There is this story, where, Sherlock Holmes and his lieutenant Watson are striding down, a London sidewalk, deep in conversation, when Holmes, without breaking a stride remarks- " She must be very beautiful"!
Watson is bewildered, cause it is out of context and Holmes is generally not prone to talking women. More so because the only other people, are two young men approaching them from the opposite direction.............
Holmes seeing his friends confusion, tells him that there is a woman behind them and sure enough there is a strikingly pretty girl walking up! Watson's next query is, "How did you know, without looking back?" Holmes simply says " I saw the way the two young men looked behind us and the deduction was easy..........."
Simple as it may seem, one of the great detective's strengths was his 'situational awareness'. Holmes was never ever taken by surprise by a situation.He was always aware of what was going on around him...............a far cry from how many of us are!
Education is great but being aware is more so..........
Why this spiel?
A day ago, two sailors were kidnapped for ransom, from a dredging ship in Cameroon. The ship belongs to a Belgian firm and one of the biggest in the business. The Luxembourg-flagged dredger, belongs to Jan De Nul and the crew kidnapped were a Croatian and the other a Filipino.The kidnappers- thugs from Nigeria! The classic receipe for an International incident.......Was the MNC situationally aware? Your guess is as good as mine!
3 comments:
Awareness do reduce surprise factor and is indeed important in current scenario.. Its good to look beyond but watching your back gives an extra edge and in present times this ability is characteristic of a global citizen. A firm grip on context just add the final touch in making a good enough global material! And for sure its a classic international recipe! Good we are learning some international fundas these days:)
Chhavi,
Doing business in the International context is always dicey because there are going to be twists and turns.
Success is generally determined by the level of preparedness!
Cheers...
This looks like the Tampa case, where a ship had refugees on board and then had to struggle.
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