Management Stories

There’s a story that’s going around about the janitor at Carnegie Hall who had been there for 20 years. He’s 45 years old. He was cleaning up the restroom, and a guy in a business suit went up to him and said, ‘You seem to be an intelligent fellow. For 20 years you’ve been cleaning the toilets. Why don’t you do something with your life and get another job?’ And the janitor said, ‘What? And leave show business?’

It’s all in how we view the situation and perceive what we’re doing that determines our satisfaction and fulfillment on the job.

Source: Resolving Workplace Conflict: 4 Ways to a Win-Win Solution by Dr. Tony Fiore | Leader Values

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An exercise and known as ‘Stephen Covey’s Big Rocks’. Imagine a bucket. Put three or four big rocks in. “Is the bucket full? ” “No” you reply. “Of course not” I say and put some smaller rocks in it to fill in the gaps. “Full now? “, “No”. I put in some sand, then some water. It’s full.

So, what’s the learning here? It’s to do with the order. What would happen if you’d reversed the order? Put the water in first, then the sand, then the small rocks. There would be no room for the big rocks. These big rocks are the important things in your life. You need to schedule them first, not try to squeeze them in after arranging the water (writing pointless reports), sand (unnecessary travel) or small rocks (staff meetings where no-one listens and everyone looks at the clock).

What are the big rocks in your life? For many it’s things like family, time to watch the children grow up, time to write that novel, time for themselves, time to make a difference. You decide. You identify 3 or 4 things you believe are important. The 3 or 4 things that will make a difference at your funeral.

Source: Real Time Management by Byron Kalies | LeaderValues

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In Ability Development from Age Zero, Shinichi Suzuki describes telling a violin student:

‘”Stop playing the violin for one week. There is something you must learn besides the violin. It is the spirit of doing things for other people. … To begin with, pick up your friend’s books when they have fallen…. Live by looking for things to do for other people. This is your homework for the week.”

[The student asked] “…what does doing things for other people have to do with violin practice?” …

“When listening to your performance, I could clearly feel that you were self-centered in your heart. If your heart is set to work for others, then your mind should be able to work more sensitively in an expanded world. If you do so, then more abundant, delicately beautiful expressions will enter your performance. …”

… art becomes higher as humans develop higher. …great talent and a deep, beautiful feeling in the heart are closely tied together.”‘

Source: Taken from Ability Development from Age Zero by Shinichi Suzuki, featured in hold this thought by Melissa Bledsoe Fischer

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It is amazing how malleable memory and perception can be – much more than we think. For example, in one research study subjects were standing at an airport ticket counter. The ticket agent pretended to drop something, ducked behind the counter and a different person finished the transaction. Many of the subjects didn’t even recognize the change had been made. We tune out big chunks of the environment. In another study, subjects were asked to count the number of times players with white shirts passed a basketball in a video. Most of the subjects achieved a fairly accurate account of the passes, but only 42% saw something more important. A person in a black gorilla costume walks right into the center of the action, beats his chest and moves off. More than half the subjects were so engrossed in the task at hand that they couldn’t see the gorilla. An entire gorilla, right in front of their eyes! It is very sobering to think about. Our models and attention create blinders that limit what we see. What gorillas are moving through your field of vision right now that you fail to see?

Source: Jerry Wind (What’s Behind the 4-Minute Mile, Starbucks and the Moon Landing? The Power of Impossible Thinking | Knowledge@Wharton)

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U Thant was secretary general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971. “He was a great and spiritual man. Dag Hammarskjold had just been killed. There was a possibility of nuclear conflagration over a surrogate war being fought in the Congo, in which the West and the East were actually at war. U Thant was locked in a last-ditch meeting to avert disaster when he was handed a piece of paper, which he read, and he stayed in that meeting until the parties had reached a truce. Someone then asked him what was on that slip of paper. He said, ‘My son was just killed in a car accident.’

“The newspapers wrote about a cold-hearted Buddhist. But in that act was someone whose love of humanity allowed him to transcend his own narrow definition of family and to expand it into a greater definition. U Thant’s act was an act of a great, loving human being. That is equanimity, and it will probably see you through tougher times than passion or balance will.

“If you live a rich life of the spirit, you are not distracted,” says Larry Brilliant. “You carry out your duty, your dharma, no matter what.”

Source: Dr. Brilliant Vs. the Devil of Ambition | Harriet Rubin | Fast Company

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