I was watching a 'satsang' on TV today, that made me think about this.
The person gave this beautiful example about swimming pools and wells to substantiate his points. While the original point is ignoreable, this analogy isn't. He explained that with a swimming pool, we need to put in the water, whereas in case of a well, all we have to do is remove the dirt, and the gravel in there. Ground water automatically finds its way into that well.
What got me thinking about this was that this is the case with life.
Come to think of it, we expect the world to be treating us as a swimming pool, giving us what we want. Shouldn't we be more like a well, finding our own sources of what we need (ok ok... also of what we 'want')?
Of course, it's tough. Because we would have to start with doing the dirty job of cleaning up. But I guess it's worth it!!!
May 28, 2006
May 6, 2006
What is Management?
No, I do not want to talk about the definition of management here.
What I want to talk about is the art of people management. Not an original idea though, but I have been lucky enough to experience this early in my career and realise its importance.
Read umpteen books on management and each of them would give a different funda on the topic. Each would look at one aspect of the whole practice and try to philosophise on it.
The practice, no doubt, is an art. But I have realised that most of people management does not involve getting things done. It involves removing obstacles in the path of things being done.
Let's look at it in more detail.
I am a strong believer in Theory Y, which says that given an opportunity people want to work, and that they get personal satisfaction in accomplishing the tasks given to them.
Given this, it is natural that left to themselves, things will get done. What, then, is the role of a manager? His / her role is to make sure that the doer faces as less problems as possible, while carrying out the task assigned to him. Because a self-motivated employee would go to his senior only when he is unable to do the task himself. He is not looking at avoiding the work. He is looking at finishing it in the best possible manner.
In such a case, all a manager needs to do is to help the employee solve the problem, and then, get himself off the scene. Once the problem is solved, the manager is no longer required, and his presence may possibly even lead to inefficient working of the employee.
So that's management as I see it - remove obstacles from your employees' ways, not get yourself in their way ahead.
What I want to talk about is the art of people management. Not an original idea though, but I have been lucky enough to experience this early in my career and realise its importance.
Read umpteen books on management and each of them would give a different funda on the topic. Each would look at one aspect of the whole practice and try to philosophise on it.
The practice, no doubt, is an art. But I have realised that most of people management does not involve getting things done. It involves removing obstacles in the path of things being done.
Let's look at it in more detail.
I am a strong believer in Theory Y, which says that given an opportunity people want to work, and that they get personal satisfaction in accomplishing the tasks given to them.
Given this, it is natural that left to themselves, things will get done. What, then, is the role of a manager? His / her role is to make sure that the doer faces as less problems as possible, while carrying out the task assigned to him. Because a self-motivated employee would go to his senior only when he is unable to do the task himself. He is not looking at avoiding the work. He is looking at finishing it in the best possible manner.
In such a case, all a manager needs to do is to help the employee solve the problem, and then, get himself off the scene. Once the problem is solved, the manager is no longer required, and his presence may possibly even lead to inefficient working of the employee.
So that's management as I see it - remove obstacles from your employees' ways, not get yourself in their way ahead.
Apr 12, 2006
What is God?
A couple of days back, I read an article saying that 90% of people believe that their prayers come true.
This made me wonder a lot of things... why do people believe in God? What makes them think that something like God exists? That made me think about myself. Do I believe in God? If no, why do I say, "I hope something would happen or not happen." More importantly, what is God?
Most of the things that happen happen "because" of something else. There is a big cause and effect cycle that goes on... day in and day out. The cause could be either somebody's action (including mine) or something we call forces of nature.
If we believe in the first part, we have to accept that we are responsible for whatever happens to us, if not individually, then collectively. If we belive in the second part, and look at forces of nature, they are nothing but results of different probabilities. We all know the concepts of gravity, heat, pressure and the like. They all follows rules, and probabilities.
Since these probabilities are something that cannot be predicted, we can call them God, but then, the generally accepted concept of God means that he can do anything, not necessarily between 0 and 1. It can't be God.
What does this all lead to? It leads us to two things:
1) We are all subject to the rules of probability. Things that happen to us, could have happened to others. It is just a matter of 'chance' that they happened to us. We are not the start of all and end of all things.
2) We are in control of most of the things. To what extent is this control, I don't know. But yes, what we do matters more than what we pray for.
So, probability is God. But as the rule of probability goes, everything would be 50:50 in the long run.
In the end, as Neo puts it - "The problem is choice".
What choice did you make today?
This made me wonder a lot of things... why do people believe in God? What makes them think that something like God exists? That made me think about myself. Do I believe in God? If no, why do I say, "I hope something would happen or not happen." More importantly, what is God?
Most of the things that happen happen "because" of something else. There is a big cause and effect cycle that goes on... day in and day out. The cause could be either somebody's action (including mine) or something we call forces of nature.
If we believe in the first part, we have to accept that we are responsible for whatever happens to us, if not individually, then collectively. If we belive in the second part, and look at forces of nature, they are nothing but results of different probabilities. We all know the concepts of gravity, heat, pressure and the like. They all follows rules, and probabilities.
Since these probabilities are something that cannot be predicted, we can call them God, but then, the generally accepted concept of God means that he can do anything, not necessarily between 0 and 1. It can't be God.
What does this all lead to? It leads us to two things:
1) We are all subject to the rules of probability. Things that happen to us, could have happened to others. It is just a matter of 'chance' that they happened to us. We are not the start of all and end of all things.
2) We are in control of most of the things. To what extent is this control, I don't know. But yes, what we do matters more than what we pray for.
So, probability is God. But as the rule of probability goes, everything would be 50:50 in the long run.
In the end, as Neo puts it - "The problem is choice".
What choice did you make today?
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