Weekend Musings: Humility To Learn And Grow

The world faces a fragile, pandemic situation and what keeps me going in these times is the combined strength our doctors, nurses, police, defence personnel, municipal workers, media, delivery staff, administration, government authorities and everyone who is doing their bit, to salvage the situation. I salute you all for your resilient nature! For the rest of us, I pray for your safety and, would urge you to stay calm, stay indoors, cherish those moments with your family as this too shall pass!   

It is this resilient nature that will help us overcome this situation and sail through. In my previous blog, I spoke at length about this trait as I strongly believe, consistency and resilience propelled by ambition, are the key factors in attaining fulfilment. And the ones who confidently have their efforts aligned with goals, structured thoughts and overcome obstacles consistently for a long period, might slip into a zone of over-confidence. It is a natural construct of the human mind and we’ve all experienced over-confidence, which may start to reflect in our behaviour with people. How we deal with it is what matters. This brings me to the third and final attribute – Humility! To me, humility is about remaining consistent across situations and more importantly, with people.

An understanding of how you’ve come so far in your personal and professional life can help level your head. Considering where you started your journey, your efforts, people who have influenced you over time and your ultimate goal can help reset your mentality. For me, it’s about falling back on my journey and introspecting on how far I’ve travelled and that becomes a great source of fulfilment and more importantly, humility.

The accumulation of all these experiences and choices throughout helps my fundamental view towards life to improve for the better. Now is the time to give back. We all are a source of value. The positivity with which you share your experiences with people - capability, the clarity with which you add value to others - character and the consistency in your approach (practicing Kaizen) is how you express humility. I have been lucky to have had people who have helped me in my professional growth. From an engineer, I reached my current position with support and guidance of some people. I believe that if I can help even one or two people achieve their dreams I would consider myself successful.

Humility from an organisational point of view is a source of inspiration in its own unique way. An approach worthy of admiration, conceptualised by our founder, Konosuke Matsushita. A person, who had achieved so much without a formal education, never thought of himself as a person superior to others. Whenever he met someone new, he saw an opportunity to learn and considered them to be as intelligent as he was. He stood grounded, listened to experiences of those around him with intent and always showed them admiration and respect they deserved. He encouraged his employees to take pride in the work they do, regardless of their role, because ultimately we were all working towards one common goal. With this came the happiness of self, happiness of being around those who admire your work, and this extended to their families as well. The thoughtfulness with which he approached people became an organisational philosophy, of which we are ardent followers at Panasonic. At its core, his management philosophy was a mix of happiness, satisfaction, reflection and gratitude.

This thinking has led our organisation for over a century now. It is why teamwork in our organisation thrives in any given situation. It is why I continue to learn not just from my seniors, but my team members as well. Mutual respect creates an environment that promotes practicing mindfulness, listening, being grateful, seeks help or feedback and constantly reflects on actions.

It is with these responsibilities that we intend to move forward. We will continue towards cultivating an environment that is mindful of one and other. Because at no point did we ever believe that we’re always right or that we have best the answers. We only know that when we work through things together, we’re at least halfway there.

Ambition, resilience and humility are the three values that have stayed with Panasonic and me. As we aim to be the creators of a better tomorrow, these values will lay the moral guideline for a thoughtful tomorrow as well.