Learn From Others

Shyam &  Tushar joined a company together, a few months after their Graduation from University.

After a few years of work, their Manager promoted Shyam to a position of Senior Sales Manager, but Tushar remained in his entry level Junior Sales Officer position. Tushar developed a sense of jealousy & disgruntlement, but continued working anyway!

One day, Tushar felt that he could not work with Shyam, anymore. He wrote his resignation letter, but before he submitted it to the Manager, he complained that  Management did not value hard working staff, but only promoted only the favored!

The Manager knew that Shyam worked with sincerity & was dedicated to his assignments for the years he had spent at the Company; even worked harder than Tushar & therefore he deserved the promotion. So in order to help Tushar realise this, the Manager gave Tushar a task.

“Go and find out if anyone is selling water melons in town?”

Tushar returned & said, "Yes there is someone!"

The Manager asked, "How much do they cost per kg?" Tushar drove back to town to ask & then returned to inform the Manager;  "they are Rs.13.50 per kg!"

The Manager told Tus,har "I will give Shyam the same assignment that I gave you. Pay close attention to his response!"

So the Manager said to Shyam in the presence of Tushar; “Go & find out if anyone is selling water melons in town?”

Shyam went to find out & on his return he said: "Manager ji, there is only one person selling water melons in the whole town. The cost is Rs. 49 per piece & Rs. 32,50 for a half melon. He sells them at Rs. 13.50 per kg when sliced. He has in his stock 93 melons, each one weighing about 7 kg. He has a farm & can supply us with melons for the next 4 months at 102 melons per day at Rs. 27.00 per melon; this includes delivery!

The melons appear fresh & red with good quality & they taste better than the ones we sold last year! He has his own slicing machine & is willing to slice for us free of charge! We need to strike a deal with him before 10 am tomorrow & we will be sure of improving on last year's profits in melons by Rs. 223 000! This will contribute positively to our overall performance as it will add a minimum of 3.78% to our current overall sales performance! I have put this information down in writing & is available on spread sheet. Pls let me know if you need any more info, as I can send it to you in fifteen minutes!"

Tushar was very impressed & realized the difference between himself & Shyam! He decided not to resign but to learn from Shyam!

As we begin this fresh year, let this story help us keep in mind the importance of going an extra mile in all our endeavors!

You won't be rewarded for doing what you're meant to do, you already get a salary for that! You will definitely be rewarded for going an extra mile; performing beyond expectations!

To be successful in real life situations you must be smart, observant, proactive & willing to do more, be positive, learn to live with back stabbers,  think more, a more holistic perspective & go beyond the call of duty!

The Story of Watermelon

I am from the village of Parra in Goa, hence we are called Parrikars. My village is famous for its watermelons. When I was a child, the farmers would organise a watermelon-eating contest at the end of the harvest season in May. All the kids would be invited to eat as many watermelons as they wanted. Years later, I went to IIT Mumbai to study engineering. I went back to my village after 6.5 years. I went to the market looking for watermelons. They were all gone. The ones that were there were so small. I went to see the farmer who hosted the watermelon-eating contest. His son had taken over. He would host the contest but there was a difference. When the older farmer gave us watermelons to eat he would ask us to spit out the seeds into a bowl. We were told not to bite into the seeds. He was collecting the seeds for his next crop. We were unpaid child labourers, actually. He kept his best watermelons for the contest and he got the best seeds which would yield even bigger watermelons the next year. His son, when he took over, realised that the larger watermelons would fetch more money in the market so he sold the larger ones and kept the smaller ones for the contest.

The next year, the watermelons were smaller, the year later even small. In watermelons the generation is one year. In seven years, Parra's best watermelons were finished. In humans, generations change after 25 years. It will take us 200 years to figure what we were doing wrong while educating our children.

A Story by Manohar Parikh