cannyben

Here are five lessons to make you think about the way we treat people. The Cleaning Lady: During my college days, one of our professors gave us a series of questions to answer. One such question was: “What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school, along with other four men ?” I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-skinned and in her mid 50s. but how was I to know her name ? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question unanswered. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. “Absolutely”, said the professor. “In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello.” Pickup in the rain: One night, at 11.30, an elderly African-American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rainstorm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a lift. Soaking wet, she decided t...

Take a look at an apple tree. There might be five hundred apples on the tree, each with ten seeds. That’s a lot of seeds ! We might ask, “Why would you need so many seeds to grow just a few more trees ?” Nature has something to teach us here. It is telling us : “Most seeds never grow. So if you really want to make something happen, you had better try more than once.” You’ll attend twenty interviews to get one job. You’ll interview forty people to find one good employee. You’ll talk to fifty people to see one house, car, vacuum cleaner, insurance policy, idea … And you might meet a hundred acquaintances to find one special friend. When we understand the “Law of the Seed,” we don’t get so disappointed. We stop feeling like victims. Laws of nature are not things to take personally. We just need to understand them – and work with them.

Here’s an interesting way to do a self-appraisal ! A little boy went into a grocery store, reached for a soda carton and pulled it over to the telephone. He climbed onto the carton so that he could reach the buttons on the phone and proceeded to punch in. The store owner listened in on the conversation that followed. The boy asked, “Ma’am, can you give me the job of cutting your lawn” ? The woman replied, “I already have someone to cut my lawn.” “Ma’am, I’ll cut your lawn for half the price of the person who is cutting your lawn now.” The woman responded that she was very satisfied with the person who was presently cutting her lawn. The little boy found more perseverance and offered, “Ma’am, I’ll even sweep your curb and your sidewalk, so on Sunday you will have the prettiest lawn in all of the town.” Again, the woman answered in the negative. With a smile on his face, the little boy replaced the receiver. The grocery store owner, who was listening to all this, walked over to the boy a...

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn’t work at zero gravity (ink won’t flow down to the writing surface). It took them decade and $12 million to find a solution to this problem. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C. And what did the Russians do ? they used a pencil. One of the most memorable case studies of Japanese management was the case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan’s biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately , the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste,...

Are you a nervous student, chewing your nails off before the results ? Relax. Take a deep breath, and don’t press the panic button. FOR STUDENTS: If you’re anxious about your results, or guilty about not having studies hard enough, discuss your feelings with someone you trust. If you’re excessively anxious, visit a counselor. Your marks are no indication of either your intelligence or your capability. Don’t check your marks alone on the internet. Make sure you’re with someone you trust, like a parent or friend. Irrespective of how you fare, remember that there are plenty of career options available for you. FOR PARENTS: Remember that child’s life is more important than his/her marks. Ban the words “I told you so” from your vocabulary. As D-day approaches, don’t talk continuously about the results. Continue with your normal routine. Accompany your children to the exam. Centre or college to collect their scores. Don’t compare your child with his/her siblings, cousins or friends. Watch ou...

Delivering superior performance while building the capability to do it again and again is the definition of a great organization. Yet most organizations and their leaders fail to achieve this. The roots of their failure lie in their approach. One day a poor farmer discovers in the nest of his pet goose a glittering golden egg. At first, he thinks it must be some kind of trick. But on second thought, he decides to take the egg and have it examined. The farmer can’t believe his good fortune. The egg is pure gold ! he becomes even more excited the next day when the goose lays another golden egg. Day after day, he awakens to rush to the nest and find another golden egg. Soon, he becomes fabulously rich. But with wealth comes greed and impatience. Unable to wait day after day for the golden eggs, the farmer decides to kill the goose and get them all at once. But when he opens the goose, he finds it empty. There are no golden eggs --- and now there is no way to get any more. The farmer has d...

Natural authority dominates the natural laws. All actions have consequences. When we pick up one end of a stick, we pick up the other. If we jump off a ten-story building, we can’t change our mind at the fifth story. Gravity controls. That is the stamp of nature. Nature has also stamped people with the freedom and power to choose, and, therefore, they have natural authority or domination over all of the rest of creation. Endangered species survive only by our consent. They don’t have freedom and power to choose. They lack self-awareness. They can’t reinvent themselves. They’re totally subject to humans, who, because they’re self-aware, alone have freedom and power to choose and to reinvent themselves. This is natural authority. Moral authority is the ‘principled’ use of our freedom and power to choose. In other words, if we follow principles in our relationships with each other, we tap into the permission of nature. Natural laws (like gravity) and principles (like respect, honesty, kin...

Teaching is a passion, and my experience as a teacher has been beautiful, emotional and fulfilling. Over the years, I’ve watched the student – teacher equation evolve: From Guru, as all-knowing to Guru as friend and equal, as someone who doesn’t always know the best. Today’s teacher and the learner are partners in the process of teaching and learning. We inspire, motivate and learn from each other; if I don’t know, I can admit it to my students. The teacher is only a facilitator; one who will help the student grow, become a self-learner. The teacher is only one of many sources. Not infrequently, there is a role reversal. With children being so tech-savy, often I am the student and they are my teachers. Has teaching changes the way I think ? Yes, most certainly. My students have shown me how to manage time. I marvel at how deftly they juggle sports, academics, dance, and theatre, for instance. I have learnt how to accept failure as I see my students taking success and failure with equan...

Development refers to improvements in the conditions of people's lives, such as health, education, and income. It occurs at different rates in different countries. The U.S. underwent its own version of development when it became an independent nation in 1776:The average American earned about $1,000 a year in today's dollars, compared with $30,000 today.One in five children died before their first birthday, compared with about one in 143 today.Less than 50% of white children, and almost no black children, went to school; today almost all American children finish primary school.On average, Americans were about four times richer than the people of the world's poorest countries; they are 100 times richer today.Poor countries have experienced improvement as well. Over the past 50 years, there has been more progress in reducing poverty and improving health and education than at any other time in history. Over this period:Diseases such as smallpox and river blindness that formerly...

My wife makes great Chinese food! She’s been making it a long time, but somehow, it always has that same wonderful flavor. I too make terrific Chinese food, but it tastes differently. Here’s the striking part: we both use the same ingredients! The difference is in the proportions. No two are alike! That’s one of the things I appreciate most. Have you ever met anyone just like you? I mean really just like you: same height, weight, appearance, talents, preferences, hopes, beliefs, aspirations, passions…? No, Even the identical twins I’ve talked to can tell me how they differ. There are no two people who are truly identical. Even our bodies testify to our uniqueness. We all have different DNA, different fingerprints, and different retina patterns. We are each a unique masterpiece. It’s no surprise then that the same is true for our talents and motivations.

In the rich world globalization had driven the wedge between social classes, while in the poor world, the main divide is between countries: those that adjusted to globalization and, in many areas, prospered and those that adjusted badly and, in many cases, collapsed.Indeed the Third World was never a bloc the way that that the first and second worlds were. But it was united by its opposition to colonialism and dislike for being used as a battlefield of the two then-dominant ideologies. As the Second World collapsed and globalization took off, the latter rationale evaporated, and a few countries, most notably India and China, accelerated their growth rates significantly, enjoying the fruits of freer trade and larger capital flows. And although these two countries adapted well to globalization, there is little doubt that their newfound relative prosperity opened many new fissure lines. Inequality between coastal and inland provinces, as well as between urban and rural areas, skyrocketed ...

The first big mistake we make as leaders is to fail to ask what mistakes we were making.Managing instead of leading:Managing has more to do with directing day-to-day tasks, whereas leading has more to do with focusing a vision, goal setting, and motivation.When a leader spends more time managing than leading, morale suffers among the subordinates. Most people prefer a goal to shoot for and some freedom to figure out how to reach that goal. We all crave at least a partial sense of control.In a study, two team leaders were given a difficult problem to solve. The complex problem involved mental gymnastics, difficult decisions, and intense concentration. Both teams participated in the project in a room where distracting sounds were piped in through speakers. The music, noise, and voices were enough to drive one to distraction. Which, of course, was the point.Team A couldn’t do anything about the distracting sounds. They just had to put up with them. Team B was told that by pushing a button...

The first big mistake we make as leaders is to fail to ask what mistakes we were making.Managing instead of leading:Managing has more to do with directing day-to-day tasks, whereas leading has more to do with focusing a vision, goal setting, and motivation.When a leader spends more time managing than leading, morale suffers among the subordinates. Most people prefer a goal to shoot for and some freedom to figure out how to reach that goal. We all crave at least a partial sense of control.In a study, two team leaders were given a difficult problem to solve. The complex problem involved mental gymnastics, difficult decisions, and intense concentration. Both teams participated in the project in a room where distracting sounds were piped in through speakers. The music, noise, and voices were enough to drive one to distraction. Which, of course, was the point.Team A couldn’t do anything about the distracting sounds. They just had to put up with them. Team B was told that by pushing a button...

The first big mistake we make as leaders is to fail to ask what mistakes we were making.Managing instead of leading:Managing has more to do with directing day-to-day tasks, whereas leading has more to do with focusing a vision, goal setting, and motivation.When a leader spends more time managing than leading, morale suffers among the subordinates. Most people prefer a goal to shoot for and some freedom to figure out how to reach that goal. We all crave at least a partial sense of control.In a study, two team leaders were given a difficult problem to solve. The complex problem involved mental gymnastics, difficult decisions, and intense concentration. Both teams participated in the project in a room where distracting sounds were piped in through speakers. The music, noise, and voices were enough to drive one to distraction. Which, of course, was the point.Team A couldn’t do anything about the distracting sounds. They just had to put up with them. Team B was told that by pushing a button...

A rather recent innovation in education is career education. Selected educators have felt that students graduating from the schools have not received adequate information on career opportunities. Further, it is felt that the school students, upon graduation, have not been prepared for selecting a career when entering the labour market. Individuals too frequently have drifted into a career rather than selecting a vocation which is satisfying to the individual.As students progress through the school years, they are to achieve relevant objectives pertaining to understanding, skills, and attitudes in career education. A variety of learning experiences, such as using films, filmstrips, slides, reading materials, resources personnel, and excursions, among others, should aid learners in understanding diverse careers. Work experience for high school students definitely is important in programmes of career education.Questions that can be asked about programmes in career education could be the f...

We ask our students, “Why do you study”? The immediate replies from the students include: for grades, admissions, ranks, bright future, happy parents. Surprisingly, no one thinks of knowledge.We explain to our students that it is very important to be knowledge-motivated and not grade-motivated. Not that grades are of no importance, but grades follow knowledge. Grades are merely scales by which we measure knowledge. Grades do not constitute knowledge. This distinction is vitally important. There are two negative aspects to grade-motivated learning. One is ego, and the other hostility. We always acclaim the toppers. Our actions boost the child’s ego. A child whose ego is thus inflated refuses to accept failure. Thus, the joy of learning is slaughtered systematically.The second aspect is hostility. Grade-motivated studies make a child hostile. All teachers must have noticed a certain unwillingness among the students to discuss their grades when answer scripts are returned after evaluation...

Educational technology includes all educational resources --- men and materials, methods and techniques, means and media in an integrated and systematic manner to optimize learning. Learning not teaching is the crucial task of the educational process. Technology is one component in this process and can help make learning easy and interesting.A large number of schools have gone headlong into computer education --- not really computer-based education --- and usually what this means is learning how to use a computer for different tasks, including mathematical operations (statistics, spreadsheets, geometric modeling) and desktop publishing (bringing out a class magazine or making posters).Computer-based education, on the other hand, implies the use of computers as a means to educate. Lessons are designed using the capacities of the computer to stimulate, organize information, and present materials that are visual, auditory and text-based, all within the same frame. Such computer-based educ...

The question, often is asked or wondered: Does the colour of one’s skin or religion, or background affect one’s ability to do a job well or give an indication of one’s level of intelligence or motivation? No, of course it doesn’t. So why are ethnic minority people statistically more likely to be unemployed than their counterparts in general category? Do the above factors really influence one’s employability prospects and, if that really is the case, how can one redress the balance?It’s a long time that it is made in some countries illegal to treat a person less favourably than others on ethnic grounds. Yet there are still significant discrepancies for ethnic groups in the society and in the workplace. According to some research, ethnic minority workers receive less pay than their other counterparts, and are more likely to be unemployed.In essence, people should not be discriminated in the fields of employment, education, training, housing and the provision of goods, facilities and serv...

The first big mistake we make as leaders is to fail to ask what mistakes we were making. Managing instead of leading: Managing has more to do with directing day-to-day tasks, whereas leading has more to do with focusing a vision, goal setting, and motivation. When a leader spends more time managing than leading, morale suffers among the subordinates. Most people prefer a goal to shoot for and some freedom to figure out how to reach that goal. We all crave at least a partial sense of control. In a study, two team leaders were given a difficult problem to solve. The complex problem involved mental gymnastics, difficult decisions, and intense concentration. Both teams participated in the project in a room where distracting sounds were piped in through speakers. The music, noise, and voices were enough to drive one to distraction. Which, of course, was the point. Team A couldn’t do anything about the distracting sounds. They just had to put up with them. Team B was told that by pushing...

Children have everything to learn. This should be their main preoccupation in order to prepare themselves for a useful and productive life.Education means three things, to teach how to observe and know rightly the facts on which they have to form a judgement; secondly , to train the children to think fruitfully and soundly; thirdly, to fit the children to use their knowledge and their thought effectively for their own and the common good. Capacity of observation and knowledge, capacity of intelligence and judgement, capacity of action and high character are required for the citizenship of a rational order of society; a general deficiency in any of these is sure source of failure.As the children grow up, they must discover in themselves the thing of things which interest them most and which they are capable of doing well. There are latent faculties to be developed. There are also faculties to be discovered.Children must be taught to like to overcome difficulties, and also that this give...