Category: Blog

Many in Body one in Mind. Vince Lombardi- The American Football Coach, known as the best coach in history, once said- “Individual commitment to a group effort. that is what makes a team win, a company work, a society work, a Civilization work”

On November 18th, 1962, Rezang La, Ladakh 123 soldiers of our army Kumaon Regiment, frost bitten, without winter clothing just wet fleets and with very limited food faced an impossible task. Under Major Shaitan Singh fought a battle against 3000 well-armed, well fed Chinese soldiers under very chilly winter conditions of -30 degree centigrade. Result repulsed more than seven attacks and killed over 1300 enemy army. They fought till the last man with only 6 found alive. Their strength UNITY.

On 4th December 1971, 120 of our soldiers plus one jeep mounted MMG fought with attacking 3000 Pak army with 40+ Patton Tanks under the great Major Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri successfully halted the attack then and there. Again, the main reason for this victory against all odds was the unity amongst the team the leader providing the binder.
Unity is one thing that is of great importance in an organisation. We should try being many in body but one in mind. Many in body one in mind means working together for the same purpose and cherishing the same values while preserving our unique identities.

We must transcend all differences amongst us to become as inseparable as fish and the water in which they swim. This means eliminating all divisions and conflicts between ourselves and trying to rid ourselves of egoism. Being as inseparable as fish and water also means having a spirit of mutual respect, understanding and support, valuing each other just as fish treasures the water.

Preserving and holding onto our individual and unique identities is important as well. Giving up our identity, ideas and opinions will lead to stagnation and there would be no diversity or growth due to the absence of counter ideas. However, it is also important to get rid of our ego and accept other ideas and come down to a single conclusion. Our loyalty should lie with the organization, all the decisions and ideas should be formulated keeping the company’s goal, vision and mission in mind. If doing away with our ideas helps the company in the long run then that’s what we must consider.

The Buddhist text of Lotus Sutra has the principle of cherry, plum, peach and damson. Flowering fruit trees endure the harsh cold of winter and as spring approaches, each blossom in their own time. They blossom with their own unique and beautiful flowers. Each thing the cherry, plum, peach and the damson is its own entity. Their fruits have unique flavours and requirements. Similarly, we are all unique and must stay that way to maintain nature’s balance just like the fruits.

It is only with diverse ideas and thoughts that one can come to a conclusion. For example, a cloth can only be made if it has both vertical and horizontal threads. Only vertical or only horizontal threads will make a very weak fabric. Similarly, all of us with our diverse and unique personalities should be united when it comes to the organisation. We should all be inseparable as fish and water yet different in our own way like cherry, plum, peach and damson.

In the organization, we must be different in our own way, with our own personalities and personal inputs. However, we must not be so single-minded that we forget the common purpose and mission as well as vision of the organization. It is essential for our growth to be in tune with ourselves as well as the organization.

We all are aware we need to do the right thing always. But in a recent movie I came across a different paradigm. The Dumbledore most noble hearted character in the legendary tales of Harry Potter asks someone, to do what is right and not what is easiest and thus seems right. A tale from our mythology also speaks about this.

Years ago, there was only a narrow bridge across the river Ganga. A learned sage stepped on it and at the same time the king stepped on it from the opposite side.

“Step Aside!” The king thundered.
“But I stepped first so I have the right to pass first” the sage replied.
“But I am the King, and I can push you back”
“Yes, but I am a respected sage and philosopher. Lots of people love me and seek my blessings.”
“I built the school where you teach” the king retorted with pride.
The argument continued and turned nasty. The King pushed the sage.
Furious, the sage cursed him and said, “You behaved like a demon so you will turn into one!”
The King turned into a demon and gobbled up the sage. The people lost a King and gained a demon instead. All suffered, including both. Nothing was left for either of them anymore.

So, what mattered more? Crossing the bridge or crossing it first? Pride, anger and shallow thoughts & lack of deep principals may drive us on such roads quite often at-times.

Often, we lose sight of the objective and focus on proving the other person wrong and show them their mistake. In our obsession to be right, we lose sight of the goal and lose.Wanting to be right becomes a trap and an ego satisfying path.

One has to make a choice between being right or winning. One could be right and win but if one has to make a choice, it can lean towards letting our ego go and taking a step back. Sometimes, maybe it’s better to compromise instead of being right.

Similarly many times we hold on to customers handed to us and despite taking help from our colleagues we wish to bring in business only out of personal effort and ignoring the fact that one of our colleague was in a better position to close him. In the end company loses the customer and we end up licking our wounds feeling frustrated at the lost effort.

Finally, we are there to make our company win and become big not ourselves. Losing a battle is much more honourable if it helps win a war.

Steve Jobs spelled his success Mantra as “I don’t really care about being right, I just care about success. I don’t mind being wrong, and I’ll admit that I’m wrong a lot. It doesn’t really matter to me too much. What matters to me is that we do the right thing.”

How many times in a company we see revolutionary ideas getting shelled down by the majority favouring the usual regular line of thought. However, nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come. In case of Konosuke Matsushita the founder of company Matsushita Electrical Appliances used to work in an electric company as an apprentice. He designed a bulb holder the type we use even now. The supervisor when saw this rejected it and actually manhandled him and asked him to just concentrate on the work given to him and threatened to sack him.

Konosuke left the company and after many troubles opened a factory manufacturing this holder. He was the first one to do so and the product got hit. Rest is history.

Similarly, Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer, mathematician, physicist, philosopher, and professor. Galileo built his telescope in 1604, he then began supporting the theory that the earth and planets revolve around the sun.

At this time the church believed that all the heavenly bodies moved around the earth. At first his theory was deemed heretical. Later, his friend was elected as the pope, and he encouraged him to go on studying. His friend allowed him to study further only if he disregarded the theory, but Galileo still went on and published writings that supported the theory.

Church reaction was swift, Galileo was summoned to Rome. Galileo was threatened with torture, and he finally admitted he had supported Copernican theory, but privately held that his statements were correct. He had to spend his remaining years under house arrest.

Though ordered not to have any visitors nor have any of his works printed outside of Italy, he ignored both. He wrote several books and publications. In spite of strong opposition from the society at that time, Galileo never let go of his beliefs and ideas. He was convinced he was right and followed through with that deep conviction. He had the standalone spirit that was needed at that time.

If it wasn’t for Galileo’s ideas, we wouldn’t have made so much progress in science and astronomy. In our work environment and everyday lives, we must have rationality and the ability to decide what is right. Moreover, we should pitch our ideas with a high level of belief and conviction, our belief in them will convince others and touch them. This doesn’t mean everything we come up with is always right, but if we approach things from this perspective, we’ll get somewhere.

A 15th century explorer, Christopher Columbus made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain. He was determined to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia.

Columbus believed the earth was round and gave distance estimates accordingly. Everybody else disagreed but still supported his voyage. He never reached Asia but stumbled upon the Americas and opened up the Americas to European colonization. Columbus expeditions set in motion the widespread transfer of people, plants, animals, diseases, and cultures that greatly affected nearly every society on the planet. Foods from the Americas, such as potatoes, tomatoes, and corn, became staples for Europeans and helped increase their populations.

Had Columbus pondered on his failure and not taken any more voyages, European-American relations would have been stagnant, and America wouldn’t have been discovered in all its glory. Hence even failure is important, armed with the correct spirit even failure bears fruit.

In the epic Iliad, while Achilles anger is all-consuming and of a self-destructive nature, Odysseus is a legendary King a hero of the Iliad & viewed as a man of the brilliant mind, having a voice of reason, renowned for his self-restraint and diplomatic skills but also had a lot of pride.

He is also a good speaker. The Odyssey, one of two major ancient Greek epic poem focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus and his journey home after the Trojan War. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach his homeland after the war.

On his way back home, sailing with his men and ships, they came upon an island. On the island they found a cave where they rested. There were 12 men with Odysseus. They were unaware that the island was filled with one-eyed cannibals known as Cyclops. On discovering the men, a Cyclops called Polyphemus returned to the cave entered and shut the opening with a huge bolder.

The men in the cave objected & enraged, the Polyphemus grabbed two of the men, smashed their heads against the rocks and started eating them one by one.
Thinking about himself and his men, Odysseus put everyone’s heads together and came up with a plan. This is of deep importance everywhere, teamwork is always needed. Odysseus and his men took a large timber, carved the end to a sharp point, and hid it.

When the Cyclops returned in the evening, Odysseus offered the Cyclops some strong wine. Polyphemus became very drunk. “What is your name? Thank you for this treat” asked Polyphemus.

“My name is No Man”, said Odysseus in an attempt to hide his identity.
Drunk Polyphemus thought maybe Odysseus was not a man. Polyphemus then fell fast asleep in a drunken sleep. As soon as he fell asleep, Odysseus and his men took the sharpened stake and poked it into the eye of Polyphemus. Thus, blinding him and escaping from his clutches.

While leaving, Odysseus revealed his identity as a sign of pride, shouting “Cyclops if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so- say Odysseus” Odysseus then went on to tell Polyphemus his name, father, and home.

Is there anything wrong with shouting your name with pride after winning? Or one should accept a win with humility and simply move on. Well, what happened next?
The cyclops Polyphemus then prayed to Poseidon, his father, to get revenge on Odysseus. To exact revenge, Poseidon could not kill Odysseus but completely broke him by killing his entire crew and delaying Odysseus for 10 years. This delay even destroyed his family who had nothing to do with the errors done by Odysseus on account of his pride and plain rage.

None of those terrible consequences would have happened if Odysseus had suppressed his enormous pride. Odysseus arrogance and pride resulted in a lot of suffering for many people. Hence, we can see how indirectly, anger and arrogance destroyed not only Odysseus, but his crew as well.

Often, experiencing the sweet joy of victory we become complacent and overconfident. In that moment we sometimes fall short of wisdom and take actions without giving much thought. However, these moments may lead to our downfall, and we should try to keep ourselves in check and be cautious at every moment.

The story tells how it is not easy for even virtuous heroes and demigods are prone to make mistakes and commit unlikely and unpredictable actions.

If great warriors cannot attain perfection, we shouldn’t assume we will have perfection. We should always be on guard against what we learn from the mythological stories and strive to improve ourselves with each passing day.