Friday Reflections

You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet

“Insanity is doing same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein

“If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten” (or less) author unknown

Storyline: You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. (Real author unknown - quote told to me by Mike Yakos during China trip.)

Many years ago, while on an overseas trip I called my wife at home and told her about this beautiful egg that I had encountered that day. 

She asked me, “How did it taste?” I said, “I don’t know. I did not eat it.” 

She asked, “Why not? Is it because it is being hatched?” 

I said, “No, this was a hundred year old egg in a display cabinet in the museum that I visited today.”

Said my wife, “If you can’t eat it or hatch it then what good is that egg?” Obviously she was coming from her value proposition criterion.

That conversation keeps coming back to me many times since then.

Sometime ago, employees of one company were faced with a situation where there was some rule in the group that they had to follow. But it did not make sense to some new employees. 

So one curious and zealous employee inquired further and discovered from the old timers that the rule was in practice for a long time and named after the group VP who had proclaimed it in early 1990s. She was told that the group had accepted and followed the rule since then.

But she was not accustomed at accepting things at face value and took initiative to investigate further and showed that the 17 years since, the rule did not have any useful value. She suggested a new rule which was accepted. She basically broke the golden egg that was laid two VPs ago and in the previous century and millennium.

Reflection: 

Rules are made for a purpose. And they are meant to be broken when their useful value has diminished. Look around you and evaluate the usefulness of the rules, policies and procedures that have been there longer than a few years. Break an egg or two. But remember, Just breaking an egg is not enough. Once you break them you must be ready to make an omelet. (Propose useful alternatives and ensure they are carried through for implementation).

The Echo Chamber

Reflection:  The term “Echo Chamber” refers to a situation where information, ideas or beliefs become accepted wisdom just because they are frequently repeated (amplified) within a certain “enclosed space”.  That space could be your organization, or your professional and personal circle.  If you want to get out-of-the-box perspectives or ideas, the best place to look is outside your own “enclosed space”.

A bumblebee can not fly. But it does not know that. That is why it flies.

If you believe you can, you are right. If you believe you can not, then you are right, too.

Story Line:

On last Monday in Singapore, my colleague and I were fortunate to have met a very interesting person who is the CEO of the regional branch of a multinational company. We conversed about many topics such as globalization, leadership, quality, customers etc… This gentleman captivated us with his resourcefulness, knowledge of the region and creative ideas that he has implemented in his company.

One experience he shared us was very interesting. A few years ago he was faced with making a choice between two large customers; one with standard technology, low cost requirements and the other a very innovative company who always pushes the envelope with respect to technology as well as the external appearance of the products. He chose the later and some of his staff members were not pleased.

One of his senior staff told him, “We should have chosen the customer who has simpler requirements and a is a cash cow. The other customer requirements seem impossible from the technical as well as schedule point of view. Shouldn’t we do analysis of whether it can be done?”

We asked, “How did he convince his technical people to make this happen?”

What the CEO told us was very profound. He said that he sat down with his employees (with whom he is immensely popular) and focused only on how to get it done. Not a single talk or thought about “limitations” was brought about.”

The last sentence he said was, “You know, A bumblebee can not fly. But it does not know that. That is why it flies.”

Reflection: It was an excellent thought/gift as we ended our meeting. But his last sentence brought back memories of the talk I had heard from John Foppe, the guy who was born without arms. When his mother saw a son born without arms, she decided that she is not going to pity him and making him believe he was handicapped so he could not do certain things. She made him believe that he was gifted. He was sent to this world to demonstrate how much a person can accomplish with two legs.

Such is the story of great leaders like the one we met in Singapore or the innovative company that he mentioned. They inspire you to accomplish things that you never thought you could.

How Not To Listen

Hint: you can click on the cartoon above to zoom in

Reflection: "We were given two ears but only one mouth, because listening is twice as hard as talking."    - Source Unknown

The Web of Life

“All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”

Storyline:

There is much controversy about who said the beautiful words of the above quote: Chief Seattle in 1854 or Ted Perry in 1970. Instead of dwelling in the controversy of who said those words; the most important thing is to focus on what is being said in those words. They represent the wisdom of the ages from every culture, and follow the Golden Rule.

Many things in nature are part of a massive dynamic system. There are strong interrelationships and interdependencies in our environment. And in this context, the word “environment” has a very wide scope: nature, earth, job, business, relationships, home etc.

In a dynamic system, actions and the reactions to actions are often separated in time and space. What we do today could have tremendous, positive or negative, consequences in the future.

Reflection:

There are many real life stories and examples that reinforce the importance of maintaining a healthy eco-system; whether it is related to personal things, professional things or to our encounters with nature. Even in the dynamic system that we live in, one thing has not changed through the ages: “As we sow, so shall we reap.”

What's mine is mine, and what's yours is negotiable

Hint: you can click on the cartoon to enlarge it

Reflection: There's more than one way to negotiate, and the "flea market" method isn't always the right one. If you are planning on doing business with someone again, don't be too tough in your negotiations. Sooner or later you get what you pay for.

Our full story is here: http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2007/10/pay-me-now-or-p.html

We don't do Zbb. We don't say NO to anything

Points to Ponder: We often hear “We don’t do Zbb (proper resource planning). We don’t say NO to anything. We don’t have enough resources for more projects” But then we often see many (4-10) people from the same group in the same meeting where a few empowered persons, who were the only ones that were part of the original resource plan, would have sufficed. Wouldn’t that free up those “extras” to say YES to many things?  Where is the root cause of the problem? In not doing Zbb or behaviors and expectations?

Story Line: Parrot Parrot who needs a Parrot?

A long time ago, there was an annual planning meeting taking place in a division of a rather large corporation. Different department heads presented the following year’s plans and resources requirements.

Intense dialogue took place about the benefits of the projects and claims for more resources.

Just after a mid-afternoon break, the boss returned with a green parrot. Everyone in the room was amused. But then they had known their boss to be out of the box on so many occasions in the past that they assumed, “This must be one of those days.”

Finally, the boss broke the silence.

He said, “Let me introduce you to Greg, the newest member of my staff.” He pointed at the parrot. “Going forward he is going to be my vice president of sales, operations, engineering, etc.”

People burst in to laughter thinking that the boss was in his “Expect the Unexpected” mood.

The boss continued, “And Greg is well trained. Every time I ask him to do new things he automatically replies, ‘I need more resources.’ And every time I say, ‘You can’t have more resources,’ he replies, ‘Then, I can not do so and so projects.’”

The boss went on and emphasized that since they should be cost conscious any time and not just some of the time, he had bought only a $300 Green Parrot instead of an expensive Macau to do the job. He was pretty sure that the extra elegance offered by Macau was of no further value.

Reflection:

The last thing the boss said, “Having said all this, I want to know from you, Ladies and Gentlemen, What else can you do for me that Greg can not?”

People are hired to think and find ways to accomplish things in better, faster and cheaper ways. Faced with new challenges, if all that they can think of is well known standard answers then why would an employer need them?

Which one would you rather be?

Hint: you can click on the cartoon to zoom in.

Reflection: When you're seeking to improve, sometimes it helps to step back now and again and ask yourself (honestly) what kind of reference you think your current customer, boss or employer would give you...

If everyone deserves a "C" then everyone will get one

In real life, grades do not produce value. The value is in how effectively the learning is applied.

Storyline:

In the summer of 1974, I took an Applied Mathematics class under Professor Ho. During the very first class, while Professor Ho was going over the course curriculum, some students repeatedly kept asking questions about his grading system. When asked one too many times, Professor Ho said, “Well, if everyone deserves a C then everyone will get one.”

The next class was half the size of the first one. Many students had decided to drop out after listening to Professor Ho’s explanation of his grading system.

At the end of the semester, when the day of reckoning arrived, we were astonished to see that everyone had gotten either an A or B.  There were no grades lower.

My curiosity got the better of me and I asked Professor Ho, “If this is what the end result is, why did you scare off half the students with your comment about C grades in the first meeting?”

According to Professor Ho, the primary purpose of going to school should be learning, and not finding ways to manage or manipulate indicators like grades to get by. “Jumping from one class to another or from one Professor to another just to get grades does not build a strong foundation or lasting learning, which is neither a benefit to the students or to society.”

Reflection:

Later, Professor Ho revealed a secret that some students had not done well in the exams (one time sitting) but he graded them based on his observation of how much commitment they had demonstrated in real learning and effort. He believed that those students would go a long way in life and career.