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Each Wednesday, we feature a short story or cartoon to illustrate that there is no better place than the workplace to find humor and relieve stress. All that you have to do is look, listen and learn to laugh.
This week: "To a hungry man give a piece of bread and not 31 different flavors; or else he will throw up (or in this particular case, get crushed)" ...
Hint: You can click on the cartoon to enlarge it.
“Two roads diverged in the wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference”
- From a Poem by Robert Frost.
Storyline:
Prior to Christopher Columbus’ voyage to America in 1492, the known path to India was going east via the African coastline.
Christopher Columbus decided to travel westward to reach India. The scientists, navigators and experienced travelers of the time thought that he was crazy.
So when Columbus approached the King of Portugal for venture money to sponsor a voyage to India via the western route, he received a “No, Thank You.” The King had already invested in plans to reach India through the eastern route.
Columbus received similar responses from crowns in Spain, France and England. But he did not give up - I guess some people never learn from existing data. Finally, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain did put seed money in to Columbus’ venture. The rest is history.
Reflection:
The key difference between Columbus’ voyage and other contemporary explorers of his time was that Columbus took the road less traveled. And in the process he discovered a new continent and unlimited opportunities for the people who followed.
Each Wednesday, we feature a short story or cartoon to illustrate that there is no better place than the workplace to find humor and relieve stress. All that you have to do is look, listen and learn to laugh.
This week: "The games (in)decision makers play - throwing irrelevant monkey wrenches".
Hint: You can click on the cartoon to enlarge it.
Ability is what you are capable of doing, motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. - Lou Holtz.
Storyline:
Early in my career, one boss gave me sage advice: “Companies hire us to make things possible, not to report why things are not possible”. Throughout my career, I have seen many examples of people who do not stop for the “impossible”. Here is one such story:
You don’t have the right degree.
Many years ago, while looking for a person to manage our business systems, we interviewed a young man who had just graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in business. Knowing fully well that he did not have a degree in Computer Science, as was normally required; we took into account the fact that he was a computer fanatic from the age of eight and displayed tremendous enthusiasm to tackle new challenges. It was a risk, but the interview team felt that it was worth it.
You can’t get onto the corporate roadmap.
During the first month, he noticed that our small group needed some key applications, but was told that it was impossible to get on the corporate group’s roadmap. So he decided to learn programming himself. Instead of going to a full semester course with a fee of $3,600 that others had done, he bought a book for $32 and got started on the basics.
We don’t have the budget.
Then came the second hurdle. We did not have the budget for the server to host our applications. He found out that a local IT department had recently upgraded some systems and had put the old ones in the warehouse. He got one for free. In the process, he made friends with the technician who provided invaluable support, and who was later himself promoted into new roles.
The customers hate dealing with IT.
His customers were used to support groups that measured their success by the number of tools delivered, instead of tracking if it had solved the customer’s real needs. As a refreshing change, he patiently listened to various internal customer/user groups’ needs and then focused on delivering solutions rather than just systems and tools. Customer satisfaction had never been higher.
Starting up a business is the biggest challenge.
When, after 5 years with us, he left to pursue his own venture, the stamp on his exit paper read “Eligible for Re-hire” (as soon as he is available.) I expect these same qualities will help to overcome the next level of obstacles in starting up two businesses destined for success.
Reflection:
In the words of one my mentors, “The difference between a very successful person and not-so-successful one; between a 5 figure and 7 figure income is not in the technical or content knowledge. It is given that you need that. The key differentiation is in how you carry yourself with respect to attitude, relationships, communication, commitments…
Each Wednesday we feature a short story or cartoon to illustrate that there is no better place than the workplace to find humor and relieve stress. All that you have to do is look, listen and learn to laugh.
This week - "Deciding not to decide, in such a way that people do not notice, is an art. Here is one of the games that (in)Decision makers play".
Hint: You can click on the cartoon to enlarge it.
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction" -E.F. Schumacher
Storyline (Provided by a reader):
This happened in one of the biggest cosmetics companies in Japan. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department.
For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a lot of time and money to do so.
But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.
Reflection: "Most of the things in life are simple and only the wise understand them" - Paulo Coelho
We're starting a new spot each Wednesday called "Humor in the Workplace", featuring a short story or cartoon to illustrate that there is no better place than the workplace to find humor and relieve stress. All that you have to do is look, listen and learn to laugh.
This week - "If so many busy people were not so busy describing how busy they are, they won't be that busy after all". Hint: You can click on the cartoon to enlarge it.
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm - Churchill.
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. - Edison.
It is not how many times you fall but how many times you get up (and fight again.)
Storyline: Wimbledon Memories (Persistence Pays, Part 3)
On the coming weekend, the prestigious Wimbledon Tennis Tournament in London will crown its winners for the year 2007. For me, this event always brings back fond memories.
In the late 80s, Andre Agassi, the son of an Iranian immigrant to USA, was the hottest teenage star on the world tennis circuit. By the age of 19, he had reached the semifinals of the French Open once and the US open twice. A favorite of fans worldwide, he was considered the future grand slam winner (i.e. the player who wins all four major tennis championships: Australian, French, Wimbledon, US).
So it was no surprise when in 1990, he was considered heavy favorite to win French and US Opens when he reached the finals of those tournaments; and particularly on the surfaces which favored his style of baseline tennis. But he lost both those events: French to Andres Gomez and US to Pete Sampras. The next year he reached French Open finals again, and despite being a favorite to win, he lost against Jim Courier.
It was a devastating blow, the humiliation on the world stage for someone so young. The audience could feel his pain when he sat on the players’ chair after the games were finished, his eyes filled with tears and face gazing at the infinite sky. And one could notice the tears in the eyes of the audience as well.
Many would have gone into seclusion after such defeats and given up. But the true winners in life do otherwise. The next year (1992), to the tennis world’s surprise, he reached the finals of Wimbledon; its grass surface considered unfavorable to his style of baseline tennis. Andre Agassi defeated hard serving and favored Goran Ivanisevic and became the champion.
As he sat in the players’ chair, one could see the tears rolling down his eyes; and again the world audience shared their tears with him; only this time they were the tears of joy; each tear telling the story of Persistence, Perseverance and not giving up on his Passion in life: the game of tennis.
Since then, Andre has won seven more Grand Slam titles, received the world’s #1 ranking in tennis for several years, and won Olympic gold medal. He is one of only five male players to have won all four Grand Slam singles events.
Agassi said goodbye to tennis in 2006. He is heavily involved in the Andre Agassi charitable foundation that provides education and medical facilities to abused and neglected children, as well as handicapped and the ones in need of medical treatment.
Reflection:
A beautiful and profound quote (source unknown) that Agassi shared at the end of one of his training tapes in early 90s has stayed with me forever: “What you are is God’s gift to you; what you become is your gift to God.”
