Slow down culture

Its not my creation rather a nice article which I wish to share. Here it is:

It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them

has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years
to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.

Globalize processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense 
of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to posses a need   
to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of      
the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x    
quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this   
always yields better results.    
Said in another words:
1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.       
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.       
3. Stockholm has 500,000 people.    
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned    
companies. Volvo supplies to the NASA.         
The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the      
hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive 
early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000    
employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn't say anything,
either the second or third. One morning I asked 'Do you have a fixed parking    
space? I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no
other cars in the lot.' To which he replied 'Since we're here early we'll
have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and need a place      
closer to the door. Don't  you think?' Imagine my face.    
Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe named Slow Food. This movement     
establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to    
taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow    
Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands     
for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow   
Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.    
Basically, the movement questions the sense of 'hurry' and 'craziness'    
generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of 'having in quantity'      
(life status) versus 'having with quality', 'life quality' or the 'quality    
of being'. French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more    
productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour      
work weeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%. This slow    
attitude has brought forth the US's attention, pupils of the fast and the    
'do it now!'    
This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower    
productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality,  
productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means  
re-establishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the      
'now', present and concrete, versus the 'global', undefined and anonymous.    
It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living.    

It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more       
productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do. It's time  
to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with  
no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and     
services, without losing the essence of spirit.   

In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl     
to dance and she replies 'I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute      
now'. To which Al responds 'A life is lived in an instant'.   

Then they dance to a tango.
    
Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we    
die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are     
so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which  
is the only time that truly exists.
We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The
difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need
to live each moment.
As John Lennon said 'Life is what happens to you while you're busy making 
other plans.'
now tell me, have you read this article calmly or rushed through the lines?
This would allow you to judge whether you are burdened with work or not.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Father - My Superhero

Image
There is no worse situation in life of a man than finding his father looking weak. The father can not be weak. He is THE hero, the first macho man that a boy comes across at the age of 3 years, when he is smart enough to look at and understand the world somewhat. He is HIM for the boy, the God whom no one can defeat. The boy finds pride when someone appreciates dad than the dad himself. Any mention of the boy resembling his dad gives strange pleasure which no one else can share. All the above mentioned feelings I have had as a child, boy and now as a man. I have cried for my dad, have taken offenses, had fights with my sisters and mom whenever they dared to disrespect him, even mildly. Not that I never fought with him. Of course I have. No father-son relationship is complete without a major disagreement or difference of opinions of both of them on next to everything, be it academics, cricket match, mom etc. Throughout my life, and earlier, my father has been a rebel, an egoist and a ma
Read more

Shyamlal - The jamadar

Shyamlal was a jamadar , a sweeper, in our Kaimganj house. Without fail, he visited our place twice – like the hour hand of the clock passing through a number twice daily. He had a long broom, quite like what Harry Potter has, except that his broom did what it was meant to do. It was like his third arm, practically attached to his body. I had rarely seen him without it and he looked odd in its absence. ‘Go, and give these sweets to Shyamlal’, my dadi told me. ‘OK’. ‘Don’t touch him’, she instructed. ‘Why not?’ I asked. ‘He is a jamadar .’ ‘So?’ ‘ Jamadars are not to be touched’, she said it in such an axiomatic way as if the sentence demanded no explanation – a first principle, an immutable truth. Except that in my child-brain, those truths were not hard-wired by then. Caution gripped me while giving the sweets to Shyamlal: Jamadars are not to be touched. ---- Shyamlal, strangely, was too good looking to be a jamadar . He wasn’t the typical poor bloke from the 80
Read more

Hero to Zero

This post is the outcome of certain analogies that I developed while I was lying in my bed after going through numerous slides on how to save the world! Just a few days back, I was quite charged up: I got the placement after lot of struggle, people (genuine people) appreciated my efforts, I was quite energetic and ready to go! I tried a few things, but after that the pressure of subjects started. Quizzes, project reports, presentations, assignments and finally end-term exams. While I was lying there, I felt like that scientist, who just discovered a new element, but when he reached his home, his wife asked, "Tarkari laye?" which of course he forgot! This is a bad feeling. As we end our college, and become part of the new workforce, the chores of the daily life should not be such as to extract the creative juices and enthusiasm out of the soul. Here I am waiting for few hours and few days to pass so that I can go home and have some fun, those useless exams awaits me in between
Read more