Serendipity and Learning

It is a pleasure to see a master at work. Years ago, I was in my coaching program and there was a master coach who was there to train us. I was the coach who was practicing. My 'client' came with an innocuous question - which I attempted to wrestle into a coaching style conversation. And in a few questions, I was lost. I had tied up myself in knots and raised my hands to ask the master coach to come in. The master coach started talking. She asked 2 questions and by the 4th question, my 'client' was in tears. I learnt Transactional Analysis with this master coach for 2 years and I saw her in action many a time during our sessions. Her ability to connect with people is just incredible. And some months later, I was in conversation with a senior executive with another person who I respect for such skills and as we walked outside, he was able to flip the conversation in a different frame  - only because he was alert to the possibility. As coaches, as learning profes...

As a fan of Sherlock Holmes and its various interpretations over the years, it is fascinating to see the protagonist 'deduce' various things by looking at people, clues, crime scenes and so on. And while they are all in a sense, just well written stories, the fact of the matter is that Sherlock is a man of heightened sensitivities. He has hones this skill of his to perfection - perhaps magical levels. See this TED talk by Apollo Robbin s where he 'misdirects' - a story of heightened sensitivities. Or this classic TED talk by Keith Barry where he 'reads people'. What can a person with heightened sensitivities do? A conman can use it for evil purposes, a good person can use it for the common or individual good - we can all do it. And we do this in many of this do this in our own worlds as well. Salesmen hone their sensitivities. Coaches do the same. Detectives. Lawyers. All of us can do it - if we try. But we can do it. 

This is a very well known video. With Ed Catmulls book, Creativity Inc. being read, we ended up googling for some Pixar short films and ended up finding this video. I shared this with the little one - the story is tragic to say the least, but for a small child, the full import of it does not hit home (and that is good for now). But something amazing happened. As we watched the video, the little one said, Appa, this is a very sad video - and all because of what happens at 2.20 in the video. At that point, the Kiwi sheds a tear - just a single tear and that is enough to connect the audience with all the emotion being conveyed. For the rest of us - grown up, the whole story is poignant - but even if you do not understand everything - just that one moment establishes the connect. That is the power of emotion!