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Part - II

The quotation of Descartes, "Do not acknowledge anything as true that is not obvious", seems vital for a manager entrusted with huge responsibilities. Cajal's warning against getting overawed by authority figures, irrespective of their expertise, is so relevant in the corporate sector, where sycophancy is the norm than an aberration. Cajal quotes for the reader, "There has never been a wise man who hasn't failed to prefer the lie invented by himself to the truth discovered by someone else."

The analogy of the soil that reveals its fertility to one, when it appears impoverished to another, is a subtle hint that our attitude can make any mundane job exciting and worthwhile. A great learning for any honest manager, who might get posting in a dumb department.

The importance of the tiny details, attention to the minor facts, is as relevant to an administrator as it is to the great bacteriologist Koch, in Cajal's anecdote *. The assertion that discoveries are more often than not made by common sense enhanced with technical education and a scientific thinking approach, is striking in its applicability to management. Cajal opines that hard work substitutes for talent and often creates it.

The quip about Epictectus, asking us to play the cards dealt to us by life in the best manner possible, was oddly reminiscent of Nehru. Trying to distinguish between free will and determinism, Nehru had opined that the pack of cards given by life was equivalent of determinism and how we played it was free will. The courage to face challenges unfazed, without blaming the circumstances, is the subtle learning.

The quotation of Goethe warning us of rivals, who will attempt to ignore what they would like to remain unknown, is so thought provoking! So as a manager, wishing for applause from all and sundry, is neither practical nor desirable. The combination of the idealistic Don Quixote and the practical Sancho, as told by Richet is a role model for any successful manager.

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* Koch thought of adding a little alkali to a basic aniline dye, and this allowed him to stain and discover the tubercle bacillus-which had remained undiscovered till then. Op Cite, Book.pg.17.