PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMBLE MAN OF BOGOR
He runs a company, which employs 150
people. He has to travel a lot to USA, Europe, SE Asia, which keeps him away
from his beloved Bogor and family, but it is for his business.
He is very interested in his own health and
tries to lead a Healthy Lifestyle.
: Jogging on a regular basis
: Eating only healthy foods and natural
foods
: Possesses a philosophical attitude
towards life, which to me resembles universality, and in the Asian context it
is much like the MITTA of the Burmese Buddhism.
His humble nature was the reason for my
visit, an excellent one, to Indonesia. But his concern for others is remarkably
unique and resembles the philosophy of the American Indians:
-
Be grateful for what you have
and don't be unhappy about things you don't have
-
Personal sacrifice for the
welfare of others
During my two days stay with him, many of
his employees spent their time listening to me, so did he. He reinforced some
of the philosophical points I was discussing, in context of land and culture.
“I am much more interested in their
interactions, rather than their productivity. If I set the goals, then they
would be striving to meet it, they will be under duress, I know that stress
causes heart attacks and strokes, so it is better they are healthy and do the
best they can”
How often do you find a boss like that? In
Europe? In the USA? In Asia? Rare indeed!
I talked to the staff about prevention of
diseases and most importantly about Nutrition. Western style Fast Food is
slowly making inroads into the Indonesian Panorama, such guilty ones as KFC,
MCDO, Burger King and Dunkin Donuts, Domino’s Pizza… they are partially
responsible for the ill health of the Americans, but why bother Indonesians? I
always wondered why the Yanks export the worst of their characteristics and not
their wonderful characteristics of Generosity and Hospitality to the world?
The day I was in Bogor, 13 of the staff had
done a 10 K run, meeting at 0630 hours… and the fact many of those were
listening to me during the day. Obviously the Boss lives by his word; takes
care of their minds and their bodies.
He gives them Freedom from Outside and they
provide their own discipline.
Something I hope the bosses in Malaysia and
Singapore take into consideration…. to reduce the stress of their workers.
I was able to check 8 of his staff and all
of them would pass any strict Physical Examination by a Doctor! On my next
visit, I would like to do a more thorough Physical Examination and also find a
way to check their
Cholesterol
HbA1c, for diabetes and pre diabetes
CRP for underlying inflammation and heart
health
On many of his employees, not just those
who spent the day with me.
I was surprised to learn that many of the
employees were also ardent cyclists, a sport which is catching on in Indonesia,
especially considering the hilly terrain. Mr W the Latin looking young man who
picked me up at the Airport said he cycled around 28 km per day.
A good Leader, leads by example, he is at
the front of the battle and not sitting in his office, giving orders, so I
checked him
BP 105/65
Heart Rate 64/min
So we decided that this would be the Gold
Standard for the employees of AsiaProtein, they can be content if they would
maintain their BP both systolic and diastolic) and HR within 10 points of their
BOSS!
For Knowledge to be Knowledge, it has to be
communicated. Our plan is to select 10 volunteer staff who over the course of
time (and possibly one week session conducted by me in the future) will
increase their own knowledge of the body, society and culture.
As they become knowledgeable, they will be
looking after and educating the other 140 employees and their families. We hope
that in the course of one year, we will have a Healthy family of workers at
Bogor.
This kind of Health Education (especially
the philosophy of the Boss) is rare in any country in the world and I am so
glad it is happening in Bogor, Indonesia. May it impress other managerial staff
to adopt such measures?
BHUTAN, a Himalayan Kingdom, long ago gave
up measuring Gross Domestic Product as an Indicator of Wealth; instead they
measure Gross Domestic Happiness… Many other countries including UK are
following suit: realizing that Happiness of the workers is important
I think my friend Mr J whom I met while I
was visiting North American Indians in Nebraska, on a flight from Omaha to Los
Angeles, nine weeks ago, has already incorporated Gross Domestic Happiness into
running of his company.
I am so glad to be part of it all
Teremah Kaseh..
