“Man is a social animal” and therefore we have to deal with people practically all our lives. Be it a large organisation or a small start-up, challenges associated with leadership, HR, and management revolve around understanding people, their attitude, aptitude, ambitions, approach and activities.
We all know that human beings are complex. Difficult to de-code, identify or categorise. It’s tough to deal with them, particularly when a start-up is looking at identifying co-founders, employees or to deal with customers, investors, or mentors. The same is true for any large organisation as well.
During a sacred month of “Paryushan” in Jainism, they organise a religious event called “Bhavana” when people get together, sing stavans (Bhajans), share some good thoughts, is where I came across the following thought.
Let’s take this example and attempt to demystify types of people.
Imagine there are four clay pots and there are lids on them.
– The first clay pot is filled with Honey inside and the lid also is of honey
— The second pot has honey inside and the lid is of poison
— The third pot has poison inside and the lid is also of poison, and
— The fourth pot has poison inside and the lid is of honey.
For our simple understanding, every person around us ( including us, of course) can also be classified into these four categories.
One who is filled with goodness (honey) from within and behaves / speaks good with others as well (lid of honey),
Second type is filled with goodness (Honey) from within but is sounding rude and curt (lid of Poison)
The third type is filled with hatred and speaks and behaves rudely….i.e. Pot filled with Poison and the lid is also of poison
The forth one is filled with hatred from within but behaves sweet and nice outside. (Pot filled with Poison but lid of Honey)
If now you evaluate all the four types of people, you may realise that of course people type one (1) are the best people as they have goodness loaded both within and outside, though very precious and rare to find.
People type two (2) are relatively better as though they come across as rude and difficult ones to manage but at their heart they are well meaning and good people. We will have to learn to be a bit more patient, mature and skilful in dealing with them but at the end they do not intend to harm others.
The third type of people are actually easy to work with as they are ‘Predictable’. To me predictable people are easy to handle and manage even if we know that they are best avoided.
The worst types are those who are filled with hatred from within but disguise to appear friendly and helpful. To me they are the most dangerous people and one has to beware of them.
I’m thinking…..What number will I assign to myself??!!! — 1, 2, 3 or 4?
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कुछ और भी साँसे लेने को मजबूर सा मैं हो जाता हूँ ,
जब इतने बड़े जहाँ में मुझे इंसान की खुशबू आती है l
Kuch aur bhi saanse lene ko majboor sa mein ho jata hun
ab itne bade jahan me mujhe Insaan ki khushboo aati hai.
I am compelled to breathe a little longer
when I sense the fragrance of humanity