Business Buddhism

I had to think more about Caine Monroy and how his arcade had come together . Now that the whole thing is a beautiful video and the arcade has won fans from all over the world it’s easy to forget how messy this whole thing started. At first, there was Caine, cutting up some cardboard, taping things together and generally making a mess. In comes Caine’s dad.

Caine’s dad…
didn’t say, “Look at this mess Caine. Clean it up! I have customers coming through here.”
didn’t say, “Stop wasting your time and do something productive.”
didn’t say, “Don’t you have some books to read?”
hadn’t given Caine a Game-Boy (or whatever today’s equivalent is), a super-hero, Barbie, or other ready-made toy;
hadn’t put Caine into a summer-camp or other organized activity;
didn’t jump-in with his own skills and opinions.

Caine’s dad gave Caine a few resources and space to make a mess, encouraged him when he saw the enthusiasm and passion with which Caine was working, took interest in the little things and mostly just let him be. When the world came to see his son’s card-box-world in his ailing auto-parts-shop, he took no credit and was proud as can be.

If you manage people (or have kids), you get the best from them, the more you behave like Caine’s dad.

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