Monday 31 May 2010
Wednesday 19 May 2010
Leadership
I sent out a survey to colleagues today, asking them for open and honest feedback on how bad a frontline leader I would make. And then, I took the survey myself.
Pretty bad, is my own assessment.
I sometimes wonder why I do not complain about the way my employer has treated me so far, in terms of development opportunities, performance rewards and capability assessment. At times, I would say it is because I have had it pretty good so far. However, most of the time, I just acknowledge that I have been treated rather fairly: I would consider myself wanting where they have found me wanting, and I would consider myself hopeless where they have found me hopeless.
When they look at me through a magnifying glass, I get to look at myself in a mirror.
And, the real sad bit is that I have done nothing to make amends.
Pretty bad, is my own assessment.
I sometimes wonder why I do not complain about the way my employer has treated me so far, in terms of development opportunities, performance rewards and capability assessment. At times, I would say it is because I have had it pretty good so far. However, most of the time, I just acknowledge that I have been treated rather fairly: I would consider myself wanting where they have found me wanting, and I would consider myself hopeless where they have found me hopeless.
When they look at me through a magnifying glass, I get to look at myself in a mirror.
And, the real sad bit is that I have done nothing to make amends.
Tuesday 11 May 2010
Domestication
I watched Shutter Island on the plane today. Very good movie, I thought. And, very thought-provoking too. Di Caprio's final tussle between living as a monster and dying a good man, is a lot more than just that. For me, one of the best last lines in any script.
Well, some thoughts were provoked. What drives men to do the real gory stuff? Like the Dachaus and the serial killings and the mass murders of real life. Is it failure of the in-built moral compass, unique to man? Is it conscious choice to override a functioning moral compass, which makes assignment of guilt more palatable? Is it insanity - failure of the senses, and if so, is empathy acceptable?
Or, is it a corollary to the possibility that man's most successful domestication experiment has been on himself - through the institution of civilisation - and in every species, some specimen will remain wild?
A man wields the axe that chops off the limbs of innocent men, women and children in Sierra Leone. Does he 1) not know he is not supposed to do it? 2) want to do it? 3) not know he is doing it? Or 4) not subscribe to the tag of civilized man?
Well, some thoughts were provoked. What drives men to do the real gory stuff? Like the Dachaus and the serial killings and the mass murders of real life. Is it failure of the in-built moral compass, unique to man? Is it conscious choice to override a functioning moral compass, which makes assignment of guilt more palatable? Is it insanity - failure of the senses, and if so, is empathy acceptable?
Or, is it a corollary to the possibility that man's most successful domestication experiment has been on himself - through the institution of civilisation - and in every species, some specimen will remain wild?
A man wields the axe that chops off the limbs of innocent men, women and children in Sierra Leone. Does he 1) not know he is not supposed to do it? 2) want to do it? 3) not know he is doing it? Or 4) not subscribe to the tag of civilized man?
Thursday 6 May 2010
Loneliness
Of a different kind is,
...when you realise that your choices in life have taken you down a certain path, that you do not fit into a standard template anymore. Or, at least, you do not wish to.
...when it hits you that the answers to your questions on what to do with life are unique to yourself, and hence more difficult to find. Easier, some would say.
...when you are afraid you will feel lost on a road someone else has taken, yet you feel no better simply standing where you are.
...when the people closest to you can only remind you that only you can look within. And, act without.
What is next? And, where are the role models?
A ball a bouncing.
A top a spinning.
One has to stop,
The other can’t.
...when you realise that your choices in life have taken you down a certain path, that you do not fit into a standard template anymore. Or, at least, you do not wish to.
...when it hits you that the answers to your questions on what to do with life are unique to yourself, and hence more difficult to find. Easier, some would say.
...when you are afraid you will feel lost on a road someone else has taken, yet you feel no better simply standing where you are.
...when the people closest to you can only remind you that only you can look within. And, act without.
What is next? And, where are the role models?
A ball a bouncing.
A top a spinning.
One has to stop,
The other can’t.
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