Zero-point – a very popular rubber band game in my younger days. Excited to start my own ‘team’ of zero pointers, I got hold of a pack of brand new rubber bands and started to weave a rubber band rope. Just then, my grandma passed by my busy hands to watch me loop one rubber band to another to form the rope.“Oh, you shouldn’t use those new bands – you’d be disappointed with their performance. You should’ve asked me for old ones…” She looked at me in a certain manner and I knew there was going to be another lesson to be learnt.
One of the necessary characteristics of a rubber band rope is its stretchability. My grandmother promptly took up one of the new bands I bought and began to pull at two opposing ends. The unseasoned band snapped within five centimeters.
I sat there agape, looking at the woven rubber band rope that was at least already two meters long. I can’t possibly use that rope, it will snap even before I start using it.
My grandmother walked with a steady pace and I saw disappear into the light of the kitchen, framed by the doorway. She reappeared, holding in her hands a bag of rubber bands. They don’t look new. In fact, many of them looked darker and glossy – a collection of coloration from age and use.
“These rubber bands have been around.” She lifted one from out of the pack and continued, “I got this one from the butcher down at the market. He used it to fasten the paper wrapper he used to foil the meat”
I took the band from her hand and looked closely at it, thinking that I could probably observe some marks that might identify it with the Uncle Lim, the butcher whom grandma usually got her fresh meat from.
“He got it from the man who got it from the delivery man who supplies him the paper wrappers, who in turn got it from his supplier of raw materials and the chain goes on.”
I looked at the band even closer – I thought I actually saw some paper-ness and raw-material-ness in it. But I was promptly brought to my senses.
“You can’t see or trace where it came from or where it’s been.” She smiled and patted my head, “But you can tell by the way it feels and how it handles being stretched.”
She stroked and stretched another band in her hand. It was amazing how supple it was. In fact, I saw the rubber band stretch to an amazing length thrice its original!
“All rubber bands are made with the ability to stretch. That’s their nature.” She continued while looping the band in her hands. “But they must be slowly eased into it. If you try to pull it all the way at once, while it is still new, it reacts by snapping – destroying itself and hurting the person holding it. But if you let it yield slowly, looping it into progressively greater objects, it will stretch and manage itself well under the pressure. It will even prove itself to be very useful. You can’t tell all that just by looking at it, but you can see by observing how it behaves when you stretch it. It can do all that simply because it has been seasoned…”
My grandmother smiled lovingly as she handed the rest of the rubber bands on her lap to me. We sat together, side by side, making the rubber band rope until it was time for her to prepare dinner.
I sat there agape, looking at the woven rubber band rope that was at least already two meters long. I can’t possibly use that rope, it will snap even before I start using it.
My grandmother walked with a steady pace and I saw disappear into the light of the kitchen, framed by the doorway. She reappeared, holding in her hands a bag of rubber bands. They don’t look new. In fact, many of them looked darker and glossy – a collection of coloration from age and use.
“These rubber bands have been around.” She lifted one from out of the pack and continued, “I got this one from the butcher down at the market. He used it to fasten the paper wrapper he used to foil the meat”
I took the band from her hand and looked closely at it, thinking that I could probably observe some marks that might identify it with the Uncle Lim, the butcher whom grandma usually got her fresh meat from.
“He got it from the man who got it from the delivery man who supplies him the paper wrappers, who in turn got it from his supplier of raw materials and the chain goes on.”
I looked at the band even closer – I thought I actually saw some paper-ness and raw-material-ness in it. But I was promptly brought to my senses.
“You can’t see or trace where it came from or where it’s been.” She smiled and patted my head, “But you can tell by the way it feels and how it handles being stretched.”
She stroked and stretched another band in her hand. It was amazing how supple it was. In fact, I saw the rubber band stretch to an amazing length thrice its original!
“All rubber bands are made with the ability to stretch. That’s their nature.” She continued while looping the band in her hands. “But they must be slowly eased into it. If you try to pull it all the way at once, while it is still new, it reacts by snapping – destroying itself and hurting the person holding it. But if you let it yield slowly, looping it into progressively greater objects, it will stretch and manage itself well under the pressure. It will even prove itself to be very useful. You can’t tell all that just by looking at it, but you can see by observing how it behaves when you stretch it. It can do all that simply because it has been seasoned…”
My grandmother smiled lovingly as she handed the rest of the rubber bands on her lap to me. We sat together, side by side, making the rubber band rope until it was time for her to prepare dinner.
I guess I can use this lesson as I observe how organizations handle people management and how effective they are at manpower deployment. No matter how much potential you see in a person, you still need to ease one into the task.
Try to put the person straight to hold a task of great girth and one may snap. Like the rubber band, it thus destroys itself by burning out or something similar or worse, hurting oneself and all around. On the other hand, stretch one to the task, to one’s abilities, not only will the person be able to perform better, you can also prevent serious repercussions because with experience, through seasoning, one can handle oneself far better and with greater panache and flair.
Try to put the person straight to hold a task of great girth and one may snap. Like the rubber band, it thus destroys itself by burning out or something similar or worse, hurting oneself and all around. On the other hand, stretch one to the task, to one’s abilities, not only will the person be able to perform better, you can also prevent serious repercussions because with experience, through seasoning, one can handle oneself far better and with greater panache and flair.
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