I read “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki in the early 2000′s. I found it a fascinating is an understatement. Financial Independence… I hadn’t even thought of that. I was so impressed that I read and re-read the book. Underlined it and shared it with friends.
One of my friends, Guneet (a researcher) created the following table wherein she compared the Rich Dad’s and Poor Dad’s philosophy. I was reminded of my 9th standard science class. Wow! this was a great synthesis of the book. I promptly word processed it. The table is given underneath.
| Rich Dad | Poor Dad |
| The lack of money is the root of all evil. | The love of money is the root of all evil. |
| How can I afford it? The brain is put to work. | I can’t afford it. The brain stops working. |
| Taxes punish those who produce and reward those who don’t produce. | Rich should pay more taxes to take care of less fortunate. |
| Study hard so that you find a good company to buy. | Study hard so you can find a good company to work for. |
| The reason I must be rich is because I have you kids. | The reason I am not rich is because I have you kids. |
| Encouraged talking about money and business at dinner table. | Forbade the subject of money at dinner table. |
| Learn to manage risk. | When it comes to money, play it safe. Don’t take risks. |
| My house is a liability and if your home is your largest investment, you’re in trouble. | Our home is our largest investment and our greatest asset. |
| Paid his bills last, but on time. | Paid his bills first, on time. |
| Paid himself first, no matter what. | Paid himself, last. Usually nothing left. |
| Total financial self-reliance. Against entitlement mentality. | Company or government will take care of you. |
| Simply created investments. | Struggled to save a few dollars. |
| Write strong business and financial plans so I can create jobs. | Write an impressive resume so I can find a good job. |
| “I’m a rich man and rich people don’t do that”. | “I’ll never be rich”. |
| Money is power. | I’m not interested in money. Money doesn’t matter. |
| Study the rich. Understand how money works and learn to make money work for you. | Study to become a professional, get a good job. Work for money. |
| Didn’t complete 8th grade. | PHD from Stanford, North Western University, on full scholarship. |
| Died leaving millions of dollars. | Died broke. |
When I came across this file recently, I started thinking…. What determines whether the Rich Dad’s attitude is right and the Poor Dad’s attitude is wrong.
The outcome…
But is it that black and white?
Whenever I meet managers they talk of their subordinates attitude in 2 dichotomous ways : Right or Wrong. In a corporate set-up, what manager’s are essentially saying is that their employees attitude is not RIGHT for the manager.
Hmm..that’s interesting….
Because it could be the employee is not easy to manage because he is different from his manager.
Difference need not mean wrong. However to handle difference, we need to understand the other (what motivates him?, where is he coming from?, why is he doing what he is doing? etc.) and then possess skills to actually handle that difference.
A client of mine comes to my mind. They are headquartered in Mumbai, however Delhi is a major market. Because their managers were located in Mumbai and found it tough to handle employee’s with a North Indian origin they were basically hiring from a certain region so that their employees would be more compliant even though that might not be the best for the business. People of North Indian origin would have better connect with the customers and better understanding of the cultural millieu.
Maybe another route could be that the Manger’s invested in learning about their North Indian employees and enhanced their skills in handling them.
That was the route we suggested wherein we took the assistance of The Extended DISC sytem to help get the behavioral profile of the team alongwith some informal get togethers where the families of employees could also interact. This was coupled with enhancing the Manager’s skill set: explaining to them on how to handle people of different DISC types .
This helped. The Managers were now willing and able to re-look at their recruitment pre-requisites and rework that.
Contributed by: Lovely Kumar, Chief Projects, Larks Learning
For more information regarding our training/ coaching and assessment interventions please contact 91-9899108659 or lovely@larkslearning.com
Ms. Lovely Kumar,
A well laid down comparision. It shows how circumstances start controlling our attitude and slowly,it becomes a habit. As a trainer we need to either motivate the person or show the picture from the other side so that the habit and the attitude can be changed for good.
Thanks once again for sharing useful information.