Work and Life

Work Life Balance is a favorite HR topic in corporates. Surprisingly we dont hear much about this in the government sector?? We hear about efficiency, training, motivation as the need for the public sector employees? Do we assume that those employees are already maintaining a healthy balance or more tilted towards "life" than work???
What about the stress levels for our army jawans or the police constables?
Neither do we hear about work life balance for farmers? do they have a life at all even to balance? When does a farmer take a vacation with his family?  If he does who will take care of the cows or the standing crop? Imagine a farmer taking a nap on hot summer afternoon in the back yard of his home. A neighbor comes running with the news that some stray cattle are feasting on his crop. Will the farmer think even for a second on the time or day of the week before he rushes to the field? Did you ever wonder about this? This does not happen as the farmer never creates a divide between work and his life, work is his life and life is his work.
Not promoting work-alcoholism here...but pointing out the division the industrial age has created in our minds, making our work dreary, loathsome and miserable..something which needs to be done to live and grow in this world. Devoid of love and beauty and perfection. Are we talking idealistically  here? Who puts food on the table and roof on our heads? Who pays for the EMI for that house loan and who pays for those yearly vacations? Not to mention the bills at those swanky hospitals.
We "need" to work for all these reasons right? And this is what we sacrificed our childhood for? To become something in this world and then keep toiling to remain being "someone" or becoming someone better (career growth)
We need to manage our stress, meditation, sports, yoga are all at our disposal so that we continue to work and perform better. For whom? to whom??

Life beyond Earth

Is there life in the outer space? This one question still remains elusive to man, the most intelligent inhabitants of this earth. A recent article opines that the reason we have not been able to so far find any evidence for extra terrestrial life is that we have not been looking hard (or deep enough). Such is the vastness of the cosmos that even with the most powerful telescopes and radio signal detectors we have covered very little of the outer space. May be in a corner millions s of light years away, there is life ???If there is of what shape and form it is? Life as we know on our earth could be just an example of life, that may not be the defining definition? Are there other forms of life ? Are they also searching for us and wondering about the same questions? Are they even capable of searching for us? Stephen Hawking advised us against trying to communicate to the outer space as he feared that aliens more capable than us could invade our earth and capture our only home! So is there an inter galactic fence like a special black hole cutting  off any possibilities of detection between species ? Questions and more questions? But now coming back to the central question? Is there life outside our earth in any form by whatever definition?  There are several possibilities.. if we assign numerical values to the number of planets which can host life..0, 1, 2, 3, so on. We can only say for sure only two things.. rule out 0 since we know that there is life on earth and one of the possible values is 1. But what about the other values? are there 2, 3, 4, a 1000 or a million planets with forms of life?   

World and Living Today

This seems to be an age of catastrophic events. The Tsunami in Thailand and floods in Kerala are fresh in the memory but there is a sense of foreboding that we have not seen the last of such natural tragedies. With the high concentration of people in pockets of land, any disaster is bound to result in a huge loss of lives. There is a debate about climate change- whether its caused by man ( which includes everything created by man) or just a natural phenomenon. Those who believe that climate change is induced by man present strong evidence - rising temperatures, hitting record highs each passing year, increasing levels of Carbon di Oxide in the atmosphere, and so on. A new term Anthropocene has been coined to denote the era where man's influence is being marked on the earth.

Handy Lessons from the Corporate World

I had the benefit of working with a super talented maverick boss for many years in a very volatile uncertain environment.
Ours was a tiny group within a corporate giant. How he survived and retained his group is an object lesson for an aspiring manager.
Some handy lessons based on my close interactions over five years:

- Go with an agenda and plan for a meeting ( this is 101 of management and what the typical coach advises). But no one tells what should be done when there is a 360 degree change in approach or agenda from  other side? Usually what happens is we try and stick to the prepared script or get into a passive listening mode and start taking notes. But pros think rapidly on the feet, sum up the situation and cook up a response which may be totally different from the prepared agenda. This differentiates from an average manager who would probably say, "I will get back to you"

- Listen well to what is being said, yes, but perceive the unsaid unspoken intent. Listening is not just to the words, which are just expression in a language to convey feelings, emotions, intents and motives. It needs insight to sense this.

- I would like you to do this. Pros understand the brain is attracted to the opposite. So offer the opposite to what you want someone to choose

- What is the best sales pitch? You dont sell !!! Assume its already sold and give an implementation plan.. Audacious ? Yes it is but could work sometimes

- Messaging multiple channels - digital, visual, posters, handbooks, charts, etc

-  Preparation and more preparation

- Conveying a message - message is spoken to X but it is directed to Y, Z and everyone else in the room

Thoughts and Thougtlessness

In normal terms, a person is complimented for being thoughtful if he or she does a good gesture, says a kind word or even shows up. Perhaps the origin of that expression that "you are so thoughtful" supposes that there was a thought behind that kind action. On the same lines, a person who makes a reckless or inappropriate comment is chided for being "thoughtless". In both cases, thought is given a prime place of honor, driving actions and words.But what drives thoughts? What triggers them in the first place? Is there is a motive? Does the mind derive some pleasure from those compliments? The memory of the nice feelings motivate these actions? And what happens when there is no positive response to those good deeds, not once but repeatedly. Then does the mind become stoic and continue to perform those good deeds? Or, it stops them all together? If there is pleasure from performing a supposedly good or unselfish deed, then is it really unselfish? 

Poetry in Life

Is there poetry in today's life?
The spontaneous expression of life..not dictated by necessity or design
Like a spring of fresh water.. in the mountains..amidst the silence of the woods
Of its own rhythm and in rhythm with the universe
Not actions of compulsion or compromise
Not from ambition or dictated by jurisdiction
Not the politics of quid pro quo !
Without the need for name or fame
And not stemming from greed or gratitude
No grandeur, no modesty
Uninhibited by the watchful eye of society..
Expression of true nature and that is Poetry !

  

On Living and Working

Sir, What do you do for a Living?.....

I LIVE... 

But sir, don't you work?

But you did not ask me if I work......


Work has become our LIFE for most of us in today's times …

Work by definition involves an exertion of force, to lift an object, move a thing from one place to another and so on.

So making life a work, we have got our lives entangled with the elements in machines like force, weight or friction. And we borrow the same solutions from the world of machines , like lubricating our lives with a vacation now and then.

But really, can we banish "work" from life? By this we dont mean living off someone, not at all.

Making a living has become our essence of life, our identity.

And this is true, for a millionaire or a daily wages worker.

A millionaire works for his ego and a worker for his stomach.