The Diary of Anne Ku

14 June 2000 Wednesday dry, no rain, cloudy, warm enough

OPPOSITES IN YIN AND YANG

In my interactions with people from different cultures, I'm always amazed at how different we all are.

I have a theory that two people, after awhile, bring out the opposites in each other. If one is passive and the other more passive, then the first one will become more active and the other even more passive. Similarly, if one is proactive, the other will become more reactive. It's the yin and yang of balance.

Recently someone told me that the old team members were so helpful that if you expressed an idea, they would work on it and come back to you right away, even though you didn't say you wanted it. In other words, you might ask a "what if" question, and the answer will be worked out for you. The new team is different. Even if you asked them to help you, they would respond with "is there a budget for this? is it on the priority list? where is your project specification?"

Unfortunately, my standards are even higher than this. I once told a manager that I would think of the solution before the person even thought he/she had a problem! If someone has to tell me that he/she needs help, then I feel I'm already too late!

If my theory is correct: if you put me with the new team, then I will get increasingly more proactive and the team will become more resistant to change. Yin and yang.

yesterday

tomorrow