10 May Life lessons on leadership from my house-help!
I distinctly remember the morning. Nothing came out of the toothpaste tube, despite squeezing it as hard as I could. Finally, I requested my house-help to buy me a tube on her way in.
As I proceeded to layer my brush, I was stopped mid-way by my house-help. What followed was a profound lesson on the distinction between perception and reality. She picked up the ‘used’ toothpaste tube and with a pair of scissors, cut it in half. I was then instructed to moisten my brush and gently scrub the top half of the tube from the insides. To my utter amazement, what was available, but inaccessible by regular squeezing, was enough toothpaste for the next 4 days. The bottom half of the tube also provided enough paste for another 2 days.
I quickly began calculating the tonnes of toothpaste wasted over the years by billions of people world-wide. The learning didn’t stop there. The drive to office that morning led me to layer this insight onto corporate life – which in turn have produced some amazing axioms that I’ve been practicing ever since.
#1: The outside story, is never the inside story however justified and reasonable it may seem.
Just like the toothpaste tube, all of us operate from our perceptions about people, circumstances and challenges. When it comes to people, there are hidden layers within that we know little about. We are quick to judge, come to conclusions and pass sentences about people without discerning the reality. We can never have compassion for, or expect a resolution with anyone we’ve acted the judge and jury over.
The antidote: find out the ‘inside story.’
#2: There’s always a way out, however dead-ended things may seem.
Feeling at the end of the road about a solution is generally a case of intellectual myopia or lethargy. There’s always a way out. It’s not just artists, musicians or sculptors who are creative. All of us are. Given enough of think-put, most problems have creative solutions hidden in the recesses of our imaginations provided we have the curiosity and patience to delve deep enough and pursue them.
# 3 Look out for the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels.
They are the ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. Nurture them because they change things. They invent, they imagine. They explore. They create and inspire. They push the human race forward.
# 4: And lastly, a finale from my house-help. All you need for an effective clean is a pea-sized portion of toothpaste. Anything more doesn’t give you extra foam or clean your teeth better.
Extrapolating that to corporate life: all it takes is pea-sized portions of compassion, gratitude and empathy in dealing with people on a daily basis. It’s not that Annual Day acknowledgements or ‘Employee of the Month’ contests are unimportant. But intentionally honouring and respecting people for who they are makes for another great life lesson. Comments welcome…
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