The Ekalavya Column - Nov '11

Do you look up to a loser?

Yup, you read that right – do you look UP to a LOSER?

If you simply snorted and dismissed that question right out of hand, you wouldn’t be way off

We celebrate the successful. Give them awards. Put them in the limelight. Call them the “Most Valued Employee’. We want the others not on stage to want to be like them. In the belief that this is what will create that charged-up environment in which employees deliver extraordinary results    

We yearn to recruit those who have been terribly successful earlier. We want a piece of them because we believe we’ll get guaranteed results

The flies in the ointment surface later. That star recruit, so terribly successful in his earlier avatar, turns out to be a dud. Last year’s superstar achiever delivers l’oeuf the moment the market tanks

Losers don’t merit awards, do they? Others don’t get all enthused and inspired by them, do they? And if they did, what do you say to them? Especially, if they can’t be bothered by who won

Rewind to the 1908 London Olympics. And the magic of Dorando Pietri at the marathon

Did Dorando take the gold? No. Who did? Except for with the avid quiz buff, nil recall

But those with even a nodding acquaintance of the sport will tell you of Dorando Pietri. They will talk to you in vivid detail, as though they were there, of a Dorando, dehydrated under the blazing sun, staggering into the stadium, lurching painfully towards the finishing line, one agonizing step at a time. And 75,000 screaming spectators willing Dorando to finish, simply finish the course. Cheering for not their own countrymen in the contest, but an alien, from a land not too well-loved

In their mind’s eye, they can see it unfold, as though it’s happening right here, right now, the struggle after a energy-sapping run of 42 km

Dorando lost. He was not called up to the podium to receive a medal. His name was never recorded in the annals of sports. But he lives on in the hearts of millions of sports fans. Even a full 103 years after it all happened

So why is it that you will never hear of the winner of the Gold at the same event? Why is it that a Wilma Rudolf is a legend, while we don’t care much for those who have won far more Golds at the Olympics?

To answer that question, it might be worthwhile to ask some questions

Why do we have educational institutions named after Ekalavya?  And when do you recollect last having seen an ‘Arjuna’ school?

For if you can’t recollect having seen one, it’s maybe because deep inside we all know that it is not that Arjuna was not an achiever. It’s just that we cherish Ekalavya more, not for what he achieved, but for what he overcame

Wilma is a legend not for the Golds she won at the Rome Olympics, - it was about the fact that she won them despite being born a Black American woman, in 1940, despite being the 20^th of 21 children and despite having a left leg that was polio-afflicted

It was not about what she achieved, it’s about what she overcame. It’s that overcoming, not the achievement, that makes a Dorando or Wilma a legend. For when there is an overcoming, whether the person won or lost ceases to matter, it soars up right there, assuming epical proportions

One of the first movies we at Transforma screen during our 2-year business improvement effort at dealerships is ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’. As the story of Chris Gardner in San Francisco unfolds on the screen, you can sense those watching it egging Chris on, almost willing him to not fail

We have had participants, even those hardened by decades of Life, walk up to us, to tell us they wish they’d known of Chris earlier

And they go out and talk about the story of Chris to others. In their dealerships. In their families. To their friends

They go out and buy copies of the movie. To gift them. To build a library in their dealerships. To watch the movie over and over again

They do this whether the dealership is in Kerala, or Bengal or Rajasthan or Andhra – wherever. Moved by the story of a man from an alien culture, an alien profession, speaking an alien tongue

Stories of success motivate us, for a transient period. The chronicles of overcoming do not simply motivate, - they inspire us forever. And when we come across them, we don’t care which city, which region, which nation they come from. The message of inspiration in them has an appeal that is universal

So when we do those glittering award ceremonies – are we celebrating the right people? For the right deeds? When we are making out that offer letter to that star-performer candidate, are we doing the right thing? Or are we celebrating those who were geniuses only in a bull-market?

And in doing so at these ceremonies, do we continue to genuflect before at the altar of Arjuna, while humankind seeks the elusive Ekalavya within us?