Kinds of people

There are three kinds of people.

Those who do good because they know it is good to do good. They know good comes back to you ' pressed down, running over', later on. Evalengicals in the house?

Another group is those who do good because they know somebody is watching over their backs. A mean supervisor with a cane in his hands, ready to deploy it even if it is not necessary, makes all the difference to them - between delivering or not delivering results.  

The last set are those who work because they've been promised some goodies, once the sweating is done.

Which set do you belong to? 

The group you can identify yourself with makes all the difference in this life.

The first group are those who report to work or their business on (or in) time and work their a**** off - to deliver to their employer and to their families and to humanity as a whole. They make all the difference in this world. They work more because they love their job or business and they cannot do anything else - except this one. When they retire they will still continue doing what they're doing, even on a pro bono basis - whether volunteering in that charity organization next door or sharing their skills, expertise and experience in that local grouping where they regularly meet. Mechanics, electricians, IT experts, accountants etc. belong to this.

The second cluster has the majority. Where many are gathered, be careful not to disturb the pond. (They can beat you up!).

This set can only work under supervision. Nothing works unless you work on them to work. Being a supervisor to this set, is the most frustrating job. And note that they are the majority. Do you belong in this? Know that you are making somebody's life miserable. You wanna change - because when also you climb up, things will be difficult for you too - revenge served in double portions!

The last category are those guys who, ideally, deserve to be paid wages. These guys seriously believe nothing moves until you grease their hands with the legal tender. They believe that they deserve to work only for paid-for engagements. Volunteerism is not part of their vocabulary. Because of this aloof attitude, they miss to learn many things - you learn a lot when you make your hands dirty. And you can only be paid once you deliver - and sometimes you're not very sure of the path - so you grope through the forest and at the end you deliver a bouncing baby - not because you knew you're expectant but because you tried (no pun intended). Makangas, turn boys, some government and parastatal officials etc. fill this hole.

There also those who don't wholly belong to either of the above categories. They have their legs in either pots - basically not fully decided on what they should 'believe' or follow or get paid to follow or to do.  Politically speaking, watermelons of the work place. However, at the end of the day, the dominant motivation that places you in a specific set normally wins. And this ends up determining your fate, not only in your career, but also in your personal life.

This brings to me an issue I've been intending to write about for some time now. What places a person in the set that they belong? What places you in the set that you can identify with? Is it your education (or lack of it)? Is it your exposure? Experience? What really determines where you belong?

What makes a politician or a parastatal chief or a businessman continue accumulating money without a care of the environment, the people working under him/her? Continue accumulating such that even if you were to spend a KES 1 million per day[1] for the rest of your life you cannot exhaust your wealth? But anyhow, continue accumulating without a care in this world? What really motivates such an individual? What drives you? 

Psychologists in the house can volunteer many explanations (if any) of such a behaviour but personally, I've a simple conclusion: it is simply lack of values! Lack of values in the upbringing not lack of education, professional or academic training. More of sadistic upbringing. And this has nothing to do with religion. (We have thieves from both sides of the political divide as well from different faiths). It has everything to do with what your mama and baba taught (gave) you; they gave you no values, you cannot be taught these in any class, even the class of life! And hence it boils down to family. You have a dysfunctional family (and I mean dysfunctional in the sense that you can do what you want when you want to whomever you can the way you want) then don't shed any crocodile tears later when that young boy grows up and has no qualms grabbing and kicking anything and anybody on his path - just for the heck of it!

 

Think good and do good for it is good to do good.

 

---

[1] Footnote: 

Spending KES 1 million per day, working with God-given life expectancy of 70 years ( KEBS will give us a new life expectancy once the Census 2019 figures are out) translates to:  KES (1 million X 365 days in a year X 70 years  ) = 25.55 billion total expenditure in your entire life. This is assuming you got this money before you popped from your mother's womb. Since this is not practical; so halving this to 35 years of life expectancy we will get (1 million X 35 years X 365 days) translates to KES 12.775 billion - this is more that the taxes being demanded by KRA from some entities.

Another assumption in the above calculation is these monies are in your current account - your work is just to withdraw and 'chew' - no investment or returns.

Accountants, tuko pamoja?

Then the question is, why do have to keep 'stealing'? Is that not cheating yourself?


NB: This article was first published in our internal corporate newsletter. 

This article has also been published in LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/kinds-people-davis-onsakia/?published=t