Passion and Capability - Chapter 2

After he bid us adieu...we sat for a few minutes in dead silence...in fact his eyes never met mine...

The man sitting in front of me was totally different from the one that I had met a few hours previously...

Someone had to break the silence...and I realized that it had to be me...

"Perhaps I was a bit too harsh..."

"You absolutely were not...you are here to make things better...and to be totally truthful with you...I think that you were right..."

Before he went into a long "confession" I stopped him...and he looked relieved...

"Let's figure out what we need to do to make the organization REALLY shout your praises...and do it..."

"I like that" he replied with a sigh of relief, "I figured that you were here on a witch hunt..."

"Not at all...I am here to make meaningful and significances...witch hunts are a last resort..."

Although the conversation was much longer and still had a tendency towards discussing marathons and half-marathons...we mostly stayed on subject and developed a clear understanding and mutual agreement of the goals and expectations of my engagement.

We finished lunch and drove back to the facility...set times to meet...and parted...

I walked back to the front door and he to the back...

I pondered my journey as I walked...

The next step was significantly more difficult...that is ascertaining the REAL condition and performance of the department...

The group had become conditioned to promoting success by upper management...and knew exactly what to say and how to say it...

I saw that my car was parked in its original place...and he was standing near it...having too just seen me...

"Here's the keys..."

"Don't you ever work?" I laughed. "YOU are such an instigator!"

"I didn't mean to set you up...but...the situation called for it...as I always say...success in any endeavor or process...is always about perfectly timed collisions..."

"You choreographed that collision quite well!" I laughed..."It was perfectly timed!"

"...and I suspect that your last conversation went well and actually set the stage for improvement..."

"It was much better...and this fellow is totally different..."

"He may be different in words...he is running scared...total change takes more time..."

"The wheels are turning on my challenge...so do you mind if tag along with you?" he asked, " I would just go and sit at the room..."

As we walked back to my temporary office, he continued his thoughts

"This may seem totally off-base, but let me ramble for a while...I do not believe in karma as a religious concept...but I do believe that when that concept developed, they were on to something..."

"People get back in exact or greater measure what they put into any effort...and that doesn't mean at a superficial level...but at the foundational level..."

"This is all about the tie that we have to Cause/Effect...and its subsequent Impact"

"No matter what we do...every effect is tied to specific causes...and that relationship can not be broken..."

"If you do something specific...the cause, have you...you can with absolute certainty predict the effect..."

"It is the subsequent impact that you can not predict...the reason is that the impacts are in the realm of human control..."

"AND the impacts are tied to the foundational reason...the motivational nature behind the initial actions that initiated the behaviors that generated the causes..."

"That sounds VERY circular...but humor me for a moment..."

"If a person blows smoke all of his or her life...they will ultimately end up breathing smoke!"

"If a person acts selfishly...they will end up losing to selfishness..."

"If a person lives by the sword...they will die by the sword..."

"A person always reaps what they sow..."

"That is however...unless that reason for their actions (causes) were selfless or for truly good reasons...then others will intervene between the Effect and Impact..."

"This does not happen as often as it should..."

"Nature has a way of showing frauds and selfishness for what it is..."

"There is always some bad cook in the equation that rises to the occasion and spoils the banquet..."

"The person that claims to be a fighter...ends up the loser..."

"The person who claims to be the smartest...ends up the fool..."

"The world promises that...and it ALWAYS fulfills its promises...you can bank on that!"

"The only thing that people like that can do...is delay the time between effect and impact...but it will happen..."

"That is where I believe the concept of karma came from...I believe...the astute people saw this consistently happening and because of their religious bias...explained it as some spiritual concept...rather than for what it is...just a blend of the natural world and humans..."

"It is an immutable law...ultimately on every level of the human experience..."  

"Knowing this...makes me ever cognizant of my motivations behind my decisions and behaviors and my actions...are they well meaning?...or selfish?...are they selfless?...or...I guess I could go on forever..."

"Are you trying to tell me something about me?"

"Why are we talking about this?"

"I am trying to understand your intent behind this discussion..." I laughed... 

"Let's go see that marathon man..." he replied..."I want to watch where this goes...I think you'll see that the root of this problem is karma!"

"I thought you didn't believe in that...!" I chided, "His office is just down the hall..."

Enough Said...for today...(to be continued)