August 2024
- Pavan Soni
- Apr 29
- 3 min read
In this edition of Inflexion Point, we look into the key to Abraham Lincoln's leadership, three Joys of Honda, Roger Federer's secret of a champion mind, how Michael Crichton develops his plots, and the way Edison vs Tesla shaped our history.
Lincoln had a tough childhood, to say the least. After his mother died, the young Lincoln and his sister were forced to eat nuts and hunt for squirrels. With less than a year of formal schooling, Lincoln taught himself to become a lawyer, and the profession was full of major failures, and so were many of his election campaigns. Out of depression, he admitted, 'I don’t expect anyone to ever remember me for anything.' But what kept him going was his reservoir of resilience and capacity for growth and self-improvement. His signature strength was empathy, which shone as forbearance or emotional discipline, and helped him manage monumental crises, like the Civil War. (Source: HBR)
Honda remains an unmistakable leader in engineering, especially when it comes to automobile engines. As a blacksmith, repairing second-hand bicycles, Soichiro Honda's manual dexterity and curiosity about machines propelled him to the pole position of automobile engineering in less than thirty years. At Honda, empathy marries creativity, as demonstrated by its driving philosophy: The Three Joys - 1) for those who buy the products (“The Joy of Buying”), 2) those who engage in selling Honda's products and services (“The Joy of Selling”), and 3) those involved in business of creating its products (“The Joy of Creating”). Another case of enduring values. (Source: Honda R&D)
The 20-time Grand Slam winner, Federer delivered the commencement address at Dartmouth College on June 9, 2024, and in that talk he shared some interesting stats about his tennis career. Over the two decades, Federer played 1,526 singles matches, winning nearly 80% of those. However, he won only 54% of those points. In that sense, he lost almost every second point he played, and yet emerged as an overall winner. It's because he didn't choose to dwell on every shot. He says, 'When you're playing a point, it has to be the most important thing in the world, and it is. But when it's behind you, it's behind you.' Something for all of us to learn. (Source: Inc.)
We have all been touched by Crichton one way or the other. He gave us Jurassic Park. Apart from selling over 200 million copies of his books worldwide, Crichton was also a successful film producer, film director, screenwriter, and television producer. How did he create those complex plots? As a student at the Harvard Medical School, Crichton would carry with him 3″ x 5″ index-cards, writing down sub-plots and dialogues as and when they occurred to him and stuff them in shoeboxes. Every now and then he could arrange those on a large table and get to writing. That's discipline leading to creativity and productivity. (Source: Writers Helping Writers)
Tesla was a visionary inventor and liked working by himself on futuristic technologies and possibilities, such as wireless electricity, renewable energy, and was instrumental in laying out the modern AC distribution system. Whereas Edison was the pragmatic tinkerer, working at improving stuff. Known for his meticulous attention to detail and practical-mindedness, Edison would hire Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works, and the war of currents would ensue. Tesla, backed by George Westinghouse, showcased the superiority of the AC system at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 by illuminating the fairgrounds with his AC-powered system, and sealed the deal. (Source: Science Shot)
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