Wednesday, January 20, 2010

It's About Value Systems

I'm happier with Shang Palace because the food is noticeably better with this chef. But the garlic situation hasn't improved. Well, I wasn't there for the food. It's just a venue to hold a meeting that involved many parties. Although I voiced my reservations about the choice of meeting venue in a Chinese restaurant, I wasn't about to protest too loudly. I need to let it develop and see who these people really are. It speaks volumes about the value systems of these people we're meeting.

Before the bulk of the humans came in for dinner, I was sprawled unglamorously in the adjoining sitting area with a rather stiff drink. Need.to.space.out before getting bombarded with ideas, whys and hows.

This is something I do outside of work and it's a project that I value tremendously, above all else I do at work. I must be mad to concurrently juggle this and the work projects. Too bad for the timing then. Anyway, someone's making a pitch to us and we'll have to decide whether to accept it. Competency isn't a problem. Character, attitude and the heart are issues that will be the deciding factors. It boils down to how much they believe in this project. I'm not convinced they are. The friends and I are split down the middle about their pitch, which has been well presented and financially sound. However, they're strangers to us and we're strangers to them. We've done our homework. We can assume that they've done theirs.

Someone from the other side enthused, "Let's have sharks' fin! Oh, that soup boiled with shark bones is fantastic. The pork ribs too. Very nice."

Given the context of this meeting, the suggestions of food choices for the evening are highly inappropriate. It's so lame, to say the least. I guess the other side didn't do their homework. Tonight has been a test of sorts. If the other party can't see that, we needn't entrust them with this project either.

3 comments:

tuti said...

definitely important, what you caught on.

sinlady said...

remember malcolm gladwell's book "blink - the art of thinking without thinking". trust your gut feel upon first contact because it comes from your whole life's experience.

imp said...

tuti: i think so! the friends felt the same, so luckily for this 'test' dinner to confirm it. whew.

sinlady: totally. i've learnt. :)