Gandhi's seven deadly sins

-

Walking around the HBS campus over the weekend I chanced upon this picture (left.)

More than the picture, the "seven deadly sins" in the lower left corner (picture below.) caught my attention.

With Gandhi's focus on asceticism and simple living, particularly in these times, the nuance in his words is really worth noting.

The way I read it, he doesn't prescribe his own lifestyle for others as much as he does moderation and thoughtfulness: having a conscience, understanding why you're pursing anything, and tempering ambition with caring in all things.



Comments

Tony said…
that's deep.
2:05 AM
Anonymous said…
'Principle' is misspelled. Where did you see this sign? Or, where does this quote come from? I can't find any definitive source for this Gandhi quote, like a book or a speech.
6:28 PM
salgar said…
Oh yeah. I'd missed that.:)
The picture is hanging in a hall at Harvard Business School. Hmm... I couldn't find the definitive source either.
7:21 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why don't you love Chocos, America?

-
Image
A few days ago I had the following conversation with a customs agent at San Francisco airport - as an Indian returning from India I get sent to the customs line even when I check "No food" on the customs form. :-) Agent: "Any food?" Me: "No" Agent: "Sure? No jira or cadipatta ? Me : "No....     well actually I do have a box of cereal." Agent: "Huh. What? Really?" Me: "Yes. Its a brand you don't get here." Agent: "Seriously. Even in the Indian stores? I've never heard that before." Me: "Ummm....yeah." I love reading local customization stories, particularly about how international chains tailor their offerings to local markets - the food industry has the best examples of these - check out this McDonald's story about the McPaneer , or how KFC is incredibly successful in China . But I seem to have missed that the customization extended to breakfast cereal. Turns out the ...
Read more

A short love letter to ~8 years on Google Search - 8 things I’m grateful for.

-
  After a few weeks off, I started a new gig within Google yesterday and it hit me that for the first time in almost eight years I won’t be working on some part of Google Search. Eight years ago, I told the team when I was interviewing that I was “looking for a place to call home for a while and grow there”. My experiences here more than met that need.  I used to write a regular “10 things about…” listy column for a while at a college newspaper. So in that style here’s 8 things (one for each year) I feel grateful to have experienced/learned in this time. Also, like that column which I banged out the night before it was due, this post is something that I don’t need to do, yet I feel somehow compelled to do (and so it’ll likely be longer and less crisp than it should be :-))    It actually is awesome to work on something so many people use and love, and that positively touches people’s lives. There’s a talk I give externally about Search and a line I often end up ...
Read more

The BarCampBlock experience!

-
Image
I'd been hearing about BarCamp for a while, and decided it'd be really cool to go and check one out. A big one ( BarCampBlock ) was taking place a couple of minutes from where I live, so I registered last week and drove back early from the Sacramento suburbs last night to check one out. You've got to love the idea, as I did when I first heard about it! Basically, its a conference "of the people, by the people, for the people." There isn't a fixed agenda or known speakers. People show up, sign up on a big open board for sessions they'd like to lead or help out with, other people show up to listen em and a discussions/presentations take place. The agenda can be tweaked through the day and sessions can be just a few people chatting or larger lectures. It works really well and the topics are wide-ranging: from geeky to super-geeky to wannabe-geeky. The same applies to the participants.:) I really enjoyed my first BarCamp and I might actually head back tomorr...
Read more