Importance of Changing the Paradigms

There were four friends who were blind, walking inside a forest. They suddenly found a Mahaut ( elephant-keeper ) on their way. Now since they were blind and never seen what an elephant looks like, they expressed their desire to the Mahaut to actually let them touch and feel the elephant. The Mahaut agreed. After all the four friends had actually touched the elephant , they thanked the Mahaut and started walking ahead. One of them started the discussion , " Friends, lets describe what an elephant looks like by our personal experiences ." The other friends accepted his opinion. The first one continued, " According to me, an elephant looks like a closed  cylinderical container !!" ( Since he had touched one of the feet of the elephant ) The second one denied his stand. "No, no , brother . You are not right here, actually , the elephant looks like an open cylinderical container !!"( This one had touched the trunk of the giant animal)  The third one suddenly jumped in , " Both of you are wrong , dear fellows. The elephant looks like circular smooth rods sharpened at their ends !" (He happened to touch the huge Tusks)  The fourth one said , " oh comeon, what you people talking about ? According to me, the elephant is a hairy animal with a lot of hair on his body !!" ( He had touched the hairy tail at the rear part of the elephant's body ) . Since all four men's views differed from each other they decided to go back to the Mahaut. When they asked the Mahaut what it looks like , the Mahaut rested their doubts by saying, " It looks like all four things which you said, but only when you go very near to it. For example, if you go very near the feet it will look a closed cyclindrical, if you happen to touch its trunk then it will appear to you , as if its like a hollow cyclinder. Same way if you touch its tusks it will appear like circular smooth rods sharpening at the ends and if by chance you touched its tail , it would look like an animal with a lot of hair on it !!! Since all the doubts in the minds of the four blind men were solved , they thanked the Mahaut and proceeded ahead to the forest.

The moral of the story is " The world looks to you , as what you Think and Perceive about it ." If you think that the world is a very Beautiful and Jolly place to live in, you will start feeling like that everyday. If you think that the world is a very ugly and sad place, and its a burden , then you start feeling that way each day . (Ofcourse, being practical enough to know the truth is necessary , but here I am talking about the general perception created in the mind.) This perception created in the mind, this mental image which you carry about the things around you , is known as "Paradigm". Its actually a scientific term, but in the modern world its often used in a professional context. They represent the implicit assumptions about things , created subconsciously in our minds. They are mostly formed from our experiences in the past. For example, when a person is describing a certain place , he seems to describe as it is but actually its his frame of reference, his mental image of things, his very own assumptions which he is describing and not essentially the things "as-it-were"  !! The same place may be described by another person in entirely a different way from him !! An early dawn, ( when the sun has yet not come out ) can be described by one person as the Beginning of a New Bright Sunny day , while another one may call it as "an uncertain-gloomy-beginning " !!

In order to change the results of an employee, or a student or any performer in any field, his employer / Teacher/ Trainer needs to change the Paradigm . If an employer tells his subordinate ," Look man, this is your OWN workplace and the more your perform better , the more I will reward you with incentives. So Go ahead !!" In here the words "OWN WORKPLACE " can play a very big role . The employee/ worker starts thinking about the working place as his Very OWN , and starts loving it . This will create a sense of belonging to him and this in turn will generate that intense desire to Perform to the very best level , because he will now think that since I belong to this place, its my duty to perform as good as I can !! Imagine what would have happened if the employer restricted himself by telling the employee in a more formal and uninspiring manner , " Look man, this is not your home and you need to follow the rules everytime , every moment because Rules are more important than anything else in MY factory ." There the word "My factory" ( the employer's factory ) would create a very negative influence on the mind of the worker as he would start feeling that he doesn't belong to that workplace although he comes there daily and it belongs to the owner and not him . Since feeling of isolation from the scene, would create a Void in his mind, and although he would be working all the time, he wouldn't be able to deliver the same levels of performance as what he could have done in the first case described above . This is, what I call , the "Magic of the Paradigm" . Change the Paradigm of an employee/ student / performer and everything changes - his efficiency, productivity, output levels, performance, whatever you may call .

Start calling a less-appreciated but a potentially-sharp-skilled worker as the Future of your company , and he will turn into one quite soon !! Before putting the Captain's cap on the head of a sharp Leader of a team in sports , start calling him a Future Great captain , and see the difference -- he will start behaving like a Great Captain from that day itself !! This is the Result of the shift in Paradigm !! Apply in your organisation, school, workplace and watch the difference !!!