'A desire to learn and enthusiasm to be perfect at what you do will take you a long way' - Vinita Dawra Nangia, Senior Editor, Times of India

So how does one provide the necessary grounding to a generation ‘seduced by the trappings of success’? That was the question posed by Akhil Shahani, Managing Director, Centre for Management, to Vinita Dawra Nangia, Senior Editor, Times of India.

Ms. Nangia, who often explores such issues in her weekly column ‘O-Zone’ in the Sunday supplement Times Life, says she gets ‘horrified’ hearing young people say they only look for jobs where they can make money. She says, “I think one good measure of success is to be able to come home at the end of the day and say to myself, I led a good day, I did everything as per my conscience and lived to my potential.”

As Indians, are we especially open to finding a natural balance between work and a fulfilling personal life? Ms. Nangia thinks so. Unlike the Western obsession with achievement, she feels Indians have an inherent ability to adapt to a situation, rooted as they are in traditional notions of ‘karma’ and destiny. “I think there is a whole lot of solace in being able to tell yourself: good or bad, whatever happens is for the good. And you realize that it all comes together and finally, the things that you were able to manage in life were the ones that were meant for you,” she says in the video.

Apart from skills, Ms. Nangia believes a desire to learn and the enthusiasm to be perfect in what you are doing is what makes up a perfectly balanced and valuable employee in an organization.

And how would Ms. Nangia define her own spiritual outlook towards life? Instead of crediting any one person or philosophy, she says life is the greatest teacher, whether it is in the form of experiences, books, movies or soul-searching conversations with like-minded people. But most importantly, she believes it is also about taking time out for inner contemplation, to find communion with the ‘universal spirit’.