Act Your Dream

Photo Credit: Reji "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right." ~ Henry Ford Let me admit. I have been meaning to write on the subject for over two months now. And each time I would put pen to paper; I would say to myself, "wait a minute, I do not feel enough about the subject yet to come across as self-assured." It was as if something needed to happen to sweep me away in a whirlwind of undeniable conviction before I could say what I wanted to say since a long time. I wanted to speak as a practitioner rather than as an academic. J. Sterling Livingston's article Pygmalion in Management, originally published in Harvard Business Review in 1969 had struck me as undeniable truth, not for all the evidence provided but simply for the empirical nature of the assertion. It made perfect sense and helped me explain the mechanics of how expectations influence human behavior - a phenomenon I had observed intriguingly as a ...

Photo Credit: citymart When fisherman Jack finally landed a boot, he knew it was the last straw. His spectacular skills, with the perfect fishing gear, which he'd gone to great lengths to polish each day for the past 20 years, were no longer working. Jack was exasperated. He suffered from cold feet, itchy fingers and a hunger for success which drove him to pursue each boot with a vengeance. Jack was out of his element, and as much as he had always admired boots, he realized something that day, which changed his life forever. Now consider this - new in the country, six months flushed down in hope of finding suitable work and hard earned savings disappearing like quicksilver in the cracks. Add this to throw in a bit of twist - no contacts. Like Jack, I felt like I had hit rock bottom. So between my episodes of frantic quibbling and blaming anybody I could get hold of, I did the obvious thing anyone would do - I surfed the net. I spent the greater part of each day ...

Photo Credit: Anna GearHart What I witnessed at a Toronto subway station on a busy Saturday afternoon last month transformed my views on giving for good. I was right behind a young couple in the line at the ticketing booth and was already hypnotized by the enchanting innocence of their five-year old daughter who had all eyes affixed on her. As her parents handed her some loose change encouraging her to pay for her own ticket, she suddenly jumped out of the line and ran to put the coins in the black tray placed in front of a miserable-looking old man playing what looked like a bluegrass banjo. People couldn't but turn their heads to notice that unquestionably selfless gesture of giving; unquestionable because there could have been nothing else in the little child's mind other than the pure joy of giving. She ran back to her father with open arms and hugged him tightly in anticipation of his fervent appreciation for accomplishing a great feat of valor. As some men and w...