116- Prisons of one Kind – Part 2

116- Prisons of one Kind – Part 2

I am almost forced to write a sequel of the last musing owing to some blatant misinterpretation of the last one from some quarters. The fundamental premise of the last musing was that each one us is programmed and shaped by a complex interplay of circumstances and histories and have something unique that drives us. Often that is our biggest strength and sometimes our Achilles heel. Redemption as individuals lies in being aware of what drives us, so that the possibilities of our drive becoming a barrier in the way we relate to others and interact with them can be understood and avoided. In the course of outlining this point I illustrated it with someone whose primary drive was power.

Apart from power other drives of individuals is that of glory, importance, relevance and so on and so forth. Ironical as it may sound negative emotions like revenge and point-to-be-proven can also be a potent enough drives. There is no hierarchy within these drives in terms of how has far worse debris of consequences of one drive is over the other. Each one is equally devastating once it goes out of control. While each one of them is capable enough to uplift us from the mediocrity of existence and propel us into unknown levels of accomplishments and success, each one when left unguarded has the potential to become a menace for people around. Let us not fool ourselves to believe that some of those consequences are more bearable and hence more pardonable than others. In reality each one has the lethal potential to choke people around us. The debris that we leave behind as we interact and relate to others might be different in each case, but debris it unquestionably it is. And it stinks.

It is ironical that Organisations spend millions to teach its workforce a wide array of skills which can broadly be called ‘people skills’ – and with very questionable results. The reason is not very difficult to fathom. As managers grow in hierarchy they do not need domain expertise, as much as they need abilities to relate to people in productive, mutually fulfilling and inspiring way. Armed with the best of intentions, managers being the human beings that they are, and governed by the drives and complexes outlined above, leave their peers and subordinates to clean the debris that the managers leave behind, rather than focussing on the business agenda at hand. The attempt should be to increase awareness. I wish there was short cut or a crash course to increase awareness – organisations would be happier places to work in.  

Finally our drives are our biggest strength. Let us not debunk them or undervalue them or underestimate their power to shape our destinies. But for God’s sake, let’s be AWARE of them – just in case it has become a prison. We owe it to us.

Guru

Many years back I had read a brilliant book called “The road less travelled’’ by MS Peck which is a more academic source of authority on this subject. It was many years later that I truly discovered that book in everyday action.