“ArthaPrajna” for the new academic year. Over the years, I have seen a great progression in the way in which this e-magazine has been brought out. And honestly speaking, batch by batch and year on year, ArthaPrajna has evolved to become better and better!! My happiness knew no bounds when I was told to contribute for the first edition of this year.
Well. To utilize this opportunity, I thought of choosing a topic which would apply to all young readers of this magazine in their daily life as well as to their
careers in the near future. The very word “good” in the title is difficult to define! It means different for different people. Let me fire, few questions on you. Think over it and answer it to yourselves. Here it goes.
Number 1: When was the last time you have witnessed; any person helps another stranger? Number 2: When was the last time you have sought a stranger’s help?
Number 3: When was the last time you helped a stranger? And what was it for?
Stranger- can be an unknown human being or an animal or a living thing like a TREE!! With no expectations in return.
I believe the answer to this question would measure the “Goodness” in us. Well, my intention here was to spark a thought in the young minds to realize that if we continue to remain selfish and think of only self-betterment, then this world would be very difficult to survive in the near future!! Please look around and observe the events happening around you. You see a small school-going kid chasing or abusing a street dog. What do you do? You see two men sit on a public bus station and smoke. What do you do? You see an aged woman getting down from a bus and trying to carry loads of stuffs in a gunny bag on her back. What do you do? You see few passengers in a car throw an empty bottle of water with food wrappers out from their vehicles. What would you do? I know most of us would simply ignore it and move on. And it is shameful that 70% of the people who do this and who watch this are so called “educated”. No doubt, we are educated but we have forgotten to be civilized. We are currently living in an era (which our elders call “Kaliyug”) of the Dark Age characterized by Crime, Addiction, Greed, Quarrels, Wrath and many more. So finding an inch of Goodness in and around us is a challenge in itself, isn’t it?
And if you believe Goodness is the need of the hour, then its high time we begin it from OURSELVES!! If the ‘Good’ begins from ME, it is sure to spread to others and everywhere to everyone. You see Goodness is an epidemic disease!! It indeed is a challenge but as always, with challenge, comes opportunities!! So… for the previously mentioned situations, do you think it is a herculean task to attend to a school kid and tell him about “Live and let live” principle? Is it that difficult to politely request the men not
to smoke in public, do we need to be a super human to help out the aged woman in lifting her load for few minutes? Or would it sound bad to request the passenger/ tourist to dump their waste into dustbins and contribute in keeping the environment clean?? Think about it.. Try to be a God of small
things and see how your perspective of life would change!! But, first learn to HELP YOURSELF before YOU HELP OTHERS!!
And now what has this “Goodness” funda got to do with MANAGEMENT??
Assuming I am Good, you are Good and everyone else around us is also Good- then
- You would be aware that you are working with/for humans and NOT machines
- You would be thoughtful of your words and deeds before entering into any deals.
- You would be cautious of what would be the extent of impact on the actions and decisions you would take on any particular issue- may it be related to procurement, production, marketing, fund raising, fund management, employee service rules, product, customer or market requirement, etc.
- You would not just think of making good money for self but also engage yourself in extending helping hand to the needy (in corporate terms we call it Corporate social responsibility-CSR). Thus, you would not require any law to be stringent on you or compel you or your organization to conduct welfare activities out of force.
(Since these points are based on Assumption of “Goodness”, one must try his/her best to achieve these assumptions- I know it is HIGHLY difficult but NOT impossible)
There is one strong reason why I have linked “Being Good” to Management. You become Micro- Masters that would lead you to success in your business/career. So begin to manage YOURSELF first, become your own Masters and learn to manage Small things at a time and see how the magic works.
“Let them learn to manage themselves first and certainly they will become capable of managing a company in the future”- my life in the PIM hostel had begun with this inspirational message from Swamiji. So, in a nutshell, I conclude- When we learn to manage smaller things by ourselves we gradually become capable of handling any greater challenges in the future. Start being a “Micro- Master”and see how magical impact you will have and this ability of yours would surely take you to greater heights!!
I wish the ARTHAPRAJNA team the very best and looking forward to hear more and more from PIM!! Thank you for the opportunity.
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