Know that no failure is absolute

New Delhi: It is a great tribute to the profession of Intelligence that it interprets ‘failure’ as ‘an honest effort that did not succeed’ and does not allow ‘fear of failure’ to come in the way of a constant untiring pursuit.

This can very much be an appropriate guide for everybody’s life except for the fact that what is ‘professional’ in many ways is not the same as ‘personal’ – for it did not take into account the multiple dimensions of private life that were impacted by a ‘perceived’ failure there.

In personal life, sometimes, the outcome of an effort may not meet the ambition, expectations and psychological orientation of the person and it is in such a situation that the individual’s attitudes and responses would be subject to the variables that are naturally built into the human life.

Without seeking to ‘standardise’ human behaviour, however, it can be said that there is significant scope for ‘learning’ on how to approach the question of facing a ‘disappointing’ outcome of all the labour put in by a person in pursuit of an objective.

The basic paradigms here would be the ‘awareness’ of the relative strength one had been able to muster before presuming ‘success’, a ‘conviction’ about the ‘legitimacy of the pathway’ adopted and a broader outlook on life’s mandate that there would always be some imponderables to be handled by the individual on his or her own. These may be examined in some depth. Certainly, outside of the area under one’s control, there may be plenty happening to influence the outcome of a personally driven project.

The first learning one could have from the profession of Intelligence is that the ‘quality’ of work and the ‘degree’ of effort made is always constant even when the task is not related to one’s personal domain.

There is nothing wanting in terms of determination, diligence and a ‘mission mode’ pursuit of the official task in an Intelligence organisation - the motivation there was kept up by the thought that a contribution was being made to the national good and sustained by a further confidence that credits due would come to the person on their own. This is an ideal setting but there is no reason why a well-meaning organisation that cares for ‘productivity’ would not try to perfect the ‘management practices’ indicated here.

I recall telling the Prime Minister whom I served – it was in some context of outcome evaluation – that the Intelligence Bureau was perhaps the only organisation of the government where senior officers worked for up to 16 hours a day ‘without being asked’. Loyalty to the country in the higher plane, to the organisation as the tangible entity in the immediate and above all to one’s own value system embracing humanity that acted as the individual’s driver, could all come into play together in creating what certainly would become an ideal worth following. This is definitely not utopian.

A logical mind and the new age requirement of being well-informed are of prime importance today. In this era of social media, one has to steer clear of ‘misinformation’ verging on ‘fraudulent’ offers in the areas of academics, business and partnerships of various kinds. Ignorance is no excuse or defence and it is advisable not to be too trusting in today’s world. It is important to remember, however, that ‘excellence’ achieved in any work or activity will bring value both in personal satisfaction and material gain.

In the environment of ‘competition’ that seems to have become pervasive, one has to strive to become a ‘peak performer’ in any sphere.

Bhagavad Gita, the holy book of Hinduism known for enunciating precepts for universal application, pithily observes that one should pursue a duty with full application and devotion without being distracted by the thought of the results. It mandates that there should be no ‘fear of failure’ if the pursuit was otherwise in moral parameters called ‘Dharma’. This is the most powerful precept for success in life. It is also a great equaliser in terms of defining the ‘quality’ of work regardless of the nature of engagement implying that there was no ‘high’ or ‘low’ in work so long as there was a conscious attempt at seeking to perform on a note of ‘excellence’. This is a subtle way of introducing higher thinking in the handling of work howsoever mundane it might be. A good measure of a life of ‘success’ would be the degree to which one was able to retrospectively look at life’s journey without letting it be overshadowed by ‘regrets’.

(The writer is a former Director of the Intelligence Bureau. Views are personal)