Leadership Lesson from "The Hot Chocolate"
Raheem Amer
Helping businesses thrive with Strategic Planning, Business Development, and Operational Management expertise.
One of the managers asked me this week…Why I send these emails out each week? Simply put…The stories are designed to give you something to think about, to be inspired by and to work towards.
Leadership is as much, if not more, about changing people and their lives as it is about increasing productivity and the bottom line. The following story comes to mind…
A number of years after graduating, a group of fellow classmates decided it would be fun to go visit their old and retired professor. As they were visiting, the group began complaining about all of the stresses of life, family and work. The professor disappeared into the kitchen for a while and returned with a big pot and an assortment of cups and offered his guests hot chocolate.
Some of the cups were glass, some porcelain and some crystal. A few were beautiful, a couple were expensive and some were just plain looking. He told the group to help themselves.
Once they each had their cup of hot chocolate, the professor said: “Notice that each of you took the nice and expensive cups first, leaving behind the cheap plain ones. While it is normal to want only the best for yourselves...it is also the reason for your problems and stress.
The cup you hold in your hand and are drinking from, adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. Really, it just adds to the expense and in some cases hides what you are drinking. What you really wanted was the hot chocolate, not the cup. However, you went for the best cup and even began eyeing each other’s cups as well.
Life is like that hot chocolate. Your job, money and positions in society are the cups. They are simply the tools that hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change your quality of life.
The professor made a very subtle point...Sometimes when we are so focused on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate. Your hot chocolate/your life has been given to you by something bigger than each of you and should be enjoyed regardless of the size or expense of the cup.
The happiest people I know don’t have the best of everything...they just make the best of everything they have.
So here is some humble advise from me…Love life, live simply, appreciate everything, care deeply, be kind and enjoy the hot chocolate!