Last week I had ended with a question.
Most of you would have got the answer rightly.
I think it is not only applicable to Software Engineering, but to any profession in general and that is the reason the title is different.
Robin Sharma talks about this aspect in every video of his. Here is the quote from him
“ Even if you clean toilets, do it with pride and love. This summer I met a man who cleans toilets at the Johannesburg airport. He beamed “welcome to my office” as I entered. The place was flawless. His passion was palpable. That man is my hero. And he reminded me that all work has dignity and honor.”
Drucker likes to tell the story of a Greek sculptor from 500 BCE who was commissioned by the city of Athens to construct a set of statues to ring the top of a building. (Entitled “Pursuing Perfection,” you may find this story on October 1.) The sculptor toiled for months longer than expected, making the backs of the statues as beautiful as the fronts. The city commissioners, angered by his extra work, asked: “Why did you make the backs of the statues as beautiful as the front? No one will ever see the backs!”
“Ah, but the Gods can see them,” replied the sculptor.
The answer is there in the above photo as well . This is a photograph that circulated on the social media a lot.
What do you think is the emotion behind everyone in the photo ?
In my view it is Pride. It is Pride with a capital ‘P’.
Did someone not say ‘All pride goes before a fall’ ?
However, keeping that aside I think Pride is a necessary characteristic.
I do not think we can be indifferent to what we are creating or helped creating. Somehow we chose to be more modest than required about it.
Most times I think we have underplayed the pride, thinking that our work should speak for itself and also the upbringing has conditioned me and probably all of us into some kind of misplaced humility.
I do not think we cannot be indifferent to our work irrespective of the nature of the work.
If we have to endure and be successful in our profession, even by our own yard stick we cannot get there if we do not have this quality of ‘Pride’ within us.
What do you think ?
Do you agree we need to slightly pep up our Pride just in case we have not felt it in the recent past ?
Enjoy Maadi (Have Fun)
Zunder
PS : On a slightly lighter note, my waist size does indicate that I have swelled with pride!
Random Thoughts 
Thanks for sharing it. When I read it, I could recollect a story about excellence from sculptures point of view.
Perfection – A Sculptors Viewpoint
A man was visiting a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God.
Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, “Do you need two statues of the same idol?”
“No,” said the sculptor without looking up, “We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage.”
The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. “Where is the damage?” he asked.
“There is a scratch on the nose of the idol” said the sculptor, still busy with his work.
“Where are you going to install the idol?” asked the man.
The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high.
“If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?” the man asked.
The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the man, smiled and said, “I know it and God knows it!”
Always strive for excellence – No path is to far. Excellence is a drive from inside, not outside. Excel at a task today – not necessarily for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction.
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