Mastery

' In the course of your life you will be continually encountering fools. There are simply too many to avoid. We can classify people as fools by the following rubric: when it comes to practical life, what should matter is getting long-term results, and getting the work done in as efficient and creative a manner as possible. That should be the supreme value that guides people’s actions. But fools carry with them a different scale of values. They place more importance on short- term matters – grabbing immediate money, getting attention from the public or media, and looking good. They are ruled by their ego and insecurities.  They tend to enjoy drama and political intrigue for their own sake. When they criticize, they always emphasize matters that are irrelevant to the overall picture or argument. They are more interested in their career and position than in the truth. You can distinguish them by how little they get done, or by how hard they make it for others to get results.  They lack a certain common sense, getting worked up about things that are not really important while ignoring problems that will spell doom in the long term.

The natural tendency with fools is to lower yourself to their level. They annoy you, get under your skin, and draw you into a battle. In the process, you feel petty and confused. You lose a sense of what is really important. You can’t win an argument or get them to see your side or change their behaviour, because rationality and results don’t matter to them. You simply waste time and emotional energy. In dealing with fools you must adopt the following philosophy; they are simply a part of life, like rocks or furniture. All of us have foolish sides, moments in which we lose our heads and think more of our ego or short-term goals. It is human nature.'

Did you like that passage? Does it remind you of someone you know? If so, read "Mastery" the  latest book by Robert Green   from which this extract was taken.    

What they don't teach at the training centres! (with due apologies to Mark McCormack ).

When I took up a new job about two decades ago I had to undergo an initial nine months training. There were about forty of us and the training period was one of the finest times of our lives. It was as if we were back in college; we shared great camaraderie, struck good friendships and played a lot of pranks.

In spite of all the merrymaking we did learn a lot in the classrooms, but for me the most memorable lessons were learnt outside the classroom. Here are a few of them.
 

A dangerous language: Once the  Managing Director gave us a visit and after his speech the floor was opened for questions.  One trainee, let us call him Chris, stood up and asked “Sir, how did you manage to become an MD?”

The Principal, who is normally unflustered, suddenly sprang to his feet and screamed: “Chris! The sentence “How did you manage” connotes that you are not qualified, yet somehow made it. What you really meant was “What qualities helped you to reach this position” is it not? English is a dangerous language; be careful when you use it”. Chris nodded sheepishly, everyone had a good laugh and the atmosphere became relaxed again.

“How did you manage to” soon became a catchphrase among us and people started teasing Chris with comments like “How did you manage to get selected ”. At first Chris laughed it off. When it became too annoying he changed tactics and responded that he knew his English well enough and that he meant exactly what he had said!

I learnt a few lessons from this incident, but the most important one is what I learnt from Chris - if fate hands you a lemon make lemonade out of it, or in other words, make virtue out of a necessity!

Smart working: We had to write exams every Saturday and Friday evenings were very stressful as that was the only time many of us read our study material. One such day a friend who walked into my room saw me struggling with my studies and took pity on me. He told me that I was studying the unimportant chapters and advised me on the really important ones. Since he was one of the bright guys who scored high in the exams, I took his advice. The next day I was pleasantly surprised to see questions from the chapters suggested by my friend. It was later learnt that the smart guys had made arrangements with the office boy to get in advance a copy of the question papers!

The lesson learnt? It is working smart that matters, not working hard; or as the motivational speaker and author Shiv Khera put in a pithy statement- “Results are rewarded, Efforts aren’t”.

The Free lunch: One day a faculty member asked one of the trainees some innocuous question but it was perceived by us an insult on the entire class. And as it usually happens, it snowballed into a long list of grievances. We trainees got together and decided that we won’t have lunch the next day unless our problems were resolved. When word got around that we had boycotted the lunch, the entire faculty came over and requested us to take the food. They said that problems can be discussed and that taking or not taking of the food is not going to affect the outcome; moreover the cost of the food has been incurred and wasting it was the wasting of public money. That sounded reasonable (or was it hunger getting the better of me?) and I addressed the class that we should now take the food. Suddenly there were protests all around against my traitorous stand. I was asked either to shut up and sit down or go ahead and take the food if I wanted to be in a minority of one! I thought hard and finally, the fear of getting isolated forced me to take the first option.

Later that evening, I told some of my friends that foregoing lunch was not the right decision and that I should have gone ahead and taken the food. Suddenly all of them said that if only someone had shown the courage to take the lunch they would have followed suit!

I learned a lot of lessons that day; but the most enduring one is that in a democracy it is the voice of the majority that counts.

Footnote: These lessons should have served me well. Sadly, like the Bourbon kings of France, I forgot nothing and learned nothing! I often lacked the wisdom to acknowledge these truths, much to my disadvantage. It is said that the wise learn from the mistakes of others. I hope you would.

The Singapore Chinatown- Mid Autumn festival

In many countries across the world you find places named Chinatown, which are enclaves of ethnic Chinese migrants. The Chinatown in Singapore is probably the only such one where the people of Chinese ethnicity are not a minority but are a majority. The Chinatown here was the name given by the colonial British rulers to the area that they had designated for the Chinese community.

Today Chinatown is one of the major tourist destinations. Tourists throng here to have a taste of authentic Chinese cuisine and to buy souvenirs.

Mid- Autumn Festival is the Chinese harvest festival which falls on the full moon day in September / October. I recently visited  Chinatown during this festival period. Here are some photos,

                                         Paper lanterns strung across the street

                                         An young couple finds the backdrop good for a photo-shoot

 

                                  

                                         A dress shop- see the famous sarong-kebaya uniform
                                         of the Singapore Airlines staff on the right.

                                         Chopsticks are a popular souvenir

                                         The popular seafood restaurant

                                         Mooncakes- the pastry made of red bean or lotus seed paste
                                        is traditionally eaten during the Mid Autumn festival

                                         Lanterns made by the local school kids

                                         A shop selling lanterns and other bric a brac.

 

                                         The view of the backside of the Buddha Tooth relic Temple

                                          A closer view of the lanterns

                                         The view from the inside of the temple

 

The front side view of the Buddha tooth relic Temple