From IIM Ahmedabad To Happiness

Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp Printers

Page 23

WORKING UP THE CORPORATE LADDER
After much deliberation, realization dawned on him that his organization and he himself were two different entities; while the former was basically a non-living human creation, he was a living being. The aspirations of the two are different, the goals are different. He is characterized by emotions, heart and soul. The concept of the life-cycle of a product or firm is absolutely different from that of his own life-cycle. When a product or firm dies, he does not die, and, conversely, the firm might continue to exist and prosper after he dies. Similarly, the growth of the firm does not necessarily signify the growth of the individual.
He started wondering if real growth and success actually meant having those qualifications that have already been spelt out - ownership of house, car and bank balance. He wondered how all these years he failed to take a lesson out of the basic principle in accountancy, learned by him many years ago, that even in the case of a proprietorship firm, the owner and the firm have to be treated as two separate and distinct entities.
He realized that true growth of an individual is more of an inward process. One has to go inward to know the truth. As one practices being quiet, going within, taking time to listen, that one starts to hear. One must start to shed away one's intensity of passion and to learn the virtues of detachment - to rise to a higher level, eventually.
Each day we fall into a never-ending stream of ruts and crevices. We pretend to be extremely busy and have no time to attend to the more earthly chores like walking in the woods, taking a stroll in the fresh air of early morning, and going to the temple, church or mosque. As the night falls, each day we become more disenchanted, unhappy and unfulfilled. Somewhere, down the road, we have lost sight of the bigger picture and lost the way.
As a natural consequence, we forget all that we have learned
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