Anything Under The Sun

For long, it has been believed that success in managing people in the workplace depends on the level of intelligence as reflected in your academic achievements, exams passed, and marks obtained, and others.

You may have wondered many times how seemingly ordinary people build their way to success in handling people or how a college dropout like Bill Gates (of Microsoft fame) manage to build such a vast empire for which he is envied by the entire world. There are many others like him who have made the difference, and this could be attributed on loving people. For instance, Mother Theresa who decided to devote her life as nun to social service with no resources of her own could successfully arose world conscience to help the needy and the poor. When Debashis Chatterjee asked her the secret of her leadership, her answer was simple but profound: “Small work with great love”. Love is the true hallmark of great leaders - love for their work and love for those with whom they work. Pressures of the task and the bottom line often crowd out the personal needs that people bring into the workplace. There’s always so much to be done. Who has time for kind words or listening or calling? When Robert Galvin (then CEO of Motorola) was asked by his son, Chris (now CEO of Motorola), for his philosophy of business replied: “Five words: to love and to achieve. And the second will never happen until you do the first.” To this day the word love is not stranger to people who work at Motorola.

Unfortunately, too many modern organizations encourage amiable superficiality and discourage deeper forms of human contact. In most workplaces, the unwritten rules are clear: stay on task, be friendly and upbeat, and avoid anything that hints at emotion or intimacy.