25.10.2011

Today, I wake up with the thought that there is - ‘too much under utility’.

There is so much talent out there made to poor use. Unused resource being wasted.

       Quick examples: 

      1. I have a maid who cooks meals for us. She joined us 3 months ago. She does her job well. I have known her for over three years now as she serves at my brother-in- law’s home too.

In the last three months, we have cooked a total of 6 different dishes at my place. Guess you are thinking… ‘Is that all she knows?’  The fact is - Nope! She cooks a large variety of dishes at my b-i-l-z home.  The question is – ‘Why not at our place??’ 

Less opportunities.

2. (During my last trip to Muscat, I had this conversation with a Divisional Manager of an IT company. We had a long interesting chat. And this was one of the stories he shared. )

Their company had a particular project at the airport involving heavy networking.  This involved some experts from Germany coming down to assemble the parts of their products.

He also shared that there is this guy in his team who is an exceptionally skilled worker.  He doesn’t get paid a fancy salary but he could create magic with his hands and troubleshoot most problems. So much so that many a time the worker would surprise his German counterparts with his troubleshooting skills on their products.

This Manager was telling me about the large amounts of money they were able to save because of this one worker who had the guts to solve problems in-house.

My question here is – ‘What happens if this worker, despite having the power to resolve issues, keeps mum?

Simple. You have an SOS call to Germany. An expert flies down. Fixes the problem. And leaves you with a smile and his itemized check =)

So here are two cases.

One - where you have our maid who has less opportunity to display the extent of her culinary skills with us. Hence, a talented cook remains under- utilized. The other where you have a skilled worker willing to explore his genius further enough to resolve issues for his company.

Mind you, money is not what motivates this worker to do miracles - but it is the job itself. Also the faith, respect and appreciation the manager has in him that motivates him to solve issues.

In both cases and in many others I feel this strongly in my heart, about a need to understand people, engage them and  

bring out God given talent.

Go... Create Opportunities.