When environment is hostile , many animals go into hibernation. Their heartbeat , respiration rate and temperature drop drastically. They seem to ‘sleep’ through hard times. When caught in a strong ocean current , a seahorse drifts gracefully with it until it passes by an underwater plant. It then uses its tail; to cling on the plant until the current passes by.
Let ends be worthy of your toil or you toil in vain. When the going gets tough , don’t just get going. Pause , think and asses s the situation sensibly. Evaluate the options available .
Withdraw into a cocoon when an unannounced storm in your life appears , and thus remain until it passes by. Flow with the situation while not losing touch with your roots. Gigantic trees are uprooted in a typhoon but smaller plants bend with the wind and live on.
Use the periods of lull in life to retrospect and plan.Retrospect on the path you have thus far trodden and put into perspective the path ahead.
Friday, November 14, 2008
7th Sense
The bald eagle has a life span of 50 years .When it reaches 40,its beak and claws begin to bend .The curvatures prevent it from catching prey. Its weight increases because it can no longer pluck excess feathers off its body. Flying itself becomes agonizingly difficult. The majestic eagle is thus rendered distressingly helpless and feeble at prime of its life. Then something incredible happens . The eagle dashes itself against rocks until the beak breaks off . it then retires into solitude. For three months the eagle survives without food or flight.Three months later , a new and sharp beak grows back.The eagle then pulls out excess feathers on its body and trims its claws.It soars the skies again and begins a new phase of life in all its majesty.
When weighed down and alone in life, never look up and lament ‘O destiny you have given me the vast sky but taken away my wings with which to fly”.Look into the sky instead and think of the eagle that scripted its own destiny. The process of renewal may take time and may be painful , but when it is done , you will begin life anew in all its splendor . Thus you shall be reborn to triumph.
When weighed down and alone in life, never look up and lament ‘O destiny you have given me the vast sky but taken away my wings with which to fly”.Look into the sky instead and think of the eagle that scripted its own destiny. The process of renewal may take time and may be painful , but when it is done , you will begin life anew in all its splendor . Thus you shall be reborn to triumph.
7th Sense
Camouflage and disguise are amazing displays in a world of predator and prey.
Be in receptive harmony with people and events occurring around you .Blend in with your environment and try not to look like a person apart from it even if in fact you really are.Trying to be different may not always make you a trendsetter . On contrary , you may be branded as a deviant and a misfit , especially by those who see in you a threat.
Interest others with your uniqueness if you must , but not to the point of intimidating them.Apear ordinary and conserve your distinctive skills and assets to be deployed at the right time and place.That’s the mark of extraordinary survivors and winners
Be in receptive harmony with people and events occurring around you .Blend in with your environment and try not to look like a person apart from it even if in fact you really are.Trying to be different may not always make you a trendsetter . On contrary , you may be branded as a deviant and a misfit , especially by those who see in you a threat.
Interest others with your uniqueness if you must , but not to the point of intimidating them.Apear ordinary and conserve your distinctive skills and assets to be deployed at the right time and place.That’s the mark of extraordinary survivors and winners
WEEPING BUILDINGS
Couped up in an office building made of glass
Every wall a window, to the outside world
The world outside dancing, dancing in the rain
Trees washed green, under nature’s shower
Sitting by my table, facing the glass wall
I wonder why I am doing , what I am doing
Should I not be, there in the rain
amongst the dancing trees?
Here I am, inside a weeping building
The rain runs off glass cheeks like tears
What sorrow does the building house?
Or are these tears of joy and pride?
To make the sheets of glass stand proud and tall
Amidst the constant flow of traffic
Hundreds risked their lives,is it pain
Or is it pride they feel when the work is complete?
Every wall a window, to the outside world
The world outside dancing, dancing in the rain
Trees washed green, under nature’s shower
Sitting by my table, facing the glass wall
I wonder why I am doing , what I am doing
Should I not be, there in the rain
amongst the dancing trees?
Here I am, inside a weeping building
The rain runs off glass cheeks like tears
What sorrow does the building house?
Or are these tears of joy and pride?
To make the sheets of glass stand proud and tall
Amidst the constant flow of traffic
Hundreds risked their lives,is it pain
Or is it pride they feel when the work is complete?
Monday, November 10, 2008
The Field of the Future
The key to deeper levels of learning is that the larger living wholes of which we are an active part are not inherently static.Like all living systems , they both conserve features essential to their existence and seek to evolve. When we become more aware of of the dynamic whole, we also become more aware of what is emerging.
....
Entrepreneurial ability is an expression of the capacity to sense an emerging reality and to act in harmony with it.
...Every profound innovation is based on an inward bound journey , on going to a deeper place where knowing comes to the surface.
...
This inward bound journey lies at the heart of all creativity, whether in the arts , in business, or in science.Many scientistsand inventors, like artists and entrepreneurs, live in a paradoxical state of great confidence and profound humility - knowing their choices and actions matter and feeling guided by forces beyond their making.
Can living instituitions learn to tap into a larger field to guide them toward what is healthy for the whole?What understanding and capacity will this require of people individually and collectively?
Peter senge in Presence
....
Entrepreneurial ability is an expression of the capacity to sense an emerging reality and to act in harmony with it.
...Every profound innovation is based on an inward bound journey , on going to a deeper place where knowing comes to the surface.
...
This inward bound journey lies at the heart of all creativity, whether in the arts , in business, or in science.Many scientistsand inventors, like artists and entrepreneurs, live in a paradoxical state of great confidence and profound humility - knowing their choices and actions matter and feeling guided by forces beyond their making.
Can living instituitions learn to tap into a larger field to guide them toward what is healthy for the whole?What understanding and capacity will this require of people individually and collectively?
Peter senge in Presence
Presennce
All Learning integrates thinking and doing.In reactive learning , thinking is governed by established mental models and doing is governed by established habits of action.
deeper levels of learning create increasing awareness of the larger whole - both as it is and as it is evolving - and actions that increasingly become part of creating alternative futures
....
All learning integrates thinking and doing .All learning is about how we interact in the world and the types of capacities that develop from our interactions . What differs is the depth of the awareness and the consequent source of action.If awareness never reaches beyond superficial events and current circumstances, actions will be reactions.If on the other hand , we peneterate more deeply to see the larger wholes that generate "what is" and our own connection to this wholeness, the source and effectiveness of our actions can change dramatically.
Peter Senge
deeper levels of learning create increasing awareness of the larger whole - both as it is and as it is evolving - and actions that increasingly become part of creating alternative futures
....
All learning integrates thinking and doing .All learning is about how we interact in the world and the types of capacities that develop from our interactions . What differs is the depth of the awareness and the consequent source of action.If awareness never reaches beyond superficial events and current circumstances, actions will be reactions.If on the other hand , we peneterate more deeply to see the larger wholes that generate "what is" and our own connection to this wholeness, the source and effectiveness of our actions can change dramatically.
Peter Senge
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Anguish
In The fifth discipline Peter Senge says "I believe that the prevailing system of management is at its core dedicated to mediocrity. It forces people to work harder and harder to compensate for failing to tap the spirit and collective intelligence that charachterises working together at their best"
Can anything be more meaningless. No I don't mean what Peter Senge is saying is meaningless !
What I am talking of is the prevailing system of Management . Being a HR professional I guess it is sacreligious to say this but i do think the culprits are so called HR Professionals. Our sense of identity comes from complicating the ordinary with complex processes: which gets outdated in a few years ,so to sustain ourselves we bottle it in a more complex shaped bottle and have have no qualms about the content being the same. First and forefost there was nothing wrong with the simple content so there is no reason to change it but if don't pretend there is a change we have not kept up with times ,the latest jargon in the latest book on the shelf!
Something as simple as goal setting and review, becomes Management by Objectives, becomes Key Performance Indicators, but some would swear by Key Result Areas, no thats not impressive enough it should be Balanced Score Card or else you are doomed !
That is not enough you have to rate me on a scale , put me into a 3X3 matrix , Leaders are put into a quandry, they have to get work out of people they have put into a "label" which is compulsory because there is a theoritical number in each category ,a forced percentage for each
cell in the matrix , there is a bellcurve to be fitted into. After all this is done the TEAM is expected to work as a TEAM ! Team Building workshops during the year and the year ends with your Bell Curves and Matrix ensures that there is discontent , and rumbling in the so called team .
To make matters worse we reward and give importance to RAPPORT BUILDING, COMMUNICATION ,MANAGERIAL STYLE ,INFLUENCING all very good skills , extremely useful in the corporate world , but have we ever thought what these skills mean in the absence of equally important attitudes and orientation like INTEGRITY,EQUITY& FAIRNESS,RESPECT FOR OTHERS ,EMPATHY ?
We need to give this a lot of thought.
If these highly valued skills are very low , though we may have the right orientation/attitude it makes us simple folks , we get taken advantage of and we are not effective though we may be good people.
If we neither have the skill nor the right orientation/attitude we are no better than a street bully.
The much greater concern is the large number of people populating organisations especially rising higher in the hierarchy on account of their exceptionally good skills that are so valued by the corporate sector despite the fact that they lack the essential right orientation/attitude.We fail to realise that they are just street bullies who have grown into being CORPORATE POLITICIANS!( they justify it by calling themselves STRATEGIC ! )
It is pathetic that we have to search for Leaders who have both the skills and the right orientation and attitude, they are far too few.
What then is Human Resource Development ? Of what worth are we HR professionals when we see this happening in our organisations but are impotent to do anything about it, worse still we are also in the same rat race , competeting to be the best corporate politician? Is that what STRATEGIC HR is all about?
Can anything be more meaningless. No I don't mean what Peter Senge is saying is meaningless !
What I am talking of is the prevailing system of Management . Being a HR professional I guess it is sacreligious to say this but i do think the culprits are so called HR Professionals. Our sense of identity comes from complicating the ordinary with complex processes: which gets outdated in a few years ,so to sustain ourselves we bottle it in a more complex shaped bottle and have have no qualms about the content being the same. First and forefost there was nothing wrong with the simple content so there is no reason to change it but if don't pretend there is a change we have not kept up with times ,the latest jargon in the latest book on the shelf!
Something as simple as goal setting and review, becomes Management by Objectives, becomes Key Performance Indicators, but some would swear by Key Result Areas, no thats not impressive enough it should be Balanced Score Card or else you are doomed !
That is not enough you have to rate me on a scale , put me into a 3X3 matrix , Leaders are put into a quandry, they have to get work out of people they have put into a "label" which is compulsory because there is a theoritical number in each category ,a forced percentage for each
cell in the matrix , there is a bellcurve to be fitted into. After all this is done the TEAM is expected to work as a TEAM ! Team Building workshops during the year and the year ends with your Bell Curves and Matrix ensures that there is discontent , and rumbling in the so called team .
To make matters worse we reward and give importance to RAPPORT BUILDING, COMMUNICATION ,MANAGERIAL STYLE ,INFLUENCING all very good skills , extremely useful in the corporate world , but have we ever thought what these skills mean in the absence of equally important attitudes and orientation like INTEGRITY,EQUITY& FAIRNESS,RESPECT FOR OTHERS ,EMPATHY ?
We need to give this a lot of thought.
If these highly valued skills are very low , though we may have the right orientation/attitude it makes us simple folks , we get taken advantage of and we are not effective though we may be good people.
If we neither have the skill nor the right orientation/attitude we are no better than a street bully.
The much greater concern is the large number of people populating organisations especially rising higher in the hierarchy on account of their exceptionally good skills that are so valued by the corporate sector despite the fact that they lack the essential right orientation/attitude.We fail to realise that they are just street bullies who have grown into being CORPORATE POLITICIANS!( they justify it by calling themselves STRATEGIC ! )
It is pathetic that we have to search for Leaders who have both the skills and the right orientation and attitude, they are far too few.
What then is Human Resource Development ? Of what worth are we HR professionals when we see this happening in our organisations but are impotent to do anything about it, worse still we are also in the same rat race , competeting to be the best corporate politician? Is that what STRATEGIC HR is all about?
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