Friday Reflections

It is not just what you say, but how and when you say it

Point to Ponder: "If you want to gather honey, don’t kick over the beehive." - Dale Carnegie


Fred was a young and ambitious manager. One summer day in 1985, he got an invitation to present his industry benchmarking findings to the top management of his company. He had been granted 30 precious minutes of the executive team's ears.

To the surprise of his colleagues, Fred was back in about 10 minutes. They inquired, “How did it go?”

Said Fred, ”My presentation did not go beyond the second slide. I was thrown out of the meeting room.”

“Why?” asked his colleagues.
 
“Well, I wanted to be open and direct, so I started with the first slide showing best practices from the industry and said, ‘this is the right way to do things ...’

Then, I presented the second slide showing our own company's data, and said with a firm strong voice: ‘... and this is our way of doing things.”

“I had never seen so many red faces in my life” said Fred.
 

Reflection: I have not seen Fred since then. His research and what he intended to show as best practices was good information. But instead of showing how his research would benefit the company, he started by insulting the very people he needed to approve his proposal.

“If you want to gather honey, don’t kick over the beehive.”

What did I learn from "3 Idiots"?

"The unfortunate truth is that the system forces people to pursue success rather than excellence. My belief is that if you pursue excellence, success is bound to follow." - Raj Kumar Hirani, director of 3 idiots.

Story Line: What did I learn from "3 Idiots", By Samuel George

Recently I watched the Hindi movie “3 idiots”, which is being reported as the highest money grosser in Bollywood movie history! This movie focuses on the current issues with the education system and showcases contrasting views provided by the engineering college head, Prof. Viru Sahastrabudhhe (or ViruS in short form) with the out of box thinking provided by Rancho, an enterprising engineering student.
 
Here, I wanted to share a few points from the movie which are also relevant for the business professionals.
 
1. Striving for success vs focusing on excellence: Professor ViruS had a very successful career by becoming the head of the most prestigious institute in the country and focused on maximizing his output every day (he writes with both hands and shaves while taking a 7 minute power nap after lunch). However, he cared very little about relationships both with his students or his family and consistently used fear to get his way with them. On the other hand, Rancho focused on developing his knowledge through curiosity and used his engineering talent to help others in need. While the professor’s interactions cost lives, Rancho’s contributions saved people from death and inspired them to new heights. 

2. Fear of failure vs learning with passion:  In the movie, a number of students entered the engineering school because of pressure from family but against their own wishes. This caused them to have a subpar performance and always fear failure during tests, causing some to commit suicide. In contrast, Rancho came to the institute by his own desire to learn about building machines, and his curiosity and talent helped him to top the final exams, to everybody’s surprise! 

3. Performance review vs mentoring for growth:  While the tests at the end of a semester are a good way to evaluate a student’s knowledge of the subject, this movie puts forward the idea that this by itself should not be the end. Instead, the next step should be mentoring the student on what the gaps were and how he/she could do better. The example shared in the movie was that if a doctor checks your blood cholesterol and finds a problem; does he/she not work with the patient to correct the problem? 

Reflection:

After watching the movie, it was interesting to note that a lot of these out of box thinking principles have been shared before by the Friday Reflections team! I invite the other readers who have watched the movie to provide feedback on their observations as well.

If you haven’t watched the movie yet, you can read the story outline here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Idiots

 

Momo and The Men in Grey

"What is this life if full of care, we have no time to stand and to stare... A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare." -  from William Henry Davies Poem

Story Line:

The outstanding book was referred to me by Shinji Hioki and Hamid Azimi. The source of the following summary is Wikipedia:

Momo is a fantasy novel by Michael Ende, published in 1973. It is about the concept of time and how it is used by humans in modern society.

In the ruins of an amphitheater just outside an unnamed Italian city lives Momo, a little girl of mysterious origin. She is remarkable in the neighborhood because she has the extraordinary ability to listen — really listen. By simply being with people and listening to them, she can help them find answers to their problems, make up with each other, and think of fun games.

This pleasant atmosphere is spoiled by the arrival of the Men in Grey. These strange individuals represent the Timesavings Bank and promote the idea of time saving among the population, time which can be deposited to the Bank and returned to the client later with interest. They then make people forget all about them, but not about the resolution to save as much time as possible "for later use".

Gradually, the sinister influence of the Men in Grey affects the whole city: life becomes sterile, devoid of all things considered time-wasting, like social activities, recreation, art, imagination, or even sleeping. Buildings and clothing are made exactly the same for everyone and the rhythms of life become hectic. In reality, the more time people save, the less they have.

The time they save is actually lost to them; instead, it is consumed by the Men in Grey in the form of cigars, made from the dried petals of the hour-lilies that represent time. Without these cigars the Men in Grey cannot exist. Momo, however, is a wrench in the plans of the Timesaving Bank thanks to her special personality. The Men in Grey try various plans to take care of her, therefore derailing her from stopping their scheme, but they all fail.

When even her closest friends fall under the influence of the Men in Grey in one way or another, Momo finds her way up to an elevated realm of a master time keeper who contrives to stop time long enough for Momo to sabotage a meeting of the grey men long enough to close their time vault when they need it, causing them to all disappear in their own cigar smoke, after which she can open the vault and release everyone's time which returns as a river of flower petals.

Reflection: Just like the stories of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, the little prince and The Alchemist, Momo is the book for all ages; full of fun but presents real thought provoking, deep meaning OBT ideas relevant to daily work and personal life.

Next Week: Three Idiots