and remain stress free. Without much ego hassles, he humbly stepped down. He clearly knew his limitations. He often paused for capacity building and that’s how he could play for twenty five years in a game where people have burnt out much earlier force everybody into a “Stressful Adaptive Mode,” like stretching a rubber band – imagine now if you are stretching it beyond its elasticity, it would either break or snap back into a deformed shape. Recently in Goa, I read about a person committing suicide as he was laid off by the organization and it let loose the blame game from either side. One should understand that organizations are designed to be commercial entities and they are meant to extract more than what they pay. Some do it in a humane way while others, in a barbaric fashion. It is our fault that we either tend to be casual and overlook the signals or we have blind trust! Look at Sachin Tendulkar when he was made Captain of the Indian squad. Both, his own and the team’s performance dipped. Soon he realized that though it was his desire to be a
Captain, however on his personal capacity he was much better off as a player and remain stress free. Without much ego hassles, he humbly stepped down. He clearly knew his limitations. He often paused for capacity building and that’s how he could play for twenty five years in a game where people have burnt out much earlier. New financial years bring at times a recipe for burn out through “Goal setting process” in organizations. Yet, here is a formula for stable and stress free success in chaos. SUCCESS = NEED x CAPACITY x DESIRE It’s a 3 step intervention any one zero implies success is also zero 1) NEED Needs wary from time to time, and it is also a self perception. An organization doing well today may become obsolete tomorrow. Read the weak signals and plan
your shift before you sink with it. Maintain the habit of reading any reliable business news paper and keep track of signals. 2) CAPACITY Each one of us has a unique capacity and it comes with limitations. So assess your own self and then plan the exploitation of it over a 25 year span so that you retire naturally such that either your retirement plan is in place or your natural successor is ready to take charge; but remember to keep a healthy overlap of time. The other option is complement and supplement your capacity. 3) DESIRE It’s a double edged sword. It is better to take inputs from professional and true friends at regular intervals as this will act as checks and balances, thus taming and shaping your desires. You could also practice CSR at
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your individual level. It will help in creating a larger purpose beyond self. This will also drive out the evil desires and keep the good desire in. Engage in hobbies for energy. We all have to “Burn” but the challenge is “not getting out soon” and this can happen only if you regularly revisit and objectively assess the NEED, CAPACITY and DESIRE and facilitate them with healthy coping mechanisms. Let us illuminate the darkness within by lighting the candle inside us and not just holding it outside
The Voice of Business in Goa
MARCH 2014
Business Goa 49