Humility
Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 9:26PM Over the last few years, a rare opportunity has come my way of being in charge of operating a unique semiconductor facility. Usually this blog does a better job of separation of work and fate, much better than the governmnet does with separation of church and state. This time however, we have to make an exception and mention something that came up through work.
Every year, a bunch of international military leaders visit my workplace and I get to give them a tour of the facility. They are part of a program through the NDU.
As usual, this year we hosted an amazing bunch of people. (Got to shake hands and take pictures with a Colonel from the Indian Army as well! What a guy! You talk to him for a few seconds and see why he is a leader).
This is the who's who of the military world, and you see that their thought process and questions are very impresive. After spending two hours with them you can kind of figure out the LCM between these guys and you know why they are special.
They all are:
1. good listeners
2. able to "cut to the chase" and "come to the point" with minimum words
3. full of life!
4. practitioners of "give respect and take respect"!
This year, when I finished the last tour of the faciilty, a bunch of them insisted on taking a picture with me, and then gave me a memento of sorts for taking the time to answer all their questions. In a few minutes they made it feel like an award ceremony!
Was so moved by their gesture. Just loved it!
Going to cherish this one for a long long time. The nickname my colleagues have for me at work is "The General" and every year, the irony of that title just sinks in a little deeper. These guys are so humble. Something you would not expect out of top military folks especially the way the movie industry portrays them.
Yes, these are all very macho guys who keep punching each other on the shoulders or hi fi everyone at every opportunity (and they all seem to have learnt the choicest bad words in international languages) but they were listening to every word that was being said in the tour and they asked questions that were thought provoking. Even top CEO's and CTO's who get the fab tour have not asked such questions!
There is so much to learn, so little time!
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