Who are Contributors? How are they fundamentally different from Non-contributors in their overall approach to work, to other human beings, to society as a whole? Explore these ideas in this unit.
Swami Vivekananda speaks to you “What is personality?”
A man comes; you know he is very learned, his language is beautiful, and he speaks to you by the hour; but he does not make any impression. Another man comes, and he speaks a few words, not well arranged, ungrammatical perhaps; all the same, he makes an immense impression. Many of you have seen that. So it is evident that words alone cannot always produce an impression. Words, even thoughts contribute only one-third of the influence in making an impression, the man, two- thirds. What you call the personal magnetism of the man — that is what goes out and impresses you
n our families there are the heads; some of them are successful, others are not. Why? We complain of others in our failures. The moment I am unsuccessful, I say, so-and-so is the cause of the failure. In failure, one does not like to confess one’s own faults and weaknesses. Each person tries to hold himself faultless and lay the blame upon somebody or something else, or even on bad luck. When heads of families fail, they should ask themselves, why it is that some persons manage a family so well and others do not. Then you will find that the difference is owing to the man — his presence, his personality.
Coming to great leaders of mankind, we always find that it was the personality of the man that counted. Now, take all the great authors of the past, the great thinkers. Really speaking, how many thoughts have they thought? Take all the writings that have been left to us by the past leaders of mankind; take each one of their books and appraise them. The real thoughts, new and genuine, that have been thought in this world up to this time, amount to only a handful.
Read in their books the thoughts they have left to us. The authors do not appear to be giants to us, and yet we know that they were great giants in their days. What made them so? Not simply the thoughts they thought, neither the books they wrote, nor the speeches they made, it was something else that is now gone, that is their personality. As I have already remarked, the personality of the man is two-thirds, and his intellect, his words, are but one-third. It is the real man, the personality of the man, that runs through us. Our actions are but effects. Actions must come when the man is there; the effect is bound to follow the cause.
The ideal of all education, all training, should be this man-making. But, instead of that, we are always trying to polish up the outside. What use in polishing up the outside when there is no inside? The end and aim of all training is to make the man grow. The man who influences, who throws his magic, as it were, upon his fellow-beings, is a dynamo of power, and when that man is ready, he can do anything and everything he likes; that personality put upon anything will make it work.
Now, we see that though this is a fact, no physical laws that we know of will explain this. How can we explain it by chemical and physical knowledge? How much of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, how many molecules in different positions, and how many cells, etc., etc. can explain this mysterious personality? And we still see, it is a fact, and not only that, it is the real man; and it is that man that lives and moves and works, it is that man that influences, moves his fellow-beings, and passes out, and his intellect and books and works are but traces left behind ...
Think of this. Compare the great teachers of religion with the great philosophers. The philosophers scarcely influenced anybody’s inner man, and yet they wrote most marvellous books. The religious teachers, on the other hand, moved countries in their lifetime. The difference was made by personality. In the philosopher it is a faint personality that influences; in the great prophets it is tremendous. In the former we touch the intellect, in the latter we touch life. In the one case, it is simply a chemical process, putting certain chemical ingredients together which may gradually combine and under proper circumstances bring out a flash of light or may fail. In the other, it is like a torch that goes round quickly, lighting others.
Impact on India’s Leaders
“I have gone through his works very thoroughly, and after having gone through them, the love that I had for my country became a thousand-fold.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Swami Vivekananda harmonized the East and the West, religion and science, past and present. And that is why he is great. Our countrymen have gained unprecedented self-respect, self- reliance and self-assertion from his teachings.” – Subhash Chandra Bose
“Where can you find a man like him? Study what he wrote, and learn from his teachings, for if you do, you will gain immense strength. Take advantage of the fountain of wisdom, of Spirit, and of fire that flowed through Vivekananda!” – Jawaharlal Nehru
Each one can grow and strengthen his personality. This is one of the great practical things, and this is the secret of all education. This has a universal application. In the life of the householder, in the life of the poor, the rich, the man of business, the spiritual man, in every one’s life, it is a great thing, the strengthening of this personality
APPLICATION EXAMPLE
Sumit joined Sun Advertising agency as an Assistant Accounts Representative, one of the junior most positions in the company. Sun Advertising had the mandate of covering the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of a large public conglomerate company.
The usual practice was to cover the chairman’s speech at the AGM in all leading newspapers the very next day after the AGM. These recordings were done live, processed, made print-ready and then sent to the newspapers for printing.
In 1990, the AGM was scheduled for the afternoon of 4th April in Kolkata. It had been raining throughout that day. By the time the meeting was over, the city was completely submerged in water.
After covering the AGM, the team waded through knee-deep water and reached their office. Their work had just started…when Kolkata had practically closed down due to rains.
Sumit and his colleague Rohan had the responsibility of finishing this work. The entire process was taking time. Meanwhile, the Newspaper began making frantic calls to their agency saying that if the material did not reach them, they would not be able to issue the newspaper the next day, as a whole page had been dedicated to the AGM coverage. Sumit promised the Newspaper that the work was on and would definitely reach them.
The processing work got over close to 10.30 p.m. Sumit contacted the company representative for permission, to send the speech to the newspaper for printing. The company representative insisted on getting the final approval from the Chairman. Racing against time, the two boys reached the Chairman’s house close to mid-night. After getting the approval from the Chairman, they called up the Newspaper and told them, “We will reach your press in an hour’s time. Hold the printing.”
Close to 1 a.m., fighting through the flood, Sumit and Rohan finally reached the printing press. The next day’s newspapers carried the chairman’s speech.
Few days later in a party, the chairman told the head of Sun Advertising, “Your agency has given us superlative service….and here I am not talking about the design work – I am talking about the last mile execution which happened after the AGM.”
Swami Vivekananda speaks to you “What is personality?”
A man comes; you know he is very learned, his language is beautiful, and he speaks to you by the hour; but he does not make any impression. Another man comes, and he speaks a few words, not well arranged, ungrammatical perhaps; all the same, he makes an immense impression. Many of you have seen that. So it is evident that words alone cannot always produce an impression. Words, even thoughts contribute only one-third of the influence in making an impression, the man, two- thirds. What you call the personal magnetism of the man — that is what goes out and impresses you
n our families there are the heads; some of them are successful, others are not. Why? We complain of others in our failures. The moment I am unsuccessful, I say, so-and-so is the cause of the failure. In failure, one does not like to confess one’s own faults and weaknesses. Each person tries to hold himself faultless and lay the blame upon somebody or something else, or even on bad luck. When heads of families fail, they should ask themselves, why it is that some persons manage a family so well and others do not. Then you will find that the difference is owing to the man — his presence, his personality.
Coming to great leaders of mankind, we always find that it was the personality of the man that counted. Now, take all the great authors of the past, the great thinkers. Really speaking, how many thoughts have they thought? Take all the writings that have been left to us by the past leaders of mankind; take each one of their books and appraise them. The real thoughts, new and genuine, that have been thought in this world up to this time, amount to only a handful.
Read in their books the thoughts they have left to us. The authors do not appear to be giants to us, and yet we know that they were great giants in their days. What made them so? Not simply the thoughts they thought, neither the books they wrote, nor the speeches they made, it was something else that is now gone, that is their personality. As I have already remarked, the personality of the man is two-thirds, and his intellect, his words, are but one-third. It is the real man, the personality of the man, that runs through us. Our actions are but effects. Actions must come when the man is there; the effect is bound to follow the cause.
The ideal of all education, all training, should be this man-making. But, instead of that, we are always trying to polish up the outside. What use in polishing up the outside when there is no inside? The end and aim of all training is to make the man grow. The man who influences, who throws his magic, as it were, upon his fellow-beings, is a dynamo of power, and when that man is ready, he can do anything and everything he likes; that personality put upon anything will make it work.
Now, we see that though this is a fact, no physical laws that we know of will explain this. How can we explain it by chemical and physical knowledge? How much of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, how many molecules in different positions, and how many cells, etc., etc. can explain this mysterious personality? And we still see, it is a fact, and not only that, it is the real man; and it is that man that lives and moves and works, it is that man that influences, moves his fellow-beings, and passes out, and his intellect and books and works are but traces left behind ...
Think of this. Compare the great teachers of religion with the great philosophers. The philosophers scarcely influenced anybody’s inner man, and yet they wrote most marvellous books. The religious teachers, on the other hand, moved countries in their lifetime. The difference was made by personality. In the philosopher it is a faint personality that influences; in the great prophets it is tremendous. In the former we touch the intellect, in the latter we touch life. In the one case, it is simply a chemical process, putting certain chemical ingredients together which may gradually combine and under proper circumstances bring out a flash of light or may fail. In the other, it is like a torch that goes round quickly, lighting others.
Impact on India’s Leaders
“I have gone through his works very thoroughly, and after having gone through them, the love that I had for my country became a thousand-fold.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Swami Vivekananda harmonized the East and the West, religion and science, past and present. And that is why he is great. Our countrymen have gained unprecedented self-respect, self- reliance and self-assertion from his teachings.” – Subhash Chandra Bose
“Where can you find a man like him? Study what he wrote, and learn from his teachings, for if you do, you will gain immense strength. Take advantage of the fountain of wisdom, of Spirit, and of fire that flowed through Vivekananda!” – Jawaharlal Nehru
Each one can grow and strengthen his personality. This is one of the great practical things, and this is the secret of all education. This has a universal application. In the life of the householder, in the life of the poor, the rich, the man of business, the spiritual man, in every one’s life, it is a great thing, the strengthening of this personality
APPLICATION EXAMPLE
Sumit joined Sun Advertising agency as an Assistant Accounts Representative, one of the junior most positions in the company. Sun Advertising had the mandate of covering the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of a large public conglomerate company.
The usual practice was to cover the chairman’s speech at the AGM in all leading newspapers the very next day after the AGM. These recordings were done live, processed, made print-ready and then sent to the newspapers for printing.
In 1990, the AGM was scheduled for the afternoon of 4th April in Kolkata. It had been raining throughout that day. By the time the meeting was over, the city was completely submerged in water.
After covering the AGM, the team waded through knee-deep water and reached their office. Their work had just started…when Kolkata had practically closed down due to rains.
Sumit and his colleague Rohan had the responsibility of finishing this work. The entire process was taking time. Meanwhile, the Newspaper began making frantic calls to their agency saying that if the material did not reach them, they would not be able to issue the newspaper the next day, as a whole page had been dedicated to the AGM coverage. Sumit promised the Newspaper that the work was on and would definitely reach them.
The processing work got over close to 10.30 p.m. Sumit contacted the company representative for permission, to send the speech to the newspaper for printing. The company representative insisted on getting the final approval from the Chairman. Racing against time, the two boys reached the Chairman’s house close to mid-night. After getting the approval from the Chairman, they called up the Newspaper and told them, “We will reach your press in an hour’s time. Hold the printing.”
Close to 1 a.m., fighting through the flood, Sumit and Rohan finally reached the printing press. The next day’s newspapers carried the chairman’s speech.
Few days later in a party, the chairman told the head of Sun Advertising, “Your agency has given us superlative service….and here I am not talking about the design work – I am talking about the last mile execution which happened after the AGM.”
To recognize “contributor qualities” in action, and understand why contributors are valued so much in the work place
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