Power of Determination

With the ink having mapped my views on several subjects over the past twenty odd days, I finally wrap up my 3^rd semester. It is the onset of some free quality time for self. To avenge boredom, I hop onto my laptop to fulfill my quota of movies. As a coincidence (I would like to say so), I happened to watch some of the most inspiring movies – ‘Rocky IV’, ‘Iqbal’ and ‘JJWS’. All these three movies had one thing in common – ‘Determination to achieve the Goal’. 

While in ‘Rocky IV’, it was avenging a friend’s loss of esteem and life; in ‘Iqbal’, it was the desire to represent the nation as a sportsperson (cricketer) and in ‘JJWS’, it was to win the race for fulfilling a father and brother’s dream. There is a great ‘power’ in the ‘determination’ to succeed. Determination is a great virtue and a trait of successful leaders. It is the element which runs in the bodies of these individuals like blood. It is the energy which enthuses them, boosts their morale and keeps them going. Great people like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Indira Gandhi, Andrew Carnegie, Sachin Tendulkar, Steve Jobs and several others have been exemplary and the world has witnessed the influence they have had on the masses. So where does the determination come from? I believe it evolves from the belief in oneself and one’s ideas; also, a strong desire from within to achieve one’s dream/goal or commitment to a cause/belief. There is a strong connect between the belief that one has in his/her path taken and the level of determination. Determination gives individuals the power to stand by their decision against all the odds. The energy and spirit to ‘Never say Die’, ‘Never say Never’ and ‘No Pain’ emanates from this determination. So when the chips are down, conditions are deterrent to growth and people turn their back, it is the power of determination that keeps us in the game. This is what distinguishes greatness from mediocrity. The great leaders in all arenas have proved this to the world over, time and again. The vision is crystal clear and will power is unshakeable. That’s why great leaders are visionaries. They are determined to pursue their vision. Determination fuels the journey to success and one’s dream for a better tomorrow.

Today, world over what we are seeing is a lack of determination on part of our global leaders to lead and take decisions in the common interest of all. In the organizational context, organizations which have been led by individuals lacking the determination to lead have ceased to exist. Organizations in their ability should be determined to transform and evolve with the changing business, technological, social and political scenarios. They should be determined to the pursuit of their vision, mission and stay committed to their values.

Times may be tough and testing; odds may be against us; Murphy’s Law may work at its best and our best people may have deserted us but it’s our determination which keeps us ‘Going’. So let’s believe in our dreams. Let’s stand by them and let the power of determination marshal the cause.

The Talent Management Way

A long gap and plethora of thoughts to ponder upon but finally am able to put one of them up here. With the 3^rd semester of my MBA program reaching the finish line, I sit to ruminate my learning over the past 4 months and the events influencing this thought. One of the interesting courses which I took up this semester is ‘Talent Acquisition/Management’. This course dealt with the intricacies of acquiring talent in the organization and strategies to retain the same. I would wonder if the core motive behind this was limited only to the organizations and their effective talent acquisition and retention strategies. I could metaphorically relate it to everything in our life – most importantly ‘Relations’. 

We strive throughout our life to get the ‘best’ for us – we retain some while we lose some on our journey. When it comes to the organization, we tend to do every bit possible to retain the best employees but we happen to lose out on the personal front. I was contemplating on the scenario where we could have taken cue from even some of these retention strategies – Life would be more enriching. We lose out on our most important people and relations in life for several reasons. Things and even people are taken for granted and we end up on the losing side. Let us try to draw a parallel and understand how little effort and understanding from our end can lead to better relationship management (Strange but even relations need to be managedJ). At organizations, we focus on motivating employees, appreciating their efforts, rewarding them, helping them achieve their goals and thereby engaging them. There is an unsaid bond which the employees develop with the organization. They connect with the organization and stand for the organization. Their identity becomes synonymous to the organization they are working for. What does this transform into for our personal relationships? All that our friends and close ones expect from our relations is this unsaid and mutual understanding. Even a few words of love and care exchanged work wonders. The gestures of ‘I stand by you’, ‘U can do it’, ‘I am fortunate to have you’ and ‘I adore you’ add to the engagement levels of any relation. Understanding and being grateful to the beautiful people we have in life is extremely important. In organizations, we focus on employee engagement. In our personal life, we need to focus on and give priority to our relations. We can’t let our ‘high performers’ quit; it’s a huge setback for the organization. We can’t let the most important people in our lives leave us. Employees join and leave the organizations over the years but some end up having long lasting relationships with the organization. Similarly, we meet several people over a period of time but we build long lasting relations with some. When we have time for all the other things in life – why not the people who matter the most?

We may not be oblivious to the reasons but we hardly do anything to mitigate the effects. There is inertia; there is the ‘Big EGO’, there is the ‘careless attitude’ and there is this feeling of ‘letting go’.  It is difficult to say if anyone wins. An Organization thrives on its high performers – Our life prospers with our closed ones and beautiful relations. 

Let’s retain them! Let’s respect our relations!

A Short Journey Comes To An End

One is often with his own self when aloof and in an unknown place. The restlessness had been shifting higher gears over the past few days with the project work coming to an end and a much longed vacation to home knocking the doors. Though it has been now more than 3 years of juggling between home and different places across India but the feeling of being home still sets butterflies in the stomach. The mornings of the past two months of my internship at RBI have usually been of firefighting and rushing with eagerness and haste to reach office (not too late :)). Today, being the last day was overtly restless and I kept checking on the time since early morning for it to be my wake up time. Nevertheless, I woke up earlier than my set alarm time. Unlike other days, I felt as if I had all the time in the world and l lazily got to the basics of the morning. Still I could find that I was well ahead of my planned time. I lingered to the bus stand not worried if I had missed the bus. I boarded the bus and continued to remain in my thoughts hardly listening to what a fellow passenger had to say about the change bus conductors crib about and dearth of coins in the monetary system. I felt something was missing or rather I was already missing my routine of past few months. I felt I will be missing the place, my office; buzz in the office, the employees most of whom are my parents’ age -their love and concern and of course my awesome and lovely friends and the long talks we had over the sumptuous lunch and snacks. The culture at this organization has been amazing with parental care and concern showered by the employees.

Life is a journey and an endless journey till we reach our ‘Final Abode’. We meet several different people during this journey. Some are there from the start of it while some we meet on the way, some are for a shorter period with us during this journey while others are for longer. It’s like a bus journey. At each stop new people may join in but you will be there in the bus only till your own journey. One needs to move on and realize the purpose of one’s journey to finally reach the Final Destination. What are most important are the bonds that we develop and the long cherished memories which we carry ahead with us. These form the profile of our life. One shorter journey of my life comes to an end today and I move on after my sojourn to reach my Destination and fulfill life’s goal. :)

Experiences and Life

This place is one of the most sacrosanct places for me and a virtual station where one finds solace. Being the part of the 'Play' called 'Life', one gets so engrossed in it that realization of existence of the same is bemused. It is during the journey of life that an individual actually develops cognizance - Cognizance of people, relations, emotions, values and 'Aim of life'. This comes as a 'take-away' from each experience that one has during the voyage. The most beautiful experiences and learning that you have is from Nature and Human Beings - the most prominent part of Nature. Interaction with fellow humans at each stage involves Learning - however minuscule it may be. Some interactions are transient while others are life lasting. Some are unimportant while others  are major reasons  of our Happiness or Sorrow. We tend to build bonds with the ones with whom we have shared some of the most splendid moments. Also the impact that these experiences derived out of these bonds have is immense; sometimes even to the extent to make or break you. 

                        Life is however Shrewd. Where it gives you bunch of roses, it also gives you thorns to value the roses. That's life's way of teaching things. Some of us learn it the easy way while still others the hard way. My mind contests - "Life is too short to experience everything. So learn it from others' experience". However, my Heart says - Live the Experience, Love it, Learn from it. After all its these experiences that we carry throughout our lives and cherish the same.

Live, Experience, Learn.