Friday, July 30, 2010

The lesson

Dad was reading the magazine; his little daughter distracted him every now and then… To keep her busy, he tore one page of that magazine on which was printed the map of the world. Further, he tore it into pieces and asked her to go to her room and put them together to make the map again!... He was sure she would take the whole day to get it done… Nevertheless, the little one came back within minutes with the perfect map…
When he asked how she could do it so quickly, she said,
Oh… Dad, there was a man’s face on the other side of the paper bits you have given… I put that side to keep the bits together... And when I put the face together, the map fell in place too…
She ran outside to play leaving the father astounded.
There are always different ways to solve the puzzle of our life,
The challenge in front to us is, how far we are smart in picking the way we want to solve it, either make it simple or make it complicated…

Friday, July 16, 2010

A very nice management lesson....

Suddenly, a cockroach flew from somewhere and sat on her. I wondered if this was the cockroach’s response to all the glory that was spoken about it! She started screaming out of fear. With panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach. Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group got cranky to what was happening. The lady finally managed to push the cockroach to another lady in the group. Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama. The waiter rushed forward to their rescue. In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter. The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he grabbed and threw it out with his fingers.
Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behavior? If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed? He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos. It is not the cockroach, but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies.
I realized even in my case then , it is not the shouting of my father or my boss that disturbs me, but its my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me. Its not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me. More than the problem, its my reaction to the problem that hurts me.

Lessons learnt from the story:

I understood, I should not react in life. I should always respond. The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded. Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always intellectual.