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Only three thoughts in summer in our household: Mango! Mango! And Mango!
My mother has a unique way to look at things. I am a 48yo adult with 30 years of business experience, having founded, run, and consulted well over 2 dozen businesses in my career. But I am still shocked (pleasantly) by her take on things I thought were settled, at least in my mind.
This morning, we finished the last of the dozen mangoes she had purchased during the last visit of the fruit seller.
Now, readers need to know that she lives (in normal times) on an Alphonso orchard, which gives between 2,000 and 3,000 fruits every season, enough for her to eat, preserve, sell, share (generously), and even let the birds (and the neighbour’s children who come by to steal) have some. This year, because of a unique combination of quarantine, lack of labour, us stuck 30km away, and the water pump burning down, we not only have lost our crop, but we don’t even know if we had one. Long story short, we had to buy mangoes for the first time in decades.
This particular dozen cost us Rs.600.
While speaking to her, she observed that 2 of the dozen were rotten, which she discovered after cutting them, and had to be discarded.
And then she produced a gem.
I was about to say, “That’s Rs.100 worth of mangoes wasted.”
When she said, “That means each mango was worth Rs.60.”
If you look at it, there is actually no difference between what she said and what I thought.
But the difference is in the way she approached the same situation and the way I did.
I learnt something new from her today.
Perspective matters.
Keep cool and eat mangoes.
A leader will look at a situation and see what positives s/he can take away from it.
A manager will see it in terms of a bland P&L.
One is a hireable skill. One is not.
I am glad I have her genes!
P.S: This is a light-hearted post. Please do not overanalyse. Enjoy your mangoes. P&L can wait. Thank you.
Image: An old photo of my genetic extension (my daughter) giving no f***s about the cost of mangoes either way, as she polishes two off and holds on to two more possessively.
