Impartiality and success

You know, there are some words that automatically link themselves in your mind with certain type of jobs. Like this 'impartiality'. You automatically think of it as associated with 'judges' and, by and large, you care two hoots about someone preaching to you about how judges can succeed. After all, issues relating to other people very seldom interest us; it is OUR success that we care about.

But then, is it really true? When Tiru says this, does he mean the advice to apply only to those who are sitting as judges to uphold the law?

Keduvalyaan enbadhu ariga than nenjam naduvoreei alla seyin - Tirukkural

Know that you are headed to destruction when first you decide to be partial rather than fair - Loose Translation

At first sight, it does seem like it is all about judges though you are not quite sure that, in this day and age, impartiality will lead to success for them. But is that really true?

You are the CEO, let us say, of a tech start-up. There are a few bright chaps working with you and you are in a discussion about a minor modification of your APP. Now the guy whom you like comes up with a sub-optimal idea and the guy you do not really take to comes with an optimal solution. Because the issue it not serious and because you want to take down the latter a peg or two you choose the sub-optimal version. What ensues?

The other chap may quit or stay put. Your group as a whole gets the idea in their heads that there is no point suggesting alternatives when your pet has put forth a suggestion. Especially true if the same thing happens a few times OR your pet is your nephew or some such or both. Slowly you end up getting only suboptimal solutions to ALL your issues. AND therein lies the 'heading to destruction'.

You can play that tale out in multiple other scenarios and will find that it heads the same way UNLESS you keep your biases under strict control.

Tiru does not say that it happens just because you act biased. Bias is inevitable if you are human. But bias should not blind you to facts; ONLY to interpretation of facts. So, Tiru predicts destruction only when you KNOWINGLY opt for the wrong choice by choosing to act in a biased manner. What doing that also implies is that you have prioritized your biases over success. And if THAT does not lead to destruction, what will?

The greatest good?

By and large, all those who dispense advice seem to hand out advice which is easier said than done. No wonder, Oscar Wilde once said, "I always pass on good advice. It is very seldom of use to oneself" or words to that effect. Which the meme-makers and forwarders of the day follow assiduously by passing on all the good advice that they receive. Thus Wilde's advice about advice proves better advice than most advice since people do really use it themselves.

Kaakka porulaa adakkatthai aakkam adhaninoongillai uyirkku - Tirukkural

Safeguard self-control above all wealth for nothing else brings greater good to the living - Loose Translation

So, yes, Tiru talks of self-control as the greatest wealth to be kept safe since it is the well-spring of all good to a human. As though self-control is the easiest of things to achieve.

I mean, really, people talk very readily of self-control. But do they really understand what it means? You need to control your anger, control your lust, control your pride/arrogance, control your fear, control your...you get the picture. ALL emotions! Every single one!

Not that you are not allowed to feel any of them. Tiru does not really expect you to be a sage. What he does want you do to is to keep them under control. As in, if you are angry, do not let the anger take control of your words and actions; if you are greedy, do not allow your greed to control the way you conduct your business; if you feel lust, learn not to drool all over the place; if you are...I suppose it IS over-kill to keep on like this, by now you can fill in the blanks on all the rest.

Fact is, yes, if you can achieve self-control then THAT is worth a lot really. You are unlikely to invest your entire inheritance in a Ponzi scheme because you got too greedy; nor piss off your main customer because you could not hold your temper; or get the Government on your back because you couldn't help being snooty to a bureaucrat or politician...

Now, yes, to achieve perfect self-control is to aim for the moon. But why are you giving in to the nirvana fallacy - that since you cannot hit perfection, you'll not even start trying?

Self-control IS the route to holding on to all the good in your life, so you can hold on to some of it, even with partial success, if you try to control yourself!

Why be bitter?

There are times when I surprise myself. Like, it is sort of usual if I hold the exact opposite idea of the world as compared to the wise. I mean, well, they ARE the wise, aren't they, and I am probably as far from wise as you can get while still counting as human. But then, there are those times when my ideas vibe with theirs. Possibly, like a clock that has totally stopped, I am allowed a couple of times when I can be right, every day.

As has happened in this case where I was surprised to see that Tiru has voiced the exact same thing that I have always felt.

Insol inidheendral kaanbaan evankolo vansol vazhanguvadhu - Tirukkural

Having enjoyed the joy of hearing sweet speech what sort of person would choose to use bitter words? - Loose Translation

Exactly! Having found how pleasing it is to hear sweet speech AND how hurtful harsh words are, why would anyone choose to use the latter over the former when he speaks himself? Tiru, for one, echoed my own ideas and thereby proved that he, too, could become naive in his idealism!

I mean, have you heard of ragging in colleges? Ever heard of anyone who actively enjoyed being ragged, especially when it verged on bullying? AND, then, how many of those who suffered the process refrained from ragging their juniors in their turn? Cannot hear you,,,yeah, a bit louder please...EXACTLY! None!

Did you, perchance, see a previous Kural post where we talked about how showing anger is easier with inferiors than your superiors? THAT is the point with this as well. You can be rude and hurtful only with people who cannot hurt you, not with those who can. Yeah, yeah, there ARE those who are all-round rude but those are the exceptions. The rule is that you are wary of being rude to those who can give back more than they got.

Which is WHY people are rude knowing full well that they are being hurtful. Because they CAN be and it gives them a sense of superiority, a sense of power. So, yes, they KNOW they can make the other person happy by speaking sweetly but see no reason why they should bother to do so. (Yup, that applies only when it is a persistent behavior and not one-off rudeness in a moment of stress. Though, be aware, that most of the time even a stress reaction comes based on your own idea of your relative power position vis-a-vis the person to whom you are rude.)

Of course, I AM assuming that Tiru is talking about where sweet words and harsh words can be objectively defined. I mean, if you have reason to criticize your subordinate and he is the sort who takes ANY criticism as rudeness...OR when you have to pass on bad news and are unable to come up with a positive spin to put on it...yes, there ARE times when the harshness in the words is more perceived than real.

Where it is real, though...AND, perhaps, Tiru IS pointing out at the type of person who could do be harsh by saying "What sort of person...?", instead of calling him names, thereby living up to his own dictum of not using outright harsh words!

Timing is everything

The importance of the right timing for every action is something that one keeps hearing over and over again. This is especially true of ideas. Ideas can be ahead of their times and fail on that account. Or you could fail because someone else took the first-mover advantage and you ended up having to unsuccessfully play catch up.

It is not merely in ideas or in new ventures that timing is important. That which we dismiss as routine is as timing dependent as anything else. In fact, the very word 'routine' means a set of actions that need to be done at set timings. Failing to do them in a timely manner can have equally serious consequences. Just because they are not as glamorous as new ventures, and the failures are not spectacular crash-and-burns, does not mean that they are any less important.

Paruvatthodu otta ozhugal thiruvinai theeraamai aarkkum kayiru - Tirukkural

Doing all efforts in timely fashion is the rope that binds success to you - Loose Translation

You know, in general, it is easier by far to keep track of the big-ticket happenings - in life, business, wherever. It is the nitty-gritty, the things that one needs to do every day, day after day, that is trouble. It is especially true in organizations. I mean, you have hired guys who are all agog to make a name for themselves, make an impression on their bosses. Do they really think that doing this...routine...is where they are going to be hailed as heroes? Routine, by definition, means that doing a good job is taken for granted; and only mistakes come to the attention of the brass. So, the guys who DO get handed the routine are the less...ambitious.

And, yet, routine mishandled can scuttle an organization. If you do not handle your cash-flows properly - recoveries from customers, payments to suppliers, inventory management yada yada - you can go down real damn fast. Established companies do not have an issue normally cos they have put in place systems for all of that. Unless they are badly mismanaged. Start-ups, though...it's just not glamorous enough for the high-fliers to bother about, you see. And, yet, this pesky Tiru...

And THAT also applies at home - managing EMIs, credit card payments, yada yada...you can truly mess up your finances if you fail to pay attention to the routine.

And, thus, if you wish to not just earn but keep your wealth...ALL efforts need to be timely!

Knowing limits

The moment you talk about limits, you are necessarily seen as an old fogy. I mean, it is generally the aged who start feeling limited in what they can do. The young generally feel that there is no limit to what they can do. Which, by the way, is not untrue of me, after all. I am no spring chicken, no matter what they say about 'Sixty being the new twenty' or whatever is the catchphrase these days. But, whatever the young may feel, limits exist for everyone.

Tiru, another old fogy, has this to say:

Nunikkombu erinaar aqdiran thookkin uyirkkirudhi aagi vidum - Tirukkural

If the man who has climbed to the tip of a branch attempts to climb further, it will spell the end of his life - Loose Translation

For once, Tiru just states the metaphor trusting his readers' intelligence to understand the lesson that needs to be derived from it. That, if you have the reached the limit of possible progress, to attempt more is certain suicide.

And at once there is a clamor. That this is conservative, this is how all progress is stymied, yada yada. Not really true. I mean, like, if there is a cargo boat and you have loaded it to the limit, of course you'll be told that you ought not to load any more lest the boat sink. Which IS legitimate advice that HAS to be heeded. Now, does it limit the amount of cargo you can ship? Not at all, not if you can find more boats. Does it mean that there is a permanent limit on how much cargo can be shipped per boat? Not if you can design a bigger or better boat.

In other words, the fact that a known solution poses a limit to what you can do does not mean that you cannot find a solution that allows you to do more. The point, however, is that you have to acknowledge the limit posed by the current solution and not blindly insist on loading the existing boat with more cargo. OR, as in Tiru's metaphor, attempt to climb further after reaching the tip of the branch that you are climbing.

To acknowledge limits is not to cease to persist in solving your problem. It is only a caution to avoid butting your head persistently in a dead end!