On Heritage Day 2015 Kirstenbosch (or like my friend Deon Viljoen likes to call it “Kirstenbosch University”) lived up to its ability to enchant and teach me. It was windy on my side of the mountain but there it was just the sun giving energy to flowers so they opened up and shared their beauty with the world.
In one patch there was this amazing sea of colour of different flowers – each being just who it is and not attempting to be better than any of the other flowers, trying to beat them at seeing who attracts most attention.
Why can’t we be more like these flowers? Why do we often put others down so we can look better? Nothing wrong with healthy competition, as long as it does not happen at the expense of others. Why can’t we just be ourselves and make our unique contribution to our families, the places we work, our communities and the world?
In 1993 Joel Birnbaum, who then ran HP Labs, asked “Why doesn’t HP have the best industrial research lab in the world?” was the question an executive asked based on competitor success. Barbara Waugh took up the challenge to make HP “the world’s best industrial research lab”. Good progress was made but then it lost momentum until a colleague, Laurie Mittelstadt, said to her “Being the best industrial research lab in the world doesn’t do it for me. But I’d get up in the morning to be the best for the world.”
That minute change in the question “How can HP Labs be the best industrial research labs for the world” made all the difference. “HP For The World” became the banner uniting all of HP’s businesses.
The flowers in Kirstenbosch are not competing to be the best in the world – they happily play their part in making Kirstenbosch the best for the world.
Reflect on your business and also yourself and ask the question “How can we be the best for Cape Town?” “How can we be the best for South Africa?” “How can I be the best for my family?” “How can I be the best for my company?”
Whether you are a politician, business person, team leader, teacher, mother, father or whatever: Be who you are and let other people be who they are. Then we can all work together to be the best for ourselves, our family, team, department, business, community and country rather than competing in a destructive manner to be the best in our family, team, department, community and country.
Quote: “But one of the things I learned is that when you fight for something you believe in and you tell the truth and you do your best, you can always hold your head up high and no one can take that away from you.” – Vanessa Kerry
What’s happening?
I am thinking of re-opening my Productivity Mastery Programme in January 2016. From 2012 to 2014 I conducted five intensive programmes deigned to help business owners, executives and managers to become masters of productivity and also improve the quality of their lives. More info at this link.
Grab a fun week!
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