Know thy Achilles’ heel

Any one taking charge of a place or an institution generally would like to assert that his worthy predecessor was not altogether innocent of many of the things that the new person would approve of. Finding fault with predecessors is nothing new with new executives, and this is all the more true in the case of persons who had been occupying the high-end chairs for a decade or more; it is too long for them to occupy a position, and as a result they fail to see the rut that might be collecting around them. It would be the duty of the successor to clear some of the dirt, especially those collected under the carpet, and those hanging from the ceiling. The new executive is also duty bound to protect the identity of the predecessor, and even unwillingly support what he had done before the employees, because that is what is expected of him from the institute he has become an integral part of.

I am quite wary of the people who would sell the institutions they represent, in order to show favoritism towards a couple or more persons, who do not even come under the ambit of the institution. It is a dangerous trend, if outsiders take advantage of the generosity and openness of the executive in order to curry favor, much to the chagrin of the other staff of the institution. I had come across such instances quite a few times, and had been quite critical about this kind of dealings, but there was very little that I could do to prevent such a kind of dealings. How can one allow outsiders take the institution for a royal ride? After all, the institution is not a private property of any particular individual, but belongs to the people, and when one receives the appointment letter to give the leadership role, one needs to bear in mind that one has to protect the greater interests of the institution before all else.

As an executive who has great responsibility laid upon his or her shoulders, one of the most important things he/she needs to be aware of is, his/her own weaknesses. People outside know how to locate and attack on the Achilles’ heels. It is after all not altogether difficult for people to find out the weaknesses of their bosses, and it would not be too late before they spread the net to catch them unawares. There are people, who are weak in certain respects, and I do not need to elaborate what people are generally weak at, and once people know what the weaknesses of their bosses, then half their work is done, and all they have to do now is, create a situation where the boss becomes an easy victim, and that is the starting point of the institution being taken for a royal ride by unassuming persons, with unlimited power and prowess to dictate how the boss deals with the daily affairs and the policy decisions of the institution.

One of the first lessons that I require to learn before I begin to take charge of an institution is to be aware of my own limitations and weaknesses, so that when someone tries to attack me on my weak points, I could catch them there and then, and therefore do not permit them from making me a pawn in their hands. Becoming conscious of and acknowledging my own limitations is nothing demeaning for me; there are areas in me, which are beyond my control to reform or transform, and being conscious of these would be more rewarding than even getting out of these limitations. This is like guarding one’s home from the hands of the burglars who might be attempting at the thick of night. If you are alert and agile to any such attempt, then the burglars cannot succeed in breaking open the house and robbing the treasures. Let me give a silly example, if everyone knows that I go to bed at 9 pm, and wake up at 5 am, then they also know that the best time for them to break open my room is between 9 pm and 5 am. But then, I may also have systems, such as digital alert systems so that as soon as any one tries to break open the door, they are stunned by the sirens honking at deafening volume, waking up the entire neighborhood.

If I am a person who likes to have a few people always at my side, who would always support my viewpoints and perspectives, irrespective of if they would help the institution or not, then I am sure to become their slave too soon, and it would not be long before they put their conditions to me, and extract out of me whatever they might be in want of. The interests and welfare of the institution should take precedence over the interests and welfare of the boss or the employees, and it is only under such circumstances can the institution last long; or else the institution might become a useless entity too soon, and it might come to a situation when it might need to be given a decent burial. Unfortunately this is the story of many of the towering institutions disappearing into thin air over the past decades, and the life of the institution is party in the hands of the one steering it; while it is a privilege, it also calls for greater amount of responsibility on him/her.