Monday, September 15, 2014

Clarity in Purpose and Communication - Can't Beat the Indian Army

I was watching a young lady News reporter who was reporting on the flood situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The intrepid girl hopped on an Indian Army boat with the personnel as they went about rescuing people stranded in their houses. It was dark already and they were using lights. The victims were stranded on the first floor and were visibly angry and unhappy. Some refused to be rescued.

The reporter asked the army man who was manning the boat how they were dealing with the situation considering that the army personnel were tired and were also facing this kind of hostility. The man smiled into the camera and said. 'We will not leave until the last person is rescued,' he said.

Absolute clarity.

She asked him again.
'The flood victims are not happy and sometimes uncooperative. How do you handle that?'

The young man had a ready answer. 'We will speak with love and make them understand we are here to help. But we will not leave until the last man is rescued. The Indian Army is always prepared.'

I was blown over at the clarity of purpose. Young man, tired, out in the floods, facing the camera for the first time perhaps, but so clear about his role and his purpose.

I heard the Army Chief a couple of days later and another senior official. Guess what? They all said the same thing. 'We will not leave until the last man is rescued. The Indian Army is fully prepared.'

Fantastic stuff. We look at the army like a machine and it operates like a machine too. In a world where there is so much inefficiency, lack of purpose and communication, lack of clarity of role, lack of commitment and responsibility, these youngsters shine through and set a fine example. Of how to be clear about our purpose and role, how to communicate it so clearly, how to be responsible and committed.

If we could only take a small bit of what our army exemplifies and bring it into our lives, we'd be that much better as a nation. For a nation that is searching for real heroes, I'd look no further than the Indian Army.

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