'Quantum physics showed me a new way to look at the world and the universe and also our place as a part of the universe. Because of the quantum paradigm, I later developed the spiritual quotient (SQ)," Danah Zohar tells me, explaining her work as one of the world's foremost management thinkers.
SQ or spiritual intelligence is distinct from intelligence as measured traditionally by IQ. As Ms Zohar put it in the first part of this article on Jan 15, IQ can be expressed as "I think" while SQ is "I am". The latter relates to what people value in life, and its application in business can have profound effects.
Quantum physics originated early in the 20th century, when scientists discovered that the behaviour in the tiny world of the atom was very different from the way we thought the world behaved. Quantum thinking is what has guided Ms Zohar, who studied physics and psychology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before pursuing postgraduate studies in philosophy, religion and psychology at Harvard.
Zohar: Separation only an illusion
"There are eight fundamental ideas of quantum thinking, which I believe have changed the way we think about self, society, management and even spirituality," she explains. "The old paradigm, which is certainly the Western world, is influenced by the old physics of Isaac Newton, which originated in the 17th century and has affected every field during the last 300 years."
Newton declared the universe was made of atoms and that the atom was the smallest unit there was. Like a billiard ball, it is hard and impenetrable. Such thinking influenced other fields.
"Sigmund Freud wanted to be the Newton of psychology," she says. "He saw the individual as an atom. You are an object to me, and I am an object to you. As two objects, we can never know each other. We can never love each other. We can never exchange real intimacy.
"In sociology and politics, John Stuart Mill, a liberal philosopher who worshipped the thinking of Newton, said the individual atom was the basic unit of society. This is where Western individualism comes from."
Adam Smith, whose writing laid the foundation for modern capitalism, also admired Newtonian thinking. "Hence, Smith has the notion of the individual in his philosophy. Smith said two things about human beings: We are always selfish; and we always look out for No.1. This is the rule of the market.
"This selfishness and self-interest are the reason that capitalism is in crisis today, because it has no ethics or morality. It is only about greed and profit for myself and my shareholders. It is selfishness and self-interest that led to the financial crisis in 2008."
Quantum physics changed everything in a world ruled by Newtonians. First, quantum physics says there are many things in an atom, a whole universe, with everything connecting to everything else.
"Everything is defined by everything else. Everything affects the entire universe," Ms Zohar says. "While Newton stressed separation, quantum physics says there is no such thing. Separation is an illusion."
Quantum physics sees everything as interconnected energy, which has implications for humans and society. We are responsible for everything else. This first contrast between Newtonian and quantum thinking is known as atomism versus holism. Ms Zohar lists seven more:
Isolation vs contextualism: "Newton says things don't change. But quantum systems change according to the context of the relationship. This can apply to relationships between business and society, people and government and so on."
Emergence: "According to Newton, in order to understand a whole, we have to break it into parts. If we understand the parts, we understand the whole. The quantum paradigm says the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It can be 2 + 2 = 5. Cooperation is the collection of divisions and has its own personality and its own brain."
Indeterminacy: "Newton says everything is determined by three laws of the universe and the principle of gravity. If we know these laws, we can control whatever will happen. In quantum thinking, we cannot predict everything. In business, that means having to prepare and adapt all the time."
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle: "Werner Heisenberg says we may know something but not everything. There is always uncertainty, which is different from the Newtonian paradigm that believes that we can predict everything. This paradigm influenced the 'no questions' habit among students, because they only learn facts from teachers. Then we get employees who never ask since they never asked in school."
Complementarity: "Unlike Newtonian thinking, which considers things as black or white, here or there, quantum physics tells us that something can happen in more than one way. Light is both a particle and a wave. People are individuals and can be in groups at the same time. In this context, I can see that the Asians are more flexible and ready for change than Westerners. With this approach, business will accept more diversity."
Reality and potentiality: "Newtonians say reality is what we can touch and never change. Quantum physics looks at potentiality even if something has not actually happened yet. In this regard, I can grasp the future in my hand. Love and imagination are real. In the workplace, instead of assigning a job with certain expectations, businesses should allow the employee to understand the whole corporation and let them bring their potential to support the business and not focus on their division only."
The participatory universe: "Newton said God made a 'universal clock' at the beginning of time. Reality is out there, and we are just passive witnesses to it. We have to accept reality. However, quantum physics thinks we are both observers and makers of the world. If the world is in a mess, it is because of us, not because of government, climate or other factors. We are responsible for the world."
"Western society suffers today from a great deal of social alienation, loneliness, mental illness and drug addiction. This is because people do not have a sense that they are part of something larger," Ms Zohar concludes. "Each of us is part of a whole. When corporations realise that they cannot separate themselves from others, they will have better chance of business success while being good corporate citizens as well."
Sorayuth Vathanavisuth is the principal and executive coach at the Center for Southeast Asia Leadership and lectures at Mahidol University's College of Management. His areas of interest are corporate strategy, executive coaching and leadership development. He can be reached at sorayuth@sealeadership.com