Taking pride on past achievements and fused bulbs are worthless

 

A senior executive retired and shifted from his palatial official quarters to the housing society, where he owned a flat. He considered himself a great personality, and he never talked to anyone. Even while walking in the society park every evening, he ignored others, looking at them with contempt.     

One day, it somehow transpired that another aged person sitting beside him started a conversation. They then continued to meet. Every conversation was mostly a monologue with the retired executive harping on his pet topic - “nobody can imagine the big post and high position I held before retirement. I came here due to compulsion”; and so on, and the other elderly person used to listen to him quietly.    

After many days, when the retired executive was curious about others, the elderly listener opened his mouth and said; -

“After retirement, we are all like fused bulbs. It does not matter what the wattage of the bulb was, how much light or glitter it gave before it gets fused.”    

He continued, “I have been living in this society for the last 5 years and have not told anyone that I was a Member of the Parliament for two terms. On your right, over there is Vermaji, who retired as General Manager in Indian Railways. Over there is Singh Saheb, who was a Major General in the Army. That person sitting on the bench in a spotless white dress is Mehraji, who was the chief of ISRO before retirement. He has not revealed it to anyone, not even to me, but I know."

“All fused bulbs are now the same – whatever its wattage was – 0, 10, 40, 60, 100 watts – it does not matter now. Neither does it matter what type of bulb it was before it got fused – LED, CFL, Halogen, Incandescent, fluorescent, or decorative. And that, my friend, applies to you too. The day you understand this, you will find peace and tranquillity even in this housing society.”    

"The rising sun as well as the setting sun is both beautiful and adorable. But, in reality, the rising sun gets more importance and adoration and is even worshipped in some societies, whereas the setting sun does not receive the same reverence. It is better to understand this sooner than later”.

In the organizations when we all grow on the corporate ladder and take higher positions we often do the mistake of thinking that the younger crew is ignorant and we know all. We do not do hand holding but walk in front of them with sullen face – a face clearly showing – look I am the omnipotent.

In the training sessions, seniors usually walk away by handing over the training room to the trainer and the trainees soon after the inauguration session is over. This shows that seniors think that they know everything, it is for the participants to get the training. This is ridiculous. Of course, we also find very senior people sometimes remain present during the entire training session.

Employees who are nearing the age of retirement should be trained and told that (a) they are replaceable, and (b) they need to find substitutes for their jobs, roles, and responsibilities. Otherwise, society will always end up accepting people like the one we discussed in the beginning paragraphs.

We have to be humble. We should self-train ourselves that there are more powerful people in their heydays.