MY SEARCH FOR EUDAIMONIA

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THIS BLOG HAS HAD A BRIEF RESPITE.  While I owe my apologies to my valued niche readership for the brief interval of three months that I was off this page, I took a few life-turning decisions for myself after passing through, what I would call, “the tipping point” in my life.  I decided to quit my job and try my hand at what I have always aspired to do – write full time.  After putting in my papers I thought I could “settle down” and “put pen to paper”, as they say.  But that did not happen for a full quarter of a year – roughly the same time since my last post !  I never realized that by the time the last official emails were replied to and the papers properly filed away or handed over it would take a full three months !  While some hinted at my own inefficiency others more closer home thought that my professed pursuit of my avocation was only fanciful and not deep rooted enough.  Well, here I am returning, in the first instance, to my blog, with the fervent hope that I would, sooner rather than later, add “my own spines on the library shelf”.

IT WAS STEVE JOBS WHO SAID that the only way to do great work is to love what you do.  He also added, “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.  Don’t settle.”  I am also overwhelmed considerably by the memorable words of one of the greatest educationists living in our midst today – Ken Robinson.  In a recent interview, he remarked, ” You have control over what you do; think of the direction you take as a quest. Life is brief- only do things that hold meaning and purpose.”  After a little over three decades of working in four different jobs I thought if I do not at least make an honest attempt to answer what I think is a genuine “inner calling” I would be leaving this world with a dream unfulfilled.  I decided that I will no longer shoulder the guilt of “not trying”.

I DO HOPE THAT I WILL BE ABLE TO STEADFASTLY hold on to my own inner belief and feel a sense of authenticity.  Centuries ago, the Greeks coined a term for this –  eudaimonia.  As the word implies, one hopes one will find fulfillment in a state of well being that is prompted by living in consonance with one’s deeply held beliefs.

I HAVE TRIED TO PURGE ALL THOUGHTS OF self doubt and a tidbit from the recently concluded Australian Open convinces me that I am on the right track.  One learns that the following words of Samuel Beckett were found  tattooed on the left arm of this year’s winner, Stanislaus Wawrinka :

Ever Tried. Ever Failed. No Matter. Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better.

Watch this space !



HOW MUCH CAN WE KNOW ?

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I MUST STRAIGHTAWAY CONFESS THAT I suffer from what is termed as “information anxiety”.  I have often felt “inadequate” and even “undernourished”  if  I cannot figure out the reasons behind a particular event that has occurred or  for that matter when something remains elusive in connection with anything related to what I do at work.  To add to my worry, I came across this nugget : 90 per cent of all data and information available in the world today was generated during the past couple of years or so !  The question of being “well-informed” is therefore a very ideal state – a mirage so to speak and this is a very humbling thought !

WE CANNOT EVEN BE SURE OF THE authenticity of the information that we come across.  The spin doctors in our midst (be it in the media or elsewhere) throw information at us and, paraphrasing Noam Chomsky, “manufacture consent”.  The decisions we take are largely dependent on “facts as presented to us” and even when one “googles” for information, all we get is what Google has in its repository or more correctly what its algorithms fetch for us.  The absolute truth may never be reached.  Although we have all the technologies on hand, the accurate recording and interpretation of history, contemporary or otherwise, largely depends on how objective the historians engaged in the task really are !  Much of the money that is made in the world today also depends on the degree of information one has in comparison to the next person although one may be imprisoned if one trades in price-sensitive information on stocks and shares that the market is unaware of !

HOW CAN ONE STAY WELL INFORMED ?  Well, the answer is : one can only try.  In performing our jobs a certain degree of knowledge and information awareness is certainly expected of us – otherwise we will not be in a position to execute our tasks well.  A close ally of knowledge is skill and technique and this ultimately forms part of knowledge too, in the broadest sense.  In order to survive, we do need to cultivate a healthy balance of trust and skepticism towards everything that we come across and, within reasonable limits, we should not lose the opportunity to question, validate, and check the veracity of the information we receive.

ONE WAKES UP EVERY MORNING and reaches for the newspaper.  We do not often realize the extent of “behind-the-scenes-activity” that has determined the placement of news on the front page, for instance.  A whole lot of facts and information never gets reported or adequately highlighted and yet we delude ourselves into believing that “if it is in print, it must be true”.  

THERE WAS AN INTERESTING BOOK I read long ago which records a dialogue between two philosophers, one of whom is blind.  The book had an interesting conclusion :  our knowledge of the external world is limited to what is perceived by our senses. There may be a world beyond which we are simply incapable of knowing because such knowledge cannot be perceived by our senses !

DECISIONS! DECISIONS! DECISIONS!

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WE DO NOT OFTEN REALIZE THE NUMBER of decisions we make in a day.  Indeed the sum total of a day’s happenings can be traced to decisions made – by us or by others.  A day may begin with the decision on what one will wear today or what one will have for breakfast and end with a choice exercised on what song one would listen to or what passage one would read before the curtains are drawn and sleep takes over.  Interspersed between our first and last decision are events that occur based on the decisions that we took earlier or which result from the decisions made by others.

WE OFTEN OVERLOOK HOW MUCH LIFE ALTERS – and indeed the lives of others too – by the decisions we take and by the decisions we do not or fail to take. I remember someone saying that abstinence from a decision is in itself a decision taken.  Life is full of ambiguity.  It may not at all be possible to take into account every conceivable factor in our day to day decision making.  Sometimes, time is a constraint too that preempts a total evaluation. Facts are even suppressed or concealed from our view at times.  The whole justice system, for instance, is a hide and seek game played over facts and circumstances and our judges have the unenviable task of “arriving at the truth” based on “facts as presented”.  In this process, some go scotfree and yet others get undeservedly punished !

AT THE WORK PLACE WHEN WE MAKE DECISIONS we are confronted by the usual dilemmas – will our superiors like it, will our peers or subordinates approve, is it good for our customers, does it have an impact on  profits, will it violate the law or affect the environment, so on and so forth.  At a corporate level, a resolution occurs if we honestly try to answer or satisfy the basic question: IS IT IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE ENTITY ONE WORKS FOR ?  It is however not unusual, once in a while, to be confronted with a dilemma where one may have to take an unpleasant decision officially which may involve ones own favorites at the workplace.  Yet again, one may be pushed to a corner to do something that is not entirely right. In both these situations, we will have to trust our basic instincts  but not lose sight of facts that stare at us.  

WE NEED TO BE ALWAYS CONSCIOUS OF the enormous power that we are all endowed with to make life-altering changes by the decisions – sometimes complex, sometimes simple – we make and these are not just limited to the choice of our life partners, the children we beget, the house we choose to stay in, or the careers we pursue.  To add to this we have the perennial existential dilemma : THE FREEDOM OF CHOICE AND THE FREEDOM FROM CHOICE.

MUSINGS ON A FESTIVAL DAY

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IT IS ONAM TODAY AND THE MOOD IS decidedly upbeat in all Malayali homes the world over. Come October it will be Eid and after Christmas celebrations, the year will soon draw to a close.  No one disputes the cultural necessity and importance of festivals particularly when they become an occasion when family ties are renewed and quarrels forgotten even if at times they remain merely as rituals, a kind of forced participation for conformity.

FESTIVALS ARE A GREAT TIME FOR INDULGENCES too and money is not an issue.  Only a couple of days ago, escorted by 75 policemen, around 500 residents of Pulianthope, in Chennai, immersed into the sea a silver idol of Ganesha weighing 19 kg.  It cost INR 1.9 mn (say USD 31,000 at current exchange rates).  India celebrates so many festivals and one could come up with umpteen unique examples, each interesting in its own way.  I am only waiting for tomorrow’s newspaper from Kerala which will also document the sale of liquor that is very likely to surpass last year’s record !  All of this does not of course belittle the authentic need for celebrations and of the rich culture that surrounds them.

I KEEP WONDERING HOWEVER WHY EVERY DAY should not be an occasion to celebrate particularly when despite all the uncertainty surrounding us we are still alive to all the possibilities that life has to offer !  The sheer brevity of life itself should prod us to savor and make the most of every minute that unfolds before us.  If we consider our time and that of others precious it would be celebration time always and we don’t need a death sentence rendered to us by a terminal disease to force us to count every minute that slips by.

I RECENTLY READ AN EXTRAORDINARY BOOK titled “Rapt – Attention and the Focused Life” by Winifred Gallagher (Penguin Books-2009) where the quote from William James on its fly page hits you: “My experience is what I attend to”.  Attention is all – it shapes our inner experience and allows us to feel and enjoy what it means to be fully alive.  Towards the end of the book, the author beautifully paraphrases the poet Milton – “Heaven or Hell ?  It will depend on what we focus on”.  There is also this brilliant quote from Byrant: “No moment comes twice. If you don’t attend to it, you miss it. If you want to smell the roses, you have to linger.”

LET US CELEBRATE LIFE BY PAYING ATTENTION !

ENVY AS A POSITIVE EMOTION !

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“MY GOODNESS ! THIS IS TERRIFIC !  Great !”
“Nobody thought you would be a CEO”
“How did you manage it ?”
These are real voices that one hears at an Old Boys’ Meet or at an alumni association gathering  or when one runs into a school mate decades later.  Soon there is a mental calculation of annual income, life styles, et al and depending on whether one is better placed than the other one would be seized with a feeling of self-congratulation or envy.

WHAT IS NARRATED ABOVE happens in our daily lives too.  We remain reconciled to our station in life until we learn accidentally or otherwise what our peers are paid or of the privileges they enjoy.  The reflex action of comparing oneself with others is entirely natural but we could actually turn our states of smugness or envy to better advantage if we introspect a little each time we meet a person who has done better than us in life – regardless of the person’s position in the social hierarchy in terms of wealth or position.

ENVY CAN BE QUITE A CORROSIVE and negative emotion. But it need not be if we sincerely attempt to convert this feeling to one that actually propels us to improve our own position.  Envy can actually be a wake up call, something that should prod us to do better or prompt us to ask the question – are we doing everything that we should be doing to take us to what we really aspire for ?

PERSONALLY, THE INDIVIDUALS I ENVY most are those with a high degree of emotional intelligence, those who maintain complete calm regardless of the turbulence around and who refuse to be provoked by anything and who have their own firm world view of what is good for them.  I am equally envious of persons who manage their time well with single minded devotion to the completion of jobs they have to do.  Then, there are the resilient ones too who never say die despite the odds they are in and who are able to unearth the silver lining in every situation and turn the position to their advantage.  When you meet such people, simple conversations with them provide you with so much education and insight.

ACTUALLY THERE ARE COUNTLESS THINGS we can learn from those we encounter daily in our lives – lives that we take for granted and whose existence we may be even indifferent too.  When we stop seeing and listening we miss the chances for our own personal renewal.  Instead of getting needlessly restive of others’ success or well being it would greatly help if we turn the searchlight inward and focus on what we need to do to improve our own stations in life. 

OWNERSHIP OF ALL THAT WE DO

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I CANNOT REMEMBER THE NAME of the American President – was it Eisenhower or Truman ? – whose desk bore the sign plate “THE BUCK STOPS HERE”.  Although it is conventionally understood that the head of an enterprise or institution assumes responsibility for everything that happens under his or her domain, surely such a responsibility becomes impossible to shoulder if the constituent units of the enterprise are free from any responsibility. If one drills down further, the responsibility becomes individual for each one of us for whatever we do in our personal capacity.

ALL OF US ARE EXPECTED TO HAVE clearly defined roles but if these are not formalized, convention takes precedent.  In the real world things are not as straightforward as we would like them to be. One’s responsibility may not necessarily end when another’s begins. One may have to walk the whole stretch sometimes.  On the other hand we may hurt ourselves stupidly by assuming responsibility for something that is clearly not of our making.  

ENDLESS, TIME WASTING BATTLES are fought at the workplace for conclusively determining “WHO HAS TO DO IT ?”.   Likewise, responsibility sometimes gets thrust on us because of the faith that others repose on us or on the basis that one is just the right person to do a particular job in preference to everyone else – the MR OR MS RELIABLE so to speak. In this context one must also be wary of the possibility of being a dumping ground of responsibilities shirked by others.

THERE ARE SEVERAL OTHER FACETS of responsibility besides those cast by the plethora of DOs AND DON’Ts   set out in the rules and regulations of an enterprise.  All of these need not at all overwhelm us if we are sure of ourselves and confident of what we are doing and not afraid to stand up for the consequences of our own doing.

IT IS NOT UNUSUAL TO BE confronted by “difficult situations” while at work but the dilemmas that we face soon disappear when we consider our individual work spaces as our own personal domains where we take personal ownership of everything that happens within these domains however circumscribed they may be. One is surely not born to change the world, but, in a manner of speaking, within our personal domains no one can stop us from doing what needs to be done and in being responsible for our own individual actions.  Problems surface only when we become desperate in our search for scapegoats for our own follies; when we try to palm off to others tasks which we should be doing ourselves or when we become overly enthusiastic in taking credit for others’ actions.  It is only when we are mindful of the responsibilities towards ourselves that everything falls in place.

Qs AND As AT WORK…

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“WHAT DO YOU THINK ?” IS A QUESTION that often pops up in our daily lives but the nature and quality of one’s response to the question at the workplace has many facets and is not always straightforward.  Much depends on who is asking the question and the purpose for which the query is raised.  The quality of the feedback also depends on one’s assessment of whether the response provided will be seriously considered by the questioner.

ALL OF THE ABOVE CONSIDERATIONS are, in a manner of speaking, largely irrelevant if we go about our jobs professionally and express our views honestly.  While soliciting the opinion of his subordinates,  the CEO of a company I know, often prefaced his queries with the remark ” I am going to take my own decision.  I would still like to know what you feel about the issue.”  On several occasions, the nagging suspicion that one’s views hardly count or will not be taken seriously prompts us to be defensive about our feedback and our responses become at best neutral and at worst half-hearted and lacking in substance.  One also tends to wonder about the possible discomfort one’s response may cause and of the possible risks the response may carry in jeopardizing an otherwise excellent relationship. In harboring such doubts we are actually denying the persons taking decisions a possible alternate choice. 

IN THE ABOVE CONTEXT WHEN expressing an opinion or a point of view it becomes extremely helpful when one also offers the underlying reasons for the particular stance taken.  This automatically introduces the much needed element of transparency in decision making. Upon a question being thrown at us, it is not at all disrespectful, if the circumstances so warrant, to query the background, purpose and context of the question itself so that one’s response is a well-considered one.  The tentative “not-sure-if-(s)he-will like it”  approach will not only cramp our working style needlessly but also make us morally responsible for having withheld our honest view  particularly if the said view contained elements, which if considered, could have avoided losses or damage.

ON THE OTHER HAND IF WE ARE completely ignorant of the issue we should admit it straightaway or at least ask for time to examine the matter thoroughly.  If we are fully aware that something that is happening or about to happen is patently wrong, we should at least discharge our moral responsibility by expressing our strong disagreement or observations even if we are not empowered to control the conduct of the party raising the query.

THERE IS AN OLD SAYING WHICH STATES “suppression of truth, is suggestion of falsehood.”  If we remain silent particularly when we have the capacity to change, we remain responsible for what may happen even if we may not have committed the particular act ourselves.  On the other hand greatly positive changes can still occur simply because we consciously exercise our choice to speak.  

LASTLY, IF WE ARE TRUE WELL-WISHERS of our colleagues, subordinates or superiors at work and indeed of the entity which employs us, we should feel  emboldened to speak our minds as a conspiracy of silence would only be indicative of the fact that we do not give a damn about what happens.

PRESERVING CORPORATE MEMORY…

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“TRY MR NARAYAN. HE HANDLED the deal in ’82.”

“Got Mr Narayan’s number from HR. His son answered the phone. Sad to say that he passed away six months ago.”

Narayan carried with him the record of a transaction that he had scripted and executed for the company’s benefit but the company has lost its key details. Barring the record of revenues unearthed from accounting records, the finer details of the transaction got interred with Narayan’s mortal remains. One has only changed names and a few details but what is narrated above is true.  

DAY IN AND DAY OUT WE COME ACROSS  instances where key company information on transactions done in the past are either lost, misplaced or poorly organized.  Despite the advent of information technology that facilitates the proper archival and preservation of corporate records not enough attention is paid towards the preservation of corporate memory.  

AS THE WORLD GOES INCREASINGLY VIRTUAL, the limitations of physical space for preservation of records (barring originals for statutory purposes) is no longer an excuse. The sheer lack of thoughtfulness and lethargy have denied to each one of us, to a greater or lesser degree,  the benefit of historical hindsights at the workplace and this can sometimes prove costly too.

“FILE AND FORGET” MAY BE an essential credo at work but there are issues in filing itself – electronically or otherwise.  Even if it is not proclaimed aloud, the silent scream heard across all offices is “It is too clerical for me to handle.”  The speed and efficiency in the execution of one’s tasks needs to be extended to the process of filing and preservation of corporate records and one cannot harbor the luxurious thought that some one else will do this for us.  The office assistant will soon be an endangered species – if not already, and we have got to help ourselves before it is too late.

ALL IT TAKES IS A LITTLE THOUGHTFULNESS and a very small portion of one’s daily time to properly organize the records related to what we do at work.  The law and the company’s own document retention policy may stipulate minimum periods for the preservation of various categories of records. It is however entirely up to us to imaginatively devise for ourselves the way we preserve the official memories of what we do at work.

LUCKILY FOR US WE HAVE THE benefit of information technology to lean on that makes the process painless, paperless and environment friendly. If one genuinely values what one does at work, what should prevent one from properly preserving the record of what one has done – unless such records are so unwholesome that one is embarrassed if such a record is traced back to its originator !

WILL FOLLOW-UPS EVER END ?

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WITH THE BALANCES TALLIED AND THE DRAWERS locked, the job is apparently done for the day with no carryovers for tomorrow – so one believes is the enviable world of a cashier because there are no follow- ups to be made or to be attended to for that matter! Before I secured my first job, I heard the term used at home only  in a medical context when any of us visited a clinic several times in the wake of a nagging cough or unrelieved pain and until these complaints completely disappeared. One also made a mental note that a follow-up visit was less expensive than the first, and, if made at a shorter interval was totally free !  The medical analogy was soon carried over to the workplace, and today I keep wondering if there can ever be a world without follow-ups.

FOLLOW-UPS APPEAR TO BE UNAVOIDABLE when jobs are interdependent – particularly when the deliverable of a given job becomes the raw material of the next.  A nagging sense of guilt has always haunted me when I realize that a follow-up is essentially a by product of one’s own inefficiency and sometimes, even irresponsibility.  The follow-up business also assumes complications when everyone at work is grappling with competing priorities. A task about to be completed may be deferred indefinitely when someone above you sets a wholly unforeseen priority that not only plays havoc with your To Do List (“TDL”) but also places you at the receiving end of follow-up requests for no fault of yours.

WHILE ONE DOUBTS IF FOLLOW-UPS CAN be completely eliminated from our jobs, their incidence can be vastly reduced if we are generally mindful of the need for ruthless adherence to the timely completion of tasks in our TDLs.  Further, when we  trust the ability of our colleagues and subordinates to do a job well, we should be equally enthusiastic to delegate tasks wherever possible.  When this happens, there would be less knocks on our doors and the phone would stop ringing too and emails will no longer have the tag line “POLITE REMINDER”. One would soon be counted as “reliable” and one’s word would be taken for granted.

MUCH OF THE HEAT AS WELL AS DISAPPOINTMENTS surrounding follow-ups largely arise on account of our failure to properly and reasonably estimate the time frames required for completion of a particular job prior to the commitment of  a deadline to others. One is not sure if it was Narayana Murthy or Subroto Bagchi who said that at the workplace one must “under promise but over deliver.” Yet another powerful reason is also our inability to say “NO”. On the other hand, as part of essential courtesy to our colleagues, instead of springing up last minute requests, it would greatly help if we sound advance warnings of an imminent task that may be required to be completed so that they are enabled to properly schedule and plan their other tasks on hand in our own beneficial interests.  

AT THE END OF THE DAY, BEING RESPECTFUL of others’ needs at the workplace would foster a spirit of reciprocity and we may yet attain a magically real situation when everything gets done on time and “follow-ups” would only be mentioned in a medical context!

DEALING WITH DISAGREEMENTS…

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ZOMBIES DO NOT REPORT to work.  Human as we are, our cultural dissimilarities, inherent biases (and we remain blind to most of them !) and our personal agendas, not to speak of our own levels of understanding – all of these contribute to different points of view at the workplace. Yet decisions have to be made and actions are required to be taken for an enterprise to run efficiently.  This cannot happen without the reconciliation of differences, be it by force or by consensus.

IT IS INDEED A “NO BRAINER” IF previously set policies and procedures provide answers to a given situation on hand.  An enterprise however is a living organism and all participants in the decision making process at various levels, whether one likes it or not, have to deal with disagreements day in and day out and many situations are themselves ambiguous with no clear answers.

THE FIRST RULE IS TO RECOGNIZE the simple fact that everyone has a right to his or her point of view. It therefore naturally follows that one has to listen to and understand what that view is all about.  The calm and uninterrupted discharge of this obligation per se removes much of the difficulties associated with the reconciliation of differences.  Sometimes, listening is all – the solution may emerge by exhausting this very process.

IT BECOMES DIFFICULT HOWEVER if differing points of view have each convincing arguments that justify a decision either way.  The natural tendency for the dominant party is to assert his authority. If peers are at play here, the boss has to intervene and if he is hard of hearing or takes on board only the arguments he likes to hear, God alone can help such an enterprise – unless the agenda of the boss is one with that of the enterprise.

DEALING WITH AN OPPOSITE POINT OF VIEW becomes fun when some elements of the differing view are capable of integration into one’s own – this enhances the quality of the decision made and avoids the parties from slipping into despair.  For this to happen one must be humble enough to recognize that good ideas can emanate from any quarter.  We need only to have the willingness to find them by keeping our eyes and ears open.

IF WE HAVE DONE OUR HOMEWORK well, we ought to know how to sell our ideas too – ultimately it is the quality of our argument  that matters, not the decibel level at which it is presented.  Well meaning arguments ought to generate light rather than heat. When differing points of view are tabled, reconciliation becomes difficult if the arguments on both sides are themselves half-baked.  Much of the disappointments arise when parties do not care to do their homework and understand issues thoroughly.  At times we keep arguing endlessly oblivious to the core issue that is involved.

THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR WINNING ARGUMENTS however goes to the person who makes his audience feel that they have taken the decision – not him.  If one thinks “win-win” and is not particularly bothered about who takes credit, one can pretty much get a lot of things done exactly the way one wants. We have to “THINK RESULTS” and get rid of our enthusiasm in proving others wrong.