A highly skilled mason was retiring. He had built hundreds of great houses for his boss. He was weary and looking forward to retirement. His boss asked him to build just one more wonderful house for someone special. The mason was not happy. He had lost interest in building great houses, though he was fit. He agreed reluctantly and built a not-so-great house. The walls were weak and the roof was not great. His quality of work was unusually poor. As he bid a goodbye to his boss, his boss handed him the key of the same house which he built last and said – this was my farewell gift to you, my friend, I hope you like it.
Our Attitude affects everything. The Fast Company magazine is a fantastic place to read about Attitude. You can read some fascinating stories on attitude at Fast Company.com; notable amongst them is the Zappos Story and the Amazon story. Hire for Attitude and Train for Skill – that’s how Southwest Airlines hires people.
The Gita has the most profound material on attitude that you can find. This verse recited by Lord Krishna, “Karmanye vaadhikaarasthe maaphaleshu kadachana” is a real punchline on attitude. It’s meaning – “You have a right to perform your prescribed action, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results your activities, and never be associated to not doing your duty.” Do your duty with detachment to end results and results will automatically follow, is what it means. A fast paced, almost fiction like depiction on Lord Krishna and his teachings can be downloaded for free here. You won’t be bored and the intricacies of the plots are truly amazing.
The latest issue of Fast Company has a very stirring editorial note on Attitude. He describes how the young Facebook, Twitter generation folks are overturning corporate hierarchies and building businesses. They don’t respect and couldn’t care less about corporate management structures and have scant regard for listening to deadbeat managers about what cannot be done and how we cannot do something. They are adopting novel but simple ways to get things done. It leaves larger corporations gasping for breath. He talks about the celebrity Ashton Kutcher’s attitude and how he is transforming the media landscape.
In these gloomy recession days, Dr. Wayne Dyer’s talks and book on “The Power of Intention” could also bring some cheer and a change in attitude. Give it a try.
An Even Keel 