Showing posts with label attitude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label attitude. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Rebuttal!!!
| This is a complaint and the reply to USAF jets flying low over a mall in Phoenix, AZ, USA. Capt. Fresques was an Air Force officer who was previously stationed at Luke Air Force Base and was killed in Iraq on May 30, Memorial Day. At 9 A.M. on June 15, his family and friends gathered at Sunland Memorial Park in Sun City to mourn the loss of a husband, son and friend. Based on the letter writer's recount of the fly by, and because of the jet noise, I'm sure you didn't hear the 21-gun salute, the playing of taps, or my words to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques as I gave them their son's flag on behalf of the President of the United States and all those veterans and servicemen and women who understand the sacrifices they have endured. A four-ship flyby is a display of respect the Air Force gives to those who give their lives in defense of freedom. We are professional aviators and take our jobs seriously, and on June 15 what the letter writer witnessed was four officers lining up to pay their ultimate respects. Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you . . . Jesus Christ and the American Servicemen and Women of the U.S. armed services.. One died for your soul, the other for your freedom. |
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Taking Ownership
All of us have heard these terms quite so often in the corporate world that it is really a matter of interpretation of the context from which people come when they use these words, mostly applying to the positions of responsibility and risk - taking ownership.
Here's an analogy of this situation playing out - nowhere else but right in our very homes.
I am not sure about how many of your parents have repeatedly brought this aspect of 'belonging' but my mom for sure has been emphatic about what in our language we call 'apnapan'.
Now the word apnapan and the term taking ownership are deeply linked at the level of human motivation - albeit in the corporate world, the ownership has to be compensated in cash while in homes, apnapan is compensated in kind.
When we feel apnapan for something, or someone, we take deep interest in caring for that entity, ensuring it sees the best of what it can get and giving our time and energy towards its growth.
E.g. 1 - When you feel apnapan towards your parents, you would, no matter what situation they are in, at what age they are in, will care for them, will ensure they get the best of what is possible for you to give them in terms of care, attention, love, affection and help.On the same lines, if you expand your being, you would start embracing the higher level of humanity, making as they call it, the world your family.
E.g. 2 - Now at this level of 'apnapan', there is always that deeper driving force, the force that makes you want to do things for the better of others, with a deep sense of self satisfaction that gratifies you in the process. So social service buds from this higher level of realization.
E.g. 3 - You are the mid-fielder in a football team. You are an attacker and you like the feeling of adrenalin kicking you inside to kick the ball into the goal. You get the ball in your play and you take the ball and run into the field dodging and passing to ensure there is a goal for your team. You have taken ownership of the higher goal and satisfied your gratification too in nthe process.
These examples underscore the very basic aspect of taking ownership.
At the corporate level, the aspect of ownership comes with other attached expectations.
Now what has really come forth in my interactions with people around my teams and with the current generations as everyone would call them is
- the age and time of of individualistic aspirations has ascended and is in full bloom in India. It has become a norm to put ones self before others;
- this is what the consumerism really is all about. When you are the consumer, you are being subjected to subliminal messages by the media - that's the first and best source that drives change - that you are the king for yourself, you should be pampered, you have to satisfy your self first and always; your attention to anything or anyone else comes with this attached expectation of what you will get in return.
One tends to take the system and the way things are happening around for granted.
Kids born today would be growing up with the notion that cell phones existed for ever, that they have been born into an independant country and that is for granted, that the internet was in this world forever, and will always remain. So also, they take everything else for granted - and this does not mean that they do not realise the-not-being of these things, they do.
But what happens is that their value systems are different. Most of it is media/peer oriented, very little if any, from their family and older generations. So they are more keen about themselves, and less about things around. They know if they have money, they can buy whatever they want to have, which diminishes their ability to comprehend that they need to give something of their own to get something more than they want.
As in the case of the apnapan factor, to feel something close to your being, to care for something, you have to give it more importance than the self.
Similarly, when you take ownership of something, you have to hold that thing more important than your self - your own needs. So when you own a project at work, you ensure that your priorities are worked out around the project priorities. You work your schedules around the project schedules, you internally get driven by these understandings, and not because someone else is imposing them on you.
So taking ownership of your job is to take care of your baby, just as the baby needs attention, your job needs your time and effort too.
Making the choice of leading an easy life with immediate gratification vs. taking higher response-ability and taking ownership, and thus postponing your self gratification is what is the need of the hour for all those who think otherwise
- that the IT industry will send people abroad, and give them a cushy life in an air cooled environment and easy access to all luxuries of life is not an easy reality in these times of hard work and difficult times of economy.
Taking Ownership needs to come naturally to all of us, thus. But the key is to take this ownership, and also maintain a wonderful balance of work-life. That, is what the Art of Living is all about.
Here's an analogy of this situation playing out - nowhere else but right in our very homes.
I am not sure about how many of your parents have repeatedly brought this aspect of 'belonging' but my mom for sure has been emphatic about what in our language we call 'apnapan'.
Now the word apnapan and the term taking ownership are deeply linked at the level of human motivation - albeit in the corporate world, the ownership has to be compensated in cash while in homes, apnapan is compensated in kind.
When we feel apnapan for something, or someone, we take deep interest in caring for that entity, ensuring it sees the best of what it can get and giving our time and energy towards its growth.
E.g. 1 - When you feel apnapan towards your parents, you would, no matter what situation they are in, at what age they are in, will care for them, will ensure they get the best of what is possible for you to give them in terms of care, attention, love, affection and help.On the same lines, if you expand your being, you would start embracing the higher level of humanity, making as they call it, the world your family.
E.g. 2 - Now at this level of 'apnapan', there is always that deeper driving force, the force that makes you want to do things for the better of others, with a deep sense of self satisfaction that gratifies you in the process. So social service buds from this higher level of realization.
E.g. 3 - You are the mid-fielder in a football team. You are an attacker and you like the feeling of adrenalin kicking you inside to kick the ball into the goal. You get the ball in your play and you take the ball and run into the field dodging and passing to ensure there is a goal for your team. You have taken ownership of the higher goal and satisfied your gratification too in nthe process.
These examples underscore the very basic aspect of taking ownership.
At the corporate level, the aspect of ownership comes with other attached expectations.
Now what has really come forth in my interactions with people around my teams and with the current generations as everyone would call them is
- the age and time of of individualistic aspirations has ascended and is in full bloom in India. It has become a norm to put ones self before others;
- this is what the consumerism really is all about. When you are the consumer, you are being subjected to subliminal messages by the media - that's the first and best source that drives change - that you are the king for yourself, you should be pampered, you have to satisfy your self first and always; your attention to anything or anyone else comes with this attached expectation of what you will get in return.
One tends to take the system and the way things are happening around for granted.
Kids born today would be growing up with the notion that cell phones existed for ever, that they have been born into an independant country and that is for granted, that the internet was in this world forever, and will always remain. So also, they take everything else for granted - and this does not mean that they do not realise the-not-being of these things, they do.
But what happens is that their value systems are different. Most of it is media/peer oriented, very little if any, from their family and older generations. So they are more keen about themselves, and less about things around. They know if they have money, they can buy whatever they want to have, which diminishes their ability to comprehend that they need to give something of their own to get something more than they want.
As in the case of the apnapan factor, to feel something close to your being, to care for something, you have to give it more importance than the self.
Similarly, when you take ownership of something, you have to hold that thing more important than your self - your own needs. So when you own a project at work, you ensure that your priorities are worked out around the project priorities. You work your schedules around the project schedules, you internally get driven by these understandings, and not because someone else is imposing them on you.
So taking ownership of your job is to take care of your baby, just as the baby needs attention, your job needs your time and effort too.
Making the choice of leading an easy life with immediate gratification vs. taking higher response-ability and taking ownership, and thus postponing your self gratification is what is the need of the hour for all those who think otherwise
- that the IT industry will send people abroad, and give them a cushy life in an air cooled environment and easy access to all luxuries of life is not an easy reality in these times of hard work and difficult times of economy.
Taking Ownership needs to come naturally to all of us, thus. But the key is to take this ownership, and also maintain a wonderful balance of work-life. That, is what the Art of Living is all about.
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