Bangalore is Mine - 26 February, 2013 | Analysis | India | Everything else | successful | employee | life | rewards | shakespeare

Quite often I have been hearing and reading news of people being termed of living a ‘successful life’.. They have been termed successful based on their talent, achievement, popularity and sometimes, public adulation

So, can a common man like you and me possibly tag ourselves as a success without reaching the pinnacle of professional growth?  Alternatively, can you truly term a public figure a ‘success’ purely based on their ‘visible’ achievements?

My search for answers led me to Shakespeare and his famous poem ‘Seven Ages of Man’. In this poem, Shakespeare compares the world to a stage and an individual to an actor playing different roles. As per the poem, an individual is said to play seven different roles in his lifetime. These roles span from being an An Infant, A School boy, A Lover, A Soldier, A Man of wisdom, An old man and finally A fragile dependant. Each of these roles is characterized by a set of unique attributes which defines the personality trait of that role and evolves with the passing of role and time.

Interestingly, on closer introspection and analysis, one can see the manifestation of this role-play on a day-to-day basis. On a daily basis each of us plays multiple roles. Therefore we are, a father to a child, a son to a father, a hubby to a woman, a guide to a friend, an activist for a social cause and various other roles including an employee to an organization. Here again, each of this role has unique attributes which defines and relates to the sanctity of the given relation.

Ironically, in our pursuit of a better life we easily tend to focus on just one or two of the above roles and overlook the others. In our effort to climb the professional ladder, we do not mind spending more time on one role while, neglecting the other. This becomes acceptable to most of us as, that one role is perceived to the ladder which leads us to the pinnacle of one’s success. True, some of us might reach the pinnacle of that ladder, but, does that really define ‘success’?  

On the other hand, there are also employees who feel disgruntled and dissatisfied of their work evaluation and performance ratings. These employees strongly feel that their hard work and efforts are not being recognized and they have not received what they deserve.

Here, one needs to understand that the relation between the employee and the organization has multiple facets. There are aspects that cannot be controlled. Thus, to expect an outcome which reflects what one deserves, one needs to invest and keep the window of opportunity open in all the roles played by the individual and not limit to one. Thereafter, one will be truly rewarded for one’s efforts.  

Eventually, for an individual to be truly assessed as a success, one needs to move from the misconceived notion of focusing on pure monetary benefits and invest in the right approach of  ensuring each of his multiple roles does deserve due attention, yields a positive response, binds the relation closer and commands dual admiration.

Thus, true success is purely determined by how we play each of our multiple roles effectively. After all, these roles connect people and make a difference.  A difference which, impacts and lasts for a lifetime.

Vimal Kumar

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