16:42 Gulf News: Hard work and intellect are the only things that carry longevity in a corporate environment
16:45 Elizabeth Eapen: I do not agree as I don’t think that these are the only factors that determine longevity. For example, whether or not you share a common goal, for those on a sponsor’s visa, the sponsor’s job stability also plays a vital role.
16:45 Shalini Menezes: Nice people can succeed in the office; however, this statement is quite conditional. Hard work and intellect are key factors to achieve longevity in the corporate world, but that needs to be supplemented by certain additional factors such as tacit, rule-based and background knowledge. A consolidation of all these will result in smart work, which will sustain longevity. In conclusion, hard work and intellect gets amalgamated to smart work. Intellect cannot be confined to a theory or academic knowledge, rather the application of this intellect in the right manner and proportion at the right time will yield better results.
16:49 Elizabeth Eapen: Success is achieved by combining several factors and while knowledge is crucial, practicality and the ability to work as a team is equally important. Therefore, mere theoretical knowledge will not suffice.
16:50 Yasir Nahim: I may not entirely agree on this as I believe there are two different aspects. I mean, look at all those hardworking scientists; aren’t they successful, but how good looking are they? Good looks are something that you are born with. You can only enhance it, and at the end they have an upper hand.
16:50 Elizabeth Eapen: A right knowledge of the job, the conditions for it and your team member’s strengths and weaknesses are equally important to achieve success.
16:50 Shalini Menezes: Cultural background, sensible approach to critical issues, viability, quality of decision making, resource management and planning are important factors that play an important role.
16:50 Yasir Nahim: But hard work is just being yourself. You do it because you like it. There is no convincing needed. There are many contributing factors beyond our recognition. Every employer’s relationship with his or her employee is different and so are people.
16:55 Gulf News: Looks and sycophancy are the only ways to succeed.
16:56 Elizabeth Eapen: I do not agree as appearance can often be deceptive. You may miss a pearl if you only go by looks and very often organisations lose out on key skills and abilities because of the importance placed on the external factors. However, this is not to say that looks are completely condoned, instead a balance is necessary. On the other hand, the route of sycophancy to achieve success only reflects the shallowness of the person judging or rewarding people for it.
16:59 Shalini Menezes: “Right moves” is very subjective because looks do play a very crucial role, however, as the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, hence, what is perceived to be good looks might not necessarily be. Looks are deceptive and a person with good looks might not be a good communicator or a good worker, which could be detrimental to the organisation.
16:59 Yasir Nahim: In that case, people are just using their looks to their advantage because of the fact that it might be their only strength. But, it is a gamble and will not last for long.
17:00 Shalini Menezes: There are many ways to achieve success and if we adopt the “right moves” approach, then this success is bound to be short lived.
17:01 Yasir Nahim: Right or wrong is what we as humans have defined it.
17:03 Shalini Menezes: Sycophancy might be music to your ears and a nuisance for another. Smart moves is a better approach as opportunity may not stay there knocking on your door waiting for you to open, so strike the iron while it’s still hot.
17:03 Elizabeth Eapen: Success seems to be manipulated and is likely to be short-lived. Again as I mentioned before, it reflects the judge rather than the person in question.
17:03 Yasir Nahim: Attractive people play a key role in attracting people to an organisation and that is quite obvious as they enhance the face of a brand or a company, and that is just sheer marketing.
17:04 Shalini Menezes: Attractive people do not necessarily only need the looks. For example, at a call centre a good voice is attractive, looks pay in the service industry and creative organisations look at the end result of an assignment.
17:04 Shalini Menezes: Yes, attractive people do taste success more than those who are not but again this is subjective.
17:06 Elizabeth Eapen: It is sad but often external factors have a higher priority when recognising human resource.
17:07 Yasir Nahim: The word nice defines a great personality and you cannot measure success using only one criteria as there are many factors to it. So, at a work place if one is at a lower position, he or she is successful when looking at the big picture.
17:08 Elizabeth Eapen: Nice should be a combination of many factors that are both internal and external.
17:08 Shalini Menezes: Nice people can also taste success if they make the right moves. Apply your knowledge, avoid being self-centred, have an open mind and adapt the give and take policy as well as avoid being vulnerable, these are some of the factors that can help you achieve success.
— Compiled by Donia Jenabzadeh/She is a trainee with Gulf News
