Friday Reflections

When Preparation Meets Opportunity.

POINT TO PONDER:  “A winning effort begins with preparation.”  - Joe Gibbs

STORYLINE: by Jim Mulready (repeat from March 8,2012)

Rock guitarist Ronnie Montrose grew up admiring musicians like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Hendrix. Born in San Francisco and reared in Denver, he returned to San Francisco in 1968 to be around the “San Francisco Sound” that was becoming popular at the time. Music was his passion; he practiced in the evening and supported himself doing repair and carpentry jobs during the day. He was the kind of young man most people would think of as “just another starving musician.”

In 1970, while doing an office remodel, he met promoter Bill Graham who introduced him to his partner and music producer, David Rubinson. Graham and Rubinson ran a small record label at the time (Fillmore Records) and after watching Montrose play with his band, Sawbuck, they signed them to a recording contract. Rubinson was so impressed with Montrose's talent and ambition that he got him some session work with the Pointer Sisters and keyboardist Herbie Hancock. Then came his big break.

In 1971, Van Morrison was assembling a band for a new album, eventually released as Tupelo Honey. Rubinson secured Montrose an audition and he got the job. After two albums Morrison moved onto another band and Ronny got a job touring with Boz Scaggs for 3 months.

Now established, Montrose went on to a 40+ year musical career. In addition to forming his own band several times, he played with such bright lights as Sammy Hagar, Edgar Winters, the Neville Brothers, the Beau Brummels, and many others. He continues doing session work for many other performers and recorded countless movie soundtracks.

He continued touring until his untimely death from prostrate cancer last week (March 3, 2012), passing at the age of 64 years.

REFLECTION

At some point you will meet someone who will absolutely change the direction of your life. You won't see it coming and you probably won't even realize it while it's happening. Only in hindsight will it become obvious who that person meant. When Ronnie Montrose took that carpentry job remodeling an office, he had no idea who Bill Graham and David Rubinson were, but they saw his talent and gave him a chance.

Ronnie took care of the preparation by being the best musician he could; Graham and Rubinson provided opportunity. Preparation + Opportunity = Success. What have you done today to prepare yourself? 

The People's Prime Minister

Samiuela ʻAkilisi Pōhiva (7 April 1941 – 12 September 2019)

 Photo Credit/Kalino Lātū

Point to Ponder: “To live in the hearts one leaves behind is not to die.” Thomas Campbell

He struck me as a very thoughtful, generous individual. He lived in a small, humble home on the outskirts of Nuku'alofa, always came across as a man of the people who lived a simple life and didn't care much for the perks of office.  -- Newshub's pacific affairs correspondent Michael Morrah.

Story Line:  During out visit to Tonga in 2018, my wife and I had good fortune to meet and chat with this truly humble man in a chance encounter. We were having lunch in a street café and The Honorable Prime Minister and His Advisor walked in. Our Tongan friend introduced us and The Honorable Prime Minister invited us to join on his table. He watched the video about Tonga that I was in process of making and then asked us what we thought of his country. Our discussion continued about industrialization and tourism and also about the Silicon Valley. In very modest inquiring and honest way he expressed his views about those subjects and his great concern about environmental issues. We were honored and touched by his humility, candidness and simplicity. Since then, we have kept in touch with his Advisor who is now a good friend, and had exchanged some messages with The Honorable Prime Minister through him.

Up on returning home, my curiosity led me to do a lot of research about him. I was truly impressed to learn about his passion for democracy and human rights and the price he paid to achieve these objectives for his country and people. Once described as the Nelson Mandela of the Pacific, Mr. Akilisi Pohiva was the first commoner to be elected Tonga's Prime Minister in 2014, rather than being appointed by the King. Since learning of his death yesterday, I have been thinking a lot about him and his remarkable life of service. For some reasons I still can’t figure out why, but I remembered a Reflection from very very early days. (April 06, 2007) while thinking about this great man. He was always there for his People. 

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/entertainment/story/akilisi-pohiva-the-peoples-prime-minister-and-his-quest-for-democratic-reform/vi-AAHbkhE

Reflection: The Doctor Is: In

Points to Ponder: “What we once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” Helen Keller

Story Line: The story was about the doctor in a small town. He was a very kind and caring man. He loved what he did: which was to serve people who were sick and needed help. His clinic was full of people from early morning hours to late evenings; and he was always available to serve any one in need at any hour during the night as well.

Appropriately, the sign outside his office always indicated; The Doctor Is: In

The doctor was too shy and also too busy to find someone as a mate and thus a single man. He had an assistant, a very caring and good hearted nurse who had worked with him for years. She liked and respected this man’s passion for his profession and dedication to a worthy cause. Over time, they developed liking for each other and decided to get married.

Finally, came the day of the wedding ceremony. When the doctor was about to leave his house, a couple arrived to his clinic with a very sick child who needed an emergency surgery. He forgot about everything else and focused on the sick child. The bride and the guests waited for a long time and then gave up. Feeling sad and humiliated, she left the town.

For years, the doctor kept servicing people as he always did. Eventually, life took its course and this good man died of an old age.

The whole town gathered to pay homage to this man who had served them selflessly and whom they loved dearly. One big dilemma emerged at the end of the services. What should be the right epitaph for a man who lived such a great life?

While the town people were struggling to find the right words for the inscription on his tombstone, the former nurse (yes, the bride who had waited) arrived at the scene. She had heard about her former boss’ death and had rushed to the town. The town people shared their dilemma about the epitaph with her.

After paying her respect to her former boss and saying final good bye to him, she pulled out a plaque from a hand bag and put it on his tombstone.

It read- The Doctor Is: In

(Yes, that was the same plaque that had hung outside his office during his entire life)

 My mother told me this amazingly touching story in either late 60s or early 70s. We don’t remember the source. However, if anyone knows the source, please let me know and I will pass on the credit where it is due. Thanks

 

The Basics

POINT TO PONDER: Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know- Pema Chodron

STORY LINE: I have been fortunate to have learned a great deal from many wonderful mentors, teachers, and bosses in my life. Even in the pressure cooker environment of High Technology people have taken the time to impart “soft” lessons to me. The following lesson, written by an unknown author, was given to me by one of my senior colleagues and a friend during the mid-part of my career. Looking back, he meant well.

The Basics

You Will Receive A Body
You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.  

You Will Have Learning Experiences
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life. Each day in this school, you will have the opportunity to learn lessons - you may like the lesson or think them irrelevant and stupid.  

There Are No Mistakes, Only Lessons
There is a process of trial and error; experimentation. The 'failed' experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately 'works'.  

A Lesson Is Repeated Until It Is Learned
A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.  

Learning Does Not End. 
There is no part of Life that does not contain learning. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.  

'There' Is No Better Than 'Here'. 
When your 'there' has become a 'here', you will simply obtain another 'there' that will again look better than 'here'.  

Others Are Merely Mirrors Of You. 
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.  

What You Make Of Your Life Is Up To You. 
You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.  

Your Answers Lie Inside You. 
The answers to Life's questions lie inside you. All you need do is look, listen and trust. 

You Can Forget All This or Make it Worthwhile.

Happy Birthday to “Oracle of Omaha”- Warren Buffett at 89

Points to Ponder: “When you get to my age you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you.”

“Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”

Story Line: Warren Buffett, an extra ordinary human being who has given away most of his $88 billion in wealth to Bill Gates Foundation, turns 89 today. With his profound wisdom, practical experience and the great sense of humor, he has continued to inspire us. Below, Warren's views about political and socio-economic system that he shared in Q&A with University of Maryland MBA students.

How has your understanding of markets contributed towards your political views?

WB: I wouldn’t say knowledge of markets has. My political views were formed by this process.  Just imagine that it is 24 hours before you are born. A genie comes and says to you in the womb, “You look like an extraordinarily responsible, intelligent, potential human being. Going to emerge in 24 hours and it is an enormous responsibility I am going to assign to you – determination of the political, economic and social system into which you are going to emerge. You set the rules, any political system, democracy, parliamentary, anything you wish, can set the economic structure, communistic, capitalistic, set anything in motion and I guarantee you that when you emerge this world will exist for you, your children and grandchildren.

What’s the catch? One catch – just before you emerge you have to go through a huge bucket with 7 billion slips, one for each human. Dip your hand in and that is what you get – you could be born intelligent or not intelligent, born healthy or disabled, born black or white, born in the US or in Bangladesh, etc. You have no idea which slip you will get. Not knowing which slip you are going to get, how would you design the world? Do you want men to push around females? It’s a 50/50 chance you get female.

If you think about the political world, you want a system that gets what people want. You want more and more output because you’ll have more wealth to share around. The US is a great system, turns out $50,000 GDP per capita, 6 times the amount when I was born in just one lifetime. But not knowing what slip you get, you want a system that once it produces output, you don’t want anyone to be left behind. You want to incentivize the top performers, don’t want equality in results, but do want something that those who get the bad tickets still have a decent life. You also don’t want fear in people’s minds – fear of lack of money in old age, fear of cost of health care.  I call this the “Ovarian Lottery”. My sisters didn’t get the same ticket. Expectations for them were that they would marry well, or if they work, would work as a nurse, teacher, etc. If you are designing the world knowing 50/50 male or female, you don’t want this type of world for women – you could get female. Design your world this way; this should be your philosophy.

I look at Forbes 400, look at their figures and see how it’s gone up in the last 30 years. Americans at the bottom are also improving, and that is great, but we don’t want that degree of inequality. Only governments can correct that. Right way to look at it is the standpoint of how you would view the world if you didn’t know who you would be. If you’re not willing to gamble with your slip out of 100 random slips, you are lucky! The top 1% of 7 billion people. Everyone is wired differently. You can’t say you do everything yourself. We all have teachers, and people before us who led us to where we are. We can’t let people fall too far behind. You all definitely got good slips.

You are one of the few male CEO’s who champions women in the workplace. Can you talk about your reasoning and how we can contribute our intelligence to the workplace?

WB:  We wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776 – “All men are created equal” etc. In 1789 we wrote a Constitution – on second thoughts… blacks are only 3/5 of a person. They slipped up. They wrote in such a way that they didn’t have to use gender pronouns. They gave themselves away in presidency, they said “He”. Pretty soon all men are created equal became all males are created equal……….…………..

Everyone had expectations of me as a child, but my sisters who were just as smart, were delegated to something different. Here is this country, think about how far we came from using half our talent. Now we are beginning to unleash the potential of the other half.

Notes of the all Q&A are in the following link:

https://blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu/davidkass/uncategorized/warren-buffetts-meeting-with-university-of-maryland-mbams-students-november-15-2013/

Reflection:  A man’s true wealth hereafter is the good he has done for his fellowmen.  Mahatma Gandhi

For those yearning for more Golden Nuggets of Wisdom from Warren ……see following articles

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/30/warren-buffett-why-you-should-focus-on-your-communication-skills.html

https://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/02/warren-buffetts-magnificent-seven-.html

Leadership and Mental Toughness

Point to Ponder: Mental toughness is also the perfectly disciplined will and the will, gentlemen, is the character in action. 

Story Line: from the speech of Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi. 

But the most important element in the character make-up of a man who is successful is that of mental toughness, and I might say the most difficult to explain because mental toughness is so many things. For example, it is humility. Simplicity is a form of humility and simplicity is the sign of true greatness. Meekness is a sign of humility, and meekness is a sign of true strength. Mental toughness is spartanism with its qualities of sacrifice and self-denial, also the qualities of dedication and fearlessness and love. Not the love you have for your wife or your wife may have for you. The love I am speaking of is loyalty, which is the greatest of loves. Teamwork, which is a form of love and the love one man, has for another is respecting the dignity of another man. The love I speak of is not detraction. You show me a man who speaks ill of another and I’ll show you a man who is only temporarily successful. Or one who is not charitable. Or one who is not loyal. I’m not advocating that love is the answer to everything, but when I speak about the love which forces everyone to love everyone else. For example, you’ve got to love the white man because he is white or the black man because he is black or the poor man because he is poor, or your enemy because he is your enemy, but rather a love of one human for another human – who just happens to be white or black, rich or poor, enemy or friend, because heart power is your strength, heart-power is the strength of your company, heart-power is the strength of America, and hate-power is the weakness of the world. Mental toughness is also the perfectly disciplined will and the will, gentlemen, is the character in action. The great hope of society has to be character in action and we are never going to create a good society much less a great one until we once more recognize and respect individual excellence. Because if we would create something we must be something, because character is the direct result of doing. Character is the direct result of mental attitude and you cannot copy someone else’s particular character qualifications but must develop your own according to your own particular personality.

Let me say this in closing. When all is said and done – to be successful a man must exert an effective influence upon his brothers and upon his associates and the degree in which he accomplishes this depends upon the personality of the man. The incandescence of which he is capable, The flame of the fire that burns inside him, The magnetism which draws the hearts of other men to him. No man, no matter how great he may be, can long continue to be successful unless he wins the battles because the battle decides all. How you do this, I think it is essential to understand that conquests are won primarily in the hearts of men and once you have won their hearts, they’ll follow you anywhere. Man will respond to this type of leadership in a most remarkable way. Success is based on a spiritual quality; a power to inspire others, sometimes for good, sometimes for evil, sometimes for one’s personal ends, sometimes it can be partially or wholly evil. When it is evil, fortunately, while it may temporarily succeed, it always keeps within itself the seeds of it’s own destruction. The difference between a successful man and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will because the character rather then education is man’s greatest need and man’s greatest safeguard because the character is higher than the intellect. The difference between men is in energy, in the strong will, in a singleness of purpose, and an invincible determination. But the great difference is in sacrifice, in self-denial, in love and loyalty, in fearlessness and in humility, in the pursuit of excellence and in the perfectly disciplined will, because this is not only the difference between men, this is the difference between great and little men.

The entire speech can be found at

http://www.daytonagonisclub.com/vince-lombardi-agonis-speech.html

Reflection: January 1976 was my first exposure to Superbowl championship game. When Pittsburg Steelers were being given the trophy, the announcement said Vince Lombardi trophy. My curiosity led me to the local library to find out who was Vince Lombardi. I discovered that he was not just a coach but a great human being with high ethics and superb moral character. I have admired his leadership and values and learnt a lot from his life. Below is some information about Vince Lombardi. (Source Wikipedia)

Vincent Lombardi is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight and five total NFL Championships in seven years, in addition to winning the first two Super Bowls at the conclusion of the 1966 and 1967 NFL seasons.

He never had a losing season as a head coach in the NFL, compiling a regular season winning percentage of 72.8% (96–34–6), and 90% (9–1) in the postseason for an overall record of 105 wins, 35 losses, and 6 ties in the NFL. 

Although Lombardi was noted for his gruff demeanor and "iron discipline", he was far ahead of his time in creating a supportive environment for gay players, and he emphatically challenged existing Jim Crow Laws, and provided leadership to break the color barrier in football. He once said that he "... viewed his players as neither black nor white, but Packer green". 

Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized as one of the greatest coaches and leaders in the history of all American sports. The year after his sudden death from cancer in 1970, he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the NFL Super Bowl trophy was named in his honor.  

 

 

How good is your title?

"My job title not only represents the scope of my assignment but most importantly it represents the enormous obligation I have to deliver great value to my stakeholders."
   - Joe Z, my fourth boss, who went to become a very successful and respected executive

 

Storyline:

How good is your title? Well it depends on what you do, as Joe said in the above quote.  What happens when the focus on your title becomes more important than the focus on the value you create?  Consider the following true story:

One Friday afternoon in the late 1970s, we were having a birthday celebration and some cake with our director, "SD". SD asked Ken and I, two recent college graduates, to join him in his office for a chat. He lit a cigar and started telling us different events from his life with every puff of smoke he took. In those days, there were no smoking regulations, and as new hires, we had no choice but to endure a lot of smoke!

He (SD) was 28 years old (puff), had a Ph.D. from a prestigious university by the time he was 24 (puff), he had already become a director at the age of 27 (puff), repeated thrice that he was a director (puff, puff, puff), had a house on the hills (puff, puff) and land in an affluent area ...

Just at that moment, his phone rang. It seemed to be from his boss. As soon as he hung up the phone, he told us "My boss (the General Manager) is calling an emergency meeting. I need to go."

As he was leaving his office door, he looked at us with a smirk and said, "You guys are lucky. You don't have Friday afternoon emergency meetings at your level."

That was the last time we saw SD. On Monday morning, we were summoned to our own emergency meeting by the General Manager and introduced to our new director.

Reflection:  As our meeting with the GM ended and we were leaving the room, Ken and I had learned one of the most important lessons at an early stage of our career: your title is as good as one phone call from the boss.  What matters is the value you deliver to stakeholders.

Breaking a Rookie into the Game. Promoting an Employee to the Next Level.

Point to Ponder: In business or in sports, people are hired based on their skills. The day of reckoning is when a person is asked to perform in situations where the game is on the line with thousands of people screaming and loud music playing in the background.

Story Line: Most organizations like corporations, sports teams, studios, normally go through a rigorous screening process to select “the right” candidate for a job.

But what determines the success of an employee and/or the team going forward? There is a dual responsibility here; on the employee and much more on the manager. Assessing when to break/introduce a person in different situations is an extremely important aspect of coaching and managing.

In the early 90s, a major league baseball team needed to win the final game of the season to get into the playoffs.

For the most crucial game of the season, the manager had two reliable veterans available to pitch but he decided to go with a very promising, hard throwing rookie pitcher.

He was known for being people’s manager and possibly envisioned headline stories written about the boldness and the genius of him, and the guts of the rookie. But the experienced fans who had watched the rookie’s performance during the regular season were concerned that even though he was impressive and talented, he had not been tested in any high pressure situations during the regular season.

For those who watched the game, the rest is history. With a few hits from the opponents, the rookie crumbled. The opponents piled up a huge lead against the rookie pitcher by the third inning and the team never recovered and lost.

The most promising rookie of the year could not recover from the emotional shock and left baseball. His attempt to return a few years later was not successful.

With that decision on that fateful day, the manager did disservice to the team and ruined the career of a very promising young man.

Reflection:

I have seen such things happen several times in my career and at every level of the organization. Putting bright employees in charge of managing projects without training or coaching about people management skills and emotional readiness, asking very promising employee to present in front of a very hostile senior management without understanding his emotional maturity and preparing him for the audience, promoting good employees to the next level without necessary political savviness and emotional maturity.

I have also seen cases on the other side where young rookie employees with great potential, with good coaching and mentoring, have hit home run (did extremely well) in the big league (complex projects, interactions with senior management) in their first at bat.

This is an important lesson for managers and leaders in any field. Before promoting a person or assigning him/her to manage crucial tasks in a high pressure environment (Big League), asses if the person is emotionally/mentally ready to handle that level of challenges. If not, spend more time in coaching and preparation.

If you want to go fast, go alone, If you want to go far, go with others.

 

Point to Ponder: The relationships of heart stay much longer than the work relationships. – Pravin R Shah

August 5th is 35th anniversary of Friday Stories during evening car rides with our children. It is also 15th anniversary on internet,

Story Line: “At (company name) you become irrelevant as soon as you resign and you are forgotten soon after you are gone. It’s no longer the company you knew from the last time you were here” advised the senior person who was assigned as my buddy for smooth integration into the company. Soon after I got a dose of it when I approached a factory manager asking politely if he had a minute to talk. “Only if you have something useful to say” was the reply and he walked away.

I was a little disturbed but not discouraged. We spend more 11 to 12 hours (in some industries a lot more) in work related things during the day, and discounting sleep and other necessities, we are lucky to have two to three hours of family time. That means the time we spend with people at work is more than 5X times what we spend with our loved ones at home. Throughout my career, my associates at work have been my family there. I decided not to approach it any differently in this changed environment.

And for the next eighteen years, our global group spanning many countries and cultures worked as a team, as a well functional family, and accomplished some phenomenal results as measured and acknowledged by the Real Customers. A little more than four years ago, I said my final goodbye to the industry. However the relationships with many people I worked with have stayed strong and daily notes and many visits have continued.

The advice I got my father when I was 12 years old has worked in career and life “ Most important business relations are personal ones.”

Reflection:

Recently my wife and I visited Oregon and met some of my old colleagues there. One has retired, one has moved on to other company and others are still at the original company.

Here are a few memories of five days we spent. (Using a few lines of Barbara Bush speech at Wellesley for narration)

Cherish your human connections, your relationships with family and friends.

For several years you’ve had impressed upon you the importance to your career of dedication & hard work, and of course that’s true.

But as important as your obligations as a doctor, a lawyer, a business leader will be, you are a human being first and those human connections with spouses, with children, with friends are the most important investment you will ever make.

At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend or a parent.

Friends never say "Good Bye"  They simply say "See you again."

 

 

Every Life Tells a Story

As we end the 34th year of Friday Reflection and 14th year on internet.

Points to Ponder: Childhood Memories

I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?  - Quote from the movie "Stand By Me" by Stephen King

 

My dad taught me from my youngest childhood memories through these connections with Aboriginal and tribal people that you must always protect people's sacred status, regardless of the past. - Steve Irwin

Reflection: by Analisa  (written in the year 2007)

Friday Reflections began when I was a little girl growing up in the heart of Silicon Valley. Every Friday, after dinner; my father, mother, brother and I would pile into our beat up, light yellow, 1983 Volvo to go for our weekly rides. During these rides, which would last about an hour, my father would regale us with all sorts of intriguing stories. Always, there was a little touch of humor, but there was also something a little more: a lesson to be learned. The stories were almost always from his childhood or his current life in the high tech world. My father told these stories in such a casual way that my brother and I never felt like we were in school being lectured; we just enjoyed listening to stories.

These drives continued for years and years. No matter how long my father had worked through the week, he always had enough energy to take us out on those magical Friday night rides. My father is a great storyteller. Even to this day, he can tell a story with people so intrigued from beginning to end. We loved those stories and thought he was a fun dad.

Time passed till my brother and I reached our teenage years. The time we spent at home grew less; and the ability to get all four of us together on a Friday night, even any night, was nearly impossible. Eventually, my brother and I left for college and the stories stopped completely. We had started our own journeys into the world.

One Friday night, before I headed out the door with some friends, I logged into my email account. An email awaited in my inbox. It read: Friday Reflections. It was from my father. I opened it up; and there was one of his stories told in an email, just as if I were a little girl again sitting in the backseat of a 1983 light yellow Volvo listening intently to her dad.

By 2004, Friday Reflections was being distributed to hundreds of friends over the world. In 2007, my brother Rajiv, our friend Neil, and I embarked on making these stories available to others through World Wide Web and The Book.

We only hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as my brother, I and many friends have through the years. 

Story Line by Anand: On a few occasions I have been asked how I have so many stories to share. Once two colleagues asked that very same thing. Interestingly in a half an hour conversation with them, they had shared a few stories of their own that could be Friday Reflection entries of their own. I pointed this idea out to them. I enjoy reflecting after a satisfactory encounter with any person, place or new learning experience. Almost every day I get a new story from meeting people, reading or witnessing something or with a new experience. My greatest joy is in being able to recall these experience and share them with others.  Every life has a story. Don’t be afraid to share! Because as I have quoted many times before, “Things that are given away are never lost.”

 

 

 

Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.

 

POINT TO PONDER: "Why was Solomon recognized as the wisest man in the world? Because he knew more stories (proverbs) than anyone else. Scratch the surface in a typical boardroom and we're all just cavemen with briefcases, hungry for a wise person to tell us stories." - Alan Kay, at Walt Disney.

 

REFLECTION: It was a late night in early November 2007 in Ireland. I had just arrived at the Maynooth station from Dublin. After a long wait, I finally got a taxi. During travel to my hotel, I noticed that the taxi driver had a long last name that ended in Coelho, his first name was Luis. So I asked Luis if he had any connection with the well-known author Paulo Coelho. He told me that the only connection was that he had read all of Paulo’s books. Luis was very well-read person and sparked conversations between us that lasted for a half an hour after we reached my hotel; us still talking in his taxi and him ignoring many calls for the service. On my last day in Dublin, Luis came to the hotel and gave me the book, "The Heart or the Enlightened" by Anthony De Mello.

 

Anthony De Mello? The first time I had heard about him was only two weeks prior when I was in Costa Rica. I was at the hotel desk, inquiring about the tour to Arenal Volcano. Lee, a retiree of the American corporate world and frequent visitor to Costa Rica, happened to overhear my question and offered some tips. That started a conversation which converged to our common interests in books and travel, and him mentioning Anthony De Mello.

 

So here is a some profound wisdom about story telling from “The Heart of The Enlightened” by Anthony De Mello.

 

STORY LINE:  "It is a great mystery that though the human heart longs for Truth in which it alone it finds liberation and delight, the first reaction of human beings to Truth is one of hostility and fear. So the Spiritual Teachers of humanity created a device to circumvent the opposition of their listeners: the story.

 

They knew that the most entrancing words a language holds are 'Once upon a time...,' that it is common to oppose a truth but impossible to resist a story. Vyasa, the author of the Mahabharata, says that if you listen carefully to a story you will never be the same again. That is because the story will worm its way into your heart and break down the barriers to the divine.

 

You have to understand, my dears, that the shortest distance between truth and a human being is a story."

 

"Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today." -Robert McKee