Friday Reflections

The lesson of the bull and the good company

"It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Storyline:

Once upon a time, there was a family of three; a father, a mother and a son, who were traveling on a country road with their bull. By the time they reached a town they were very tired. The parents asked their young son to ride on the bull.

The people in the town saw them and started commenting, “What kind of a son would make their old parents walk while enjoying leisurely ride in such a heat?” The son, feeling embarrassed, got down and asked his mother to ride on the bull.

As they traveled further, they encountered more town people who commented, “What kind of a woman she is, making a poor child and an old husband walk in such a heat while enjoying the ride?” Feeling bad, the mother got down and asked the father to ride.

As they went further and reached a market, the entire crowd exclaimed, “What kind of shameless man would make his nice wife and a little child walk while relaxing on the bull?

He also got down in a shame. But realizing that they were very tired, they decided that all of them should ride on the bull. And you know what happened?

Half an hour later, the bull collapsed because of heavy weight on it and the poor creature died. The town people laughed at the family, “What kind of foolish people would do such cruelty against a poor animal?”

Reflection:

In the late 80s, a small and promising company with excellent intellectual property in Integrated Circuit (IC) design hired a CEO from a large company. The rumor had it that in his previous company, Mr. CEO was famous for implementing "programs of the quarter" based on the last seminar he attended or last publications he read. True to his reputation, Mr. CEO, after reading an article about the success of vertical integration in another company, decided to expand into the board and systems business. Soon after the 50-person company lost focus on their core competency, and wasted a lot of resources in a  business that they did not fully understand. And like the poor bull, the company with great potential and direction collapsed.

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Brevity In Communication

If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it more thought.  ~Dennis Roth

Watch the Borders

"The greatest problem of communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished." - George Bernard Shaw.

Storyline:

"WATCH THE BORDERS!" Disclosure: I have come across many versions of this story while reading books, articles and attending management seminars. I am not sure if this incident really happened or not. Nevertheless the story is funny and the underlying message about communication and management style is still worth the read.

Former FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover was famous for his autocratic and obsessive-compulsive style of management. He liked to write comments on the memos he would receive and then send it back to the sender as well as a cc: list for further actions.  Perhaps for this reason, he insisted that all memos have generous white space left around their text – so he can pen his comments or instructions.

One day, he received a memo about internal security. Noticing that the pages did not have enough white space to write all instructions he wanted, he scrawled a short message "Watch the Borders" (he was referring to the page borders/margins)

As the story goes: "Even though there were no intelligence reports that had indicated such a danger, the agents or supervisors were afraid to clarify this for the fear of looking ignorant in Hoover’s style of management. So the United States borders with Canada and Mexico were placed on high alert for the next few days until one supervisor re-read the memo and concluded that the memo had almost no margins and THE BOSS was asking them to leave more space for the page borders/margins."

Reflection: This increasingly connected world offers us great opportunities to learn about many countries and cultures. It also creates some unique challenges in communication and offers opportunities to participate in or witness some real humorous episodes. Here is one from my own collections.

"Song and Dance Story:" During one of my overseas assignments, a colleague and I were approached by a puzzled local quality manager. He had just received a message from an American sales manager that a customer would be visiting our overseas facility. He wanted the local quality manager to give a regular “Song and Dance Story” (standard presentation) to the customer. Our overseas quality manager explained to us that in their culture, "Song and Dance" could not be performed in the company conference rooms. He could arrange that only in the Karaoke Bar.

Sharpen your Axe

Especially in a fast-paced, busy environment, we must continually work to improve (sharpen) our skills, or else risk falling behind.  Have you sharpened your ax lately?

Hint: you can click on the cartoon to enlarge it.

Bonus: for anyone wishing to sharpen their business ax, we found a terrific site here: http://personalmba.com/recommended-business-books/ - and we'd love to hear of more examples in our comments.

Humor in High Places: Conversation with God

Recently, there was a meeting between Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton, a common citizen fellow and All Mighty God.

God asked, “My children, is there something I can help you with?”

Said Mrs. Reagan, “My Lord, lately something bothers me a lot. These Republican fellows who are running for the presidency keep bringing up Ronnie’s name when faced with tough questions. Instead of saying what they would do in the current circumstances, they keep answering in terms of “what Ronald Reagan would have done.”  Ronnie became President not by talking about what others would have done, but by talking about what he was going to do for the people.”

“My Lord, How long will it be before these politicians start saying something meaningful about what they would do for the people?”

“Give it 100 years. They can work only in 100 year time slots” answered God.  And Nancy Reagan started crying. Asked worried God, “My child, why tears in your eyes?” Said Nancy, “100 years? Then it wouldn’t happen in my lifetime.”

Then God looked at Hillary. “All Mighty, it is highly likely that I will be the first woman President of the United States of America.” Replied God, “It is about time. Your gender deserves the recognition that is long overdue. But it seems you are worried, my child.” Hillary replied, “All Mighty, once I get into the White House, I will be very busy.  The thought of having Bill alone there and having nothing to do frightens me. As you know, even when he had a lot to do, he couldn’t stop from a sideline excursion. How long will it be before I can feel secure that Bill won’t pull another fast one on me?”

“His rehabilitation is on track, so give it 10 years” replied God. And Hillary started crying, “10 years? Then it won’t happen in my life time (in the White House).”

God looked at a common citizen and asked, “What are your problems my son?”

“All powerful, I work an honest day and earn a little bit of pay. After dinner I turn on the TV to hear what the news has to say. And this is how it goes every evening, “Good Evening, here is tonight’s news. After that greeting, most of the time goes in reporting crimes, horrors of war, politicians caught cheating, accidents, terror. And after all that negativity, the newscaster would say, “This is the end of tonight’s news. Have a good night.” 

“Have a good night? Got to be kidding. I get nightmares thinking about what the future holds for us and our children!” He continued, “95% of what happens in this world is positive, and these people spend 95% of the time talking about negative things.”

“Life is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You get what you expect. The power to choose is my greatest gift to people.” said God, with a little concerned tone.

Asked the worried fellow, “So how long will it be before so called leaders, politicians and media will wake up and choose to talk more about good things in life?”

And you know what happened?

God started crying.

Worried, the fellow asked, “All mighty, why these tears in your eyes?”

Replied God, “Because that won’t happen in my lifetime”

Does my company love me?

In any business relationship, the "love" comes not from what you are, but because of what you do ...

Laughter is the best stress reliever... the jokes are on him...

Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln were two presidents who were gifted story tellers with a quick wit. They often told jokes to make a key point or to help relieve stress in people around them. February is the birth month of these well known and well liked presidents. (Ronald Reagan was born on February 6th 1911 and Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809).

In these stressful times for some people, with whatever is going on their environment (War, Christmas Bills, Annual Performance Appraisals, Stock Market, Economy, Tax Season etc.), I thought it appropriate to share some of their stories. This week's stories belong to President Reagan.

1. In the first year of his Presidency, Reagan was rushed to the hospital when a bullet went through his body during an assassination attempt. As the doctors were about to perform a surgery on him, and even though he was bleeding and in intense pain, he could not contain his sense of humor. He said to the doctors, "I hope you are all Republicans." The chief doctor countered, "I am a Democrat but for today I will be a Republican for you, Mr. President." Later, when his wife Nancy arrived at the hospital, President Reagan said, 'Honey I forgot to duck."

2. When it became known that he would occasionally fall  asleep at the White House during the day, he said, "I've given my aides instructions that if trouble breaks out in any of the world's hot spots, they should wake me up immediately — even if I'm in a Cabinet meeting." And, "Things have been awfully busy at the White House lately. I've really been burning the mid-day oil."

3. There was a fellow that was on his way to a mountain resort, and a policeman stopped him and said, "Did you know you're driving without taillights?" And the driver hopped out of the car.  He was so badly shaken that the officer took pity on him and said, "Well, now, wait a minute.  Calm down.  It's not that serious an infraction."  The fellow said, "It may not mean much to you, but to me it means I've lost my trailer, my wife, and four kids!"

4. The former president was telling a group once about his tumultuous days as governor of California during the rebellious sixties and early 70s.  He said he had a meeting with some of the organizers of the protests.  They came into his office wearing t-shirts and jeans, and some were barefoot. Their spokesman began, "Governor, it's impossible for your generation to understand us.... You didn't grow up in a world of instant electronic communications, of cybernetics, of men computing in seconds what once took months, even years, or jet travel, nuclear power, and journeys into space...." When the young man finished, Reagan said, "You're absolutely right.  Our generation didn't have those things when we were growing up.  We invented them."

5. Worried that the boys had developed extreme personalities -- one was a total pessimist, the other a total optimist -- their parents took them to a psychiatrist. First the psychiatrist treated the pessimist. Trying to brighten his outlook, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with brand-new toys. But instead of yelping with delight, the little boy burst into tears. "What's the matter?" the psychiatrist asked, baffled. "Don't you want to play with any of the toys?" "Yes," the little boy bawled, "but if I did I'd only break them."

Next the psychiatrist treated the optimist. Trying to dampen his outlook, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with horse manure. But instead of wrinkling his nose in disgust, the optimist emitted just the yelp of delight the psychiatrist had been hoping to hear from his brother, the pessimist. Then he clambered to the top of the pile, dropped to his knees, and began gleefully digging out scoop after scoop with his bare hands. "What do you think you're doing?" the psychiatrist asked, just as baffled by the optimist as he had been by the pessimist. "With all this manure," the little boy replied, beaming, "there must be a pony in here somewhere!" Reagan told the joke so often that it got to be kind of a joke with the rest of his staff. Whenever something would go wrong, somebody on the staff would be sure to say, "There must be a pony in here somewhere."

6. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in three short phrases.  If it moves, tax it.  If it keeps moving, regulate it.  And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

7. Now let me tell you the most popular one from last year’s FRs about Reagan. He, as you know, loved horses and rode them on his ranch.  During a visit to England, he stayed at the Windsor Palace and the Queen who has a great collection of horses invited him to a relaxing ride through the country side with her.  So they both saddled up and ventured off into the hilly country side with of-course the security staff trailing behind to give them privacy for their discussions.  The Queen and her horse were leading and they started a climb up a hill with Reagan just behind them.  Queen’s horse started release some gas and Queen realized he is not stopping and the president is behind could be in quite a bit of discomfort of the smell.  So she turns around and tells Reagan “Mr. President, I am very sorry”.  And Reagan quickly responds and says, “No problem, I thought it was the horse”!  This is not made up.  It was actually quoted by one of the security staff who was close enough to hear the conversation!

Empowerment without Discipline

Discipline is the prerequisite for Empowerment. And Discipline comes from a structure and guidelines. Empowerment without structure and guidelines results in total chaos.