Saturday, November 25, 2006

'Never let them see you bleed'

In his last appearance as the legendary Q in 'The World is Not Enough', this was the first advice that Desmond Llewelyn had for James Bond.

They say it is important for one to let out their emotions, be it anger or misery, from time to time.

I think it is a weakness.

It is a weakness, at least in the minds of the people you work with. For them, you're now "just human". No harm in that, did you say? Of course not. But when you're the one who's supposed to be a leader, or plays the role of the motivator and is responsible for getting stuff done, this would be professional hara-kiri.

It is also a weakness in the sense that for that particular duration of time, you do not have control over your emotions, your reactions or the words that you're blurting out. And with that outburst of emotions also goes the future references to 'those weak moments' which might (and in all probability) will be held against you, or will be used to your disadvantage at the very least.

So what is it that I'm actually driving at?

Never display your emotions, at least not in public. Those moments are your moments which should be kept to yourself. For the world around you, let you be the "heartless block of stone who works with unflagging resolve and determination". Much better than being labelled 'a nice guy'; which, in any case, sounds like euphemism for 'oh, that poor loser'.

NEVER LET THEM SEE YOU BLEED.

7 comments:

Shekhar said...

Thanks Alok.

arpana said...

uh-oh ..... :( ... Am I reading too much between the lines or as much as required?

and BTW , I agree completely with you in this count

Shekhar said...

arpana: Hmmm....

Anonymous said...

i havent understood a word..as was reading more in between the lines..can u pls explain why u wrote this?????

arpana said...

used this post in my blog. hope u dont mind.

Lavanya said...

You have spoken on professional terms.What when it comes to the matters of the heart?? Does, not letting them see you bleed still help?

Shekhar said...

basanti:Umm...It's been a long time since I wrote this, and of course, I've spoken to you on this issue. :)

arpana: Mind? I'm honoured.

enigma: Perhaps not. In personal life too, 90% of the time I tend to be surrounded by people who're not close to me in any case. The only people who matter to me are my parents and extremely close friends (please note, I mean friends as in FRIENDS, people for who I would jump out of bed for at 3 in the morning and would expect likewise behavior if I were in trouble). Perhaps to them, I would let them know that I bleed. And again, not ALL of my 'close' folks would know that I'm bleeding... just those who could stay away from the situation and give unbiased advice.