EGO

 

“Sir,  I have closed the deal with XYZ Chemical company for the supply of ABC chemical at Rs. 50 per kg and sir we will be saving around Rs. 50 lacs on this deal”,  Ashok, the Purchase Manager told his senior  Mr. Gupta, Gen Manager with a lot of excitement and hope to receive appreciation.

 

“How dare you!!  The deal was already closed by me at Rs. 55.00 per kg.  What do you want to prove?  Am I a poor negotiator?    This will also spoil the name of the company.  My commitment was final. “  an agitated boss, blasted on Ashok.

“But Sir, you only told me to close the deal”.

“No, I told you to close the documentation work”, GM cried in full throttle.

“Sir, I am sorry, I couldn’t understand you properly”, Ashok tried to pacify his boss.

At Sunlight Housing Society, the President of the Society Mr. Gaurav Sharma,  ordered for AMC of elevators before the expiry of the earlier contract so as to continuity of the service.

“Mr. Sharma, this is absolutely not acceptable.  You haven't consulted me.  I am sure I would have saved you at least one lac rupee on this contract.”  One aggrieved member of RWA Mr. Gyan Chand told the President.  “It seems you had mala fide intention of deliberating ignoring me”, he further vented on him.

“Mr. Gyan, it was your prime responsibility to close the contact of AMC, but you were unnecessary taking your own sweet time.  I am here to discharge my duty as President and not to satisfy your ego” President retorted back.

“Ms Soundarya, Can I talk to you?” Anubhav, a classmate of her in college politely asked her.

Instead of responding Ms. Soundarya simply ignored Anubhav.  He felt insulted.   Ms Soundarya became very famous in college for her attitudes.   She got married at the age of 24 and but divorced within six months and now she is leading a solitary life for the past 45 years.

Most of us come across such incidents in our day to day life.  I call them “Ego” issues.

“Ego” is nothing but self-imposed importance of oneself.

Knowingly or unknowingly,  some persons keep a distance from their own colleagues, subordinates,   their relatives because they feel they are superior to others.

Ego hurts.  We stop learning because we think about how can we learn from our juniors?  How can we learn from the person who doesn’t have technical knowledge?  Why should I accept my mistake?  Why should I ask my colleague to do me this favor?

An egoistic person will have devoid of good friends.  He will crack poor jokes to remain in limelight.

Taking on such an egocentric outlook will close your mind to new solutions and inhibit your from learning the lessons at hand.  Growth will soon come to a halt, as will your contribution to the organization.

 

A businessman can’t afford to remain egoistic.  He has to deal with all kinds of customers.  He has to in fact satisfy the ego of his customers to get his work done.

 

Now let us examine the word “Pride”.  Pride is entirely different from the Ego.

 

“Pride” a feeling of fulfillment, satisfaction for any action or an event.  It may be derived from any achievement of oneself or his family.  He will normally be altruistic.

A person can take price in his value system, his family, his society, his country and always feel happy about this.

An IAS  officer gets an enormous opportunity in making money through dubious means.  But still, he remains honest.  His integrity remains impeccable.  This value system is his pride.

 

Now it's up to us in which category we want to fall in.  But in any organization or business, Egocentric people are ultimately discarded or marginalized.