Monday, September 19, 2005

Competency

Recently I came across with different kinds of competencies, which was very interesting. Thought of sharing 'em...

They are,
Unconscious Incompetency
Conscious Incompetency
Conscious Competency
Unconscious Competency

(It's like 4 quadrants)

Desired state of competency in anything for anyone is Unconscious Competency.

May be an analogy will help to comprehend these easily.

A person who does not have driving skills. Rather he does not require at the place he is living currently. (say in India, not everyone is expected to have driving skills).
This is Unconscious Incompetency.

That person goes to America. First thing he learns is that he requires Driving skills to be independent.
This is Conscious Incompetency.

He learns driving and starts driving around. A burgeoning driver...
This is Conscious Competency.

Eventullay he becomes a veteran and expert in driving since he's been driving a while.
This is Unconcious Compentency.

Interesting...eh?

Friday, September 02, 2005

In search of words...

Today I received a call in my cell phone from someone asking what was my name. (There wasn't even a courtesy hello). I was so furious and shouted back who was that and what he wanted. He said that he was security at gate# 5 and I had a package arrived that I had ordered. Curltly I said wrong number and was about to hang up on him. He wanted me to wait up and handed the phone over to someone else. That 'someone else' said that I had a bouquet waiting for me. I was perplexed. I said that there must be something wrong and it was not possible. 'someone else' told from whom it was from. Immediately I got his whereabouts and ran to collect the bouquet. While running I woke up all my cells in the brain to find out the 'reason' or 'occasion' for the bouquet. My brain cells proved that they were not very useful. I called up that person blushing out, supplied the backgrounds and asked what was the 'reason' or 'occasion'. That person asked me to wait until I saw the bouquet to find out. I waited and I saw. Then I knew the occasion. Unfortunately I had forgotten the occasion. I felt a sudden urge of tear in my eyes. I had to control my emotions considering the environment. Called back that person and thanked. There are times when you think that there are no right words to express your feelings. This was one of those times. Thanks is a tiny word to confine what I wanted to express. Bottom line is I felt happy. Very very happy.

The person was my wife.
The occassion was 100th day of my wedding.

'The Manager'

An essential characteristic of the superhero mythology is, there's the superhero, and there's the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When he wakes up in the morning, he's Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic that Superman stands alone. Superman did not become Superman, Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red "S", that's the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears, the glasses, the business suit, that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us.

Lately I have been having this feeling that wherever I am & whoever I am with, I am 'the Manager'. Like the Superman, I felt like I was born Manager. I kinda looked strange too. One day I was in my kitchen, enlightening my wife with 'short stories' from my life. I observed her way of cooking for a while and 'the manager' started to appraise the way she was cooking. I passed my wisdom on how important it is for her to improve her productivity and time management.

Result? Well, I had to take over the rest of the cooking and later I had to dramatically fall on my knees to apologize in style to set everything right.

Lesson? Wife is the Chairman, MD and CEO of the house. What can a poor manager do about it?

I felt like I woke up from dream of being 'the manager'. Ofcourse, now-a-days I am 'the manager' only at my work and not everywhere and not with everyone.

Note: First para, the comparison of superheros, is from the movie Kill Bill Vol.2 by Quentin Tarantino.