The Pursuit of Majesty

I have often heard the statement that we are co-creators with God.  This is usually used to express how potentially powerful human beings are, especially when they work with God’s help.  That indeed God uses the hands and minds of men to create things that are generally described as breakthrough.  Things that represent a leap from previously accepted limits of human ability.  Some aspects of science, and technology, and some aspects of visual art fall into this category.  The human race has therefore been constantly stretching the limits.  And once in a while they do break the limits and end up with some majestic creations.  From the Chinese wall, to the Egyptian pyramids, from the Eifel Towers to the Twin Towers, from the titanic to the Airbus A380, the pursuit of majesty abounds.  And anytime you come across majestic creations, it is self-evident – it is a silent Wow, from the core of your being.

And so it was when I recently had the rarely pleasure and privilege to visit and tour another of man’s majestic creations – a cruise liner!  I had the opportunity to tour the MSC Opera while docked at Cape Town harbour and Wow! What magnificence! What Majesty! This cruise liner is a floating 13 floor building, made of solid steel – How they even make it float is a wonder by itself!  It is massive! This liner carries 2200 passengers and a staff of 1000 odd!  Everyone has a room and bed and bathroom facilities – it is a massive floating five star hotel!  And this floating hotel has all manner of entertainment facilities, lounges and bars that would match any conventional five star hotel.  There are dining facilities, discos, theatre, swimming pools, fine dining restaurants, and an entire shopping arcade! And everything is glittering – they polish and polish and polish some more!  There are lifts from floor to floor! Wow!  And then of course, the staff and guests don’t share facilities and therefore a whole section of the ship has the same accommodation, dining, entertainment etc. facilities for the staff!  And then, since they spend many days at sea, all the supplies for food, water, fuel, … everything needs to be stored on board!

And then, probably the most magnificent of all, is that all these systems have to work together like clockwork!  There is a continuous 24 hour programme for dining, entertainment, cleaning, etc. for the guests and the ship itself has to cruise.  There is military like structure in charge of the ship – headed by the captain and all officers have to be in navy type uniform which clearly shows respective rankings.  The international nature of the business also requires that they hire staff from all over the world, who speak a whole wide range of languages.  Owning, building and running a cruise ship is really worldclass business! 

It is hardly surprising that sailing on a cruise ship is considered as one of the world’s most exclusive luxuries and features on many a bucket list.  Taking a round-the-world tour on a cruise ship features on Kiyosaki’s cash flow game as one of the ultimate retirement treats and a tour of MSC Opera confirms why this is so.  So the next time you have an opportunity to tour a cruise ship, go right ahead and enjoy the majestic feel, and if you are luckier to go on an actual cruise, I will envy you until my turn comes.  Happy Cruising!

Pursuit of Connectedness

A few years ago, before cell phones became as smart as they are today, one could only save 100 numbers on the phone. When one needed to save a new contact onto the full phone memory, one had to delete one of the old contacts. In one conversation, I heard how people agonised over which number to replace and it invariably ended up being the number that you had not called or heard from for the longest time.  This came down to not just how networked you are, but how current your network connections were.  In these days of unlimited storage on smart phones and numerous social media platforms, one need not worry too much about replacing contacts.

However, one still needs to think about staying networked and connected.  And being networked and connected is less to do with the number of numbers (forgive the pun) one has on their phonebook, but how useful these numbers are.  For instance, it is one thing to have the number of a most sought after personality on your phone, but it is a totally different issue for that personality to have your number on their phone.  This will determine whether your calls will be recognised when you make them, whether they will be picked or whether they will be returned at some point.  I once had a telephone fight with an insurance salesman who called me, and would not tell me how he got my number, and had the knack to ask me to give him the numbers of my friends so that he could sell to them as well!

At one point, a friend was being introduced as having come from a certain village.  He surprised us by sharing how disconnected he was from his home village.  He said that probably less than five per cent of numbers on his phone book would ring in his village.  Indeed he said that even less would ring in his home district.  We concluded that he was less of the villager and more of a Kenyan.

So what does your phone say about you?  Besides being a smart phone with trending apps and latest camera, what do the contents of your phone say about you?  How geographically diverse is your network? How racially diverse is your network?  In what language do most of your phone conversations take place because the person on the other side does not share your first language?  How does this reflect on the rest of your life?  How does this reflect on your world view?

In my view, diversity is a critical ingredient for your networks.  It gives you a continuously expanding world view that in turn results in your own growth and the quality of your conversations.  So the next time you find yourself with a bit of time on your hands, as you ride in the bus or wait for the next appointment, just scroll down your phone book and just think of what that list says about you.  From that, determine what you must do about that list.

PS:  Have you at some time found a number on your phone and you cannot remember who that contact was?  What does that mean?