Her mom listening to her story, took her to the kitchen and put three pots of water to boil. In the first she placed some carrots, in the other some eggs and in the third she placed some coffee beans. She let the pots boil and said nothing at all. After about 20 minutes, she turned the stove off and asked her daughter, 'Tell me, What do you see?'
"Carrots, eggs and coffee", the daughter replied.
Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noticed they were soft. The mother then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted the rich and refreshing flavor.
Her mother went on to explain that each of the objects had faced the same adversity : boiling water. But each had reacted to it differently.
The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However after being subject to the boiling water, it softened and became week.
The egg had been fragile but after sitting through the boiling water, its insides became hardened.
But the ground coffee beans were different. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. =)
(Dunno the author of this story. I read this on a magazine called Faces, December 2007)
In hindsight, this story brings in fresh perspectives on dealing with conflicts at the workplace.
a. How would you and I react in a crisis??
b. What about the coffee beans allows it to change the water?? (hmmn.... interesting!)
how many times we get a chance to change the water yet choose to remain boiled there?.... nice thought
ReplyDeleteThe assumption here is that these objects made an effort to use adversity for some good. An another angle is that something good was forced boiled out of them. Now the question is how much time exactly we need to boil them to get what we want out of them. In this case its 20 minutes for all but mostly it varies as per the item.
ReplyDeleteIts a fact that people can churn out to be better when they face a common adversity. Like Shakespeare said "Sweet are the uses of adversity". Dealing with 'adversity' brings out surprising elements in people, while dealing with a 'common adversity' bring out the best in people.
I have seen that when a team within an organization is sounded an alarm of some adversity that is challenging their credibility, the team surprisingly collaborates to overcome it, no matter what difference they sponsor within the group.
When it comes down to an individual, how much of an adversity can a person handle to his benefit? Now that is to be based on careful observation of the individual and continuous monitoring of his reactions. Adversity is often used as a tool on freshers in most organizations to beef up their efforts to learn and bring out their best in the shortest time. But when they are boiled more than they can handle they lose their advantage !
thanks for sharing guys!
ReplyDelete