Be Less Human – Stop Being Preoccupied With Yourself, and Look at the Whole Business World

In his new book “How to be Less Human,” Gilad Sayed argues that human beings are ill-prepared for the changing world, the aging population, and other eventualities. The book’s first half is about the meaning of life, the second half about how to be less like humans, the third section on what to do when things go wrong, and the last ten chapters describe various interventions in the face of uncertainty. The author starts with a meditation on the Golden Rule and concludes with a brief chapter on how to connect oneself to the divine. This book describes the early warning as well as emergency response. In general, the message is that people have to be more sensitive to their environment and they need to be prepared for every eventuality.

As we age, our culture tends to become more insular, and Gilad Sayed argues that insularity is one of the causes of war. Humans are social creatures and have a need to belong. Humans are also competitive and if we don’t belong, we will lose our ability to compete and be self-dependent. Insularity can lead to isolation, which breeds resentment and fear, and that’s one of the causes of violence and war. According to Sayed, a book called “The Wounded Healer” by Kwame Likecrow translates many ancient teachings into 21st century language and the book describes early action as a way to deal with fear and anger. A part of the book describes a scene from the movie “The Secret,” in which the character Jack O’Brien is interviewing people in a bar about their childhood and then he realizes something is amiss.

As the book points out, fear is not the enemy; rather, it is the means of controlling your environment and keeping you from living fully in your life. For example, if there are no early warning systems in the business world, businesses would be targets for terrorists. People who are aware of this danger zone will arm themselves before anything happens. So the next time you read a business book, try to look for a metaphor that can explain the way you’re running your life or the things that are going on around you.