Twelve!
SIMPLICITY NEEDS COMMON SENSE, NOT EDUCATION
OH, IT IS TOO COMPLICATED!
OH, IT IS TOO COMPLICATED!
Haven’t we heard this before?
***
Summer meant a trip to my grandfather’s house. What memories! Two months of unadulterated bliss.
No TV, no video games…. Sometimes no electricity as well. But I got to meet up with my village friends, play ground games, jump into the stream, and roam around wherever I wanted.
Whenever I got back to the house, my grandma would be waiting to stuff me with food, sweets, snacks. And I used to run out again.
Bliss. Those days would never return. My kids will never have that experience as the house and farmlands have been sold. That’s another story.
This one, though, is a lesson I got from my grandpa. He wanted me to help around the house, on the farm. After the initial few minutes of effort, I used to stop and say, “Oh, it is too complicated. I don’t get it!”. He let me off the first few times. When I hit the age of 10, he sat me down after dinner.
His advice to me: The best things in life are always simple. We end up complicating things. More so, when we don’t want to do something, we add layers upon layers, mentally and physically, that the task is never ever completed. Most things in life, we end up overcomplicating it, without any reason.
I looked at him as any ten-year-old receiving such wisdom would.
Not a clue!
He knew that, and so he quickly shifted tack and asked me a question.
G: How will you buy a bull?
Me: Oh, I will take some money and go and buy it.
G: Right. How would you know which bull to buy?
Me: A bull that runs fast…..
G: Good, what else….
Me: Oh, stop it. It is so complicated…..
G: Hold on, Hold on. Why don’t you come with me to the cattle market tomorrow and observe for yourself?
Me: YESSSSSSSS
There I went, given free rein to roam around the enormous cattle market that was a quarterly affair in our village area. I walked about seeing the bulls, cows, and goats. I saw a lot of couples sitting around with their hands under a towel…. I found that intriguing.
Two men would see each other; one would check out the cattle/bull for sale and approach the seller. Both would then sit down, and the buyer would take the towel from his shoulder and place it on his hand. The seller would put his hand under the towel. This would then be followed by a lot of under-towel movements and some guttural sounds. Finally, either there would be a smile of agreement or the huff of disbelief that marked the conclusion of whatever they were doing.
This was not a singular occurrence but happened across the cattle market.
The way the cattle were assessed was also a bit funny to me. The potential buyer would check the teeth, the horn, forehead, hump, and the rump, including the tail! One even sniffed the skin of a buffalo.
Oh, this was getting so complicated.
I spotted my grandfather and ran to him.
Me: What is going on? Why are they looking all over the bull? What are they doing with the towel?
G: Easy. One answer at a time.
Me: OK
G: Remember the “simplifying” exercise we spoke about last night.
Me: What does that have to do with this?
G: Some may say buying a bull is complicated. There are so many things to look at, right. What if we can codify it all in simple, easy-to-assess steps.
Me: Please explain.
G: So, if I want to buy a particular bull, I want a healthy young bull for which I am ready to pay top money.
The teeth show the cattle’s age. The longer the teeth, the older it is.
The horns show their character.
The colour of the skin and the tone show the breed.
The swirls around the body each have an indication, including the tail and its shape.
So, that’s what the buyer is checking.
Me: What about the sniffing?
G: Aaaah, another story, but the short version is that some farmers paint the buffalo black to make it look younger….
Me: Yuck! What about the towel business?
G: That’s a secret code to communicate, again simplified… All the buyers and sellers know the code. They use their fingers and the ridges to ask for and bargain a price.
Me: You are kidding.
G: No, I am not. Most of the men have a towel that usually rests on the shoulder. When that towel is placed over a hand, it signifies that both parties are ready to discuss the pricing and the deal.
The towel hides the negotiation. The price is kept a secret between the buyer and seller regardless of the deal’s status.
Me: Why a secret?
G: Each one has his own rate and doesn’t want other potential buyers to know it. Hence the secrecy.
If the seller holds all five fingers, that means the price is 5000. If he holds the ring and little finger, it means the price is 7000.
Me: What if I want to bargain?
G: Then you use the ridges in the finger to negotiate, each ridge for 100.
Me: And the sounds….?
G: Each denoting the different parts of the bull…..
Me: What does this have to do with the lesson?
G: So, you take something that seems complicated and break it down into simple steps that are easy to understand, grasp and execute — even to farmers without any education. Assessing the worth of cattle and negotiating using simple finger gestures and holds — all confidential!
Simplicity needs common sense, my boy, not education.
So, the next time you say, “It’s so complicated,” — think of it as an opportunity to implement some….
Me: Common sense!
A lesson that will stay with me for life. And with you as well.
How do you plan to implement it in your business and marketing?
Simplicity is………?
**
All stories in this “52” series:
1. The Cycle Wheel
2. The strong polish their fangs and the weak….
3. Expectations
4. Connecting through
5. What happens to nice guys?
6. If you want something in life…..?
7. Growth: How did she do it?
8. What light do you use for your meetings?
9. When would you fire yourself?
10. The Domino effect
11. What happened to soft-spoken Radha?
Pravin Shekar is an outlier marketer, parallel entrepreneur and a raconteur.
mic @ PravinShekar.com
For creative collusions, join: http://bit.ly/JoinMyOutlierTribe
Pravin is the author of eight books: http://tiny.cc/PravinShekarBooks
Devil Does Care, Marketing lessons from The Art of War, Marketing lessons from Mythology, Getting paid to speak, a Virtual Summit Playbook, Climb your way out of hell, a collection of travel pics/romantic poems, and stories from the heart!
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