bolder than ever.  For this saga we have only one fundamental reason to write:

• What comes first, the humans or the technologies? What matters the most, each human well-being, or the technology that is made by humans? Is the human creator more relevant? or are the mediocre wrong tech oeuvres that we invent more relevant?  As global citizens, each of us, individually, must be worried about how to become better people, instead of worrying about digital skills and the digitalization of our businesses.

The Objectives of “Loving to read as a strategist”

1. To ignite the desire of reading again. To make you think about finding the forgotten joy of reading in our souls.
2. To learn why reading is so crucial for our human development. We will go back in time to understand why humans invented literacy, and how crucial was for our ancestors to use it for our brain’s health.
3. To explore why reading and writing are a forever matrimony that requires caring, a lot of love, and patience for success.
4. To apply and comprehend the strategic innovation framework of reading at the corporate strategy level: from what is to read, to how do we learn to read, when to read, what to read, why to read, and where to read with the triumphant yearning to come back for more.
5. To understand the business (industries) of “reading”, and its current context of “annihilation by the disruptive technologies grouped into NAIQIs _{(Nanotechnologies, Artificial Intelligence (including automation and robotics), Quantum Supremacy,, and the Internet).}
6. To examine why reading is an element of brain freedom and recovery from human addictions related to disruptive technologies.
7. To discuss why physical libraries matter
8. To show you why a lifelong learning paradigm relates to reading and writing.
9. To validate the importance of paper books in our life-long education (we are against reading on electronic devices or tablets or screens).
10. To continue supporting art musical production using traditional instruments (not digital, not electronic musical devices), choosing 30 pieces of music from several musicians, composers, pianists, orchestras, philharmonic groups, ensembles) that will heal us in our quest to relearn to read again.
11. To continue supporting hand-made watercolors in our quest to elevate our art that has been barred by disruption technologies. Our goal for this saga: is to produce 15 mini-watercolors exercises of 7 inches x 5 inches that will accompany each of our weekly publications.
12. After all, to establish a research agenda about reading in our corporate strategy domain for the next 15 years.

Our next episode: “Historic roots of reading”.

Strategic Music Section.

Music for Reading chill-outs. In this section, we will offer in each episode, a bonus suggestion on what has helped me to return to reading. Of course, there are multiple ways in which we can prepare the mood and whereabouts for a good reading session. Nevertheless, be mindful to consider that there are other recommendations that can be as valuable as ours.

Last week we shared with you a compilation of classical music from Halidon Music. So, the first thing we did was to express to you that exquisite music has the power to help us to read again. Music is a crucial element to heal our minds, so broken because of the excessive disruptive technologies utilization that we interact with at school and in our jobs. During this saga, we will share with you 30 musical videos that will heal us from the inside out, when reading again. For those who read continuously, try to use music as a soft background for your reading experience. Tell me how you feel about it then.

Reading is about being comfortable first. If we wish to read again and re-learn how to read from paper books, then we must feel the desire to do it. We must try to commit to it and stop doing anything else for some minutes a day. We need to schedule a time in which we will devote our efforts to read-only. Stop to watch your Smartphone or TV. Turn off the TV and put your mobile at least 2 meters away from the place where you will do the comfortable reading. Find a space in your house, or in the location where you are situated, with excellent natural light (if you are planning to read during the day), or an excellent LED light if it is night.  It can be a sofa with cushions, a reading couch chair, a hammock, or even the floor with some pillow headrests and even a beanbag. Wherever you feel comfortable and cozy.  If you are a “ welcome back reader”, I don´t recommend reading from your bed, because usually people are so tired from work or studying, that after 5 pages, you may be tempted to sink into sleeping.

Then find music that can accompany your reading chill-outs. I have found that there are thousands of YouTube videos about music for reading chill-outs that can aid you to relax from computers, tablets, and from mobiles. And the classics are unbeatable for healing the damage of disruptive technologies. But not all the classics. We need to find harmonious composer pieces that calm you down. Adjust the music volume to a low level, to a soft smooth intensity, to a level that does not disturb the understanding as you read. Remember the protagonist here is the reading, meanwhile the music is the delicate background for healing your brain. During the saga, we will also explore a diverse range of reading chill-out music authors (solo pianists playing the traditional pianos are amazing too). In every next episode, we will offer more tips about why relaxing soft instrumental music is so harmonious for our reading chill-outs.

See you next Friday 16^th of September, with the third chapter of the saga “Loving to read as a strategist: Historic roots of reading”. Thank you for reading to me. And blessings!

^{“Loving to Read as a Strategist”}. ^{Illustrative and non-commercial image. Giphy source from Nazaret Escobedo.}

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