Learn from lungfish...dear HR

The advantage/additional capability of some people over others always will have history and cause of adversity. Hence when one appreciate the advantage, should not miss to see and understand the probable adversity that has favoured the advantage. It means, know the history as well when you see an obvious fact.

Lungfish lives in fresh water. The question is why lung fish lives in fresh water and not in salt water and marine ecosystem? If it were living in marine ecosystem, it would not have developed lungs to breath. Fishes in general breaths through gills by pumping in the water and absorbs the dissolved oxygen from it. They are strictly aquatic animals. But the lungfish, in addition to having gills, it also has lungs to breathe. Lungs are meant to breathe oxygen only from the non aquatic ecosystem.

The probable reason for the lungfish to have lungs to breathe in addition to gills may be only to overcome the adversity during summer months. The water in the freshwater reserves like ponds, lakes, streams etc., can dry off during summer months whereas the water in the marine ecosystem will never dries off. The fishes that live in fresh water ponds therefore find it hard to live in fresh water ecosystem when water dries off during summer months. When the ecosystem undergoes such changes constantly, naturally some fishes would have evolved with lungs to breath in addition to gills during such adverse period while many other species of fishes would have become extinct also.

Only the adversity has caused the lungfish to have lungs to breathe in addition to gills. The question is why the corporate must see the adversity as well when they see an advantage/additional capability in someone. The advantage can be always used up well. But they must remember that if the adversity exists constantly in the corporate ecosystem, although it may help some to evolve with certain additional advantages but the same adversity can also cause many talents to perish from the corporate ecosystem forever as well.

Therefore knowing and understanding the history become important and necessary. But most corporate leaders and HR function while recruiting a candidate or assigning a new project to someone, they only will see the additional advantages or capabilities of the chosen candidate and never its cause. The cause can be beneficial and can equally be harmful also. The HR function must also gauge what extent it can affect the overall wellness of the corporate. While knowing the known, also tries to know the unknown. Known will help your present and the unknown, the future.

Dr S Ranganathan, ClinRise Derma Pvt., Ltd., Chennai

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