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Monday, May 14, 2012

Architects of grandeur

Bryant H. McGill, the American author, editor and poet, has quite a famous quote:
Architects of grandeur are often the master builders of disillusionment.

I could not agree more with this quote. Some people give weight to grandness that they lose sight of what is really important. At the end of the day, people around them will become disillusioned, and worst, they would feel cheated or even suffer. It is like standing in front of a door with a promise of great things on the other side, but once it is opened, it is just the same.

There is nothing wrong with having ambitions for greatness, but the ambitions have to be realistic. The strengths and weaknesses that one has must be assessed carefully, along with the opportunities and threats. For an organisation, this would mean consultations, check and balance, and transparency. Never should decisions that will impact a lot of people be made unilaterally.

In the pursuit of greatness, do not lose sight of the people around us that make us "great" in the first place. Do not disappoint them. Do not leave them in the dark, not knowing what is going on. Do not lose their trust. Trust, once gone, is difficult to regain.

Otherwise, the ambition towards greatness and grandeur will just remain a dream or a fantasy, or even worse, a nightmare.