My journey to the workshop was almost accidental. After reading Manish’s profile at a random Systems Thinking gathering, I reached out, expecting to exchange ideas as peers. Within minutes, I realized he was operating on an entirely different level. When I discovered he ran workshops, I signed up immediately—and even convinced a few acquaintances to join me.
I expected my understanding of systems to be challenged, but not dismantled. What truly shook me wasn’t just the material, but Manish’s teaching style—or rather, his theaching. He doesn’t simply add new knowledge on top of old beliefs. He first proves your existing beliefs wrong, because you can’t build systems understanding on faulty epistemological foundations. Wrong must be torn down before right can be built.
The most profound “theaching” for me was his question: “How do you know what you know is knowledge?” When he showed me that my methods for knowing—my very epistemology—were flawed, it sparked a chain reaction. Suddenly, I began questioning everything. I could see how Manish has synthesized management, leadership, and organizational theory in a way that is both unsettling and liberating.
Others warned me this process can be emotionally taxing—and they were right. But it is also life-changing. I walked away feeling like a child again: curious, aware, and practicing the art of thinking in daily life. I now see possibilities I couldn’t before. No wonder Swapnil Sapar said it took him a second immersion to fully grasp the concepts. It makes sense—I plan to attend again when the opportunity arises.
Here’s my advice to anyone considering the workshop:
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If you can, attend in person. I joined online, and even so, it was profound. But I can only imagine how much deeper the impact would be face-to-face.
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Be open to being proven wrong. Manish would argue this advice is futile—because most of us think we’re open-minded but aren’t, especially if we’re using a flawed way of knowing. He will expose that.
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Do the reading. Some of the papers are hard, but read them anyway. I skipped some and realized I robbed myself of the full benefit of his “prove you wrong” method.
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Stop asking transactional questions like, “What value will I get? What’s the ROI? What career boost will it give me?” These are the wrong questions. This workshop is about your mind—your thinking—and how you use that thinking to design and operate your life and the organizations you’re part of. It will affect how you lead and manage yourself, and how you lead and manage others.
This course may sound philosophical and theoretical—and it is—but Manish constantly grounds it in real-life applications. In my view, this workshop is essential for executives, managers, and anyone who wants to truly understand the theory of why systems behave the way they do—and then apply that theory to change systems to work the way you want.
Take the leap of faith. Attend this workshop. You’ll come out humbler, sharper, and forever changed.
