Do not search for reason....you can be successful - A HR message

Ones inability, inefficiency, lack of understanding, weakness/susceptibility, getting fooled easily by others may not be really linked with ones intelligence. As true as the above fact, so true is, all our enemies exist only because of some of our above defects.

Look at nature. All the herbivorous animals thrive well only because of abundant green plants. None of the green plants would actively fight against herbivorous animals eating them. But instead, they have developed enormous capability to re- grow and regenerate quickly. Imagine if the green plants either actively defend or fail to regenerate quickly, the life of herbivorous animals may not have been possible.

Similarly, only due to the ‘innate weakness’ of prey animals and predators could survive. No prey animal ever wants to be prey to predator but still they fall prey. It means, some level of weakness/susceptibility is created in every species of prey animal as free donation/ gift of evolution. Only due the above, predatory animals could survive.

The interesting point is that the weakness/susceptibility due to the evolutionary reasons cannot be understood or decoded. Perhaps the nature also may not want any life form to understand the ‘innate weakness/susceptibility’ built in them. If such secret can be decoded, the existence of nature itself may vanquish.

The management message to be remembered by the corporate people is that at times when you fail or succeed and which you could not logically explain why and how, better let that remain as mystery because you cannot demystify it. Do not blame destiny or god or fate, accept it with grace and develop newer skills and means to recover from such setbacks. Never blame anyone or search for the reasons when reasons are not obvious.

The message is not against demystifying the reasons, but never waste too much of time for the above if your initial efforts proves it impossible to demystify. Look at the arduous journey of many parasites to become human pathogen. Many parasites essentially require an intermediate host/vector. But still many parasites are quite successful. It is not just because of the smartness of these parasites proved them to be successful, but also the innate weakness/susceptibility of the victims have played a big role in the success of these parasites.

The message is that most of our failures or success need not be due to our merit and effort linked. If your boss is constantly looking for an opportunity to come after you, remember you are the real reason for it although such reasons you could or could not demystify.

Sometime knowing how and why may make you crazy and meaningless. When we fail to recognize such possibility, re-work towards how to solve the consequences alone will make our life meaningful and worth living.

The corporate people must stop thinking as ‘victims’ and instead start working towards how to overcome and be successful.

Dr S Ranganathan