happy monks in orange

What a contrast... one day I am working with uber-serious investment bankers in London and the next I in Southeast Asia, sitting at a meeting being led by a happy monk dressed in a bright orange robe, smiling and laughing, cracking jokes and quoting Buddha.

One of the things they always tell you as a disclaimer when you go away to do these things is 'don't expect it to be like home...it will be a slower pace than you're used to... it may take longer to get things done and be unpredictable...' Look, I get it - I get why they have to say this to some people. But they don't really need to say it to me, other than as a selling point. I hope it's different from home (that's why I bothered to get on a plane!). I welcome a slower pace (again, that's ideal - I'm not getting paid, remember?). And I'm fascinated by the differences - I suppose this is the reason that in the past few years, I can't seem to get enough of going to actually work in instead of tour other countries, whether it is paid or unpaid - for me it has proven to be the best way to break in and get to know the people and how things work. When I moved to London almost 4 years ago for my job, I realised that despite having lived in that city for 4 months (seriously, 4 months!) in my early 20s, I really didn't have a clue about England or English people until I came back 7 years later to work alongside them.


I have only had limited interactions with these people so far and to be honest, when they each went around the table to introduce themselves, I didn't always understand everything they were saying, and sometimes decided it would be more polite not to ask for clarification. But you know what? You can tell a lot about a person from observing his disposition, whether he is speaking English or Khmer. This is a group of very gentle and kindhearted people. And I really valued the refreshing genuineness in this comment from the monk who leads the organisation: in the presence of his management team of perhaps 10-15 other Cambodians, he welcomed me and thanked me multiple times for coming, and asked me to please be honest in developing recommendations as he knew there was room for improvement. He said that the good thing about their organisation is that everyone around the table has a good heart. But as Buddha says, we can't improve ourselves or others if we let the egos get in the way.

I had a lot of fun with the randomness of my first day with these people and I will likely never forget many of the small and funny moments, some of which were perhaps funny only to me, but funny nonetheless. Of course I didn't accomplish much in the way of 'transforming the finance and accounting department' - but I have hardly developed relationships with these people yet. That is always the cornerstone for any sort of meaningful progress. First things first!