Success does not come out of only strategic calculations and algorithms. Success is equally well-rooted in just being able to feel genially, recall authentically and acknowledge relationships with honesty and a certain level of straight-forwardness
With time, certain words grow stale, others fade, still others acquire meaning which they never had. All this is in the backdrop of context, territory, and technology. ‘Innovation’ is a word that has grown stale. Twenty years ago, talking of innovation was a rarity; today, talking of innovation is like speaking about ‘democracy’ and ‘secularism’. There are other words that have faded too. Socialism is one of them.
There are no tears to shed, in the experience of life-cycle of words. That is an ongoing process. However, it is altogether a different story where words mean different things to different people. Sometimes even the dictionary is unable to give the meaning that is the need of the day. Two illustrations of the observation, ‘Thank you’ and ‘Sorry’— would help. ‘Thank you’ has become a social ritual which can mean anything from, ‘Please vacate the seat’ to ‘Please leave the room’. This migration of meaning is not territory specific but is class specific.
The other day I was on a trip to a State capital and happened to visit a socially influential person. He told me of the story of a Speaker of a State legislature Assembly tendering his resignation to accept office as a Minister. The Governor, after the swearing-in ceremony, commented: “So you have decide to spare the Assembly”. To this the gentleman replied, “Thank you.” Clearly a case of migration of meaning!
Similarly, ‘sorry’ has for many become a word for just making an excuse rather than offering regret. It is this shifting nature of meaning of words that has become problematic and added confusion to social networks, which are already confounded. It is a subject matter which affects all our lives. Words are central to human relationship and communication. Relationships are central to human endeavour, indeed to human life, itself. Keeping relationship going for any length of time requires words and communication.
This can be converted in managerial terms. KPMG’s Richard Rekhy is of the view that the first lesson to learn in leadership is relationship- building. He makes a significant statement in saying that it is only this, that matters in networks. Those networks could be within the organisation or outside the organisation. Relationships are central to any growth or development. Mr Rekhy has further observed: Wherever one is at any given point in time, it is because somebody came into one’s life at another point of time and helped one to reach where he or she is.
Indeed, adversity is a huge accelerator of growth. It transforms people and it transforms organisations and institutions. Apparently, somebody had asked Michael Dell when he entered the personal computer industry: “Are you sure you want to get into personal computer industryIJ” Mr Dell made his company the Dell it became, by adapting, for the first time, to the direct sales model. It was a model based on relationship.
Then there are emotions to relate to beyond the nurturance of relationships. Few could have thought 10 years ago of McDonald’s Aloo Tikki! Quite simply, there are no sure recipes of success. There are examples to read, to understand and chart out one’s path. Relationships are rooted in sensibilities. It is important to have shared sensibilities and shared vocabularies if one has to make good or even survive.
There is a common statement that tough times don’t last, but tough people do. Tough times require tough decisions, and tough people to take those decisions. Success does not come out of only strategic calculations and algorithms. Success is equally well-rooted in just being able to feel genially, recall authentically and acknowledge relationships with honesty and a certain straight-forwardness.