Brilliant Stupidity

"Practical Passion. Questioning Answers. Volatile Stability. Singular Integration. Grounded Reach. Simple Complexity." These is the vision of the mighty Goldman Sachs. It is posted on its website for all to see under the title 'Unrelenting Thinking'.

~ Lucy Kellaway, in Sense & Nonsense in the Office (Prentice Hall)

This article is interesting. Actually, it had not confused me. Not because I undersood it completely but because it passed right through me! I had to read it again and think I finally got a bit enlightened only while being confused by what she was trying to mean when she described Goldman Sach's vision as "brilliant stupidity".

You see, some articles are meant to enlighten or edify. Most would also try to entertain as they educate. (Wonder why most text books writers are not learning from those DIYs or those "for Dummies" writers tho.) Anyway, this article is "unusual" because if you had understood it at first read, you would have been confused at first. Think about it. The pairs contradict each other. The author understood what Goldman Sachs meant and finally described what she read as "Brilliant Stupidity".

This finally makes a lot of sense to what we have been trying to do, at work and at home. Sometimes, in order to achieve stability, one has to stay "fluid". Have you every tried staying balanced in the moving bus without holding on to anything else? You must not lock your knees. But rather, loosen your knees, keep them bent at all times and just "go with the flow".

Sometimes in order to clean up the room, one has to beat up the dust from the mattress.

Interesting?