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Thank you for spending your precious time at the site, and hope to see you checking back here for blog posts, new additions to the picture gallery, news on what my current work projects are, resources for students and professionals, and much more as this site evolves.

Why do you have your personal and professional site together?
I do not separate my professional self from who I am as a person. My work and my choices reflect my personality, my experiences, and personal beliefs about life in general. To be successful as an Organization Change consultant, one has to be a deep thinker and believer in the possibility of change itself. This entails knowing my self as much as possible, and consciously striving to change for the better.

Mubeena.Net is a testimony to my own self as much as it is to the world, and so it acts like my mirror of awareness. I would like you to know what my work is about and the services that could be beneficial for your organization, but this site is foundationally about me and the person I am which includes all aspects of myself. It may not be convention, but having both these domains presented together would give you an idea about the whole of me, instead of just one part. I insist about this because my profession is more of a calling than a job as it emphasizes on looking at organizations as holistic and integrated systems, which is just the way I look at my own self.



Why have you chosen to work independently, rather than for a company?
I am very fortunate and grateful to be able to practice independently for now. The answer to this question partly lies in my spontaneous personality as I always need something different to stimulate my creative flow. The chance to work with different organizations, in different cultural settings and dynamics, gives me access to a great wealth of learning experiences. I’ll be very honest and say that I would have trouble sticking to one job routine. Another reason is that I need to devote time to things that are important to me like my books, paintings, and activities that make me a stronger, more confident individual. I have not managed to take the time out for personal activities nor maintain important relationships at previous routine jobs.

Working independently allows me the flexibility and freedom to spend more time with friends and family, concentrate more on personal development and, pay more attention to a few key clients. Being an independent practitioner is helpful also once clients develop trust with me, because the feedback is that they received the warm personal touch that is significantly missing in the business exchanges of today. In addition, cost is minimized for them without the overheads of a large, technical-oriented, consulting firm.



Why is Philosophy such an important discipline for you?
The etymology of the word “Philosophy” results in the translation “Love of Wisdom”. I had two majors in college Psychology and Philosophy as I was highly interested in studying human nature. I also studied a lot of Anthropology, which actually studies human beings in their context (whereas Psychology tends to isolate just the mind and behavioral responses). A long time ago, these subjects were studied under one name ‘Philosophy’. Even the highest degree in education is called the Doctor of Philosophy, i.e. the PhD. Philosophy has been the traditional foundation of all what we know today.

One of my lifetime goals is to pursue a PhD in Philosophy (Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy, talk about meta-cognition!). My philosophy professor in college Dr. David Cernic, in our intro class said, “Philosophy is the most dangerous discipline you will ever learn.” This statement had a profound affect on me because at the time I thought college was going to be a fun party place. Little did I realize it was going to change the way I fundamentally thought about things.

From a pragmatic perspective, I philosophize regularly because it is what all human beings do with very few realizing it. Nobody can deny that they have had some deep thoughts about their world at some point, most probably during troubled times. Although there are formal philosophical areas of study such as metaphysics, epistemology, existentialism, logic, to name a few, I was able to better grasp concepts in Psychology and Anthropology because of my background in Philosophical principles. Philosophy helped me become an excellent writer and refined my art of persuasion through rational logic as well, and I feel a whole lot more sophisticated because of this.

I have been successful at coaching myself out of personal troubles using my knowledge of the various arguments posited by some of my favorite thinkers which include Descartes, Aristotle, Kant, Leibniz, and Spinoza. It is this discipline that has led me to believe that human beings themselves have their own answers. I was reminded of this fundamental belief by my current mentor and business partner Mr. Roland Sullivan whose core idea is that all the solutions are in fact within the client system itself. It is a consultant’s job to bring them out in a safe, non-threatening environment.

If you are interested in exploring Philosophy and getting introduced to thinkers who have shaped our modern thought process, I would recommend reading a book called ‘Sophie’s World’ by Jostein Gaarder. It is a fun book that would surely not intimidate or bore you with complicated technical jargon and concepts. It is simple and more importantly gets the philosophical ideas across.



Why do you consider your work to be more of an art than a science?
Again, I am breaking convention here. I truly believe art has an edge over science (Sorry to shock you. Relax and read on). Many if not most would argue that science and art are equal in value to the essence of the human spirit. Over the years, I have formed a different opinion due to a critical factor: experience. Reading the works of Hume and Kant gave me a life-changing revelation. Science is actually nothing more than human experience. Visit any scientific journal, and you will encounter research studies for and against the same hypothesis. Ironically you will also find arguments for and against the research methods used in these studies. I used to believe in one absolute truth, but lately I’m not sure about that anymore. I have come to believe that there are different ways to reach the same goal, be it material or spiritual, and that it is entirely possible that multiple realms of realities and truths could exist. What I am basically saying is this: what you perceive to be truth may not be another person’s truth.

And so it is with my work. One of my foundational work values is the notion of perspective. Everybody has their own perspective. One organization’s goal and business style fits in with its own indigenous surrounding and culture. So I work with that, instead of trying to “copy” other organizations’ models. This is the reason I tend to shy away from pre-established models and tools. I therefore work closely with the client system to create in-house assessments that will elicit the right data for the organization to act upon, bringing in positive change. My art lies in the creativity and imagination I exercise while designing these assessments, as they go far beyond just survey tools. Although I believe in quantified data, the story behind the numbers is more important when facilitating Organization Change and establishing sound Human Resource Management Systems in areas related to training, selection, compensation, performance appraisals, succession planning, and job design. I use the words ‘design’, ‘creativity’, and ‘imagine’ a lot. These are artists’ words.

I am also an oil painter in my free time. So I guess I am biased toward artistry. A lot of you are afraid that the word ‘bias’ only connotes negative sensibilities. What about positive biases? Think about it, I’m sure you have a lot of them. Being a true artist to me means that you are open to other world-views that affect others, and address issues by empathizing and then bringing solutions to the table that might come out of nowhere, having no beginning or ending.



What does “Change” mean to you?
"You never step into the same river twice.” These simple words uttered by the ancient philosopher Heraclites assure us that change is the only definite in this world. It is exciting to be in the business of change from a professional standpoint, especially since I reside in the ‘fastest changing city in the history of the world’, as my partner Mr. Sullivan says. From a metaphysical perspective, change is invisible. You don’t really see change. You only see the results of change. It is like the wind that you can’t see, but exists because you feel it (seeing is not always believing).

As I apply this belief in my Change work with Mr. Sullivan, a pioneer in the business for the last 40 years, we put minimal emphasis on quantifiable data. Although I believe in some number games, you might not need to invest your time and energy measuring your environment (sorry to shock you again). In fact, when the change brought about by a successful intervention turns out to be so visible, significant, and pervasive, measuring it does not even matter anymore. The best way to measure change is to simply keep your eyes open. Do you want little changes that you have to measure all the time? Or do you want deep change that lasts a lifetime?

On a personal level, “change” to me represents growth, mastery, learning, creating the impact you can make on those around you, being a woman in this highly competitive man’s world, health, love and vitality, prosperity with my inner-self, and refining and authenticating my intellect with every step of my learning process. The real substance in a the whole idea of willingness to change, is the courage to admit that there might be a better way to get to the bottom of anything you are wondering about.