Life and The Godfather

“Life is so beautiful”
“Be Aware. You are what you are and the world is what it is.”

Who do you think wrote these two immortal lines? Aristotle, Socrates, Pluto? Or is it drawn from the scriptures? If you answered in the affirmative to either of these questions, you would be wrong. These two immortal lines were written by Mario Puzo in two different books. The first line is from Puzo’s classic- The Godfather- ironically uttered by Don Vito Corleone as he was dying of a heart attack. The second is from The Last Don where Don Clerucuzio says these words.

Puzo’s classic The Godfather was published in 1969 the same year in which Neil Alden Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon and say the immortal words—A step for a man, but a leap for mankind” Puzo’s Godfather too was leap when it came to the genre of crime fiction. All future writings in this genre would be benchmarked against the Godfather.

Now I admire the book in particular and Puzo’s writing in general for a totally different reason. I think his books contain some of the greatest truths of life. As we rush about the business of living it is so easy to lose sight of the fact that “Life is so beautiful” .That Vito Corleone who built his empire by shedding blood could think of something like this is for lack of a better word amazing.

Take the other sentence—“Be Aware. You are what you are and the world is what it is.” Tell me isn’t it again one of life’s simplest things. Dale Carnegie said it even simpler—Find Yourself and Be Yourself in his classic—How To Stop Worrying and Start Living. How often are we assailed by self doubt when things are not going our way? How often do we think that something is wrong with us when the simple truth is that circumstances are not in our favor if not positively against us. Does that mean that we keep changing to stay in step with each circumstance? Do we lose ourselves in the quest for success ? In today’s ultra competitive atmosphere, we are constantly told as to how important it is to change. Now that is fine and individuals must be open to a certain level of change. Does that mean we abandon our core skills and core beliefs for success? Is success that is attained by such means success at all? Clearly, a line has to be drawn somewhere.

Or take Michael Corleone’s reaction in Godfather when he was told his father’s shooting was not personal but purely business. He described it as “Every bloody bit of it is personal” And it is. Come on when we lose out in the professional sweepstakes say a promotion are we able to see it purely in professional light. Isn’t there always feeling, emotion involved and even a tendency to blame the boss rightly or wrongly.

Let us face it –every bit of it is personal. But be aware-you are what you are and the world is what it is .Then like Vito Corleone you will find that life is so beautiful.

Core Competence and the Home

What is my core competence ? At my work place the answer is very clear : Communications.

I am however a great believer in transporting corporate concepts home. Like I always tell my wife “My strategic vision is to provide a stable revenue stream for the family which then leverages it for present and future benefits.” My wife is very happy to go alongwith my strategic vision and agrees that implementation of this vision is through the exercise of my professional core competence –communications.

She has an entirely different point of view when it comes to my definition of core competence when I am at home. I regard my core competence when I am at home as relaxing which when distilled further means eating, sleeping, playing with baby, and not doing anything else.
She terms me an employable resource when I am at home. There are things that husbands must do when they are at home—go to the chakki and get the atta and not do too—watch TV , sleep and generally relax. She complains that despite her repeatedly saying so I do not work at home and continue to eat, sleep and drink at home. I have often pointed out to her what Gary Hamel and C K Prahalad had said in their seminal work on core competence : A core competence is built through a process of continuous improvement and enhancement. Meaning more of doing nothing at home.

My wife throws back another concept from Hamel & Prahalad:core competencies must not be allowed to develop in to core rigidities. Anyway she tells me with great conviction that what I am displaying at home is pure incompetence, core or otherwise. The argument at the moment rests there. Like a good husband I have decided not to win an argument but focus on core competencies.