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Our Deepest Fear

I saw the movie "Coach Carter" and am pretty impressed. The coach kept asking the tough rookie - "Cruz, what's your deepest fear?". At one point Cruz finds the answer:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

That's something too philosophical to come out from the character. It's a quote from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles by Marianne Williamson. May be coach Carter taught him on that eventful night. Anyway!

Talented people are hard to find. They are hard to manage as well. But the biggest problem with the talented lot is to make them one with a team. In the height of their abilities, the biggest fear they face is that they are "powerful beyond measure" and they should not "shrink" in front of others. As their team-mates catch up with them, they start building a fortress around themselves or start building insecurity in others. They just can't afford to lose the top spot.

Once Cruz realized that his fear is in not being able to let go, he was able to work on it and identify himself better with the team. He was okay to abide with the contracts and the rules.

Are you talented and take pride in your abilities and do you tend to bend the rules? Well, think twice. What's your deepest fear?

Hunters & Farmers

In a recent newsletter, Jim Womack from Lean.Org has mentioned the hunters/farmers concept in sales, and encouraged the farmers in a lean organization. For the people who have not heard about hunters & farmers, hunters are the aggressive sales people who's interest is in getting sales higher and faster for the moment. While farmers can be quite future-minded, nurturing the customers, slowly building them up to a long term relationship.

These days organizations prefer hunters (we call head-hunters, not head-farmers; isn't it?) and that helps them meet the short-term targets very well. When the hunters get worn out, they get new hunters! When the customer is not happy being hunted ruthlessly, the hunters go and find new customers and hunt them down! I guess that is why Jim Womack preferred farmers than hunters.

But, farming is not very attractive. And nobody has patience. What do we do now? 'Hunters who occasionally farm' does not sound nice! Shall we encourage farmers, who hunt occasionally?

Tiny Little Minute

I was preparing some notes on "stewardship of time" and came across this poem.

Just a tiny little minute,
Only sixty seconds in it,
Forced upon me, can't refuse it,
Didn't seek it, didn't choose it,
But it's up to me to use it,
Give account if I abuse it.
Just a tiny little minute,
But eternity is in it.
- Author Unknown

I sat there for a moment and wondered how much meaning it conveyed to me. May be the entire message on "stewardship of time" is in it.