My mentor sent me a whatsApp with this above newsprint clipping. He must have been as shocked as the rest of us are by the massacre of innocent merry-makers by Stephen Paddock. Paddock graduated from John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in 1971,[13] and from California State University, Northridge, with a degree in business administration in 1977. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Paddock)
Before i thought of sharing with you the conversation i had with my son that followed, i wanted to check the veracity of this printed clip. It can be found here.
Do we need to take cognizance of this
With more and more humans populating the planet, the base of the social pyramid is getting broader and the pyramid itself getting bigger. More Paddocks are likely but can be minimized. Here’s the balance of the text of the photo-clipping:
…Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths or educated Eichmanns. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more human.”
After every inhuman incident, the mind, however briefly, wonders in bewilderment at what might have caused such monstrosity. One wonders what Paddock learnt at high school and at California State University that got so easily over-ruled by some other inhuman motive.
With this recent incident, at the back of my head, I was lunching with my 17 year-old son and asked him, “Did you have moral science or any other subject on human values?”. He tried to recall and said, ” We had VIA, values in action, we had social studies-which i sucked at” he said bashfully, “and some other stuff”. I told him, “During my education we had this thing called moral science. It was full of stories that were so engaging and made such tremendous sense”. He said, “Yes dad, i remember you had shared one of them– the boy who was trapped on a ledge. It was pitch dark and was afraid of jumping to his father’s arms, because he could not see his father who was calling him to do so, from below”. He said, “I would have loved it as long as in the end they don’t starting grading you for it”. That got me thinking.
I said, ” i recall we did have to answer questions, but the marks was not used to grade us”. He said, “That’s fair. It’s alright to test whether the story’s learnings stuck”.
And boy, did it stick. I must have told him the story when he was a 7/8 year old kid and i recall this story i had learnt 40 years ago. I said to him, “What you said makes me recall a quote, ” Not all that can be counted matters. Not all that matters can be counted”. He said, “Yeah i agree. Glad you think so”, winked and left.
” Not all that can be counted matters. Not all that matters can be counted”
Learning human values comes in the second but very critical category. Example, how will you measure an employee’s ‘adhesivity’ to values like Integrity, Other-centeredness, Trusting nature, respectful nature etc..?
The universe has a special way of navigating people’s thinking based on values. With the brain’s neuroplasticity now being accepted, there is less reason to resign to Paddock’s psychopathic behaviour as genetically pre-disposed. The real culprit is not our brain but our education, or gaps thereof -both at home and school.
4 Things leaders can never do enough of:
Given that employees and ‘talents’ come from varied social and value background every workplace needs to:
- Teach values in a way that it can be recalled.
- Practise it with behaviours- that becomes your company’s culture
- Recognize and reward employees every time they demonstrate a value
- Make it count even though it cannot be measured.
Values recall: DOT-UP:
Acronym for: Duty towards yourself, Other-centeredness, Trust and Respect, Uncompromising integrity, Peakism
The Mnemonic implies-Emineo Pursuits is just a DOT-UP. We are a small company (a dot) BIG in action, that’s above the best. We want to be humble hence we say we are perhaps just a dot above the best.
Here’s the meaning of these values:
Duty towards yourself: •The only person you owe what you do, is to yourself and your family.
Other-centeredness: •Happiness comes from within. The gratitude you receive from helping others in need of your help, is the fuel that keeps the flame of your happiness burning. This includes customers, partners, colleagues and your family.
Trust and Respect: •Have faith in your character and the universe and admire your colleagues and people around you for what they bring to your workplace and to the world.
Uncompromising integrity: •What’s yours you take what’s not yours you let go and give back. Your conscience is your guide
Peakism: •We practise PEAKISM™, this is where we take care of ourselves.
Peakism is the self-directed habitual behavioural pattern of coming to work holistically well, seeking to contribute sustainable peak performance for your own self-fulfilment. This includes giving yourself permission to rest and rejuvenate.
PEAKISM™ accelerates absorption of values. It is teachable and learnable. www.emineopursuits.com. Refresh your values, refresh your universe.
