RISING FROM ONE'S OWN ASHES
There is a very inspiring word and it makes my hair stand straight. The word is ‘Turnaround’.
The men and women, who bring about
the turnaround, are the heroes I seek inspiration from… And, they are there in
every walk of life… business, sports, technology, education, entertainment and,
even, families…
In every walk of life, there comes a
time, when things begin to slide… and slide fast and furiously. This is really
scary as it is blaringly visible in the case of giants – those institutions and
individuals who have risen from the scratch, inspiring millions of souls along
their success saga, when these giants are
now losing the ground below their feet, it looks unbelievable and frightening.
“No, it can’t happen to these giants,” is the immediate reaction… denial.
But, baby, it is happening to them…
The giant is falling… fast, and furiously…
It has happened to mighty kingdoms and
nations… Egyptian, Roman, Greek or British…
It has happened to great nations and
movements… The Nazi and Hitler’s Germany, the USSR and its brand of Communism…
The USA and China can’t be immune to
this… The time will come for all of them…
IBM rose to enviable heights once;
and just a couple of decades later, it was on the brink of collapse…
So it is now for our Infosys…
West Indies played cricket the way no
other country did… but, that was once…
Brazil has seen its downfall, too…
Men like Amitabh Bachchan have seen
it, too…
Yes, there comes a time in the lives
of every individual, organization or nation, when the glory begins to fade, and
demise seems certain…
Often, it is the very weight of the
giant that has now brought the giant down… the weight of the elephant!
The bigger you are… the more
vulnerable to the fall…
The leaner and lighter, the better…
they say!
Well,
there is something inspiring about the crisis in the lives of both giant individuals
and giant institutions… when someone comes to do the turnaround… yes, with his
heroics…
A Lee Iacocca… to do it for Chrysler…
A Louis V. Gerstner, Jr… to do it for
IBM…
A Steve Jobs… to do it for his own
baby, Apple…
An Amitabh Bachchan… to do to for his
own sinking ship…
More than the Success stories, I am
inspired by
the turnaround stories… When one rises
like a Phoenix from one's own
ashes…
To me, those are true heroes… the
true saviors… They inspire me the most.
Can Narayan Murthy do it for Infosys,
now?
I cheer he would…
Yes, tough times come in the lives of
every individual and every organization… and, to deal with them, often, come
tough people too…
So, let’s believe in the fresh life
that comes out from the cold ashes…
Let’s believe, once again, in the
inspiring words: “Tough times never last, but tough people do.”
It helps… It helps… Yes, it does.
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: Gloria Pinto
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............ Nitya