I heard a radio interview recently with a motivation consultant. He was advocating that in order for one to achieve his ambitions, he must cling along with company of the same spirited individuals, with go-getter's, amongst people with positive attitudes so that some of the positive vibes will rub off on you. Hey, you do not need a motivation guru to tell you that. Amma told us that 40 years ago and she only had primary school education. Her quotable quote told in a negative sense was 'If a calf (being a divine animal) starts mixing with piglets, they would start eating faeces.' The smart Alecs would argue that Winnie the Pooh's friend Piglet (even though a pig) seems very civilized (or is that why Winnie got the nickname Pooh?) and also that modern pigs are reared in farms and their feeds are controlled and monitored scientifically unlike the hogs in the slums of Tamil Nadu!
If I remember well, the management people have a rule of thumb called 'Peter's Principle'. It essentially states a quotation by a Dr. Laurence J. Peter (an Associate Professor of Education in University of Southern California) which goes like this: "In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence ... in time every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties ... Work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence."
An apt example of this is the multilingual football coach Roy Hodgson, who did miracles with smaller teams like Switzerland (last 16 in FIFA World Cup 1994) and Finland (FIFA ranking 33 in 2006/7). In the EPL, he was doing such a great job with smaller teams with not so many prima donna-like footballers like Blackburn Rovers and Fulham. His colourful curriculum vitae came to naught when confronted with the indisputable Champion Club of the Soccer playing nations - Liverpool. Here, he was heckled and jeered by punters, supporters and probably club owners alike for failing to show the star quality that he possessed. Repeated defeats and non flambouyant performance just booted him out. Licking his wounds, he is now doing not a bad job in lowly West Bromwich Albion - no loss in last 5 games! Being amongst the stars did not make him one. [He must have had his sweet revenge yesterday. The icing on the cake must have been when his lowly ranked (in the verge of relegation) team beating his mighty ex-team Liverpool 2-1.]
In the kingdom of the blind, one-eyed Jack does not become blind but rather king! But in primordial nature of things, it seem only logical for propagation and continuity of species, pretty animals (humans included) hanging around the company of other equally pretty and robust animals to ensure equally pretty and strong offspring! In the plant kingdom, it would be pollination of better pollens and ova!
Mmm....If this were to be followed, then half of the people of the world would stay unmarried or live in sin!?
But I grew up learning that the beauty comes from within, not just skin deep.... And everybody has some good traits and bad traits. That was what Charles Darwin was trying to tell the world about natural selection and the survival of the fittest. And Socrates (the brilliant looks-wise challenged Greek philosopher) was telling the beau who wanted to marry him to have a child with his intelligence and her beauty, "what if the child has my ugly face and your brains?"....,
And it gets more confusing... And I am going slightly mad...
If I remember well, the management people have a rule of thumb called 'Peter's Principle'. It essentially states a quotation by a Dr. Laurence J. Peter (an Associate Professor of Education in University of Southern California) which goes like this: "In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence ... in time every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties ... Work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence."
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| Roy Hodgson |
In the kingdom of the blind, one-eyed Jack does not become blind but rather king! But in primordial nature of things, it seem only logical for propagation and continuity of species, pretty animals (humans included) hanging around the company of other equally pretty and robust animals to ensure equally pretty and strong offspring! In the plant kingdom, it would be pollination of better pollens and ova!
Mmm....If this were to be followed, then half of the people of the world would stay unmarried or live in sin!?But I grew up learning that the beauty comes from within, not just skin deep.... And everybody has some good traits and bad traits. That was what Charles Darwin was trying to tell the world about natural selection and the survival of the fittest. And Socrates (the brilliant looks-wise challenged Greek philosopher) was telling the beau who wanted to marry him to have a child with his intelligence and her beauty, "what if the child has my ugly face and your brains?"....,
And it gets more confusing... And I am going slightly mad...
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