Awards, do they matter?

Corporates are geared up with appraisals. Promotions, salary increments, transfers, job rotations, more responsibility, bonuses, and incentives, will follow.

And who will decide this? Your boss. One person gets to decide your entire year. This means you hand over your 365 days in the hands of that one person.

Another example is the awards that corporates declare - Best Places to Work For, Best Employee, Best HR Policies, Best Work Ethic, the list is endless. Again here is the same question. Do we need awards to show how good our corporate work culture, HR policy, work ethics, CSR, and corporate culture is? Or are these just used for marketing?

Next are the TV reality shows. I understand that people do get exposure to participating in reality shows. Still, one needs to get the crux of it that two or three people (acting as judges) decide your career. I mean who are these people? Why do people participating and getting rejected feel demotivated? The emotions one undergoes post rejections are endless - depression, lack of faith in one’s ability, low self-esteem, frustrations, and jealousy.

We give this handful of people the right to judge us based on the grounds that they set.

Imagine Albert Einstein, Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonardo da Vinci, John Forbes Nash Jr., Rudyard Kipling, Henry David Thoreau, Pele, Helen Keller, P. T. Usha, Ruskin Bond, and Gulzar would have waited or looked for awards, we would have lost such great treasures. They did consistently what gave them meaning, purpose, and joy.

Yes, everyone will have their perspective,

Awards, are they desired? Probably yes. Are they needed? Probably no.

So believe in yourself, practice patience, be consistent and the sky is the limit.

With gratitude

Dr. Sonali Wagle