Friday, December 02, 2005
Back to home sweet home
I am going back home tomorrow morning. Oh! my, am I not happy. When I am at Chennai, I do not realize how much attached I am to my family, Chennai, Office, friends etc.
It takes a few weeks away from Chennai to crave for the same, I guess.
Finished saying bye to one & all, now time to say Good bye to Germany..
Bye Bye
PS: Wait for some interesting pictures to be uploaded...
It takes a few weeks away from Chennai to crave for the same, I guess.
Finished saying bye to one & all, now time to say Good bye to Germany..
Bye Bye
PS: Wait for some interesting pictures to be uploaded...
Monday, November 28, 2005
A true story about a car's allergy to vanilla ice cream.
A true story about a car's allergy to vanilla ice cream.
For the engineers among us who understand that the obvious is not always the solution, and that the facts, no matter how implausible, are still the facts ...
This is a weird but true story (with a moral) ...
A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:
"This is the second time I have written you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I kind of sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert after dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem. You see, every time I buy vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds: 'What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?'"
The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.
The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, the man got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.
Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: he jotted down all sorts of data, time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth, etc.
In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store.
Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to find the flavor and get checked out.
Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. Once time became the problem -- not the vanilla ice cream -- the engineer quickly came up with the answer: vapor lock. It was happening every night, but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.
Moral of the story: even insane looking problems are sometimes real.
(A better moral: chocolate ice cream cures vapor lock!)
For the engineers among us who understand that the obvious is not always the solution, and that the facts, no matter how implausible, are still the facts ...
This is a weird but true story (with a moral) ...
A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:
"This is the second time I have written you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I kind of sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert after dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem. You see, every time I buy vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds: 'What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?'"
The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.
The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, the man got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.
Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: he jotted down all sorts of data, time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth, etc.
In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store.
Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to find the flavor and get checked out.
Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. Once time became the problem -- not the vanilla ice cream -- the engineer quickly came up with the answer: vapor lock. It was happening every night, but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.
Moral of the story: even insane looking problems are sometimes real.
(A better moral: chocolate ice cream cures vapor lock!)
Spirit of friendship
Horror gripped the heart of a World War-I soldier, as he saw his lifelong
friend fall in battle.The soldier asked his Lieutenant if he could go out
to bring his fallen comrade back. "You can go," said the Lieutenant, "but I
don't think it will be worth it. Your friend is probably dead and you may
throw your life away. "The Lieutenant's words didn't matter, and the soldier
went anyway.
Miraculously, he managed to reach his friend, hoisted him onto his
shoulder and brought him back to their company's trench. The officer checked the
wounded soldier , then looked kindly at his friend. " I told you it wouldn't
be worth it," he said. "Your friend is dead and you are mortally wounded."
" It was worth it, Sir," said the soldier. "What do you mean by worth
it?" responded the Lieutenant. " Your friend is dead." "Yes Sir," the
soldier answered, " but it was worth it because when I got to him, he was still
alive and I had the satisfaction of hearing him say...."Jim...I knew you'd come."
Many times in life, whether a thing is worth doing or not, really
depends on how u look at it. Take up all your courage and do something your heart
tells you to do so that you may not regret not doing it later in your
life........
(This is a true story. Share this with all your friends let the spirit
of
friendship in us not die.)
friend fall in battle.The soldier asked his Lieutenant if he could go out
to bring his fallen comrade back. "You can go," said the Lieutenant, "but I
don't think it will be worth it. Your friend is probably dead and you may
throw your life away. "The Lieutenant's words didn't matter, and the soldier
went anyway.
Miraculously, he managed to reach his friend, hoisted him onto his
shoulder and brought him back to their company's trench. The officer checked the
wounded soldier , then looked kindly at his friend. " I told you it wouldn't
be worth it," he said. "Your friend is dead and you are mortally wounded."
" It was worth it, Sir," said the soldier. "What do you mean by worth
it?" responded the Lieutenant. " Your friend is dead." "Yes Sir," the
soldier answered, " but it was worth it because when I got to him, he was still
alive and I had the satisfaction of hearing him say...."Jim...I knew you'd come."
Many times in life, whether a thing is worth doing or not, really
depends on how u look at it. Take up all your courage and do something your heart
tells you to do so that you may not regret not doing it later in your
life........
(This is a true story. Share this with all your friends let the spirit
of
friendship in us not die.)
Teamwork works...
The Sense of the Goose
When you see geese heading south for the winter flying along in the "V" formation, you might be interested in knowing what science has discovered about why they fly that way. It has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following.
By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.
People who are part of a team and share a common direction get where they are going quicker and easier, because they are traveling on the trust of one another.
Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go through it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the power of the flock.
If we have as much sense as a goose, we will share information with those who are headed the same way we are going.
When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the wing and another goose takes over.
It pays to share leadership and take turns doing hard jobs.
The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep their speed.
Words of support and inspiration help energize those on the front line, helping them to keep pace in spite of the day-to-day pressures and fatigue.
Finally, when a goose gets sick or is wounded by a gunshot and falls out, two geese fall out of the formation and follow the injured one down to help and protect him. They stay with him until he is either able to fly or until he is dead, and then they launch out with another formation to catch up with their group.
If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other when things get rough.
The next time you see a formation of geese, remember...it is a reward,
A CHALLENGE AND A PRIVILEGE to be a contributing member of a TEAM.
When you see geese heading south for the winter flying along in the "V" formation, you might be interested in knowing what science has discovered about why they fly that way. It has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following.
By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.
People who are part of a team and share a common direction get where they are going quicker and easier, because they are traveling on the trust of one another.
Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go through it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the power of the flock.
If we have as much sense as a goose, we will share information with those who are headed the same way we are going.
When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the wing and another goose takes over.
It pays to share leadership and take turns doing hard jobs.
The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep their speed.
Words of support and inspiration help energize those on the front line, helping them to keep pace in spite of the day-to-day pressures and fatigue.
Finally, when a goose gets sick or is wounded by a gunshot and falls out, two geese fall out of the formation and follow the injured one down to help and protect him. They stay with him until he is either able to fly or until he is dead, and then they launch out with another formation to catch up with their group.
If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other when things get rough.
The next time you see a formation of geese, remember...it is a reward,
A CHALLENGE AND A PRIVILEGE to be a contributing member of a TEAM.
Can you make a difference to someone`s life
Making a difference
A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in high school by telling them the difference they each made. She called each student to the front of the class, one at a time. First she told each of them how they had made a difference to her and the class. Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon imprinted with gold letters, which read, "Who I Am Makes a Difference."
Afterwards the teacher decided to do a class project to see what kind of impact RECOGNITION would have on a community. She gave each of the students three more ribbons and instructed them to go out and spread this acknowledgment ceremony.
Then they were to follow up on the results, see who honored whom and report back to the class in about a week. One of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a nearby company and honored him for helping him with his career planning. He gave him a blue ribbon and put it on his shirt. Then he gave him two extra ribbons and said, "We're doing a class project on recognition, and we'd like you to go out, find somebody to honor, give them a blue ribbon, then give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge a third person to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going. Then please report back to me and tell me what happened."
Later that day the junior executive went in to see his boss, who had been noted, by the way, as being kind of a grouchy fellow. He sat his boss down and he told him that he deeply admired him for being a creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive asked him if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon and would he give him permission to put it on him.
His surprised boss said, "Well, sure." The junior executive took the blue ribbon and placed it right on his boss's jacket above his heart. As he gave him the last extra ribbon, he! said, "Would you do me a
favor? Would you take this extra ribbon and pass it on by honoring somebody else? The young boy who first gave me the ribbons is doing a project in school and we want to keep this recognition ceremony going and find out how it affects people."
That night the boss came home to his 14-year-old son and sat him down. He said, "The most incredible thing happened to me today. I was in my office and one of the junior executives came in and told me he admired me and gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius. Imagine. He thinks I'm a creative genius. Then he put this blue ribbon that says 'Who I Am Makes A Difference'" on my jacket above my heart. He gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honor.
As I was driving home tonight, I started thinking about whom I would honor with this ribbon and I thought about you. I want to honor you. My days are really hectic and when I come home I don't pay a lot of attention to you. Sometimes I scream at you for not getting good enough grades in school and for your bedroom being a mess, but somehow tonight, I just wanted to sit here and, well, just let you know that you do make a difference to me. Besides your mother, you are the most important person in my life. You're a great kid and I love you!"
The startled boy started to sob and sob, and he couldn't stop crying.his whole body shook. He looked up at his father and said through his tears, "Dad, earlier tonight I sat in my room and wrote a letter to you and Mom explaining why I had killed myself and asking you to forgive me. I was going to commit suicide tonight after you were asleep. I just didn't think that you cared at all. The letter is upstairs. I don't think I need it after all." His father walked upstairs, and found a heartfelt letter full of anguish and pain.
The envelope was addressed, "Mom and Dad".
The boss went back to work a changed man. He was no longer a grouch but made sure to let all his employees know that they made a difference. The junior executive helped several other young people with career planning and never forgot to let them know that they made a difference in his life... one being the boss's son. And the young boy and his classmates learned a valuable lesson. Who you are DOES make difference. (You are under no obligation to send this on to anyone ... not to one people or to one hundred. As far as I am concerned, you can move on to another page. But if you have anyone who means a lot to you, I encourage you to send him or her this message and let them know that they make a difference in your life. You never know what kind of difference a little encouragement can make to a person). I give you this blue ribbon. Who you are makes a difference...
A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in high school by telling them the difference they each made. She called each student to the front of the class, one at a time. First she told each of them how they had made a difference to her and the class. Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon imprinted with gold letters, which read, "Who I Am Makes a Difference."
Afterwards the teacher decided to do a class project to see what kind of impact RECOGNITION would have on a community. She gave each of the students three more ribbons and instructed them to go out and spread this acknowledgment ceremony.
Then they were to follow up on the results, see who honored whom and report back to the class in about a week. One of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a nearby company and honored him for helping him with his career planning. He gave him a blue ribbon and put it on his shirt. Then he gave him two extra ribbons and said, "We're doing a class project on recognition, and we'd like you to go out, find somebody to honor, give them a blue ribbon, then give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge a third person to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going. Then please report back to me and tell me what happened."
Later that day the junior executive went in to see his boss, who had been noted, by the way, as being kind of a grouchy fellow. He sat his boss down and he told him that he deeply admired him for being a creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive asked him if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon and would he give him permission to put it on him.
His surprised boss said, "Well, sure." The junior executive took the blue ribbon and placed it right on his boss's jacket above his heart. As he gave him the last extra ribbon, he! said, "Would you do me a
favor? Would you take this extra ribbon and pass it on by honoring somebody else? The young boy who first gave me the ribbons is doing a project in school and we want to keep this recognition ceremony going and find out how it affects people."
That night the boss came home to his 14-year-old son and sat him down. He said, "The most incredible thing happened to me today. I was in my office and one of the junior executives came in and told me he admired me and gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius. Imagine. He thinks I'm a creative genius. Then he put this blue ribbon that says 'Who I Am Makes A Difference'" on my jacket above my heart. He gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honor.
As I was driving home tonight, I started thinking about whom I would honor with this ribbon and I thought about you. I want to honor you. My days are really hectic and when I come home I don't pay a lot of attention to you. Sometimes I scream at you for not getting good enough grades in school and for your bedroom being a mess, but somehow tonight, I just wanted to sit here and, well, just let you know that you do make a difference to me. Besides your mother, you are the most important person in my life. You're a great kid and I love you!"
The startled boy started to sob and sob, and he couldn't stop crying.his whole body shook. He looked up at his father and said through his tears, "Dad, earlier tonight I sat in my room and wrote a letter to you and Mom explaining why I had killed myself and asking you to forgive me. I was going to commit suicide tonight after you were asleep. I just didn't think that you cared at all. The letter is upstairs. I don't think I need it after all." His father walked upstairs, and found a heartfelt letter full of anguish and pain.
The envelope was addressed, "Mom and Dad".
The boss went back to work a changed man. He was no longer a grouch but made sure to let all his employees know that they made a difference. The junior executive helped several other young people with career planning and never forgot to let them know that they made a difference in his life... one being the boss's son. And the young boy and his classmates learned a valuable lesson. Who you are DOES make difference. (You are under no obligation to send this on to anyone ... not to one people or to one hundred. As far as I am concerned, you can move on to another page. But if you have anyone who means a lot to you, I encourage you to send him or her this message and let them know that they make a difference in your life. You never know what kind of difference a little encouragement can make to a person). I give you this blue ribbon. Who you are makes a difference...
Do we see what we really should...
A young man was getting ready to Graduate from College. For many months
he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.
As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Holy Bible. Angrily, he raised his voice at his father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the holy book.
He never contacted his father again! for a long time. Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful family, but realized his father was very old and thought perhaps he should go to him.He had not seen him since that graduation day.
Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart.
He began to search his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago.With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he read those words, a car key dropped from an envelope taped behind the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was! the date of his graduation, and the words PAID IN FULL.
How many times do we miss GOD'S blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?????
Life's Battles don't always go to the stronger man, but sooner or later who wins is the one who thinks HE CAN!
he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.
As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Holy Bible. Angrily, he raised his voice at his father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the holy book.
He never contacted his father again! for a long time. Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful family, but realized his father was very old and thought perhaps he should go to him.He had not seen him since that graduation day.
Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart.
He began to search his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago.With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he read those words, a car key dropped from an envelope taped behind the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was! the date of his graduation, and the words PAID IN FULL.
How many times do we miss GOD'S blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?????
Life's Battles don't always go to the stronger man, but sooner or later who wins is the one who thinks HE CAN!
Unbelievable - The man without a face
I cant believe it....
Just go on reading it, guess who must be the one...?
Here is a true story by Paul Harvey. Pass it to anyone who you think
would find it interesting and inspiring.Years ago a hardworking man took
his family from New York State to Australia to take advantage of a work
opportunity there. Part of this man's family was a handsome young son who
had aspirations of joining the circus as a trapeze artist or of being an
actor. This young fellow, biding his time until a circus job or even one as
a stagehand came along, worked at the local shipyards, which bordered on
the worst section of town.
When walking home from work one evening, five thugs who wanted to
rob him attacked this young man. Instead of giving up his money the young
fellow resisted. However, they bested him easily and proceeded to beat him
to a pulp. They smashed his face with their boots, and kicked and beat his
body brutally with clubs, leaving him for dead. In fact, when the police
happened to find him lying in the road they assumed he WAS dead.
On the way to the morgue a policeman heard the man gasp for air, and
they immediately took him to the emergency unit at the hospital. When he
was placed on a gurney a nurse remarked in horror that this young man no
longer had a face. Each eye socket was smashed, his skull, legs, and arms
were fractured, his nose was literally hanging from his face, all his teeth
were gone, and his jaw was almost completely torn from his skull.Although
his life was spared he spent over a year in the hospital.when he was
finally discharged his body had healed, but his face was very disfigured
and disgusting to look at. He was no longer the handsome youth that
everyone admired.
When the young man started to look for work again everyone turned
him down. One potential employer suggested to him that he join the freak
show at the circus as "The Man Who Had No Face". And he did this for a
while.Through all this, he was still rejected by everyone and no one wanted
to be seen in his company. The young man had thoughts of suicide. All of
this went on for five years.One day he passed a church and sought some
solace there. Entering the church he encountered a priest who had seen him
sobbing while kneeling in a pew.The priest took pity on him and took him to
the rectory where they talked at length. The priest was impressed with him
to such a degree that he said that he would do everything possible for him
that could be done to restore his dignity and life, if the young man would
promise to be the best Catholic he could be, and trust in God's mercy to
free him from his torturous life.
The young man went to Mass and communion every day, and after
thanking God for saving his life, asked God to only give him peace of mind
and the grace to be the best man he could ever be in His eyes.The priest,
through his personal contacts, was able to secure the services of the best
plastic surgeon in Australia. There would be no cost to the young man, as
the doctor was the priest's best friend. The doctor,too, was so impressed
by the young man, whose outlook now on life, even though he had experienced
the worst, was filled with good humor and love.
The surgery was a miraculous success. All the best dental work was
also done for him. The young man became everything he promised God he would
be.He was also blessed with a wonderful, beautiful wife and seven
children,and success in an industry, which would have been the furthest
thing from his mind as a career if not for the grace of God and the love of
the people who cared for him. This he acknowledges publicly.
Guess who it could be.........and scroll down..
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This young man is... Mel Gibson.
His life was the inspiration for his production of the movie "The
Man without A Face." He is to be admired by all of us as a God fearing man
and an example to all as a true man of courage.
Just go on reading it, guess who must be the one...?
Here is a true story by Paul Harvey. Pass it to anyone who you think
would find it interesting and inspiring.Years ago a hardworking man took
his family from New York State to Australia to take advantage of a work
opportunity there. Part of this man's family was a handsome young son who
had aspirations of joining the circus as a trapeze artist or of being an
actor. This young fellow, biding his time until a circus job or even one as
a stagehand came along, worked at the local shipyards, which bordered on
the worst section of town.
When walking home from work one evening, five thugs who wanted to
rob him attacked this young man. Instead of giving up his money the young
fellow resisted. However, they bested him easily and proceeded to beat him
to a pulp. They smashed his face with their boots, and kicked and beat his
body brutally with clubs, leaving him for dead. In fact, when the police
happened to find him lying in the road they assumed he WAS dead.
On the way to the morgue a policeman heard the man gasp for air, and
they immediately took him to the emergency unit at the hospital. When he
was placed on a gurney a nurse remarked in horror that this young man no
longer had a face. Each eye socket was smashed, his skull, legs, and arms
were fractured, his nose was literally hanging from his face, all his teeth
were gone, and his jaw was almost completely torn from his skull.Although
his life was spared he spent over a year in the hospital.when he was
finally discharged his body had healed, but his face was very disfigured
and disgusting to look at. He was no longer the handsome youth that
everyone admired.
When the young man started to look for work again everyone turned
him down. One potential employer suggested to him that he join the freak
show at the circus as "The Man Who Had No Face". And he did this for a
while.Through all this, he was still rejected by everyone and no one wanted
to be seen in his company. The young man had thoughts of suicide. All of
this went on for five years.One day he passed a church and sought some
solace there. Entering the church he encountered a priest who had seen him
sobbing while kneeling in a pew.The priest took pity on him and took him to
the rectory where they talked at length. The priest was impressed with him
to such a degree that he said that he would do everything possible for him
that could be done to restore his dignity and life, if the young man would
promise to be the best Catholic he could be, and trust in God's mercy to
free him from his torturous life.
The young man went to Mass and communion every day, and after
thanking God for saving his life, asked God to only give him peace of mind
and the grace to be the best man he could ever be in His eyes.The priest,
through his personal contacts, was able to secure the services of the best
plastic surgeon in Australia. There would be no cost to the young man, as
the doctor was the priest's best friend. The doctor,too, was so impressed
by the young man, whose outlook now on life, even though he had experienced
the worst, was filled with good humor and love.
The surgery was a miraculous success. All the best dental work was
also done for him. The young man became everything he promised God he would
be.He was also blessed with a wonderful, beautiful wife and seven
children,and success in an industry, which would have been the furthest
thing from his mind as a career if not for the grace of God and the love of
the people who cared for him. This he acknowledges publicly.
Guess who it could be.........and scroll down..
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This young man is... Mel Gibson.
His life was the inspiration for his production of the movie "The
Man without A Face." He is to be admired by all of us as a God fearing man
and an example to all as a true man of courage.
Problem solving
Case Study: There is a situation for the bus driver to handle, How he does is .........
One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops-a few people got on, a few got off, and things went generally well.
At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet eight, built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the driver and said, "Big John doesn't pay!" and sat down at the back. Did I mention
that the driver was five feet three, thin, and basically meek? Well, he was.
Naturally, he didn't argue with Big John, but he wasn't happy about it.
The next day the same thing happened-Big John got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. And the next day, and the one after that, and so forth.This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over
the way Big John was taking advantage of him.
Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff. By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong; what's more, he felt really good about himself.
So on the next Monday, when Big John once again got on the bus and said, "Big John doesn't pay!," the driver stood up, glared back at the passenger, and screamed, "And why not?" With a surprised look on his face, Big John
replied, "Big John has a buspass."
Moral of the story:
Be sure there is a problem in the first place. Then start working hard to solve one not before .............
One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops-a few people got on, a few got off, and things went generally well.
At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet eight, built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the driver and said, "Big John doesn't pay!" and sat down at the back. Did I mention
that the driver was five feet three, thin, and basically meek? Well, he was.
Naturally, he didn't argue with Big John, but he wasn't happy about it.
The next day the same thing happened-Big John got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. And the next day, and the one after that, and so forth.This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over
the way Big John was taking advantage of him.
Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff. By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong; what's more, he felt really good about himself.
So on the next Monday, when Big John once again got on the bus and said, "Big John doesn't pay!," the driver stood up, glared back at the passenger, and screamed, "And why not?" With a surprised look on his face, Big John
replied, "Big John has a buspass."
Moral of the story:
Be sure there is a problem in the first place. Then start working hard to solve one not before .............
Lateral Thinking
Here is a story on lateral thinking...
Many hundreds of years ago in a small Italian town, a merchant had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the merchant's beautiful daughter so he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the merchant' debt if he could marry the merchant's daughter. Both the merchant and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. The cunning money lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter.The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender's wife and her father's debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail. They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the merchant's garden. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag.
He then asked the girl to pick her pebble from the bag. Now, imagine you were standing in the merchant's garden.
What would you have done if you were the girl?
If you had to advise her, what would you have told her?
Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:
1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the moneylender as a cheat.
3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.
Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and logical thinking. The
girl's dilemma cannot be solved with traditional logical thinking.
Think of the consequences if she chooses the logical answers.What would you recommend the girl do?
The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. Oh, how clumsy of me, she said. But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Most complex problems do have a solution,sometimes we have to think about them in a different way
Many hundreds of years ago in a small Italian town, a merchant had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the merchant's beautiful daughter so he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the merchant' debt if he could marry the merchant's daughter. Both the merchant and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. The cunning money lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter.The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender's wife and her father's debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail. They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the merchant's garden. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag.
He then asked the girl to pick her pebble from the bag. Now, imagine you were standing in the merchant's garden.
What would you have done if you were the girl?
If you had to advise her, what would you have told her?
Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:
1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the moneylender as a cheat.
3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.
Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and logical thinking. The
girl's dilemma cannot be solved with traditional logical thinking.
Think of the consequences if she chooses the logical answers.What would you recommend the girl do?
The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. Oh, how clumsy of me, she said. But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Most complex problems do have a solution,sometimes we have to think about them in a different way
Work.. Work.. Work.. What am I doing?
What am I doing, working like this.. Whenever I visit Europe or US, I keep wondering about my way of working, watching the Europeans or Americans balancing work & personal life very well, in fact spending more time with family.. I take a vow that I will change after I return home.. But oh! Old habits die hard & I get back into the same old life.. Here is a story to remind me that this will have to change..
A long time ago, there was an Emperor who told his horseman that if he
could ride on his horse and cover as much land area as he likes, then
the Emperor would give him the area of land he has covered.
Sure enough, the horseman quickly jumped onto his horse and rode as fast
as possible to cover as much land area as he could. He kept on riding
and riding, whipping the horse to go as fast as possible. When he was
hungry or tired, he did not stop because he wanted to cover as much area
as possible.
Came to a point when he had covered a substantial area and he was
exhausted and was dying. Then he asked himself, "Why did I push myself
so hard to cover so much land area? Now I am dying and I only need a
very small area to bury myself."
The above story is similar with the journey of our Life. We push very
hard everyday to make more money, to gain power and recognition. We
neglect our health , time with our family and to appreciate the
surrounding beauty and the hobbies we love.
One day when we look back , we will realize that we don't really need
that much, but then we cannot turn back time for what we have missed.
Life is not about making money, acquiring power or recognition. Life is
definitely not about work! Work is only necessary to keep us living so
as to enjoy the beauty and pleasures of life. Life is a balance of Work
and Play, Family and Personal time. You have to decide how you want to
balance your Life. Define your priorities, realize what you are able to
compromise but always let some of your decisions be based on your
instincts. Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of Life, the whole
aim of human existence.
So, take it easy, do what you want to do and appreciate nature. Life is
fragile, Life is short. Do not take Life for granted. Live a balanced
lifestyle and enjoy Life!
Watch your thoughts.........they become words.
Watch your words..............they become actions.
Watch your actions............they become habits.
A long time ago, there was an Emperor who told his horseman that if he
could ride on his horse and cover as much land area as he likes, then
the Emperor would give him the area of land he has covered.
Sure enough, the horseman quickly jumped onto his horse and rode as fast
as possible to cover as much land area as he could. He kept on riding
and riding, whipping the horse to go as fast as possible. When he was
hungry or tired, he did not stop because he wanted to cover as much area
as possible.
Came to a point when he had covered a substantial area and he was
exhausted and was dying. Then he asked himself, "Why did I push myself
so hard to cover so much land area? Now I am dying and I only need a
very small area to bury myself."
The above story is similar with the journey of our Life. We push very
hard everyday to make more money, to gain power and recognition. We
neglect our health , time with our family and to appreciate the
surrounding beauty and the hobbies we love.
One day when we look back , we will realize that we don't really need
that much, but then we cannot turn back time for what we have missed.
Life is not about making money, acquiring power or recognition. Life is
definitely not about work! Work is only necessary to keep us living so
as to enjoy the beauty and pleasures of life. Life is a balance of Work
and Play, Family and Personal time. You have to decide how you want to
balance your Life. Define your priorities, realize what you are able to
compromise but always let some of your decisions be based on your
instincts. Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of Life, the whole
aim of human existence.
So, take it easy, do what you want to do and appreciate nature. Life is
fragile, Life is short. Do not take Life for granted. Live a balanced
lifestyle and enjoy Life!
Watch your thoughts.........they become words.
Watch your words..............they become actions.
Watch your actions............they become habits.
THOUGHT TRIGGERS - HOW DO WE UNLEARN
This is a very interesting piece shared by our CEO :
How do we Unlearn?
How do we Unlearn? You could say that to learn how to swim, you should get into the water. To learn how to play piano, you should take lessons and listen to music and practice on the piano. But to unlearn, there is no one way. Of course, it requires a strong intention to begin with and then we have to let go of the intention itself.
I know of a gentleman who wants to stop smoking. He knows every trick in the book about hypnotherapy, cold turkey method, nicotine patches, chewing gum technique---you name it he knows about it. Actually he stopped smoking several times in the past two three years. How does he unlearn his habit?
He should first have a strong intentionality to stop smoking. Then he probably should try any method that he is attracted to. Once he starts practicing, he should stop worrying about smoking and not smoking but concentrate on just doing what he promised himself to do---that is to practice. Concentrating on the process without worrying about the results is easy to say and very difficult to do. But once he can concentration on his action but not the intended result, there may be some unanticipated surprise. On the other hand, he may never stop smoking too. But if he gives up his practice and moves onto another method, he loses it.
Only way to transcend your mental models is through your current mental models. Running away from it, rejecting it will only strengthen its hold on you. While it looks paradoxical, unlearning is something worth looking at to bring about breakthrough innovation and paradigm shifts in organizations.
Let me give you another example.
I read a book called 'Maiden Voyage' in which Tania Aebi, an eighteen-year-old dropout going nowhere, was offered a challenge by her father. He bought a boat and challenged her to go sailing in it for two years on her own and support herself during that time. If she earned enough money during those two years to support herself, she could keep the boat.
Tania was so excited about getting away from her parents and having fun that she didn1t view as a chore the many lessons she had to take on navigation and survival techniques. Her negative ways began to change. Once she began her voyage her survival was dependent on how well she could navigate. Very quickly she picked up what she needed to learn, and she spent the next two and half years and 27,000 miles sailing around the world, discovering herself.
Until the challenge, Tania was locked in a rigid mental box with a pessimistic and non-participatory outlook and an uncertain future. The challenge helped her to unlearn her old thinking and develop an entirely new context for learning.
Third example:
I had an airplane pilot in one of my workshops who was learning to fly a glider. He told me, as a pilot it was much more difficult for him to learn to fly a glider, than for his wife to learn, who was not a pilot. He kept looking for controls that were not there. He spent much of his early lessons trying to relate and compare the two types of aircraft. Meanwhile, his wife, the complete novice made significant progress from day one.
What we already know gets in the way of what we want to learn. When we unlearn, we generate anew rather than reformulate the same old stuff. Creativity and innovation bubble up during the process of unlearning. This is not mere modification or restructuring of old material; once we remove our blinders, the world becomes quite different, with new possibilities and innovative approaches to situations that previously seemed stale or difficult. If we wish to blossom, we should remember that a seed will only germinate if it ceases to be a seed.
How do we Unlearn?
How do we Unlearn? You could say that to learn how to swim, you should get into the water. To learn how to play piano, you should take lessons and listen to music and practice on the piano. But to unlearn, there is no one way. Of course, it requires a strong intention to begin with and then we have to let go of the intention itself.
I know of a gentleman who wants to stop smoking. He knows every trick in the book about hypnotherapy, cold turkey method, nicotine patches, chewing gum technique---you name it he knows about it. Actually he stopped smoking several times in the past two three years. How does he unlearn his habit?
He should first have a strong intentionality to stop smoking. Then he probably should try any method that he is attracted to. Once he starts practicing, he should stop worrying about smoking and not smoking but concentrate on just doing what he promised himself to do---that is to practice. Concentrating on the process without worrying about the results is easy to say and very difficult to do. But once he can concentration on his action but not the intended result, there may be some unanticipated surprise. On the other hand, he may never stop smoking too. But if he gives up his practice and moves onto another method, he loses it.
Only way to transcend your mental models is through your current mental models. Running away from it, rejecting it will only strengthen its hold on you. While it looks paradoxical, unlearning is something worth looking at to bring about breakthrough innovation and paradigm shifts in organizations.
Let me give you another example.
I read a book called 'Maiden Voyage' in which Tania Aebi, an eighteen-year-old dropout going nowhere, was offered a challenge by her father. He bought a boat and challenged her to go sailing in it for two years on her own and support herself during that time. If she earned enough money during those two years to support herself, she could keep the boat.
Tania was so excited about getting away from her parents and having fun that she didn1t view as a chore the many lessons she had to take on navigation and survival techniques. Her negative ways began to change. Once she began her voyage her survival was dependent on how well she could navigate. Very quickly she picked up what she needed to learn, and she spent the next two and half years and 27,000 miles sailing around the world, discovering herself.
Until the challenge, Tania was locked in a rigid mental box with a pessimistic and non-participatory outlook and an uncertain future. The challenge helped her to unlearn her old thinking and develop an entirely new context for learning.
Third example:
I had an airplane pilot in one of my workshops who was learning to fly a glider. He told me, as a pilot it was much more difficult for him to learn to fly a glider, than for his wife to learn, who was not a pilot. He kept looking for controls that were not there. He spent much of his early lessons trying to relate and compare the two types of aircraft. Meanwhile, his wife, the complete novice made significant progress from day one.
What we already know gets in the way of what we want to learn. When we unlearn, we generate anew rather than reformulate the same old stuff. Creativity and innovation bubble up during the process of unlearning. This is not mere modification or restructuring of old material; once we remove our blinders, the world becomes quite different, with new possibilities and innovative approaches to situations that previously seemed stale or difficult. If we wish to blossom, we should remember that a seed will only germinate if it ceases to be a seed.
Remembering Peter Druker - Management Visionary
Peter F. Drucker, 95, who was often called the world's most influential business guru and whose thinking transformed corporate management in the latter half of the 20th century, died Nov. 11 at his home in Claremont, Calif. His work influenced Winston Churchill, Bill Gates, Jack Welch and the Japanese business establishment. His more than three dozen books, written over 66 years and translated into 30 languages, also delivered his philosophy to newly promoted managers just out of the office cubicle.
Spare a few moments if you can because as he says " stories of successful careers are told and remarkably ,they are like mine !".Even in his absence , he can continue to enrich a few more lives .
My Life as a Knowledge Worker
The leading management thinker describes seven personal experiences that taught him how to grow, to change, and to age--without becoming a prisoner of the past
I was not yet 18 when, having finished high school, I left my native Vienna and went to Hamburg as a trainee in a cotton-export firm. My father was not very happy. Ours had been a family of civil servants, professors, lawyers, and physicians for a very long time. He therefore wanted me to be a full-time university student, but I was tired of being a schoolboy and wanted to go to work. To appease my father, but without any serious intention, I enrolled at Hamburg University in the law faculty. In those remote days--the year was 1927--one did not have to attend classes to be a perfectly proper university student. All one had to do to obtain a university degree was to pay a small annual fee and show up for an exam at the end of four years.
THE FIRST EXPERIENCE Taught by Verdi:
The work at the export firm was terribly boring, and I learned very little. Work began at 7:30 in the morning and was over at 4 in the afternoon on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays. So I had lots of free time. Once a week I went to the opera.
On one of those evenings I went to hear an opera by the great 19th-century Italian composer, Giuseppe Verdi--the last opera he wrote, Falstaff. It has now become one of Verdi's most popular operas, but it was rarely performed then. Both singers and audiences thought it too difficult. I was totally overwhelmed by it. Although I had heard a great many operas, I had never heard anything like that. I have never forgotten the impression that evening made on me.
When I made a study, I found that this opera, with its gaiety, its zest for life, and its incredible vitality, was written by a man of 80! To me 80 was an incredible age. Then I read what Verdi himself had written when he was asked why, at that age, when he was already a famous man and considered one of the foremost opera composers of his century, he had taken on the hard work of writing one more opera, and an exceedingly demanding one. "All my life as a musician," he wrote, "I have striven for perfection. It has always eluded me. I surely had an obligation to make one more try."
I have never forgotten those words--they made an indelible impression on me. When he was 18 Verdi was already a seasoned musician. I had no idea what I would become, except that I knew by that time that I was unlikely to be a success exporting cotton textiles. But I resolved that whatever my life's work would be, Verdi's words would be my lodestar. I resolved that if I ever reached an advanced age, I would not give up but would keep on. In the meantime I would strive for perfection, even though, as I well knew, it would surely always elude me.
THE SECOND EXPERIENCE Taught by Phidias
It was at about this same time, and also in Hamburg during my stay as a trainee, that I read a story that conveyed to me what perfection means. It is a story of the greatest sculptor of ancient Greece, Phidias. He was commissioned around 440 b.c. to make the statues that to this day stand on the roof of the Parthenon, in Athens. They are considered among the greatest sculptures of the Western tradition, but when Phidias submitted his bill, the city accountant of Athens refused to pay it. "These statues," the accountant said, "stand on the roof of the temple, and on the highest hill in Athens. Nobody can see anything but their fronts. Yet you have charged us for sculpting them in the round--that is, for doing their back sides, which nobody can see.
" "You are wrong," Phidias retorted. "The gods can see them." I read this, as I remember, shortly after I had listened to Falstaff, and it hit me hard. I have not always lived up to it. I have done many things that I hope the gods will not notice, but I have always known that one has to strive for perfection even if, only the gods notice.
THE THIRD EXPERIENCE Taught by Journalism
A few years later I moved to Frankfurt. I worked first as a trainee in a brokerage firm. Then, after the New York stock-market crash, in October 1929, when the brokerage firm went bankrupt, I was hired on my 20th birthday by Frankfurt's largest newspaper as a financial and foreign-affairs writer. I continued to be enrolled as a law student at the university because in those days one could easily transfer from one European university to any other. I still was not interested in the law, but I remembered the lessons of Verdi and of Phidias. A journalist has to write about many subjects, so I decided I had to know something about many subjects to be at least a competent journalist.
The newspaper I worked for came out in the afternoon. We began work at 6 in the morning and finished by a quarter past 2 in the afternoon, when the last edition went to press. So I began to force myself to study afternoons and evenings: international relations and international law; the history of social and legal institutions; finance; and so on. Gradually, I developed a system. I still adhere to it. Every three or four years I pick a new subject. It may be Japanese art; it may be economics. Three years of study are by no means enough to master a subject, but they are enough to understand it. So for more than 60 years I have kept on studying one subject at a time. That not only has given me a substantial fund of knowledge. It has also forced me to be open to new disciplines and new approaches and new methods--for every one of the subjects I have studied makes different assumptions and employs a different methodology.
THE FOURTH EXPERIENCE Taught by an Editor-in-Chief
The next experience to report in this story of keeping myself intellectually alive and growing is something that was taught by an editor-in-chief, one of Europe's leading newspapermen. The editorial staff at the newspaper consisted of very young people. At age 22 I became one of the three assistant managing editors. The reason was not that I was particularly good. In fact, I never became a first-rate daily journalist. But in those years, around 1930, the people who should have held the kind of position I had--people age 35 or so--were not available in Europe. They had been killed in World War I. Even highly responsible positions had to be filled by young people like me.
The editor-in-chief, then around 50, took infinite pains to train and discipline his young crew. He discussed with each of us every week the work we had done. Twice a year, right after New Year's and then again before summer vacations began in June, we would spend a Saturday afternoon and all of Sunday discussing our work over the preceding six months. The editor would always start out with the things we had done well. Then he would proceed to the things we had tried to do well. Next he reviewed the things where we had not tried hard enough. And finally, he would subject us to a scathing critique of the things we had done badly or had failed to do. The last two hours of that session would then serve as a projection of our work for the next six months: What were the things on which we should concentrate? What were the things we should improve? What were the things each of us needed to learn? And a week later each of us was expected to submit to the editor-in-chief our new program of work and learning for the next six months. I tremendously enjoyed the sessions, but I forgot them as soon as I left the paper.
Almost 10 years later, after I had come to the United States, I remembered them. It was in the early 1940s, after I had become a senior professor, started my own consulting practice, and begun to publish major books. Since then I have set aside two weeks every summer in which to review my work during the preceding year, beginning with the things I did well but could or should have done better, down to the things I did poorly and the things I should have done but did not do. I decide what my priorities should be in my consulting work, in my writing, and in my teaching. I have never once truly lived up to the plan I make each August, but it has forced me to live up to Verdi's injunction to strive for perfection, even though "it has always eluded me" and still does.
THE FIFTH EXPERIENCE Taught by a Senior Partner
My next learning experience came a few years after my experience on the newspaper. From Frankfurt I moved to London in 1933, first working as a securities analyst in a large insurance company and then, a year later, moving to a small but fast-growing private bank as an economist and the executive secretary to the three senior partners. One, the founder, was a man in his seventies; the two others were in their midthirties. At first I worked exclusively with the two younger men, but after I had been with the firm some three months or so, the founder called me into his office and said, "I didn't think much of you when you came here and still don't think much of you, but you are even more stupid than I thought you would be, and much more stupid than you have any right to be." Since the two younger partners had been praising me to the skies each day, I was dumbfounded.
And then the old gentlemen said, "I understand you did very good securities analysis at the insurance company. But if we had wanted you to do securities-analysis work, we would have left you where you were. You are now the executive secretary to the partners, yet you continue to do securities analysis. What should you be doing now, to be effective in your new job?" I was furious, but still I realized that the old man was right. I totally changed my behavior and my work. Since then, when I have a new assignment, I ask myself the question, "What do I need to do, now that I have a new assignment, to be effective?" Every time, it is something different. Discovering what it is requires concentration on the things that are crucial to the new challenge, the new job, the new task.
THE SIXTH EXPERIENCE Taught by the Jesuits and the Calvinists
Quite a few years later, around 1945, after I had moved from England to the United States in 1937, I picked for my three-year study subject early modern European history, especially the 15th and 16th centuries. I found that two European institutions had become dominant forces in Europe: the Jesuit Order in the Catholic South and the Calvinist Church in the Protestant North. Both were founded independently in 1536. Both adopted the same learning discipline.
Whenever a Jesuit priest or a Calvinist pastor does anything of significance--making a key decision, for instance--he is expected to write down what results he anticipates. Nine months later he traces back from the actual results to those anticipations. That very soon shows him what he did well and what his strengths are. It also shows him what he has to learn and what habits he has to change. Finally, it shows him what he has no gift for and cannot do well. I have followed that method for myself now for 50 years. It brings out what one's strengths are--and that is the most important thing an individual can know about himself or herself. It brings out areas where improvement is needed and suggests what kind of improvement is needed. Finally, it brings out things an individual cannot do and therefore should not even try to do. To know one's strengths, to know how to improve them, and to know what one cannot do--they are the keys to continuous learning.
THE SEVENTH EXPERIENCE Taught by Schumpeter
One more experience, and then I am through with the story of my personal development. At Christmas 1949, when I had just begun to teach management at New York University, my father, then 73 years old, came to visit us from California. Right after New Year's, on January 3, 1950, he and I went to visit an old friend of his, the famous economist Joseph Schumpeter. My father had already retired, but Schumpeter, then 66 and world famous, was still teaching at Harvard and was very active as the president of the American Economic Association.
In 1902 my father was a very young civil servant in the Austrian Ministry of Finance, but he also did some teaching in economics at the university. Thus he had come to know Schumpeter, who was then, at age 19, the most brilliant of the young students. Two more-different people are hard to imagine: Schumpeter was flamboyant, arrogant, abrasive, and vain; my father was quiet, the soul of courtesy, and modest to the point of being self-effacing. Still, the two became fast friends and remained fast friends.
By 1949 Schumpeter had become a very different person. In his last year of teaching at Harvard, he was at the peak of his fame. The two old men had a wonderful time together, reminiscing about the old days. Suddenly, my father asked with a chuckle, "Joseph, do you still talk about what you want to be remembered for?" Schumpeter broke out in loud laughter. For Schumpeter was notorious for having said, when he was 30 or so and had published the first two of his great economics books, that what he really wanted to be remembered for was having been "Europe's greatest lover of beautiful women and Europe's greatest horseman--and perhaps also the world's greatest economist." Schumpeter said, "Yes, this question is still important to me, but I now answer it differently. I want to be remembered as having been the teacher who converted half a dozen brilliant students into first-rate economists."
He must have seen an amazed look on my father's face, because he continued, "You know, Adolph, I have now reached the age where I know that being remembered for books and theories is not enough. One does not make a difference unless it is a difference in the lives of people." One reason my father had gone to see Schumpeter was that it was known that the economist was very sick and would not live long. Schumpeter died five days after we visited him.
I have never forgotten that conversation. I learned from it three things: First, one has to ask oneself what one wants to be remembered for. Second, that should change. It should change both with one's own maturity and with changes in the world. Finally, one thing worth being remembered for is the difference one makes in the lives of people.
I am telling this long story for a simple reason. All the people I know who have managed to remain effective during a long life have learned pretty much the same things I learned. That applies to effective business executives and to scholars, to top-ranking military people and to first-rate physicians, to teachers and to artists. Whenever I work with a person, I try to find out to what the individual attributes his or her success. I am invariably told stories that are remarkably like mine.
Adapted from Drucker on Asia: The Drucker-Nakauchi Dialogue , by Peter F. Drucker and Isao Nakauchi, copyright © 1996. Reprinted with permission of Butterworth Heinemann, a division of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. Peter F. Drucker is Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management at Claremont Graduate School, in California. He can NO LONGER be reached by fax at 909-626-7366.
Spare a few moments if you can because as he says " stories of successful careers are told and remarkably ,they are like mine !".Even in his absence , he can continue to enrich a few more lives .
My Life as a Knowledge Worker
The leading management thinker describes seven personal experiences that taught him how to grow, to change, and to age--without becoming a prisoner of the past
I was not yet 18 when, having finished high school, I left my native Vienna and went to Hamburg as a trainee in a cotton-export firm. My father was not very happy. Ours had been a family of civil servants, professors, lawyers, and physicians for a very long time. He therefore wanted me to be a full-time university student, but I was tired of being a schoolboy and wanted to go to work. To appease my father, but without any serious intention, I enrolled at Hamburg University in the law faculty. In those remote days--the year was 1927--one did not have to attend classes to be a perfectly proper university student. All one had to do to obtain a university degree was to pay a small annual fee and show up for an exam at the end of four years.
THE FIRST EXPERIENCE Taught by Verdi:
The work at the export firm was terribly boring, and I learned very little. Work began at 7:30 in the morning and was over at 4 in the afternoon on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays. So I had lots of free time. Once a week I went to the opera.
On one of those evenings I went to hear an opera by the great 19th-century Italian composer, Giuseppe Verdi--the last opera he wrote, Falstaff. It has now become one of Verdi's most popular operas, but it was rarely performed then. Both singers and audiences thought it too difficult. I was totally overwhelmed by it. Although I had heard a great many operas, I had never heard anything like that. I have never forgotten the impression that evening made on me.
When I made a study, I found that this opera, with its gaiety, its zest for life, and its incredible vitality, was written by a man of 80! To me 80 was an incredible age. Then I read what Verdi himself had written when he was asked why, at that age, when he was already a famous man and considered one of the foremost opera composers of his century, he had taken on the hard work of writing one more opera, and an exceedingly demanding one. "All my life as a musician," he wrote, "I have striven for perfection. It has always eluded me. I surely had an obligation to make one more try."
I have never forgotten those words--they made an indelible impression on me. When he was 18 Verdi was already a seasoned musician. I had no idea what I would become, except that I knew by that time that I was unlikely to be a success exporting cotton textiles. But I resolved that whatever my life's work would be, Verdi's words would be my lodestar. I resolved that if I ever reached an advanced age, I would not give up but would keep on. In the meantime I would strive for perfection, even though, as I well knew, it would surely always elude me.
THE SECOND EXPERIENCE Taught by Phidias
It was at about this same time, and also in Hamburg during my stay as a trainee, that I read a story that conveyed to me what perfection means. It is a story of the greatest sculptor of ancient Greece, Phidias. He was commissioned around 440 b.c. to make the statues that to this day stand on the roof of the Parthenon, in Athens. They are considered among the greatest sculptures of the Western tradition, but when Phidias submitted his bill, the city accountant of Athens refused to pay it. "These statues," the accountant said, "stand on the roof of the temple, and on the highest hill in Athens. Nobody can see anything but their fronts. Yet you have charged us for sculpting them in the round--that is, for doing their back sides, which nobody can see.
" "You are wrong," Phidias retorted. "The gods can see them." I read this, as I remember, shortly after I had listened to Falstaff, and it hit me hard. I have not always lived up to it. I have done many things that I hope the gods will not notice, but I have always known that one has to strive for perfection even if, only the gods notice.
THE THIRD EXPERIENCE Taught by Journalism
A few years later I moved to Frankfurt. I worked first as a trainee in a brokerage firm. Then, after the New York stock-market crash, in October 1929, when the brokerage firm went bankrupt, I was hired on my 20th birthday by Frankfurt's largest newspaper as a financial and foreign-affairs writer. I continued to be enrolled as a law student at the university because in those days one could easily transfer from one European university to any other. I still was not interested in the law, but I remembered the lessons of Verdi and of Phidias. A journalist has to write about many subjects, so I decided I had to know something about many subjects to be at least a competent journalist.
The newspaper I worked for came out in the afternoon. We began work at 6 in the morning and finished by a quarter past 2 in the afternoon, when the last edition went to press. So I began to force myself to study afternoons and evenings: international relations and international law; the history of social and legal institutions; finance; and so on. Gradually, I developed a system. I still adhere to it. Every three or four years I pick a new subject. It may be Japanese art; it may be economics. Three years of study are by no means enough to master a subject, but they are enough to understand it. So for more than 60 years I have kept on studying one subject at a time. That not only has given me a substantial fund of knowledge. It has also forced me to be open to new disciplines and new approaches and new methods--for every one of the subjects I have studied makes different assumptions and employs a different methodology.
THE FOURTH EXPERIENCE Taught by an Editor-in-Chief
The next experience to report in this story of keeping myself intellectually alive and growing is something that was taught by an editor-in-chief, one of Europe's leading newspapermen. The editorial staff at the newspaper consisted of very young people. At age 22 I became one of the three assistant managing editors. The reason was not that I was particularly good. In fact, I never became a first-rate daily journalist. But in those years, around 1930, the people who should have held the kind of position I had--people age 35 or so--were not available in Europe. They had been killed in World War I. Even highly responsible positions had to be filled by young people like me.
The editor-in-chief, then around 50, took infinite pains to train and discipline his young crew. He discussed with each of us every week the work we had done. Twice a year, right after New Year's and then again before summer vacations began in June, we would spend a Saturday afternoon and all of Sunday discussing our work over the preceding six months. The editor would always start out with the things we had done well. Then he would proceed to the things we had tried to do well. Next he reviewed the things where we had not tried hard enough. And finally, he would subject us to a scathing critique of the things we had done badly or had failed to do. The last two hours of that session would then serve as a projection of our work for the next six months: What were the things on which we should concentrate? What were the things we should improve? What were the things each of us needed to learn? And a week later each of us was expected to submit to the editor-in-chief our new program of work and learning for the next six months. I tremendously enjoyed the sessions, but I forgot them as soon as I left the paper.
Almost 10 years later, after I had come to the United States, I remembered them. It was in the early 1940s, after I had become a senior professor, started my own consulting practice, and begun to publish major books. Since then I have set aside two weeks every summer in which to review my work during the preceding year, beginning with the things I did well but could or should have done better, down to the things I did poorly and the things I should have done but did not do. I decide what my priorities should be in my consulting work, in my writing, and in my teaching. I have never once truly lived up to the plan I make each August, but it has forced me to live up to Verdi's injunction to strive for perfection, even though "it has always eluded me" and still does.
THE FIFTH EXPERIENCE Taught by a Senior Partner
My next learning experience came a few years after my experience on the newspaper. From Frankfurt I moved to London in 1933, first working as a securities analyst in a large insurance company and then, a year later, moving to a small but fast-growing private bank as an economist and the executive secretary to the three senior partners. One, the founder, was a man in his seventies; the two others were in their midthirties. At first I worked exclusively with the two younger men, but after I had been with the firm some three months or so, the founder called me into his office and said, "I didn't think much of you when you came here and still don't think much of you, but you are even more stupid than I thought you would be, and much more stupid than you have any right to be." Since the two younger partners had been praising me to the skies each day, I was dumbfounded.
And then the old gentlemen said, "I understand you did very good securities analysis at the insurance company. But if we had wanted you to do securities-analysis work, we would have left you where you were. You are now the executive secretary to the partners, yet you continue to do securities analysis. What should you be doing now, to be effective in your new job?" I was furious, but still I realized that the old man was right. I totally changed my behavior and my work. Since then, when I have a new assignment, I ask myself the question, "What do I need to do, now that I have a new assignment, to be effective?" Every time, it is something different. Discovering what it is requires concentration on the things that are crucial to the new challenge, the new job, the new task.
THE SIXTH EXPERIENCE Taught by the Jesuits and the Calvinists
Quite a few years later, around 1945, after I had moved from England to the United States in 1937, I picked for my three-year study subject early modern European history, especially the 15th and 16th centuries. I found that two European institutions had become dominant forces in Europe: the Jesuit Order in the Catholic South and the Calvinist Church in the Protestant North. Both were founded independently in 1536. Both adopted the same learning discipline.
Whenever a Jesuit priest or a Calvinist pastor does anything of significance--making a key decision, for instance--he is expected to write down what results he anticipates. Nine months later he traces back from the actual results to those anticipations. That very soon shows him what he did well and what his strengths are. It also shows him what he has to learn and what habits he has to change. Finally, it shows him what he has no gift for and cannot do well. I have followed that method for myself now for 50 years. It brings out what one's strengths are--and that is the most important thing an individual can know about himself or herself. It brings out areas where improvement is needed and suggests what kind of improvement is needed. Finally, it brings out things an individual cannot do and therefore should not even try to do. To know one's strengths, to know how to improve them, and to know what one cannot do--they are the keys to continuous learning.
THE SEVENTH EXPERIENCE Taught by Schumpeter
One more experience, and then I am through with the story of my personal development. At Christmas 1949, when I had just begun to teach management at New York University, my father, then 73 years old, came to visit us from California. Right after New Year's, on January 3, 1950, he and I went to visit an old friend of his, the famous economist Joseph Schumpeter. My father had already retired, but Schumpeter, then 66 and world famous, was still teaching at Harvard and was very active as the president of the American Economic Association.
In 1902 my father was a very young civil servant in the Austrian Ministry of Finance, but he also did some teaching in economics at the university. Thus he had come to know Schumpeter, who was then, at age 19, the most brilliant of the young students. Two more-different people are hard to imagine: Schumpeter was flamboyant, arrogant, abrasive, and vain; my father was quiet, the soul of courtesy, and modest to the point of being self-effacing. Still, the two became fast friends and remained fast friends.
By 1949 Schumpeter had become a very different person. In his last year of teaching at Harvard, he was at the peak of his fame. The two old men had a wonderful time together, reminiscing about the old days. Suddenly, my father asked with a chuckle, "Joseph, do you still talk about what you want to be remembered for?" Schumpeter broke out in loud laughter. For Schumpeter was notorious for having said, when he was 30 or so and had published the first two of his great economics books, that what he really wanted to be remembered for was having been "Europe's greatest lover of beautiful women and Europe's greatest horseman--and perhaps also the world's greatest economist." Schumpeter said, "Yes, this question is still important to me, but I now answer it differently. I want to be remembered as having been the teacher who converted half a dozen brilliant students into first-rate economists."
He must have seen an amazed look on my father's face, because he continued, "You know, Adolph, I have now reached the age where I know that being remembered for books and theories is not enough. One does not make a difference unless it is a difference in the lives of people." One reason my father had gone to see Schumpeter was that it was known that the economist was very sick and would not live long. Schumpeter died five days after we visited him.
I have never forgotten that conversation. I learned from it three things: First, one has to ask oneself what one wants to be remembered for. Second, that should change. It should change both with one's own maturity and with changes in the world. Finally, one thing worth being remembered for is the difference one makes in the lives of people.
I am telling this long story for a simple reason. All the people I know who have managed to remain effective during a long life have learned pretty much the same things I learned. That applies to effective business executives and to scholars, to top-ranking military people and to first-rate physicians, to teachers and to artists. Whenever I work with a person, I try to find out to what the individual attributes his or her success. I am invariably told stories that are remarkably like mine.
Adapted from Drucker on Asia: The Drucker-Nakauchi Dialogue , by Peter F. Drucker and Isao Nakauchi, copyright © 1996. Reprinted with permission of Butterworth Heinemann, a division of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. Peter F. Drucker is Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management at Claremont Graduate School, in California. He can NO LONGER be reached by fax at 909-626-7366.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Make someone happy today
>
> It will take just 37 seconds to read this and change your
> thinking.
>
> Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.
> One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each
> afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was
> next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all
> his time flat on his back.
>
> The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and
> families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the
> military service, where they had been on vacation.
>
> Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit
> up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all
>the
> things he could see outside the window.
>
> The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour
> periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all
> the activity and color of the world outside.
>
> The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and
>swans
> played on the water while children sailed their model boats.
> Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color
>and
> a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.
>
> As the man by the window described all this in exquisite
>detail,
> the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and
> imagine the picturesque scene.
>
> One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade
> passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he
> could see it. In his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window
> portrayed it with descriptive words.
>
> Days and weeks passed. One morning, the nurse arrived to bring
> water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man
> by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was
> saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body
> away.
>
> As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he
> could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make
> the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left
> him alone.
>
> Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take
> his first look at the real world outside. He strained to slowly
> turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank
> wall.
> The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased
> roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this
> window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could
>not
> even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to
> encourage you."
>
> Epilogue: There is tremendous happiness in making others happy,
> despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow,
>but
> happiness when shared, is doubled.
>
> If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have
> that money can't buy.
>
> "Today is a gift, that's why it is called the present."
>
> The origin of this letter is unknown, but it brings good luck
>to
> everyone who passes it on. Do not keep this letter. Do not send
> money. Just forward it to your friends to whom you wish good
> luck. You will see that something good happens to you four days
> from today.
>
> People will forget what you said...
>
> People will forget what you did...
>
> But people will never forget how you made them feel...
>
> Make someone happy, share a kind word today.
> It will take just 37 seconds to read this and change your
> thinking.
>
> Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.
> One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each
> afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was
> next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all
> his time flat on his back.
>
> The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and
> families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the
> military service, where they had been on vacation.
>
> Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit
> up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all
>the
> things he could see outside the window.
>
> The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour
> periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all
> the activity and color of the world outside.
>
> The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and
>swans
> played on the water while children sailed their model boats.
> Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color
>and
> a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.
>
> As the man by the window described all this in exquisite
>detail,
> the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and
> imagine the picturesque scene.
>
> One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade
> passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he
> could see it. In his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window
> portrayed it with descriptive words.
>
> Days and weeks passed. One morning, the nurse arrived to bring
> water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man
> by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was
> saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body
> away.
>
> As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he
> could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make
> the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left
> him alone.
>
> Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take
> his first look at the real world outside. He strained to slowly
> turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank
> wall.
> The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased
> roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this
> window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could
>not
> even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to
> encourage you."
>
> Epilogue: There is tremendous happiness in making others happy,
> despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow,
>but
> happiness when shared, is doubled.
>
> If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have
> that money can't buy.
>
> "Today is a gift, that's why it is called the present."
>
> The origin of this letter is unknown, but it brings good luck
>to
> everyone who passes it on. Do not keep this letter. Do not send
> money. Just forward it to your friends to whom you wish good
> luck. You will see that something good happens to you four days
> from today.
>
> People will forget what you said...
>
> People will forget what you did...
>
> But people will never forget how you made them feel...
>
> Make someone happy, share a kind word today.
Shivering in Germany - Sun God.. where are you
Oh! boy, am I not cold. I promise, I again promise, will not say a word against the (hottest) chennai anymore. Here I am, on a business visit to Germany (Aam I the only one available to do business?), shivering in the snowing (the first in the winter season in Dusseldorf I guess), not wanting to cook, clean or do anything the like, rather watch some movies or serials (excuse: too cold).
It was really bad yesterday, the roads are as bad (if not worse) as they would be in Chennai during the rainy days, the trams & buses running late (unusuallly), preventing me from moving out of the room. It was enjoyable, though , to see so much of white snow everywhere (rooftops, car tops, in my balcony). It was almost as if I was watching the English movie wherein , Steve Martin trying to go home for Christmas (Forgot the name of the movie, can someone help here), a decade back.
Today , of course, I am back to my usual self, having voice chatted with my family from all over (Chennai, Coimbatore, Keil etc) and also my friend in Chennai (Must confess that the snowing has stopped & could see the sun a little bit).
We cannot blame the Europeans anymore for sun-bathing
It was really bad yesterday, the roads are as bad (if not worse) as they would be in Chennai during the rainy days, the trams & buses running late (unusuallly), preventing me from moving out of the room. It was enjoyable, though , to see so much of white snow everywhere (rooftops, car tops, in my balcony). It was almost as if I was watching the English movie wherein , Steve Martin trying to go home for Christmas (Forgot the name of the movie, can someone help here), a decade back.
Today , of course, I am back to my usual self, having voice chatted with my family from all over (Chennai, Coimbatore, Keil etc) and also my friend in Chennai (Must confess that the snowing has stopped & could see the sun a little bit).
We cannot blame the Europeans anymore for sun-bathing
