Awarded the
“Rodinstar” Post
of the week!!
Early this year we visited Egypt. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip; we stayed at beautiful properties and we managed to cram in a lot of sightseeing and local flavor. The wonders of ancient Egypt were truly spectacular and they made an indelible impression on us. Looking at the achievements of the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, so many still there after more than five thousand years, I think there are some really important lessons we can learn from them – inspiring lessons that we can apply in our lives, in our businesses and in our communities.
1. Think Spectacular
The first thing I realised is that the Pharaohs never thought small. They began construction of their pyramids almost as soon as they became king and work on these tombs continued as long as they were alive, sometimes for decades. It was the work of a lifetime. They really believed that what they were doing was of critical importance to their afterlife and the results are there for us to see. The Great Pyramid, the Sphinx, the Valley of the Kings dotted with the most spectacular tombs, the fabulously executed Temples of Luxor and Karnak. They have survived marauders, wars, hostile takeovers, natural disasters and the greatest enemy of all – Time.
Do you feel the same way about your life, about your work? Do you have a sense of urgency about what you do? Do you believe deep down within yourself that you can change the world, impact lives and help make the world a better place? If you don’t feel that about yourself can you really dream giant screen sized dreams? Big, hairy, audacious goals are the need of the hour. Only those who dare to believe in what they are doing, get to reach up to the sky and pluck out stars. The rest of us timid folks may have to be content with a handful of mud or some branches, maybe.
2. Think Creative
The Pharaohs created an environment that fostered creativity. A new script was born – the hieroglyphics – under their reign; papyrus was discovered and the world’s first solar calendar made an appearance. They developed ink, the water clock, and some say, the world’s first condom! All this apart from building the first pyramid structure. Before the Pharaohs, no one had ever thought of building a pyramid. They dared to think different for their time.
How are you doing things differently, looking for new solutions to old problems, creating jugaad solutions that work at lower cost and time to market? Critical for these troubled times when funds have to be stretched as much as possible. If Steve Jobs had kept to thinking within the box, there would no Apple as we know it. Be willing to explore the limits of your imagination; turn your constraints into advantages. If your customer can’t afford an expensive machine, give him the features he must have rather than loading it with amazing features he will never use and that make the product expensive, out of his reach and also increase the to market time. In the Philippines, there is an amazing company that handcrafts bikes made out of bamboo. They are called Bambikes, of course! 3M is a huge Fortune 500 company that insists on a culture of innovation and expects 20% of its revenues to come from new product ideas each year.
3. Think Details
Just because the Pharaohs thought big, it doesn’t mean they didn’t have an eye for detail. When I saw the beautifully crafted jewellery in Cairo museum or the intricate gold inlay work on wooden chairs, I was astounded by the attention to every line and curve. But even more importantly, the monuments they built are a huge testament to their ability to handle complex math and engineering for their time and we know that can’t be done without acute attention to detail. Do you apply such focus to what you do? Do you plan each job, each project, each assignment? Big ideas need big attention to detail in order to succeed and that’s something you can’t forget in your effort to achieve scale. This is something we can all learn from Steve Jobs. Just look at an Apple product, use it and most of the time it will respond intuitively and lead you further into the device, with ease. Ignore details at the risk of sending the wrong message to customers.
Do you know why your customers buy, what they look for, what’s important to them, what aspects you can afford to under-deliver on (if at all, you can under-deliver on anything) and what aspects you need to over-deliver on. Attention to detail means smoother operations which means happy customers.
Recently I had a fracas with my mobile phone service provider. I wrote a complaint on their Facebook page, they blocked me, didn’t address it and now I am looking at changing my service.
Contrast this with my online experience. I recently ordered for the first time from an ecommerce site. They normally deliver within four to five days but always ask for two weeks. My order didn’t come through for seventeen days. I had been too busy to follow up but on the seventeenth day I emailed them and also left a message on their Facebook page. Early next morning, before work hours, I got a call from their CRM Manager; she was apologetic and just said she wanted to inform me that they cared about my sad experience and they would look into it. They did. She had answers ready for me by the end of day. They refunded my money immediately, speeded up my order, gave me a token discount and result: I bought two items from them instead of the one I had originally planned. Both companies messed up but one didn’t bother to look into the details of how to make a customer happy and the other was willing to put in as much effort as needed into doing precisely that.
4. Think Beautiful
In their rush to build splendid tombs for eternal life, the Pharaohs didn’t forget beauty. Their tombs are not only magnificent and majestic but beautiful in their splendour. Their temples are stunning works of art as well as engineering marvels. The aesthetics of the jewellery and the furniture they crafted are so contemporary and beautiful you’d think they came from a topnotch designer. The Pharaohs believed they would use these things in their afterlife and hence made them worthy enough. Clearly, they understood the power of beauty and the joy that it brings to the human soul. We all like beauty in our lives, in our surroundings and as a young man recently pointed out on Rodinhoods, we need it in our coding too! Can we make our work beautiful enough to be inspiring to anyone whose life is touched by it? Think UI, think coding, think finish, think ergonomics, think touch. Beauty will get customers back every time.
The Shakers, a very popular early American sect who played an important part in shaping early design and aesthetics in the US, made sure even the bottoms of drawers and the backs, were polished and beautiful. Why? Because even if no one else looked, the creator of the furniture would know it was still incomplete. For him, work was indeed worship as it had religious meaning. By the way, these people were called Shakers because they danced (and shook) during their prayers. My conclusion: Work is worship is joy is beauty.
5. Think Enduring
The Pharaohs built for this life and the next, for eternity. While the verdict on that one is beyond me with my very human lifespan, the fact is that the Pyramids, as you read this, are more than 5,000 years old.
Will your idea, your company, your project pass the hundred year test? The two hundred year test? (Apparently, the Chinese make no plan for a duration less than two hundred years!) The five hundred year test? Take your pick but I didn’t include a fifty year test option for a reason.
Is it only large businesses that can make the grade? Apparently not. The oldest business in the world is a family run Ryokan or traditional Japanese inn, the Hoshi Ryokan. It has been in operation since 717 AD which makes it 1300 years old and today it is run by the forty-sixth generation of the Zengoro Houshi family. Almost as old as the Roman empire! What are some of the tenets to help increase the longevity of your business? Here’s some advice written for family-operated businesses but just as pertinent for any other.
6. Think not Failure!
The last thing that I learned from this ancient civilization is don’t let fear of failure bother you. The ancient Egyptians aren’t around today. Their way of living has gone, their gods lie in ruins covered with dust and their glorious civilization has come to an end. Yet we know of them and their wonderful achievements from what they have left behind. Their achievements have outlived them. And that’s what matters. In the long run, our failures are only a small part of us, and always will be so… that’s why we need to focus more on what we can achieve. Some inspiring words from Psalm of Life written by H.W. Longfellow, the American poet:
“Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sand of time;Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.”
So we need to allow ourselves the privilege of failure and have the courage to let even our failures be spectacular! If you fall and fall we all must…. Math says that, life says that, reality says that and the fact that we are human guarantees that we will fail from time to time. But do remember that what you make of failure is more important than failing. Do you learn from it? Do you use it to correct your course? Because success is for the courageous, for those who can stomach failure, look it in the eye and begin all over again. Soichiro Honda whose bikes are coveted even in India’s villages and small towns, refused to accept failure and so that’s why today, we get to own a Honda. Pure inspiration.
Finally, don’t just think, act! Time is going by even as you read this feature. To quote my favourite Swami, “Arise, Awake and Stop not till the Goal is Reached.”
Image credit: sergio kaanchan bugga nili epstein