Saturday, October 16, 2004

It's all about people!

I find this blogging thing to be quite cool actually... Thank you for reading.

When I was first getting started as a computer trainer consultant in Montreal - After things were slowing down with a manufacturing company that I was operating called "Zenyatta" - a story for another day. But as things would be seasonal with it, I decided to venture off and do some teaching. I was becoming quite popular amongst my acquaintances, as I had successfully implemented technology in my company. I would teach at a local college... Collège de Maisonneuve things like FileMaker, Word, and Excel. I loved teaching and sharing with people - very grateful for that opportunity.

Then one day a person whom I was doing some consulting for at a Travel Agency asked me if I would teach his dad. I said sure. So I show up at the home of this person ... He lived in one of those very expensive condominiums in a beautiful area of Montreal. It was interesting in that we spoke for a while before we got started. In the end I don't really remember doing much teaching. He was mostly telling me about his live and experiences of being in business. Almost like the kind of thing you see in a movie.

He told me that he also had a company in his days that provided (and I forget what it was that he provided - but that is of lesser consequence) some service or product. His son was very young and was working with his father on this. One day they had a client request a bid. They also had competitors in their line of business, and were familiar with their offering. His father drew up the proposal and showed it to his son. His son said this was way more than what the competitors would offer their services at and that he was sure that they would not gain the business.

Nonetheless his father was confident and told his son that in life it was not about the things, or if it is cheaper, or faster... but that important thing to remember is that it is all about the PEOPLE... the connections we make with others... how we treat them. I am a big believer of this and have been very grateful to have been able to learn some valuable lessons both in my personal life as well as in my professional life... that man on that day sparked a way of seeing things for me that have stayed with me since that time.

I find especially in this day and age that - where it can be so easy to just buy something without much human contact, that it becomes more important that we really pay attention to the people around us. Not only does it enrich our lives, and the lives of those that we server in our daily connections with them... but it also makes for an interesting journey.

I'll leave you with one my favorite quotes lately - and I hope I have it right... this is something I heard Cheri Huber (zen teacher) say at one point... "The way you do anything, is the way you do everything"...

Have a great day ... and I thank you very much for stopping by and reading my blog... feel free to drop me a line.

Cioa.

No comments: