On a bright summer in one of the Bali most beautiful beach, a former country manager of a multinational corporation’s subsidiary walked in his casual outfit on the beach’s boardwalk try to ease his mind. He looked to the open sea with gloomy feeling, watched some surfers having fun riding the wave. He envy them, he envy how they enjoy the ocean, the up and down laughter, the sunny weather, everything…
He was a corporate person who just been laid off due to the global financial crisis that lead his former employer to cut most of their workforce, and his company as part of the larger holding is non-exclusive to such painful policy. The whole subsidiary were liquidated, from top to toe, from the country manager to the gardener. Essentially everyone were let go.
As one of the surfers approaching, he come closer trying to open a conversation on how the surfers enjoy the game so much without being worried of anything. The surfer were just laughed and said “You have to do it Bro! and you have to do it in fun way! You can’t learn it by reading books. It’s not a job you know, it’s just a game. The more you enjoy and love the game, you won’t worried of being fell, and if you do fell, just swim back and surf again” And the surfer went off-shore again and leave the guy stunned thinking of what the wise surfer have said.
He then walked again just to find the end of the beach line, but he just couldn’t, all he ever find was his old friend with his family playing on the beach sand. He approached the guy just to say hello. His old friend was somewhat surprised and amused that it was such an odd occasion that they finally met again. They both talked about everything, how he got fired without any consideration or noticing the fact that he worked very hard for the company, being loyal, outperform, and delivering value, it’s just the economic climate that just horrible, so things went quite unexpected in everyone’s perspective.
His friend looked at him and said “Look, I know how you feel, I’ve been there, being good even great is not an assurance when things went bad, I too was performing and shining, being valuable asset to the company they said, still I got fired due to recession. It was like the world was crumble and everything seemed come to an end. It’s natural to be stressed out in such condition. Well, I managed to survive though. All the skills I’ve learned really helped me alive up until this moment. I’m a CEO now, just like you were. But I am more prepared of the change than ever before.”
While he was still digesting the wisdom, his old friend continue “At that point I learn something, we can’t put our loyalty to the company we worked for, unless the company is loyal to us like those old school Japanese companies that offer a lifetime employment. But today’s working environment urge us to be loyal to our profession, learn as much as we can in a serious manner, our brain is our most valuable asset when things gone awry, it will keep our head above the water when you fell from the wave. Just like those surfers when surfing. They know the risk, but they prepared for it.”
Two different guys, one message, and he learn from both about the lesson of life…
You hear this often; up and down in life is just new waves in our lifetime journey, sometimes we enjoy the view from the top, sometimes we fall down under, drowned and hardly even breathe. If you do fell from the wave, make sure you master the basic before you go surfing, learn how to swim. So you can continue to surf and wait for another wave, when you’re drowning, make sure you survive. Make sure you equip your brain to stay relevant to the talent market, say updated by endless learning process.
Being loyal to your company is a good thing, and the company will surely appreciate your loyalty, but being loyal to your profession is an assurance for your existence. In the end, being professional means that you’ll deliver extra mile for your company, your client, and most importantly… yourself. By being a professional also ensure you are comply to the corporate values, where you’ll engage your attitude into your personality, your behavior into your character, your habit into corporate culture, and ultimately your social structure towards greater good…
“…Endless Learning and Trying, Is A Way of Thinking, A Way of Living, A Way of Being Awake and Ready…” Robert J. Thomas in “Crucibles of Leadership”
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