Experience vs “Brute Force”
One of the benefits of working with my current employer, Ozone API, is the freedom to explore other activities, where there is no conflict of interest with the business. This includes ensuring no distractions so that we do justice to the work in terms of innovation, time and effort spent on the product, both current and future. Very few employers give this “perk”.
I am always open to learning, as those who follow me much have figured, and one of the ways to learn is to expose oneself to areas of (life/tech) other than the current scope.
I was talking to one such “collaborator” recently. They are a business who could benefit from my experience, and I could benefit from their work domain. And, as I was talking to them, one of the stake holders, who knew me from the past, made a comment that startled me. Not because it was an appreciation, or a behaviour observation, but because I could relate it to one of the stories I have heard “time immemorial”.
In the Mahabharat, when the two parties are gathering their alliances, Arjun and Duryodhan approach Krishna. And they are given a choice, Krishna Himself, or the Narayani Sena. Duryodhan chose the army ( number can achieve by brute force things that a single person cannot ), while Arjun took the “mentor/friend/philosopher/guide” himself. As is evident from the Epic, there are moments where there are new directions, only because someone brought a “different perspective” to the table. Something that “large numbers” or “brute force” cannot.
Never really fully appreciated the moral before today.
The comment I heard, which triggered this thought, was (and I paraphrase) “This is typical Navneet speaking. This is why we engaged you.”. Now, I don’t know whether to be happy or cautious, with my reputation preceding me, and the expectations already, but I am happy that I bring value in a manner that my well wishers, acquaintances, friends and family appreciate.
( When searching for references to quore in this article, I found this article by Devdutt Pattanaik, that connects the content above in a more story format: https://devdutt.com/articles/krishnaaes-army/ )
Did I mention that Ozone API is also very comfortable with people taking a “slow down” break ? And, as the CTO Freddi Gyara mentioned jokingly earlier this week, every time I take a break, there is a new “Medium” post, because I would have learnt something new. Well, Freddi, this time, its a “LinkedIn” post instead :)
#learning #experience #weekendlearning #lifelessons #epicgyan
