A Letter to Employee Owners from CK Satyapriya: Summer 2016

Dear Employee Owners,

In this letter I will restate an article I wrote in 2001, which in my opinion still holds true today.

At CTL Engineering, we can be leaders in technology.  We can innovate and continue to improve and adapt to the changing world.  As most of you know, my favorite book is, “Who Moved My Cheese”, which analogically describes different types of mice.  Those who pay attention to the world around them and easily adapt, and other mice who are complacent and ignore their surroundings.  With the latter, the changing world passes them by.  When all the cheese that they assume to be readily available is gone, they sit and cry.

Sometimes, we need to “think outside the box” to be ahead of life’s changes so that we might adapt appropriately.   My wife gave me an example of this type of thinking.  Let’s say a man drove up to a bus stop where he saw a woman who needed medical care, another woman who he thought he could spend the rest of his life with, and a friend who had once saved his life.  His car could only accommodate one person.  What does he do?  The traditional answer is to take the woman in need of care to the hospital.  However, alternative, outside the box, thinking is to give the car to his friend and advise him to drive the woman to the hospital, while staying behind with a potential life companion.

This requires creative thinking.  In his book, “The Leader and Creativity”, Irving R. Weschler states that creativity is not an elaborate activity, but more like small steps taken in each and every activity.  It is not related to intelligence, but creative thinking people typically have these attributes:

• Sensitivity to surroundings
• Mental flexibility
• Independence of judgment
• Tolerance of ambiguity
• Ability to abstract
• Restless urge to improve

 

Nobel Prize winner, Mr. Tagore, states, “If you want to go fast go it alone, however, if you want to go farther then go together.”  I would say most of us have some of these qualities, which we can use for improvement.  Collectively (teamwork) this continuous improvement will be beneficial.

Relatively, the PIE Committee has initiated a program to collect and recognize the efforts of CTL employees.  When these are incorporated into operation, the employee and CTL benefit financially.  Please contact any of the PIE Committee members or ask your supervisor how you can get involved.

Sincerely,

 

C.K. Satyapriya

President & CEO