This is a simple story of the divisive mind that overrides common sense and prevents/destroys successful collaboration.
In a village in India, there were two disabled men, one was lame and the other was blind. India is a spiritual country and giving alms to the deserving is considered as good Karma (I am neither promoting this, neither opposing this ideology, it simply is the way a good majority of Indians think even today). Both these disabled men would beg outside a temple and make their living. However, the lame could see that the blind would miss out on a lot of potential alms, as he could not see when there were people around and whom to target. The lame beggar had a thought and approached the blind man with a suggestion that they should collaborate, the blind beggar was a strong man and he could carry the lame who could see, together they would be more effective. Both were in a state of distress and agreed to give the arrangement a try. There was a renewed hope, optimism and gratefulness and they worked wonderfully together getting more than usual earning. Everything was smooth, till one day they decided to celebrate their successful venture and had a few drinks, when the blind made a sarcastic statement that it was a wise decision by the lame to use him (the blind) to do the hard work, whilst he just sat and guided him to walk. The blind further added that since the hard work was done mostly by himself, he is really the key partner in the collaboration, and thus he should be entitled to the lion’s share of the earnings. This infuriated the lame and they got into a bitter quarrel, as a result destroyed a wonderful collaboration they had in place and went back to the old ways of begging on their own.
God being a silent witness to this, felt saddened, decided to intervene, share the wisdom and grant them a boon as well. Thus with this noble intent, God manifested and first visited the blind man and announced to him that he can ask for any boon and it shall be granted, the blind man naturally thought that someone was mocking him. He rebuked God, told him to leave him alone. However, God being God insisted that he would really grant him what ever he would ask for …the blind man simply could not get his mind to think right, he thought for a while and said, “Okay, if you really wish to grant me a boon then take away the vision of the lame guy!” , God was shocked and pleaded the blind man to reconsider and ask for something better for himself. The blind man was in a negative mind set and reminded God to do what he had asked for or get lost. God waited for a few moments, said he would have to think before granting the boon and disappeared. God then went to the lame guy and made the same offer. What ensued was an exact repeat of the incident with the blind guy, the lame asked for the blind to be handicapped.
Alas! God was left with no option but to grant both their wishes and thus both became completely handicapped and useless to each other. This is the result of myopic competitiveness between unconscious human beings.
This has been the case in every corporate that has failed in recent times and shall continue if both the owners/leaders of the business and the employees continue with their mindset of selfishness and self-importance.
For businesses to sustain and flourish the owners/leaders of the business have to be grateful and appreciate the hard work of their employees, create a sense of security and provide them with a clear vision and mission. They should reasonably share their profits with the employees and the employees should in turn understand that they have to give their best and honest effort to the organization to ensure business profitability and sustainability. God would then have no option but to grant their collective efforts a blessing of success.
God is waiting for us to understand that no individual can achieve success without the collaborative support of each other, appreciating each other and practicing fairness in our dealings. Humanity has to make the right choice. The key to our success is with each other, if we want to experience the grace of the divine then we have to emulate the divine. Look around, there is someone with whom you can collaborate to grow together. Humility and Gratitude in approach is the key.
There a seven functions that are key to every business enterprise that have a direct impact on its success Decision making, influencing, relation-ship management, energizing, idea creation, information gathering and implementing. All these are highly collaborative engagements, having the right people with the right natural ability and skill set is the key to innovation and overcoming the present challenge.
Trust is the compass that will lead all of us to the key holder of our individual and collective success. If your are a scientist collaborate with an artist. if you are a farmer collaborate with a mathematician. Converging collaboration the new mantra for success.
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