WAITING GAME

The waiting game is interesting and fruitful only when deployed under the right and the most appropriate circumstances.  I see people adopting the waiting game for everything and anything.  Is it smart to play the waiting game on every situation?  May be the bad habit of procrastination is being hidden under the waiting game.

As a business strategist I do advise my clients to play the waiting game but I am very selective in giving this piece of advise.  If you are not the market leader and you do not have deep pockets to make some bold and pathbreaking decisions, then the waiting game is the best option.  You can wait and watch how the market behaves and what the competition is doing before making your own moves.

The key is to swing into action at the right time and not continue to wait for too long.  

There was a butterfly in the cocoon who was struggling to come out.  A small boy was watching this and thought he should not wait any longer for the butterfly to emerge from the cocoon and hence he broke it.  The butterfly came out of the cocoon but remained crippled for the rest of its life.  The struggle within the cocoon is designed by nature for the butterfly to gain strength on his wings so that he would break the cocoon with his own wings by repeatedly trying and finally when he breaks the cocoon with his own efforts and emerges out he is fit and ready to fly the next minute.  The butterfly is meant to live by flying across different plants and not sit at one place.

I am reminded of the story of the Chinese Bamboo which i read some time back.  The Chinese Bamboo grows 80 feet in just six weeks, but do you when?  In the fifth year of planting the seed.  In the first two years there is nothing visible but still you need to water the plant and keep caring for it.  In the third and fourth year is shows little signs of growth and this is exactly where the patience is tested. 

Interestingly it is not the growth of 80 feet in six weeks.  It is the watering and nurturing of four years which finally yields the results in fifth year with 80 feet bamboo tree.  What is visible is the 80 feet growth in six weeks in the fifth year.

It is the faith and hardwork of the farmer which brings the results.  Our life is full of such waiting games and watch this motivational speech by Les Brown:

My friend Shridhar Sampath has been dreaming of launching a programme to Inspire, Challenge and Empower young minds.  His dream has been to inspire 1,000,000 people.  Yes that is one million people.  He has been nurturing this idea for the last six years and finally he has now launched the first of his Master Class which is scheduled for 28th January 2017.  The waiting game is now going to yield results and I wish him all the very best.

Shridhar, the waiting game is over and now it is time for your to rock.  All the very best for the first Masterclass and I am sure you will follow it up with many more at regular intervals all over the world.

T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
27th January 2017

SMARTNESS

Working smart, thinking smart, acting smart, talking smart, living smart is the only way forward in today's world.  Smartness is required in everyone, everything and in every action.  We live with smart devices, smart applications, smart administration, smart management, smart families, smart colleagues, smart society and smart government.  I am glad that the word is very clearly defined and used in the right sense when we refer to Smart Government.  Smart Government is the use of innovative policies, business models, and technology to address the financial, environmental, and service challenges facing public sector organizations. The concept of Smart Government relies on consolidated information systems and communication networks.

Smartness was always linked to clever thinking and clever thinking was always thought to be the result of intelligence.  With the intelligence and clever thinking being handed over to technology where is the value addition from the individual and how can the actions still qualify to be termed "smart"?

According to Mr.Narayana Murthy, Co-Founder of Infosys, honesty is better than smartness.  A famous quote that I like the most is "Be Smart, but never show it".

Intelligent people are sometimes not very smart and smart people need not necessarily be intelligent.  Smartness is linked to presence of mind and quick reflex.  Smartness is also sometimes related to the ability to seize an opportunity by being quick on the draw.  The mnemonic dictionary defines smartness as "intelligence as manifested in being quick and witty".

I distinctly remember a Partner of the firm where I worked telling the other Partner who happened to be my mentor "this guy has been well trained by you and has become a good chartered accountant but he is not street smart and I do not know how he will prosper in life".  This was a comment on me by a Senior Chartered Accountant about 25 years ago and I do not know if I have ever improved over the last 25 years.  Everything around me is Smart and every day I dealing with smartness wondering if I am Smart.

According to John Billings "Common sense is an instinct given to man and enough of it is genius. Smartness is measured by the level of common sense one has, not by how much educated or knowledgeable he is."

One good thing that has happened to me is that I have always used common sense and acted based on common sense approach in every tricky situation.  I do not know why it is so uncommon for people to use common sense.  I am fortunate that I am able to use common sense and find solutions repeatedly over the last several years.

Even when objectives are set, one is expected to set SMART objectives and here the word is not used in its literal sense but as a mnemonic " Stretching, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, Time-bound".

Smartness is omnipresent and so overpowering that the basic traits have been clearly sidelined in favour of Smartness.  The basic traits, which were considered extremely essential couple of decades back, viz., Honesty, Commitment, Sincerity and Hardwork, is slowly getting pushed in the background in favour of being Smart.

In the quest for being smart I have seen people trying to outsmart others which actually breaches the line of honesty and sincerity.  On many occasions the tricky solution (named as Smartness) actually ends up being unfair to the other person.

With all the ambiguity and confusion around this concept of Smartness, I am not sure if one should really make efforts to develop the skill and ability to be smart.

It is extremely important that the smartness is restricted to only intelligence.  In my opinion the SMART people are "Self Motivated Affable Rational and Transparent".  No wonder the great genius Steve Jobs wanted to hire Smart people.

Be Smart, Stay Smart and Live Smart.

Regards,
T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
20th January 2017