A friend of mine had a bad day and checked with me "Hey Ranga, due to some personal problems, I was not in a good mood, but I did all my assigned tasks and my colleagues and managers make fun of me that I'm always serious. They say that they are showing concern towards me but that hurts me even more"
I mentioned that "Even though we have the ability to see color, most of the people see only Black or White and they can't even appreciate gray scale". This description of color and gray scale was due to the fact that, we both are in a company who are experts in digital printing and color is our life, and for those who made fun of him.
I expressed my thought to him that, "There is always a shade between black and white or a wide range of color, in human personality which people cannot appreciate . If you want to impress people that you are fine you should show that you are either black or white, especially white should be really white".
It means a little quietness can be interpreted as black (moody, sad etc) as humans tend to become digital when they cannot appreciate emotions.
I also informed him, "If you are in a shade it is always interpreted as black. In essence you are always providing a shade to your manager and team, making you a black (dull/sad) personality all the time. If you want to impress on others that you are white (happy and exuberant), don't even show a hint of black in your attitudes or personality".
Later I suggested, "There is no reason why you should try to impress others with your attitude, as far as you are doing good for yourself. The ability to appreciate shades and color on your own is more important than trying to find out why others are not able to appreciate shades and colors".
He was so happy and relieved to hear, why he got such comments, and he said "Yes, I understood. I'll get a box of chocolates, distribute and show that I am in great mood hereafter, so that I can keep the Digital people informed, that I am doing good".
If he did that, it would show great understanding of his environment, and his adaptation to the surroundings.
Personally, I had a sad start that day, with a very dear friends (Kanimozhi's) husband's sudden death, due to an accident. He is about my age. However I was showing up exuberant and happy as usual. The reason for it is, that emotions are infectious and are visible, in a tight knit small IT family like ours. As a manager I did not want to demotivate others with the sadness in my heart, as I am usually seen as a happy cheerful person.
Managers who can see shades are very successful, Managers who can only see black and white are partially successful if they base their decisions, with a Digital outlook to life.
Just because people don't understand your vision doesn't mean it's wrong.
-Robin Sharma (tweet)
Similar to this, I have a different interpretation of my own for this article.
Just because people can't appreciate shades and colors, doesn't mean that you cannot have shades or be colorful.
-Ranga.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Teachers - should be students
I was reading an article about a Nobel Laureate and his journey towards his scientific discovery "2009 Chemistry Laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan" and I noticed behind this Nobel Laureate were few teachers. They were teachers who were otherwise students in their own merit. He narrates in this article " But a faculty member in the physics department in Baroda, S.K. Shah, told me about a brand new curriculum they were introducing for their undergraduate course. It began with the Berkeley Physics Course, and was supplemented by the Feynman Lectures on Physics before moving on to more specialised areas. My teachers in physics, especially S.K. Shah and H.S. Desai, were very excited to be teaching the new curriculum for the first time, and their enthusiasm was infectious. "
Then I read another article about the new measures in US in the field of education about US Teachers paid for their achievements and a teacher making a statement " the kinds of life-altering events have an effect on how you do in class that day, through no fault of the teacher whatsoever " mentioning that teachers should not be held responsible for students.
I felt that even though the teacher cannot be blamed for poor results for such factors, teachers should and can be the only one who can distract (in this case motivate) the students from such life altering events and bring them back to their track and get them to perform. However to do that teachers should be either psychic or should have the skills of a psychologist or an expert in behavioral sciences. Even though they cant be psychic or psychologists, they can be good mentors, who can talk and listen to students with challenges and sway them towards learning.
Similar to the Nobel Laureates experience, I had some personal experience. When I was going through my Post graduation in computer applications, I had many teachers who taught us in different disciplines and many of the classes were poorly attended by students, but for one teacher and the results from his students/classes were always better than any other lecturer. The only difference between the successful teacher and the others were he was updating his skills with the latest technology and happenings in the industry compared to others who were little behind. Even though the curriculum does not require upto date knowledge he was able to generate more excitement and eagerness in students to learn. He would quote from a book that he read few days ago about heat sink technology when he is discussing about Micro processor design.
Another example of a good teacher came from very close quarters. I have the opportunity of working with a Team Lead who is a great learner and his thoughts always revolve around why, who, how, what etc and has always showed the energy of a kid making him grow stronger and stronger in his skills. He has the responsibility of performing the role of a mentor to train and help his team in understanding various topics. Each one of his knowledge sharing sessions were well attended and the team benefited and learned a lot from his sessions.
My experience leads me to the conclusion that teachers should be lifetime students and should generate the interest in their students with their enthusiasm and dynamism. They should also diversify their skills into areas of behavioral studies and extend their skills to influence the students better. If we have such teachers we would not have a discussion about Paying teachers for their achievements, they would be the best paid than any other discipline as they are the one who are materialistic in creating the future.
Then I read another article about the new measures in US in the field of education about US Teachers paid for their achievements and a teacher making a statement " the kinds of life-altering events have an effect on how you do in class that day, through no fault of the teacher whatsoever " mentioning that teachers should not be held responsible for students.
I felt that even though the teacher cannot be blamed for poor results for such factors, teachers should and can be the only one who can distract (in this case motivate) the students from such life altering events and bring them back to their track and get them to perform. However to do that teachers should be either psychic or should have the skills of a psychologist or an expert in behavioral sciences. Even though they cant be psychic or psychologists, they can be good mentors, who can talk and listen to students with challenges and sway them towards learning.
Similar to the Nobel Laureates experience, I had some personal experience. When I was going through my Post graduation in computer applications, I had many teachers who taught us in different disciplines and many of the classes were poorly attended by students, but for one teacher and the results from his students/classes were always better than any other lecturer. The only difference between the successful teacher and the others were he was updating his skills with the latest technology and happenings in the industry compared to others who were little behind. Even though the curriculum does not require upto date knowledge he was able to generate more excitement and eagerness in students to learn. He would quote from a book that he read few days ago about heat sink technology when he is discussing about Micro processor design.
Another example of a good teacher came from very close quarters. I have the opportunity of working with a Team Lead who is a great learner and his thoughts always revolve around why, who, how, what etc and has always showed the energy of a kid making him grow stronger and stronger in his skills. He has the responsibility of performing the role of a mentor to train and help his team in understanding various topics. Each one of his knowledge sharing sessions were well attended and the team benefited and learned a lot from his sessions.
My experience leads me to the conclusion that teachers should be lifetime students and should generate the interest in their students with their enthusiasm and dynamism. They should also diversify their skills into areas of behavioral studies and extend their skills to influence the students better. If we have such teachers we would not have a discussion about Paying teachers for their achievements, they would be the best paid than any other discipline as they are the one who are materialistic in creating the future.
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