As a parent seeking admission for your child, what would you be looking for, in a school? Is it the academics or the core values the school believes in? In most cases academics is the most preferred criteria totally ignoring the importance or the relevance of the other. One would ask why should Core Values be given so much importance in schools? For the simple reason it builds powerful personalities who are future- ready and capable of revolutionising the world. ‘Pursuit of Excellence’ is one such core value which is of insurmountable importance but long forgotten. Today success and excellence are misinterpreted. Interestingly there are various perceptions to it too.
Sheeba and Aditya are Eighth and Twelfth graders studying in the leading schools of India. Their idea of excellence is scoring good marks in their upcoming exams. This can be achieved by revising their syllabus repeatedly. To pass the exam and get admitted to a good college is what these young adults understand ‘excellence’ to be. This perception was not built in a day but is a result of a conditioning that they have been subjected to since childhood.
A man in his forties, Mr. Sharma is a Plant Manager in a multinational company. Based on his seniority, he was promoted as the new Executive Director-the topmost position of his organisation. This had been his dream for some time now. His new post entitles him with a car, a driver, and a whopping sum as salary. As the new ED, he’s leading the organisation just the same way as his predecessor. Him being at the top, with a huge salary makes him think that he is successful and undoubtedly excellent at his job.
The above are not mere narratives but true events reflecting the prevalent psyche today. Arguably the question comes: what is so wrong about it?
Sheeba and Aditya’s understanding of excellence is totally inaccurate. Since the beginning they have been taught that education is important to only pass the exam. The Indian education system does not provide scope for improving competence or thinking out of the box yet marks obtained in this system hold a lot of importance. A look at the press reveal of the Board results by various schools show only the top scorers thus, relegating the innovative thinkers to the margins. No wonder children have assimilated and accommodated a different meaning of pursuing excellence.
For Mr. Sharma, excellence at the workplace is limited to reaching the top. The powerful word ‘How’ would have set him apart from mediocrity. “How can I do it differently?” is what Mr. Sharma could have asked himself after taking on the coveted post. The scope for re-evaluation and introspection ended when his dream was realized. He assumed excellence comes automatically with success, so there is no need to work for it consciously.
Excellence needs to be pursued and achieved. It needs you to invest time and persevere to be your best at whatever you do. It is also about enhancing your own skills, abilities and competing with your own self to get better. Being passionate and enthusiastic, creating benchmarks and displaying the highest of standards always becomes the hallmarks of this personality.
A cue can be taken from Virat Kohli-the cricketing legend. A Linkedin post says that he believes in continuous improvements. His transformation into a lean and incredibly fit global cricketing icon is a testimony to the model of excellence he follows. With each win he goes back to the nets to improve further and eliminate his weaknesses thereby creating a new version of himself each time. Be it fitness, behaviour or leadership Virat believes in being better than what he was yesterday. This unique ability to leverage his strengths and continuously minimise his weaknesses makes him a phenomenon.
Now, a looming question that needs an answer right now is “Why do Indians score poorly on the excellence card”? Acharya Prashant, Indian author, and an Advaita teacher who is quite popular among the youth for his radical life approaches has an insight into this. He shares “to be unique and excellent one needs to invoke ‘thought’. But that is missing. Not just that, even logic, rationality, and critical thinking too. We emulate and copy. We feel scared ‘to dare’ and venture out. That is why India’s share in generating intellectual property is minimal.”
Something published on similar lines in an article in the Statesman also opined that excellence is a word that is anathema to the Indian psyche. We revel in mediocrity and worse. If we see anything outstanding, we try to destroy its uniqueness. We cannot digest the excellence of other people and hence end up either vilifying or copying it.
Acharya Prashant further states that excellence has been misunderstood through time. He agrees it is important but in the right field. Society has conditioned everyone to not look at things that are important to oneself. Excelling and being felicitated in the wrong field creates a delusion that ‘I am somebody’ and reinforces the false notion ‘I have achieved something’ thus stopping you from enjoying the whole journey. He confirms excellence cannot come from something one does not enjoy doing. One can clearly see the origin of a mismatch between perfection, excellence, and success.
Achieving excellence and bringing innovation is more like an expedition. Every step taken during this journey is more important than the destination. And the ‘will’ to take this journey is implanted much in advance i.e., childhood. Schools should therefore, take lead in training the children to take that first step. Young or old, man or woman-The pursuit of excellence equips everyone to take challenges and ace it, break ceilings, bring transformations and above all teaches them to be less fearful of failures. According to Deepak Chopra, a doctor in alternative medicine, these are the people who pursue excellence and ignore success.
Bincy Thomas
Bincy was a teacher by profession but now, is a history buff by choice. Being a fitness enthusiast with a keen interest for trekking, she combines this interest with history and sets out exploring lost and forgotten monuments, to gather new insights and information. When she’s not trekking, yoga, meditation and reading takes away her time.