The Great Divide
TOM WANTED to soar like an eagle. He was convinced that if he spread his arms out and flapped them wildly, he would really take off and say goodbye to gravity. All he needed was some time. That and several thousand multivitamin pills to sustain the momentum. All this was metaphorically speaking of course. The little knowledge of aviation Tom had was amateurish at best. His skills lay in placating irate bosses and convincing grouchy customers that the product they were so reluctant to buy could change their lives. In other words, he was good at selling hogwash. And that is why the management found him so endearing. But then, this story is not about Tom. It is about Jack.
Jack worked in the same office as Tom. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth but had always wished he were. Nonetheless, he put that disappointing episode of his birth behind him and waded through the mess of life with a grim-jawed determination that could make a World War II cadaver-collector proud. Not that he had anything to be grim-jawed about. He had a loving family and a steady occupation that assured him a regular income. He was really good at his job too. In eight years, he had worked his way up from sales executive to Assistant Manager, Sales. He was industrious and reliable. But, like a Shakespearean character, he had one tragic flaw - he always saw a glass half-empty. This made him somewhat of a misfit in his team. The management seemed to barely tolerate his presence and thought of him as some sort of a necessary evil.
"He reaches his monthly targets alright, but there is something missing. I can't put my finger on it, but he lacks that... how do you say it... joi de vivre. Every time I see his eternally constipated expression, I find myself ruminating over all that has gone wrong with my life," joked Janet, a co-worker.
This state of affairs continued until the day Jack overheard a group of his colleagues congratulating Tom for something. Intrigued, Jack made a few enquiries and found out that Tom had been promoted. He was now senior manager, sales - a position that technically made him Jack's boss. Now, Jack was, pardon the archaic expression, not a mean soul, but he had joined the organisation five years before Tom did and had been salivating at the thought of the senior manager's post for a long time now. So, he felt a lot like a deflated balloon by the time he was done with the day's work. Much as he tried to put it out of his mind, the image of Tom sitting with his feet on a desk and smoking a cigar kept popping up in his imagination at the most inappropriate times. After a sleepless night and much bickering with his wife over what he perceived to be an overcooked breakfast, he showed up at the office the next day bleary-eyed and slightly dishevelled. He returned his boss's good morning with a grunt, and proceeded to his desk. He sat in his chair and twiddled his thumbs for a few hours before he was summoned to a team meeting.
As he eventually found out, the meeting had been called to officially anoint Tom as the new senior manager. Now, if it had stopped at that, Jack would have gone back to his desk and led the rest of his not-so-merry existence in the same organisation. But, as it happened, the boss said something that changed his life completely.
"Now, Jack, I know you are a hard worker and all that, but you could take a leaf from Tom's book, you know. Get that killer instinct... you know. It'd do you a world of good," the boss said. There was nothing inflammatory in it really, just advice from a well-meaning chief. But, it acted as the spark that set fire to Jack's raging emotions. Fifteen minutes later, Jack handed in his resignation letter.
But, there is a happy ending to this story. While, as you may have gathered by now, Jack was not really a `people person', he was resilient. And, as he later found out, he also had an amazing gift for numbers. He did some much-needed introspection, changed his profession and went into finance, becoming the CFO of a very large company.
There is a lesson (yes, it is no Aesop's Fable, but it still has a moral) to be learned from the story - mental disposition. With some work and effort, you could be a great architect, but do you have the mental disposition and the aptitude for it? Jack was an introvert in a field that demanded a deep understanding and appreciation of human nature. He may have been a good salesman but he could never be great for his inherent traits wouldn't allow it. His talent lay elsewhere - in this case, finance. His thoughtful and measured disposition did not help him in selling products but it did help him in vaulting to the top of the financial world. Tom, on the other hand, was a born communicator, who revelled in dealing with people. Whether he could or could not have been a great financial wizard is open to debate. He belonged to the world where the ruling proverb was `he who hesitates is lost', while Jack's second profession of choice went by the thumb rule `haste makes waste'.
Of course, there are many other variables that determine how far you get in life, but temperament and aptitude are the building blocks on which your career should be built. And, if you don't really fit in with the rest of the clan at work, relax. Whether you are a Jack or a Tom, there is space for you somewhere. The trick is to find out where that somewhere is, and on which side of the behavioural divide you stand.
ARJUN SENGUPTA
arjuns.hyd@cnkonline.com
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