work – SKETCHMAN BORIS

Reflecting on Simon Sinek’s philosophy

If you need an introduction to Simon Sinek I recommend you go watch one of his many videos, he does a better job at introducing himself than I will ever do.

He came up with the golden circle, put simply he argues that:

Companies usually know WHAT they do,
Most companies know HOW they do it,
Only a few know WHY they do what they do.

I used to work for the automotive industry, I have nothing against cars but the high paying job didn’t give the fulfillment I needed.

You might say: “Oh you are an artist, artists don’t like to work in a corporate organization.”

That’s not true, we don’t care as long as we know our work has an impact. And to be aware of our impact we need to know why we are doing what we are doing.

Fast forward nearly two years later, I am still working in the same country but now for a language center. I am not going to lie I get paid just enough to pay my rent, my bills and have some for food and the occasional get together with friends. I feel so happy that I feel guilty enough to question my happiness (later on this topic).

So what’s the difference? Was I meant to be a teacher? Maybe but I can’t prove that. I believe nobody can prove for what job they were destined to, otherwise everybody would be taking that magic test to do what they love or at least to find out what they love to do.

After listening to Simon Sinek’s philosophy, I believe the reason why I love going to work even on a Saturday when most people complain 5 days a week and are shaking like addicts to get to Friday, is because I know WHY I am doing what I do.

I help people communicate so that they can achieve what they want and I can see that in my students’ faces.

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 22: Artificial intelligence

20181102 CBD21 Artifical intelligence

Usually what I create, which means the things I put out there come from what I am reading, watching at that time. Since I am currently reading the brilliant Yuval Noah Harari’s HOMO DEUS, I was hit with a fear that I put aside for some time.

There is so much in the book to take in and I need to read it again to make notes and take lessons for myself. His book SAPIENS was about human history and this is about the future of humankind in which Artificial intelligence will play a major role.

He argues that many people or most people will become militarily and economically useless because their jobs will be taken over by artificial intelligence (A.I.).

The question I asked myself as a teacher and cartoonist, is not whether my job will be replaced by A.I. because that is inevitable, there are already computer programs which compose music, it won’t take long for them to make jokes. However, i start thinking about when it would happen.

We live truly in a crucial moment, you might say “yeah but every generation says that about their era”. Well, if not for anything else the rhythm of changes have never been so high in Human history. Do you realize that the first Smartphone IPhone was released in a 2007? 11 years ago? Look how much has changed in ten years.

Like I said in my cartoon, I have hope that we still have time. I went to see a movie the other day and I wanted to buy the ticket from the Automatic machine and it didn’t work so I went with the human option, which made me smile a bit.

We have time, Yes. Not to enjoy but to focus on reducing our Carbon footprint because that is for me the biggest problem at the moment.

Bonne journée.

Cartoon blog day 14: Money goals

Hey I tried to color my cartoon today because I had more time.

CBD14 Money goals

I heard some people have even planned what age they are going to die, what age the are going to retire and so on. But I cannot emphasize this enough, i truly believe that enjoying the experience, the process is a healthier way to live.

Maybe this comes from the fact that in schools we are trained to get good grades, good results even if you are even interested in learning at all.

Even in case of marriages, if you are getting married to have a family what happens after you have a child and the child grows up and leaves the house? I still feel that most relationships are means to an end not an end in itself.

Is that why, couples gets separated after their kids grow up?

At the same time I have never been married and I am single at the moment so maybe I am not the best person to listen to.

What are your money goals?

Bonne Journée.

Cartoon blog day 13: Corporate culture

I used to work for a multinational company in the automotive industry. I don’t know how much money the company spent on building a “corporate culture”, needless to say it felt important.

There is nothing wrong with that, after all, you have people from different cultures working together towards company’s goals.

CBD13 Corporate culture.jpg

I am still not sure whether this corporate culture is a solution to cultural differences or a genuine attempt to make employees feel like they belong in a social structure. You have probably heard Managers’ speeches like “We are a family”. (Then what about my real family?)

As you might have noticed I referred to the corporate culture as a possible solution which means cultural differences are seen as problems.

But cultural differences are problems only when faced with the method that the company followed so far to get successful results. A Japanese company follows a Japanese approach, a French company follows a French approach and so on.

Cultural differences are not problems, they are part of our reality.

I feel that these differences are not discussed in all honesty not only because of their complexity but also in fear of offending someone in the process. It’s like a relationship in a couple if you don’t address the differences they will build up exponentially. But people won’t talk about them, because it’s easier to break up than to lose your job.

Bonne journée.

Cartoob blog day 9: Attachment

We are not talking about e-mail attachments, as I get older I begin to understand that we need a healthy balanced distance between the things in our lives. Whether it’s SPORTS, WORK, or playing VIDEO GAMES you have to have a healthy distance from these bubbles.

Don’t get too obsessed with WORK because we don’t live to work, we work to live; Don’t get too obsessed with SPORTS at the end of the day it’s a game with people sometimes not from the same country wearing the same uniform to play; Don’t get too attached to hobbies like GAMING well because you need to have also a social life.

Now you might say it’s easily said that done…

CBD9 Attachment and power.jpg

This is where ART comes in. I have realized that the test to see whether you are too attached to something can be revealed when you are having conversations about that (those) particular bubble(s). Because conversations keep things in check, not only individually but for societies. And what is better than to laugh at yourself when a stand up comedian makes fun of a gamer in a clever way. You may feel uncomfortable at first but STAND UP comedy done right is ART and your laughter can be liberating and put things in perspective which is why I firmly believe in the idea of artists to say what they want.

Bonne journée.