Professionalism!

I was at a suburban railway station 'Borivali' in Mumbai yesterday when it was raining cats and dogs in the City. This tremendous amount of rain put the city infrastructure to test, causing water logging in low lying areas in the City. So, there was a delay in the local train timings.

Picture: Aerial view of Bandra-Worli Sea Link, Mumbai, India

Sometimes, its the beauty of this city that such incidents bring Mumbaikars much more closer and then strangers talk and discuss their life stories. There is a profound depth in the life story of every Mumbaikar. There is a story of work, love, hatred, friendship, struggle and success. In the 15 minute interaction with a fellow Mumbaikar in his 50's while I was waiting for my local train back home, I learnt of a short story about professionalism.

He was a typical local Mumbaikar with a square framed spectacle, tucked out shirt and a black shoulder bag. He worked for a Courier Services Company in Mumbai and was handed over the responsibility to personally deliver a parcel containing a pair of sports shoes worth around INR 16,000 (US$ 290) while it was raining heavily. I have a lot of respect for the courier guys, they really don't care if the weather is sunny or rainy but just do their work honestly. While walking down a lane, he told me that he came across a path which was completely water logged and couldn't even see the road properly. His feet were shaky because he was scared to put one more step further fearing it may be an open man hole or a big pot hole. He said, "I was not scared of falling down but I was scared about destroying/ damaging the responsibility which I was carrying (pair of shoes in his case)". It was his responsibility to carry the parcel and deliver it without any damage. He fearlessly stepped ahead and kept walking till there was a clear path ahead and delivered it to the destination. He took charge of the situation while risking his own stand. 

In this case, that person had a complete advantage of going back to his office saying, "No, I can't go, its raining heavily" or he could have just mishandled his parcel complaining the city water logging. But, he didn't complain. He was responsible for his work and about his professionalism. Its the same set of qualities we look for in the Corporate decision makers as well. That 'parcel' in this case could be the 'expectation of the Company stakeholders'. 

I forgot to ask his name or about his Organization name but I understood that he was a gem and his Company must be very fortunate to have him as its employee. After that I just left the station to think about other alternative route back home. But, I was happy that I had a small story to share on my blog. 

Be Courageous! Be Professional! Be Honest! Be Hungry! Be foolish!