All power is within you. You can do anything and everything. Arise! Awake! –Swami Vivekananda Courage + Care à Collaborate In last week’s blog, ‘You have control over your attitude’, we spoke about the values of Courage and Care that are valued at HCL, two values that empower us to Collaborate as we work to bring about change in various ecosystems. Cultivating, nurturing and exhibiting these values are entirely possible because it is in our very human nature to possess them. No matter what stage of life you are in – student, professional or even a retired person, each and every one of us has an innate capability to approach what we need to do with courage, we have the ability to care and we are capable of collaboration. Let’s take a walk down childhood lane Let’s take a walk down childhood lane. When you were a baby or a toddler, it would have seemed like such a big task for you and those around you, for you to pick up basic life skills like walking, talking and learning the alphabet. Yet, you managed to do all that and here you are – a high school student with your entire life ahead of you. You may not have realized it as a baby but within you was the courage to promote yourself from crawling to walking, from eating baby food to adult food and as life went on, you picked up not one but more than one language and other skills as well including singing, painting, playing an instrument, riding a bike and any of the hobbies that you like to do. Why ? You even know how to talk in languages that machines understand! All of this is because within you is the intrinsic courage to explore new things, to learn new things and develop yourself everyday into a more adaptive person in the changing landscape. As you grow older, you forget how strong you actually are and how much you have evolved over the years. Remember the number of times you fell of the bike, only to get up and learn again. You were so frightened before your Class 10 examinations and stayed up so many nights studying hard. You managed to get through all of those experiences to be in this present moment. This is because you have an amazing reservoir of courage inside you and we have some good news for you – this reservoir is never-ending! Our systems are built to care Likewise, do you know that human beings are naturally inclined to care? Next time you read a book or watch a television show, observe yourself when you read or see a scene where someone is exhibiting love or compassion. You automatically connect with the scene because it is our natural state to feel happy and connected in the presence of any form of care or compassion – even if it is in the pages of a book or on a television screen. On the contrary, when there is something violent or cruel, you flinch or temporarily feel dismayed – again, because it is not in our deep nature to support violence. When you were a small child, it was the care and compassion of your immediate family, your teacher and support systems which gave you the platform to grow and develop. We naturally feel comfortable in the presence of care and hence we must develop a mindset to ‘pay-it-forward’ – which means, we are who we are because of all the care we received, and we must give back as much care as we can, wherever we are placed in life. No human being is an island No human being is an island. Whether it is working on a school project or playing in a sports team – each and every one of us have to build a mindset to collaborate from an early age. You could be the strongest and most courageous person in the world, or you could be the most loving person in the world, or you could even be both but when you are a part of a team or a project or any ecosystem – it is crucial that all these values lead you to the spirit of collaboration. Again, this ability is also built into you for if you look back at all your important milestones – you will realize that there was some form of collaboration that you were a part of it which has brought you where you are. So, the good news is that you already have it in you to cultivate, nurture and exhibit these values because knowingly or unknowingly, it has been within you, guiding you and inspiring you all along. You never need to look too far for the right answers because if you take a moment to check – THE ANSWER IS WITHIN YOU! HCL technologies focuses on the values of Courage and Care that motivates us to Collaborate to stay as one of the top global technology companies in the digital age. These are the ‘values’ that HCL values as a company and these are the values that we look out for in the people who work for us. Guess what? All of these values are already within you and with the right attitude and dedication, will find ways to flourish and grow.
