Friday Reflections

I didn't do it, The System did.

Point to Ponder:

 

Story Line: An opening Scene from the Play: All That Glitters is NOT GOLD.

The Boss, a weasel of a fellow named Norton has informed unsuspecting Employee, Andy, that his services are no longer needed.

Boss: Andy, I didn’t have anything to do with this, The System did it.

Andy: What do you mean by The System?

Boss: You see, HR pushed the button, and well, The System spit out some names… Unfortunately your name was on the list.

Andy: Just randomly…?

Boss: You know we’re in the days of Artificial Intelligence. The System takes care of many decisions for us.

Andy: But Boss, The Artificial Intelligence system also works based on some rules and algorithms. Who decided and programmed those? 

No response from the Boss.

Andy: This is inhumane.

Boss: Andy, Artificial systems are not supposed to be Humane. There are no emotions involved. It is all business. Nothing personal.

Andy: Boss this hurts… This hurts a lot. I got wife and kids.

Boss: I understand.

Andy: Then why did you go along with this?

Boss: Because I got wife and kids too.

A bit of a stalemate.

Andy: I remember the quote a very senior manager had put on a mega screen in the leadership conference you had sent me a few years ago. It said “We hire workers, but those who arrive are human beings.”

Boss: Andy, those kind of things are for the conferences and presentations, they’re prepared by some good meaning assistants. Assistants Andy! Real life is different. Many times the presenter does not even know whose quote it is or fully understands the implications but says it anyway. Sometimes in the heat of the moment the presenter goes overboard.

Andy: So what happened to the teaching “Do what you say and Say what you do?”

Boss: Enough Andy. Now you’re pushing it.

Andy: So the next time when such so called leaders make this type of statement on the stage I should know that we’re being a load of horse --

Boss: There’s not going to be the next time for you Andy. You’ll be leaving in the next hour.

Andy: I spent 30 years of my life in here! Blood! Sweat! Real tears! Sacrifices of my family time to serve YOU! And this is what I get?

Boss: That is why you got this 30 extra minutes with me. Consider yourself lucky. We have made this process LEAN and others were not as lucky. Many exits were RAPID; in less than an hour.

Andy: Boss, You always said the employees are a valuable Asset.

Boss: Andy, but in a financial definition, employees are a variable asset and relatively easily disposable.

Andy: This what you call uncompromising integrity? Something that was often emphasized as a value.

Boss: Oh! Andy. Oh! Dear Andy. This is why I always liked you, but also pitied you… There is a dictionary definition and then there is a situational pragmatic definition. It changes depending on how much….. is on the table. We are all here to make prudent “Business Decisions.”

A knock on the conference room door.

Boss stares hard at Andy --

Boss: Time’s up.

The Boss leaves his seat and moves to the door. He hesitates before opening it –

Boss: Per legal excellence in communication, I am not supposed to tell you this, but I will take my chances (as long as it is verbal). You were a dedicated, a loyal team player who (no adjectives to be used per legal guidance) contributed to the (adjectives banned) success of this organization. As you know I didn’t do this, The System did it.

The door opens. There is a GUY at the door who looks at Andy.

Guy: “I am from HR. I am here to help you. Are all your bags packed and are you ready to go? I am standing here waiting at the door…. I hate to walk you through the Freeeeeee….dom Traiiii….l.” (But The System is forcing me do it)

As Andy starts the ‘Freedom March’, he starts singing: 

Andy looking at the other offices: (sings) “Cause, I am leaving on the Freedom Trail and I don’t know when I will be back again. Oh dear friends…”

The Boss joins the chorus:

Boss: (sings too) “And I don’t think you will ever be back again. Oh! Andy….”

Epilogue:

As HR is leading Andy through the Freedom Trail, a faint voice comes from one of the survivors’ office…

Survivor: Andy, you are liberated! We are the Prisoners.

Reflection: When carts start running the horse, The System degenerates.

As one may have noticed, The Boss in above story seems confused, powerless and at times inconsistent. He/She has lost control over his business to ancillary groups and lets them dictate how to run the business. The System.

In my 40 years of career I have respected and admired the business leaders who understood the core of their business and directed/ordered ancillary groups to deliver what they needed rather than let them dictate how to run his/her business.

Support groups are necessary and there are many good people there. The main point of this story is that the leader can't let The System drift where the core (Product, Technology or Service) of business falls at the mercy of people who do not have direct skin in the game.

I hope that our readers have been fortunate not to have encountered the situation like Andy's.

But for the workplace covered in this play, there is a scene where one executive office has a wall hanging.

Disclaimer: The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons, places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

No person or entity associated with this work received payment or anything of value, or entered into any agreement or connection with the depiction of ……. products.

No diversity issues were affected in the making of this Play.

Nothing can be Bigger than My Well.

 

 

A Korean version of the story in the above video

Point to Ponder: The world is too big with abundance of opportunities. If you believe in yourself there is always room for your talents somewhere in this world. (my father’s goodbye words when I was about to board the plane for: The Land of The Free and The Home of The Brave January 1974)

Story Line: Nothing can be Bigger than My Well. A Folk Story from Taiwan (also similar versions in many other cultures)

My good friends, imagine if you were to live at the bottom of a deep, dark well. What kind of world would you see?

There was a Little Frog who lived at the bottom of a deep, dark well. Now let us go down there and see what kind of world he had.

It was a very old well filled with shallow water at the bottom. The walls of the well were all covered with wet moss. When the Little Frog was thirsty, he drank a little bit of the well water, and when he was hungry, he ate some insects. When he was tired, he lay on a little rock at the bottom of the well and looked up at the sky above him. Sometimes he saw passing clouds. He was very happy and satisfied.

Now, the Little Frog had been living at the bottom of this old well since he was born. He had never been to the outside world. Whenever a bird or birds flew by and stopped at the edge of the well, the Little Frog always looked up and bragged, "Hello! Why don't you come down here and play with me. It's so pleasant down here. Look, I have cool water to drink and countless insects to eat. Come down! At night I can watch the twinkling stars, and sometimes I can see the beautiful moon, too."

Sometimes the birds would tell the Little Frog, "Hi, Little Frog! You see, the outside world is much bigger and nicer. It's many times more beautiful than your little well at the bottom. "But the Little Frog would not believe them. "Don't lie to me, I don't believe there is any place that could be better than here. "

Gradually, all the birds began to dislike him they thought he was too stubborn and stopped talking to him.

The Little Frog could not understand why nobody would like to come down to his nice place.

One day, a yellow sparrow stopped by at the edge of the well. The Little Frog was so excited he greeted the sparrow and invited the sparrow eagerly. "Hello, Mr. Yellow Sparrow, how are you? Please come down to my most beautiful house." The yellow sparrow did not say a word and flew away. The next day the yellow sparrow came again and the same thing happened again. It went on for six days. On the seventh day, the yellow sparrow finally said, "Little Frog, may I show you the outside world?" But the Little Frog refused the offer.

Finally the yellow sparrow became angry. He flew down to the bottom of the well, picked up the Little Frog on his back, and flew out of the well.

"Oh!" the Little Frog exclaimed. "How is it that the outside world is so big!" He had been in the bottom of his dark well for so long that the bright sunshine made his eyes blink shut, and he could hardly open his eyes to see.

When he finally opened his eyes, he saw so many things around him. "Hey! Be careful! Don't hit this strange thing. What are all these green high and low things?" The yellow sparrow laughed happily: "Ha! ha! These are mountains and valleys. There are countless mountains in this world. The Himalayas, the Swiss Alps, the Rockies and... "

The Little Frog could not believe there were so many big mountains in the world. When they flew over the high mountains, the next view made the Little Frog even more surprised.

"What is this long, silvery, shiny view?"

"It is a river," the yellow sparrow replied.

"Then what is that huge, blue thing over there?"

"That is a sea," the yellow sparrow replied.

"That river and sea, how much water do they have? How much bigger are they than my well? They must hold a billion times more water than my well." The Little Frog began to realize how tiny his well was. "Let's go down, O.K.?" The yellow sparrow put the Little Frog down on the ground and flew away.

The Little Frog jumped into the grass and saw many beautiful flowers of different colors. He had never seen such beautiful flowers and had never smelled such nice scents. He kept on going and went into a forest. In it he looked up and saw many tall trees. He looked down and found many different kinds of fruits that had fallen to the ground. He picked up an apple and tasted it. "Wow, so sweet !" Then he listened to the beautiful singing of the birds. The cute squirrels were jumping, the monkeys were swinging from branch to branch, and the antelopes were scampering speedily.

In the pond, the lotus flowers were dancing in the air, and the lotus leaves were floating on the water like umbrellas. There were many fish in the water.

"The outside world is so big, so wonderful, and beautiful!" The Little Frog finally cried out happily and jumped into the pond. He climbed up on a huge lotus leaf and enjoyed his new life there. The yellow sparrow came back and asked, "Little Frog! How's this outside world? Big? Beautiful?"

"Thank you very much. If you had not brought me out to see this world, I would never had known that there are such beautiful things that exist outside my well." The Little Frog never tried to go back to his old well again.

From Folk Stories of Taiwan

Reflection:

The story of A Frog in the Well is told in many cultures around the world. I remembered this childhood story when some friends called me recently and told me that he/she were worried about the changes in their current environment. They were curious about the outside world since their current place is the only world they know since graduation. My advice to them has been "Don't be afraid. 'The world is too big with abundance opportunities. If you believe in yourself there is always room for your talents somewhere in this world.'"

For more interested---Indian Version of the story in the link below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDiRSwl4nGs

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg Speech | Harvard Commencement 2016

POINT TO PONDER

"Now in a two-hour movie, you get a handful of character-defining moments, but in real life, you face them every day".

                                            -Steven Spielberg

 

STORY LINE

  

Here are just a few of the highlights from the video above:

‘Everybody was talkin’ at me, so I couldn’t hear the echoes of my mind.’

"...because for the first 25 years of our lives, we are trained to listen to voices that are not our own. Parents and professors fill our heads with wisdom and information, and then employers and mentors take their place and explain how this world really works".

"Talk to your parents and your grandparents, if you can, and ask them about their stories. And I promise you, like I have promised my kids, you will not be bored".

 

REFLECTION 

There are many common themes that emerge while learning from the lives of successful people. And just to clarify, many more successful people are not financially rich, powerful or famous but have lived inspirational, purposeful lives. There are consistent messages from their lives; listen to your inner voice, love, work with passion, foster human connections, act with courage and the pursuit of the purpose.

The answers to life's challenges lie right within us but we must listen closely. As Mr. Spielberg says, it can be almost as quiet as a whisper.

Transcript of the Speech:

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/276561