London Olympics bronze medalist shuttler Saina Nehwal said the other day – “It’s tough to be a champion and it gets lonely at the top.” That reminds me what the super star Shahrukh Khan has once said, “I’ve a beautiful family. I’ve a few friends with whom I spend lot of time. I don’t like to die like my father. I don’t want to be unknown. I would like to be just successful. Believe me it is very lonely at the top.” He revealed that he was constantly fighting with the emptiness. “There is something wrong in me. I sense it. I feel it but I don’t know what it is.”
These were few revelations that compelled me to put on my thinking cap. I believe success is the integral element of progress without which either we become stagnant and sink into oblivion or begin to lead a life not very different from animals. Animals have lost the battle upon this planet against humans because they had limited goals. Nature had endowed them the virtue of complacency and their weapons of preservation were weak. We the humans have another story to tell. We have infinite goals and we harbor ambitions beyond imagination. We are exploring the kingdom of creativity and curiousity. We look for success. It is a different matter if success has different connotation in different situations. Often rising tide raises all the boats. Many enjoy the reflected glories. Success has many fathers and several children.
Success brings the plethora of issues with it. The faster and higher you climb the ladder the lonelier you feel. Sitting at the top of pyramid may be majestic but it is really lonely. How long this splendid isolation helps you to stay where you are. The leaders of business, politics, religion and sports often suffer distraction from the heroes of similar fields. It is the simple phenomenon – similar poles repel each other. You find hard to attract the people who have been successful in your field. Often you are envied or disparaged by those who had been successful in different fields of similar magnitude. The space at the top shrinks without announcement. There is an inherent fear that someone is going to stomp your head. A Domocle’s sword hangs over the head – you might lose POWER.
According to Adan D. Galinsky of Kellogg Graduate School of Business – “Power is a coveted, sought, and tightly held onto. From the animal kingdom to all human societies, power is the currency of success.”
However, it is universally accepted that power also leaves the powerful very lonely at the top. Power perverts relationship. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The immediate impact of power on your attitude is the implosion of suspicion in your life. You begin to doubt the magnanimity and generosity of others. In your subconscious you are to lead to believe in ulterior motives to their kindness.
Power also reduces commitment. It becomes paramount and relationships drift to insignificant territories. Warmth and sincerity are replaced by pretensions and outwards demos which are plastic. Power weaves jaundiced and cynical webs and strangulates the feeling of reciprocity.
To conclude this article I feel that describing and emphasizing a problem is not enough. There should be some way out for correction. What they are supposed to do to encounter this splendid but excruciating isolation? I think that they should often climb down to take a whiff of fresh air. They could occasionally share their bounties with those whose shoulders they had used to speed up. They should never forget that success never comes without reason. It needs support. Your environment, your family, your friend, your society are the corner stone of the edifice of your success. Never ignore them!
