Wisdom Quotes

Scattered Paper

Once upon a time an old man spread rumors that his neighbor was a thief. As a result, the young man was arrested. Days later the young man was proven innocent. After been released he sued the old man for wrongly accusing him.

In court the old man told the Judge: 'They were just comments, didn't harm anyone..'

The judge, before passing sentence on the case, told the old man: 'Write all the things you said about him on a piece of paper. Cut them up and on the way home, throw the pieces of paper out. Tomorrow, come back to hear the sentence.'

The next day, the judge told the old man: 'Before receiving the sentence, you will have to go out and gather all the pieces of paper that you threw out yesterday.'

The old man said: 'I can't do that! The wind spread them and I won't know where to find them.'

The judge then replied: 'The same way, simple comments may destroy the honor of a man to such an extent that one is not able to fix it.

"If you can't speak well of someone, rather don't say anything"

'Let's all be masters of our mouths, so that we won't be slaves of our words.'

 

Maintaining secrecy is important

रहिमन ठहरी धूरि की, रही पवन ते पूरि।

गांठ युक्ति की खुलि गई, अंत धूरि को धूरि॥

Rahiman Thehri Dhuri ki, rahi pawan se puri

Ganth yukti ki khuli gai, annt dhuri ki dhuri- Rahim Das

Rahim das ji in this to lines is trying to show the importance of keeping secret. He chooses the  dust particles on earth to explain the same. He says that like a dust particle on land is silent but once it gets its contact with the air , it blows aways and thus leave the purpose for which it was there on land. Nobody even recognize it and values it. Similarly there are certain things which need to be kept secret. In case they are revealed before their due time, they will loose value and importance.

Interpretation from Business Perspective
Well some secrecy is definitely very important in business and that has been the norm from a ling time but today this becomes more important as IT  has enabled sharing of information much more easier. Also with concepts like crowdsourcing , much more information is available. Keeping some core information becomes now  much more important and need to be safeguarded by business at any cost 

Values keep you afloat at hard times

Sona sajjan sadhu jan, Tooti jure sau baar. 

Durjan kumbh kumhaar ke, eke dhaka daraar- Sant Kabir

In this doha, Kabir das says that people who are of good character can resist any hardships. He compares them to gold which can be beaten and molded but can regain itself. Similarly a person with the righteous conduct and mind can stand again if he/she falls many time. Then Kabirdas compares a person with a bad character with the earthen  pot and say like an earthen pots breaks with one stroke, so does a bad person can break at slightest difficulty

Interpretation from Business Perspective

In my view what is right for an individual in this case also applies to corporation. If a corporation si based on sounds footing with good values for employees, customers , stakeholders and environment,that can stand the test of time like recession. They may not show a growth of quarter to quarter result but in the long run will definitely be successful. On the other hand a corporation with just the motive of making short term money may thrive for a while. But a bad time like recession will be enough for their demise. The 2008 recession showed the same. Businesses with the sound roots survived while those who had only profit motive wither were shut down or went with a begging bowl to the Government.

Philanthropy does not make you poor

दान दिए धन ना घटे, नदी ना घटे नीर ।

अपनी आँखों देख लो, यों क्या कहे कबीर ॥

dan diye dhan na ghate, nadi na ghate neer

apni aankhon dekh lo, yon kya kahe kabeer Sant Kabir

An interesting thought by Kabirdas on generosity. He explains generosity by taking the example of the river. he says that if you do give money to the needy, it will not get reduced like the river when gives water to the thirsty and needy, it water does not get reduced. He challenges the people saying that there need not be any explanation as all can see this fact from their eyes 

Interpretation from Business Perspective

Now a days a lot of discussion is going on whether business as an entity should go for philanthropy or not. Some business gurus are of the view that the purpose of business is to just increase shareholder's wealth.. For them philanthropy does not make sense. But if we look at it from the lens of this doha, we can see philanthropy may actually be useful for them as it may not decrease the value of the firm but actually increase it at certain point with a better brand value. Work by the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness in the area of Corporate Philanthropy provides many such examples 

Keep the values intact. Once lost, reputation cannot be regained

मन मोती अरु दूध रस, इनकी सहज सुभाय।

फट जाये तो ना मिले, कोटिन करो उपाय॥

Mann, Moti aru dudh ras, inki sahaj subhay

fatt jaye to na mile, kotin karo upay- Rahimdas

An interesting thought by Rahimdas. He says that there are certain things like your thoughts, pearl,flowers, milk and juice which are good when in their original conditions and thus needs to be preserved. Because when they get broken or get sour, they become useless. also no matter how hard you try, they will never regain their previous positions 

Interpretation from Business Perspective

If we look at the business world, this doha caries a huge meaning. A company builds its reputation, brand etc after working for long time and thus it needs to preserve it at any cost. once it goes down due to any reason, it is very hard or near impossible to gain it back in the original form. A lot of research which is happening in reputation management shows how important reputation has become especially in thsi world of internet 

Wait for the right time and things will fall in place

धीरे-धीरे रे मना, धीरे सब कुछ होय । 

माली सींचे सौ घड़ा, ॠतु आए फल होय ॥

Dheere Dheere Re Mana, Dheere Sub Kutch Hoye 

Mali Seenche So Ghara, Ritu Aaye Phal Hoye- Sant Kabir

One of the famous lines by the great saint on patience. Kabirdas says that all great work happens with time and patience. It takes a long time before a real success comes. He takes the analogy of a garden. He says that the gardner water the plant many time only then when the right time comes, the plant bear the fruits The gardner does not expect the fruit the day it waters the plant

Interpretation from Business Perspective

This doha reminds me of the short termism which is prevalent in today's business and investment market. Investors want QtoQ growth and even business managers now a days look at short term results. The HBS working paper Short-Termism, Investor Clientele, and Firm Risk also talks about this short termism and how this increases the risk in business. If we take the teaching of this doha we should have patience and work towards long term goals of the business and thus work towards that. The business at the right time will bring the right results 

A short span of bad time can be good

रहिमन विपदा ही भली, जो थोरे दिन होय।

हित अनहित या जगत में, जानि परत सब कोय॥

Rahiman vipda ho bhali, jo thode din hoye,

hit, unhit ya jagat me , jaani parat sab koye- Rahimdas

Rahimdas in this great doha shows us the importance of bad times. He says that a bad time for sometime may actually be good for us. We get to know who are our well wishers and who are our 'friends' and thus can be harmful. So as an individual, do not think that bad times are bad, they are actually a good opportunity to identify the real gems

Interpretation from Business Perspective

A business also goes through the stage of good time and bad time. If your business is in a bad time, it is a good opportunity to identify the trouble in your organization. During good times, many inefficiencies get developed and because of growth , they go unnoticed. It is the bad time which get those inefficiencies in the forefront and give you an opportunity to correct them. The problem appears only after the tide is gone. But we should remember that the bad time is only good if it last for a short duration as also conveyed by Rahimdas 

Work on the core and not everything

एके साधे सब सधे..सब साधे सब जाय।

रहिमन मुलाहि सींचिये फूलहि फलहि अघाय॥

Ek hi saadhe sab sadhe, Sab saadhe sab jaay

Rahiman mool hi sinche, Fule fale aghaay -Rahim Das

Rahimdas ji in this wonderful doha talks about the importance of understanding the core and  then working on it. We all today want to learn anything and everything (the jack of all trades type) but this doha warns about such mentality. He sayss that  the person should concentrate on one thing and do it the best way and all other things will fall in line. In case he goes for too many things, he will not be able to do much. Taking the analogy from garden he says that the gardner does not water each leave and bracnch but the core i.e. roots of the plants and all get nurtured 

Interpretation from Business Perspective

Every business has a core thing and i.e. to provide a solution to a problem faced by the customers and if the business just ensures that they take care of ensuring that happening at the right value, all other things would fall in line. Reminds me of the HBR article 'The One Number You Need to Grow'

Appearances can be deceptive

Bhes Dekh Na Puchhiye, Puchh Lijiye Gyan
Bina Kasouti Hot Nahi, Kanchan Ki Pehchan -Sant Kabir

In this doha, Kabirdas ji is cautioning us that we should not be deceived by the outer appearance of a person and we should verify his knowledge. Taking an analogy from gold, he says that goldsmith cannot determine the purity of gold by just looking at it (outer appearance). He has put it to test to verify its purity. In normal world we do get swayed by outer appearance but this doha gives us a valuable leson that whta is inside ( the knowledge) is what is important.  Jusge by deeds , not by look 

Interpretation from Business Perspective

In many business dealings, do not get into the trap of outer appearance. Many a times people over exaggerate about themselves and /or their business. Be careful and do a thorough due diligence before taking any decision. One of the example which comes to my mind is the Madoff's Victim List which includes big investment banks like HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Barclays, UBS etc who went on appearance and did not look deep into the Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

Everyone is important

रहिमन देख बड़ेन को, लघु न दीजिये डारि।

जहाँ काम आवै सुई, कहा करै तलवारि॥

Rahiman dekhi baden ko Laghu na dijiye daari,

Jahan kaam aawe suyee, Kaa kare talwari -Rahim Das

Rahim Das in this wonderful Doha tells us the importance of everything and everyone. He says that in case you get something big , do not discard the small stuff. He gives an example of a situation where you need a small needle an says that though sword is much bigger than needle but it is useless in that situation. So in your life give importance to people who may be of lesser status than you. You never know how valuabel they can be 

Interpretation from Business Perspective 

The simple message this doha can give for business is that bigger is not always better. One of the Business Books, The Long tail also talks about business somewhat on the same lines. Sometimes you may feel that a particular client / segment may be not that profitable just based on size, . If that is the case, think again 

Even for individual in business/corporate world, do remember that many times people who may belong to lower status group as compared to you, may have valuable lessons for you so do not ignore. People dealing with Goivt Departments or in the administration work must have definitely experienced something on these lines

Importance of patience

कबीरा धीरक के धरे, हाथी मन भर खाये।
 टुक टुक बेकार में, स्वान घर घर जाये ॥


Kabira Dheeraj Ke Dhare Haathi Man Bhar Khaaye

Tuk Tuk Bekar Me Svan Ghare Ghar Jaaye-  Sant Kabir

In this doha, Kabir Das talks about the importance of patience He says as elephant maintains patience, he is able to eat  to his satisfaction but a dog wanting to have more and more without patience, just wanders from home to home without any satisfaction So we as human beings should be patient and should not wander here and there for more as it will not provide satisfaction

Interpretation from Business Perspective

From an individual perspective , the doha is definitely very good but it also gives businesses some lessons. we all have seen that when the markets are down, the business tend to move to one strategy to another strategy very fast without realizing that execution and results take sometime and thus loose a lot of money. Business world should take a particular strategy after thinking and stick to it for some time to see the results. Be the elephant of the busienss world , not the dog

 

Short Term vs Long Term

Pat Pat Ko Sichibo, Bari Bari Ko Loun
Rahiman Aisi Buddhi Ko, Kaho Barirego Kaun  Rahim Das

Rahim Das in this Doha says there are people who provide water to the leaves of the plant but put salt in the roots and expect the plants to grow. The world considers such people as fools and does not respect them. What Rahim Das wanted to convey was the fact that desire for  worldly things is like watering leaves of life while ignoring God is like putting salt in roots. God is the roots of your life and if he is desired, the worldly things will be taken care of.

Interpretation from Business Perspective

Today the business world is highly short termed .Quarterly results are the norm. This I feel is what is called as watering of leaves leaving the root which would be long term vision of the business including innovation and research. If the long term vision is clear and clearly executed , then the short term would definitely be good though may not be in the way the Wall Street/Dalal Street analyst want but the way society wants 

One big reason for many Business/Project Failures

Maya Taje To Kya Hua Maan Taja Naa Jaaye
Maan Bade Munivar Gaye Maan Saban Ko Khaye- Sant Kabir

Kabirdas in this great doha suggest that it is easy to leave wealth but very difficult to leave your ego. Big saints who left their wealth could not leave their ego and thus ego has even eaten them. Essence for an individual is that the most important thing to leave in case you want to be happy is to leave the ego. Reminds me of one interesting story. Man asked God. 'God, I want happiness'. God said 'Leave the I and remove the want and you will be happy'

Interpretation from Business Perspective

Ego does not reside in only individuals, an organization may also have an ego. The ego may be built due to its name , it brand or it may be just a reflection of the egos of the individual who makes the  organization. We have all seen that many projects /products which are not viable still continues in the organization. Reason could be  recalling may harm the organization brand, this is a favorite project of the CEO, how can I , the sponsor of the project see myself as a failure and so on and on.Money gets drained for nothing.bringing loss to the organization because of the ego

 

For many people, there are essentially only two speeds—fast and faster. It seems that, most of the time, we are moving very quickly, doing three or four things at once. Often we are only paying partial attention or half listening to the people we are working with. Our minds are cluttered and overly busy.

Perhaps the reason so many of us spend so much time moving fast is that we fear falling behind or losing our edge. Our competitors, and everyone else around us, seem to be moving so fast that we feel we must do the same.

It’s important to note that, in this hyper, frenetic state of mind, our concentration suffers. We waste precious energy and have tendency to make mistakes. When we’re in a hurry, it’s difficult to determine what’s truly most relevant because we are so preoccupied with getting everything done. Because we are moving so quickly, it’s easy to get stressed out, nervous, and agitated. And because we are so “on edge,” things get on our nerves easily and often.

See if you can make a conscious effort to slow down- both your thinking and your actions. If you do, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised to discover that, despite the slower speed, you’ll become more relaxed and far more effective. You’ll regain your composure and be able to see the bigger picture.

Your stress level will drop dramatically and it will even seem like you have more time. Your thinking and listening skills will become sharper. You’ll be able to anticipate problems rather than finding yourself in the middle of them so often.