Management Lesson - Commitment

“Most people fail not because of a lack of desire but because of a lack of commitment.” -- Vince Lombardi

All an Entrepreneur aspires for, is success in her domain. What she needs to know is how to conduct herself in business & personally, so that she is able to pull off what she started. But how will that happen? To become a successful businessperson, one needs to evolve into a dynamic leader who is fully committed to the assignment at hand. Thus Commitment is a necessary quality that Entrepreneur needs to inculcate in herself.

Commitment, which means the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause or activity, is not just a word, but it encapsulates a leader’s entire personality. It is not a one-time activity but a habit, a continuous promise that once you have confirmed to take-up an activity, you will deliver, come what may. The famous epic sentence “Praana Jaaye par vachan na jaaye”of Ramayan clearly demonstrates the values effective and revered leaders of those times practiced. This essentially means that whatever i have said ( or committed ) has value more than my life and i will stick to it, come what may. 

 An opportunity to demonstrate commitment is seen in every walk of life. It can be as little as attending your club meeting every week, or delivering to your client at the promised time in accordance to what you have promised. I will share an incidence here.

I always knew that it was important to commit and have always delivered on what I said I would. I realized its value, when I saw the manner in which our club’s founding president Ajay conducted himself. He would attend club meetings even when he was unwell and would leave all else for another time. I was filled with astonishment. After all, missing a meeting, creates no imbalance in the universe. But the impact he created on us was humongous and with that we became even more committed to the club and all other responsibilities that we took. 

In a recent incidence, I was required to travel to Raipur for a preliminary discussion with the client. The flight was from Mumbai and was booked by the client. Excessive traffic on expressway got me delayed in reaching Mumbai and after parking my car, I took a cab to go to the airport. I would have been in time, had everything gone well. But I got stuck in traffic again and the traffic was not moving on the road. I had two choices – First get down from the taxi and walk across the traffic for another cab, Or Second keep sitting in the taxi and wait for the traffic to clear. If I didn’t reach the airport in time, I would definitely miss my meeting. Learning from commitment lessons, I decided to take the former option. Walking through the traffic with my luggage for about a kilometer, I took another cab to reach the airport just in time for my flight. It probably would have been easier to let go of something that painful, but was worth every ounce of effort eventually.

It is not always that you get a chance to demonstrate commitment. And not everyone decides to go through the hardships to maintain their commitment. But, when u get an opportunity, it is imperative that you grab it, because it is said, that Opportunity knocks once. Prove yourself, as it would open doors for many other opportunities in different forms. There are very few people in this world, who would be able to keep their commitment. Had I not decided to give it my best and reach for the flight in time, I would not only have lost the project that I was going for, but also all future projects from that organization. 

It is definitely well said in the words of Robert Frost,

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

-- Robert Frost

Thus commitment plays a larger than life role in all facets of life and those who have been able to manage this spirit of commitment have always come out as a winner. I am sure we all will Commit and Fulfil.