Mo: “I am the one who matters! You are all hogwash. No one even understands who or what you are. If it was up to you, ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine people out of every one hundred thousand would be living in abject poverty. Only those who just dream but cannot act, such as the poets and the painters come looking for you.”
Mo: “In contrast, I am the one people seek. Its only because of me that they get up in the morning and go about their work. I am the one who keeps them happy and productive, I am the one because of whom they stay in their jobs, and I am the one who makes them achieve their goals. I will not be out of place if I say that its only because of me that the world keeps on spinning. Without me, people fail to do their tasks, employee productivity drops, people feel depressed and leave jobs. Every human being knows me and misses me when I am not around. I can go on and on about my virtues but as I am humble, I will stop here. You on the other hand are an enigma of sorts. People are not even sure about your existence. No one is clear about how you function and what exactly do you impact. And you want a seat at the same table as me! So, tell me, what exactly are you good at and why do you deserve a seat at the table?”
I am sorry to disappoint those who expect the response from the challenger to be similar to the iconic dialogue from the movie from Deewar – “Mere paas maa hai” (I have my mother). Nothing of that sort happened.
Prompt came the reply.
I: “Thank you for your introduction. And congratulations on helping humans achieve their goals. I am impressed with your prowess. And you are right when you say that you are an integral part of billions of human lives. On the other hand, there is a fair bit of intrigue around me. I can assure you it is not deliberate. I am not the one who wants to be elusive.”
I: “As far as I and concerned, I can claim to be involved in many things – inventions of the wheel, printing press, the telephone, the light bulb, electric motor, internal combustion engine, and internet; the success of scientists such as Archimedes, Newton, Maxwell, Marie Curie, Tesla, Einstein, and Faraday; responsible for the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Schubert, and Rabindranath Tagore; the genius of Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Monet, and M F Hussain; the beauty of the Taj Mahal, Colosseum, Great Wall of China, and Pyramids of Egypt; the works of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Milton, and Tolstoy. I am also the reason for the great success stories of business enterprises such as Apple, Tesla, Google, PepsiCo, Samsung, Amazon, Toyota, and GE.”
I: “Human beings have to look within themselves to find me. However, very few can see beyond their day-to-day existence. When they can rise beyond the obvious, it is easy to discover me. The ones who do, not only achieve greatness for themselves they also elevate human existence. When I am around, work does not seem bothersome for people, it is fun. Employees do not wait for the eight hours to be over to get out of the office, they are eager to go to work. I am the reason why people leave their well-paying jobs and turn into entrepreneurs. They take huge risks to start new ventures, despite knowing that it is an extremely tough job, the failure rate is high, and they may go bankrupt. I am the one who makes the sadhus/monks achieve bliss despite the maddening stress around them.”
I: “While I agree that your reference list is much longer, my references are the who’s who of the world and carry much more weight. So, when you say if I should get a seat at the table, I cannot help but feel that you should have done better homework.”
She knew that the opponent would give a tough fight but ‘Motivation’ was not ready for such a power-packed response from ‘Inspiration’. For a moment, she was dumbstruck. However, she recovered quickly.
Mo: “I see value in what you just said. I think, we work differently but are equally important for the growth of the human race. Without me people will have no reason to strive and the world would go back to the hunter-gatherer days. During the initial period of human existence, the only reason for them to go out and take some action was to stay alive. You, on the other hand serve another purpose of ensuring that there are quantum jumps in progress by making people stretch beyond their daily grind.”
And thus, ladies and gentlemen, Motivation, and Inspiration became good allies!
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
Fortunate to be part of building and protecting reputation of leading organisations and brands across a variety of industry verticals, he has recently founded his unique C-Suite Consulting firm, Kritical Edge.
Previously he has worked in leadership roles with ReNew Power and PepsiCo India among other roles.
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