There was very heavy rain as I waited in the apartment minibus in central Hong Kong. The summer season in Hong Kong has matured and nearing an end, and so such tropical downpours are quite regular. Each time the minibus windscreen wipers would move, they would throw off so much water. People were waiting in the doors of the shops for the rain to stop. There was a boy, perhaps 10 years old or so standing in a t-shirt looking at the raindrops, which were quite big. With his eyes, he was trying to follow one raindrop at a time clearly being captivated by the size of the drops. Then he decided he would use his hand to hit the raindrop back up; almost imagining the raindrop to be a ball, which you could hit, and it would bounce in the opposite direction. He kept on trying this over and over for some minutes, getting increasingly frustrated each time. Eventually he sat down. In the workplace, we sometimes want things to be like a tennis ball, which we can hit and it will bounce away; but often times, things come in a different form to which we expect. Changes in our environment need to be understood with an independent and objective mindset, with a fresh and unbiased outlook in order to act to achieve a most beneficial outcome. We need to have a flexible mindset to see things as they are; not as we think they should be; nor what they have been before; but as they are. Once we understand things as they are, we can then act appropriately. If we have a lot on our minds, we may not even pause to make such analysis; reacting rashly. There is a rule here; every moment spent thinking about, and preparing for what will ensue will save many times more the equivalent time in the future.
There Will be Critics
Usain Bolt at the beginning of the London Olympics did not get off to the kind of starts in training and the heats that were expected of him by many. Irrespective of expectations and commentary, the world record books now note him as the first athlete to win consecutive gold in 100m and 200m sprints in history. Ahead of the 100m race, Maurice Greene, former Olympic champion, said he did not expect Bolt to retain the 100m gold medal, and favoured Bolts Jamaican companion Yohan Blake to be the victor. Greene said, “Usain has trouble in close races. If you think about the close races he's had, he's lost." After the race, Bolt was asked what he thought of Greenes’ comments ahead of the race. Bolt replied, “It is a habit of people to doubt great men.” According to the Vedic scriptures, when Lord Krishna descended, there was a demon called Kamsa. Lord Krishna was prophesised to kill Kamsa by many great authorities, and Kamsa knew this well. Irrespective, he played down Lord Krishna’s ability. He played down all of His strengths, ignored them, trivialised them. And he played up what he mistook as Lord Krishna's weaknesses, and played up his own trackrecord. Although of a completely different magnitude and context to the Bolt scenario, a similar tendency; that to criticise. Critisicm is a simple and cheap way for someone who cannot be as successful, to respond to someone who is; and it may come in the many forms cited above and more. In the corporate world, how we handle success, and how we handle criticism are areas we should give conscious thought to.
The corporate world is more globally connected now than ever, and we need to be agile and dynamic in order to succeed. Being agile and dynamic is a mindset; it is not linked to geography in the first instance. It begins with a mindset that is broad and flexible. If our minds are flexible and open to things, we can move faster. To move faster, we need to be light; and to be light, we need to drop our baggage. Thunder comes after lightning. Lightening is focussed, it hits specifically one place, and gets there quicker. Sound takes time as it is more dispersed, broader. If our goal is clearly engrained in our minds, and is focussed, we will find it easier to handle things and move like lightening even in an environment where the dynamics are rapidly changing and things are thrown at us from various places both expected and unexpected.
A squirrel outside my window is making several jumps to reach its dinner. Something brilliant I notice about this tiny creature – on each consecutive try its taking measured jumps, learning from the previous! It is clear, nature has already gifted him skills that are crucial for its survival.
ReplyDeleteIntuitively humans too have this capacity (to learn and adapt as per our work environment). But sometimes it can be overwhelming to balance our speech, mind and actions. Nevertheless, worth working hard for!
Nice blog :)
- Nivedita