Value Added Thinking To Ace Instant Gratification
We, as a nation, have to think of new ways of adding value to our people and teams and get out of the instant gratification syndrome.
Today, it was reported that the Indian Cricket Captain said it is ok if one player wants to not play in a match.
This makes a lot of sense. We have 11 players in a country with a population of 1.3 billion. In contrast, Australia has 26 million, the UK 67 million and New Zealand 5 million. Imagine the pressure of being 11 out of 1300,000.000 versus 11 out of 5,000,000. Twenty-six times more.
We have so many great players waiting in the wings.
With this kind of pressure and competition, Indian players have to preserve their positions. They play somewhat scared and cautious. Add to this the tremendous onslaught of experts, in media putting a payer who does well on a pedestal and bringing him down the next time he fails. Look at Surya Kumar Yadav. Hero of 20-20, killed by ODIs.
Players like Sehwag played their strokes naturally and played commandingly. Many Indian players seem dominated.
This cautious thinking goes into our research where we tolerate no wrong moves but expect instant gratification; in our investments and through our expectations.
We as a people must mature, and go beyond being competitive and looking for winners.
When I lived in the USA, it took me time to understand:
Why winning was everything
The USA has no idea what competition is.
Why winning is everything: I used to be amazed to see in American football and other games where people were willing to kill to win. Winning was everything, and controlled value co-destruction to become winners was important. I came from India and a culture of it is not about winning but how you play the game. Our athletes are learning that winning is important. Our media downplays our losses and aggrandises our wins. The media does not display a sense of balance when it comes to players not performing. Aggrandise less and accept some poor performance.
The USA has no idea what competition is: I used to think Americans are very competitive. See Coke and Pepsi as an example. When I returned to India, I realised Coke and Pepsi competed with known rules of the game. When they came to India, they could not fathom how to compete with and win over ThumsUp. The only solution was to destroy it somehow or buy it.
In India, we compete to get onto a bus, into a school and into a college (even 23 IITs are not enough, we need more to reduce competition). Availability becomes more important.
So, to end, we need 4 to 20 national-type teams. That may be impractical. How about allowing national teams to play in IPL for example to show that some of these Indian teams are not inferior. For example, many non-IIT students are not inferior if given a chance.
Our way of thinking has to change. How do we add value to our people and our teams? Your ideas for such a change?
_20240617000602_original_image_49.webp)
