Never take a decision with prejudiced brain

Management  

           

                    Golden Rules to take a Correct Decision 

                                                       (Part-1)

           Never take a Decision with Prejudiced Brain 

Taking correct decision in a difficult situation is quite a daunting task one faces in his day to day life. Most of us are perplexed and confused what to do or what not to do. We are afraid of its consequences, whether the decision taken will result in achieving the targeted objective or fail? If the objective is achieved so much so good but if not, what will be the quantum of loss? Will it be heavy or minor? Some of us become even sick with fear just thinking its consequences. But there must be some method, some technique to arrive at a correct decision. I have therefore tried to solve this maze based on my personal experience and on some well known historical facts related to it. I request my learned friends, readers, writers, thinkers & well wishers to contribute their input in this regard. I will publish them in 2nd part of this article.  

In first part, I will discuss what are the conditions when one should not take a decision immediately, rather take some time to cool down. A cool and unprejudiced mind is the first step in right direction of a right decision.  

                 " Revenge is a dish that tastes better when served cold "

said Corleone in the famous novel "The Godfather" written by Mario Puzo in 1969. Why did Puzo give more emphasis on being cold in his famous novel? The reason is obvious. For being cold, lapse of some time is necessary. Any incident, which requires revenge must be kept in a box of time for a while to make the mind cool down, because a hot mind can't take a rational decision. An incident which makes a man angry has an immediate impact on his brain. An anger filled brain makes his mind disbalanced, unable to think rationally. His urge for revenge is so strong that either he is unable to see his opponents strong points or his biased mind makes him underestimate them. He is unable to analyze his situation logically. What is true for revenge is true for taking other rational decisions also. So, the first rule one must follow is :

1. Never take a decision when you are angry.

Give your mind some time to cool down before taking a final decision, because a decision taken in state of anger, is bound to be wrong most of times. I would say 90% out of 100. As stated above, a free and cool mind is necessary to take a correct and proper decision. If the mind is biased or prejudiced because of some external influence like anger, excessive emotional attachment or some other factor, its ability to analyze things in an impartial and balanced manner is affected. Due to influenced state of mind, he may overlook some essential facts and aspects, underestimate their impact, resulting in a wrong decision. 
I will quote a good example from the same book i.e. "The Godfather" itself. When Sonny hears from his weeping sister Connie how savagely her husband Carlo had beaten her, he becomes so furious that he instantly decides going to Connie's house in town and punish her husband. In his furious state of mind he is unable to think rationally, it never occurred to him that it could be a plot to drag him out of his fortified headquarters. 

                          Sonny Corleone beating his sister Connie's husband Carlo 

This is a perfect example of how a brain influenced with anger can overlook some essential and vital facts completely, resulting in fatal decisions. The furious war between the five mafia families of New York had already started; each day there were casualties from both sides and the other families had already reached a conclusion, there was no other way to break this stalemate unless they eliminated Sonny, the working head of Corleone family. In such a grim situation, before moving out into open, Sonny should have thought twice whether his going out to Connie's apartment was a prudent decision. Even in such a fierce war situation, it never occurred to him, it could be a frame up to drag him out. He overlooked a very simple and glaring fact which should have come to his mind in a natural way, but it didn't because of his furious state of mind. This one error of judgement, a decision taken in angered state of mind, cost him his life. 

                                       Sonny Corleone gunned down by five mafia families 

In our personal day to day life also, we face similar situations where we make the fatal mistake of taking decisions in our angered state of mind, and I am 100% sure of such decisions resulting in greater loss to the person concerned. I myself have taken several decisions in angered state of mind and repented later on. So the first rule is never take a decision when you are angry. Take some time for your mind to cool down. This cooling period may be of 1hr., 1day, 1month and may be even a few years as Sonny's father Don Corleone waited for.  

2. Never take a decision with a prejudiced brain :

A person's brain is prejudiced not only because of anger as seen above; there are a lot of other factors also like love, affection, relationship, hate, arrogance, greed, attitude, fear, emotional attachment, pre-conceived notions and so on. You will be amazed to note that love, affection, relationship, even emotional attachment or soft corner for some one may prejudice your brain and could cloud your reasoning resulting in an extremely bad decision.

Love, Affection, Relationship, Emotional Attachment : 

Have you ever realized sometimes a situation arises where you have to take a decision in which one of your daughter, son, relative or some one else you are sentimentally attached to is involved on one side, and a lesser known or unattached person on other? Analyze your decisions taken in such situations. You will find most of your decisions taken under such circumstances were wrong. Why? Because your love, affection & sentimental attachment with your loved one made your brain prejudiced. You were unable to analyze the situation in an impartial way, you were unable to see the other side of picture with neutral eyes. I remember two such critical situations in my life where I had to take a decision which had a long lasting impact on our family, and in both I failed. 

The biggest example of such bad decision in modern history of India, I am of the firm view, was taken by non other than so called father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Though he took several decisions with prejudiced brain, but his one decision proved so fatal for India that we, the people of India, are still facing its consequences. His emotional attachment & soft corner for Nehru prejudiced his brain to such an extent that he overruled the majority decision of 12 out of 15 State Congress Committees favoring Sardar Patel as first Prime Minister of India. Even remaining 3 state committees didn't recommend Nehru's name for PM, yet he decided to impose his will on entire nation as a true dictator and got Nehru elected as first PM of India. 

Inner Democracy in Congress Party was the first casualty of his prejudiced decision, which is still going on. History has given enough proof that had Patel been chosen first PM of India, as was the consensus at that time, the nation would not have suffered the humiliating defeat of 1962 war, even Kashmir problem would not have lingered so far. Patel had written a letter to Nehru, a few days before his death in 1950, almost 12 year before actual war with China, warning him about mischievous motives of China, yet Nehru didn't pay any attention to it, resulting in humiliating defeat in 1962. After his death, C. Rajgopalachary, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and several other eminent personalities of freedom struggle confessed in writing that had Patel been PM in place of Nehru, it would have been better for India. What I want to say is, that bigger the post or responsibility you hold, bigger is the impact of your one wrong prejudiced decision. Your emotional attachment could blind your capacity of reasoning, your ability to analyze things in an impartial & neutral way. In history, there are several such examples as Mr. Gandhi. 

Fear of Criticism, Fear of Defeat, Fear of Unwanted Results :

Fear might be of several shades and colors; fear of criticism, fear of defeat, fear of unwanted results & so on. Most of politicians, business managers, even family heads are afraid of taking unpleasant decisions fearing wide spread criticism. Even when a detailed analysis of the problem & solution suggests taking a particular course of action, they are unable to do so fearing imaginary criticism or fear of unwanted results. Fear makes a decision maker either paralyzed as we saw with Dr. Manmohan Singh, or opt for easiest short cut to come out of the difficult situation. The problems remain same even after his decision. 

China was salami slicing our territory continuously, year after year, even after humiliating defeat of 1962. Every Congress or non-congress PM knew it, but non dared to confront China, fearing a full fledged war. China, very cleverly used to move forward 4 kilometers under Indian territory and come back 3 kilometers under so called peace agreement. It suited govts of the day too, as very happily they used to portray it as their victory to domestic audience. Came Narendra Modi govt on scene in 2014. His initial years went in understanding the Chinese game and persuading them to resist such tactics. But once he understood their game, he had to take a final decision. Fear of a full fledged war and an unwanted result along with wide spread criticism by political parties were real threats in his way of taking a final decision. But he decided not to be prejudiced with these factors, made elaborate arrangements before taking final decision, and gave Indian army free hand for a tit for tat. Result ? Today Indian army has captured almost all the dominating heights, Gurung Hill, Magar Hill, Requin La, Rezang La, Mokhpari etc. over Chinese positions near Finger4, the place of confrontation. Chinese had intruded almost 8 kilometers inside Indian territory and retreated almost 2-3 kilometers, but no more such tactics working this time. In tit for tat, Indian army has captured more than what Chinese did and are now in a better position to give them befitting reply. 

                          Indian army sitting on top overlooking Chinese positions

No more 4 kilometers forward and 3 kilometers backward. Go back to original position or face the tune. Chinese are in catch 22 situation, neither go back because of loss of face, nor move forward because of heavy loss expected due to  Indian army sitting on their head. Indian forces have replied them in their own coin, capturing all those unmanned heights which were not manned before, thereby taking an advantageous position overlooking their entire activities from top, even their garrison under firing range of Indian troops. This is what happens when you don't let fear influence your decision and move after preparing for the worst.

Hatred, Arrogance, Greed, Pre Conceived Notions :

Normally when you hate some one or think yourself superior to others, your capacity to take impartial and rational decision is over powered by a pre conceived notion about the concerned person. You can't see his good points or even if you see them, your hate or arrogance doesn't allow you to see their merits. Naturally, your prejudiced brain leads you to a decision which proves to be irrational, illogical and a blunder in terms of result. 

Hitler committed the biggest crime in human history due to his one prejudiced decision that was based on hate against Jews. It is estimated nearly 6 million Jews were massacred during his regime. History is full of stories such mass murderers & holocausts based on hate. Alauddin Khalji, of Khalji dynasty ordered the massacre of more than 30,000 Hindus of Chittor as per details of Amir Khusrau. About 5600 Catholic Christians of Mangalore were persecuted by the order of so called secular ruler Tipu Sultan. More than 1,00,000 Rajputs of Mewat, almost their entire population, were eliminated by Ghiyasuddin Balban of Delhi Sultanate in 1265. Even today, this mind set of hatred towards other race & religion hasn't vanished. Entire world is witnessing Islamic terrorism almost on daily basis. Hate & arrogance is the root cause of such unrest.

As for greed, what sort of havoc it can create can be seen specially in stock markets. Greed makes you leap in dark, hoping to double treble your fortune. 

                                          Leap forward of Greed

It is a sort of gamble which may or may not result in achieving your objective. But the question that arises here, should a company CEO or an authority responsible for making decision, take such gamble? If he succeeds, all round praise; but if he fails, as this probability in such cases is very high, his one decision will ruin the prospect of entire company. I am of the firm view that executives must not take any decision whose results are based totally on gamble. Some people in business circles say, no risk no gain. But one must understand the difference between greed and risk. Risk you take fully knowing what will happen if you fail, and therefore you take precaution according to your condition & appetite. Greed leads you to leap forward in dark, without taking any precaution. Remember the story of King Midas? He got a blessing that any thing he touched would turn into gold? His greed for gold didn't let him take any precaution as he was unable to assess the risks involved. His brain prejudiced with greed made him bypass the entire process of analysis, otherwise he would have very easily foreseen his daughter being turned into a statue made of gold .  

Conclusion:

1. Never take a decision when you are in prejudiced state of mind. Give it a

   proper cooling time before taking a final decision.

2. Anger, love, relationship, emotional attachment, hate, arrogance, fear, Greed,

   pre-conceived notions etc. are some of the factors that  frequently cause your

   brain to be prejudiced.

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Motivation can achieve miracles

Motivation

                   Motivation can achieve miracles

Can you compel a bull to dance? A bull, dancing continuously for 1 to 3 minutes in circle, like an expert dancer, isn't it a miracle ? Can any one with whatever be the amount of force or physical torture, compel a bull to dance? Not possible at all. But I saw exactly this miracle happening, a few years ago, on the New Road of Kathmandu, Nepal. A few young street boys of New Road, had achieved this feat by applying their brain and motivating the bull to do so with its own sweet will, without use of any force or torture. 

Long ago, they were the days when I frequently used to visit Kathmandu, in order to perform some of my business engagements. One day when I was walking on the New Road, one of the busiest and prominent road of Kathmandu, a strange thing happened. Suddenly there was a big commotion on the road, people started running helter-skelter in whatever direction they found some space. In the pandemonium that followed, I started to get body blows from all directions and being pushed backward by the crowd. I was unable to understand the reason of this sudden commotion, when suddenly I noticed a bull charging on the crowd and running in the same direction where I was standing. It was then that I realized the danger and panicked. There was no time to think any more and so, I too started to run along with the crowd. Almost about 2 minutes the bull chased us and then stopped abruptly. By then, I had climbed on the stairs of a near by restaurant situated on first floor of a building around the road. The entire New Road was deserted within seconds and was clearly visible now from the first floor of the restaurant. The only visible object on the road was the bull, which had stopped running and was looking towards its tail, trying to reach to the point where some object was tied on its tail. In order to grab the tied object, it started moving in circle bending its entire body & neck like some round object. It was a beautiful bull dance indeed, never seen before. The bull was moving in a rounded circle continuously for 2-3 minutes, trying to grab the tied eatable on its tail, stopping due to severe strain for some times and then starting to dance again. 

How was this miracle achieved? In fact the story behind this miracle too is very interesting. This entire feat was achieved by some, what we call, "mischievous street boys" of New Road. In order to create some funny moments and entertain people on the road, these mischievous boys had tied a bunch of  "Rayo ka sag", a local variety of tasty spinach, on the tail of the bull. The spinach was placed on such a strategic location of the tail, that the bull could not grab it so easily. It was "So near yet so far". The bull was making all its efforts to grab it, trying his mouth to reach its tail, thereby making its whole body curved in round shape. His continuous efforts to grab the "Rayo ka sag" was producing a dancing effect. Because of severe strain the bull was exerting to reach its tail, it used to stop for a minute or two to take rest, and then started to dance again. The entire New Road crowd was standing on both sides of the road, enjoying this miraculous spectacle with loud roar of laughter. Alarmed by loud noise, the bull used to charge the crowd at regular intervals, people again running helter-skelter in all directions. I too was enjoying this grand show from the stairs of the restaurant and thinking how did they do it.

                                                           

                 Dancing Bull with with a bunch of spinach tied on its tail

Motivation can achieve miracles. Though I forgot this incident with passage of time, but the image of dancing bull remained stored in my subconscious mind. Today, when I recalled this incident again and tried to analyze it, one thing is clear. The children had unknowingly applied the biggest motivating factor to achieve this miracle. The "Rayo ka sag" tied on its tail was the biggest motivating factor that the bull was tasked to achieve, and in doing so, it presented a hilarious dance, which was the main objective of children.

Do you remember those dark days, when in order to achieve higher production in factories, employers used to exploit employees by putting all sorts of restrictions, curtailments of rights etc.? Instead of working for 8 hrs., workers were forced to work for longer hrs., no leave, no overtime, no PF, no bonus, no pension, no other social securities. The underlined reasoning behind this thought was - " If you whipped the horse hard, horse will run faster."

                 

So they used to keep their employees on a tighter grip, whipping regularly with new restrictions, regulations, primarily aimed to increase the production without paying any extra money. Incentives in their eyes was wastage of money which eroded the profit. But how long you can go on whipping the horse continuously? The horse will run faster for some time on being whipped, but become slower and slower once the fear of whipping ceased. And there is every possibility that the horse will overthrow you if you go on whipping again and again. After all, fear too has a limitation and if you cross that " Lakshman Rekha", even fear effect becomes zero. Instead, the person starts hating you and becomes emboldened enough even to harm you.

Hence, the modern method of management to get things done, has changed from "Chabuk (force) to Chabena (incentive in form of eatable)". It has now been understood clearly that the productivity can be increased by force only for some time being, but not on permanent basis. A person's own sweet will is the only alternative to increase productivity on permanent basis, and for that to happen, motivation is essential. The bull was dancing from his own sweet will, without any one striking him with a whip to do so. The motivation factor was eatable which was tied on its tail. Management experts were the street boys, who applied their brain imaginatively and devised a way to get things done. 

How could we motivate some one? Well, the answer is, there is no any uniform method; you have to devise your own motivating factor and method in the context of person you desire to motivate. Finding a motivating factor, though appears to be  difficult, but is not so difficult at all. In the offices, factories, administration and other working arena, most of the employees and professionals get motivated by incentives in the form of money & perks. Such incentives tied with targets can do wonders. However, it is to be noted that not all workers, professionals or authorities get motivated by money & perks alone. For some, who have reached upper layer of administration, money is not so important as the other factors like desire to achieve some higher posts, name, fame & some foot prints on the horizon of time. Do you remember the legendary Sir T. N. Sheshan, the famous Chief Election Commissioner of India, who changed the face of electioneering in India. Do you think the motivating factor behind whatever he achieved was money or perks? Not at all. He was motivated by call of his own inner conscience, that inspired him to take every possible measures to conduct free & fair elections all over India. Looting of ballot papers, ballot boxes, casting of votes by force, impersonation, prevention of voters from voting by Bahubali candidates, intimidation, firing etc. were common scenes in every election. Mr. Sheshan changed the entire face of electioneering within a short span of his tenure. It is obvious that sometimes arousing some one's conscience is a better way to motivate than to offer money & other perks.

How could we apply it in family & social arena? Motivating industrial workers, office employees, administrative officials and other categories of employees is a bit easier than motivating family members and social acquaintances. It is because we are closely related with such persons and money & perks may not be as much effective motivational factor as in other cases. Here, the motivational factors drastically change from money to love, affection, comfort, care, respect etc. If you want to motivate your kid, you have to identify his/her likes & dislikes, interests, area of comfort etc. and plan a strategy accordingly. With a lot of love, affection and encouragement, you can motivate him/her to achieve the target. For this to happen, you will have to gain his/her confidence by playing, story telling, working jointly on some funny project and by some other methods. Stories are one of the most powerful tool to motivate kids.

So far friends, relatives & other social acquaintances are concerned, you have to identify their true feelings and attitude, related to concerned issue. Encourage them to speak their mind by showing genuine love, affection, respect and concern to their problems. Tap their interests. Connect and build relationship. Appeal to their emotions. Motivate him to dream again and gradually encourage him to set a goal as well as a time frame to achieve it. 

Conclusion : Application of motivation is not limited to industrial, business, administration or other commercial areas alone. Have you ever noticed, a new SP comes in a district headquarter and the entire gang of renowned criminals start fleeing the district? A new CEO comes in a company replacing the old one, and the loss making business unit starts making profit within a short span of time. A new political leader emerges on the horizon of nation and suddenly the same set of officials, bureaucrats start working & giving results, in fact the whole nation starts moving on the path of Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat.        

Sports, Politics, Education, Health, Spiritualism, Religion, Defence, Police, Family, Society, you name any field where motivation can't be applied. Mahatma Gandhi,  Dr. Radhakrishnan, Dr. Abdul Kalam, Sister Florence Nightingale, Dr. Dwarka Nath Kotnis, Swami Vivekanand, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Adi Guru Shankaracharya, Param Vir Chakra recipient Maj. Somnath Sharma, Flying officer Nirmal jit Singh Sekhon, DGP K.P.S.Gill, IPS officer Kiran Bedi, Baba Amte, Sri Dhirubhai Ambani, Captain M.S.Dhoni, - there are numerous such names from various walks of our lives, who not only motivated people to achieve, but have left their imprints on the horizon of time. Why not read their biographies? It will be an interesting study to know how they motivated people. 

                                                                             

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