The perceptions of reality

Steering away from the usual DIY approach, R Gopalakrishnan, corporate honcho-cum-prolific author, explains how his latest book ‘Six Lenses - Vignettes of Success, Career and Relationships’ is aimed at ordinary people wanting to succeed

Many a time, when people meet me at airports and other places, they ask me to advise them on the right way to maintaining a work-life balance. Instead of telling them what they have been waiting to know, I tell them instead to not try and balance things but maximise the potential in both these situations to lead happy lives’ intones R Gopalakrishnan, a well-known and respected corporate titan and for the past decade, a prolific author, writing about corporate lives and drawing from a rich repertoire of anecdotes from his nearly half-a-century of working life in India and abroad.

Still highly active as a director on the boards of various companies, he exemplifies, for sure what he counsels others. “My latest book, ‘Six Lenses - Vignettes of Success, Career and Relationships (Rupa)’, released in Mumbai in November last year, can be considered part of a series I had begun in 2007. I had embarked on a method where I took up various aspects of lives and wrote it for an audience, staying away from a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach,” says Gopal.

How is this new book, different from the earlier ones, which were known for their nuanced approaches for dealing with issues related to working professionals? Firstly, as the author informs it “gets to the bottom of assumptions and choices made by an individual through life.”

The official website of Tata Group, writing about the book and elaborating further says: “Gopalakrishnan reflects on different lenses an individual puts on, thus influencing one’s assumptions and choices and thereby one’s career, fulfilment and relationships.”

As Gopalakrishnan further adds, “Six Lenses addresses some of the most fundamental challenges executives are facing currently. The book probes the direct connection between work and fulfillment.” Then what is this lens business about? As per the author, the six lenses through which a person views assumptions and choices are: purpose, authenticity, courage, trust, luck, and fulfillment.

A mini- description of them would be:
Purpose is the deep-seated belief about life’s aim.
Authenticity is about who you are, at the core.
Courage is a mindset about overcoming obstacles and inequity such as boldness, resisting unfair power, taking risks, and facing up to your vulnerabilities.
Trust encompasses virtues such as reliability, never letting anyone down, keeping secrets, loyalty and faith.
Luck is the hidden belief on which individuals may or may not believe and includes words such as ‘fate’, ‘unearned luck’, ‘providence’, and ‘coincidence’.
Fulfillment is about what brings satisfaction and contentment. It is about being happy, radiating positive energy and enjoying what exists rather than cry about what might have been missed.
His conviction is that ‘by altering our perceptions, we can overcome challenges we face in professional and family life in a better manner.’

In his list of books penned, one book ‘ A Comma in a Sentence’ released in 2014, is a different one, based as it is on the genealogical records of his family spread over six generations, beginning from a hamlet in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu. This was a critically acclaimed effort, he adds.
The current book, took about a year to write and in all, a tenure of 15 months before it saw the light of the day.

The 66-year-old author, who started it all about a decade ago, has come out with five books, and the sixth one is in the pipeline. “I may not be a hotshot writer, but I am told my books enjoy a print run of an average 20-25000 copies each and I receive royalty from them even now,” he informs. The recent book is already into its second edition, he adds.

A widely travelled man, how frequently has he managed to visit Hyderabad? To this, like a seasoned author who reserves his punches for the last chapter, he proclaims: “I am a Hyderabad alludu if I may say so, as my wife hails from here and her family has been among the leading lights of the legal fraternity in the city.” The dakhani charm has surely seduced one more big wig, one can conclude.