Eliyahu M. Goldratt, the author of the book ‘Goal’ and a series of bestsellers, was in town recently at a local Book store. Our meeting, on Feb 22, was completely serendipitous!!
We had been shopping for clothes for our vacation. Hubby had done his shopping the previous weekend and this was my turn. After our last stop (where I didn’t find anything, and hubby picked up some stuff…grr), I was completely frustrated with the futility of looking for beachwear, and other summery stuff in my size, and finding only winter-wear and clothes for skinny people. I was done shopping, and wanted to escape to my absolutely favorite shop in the world, a big bookstore. As we went in, we realized that in another 20 mins or so Mr. Goldratt would be there to launch his new book!
Now, I have read Goal. I liked it. It helped I was working at a factory at that time. But I’ve been mentally out of the corporate scene for a while. So what would have thrilled me a couple of years back was now a nice opportunity. I was pretty ambivalent about staying. Plus my feet hurt. Hubby seemed more interested. We drifted apart browsing books. Anyway, I knew 20 mins just fly when you are browsing books. And so it was. He came. We sat down. My feet stopped hurting for a bit.
Despite being indifferent before he came, I was drawn in. This, after all, was a man who is considered one of the premier minds in business. I was impressed by his clarity of thought, and the strength with which he shared his convictions. He did get a tad pissed off and impatient with some of the questioning (mine included). But then, for someone who is clearly seeing the entire elephant, I can understand the frustration in his being asked questions by people who see only parts of it (and worse, people who don’t even realize its an elephant)! He referred to his other books (I’ve only read Goal), explained about his current book, and somewhat impatiently answered the questions put to him (becoming thoroughly irritated by seeing the prevailing wrong assumptions some of us questioners harbored).
He talked a lot about cause and effect. How, nature really is very simple, but we try to make it complex. Numerous references to Newton, from whom he took the simplicity concept. One of the things he said struck me. He said, when we look at cause and effect, we take one cause and keep breaking it down. And that process sometimes seems endless. But when we look at a bunch of cause and effects, we can see the inter-relationships, the network, and its inherent simplicity. I must say, this struck me. I’ve always thought of cause and effect as an isolation process not a network process. I’m not really sure how this works, but I must say it intrigues me enough to want to explore it.
He talked about exploration. About divergent and convergent thinking (my question and his assertions of the number of wrong assumptions I was building in it..castles in the air he called it..lol) and how they are not separate, but within the same process. How we need to explore, question and think more. And of course, his famous words on how people say his books are common sense, and yet he finds it uncommon in people.
Despite his getting all het up, it was an interesting experience. I did find him a bit acerbic, fixed on his own books (and Newton) and impatient with the questions raised to him (the way clever people get when others can’t keep up with them). But then, he has spent a lifetime on certain concepts and theories, seen them work and has an amazing clarity of thought on what he believes in and wants to communicate. I guess some eccentricity is warranted!!
When I spoke to him while getting his signature on his new book that we bought, he came across as a benevolent wise man, someone who has seen more, is on a higher plane, and offers solutions that sound utterly simple the way he says them. I came away shaking my head in bemusement, a bit of amusement and a lot of respect.
The book released is The Choice and the event was held at Landmark Bookstore at Gurgaon.
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