Don't Let Sorrow In!

She was a poor woman - a widow who had braved many a calamity in the course of her life. Misfortune and tragedy had dogged her footsteps. And yet, she always wore a lovely smile on her face. serenity seemed to envelop her presence; and peace dwelt in her heart.

Everyone who met her marvelled at her courage. How could she remain so calm and serene amidst the turbulence of her life? What was the secret of her inner peace?

To those who asked her these questions, she replied, "All the water in the sea cannot make a ship sink. But if the water gets inside the ship,
it soon sinks without a trace. So it is with sorrow.

Sorrow cannot drown you unless you allow it to get inside you!"

A True Leader

A lot of literature is available about leadership. But if you ask me what is the one important quality of a true leader, then I will answer like this:

Come to the edge, he said.
They said, we are afraid.
Come to the edge, he said.
They came.
He pushed...and they flew.

A leader sees the hidden potential of his subordinates. So are you a true leader?

LISTEN and give me your most precious gift

When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving advice, you have not done what I have asked.

When I ask you to listen to me and you begin telling me why I shouldn’t feel the way I feel, you are trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problems, you have failed me, as strange as that may seem.

Listen!

All I asked was that you listen. No Talk. Or do.

Just hear me. Advice is cheap: 35 cents will get me both Dear Abby and editorials in the same newspaper.

And I can “do” for myself – I’m not helpless. Maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless.

When you do something for me that I can (and need to) do for myself, you contribute to my fear and inadequacy.

But when you accept, as a simple fact, that I do feel what I feel no matter how irrational, then I can quit trying to convince you and can get about the business of understanding what’s behind this feeling.

And when that’s clear, the answers are obvious, and I don’t need advice. Thoughts and feelings make sense when we understand what’s behind them.

So please, listen. And give me the most precious gift you have to give!

Donot GOSSIP!

A woman repeated a bit of gossip about a neighbor.Within a few days the whole community knew the story. The person it concerned was deeply hurt and offended. Later the woman responsible for spreading the rumor learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old sage to find out what she could do to repair the damage.

"Go to the marketplace," he said, "and purchase a chicken, and have it killed. Then on your way home, pluck its feathers and drop them one by one along the road." Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she was told.

The next day the wise man said, "Now go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me."

The woman followed the same road, but to her dismay, the wind had blown the feathers all away. After searching for hours, she returned with only three in her hand. "You see," said the old sage, "it's easy to drop them, but it's impossible to get them back. So it is with gossip. It doesn't take much to spread a rumor, but once you do, you can never completely undo the wrong."

Learn to say No or go bald!

In the old days, when men were allowed to have many wives, a
middle-aged Man had one wife that was old and one that was
young; each loved him very much, and desired to see him like
herself.

Now the Man's hair was turning grey, which the young Wife did
not like, as it made him look too old for her husband. So every
night she used to comb his hair and pick out the white ones. But
the elder Wife saw her husband growing grey with great pleasure,
for she did not like to be mistaken for his mother. So every
morning she used to arrange his hair and pick out as many of the
black ones as she could. The consequence was the Man soon
found himself entirely bald.

Moral:

Yield to all and you will soon have nothing to yield.

How does your organization deal with mistakes?

When Tom Watson Jr. was chief executive of IBM in the early 1960s, he summoned an executive to his office after the man lost $10 million in a venture. Watson asked the man, “Do you know why I called you here?” Knowing of Watson’s legendary temper, the man replied: “I assume you’re going to fire me.”

“Fire you?” Watson asked. “I spent $10 million educating you. I just want to be sure you learned the right lessons.”

So what yourself or your organization would have done in this situation?

A Case For JITT(Just In Time Training)

In 1991, one organization put some 900 people through a basic seven-step problem-solving course, using two approaches. About half the employees came to its central corporate training facility for standard classroom training. The other half were trained in teams, on the job. This group didn’t get trained until they were part of a team that was working on a real problem. When they got to a point where they needed help, they called in a facilitator. First they learned Step 1 and applied what they learned. They didn’t worry about Steps 2 or 3 until they needed them. You might call this just-in-time training.

Three or four months later, when the organization surveyed the people who went through these two programs. Of those who had received just-in-time, on-the-job training, 80 percent said they felt they used what they learned. Of those who had received standard classroom training, only 30 to 40 percent felt they had actually put to use what they were taught. This makes out a strong case for JIIT oR Just In Time Training.