Success is a journey, not a destination. The trick lies in using success as benchmark for setting a better target
When India won the test at lords, the so-called Mecca of Cricket, the victory elicited responses from all quarters, praising the team India captain in the superlative. Accolades ranging from the best brain to a deserving candidate for Bharat Ratna were showered generously on him. The wheel suddenly turned backwards with the thrashing that team India got in the next three tests bringing a steep fall in the ratings. Suddenly the team turned around again drubbing England convincingly in the one-dayers.
The story of team India’s performance in England has some very crucial leadership lessons to offer. The first being that success in never-ending, failure is never final, which also is the title of a popular book. Nothing succeeds like success and nothing fails like failure. But drawing quick conclusions is fraught with danger. Time and again it has been proved. More so, in the game of cricket. In Dhoni’s case, interestingly, it has been proved several times. In fact, on one occasion in the past, Dhoni’s success was linked to his cognitive excellence. Such was the euphoria that one of the new management institutes led by its maverick chief planned to study the qualities of the captain’s brain. Unfortunately, before such a plan could take off, team India was smashed to a pulp in the two outings overseas at England and New Zealand. What went wrongIJ
The captain was the same. The team was the same. What changed was the nature of the market forces. From favourable, they became hostile. The same is true of the tale from lord’s test to one-dayers. One moment you lord over the game, but things change and your rating becomes a big zero. Suddenly tides change again and you earn kudos. So, lesson number two. Don’t take your success seriously. Your success, may not be all yours. What to do thenIJ That is the third lesson. The principal lesson of lord Krishna’s Bhagavad Gita. Perform your actions sincerely. But as to the fruits, leave it to the lord, who will decide.
The problem is in perception of the causality. Not just in cricket. Perhaps in every field — from business to politics, from military to adventure, from acting to performing. Success does come after a lot of hard work. But remember this hard work is a necessary condition not sufficient. Not all doing hard work taste the fruits of success. Performing sincerely is a duty, your karma, to be done unflinchingly. But never relate it to the results. A difficult proposition, yet the crucial one. Success is a journey, not a destination. The trick lies in using success as a benchmark for setting a better target. But the fact remains that you operate in a market and the market forces are important arbiters of results.
In theRamayana, Goswami Tulsidas has put this up rather poetically when Bharata, on his return after Rama’s exile and king Dashratha’s death questions the sage Vashistha why things went wrong. The couplet in Hindi is paraphrased: “Profit and loss, life and death, success and failure are all in the hands of lord. listen Bharata, the providence is all powerful.”
Interestingly, Murphy’s law in management tells the same axiomatic truth — “when a thing is to go wrong, it will”. The much-trumpeted stories of the CEO effect are, then, largely exaggerated.
The writer is a professor, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad (Jharkhand). He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com
