Memoirs of GB Episode 6: What’s your definition of Success ?

22 years back during my campus interview the first question in the evaluation sheet was

“What is your definition of success?”

for which I had replied, “To live a peaceful, harmonious life of fulfilment in all spheres of life both personal and professional.”

Today, my definition of success has changed. I do not believe in everlasting peace. Anything which has a note of permanence to it, stagnates. The world functions on duality – positive and negative, success and failures, light and darkness, pain and pleasure, happiness and misery. Before I understood this, I used to wish things were easy when they were difficult. I used to wish for happiness when I felt sad. I used to feel bad that I was being challenged. Now I don’t wish that I am never challenged, for I realise I will never grow that way. I will never know the value of success if I do not face failure; never know the value of happiness if I do not feel sad now and then. To know the depth of the ocean you must come to the surface of the ocean.

Today I wish to be wiser and better. I don’t wish to have fewer problems, but I wish to gain more skills. I don’t wish for a disturbance-free life but wish for the strength to face these disturbances. The steppingstones of our career are some of the toughest projects we executed, ability to subordinate our ego for the success of the organization. I strongly believe what differentiates a leader from a follower is, the Leader puts the organization interest first, then team and last his self-interest. If you see someone doing that, he is leader and will become a person who will make difference to the mission.

Organization fail not because they don’t put effort, they fail because of the preconceived notion about the success. Success like change, keeps changing. We cannot equate “success” to a formula with what we did well in the past. The most successful organizations and Individual believe in self disruption. I strongly believe in following the model of Microscope in one eye and Telescope in the other eye, while we pay attention to details through microscope, we must also pay attention to the future through telescope. We will see this in detail in my next article.

Godspeed

Dinesh Chandrasekar DC*

P.S: All views expressed here are my personal views and opinion and have no bearing to the organization I work.?

June 7, 1893 at Pietermaritzburg, When a shy barrister Mohandas Gandhi was on his way to pretoria by train was pushed down from first class coach not for his behavior but for being born as a colored man, On that day, Gandhi had a choice to just dust it off as another shame and moved on with his life and we wouldn't have got the freedom (India's Independence) in 1947.

It's important for the people to stand up for the cause and against injustice. Your intellect of no use if you shy away to keep up your image as polite gentleman in the society. People who changed this world are the ones who stepped forward & against to face the brutal forces of discrimination. If the British hadn’t ruled India, life would’ve never provided the context for Mohandas to discover the Mahatma Gandhi within him.

All great men were ordinary men who were forced by circumstances to meet great challenges. History is full of simple human beings who won over forces well beyond their control and emerged as champions.

Happy Gandhi Jayanthi