Put your glass down

A professor entered his classroom with a glass of water. He raised  the glass of water. everyone in the room expected the: “half empty or half full” question. Instead, to everyone’s surprise, the professor smiled and inquired: “How heavy is this glass of water?”. The answers called out for the range from 8 Oz toContinue reading “Put your glass down”

Good Luck, Bad Luck, Who Knows?

An elderly, hard-working Chinese farmer and his son, had a single horse. They used the horse to plow the field, to sow the seeds, grow the crop, and transport it to the market. The horse was essential for the farmer to earn his livelihood. One morning, the horse broke the fence and ran away into theContinue reading “Good Luck, Bad Luck, Who Knows?”

Appreciating What You Have

This image takes me back to my first visit to a Jesuit mission station, a village in the Palghar district of Maharashtra. The villagers had to walk a long distances in the hot sun to get essential supplies. We live in a world of instant gratification where we place an order on our phones andContinue reading “Appreciating What You Have”

Asking the Right Questions

There are some of us who keep asking questions about anything and everything. We may call them skeptics, doubting Thomases etc. Life is full of questions, it’s almost as if the more questions we have, the less answers there are. The fact that we have questions is a good thing though, because it means weContinue reading “Asking the Right Questions”

Shine in your own way

A samurai who was known for his nobility and honesty, went to visit a monk to ask him for his advice. When the monk had finished his prayers, the Samurai asked, “Why do I feel so inferior? I have faced death many times, have defended those who are weak. Nevertheless, upon seeing you meditating, IContinue reading “Shine in your own way”

Character vs Competence

Growing a team, whether at work or anywhere else, onboarding the right people is key. Competence is necessary, no doubt about that. But for me, character is also very important. A person of integrity who is not skilled for the role will only grow frustrated while frustrating everyone else. So competence is important, but characterContinue reading “Character vs Competence”

The Bamboo Tree

A man got frustrated with life. Despite all the hard work and effort, failure was all that he learnt.  Feeling defeated with life, he left everything and exiled himself in the woods. There he met a Hermit. The disappointed man shared is failure with the hermit. “Give me one good reason not to quit?”- HeContinue reading “The Bamboo Tree”