The world tends to ignore most people and their opinions. A global tendency which is hard to correct, especially with leadership being what it is, and isn’t, these days.
But closer home, it is we, those who should know better, and those who are in the mainstream, who should value the littlest of persons and their feelings, as well as viewpoints.
Take the case of a toddler, while his parents are watching Netflix, or while they’re discussing politics or while they’re feeling romantic or while they’re arguing. The toddler is largely ignored, along with the family pet, unless one of them creates a ruckus, significant enough to be tackled and doused, in whatever way. The parents concerned think that the toddler’s opinion doesn’t really matter, in any matter, because he is too tiny to know better. But they don’t realise that he just might know better.
One of my favourite stories is about a seemingly inconsequential security guard who dared to offer advice to his bosses and superiors. What happened was that the whole company was proud of this huge new vehicle that they had manufactured and assembled. But on the day of the launch, they couldn’t wheel the magnificent car out of the workshop because of the smallish exit gate. They kept discussing how much time it would take to widen the doorway, and they even summoned a mason. Just then, a wisened old security guard offered a solution. He suggested that they change the tyres to smaller ones just for the exit and then fix the bigger tyres back once the vehicle was outdoors. The car just managed to sneak out as a result!
Very often, we grown-ups, we bosses, we parents, we who think that we’re in command, we don’t really want anyone else’s inputs. We are Mr or Mrs know-it-all. But true leaders are those who somehow assimilate ideas from all rungs, including the drivers, the maids, the liftmen, et al, before embarking on a new course of action.
{{/usCountry}}Very often, we grown-ups, we bosses, we parents, we who think that we’re in command, we don’t really want anyone else’s inputs. We are Mr or Mrs know-it-all. But true leaders are those who somehow assimilate ideas from all rungs, including the drivers, the maids, the liftmen, et al, before embarking on a new course of action.
{{/usCountry}}Our think tank, Suvichar, usually organises seminars at schools and colleges. And while we are blessed with the wisdom of former army chief, General VP Malik, at these events, he himself makes it a point to ask young students to speak up and present their own ideas. The result is that we’ve been able to compile some very innovative recommendations over the years, many of them which emanated from the ‘babes’. Another army officer recently told me that he learnt many life lessons from jawans.
Even in a relatively healthy democracy like ours, millions are not able to voice any sort of opinion, or impact any sort of decision making. Schemes, policies, plans, orders, notifications, etc, are usually bereft of any feedback from the grass root level. They are most often conjured up in cushy cabins somewhere in a capital city.
Another worry is the impact on impressionable minds of the jumble of content that media and social media keep convoluting and throwing up. These platforms tend to cater to their own target audiences and they don’t give a ‘damn’ about what insignificant others think. Even decades ago, when I was a seven-year-old, I remember hearing a word for a woman on TV, which I did not understand. The grown ups present, squirmed and came up with an insipid explanation which I realised in my later years, was way off the mark! The fact that our films and the public discourse in general are anyway lopsided in their narrative, is another matter.
To be able to pay heed to, to empathise with, and to truly appreciate the presence of someone not powerful enough or old enough to be considered important, is the key. Human beings cannot afford to be trampling on the minds of those whom they consider to be irrelevant to their causes.
An elevated consciousness does not indicate a high and mighty attitude. It entails a visionary outlook but also attention to detail and respect for each person in the ‘room’.
One way to achieve this is to speak less, and listen more. Being garrulous might not be everyone’s role in life. Unless you happen to be a motivational speaker!
vivek.atray@gmail.com