HOME PAGE

Attitudes – They are Everything

Jobnet's Placement Consultants Directory

Attitudes – They are Everything

Pramod Batra

Whenever I travel in New York’s subways, I am thrilled to see the motivational posters put up by the school of Visual Arts. Here is one, which appeared as an advertisement in Span magazine. It catches your attention instantly and bothers you for a while. As I look at this simple picture today, several thoughts float onto my mental screen, which I would like to share with you –my readers.

My thoughts tend to center around a very good friend of mine, very talented, in a very large organization, who fought with his boss and even-tually was fired by the Board. The question is who was at fault? I do not know the answer, nor do I think it is important to know. What is more important is why it happened and how every-one of us can avoid the occur-rence of such things in our day-to-day life-in the office or at home.

It is important because everyone suffers in the process. In this case, my friend suffered. He had to start all over again, and he got the image of being a “fighting” type. And the organization suffers because they have to find a new man and start all over again with the new person. A few lakh rupees and a few years, in this case, went down the drain.

This brings me straight to the subject of attitudes. It survived in Escorts for over three decades. Perhaps my way was not the ideal way, but it is still a better way if you are moving towards your chosen goal-which in my case is a peaceful, respectful, thrilling and above all, thinking existence!

I want to share with you my ‘cocktail’ recipe for life-it holds good at the office as well as home. It is a combination of attitudes and approaches: Chinese (drooping moustache), Rajputani (stiff upward moustache) Lucknowi (pehle aap, i.e. after you) and so on.

I had my share of tiffs with my bosses, and some of them very mean ones. Many were due to the fact that I have always believed that if I think like everyone else, I am not needed! Whenever I overdid my ‘thinking’ I was raked over the coals. I felt the heat but I never got the burns, because I believe that I got ten per cent of my pay for being fired!

I walk through life with a Chinese-like drooping moustache. It is my chosen attitude based on several management concepts and a number of precepts, such as: most problems are really the absence of ideas; compare yourself with yourself only; KEP and BFP (Kee Farak Painda and Bahut Farak Painda – you’ve got to know what is important); make forgiveness your permanent attitude; adopt an outlook of suspended conclusion; accept some level of dust in life; laughter kills stress; don’t say it to get even; if all else fails, lower your standards, and others. Once you start thinking on these lines, you are bound to come up with your own custom-built approach.

Winners And Losers

Coming back to my friend, because of his Rajputani moustache, he caused so much anxiety to himself, his family and his colleagues. Life is too short, is it not? I am not saying that you have to have a permanently drooping moustache, but be aware that every ten minutes of anger costs you 600 seconds of happiness!
If you are always bristling for a fight, you may develop a fixed personality of being anxious, angry, mean and short-tempered — then your talents take a back seat, if they don’t get burnt out altogether.

When you fight with your boss, your wife, or your customer, the situation is somewhat like this: he has the diamond-studded golden pistol in his hand, and your hands are tied behind you back! It is an unequal fight to start with. Even if you ‘win’ this battle, you will lose the war — just as my very talented friend.
So in all humility, I suggest that you try to develop the right attitude, mix the right ‘cocktail’ between Chinese and Rajputani style, say in the ratio of 96 and 4 per cent or 90 and 10 per cent. This is appropriate if you are not a Hema Malini in your profession — if you are, maybe a 50:50 mix will be tolerable. But even a Hema Malini pays a price for exceeding this limit; then she becomes a Rajesh Khanna, or like my talented friend. In fact, over the years I have come across quite a few talented ‘losers’. Years ago I learnt to become a ‘Zero’ for a while, and the come back to become a ‘hero’ again. If you are proud of your talents — and each one of us has a talent, though in different measures — please also learn to get along well with people and adjust to places. Humility pays. Sincerity pays. A helpful nature pays. These are permanent attitudes. I am reminded of the observation that everyone can be nice to a king, but to be nice to a beggar demands a far better attitude.

If you are a boss, question your attitudes towards your people. Are you fair? Consider this: There was sales conference. A decision had to be made as to which ballpoint pen was to be included in the folder. The boss had three managers — Ajay, Bahl and Chadha. First, Ajay went to the boss and showed a pen. The boss was very happy and gave the okay. The boss considers Ajay a very good person — he even asks him simple questions! Then Bahl went, and the boss told him to go ahead and decide for himself. The boss was neutral. Finally, Chadha went with the same question: which pen to have for the conference? The boss lost his temper and questioned Chadha’s competence since he couldn’t even decide a silly thing like which pen to give at the conference.
It is almost impossible to be always fair, but surely you can self-audit frequently. If you don’t, you are making some of your people less efficient. And this is not good for you, your company, or your managers.

Attitudes and Skills

What qualities do you look for in a dream employee, in your boss, in your subordinates, in your own ideal self…?
You can add or delete, but let us say, there are 30 essential qualities that a good employee should possess — be it the president or a peon!
1. Integrity
2. Loyalty
3. Honesty
4. Dependability
5. Enthusiasm
6. Good Judgment
7. Motivation
8. Humility
9. Sincerity
10. Compassion
11. Competence
12. Sense of humour
13. Creativity
14. Innovativeness
15. Broad-Mindedness
16. Fairness
17. Outgoing
18. Hard working
19. Self directed
20. Goal setter
21. Confidence
22. Good self image
23. Responsibility
24. Loves people
25. Communicator
26. Caring
27. Punctuality
28. Teacher
29. Alertness
30. Patience
Now, which ones are attitudes and which are skills? There is a very fine distinction. You can join with less skills, which you can improve on the job, and advance your position with time. But even the best of skills will not take you far if your attitude is poor, or negative.

Very often we forget, but you can improve your attitudes by better management of your mind, your Thought Factory, Skills alone are not enough. It’s your attitude that makes all the difference and as far as improving that is concerned, the sky is the limit!

To Be More Creative,
I am Waiting For…
1. Inspiration
2. Permission
3. Reassurance
4. My turn
5. Someone to smoothen the way
6. The rest of the rules
7. Some to change
8. The stakes to be lower
9. More time
10. The right person
11. An obvious scapegoat
12. The kids to leave home
13. Mutual consent
14. A better time
15. Tomorrow
16. My annual checkup
17. A better circle of friends
18. My way to be clear
19. An absence of risk
And maybe, 19 more!

All of us postpone things. We procrastinate. We rationalize. We make excuses. We foolishly believe that to be creative and to have a positive attitude, we have to have all kinds of preconditions.

 Jobnet's Placement Consultants Directory - India & International

What's Inside?

• Placement Consultants in over 38 cities in India

• International Placement Consultants in over 31 countries

• Coverage in MNC's NGO's UN Government & Indian Co websites

• Special Section for Freshers

with complete Addresses, telephone numbers, email ids & specializations.
Jobnet Placement Consultants Directory - Order Online or Call - 09811017183