WHAT DIFFERENTIATES EXCELLENCE FROM MEDIOCRITY (09/06/2016)

Two news items caught my attention in today’s newspaper. One was the decision of Mr. Osamu Suzuki, the 86 year old Suzuki patriarch, to step down as the Chief Executive and to cut executive pay and bonuses after the bruising admission of major flaws in the fuel tests. The other news item was related to the failure of the Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE) - a laboratory under DRDO to launch a parachute even after research of 13 years and spending crores in expenses. Yet no one from the ADRDE came forward to shoulder the responsibility of failure, leave alone relinquish his position on this failure. Where scientific research is involved, one should not expect success in every endeavour. I believe in what Thomas Alva Edison had to say about his failure: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Hence I do not question the failure of the “Made in India” parachute. The events highlights the attitude of a Japanese to failure via-à-vis we Indians. This marks what differentiates excellence from mediocrity. Acceptance of one’s failure in midst of adversity is graceful, denial of the same felonious.