@random

Caring is to take care! Care is an activity involved in maintaining something in good working order! It is also associated with Safety, Feeling, Concern, Anxiety… all focused on preventing and/or treating!! Care denotes being in charge of!, too!

Interfering is to interfere! Getting involved, so as to alter or hinder an action, or through force or threat of force!

Caring requires intervention, but not Interference!

It happens mostly with some of us – possessive (caring?) parents, teachers, mentors and fatherly or motherly figures! We might extend our caring attitude a little too much which turns out to be interference for the recipient. Why is this so?

Caring is a time bound activity – not a lifelong need! Take for example health care! Doctors and hospitals ensure that the care is given till someone recovers, educates them to manage the condition and leave it to the recipient to run on their own – in a systemic and repeatable fashion. I think the schools do the same. There is always – teach, examine, feedback and move forward or backward – but not stay on the same course for ever! But when we miss this “time” factor, we ensure turning caring into interfering!

In parent – child relationships, we seem to forget this time factor and ensure this mess, again and again. Most kids growing up appreciating their parents for all the help, guidance and care – that comes without asking, will soon start hating, avoiding and moving away in their adolescence or teen age! If we miss this signal and continue our unsolicited caring, kids find their own path mostly in the anti-route!

Care without any expectation or ideology seems to remain healthy and appreciated! – life long!! The moment we start influencing our ideology, expectation or own unfulfilled/ desired dreams on our children or similar relationships with loved ones, our caring behavior seems to turn towards interfering!!!

One nugget found on the path is to adopt a key strategy of – Lead, Follow and Get-out-of-the-way!

Leading kids to whatever we feel is the right direction/path, following their adoption/results to help modify the path while we learn from their experiences and getting out of their way when time is ripe for them to create and lead their own paths, definitely reinforces faith in care – a timely, time bound, action to help people have their lives!

I think this is true with all human relationships which are not bound by monetary transactions! So, if we care for someone, I think it is important not to influence own ideology but adopt – Lead, Follow and Get-Out-of-the-Way action plan!

 

Core purpose of any organization – is its fundamental reason for being! But what is it? How enduring should this be? Does it ever be fully achieved? Does everyone in an organization realize this? What is the take of dreamer doers when it comes to core purpose of the organization they build? This is a continuous quest as the subject itself!

Last week, there was an induction session for a set of budding entrepreneurs in an EDP program @ a management school in Bangalore. I had this standard question to all 35 participants – What’s the purpose of your venture? Answers, as usual flowed around – Create Wealth for self and others, make lots of money, be own boss, build own empire….

I think while money is important, there is something more to money which makes organizations, whatever they are. I remember the good old dialogue I had with my father. He was always busy building something or the other – business, school, society, bank, or buying things – auto, car, books, tailoring machine,…. all for someone!, with his own or borrowed money!! On top of this, he kept only an account of how much he owed to others – none other way! All he asked them was to be fair to their employees, fear god and help as many people as they can….

I was wondering why he does it this way. I asked him? We are not very rich, neither do we have a lot of assets to distribute, nor he was contesting an election! He always had a simple answer – my purpose in life is to help people have their lives!!!

It took me a long while to understand this perspective. Only after he passed away. For almost three years after he left us, there was one visitor or the other every day, with a bunch of gifts and a handful of cash to return for the favors he/she received from my father. It seems they all had kept accounts diligently and knew that he will not call them. Every time I pass by any of my father’s creations, the smile on the face of people who own/run them and the way they are leading their lives makes me proud… don’t know why.

Imagine a world where every organization has this core purpose of “helping people have their lives”!

Why not???

The base unit of an organization if defined as a family of two, this is true. Core purpose should be helping each other have their lives! Once this is deviated, it does not remain as a successful organization. Extend this to any organization – profit or not-for-profit. No one builds an organization beyond helping each other in the company have their lives – drive to make more money, drive to beat others, drive to lead the world and so on….. when added, compromises this view to an extent enough to create the clutter!

I guess it helps to relook at why we exist once in a while, at least….