Rudyard Kipling’s “IF” and the Qualities of a Good Manager
Rudyard Kipling’s poem “IF” inspires many virtues of good management practices. Come refresh yourself with a shower of inspiration that we can derive from this poem.
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
People look up to managers as a wellspring of strength and stability. During times of crisis when a manager is up to the brim with complaints and murmurings, the manager can show to the world the stuff that he is made of by maintaining a disposition of stability and “cool”. The leader or the manager should never ever break down and appear rattled and yet he must be able to show openness to criticism as well as humility to do what is right.
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
The best leaders are the ones who can perform the same level of professionalism and quality in the face of success or defeat. He remains stable and unperturbed and does things with loving devotion whatever the circumstances are. They are their own masters because they do things with the best of their abilities and are unmoved by distracting results of either success or failure. They are happy enough to know that they did their best even if the results may seem frustrating.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;
This is a transcendental quality that all good managers must have. This means that they have the commitment and the will to do things right in the face of all life’s circumstances.
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
In this stanza, we find the element of courage to take risks, the will to work out things, and the strength of spirit to start anew.
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;
Here we can see how a manager is in full control of his body, his heart, his mind and his spirit so that nothing can stop him from being the best person that he can be.
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
This is the quality of leadership that all good managers should have. They are not living high up there or low down below. Instead, their shining examples of camaraderie and friendship thrive inside our hearts. Thus they can inspire loyalty, respect and following.
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run –
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!
As the saying goes, “Those who conquer other men are great. But he who can conquer himself is the greatest!”