Amidst this wonder at his form, man is also queered about ‘who he/she is?’ This question traces its origin to that supreme command from the temple of Apollo: ‘know thy self’. The heroes of the great classics of the world have all obeyed this command. Right from Valmiki’s Rama, to Sophocles’s Oedipus and Shakespeare’s King Lear, all have sought to know “who I am”. What an amount of inner and outer chaos of madness and tempest King Lear might have passed through to cry out: “who is it that can tell me who I am?”

Such is the intensity of man’s quest for unraveling himself. In ‘Vivekachudamani’, Sankaracharya says that the supreme goal of human beings is “self-knowledge” - the ‘crown jewel of wisdom’. Sankaracharya also warned that the neglect of its pursuit is verily suicide.

This call of the old orthodoxies to ‘know thy self’ has today become most urgent and imperative. The modern management gurus say that if you know your own preferences then you will understand yourself better. This, in turn, betters one’s relationships with others. Secondly, by virtue of knowing one’s own preferences, one will be more aware of his/her own biases and that helps him/her to avoid labeling others in a negative fashion. Such an approach at workplaces is all the more required for it helps one to be versatile. It enables one to be aware of and sensitive to those who are distinct from them. It also paves way for one to be empathic and thus see the world from the perspective of others.

There is yet another strong reason why one should have self-awareness. Psychologists say that we all do a lot of self-talk which is of two types: negative and positive self-talk. Negative self-talk is identified with chronic indecisiveness. Positive self-talk is known to create positive expectations. It is also known to reinforce effective problem-solving behavior. An executive driven by negative self-talk may call for more information, and may accelerate, retard, or confound the problem-solving process. As against this, an executive driven by positive self-talk, being a good problem solver and decision maker senses when a sufficient amount of information has been acquired to move through each phase. He also senses when each phase is sufficiently completed to progress to the next phase or when one should backtrack to a preceding phase for a more thorough consideration. Self-awareness, therefore, enables an executive to recognize the existence of debilitating negative self-talk, or the reinforcing positive self-talk and thereby, exercise a better hold on their decision making process.

Knowing the ‘self’ has thus become the core of human competence. And to describe its potential effectiveness, the word ‘efficacy’ is often being used. ‘Self-efficacy’ is the “belief of an individual in his capacities to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources and courses of action to meet given situational demands”. It is the general sense of adequacy which one has in oneself that is likely to contribute to one’s effectiveness in working for a task-related goal. Now, the question is: what constitutes that sense of adequacy? It is generally believed that four sets of factors contribute to personal efficacy: motivation, self-awareness, pro-activity, and action-orientation. An individual with a high level of motivation will, obviously, display a higher level of ‘personal-efficacy’. A person with higher awareness of both his strengths and weaknesses is likely to enjoy high-efficacy for he can use his strengths effectively while making his weaknesses irrelevant. He is also aware of his achievements. Such awareness enables him to plan better for self-development which is essential for achieving better results. An individual’s ability to take the initiative believing that he/she can change the course of events is what is known as pro-activity. It greatly impacts the efficacy of an individual. The other important element that influences one’s personal efficacy is ‘action-orientation’- self-discipline by way of working hard and even deferring personal-gratification; planning-orientation; and future-directedness. Amongst all these four, what ultimately decides one’s effectiveness in a given context is one’s ‘self-awareness’ In today’s competitive world, if one has to propel oneself forward, one must simply know what one’s soft skills are. One should be aware of one’s personal preferences for that alone enables one to reduce incongruence between one’s personality and the job-demands, which is a must for accomplishing excellence at work. And that is what this book attempts to examine.

The book is divided into four sections. The first section- ‘Know Thyself’- highlights the growing importance of performance in the corporate world and the role of human capital in its sustainability. In this context, it explores the potential of the combination of ‘hard skills’– the task oriented competencies and ‘soft skills’– emotion-based competencies in defining the individual and, in turn, the organizational competencies in sustaining business growth. It attempts to trace important soft skills that matter in enhancing the efficiency of an employee at the workplace. The need to know the self and the ‘soft skills’ one is endowed with are discussed in detail. In the course of argument about the importance of emotional intelligence in maintaining excellent interpersonal relations at workplaces, it proposes an Indian alternative, the concept of Stithaprajna as a better stance to relate with others and influence their functioning. The section then moves on to the other important constituent of self – ‘intrinsic motivation’ and elaborates its role in defining one’s orientation towards goal-related work and its accomplishment.

The second section entitled ‘Know Your Role’ starts with a sketch of the ‘role’ of a manager, the varied conflicts it creates in today’s complex business world and articulates the ways and means of enacting it with finesse. The second article in the section discusses jobs being no longer permanent, what a manager has to do to excel oneself in the role assigned to one. It traces the importance of knowing one’s role and getting integrated with it duly energized by a well- drafted strenuous workout for improving one’s own human capital. The third article discusses the need to build harmony between work life and personal life and what it calls for to be happy at workplaces and how this could be accomplished. Lastly, the section discusses the importance of creativity in one’s performance to keep always ahead of the competitors and how creativity could be nurtured at work places.

The third section – ‘Communication and Personality Differentiation’ argues how communication as the single most important asset of a human being has been emphasized right from Valmiki to the present day management gurus. From that platform, it goes on to discuss the various niceties associated with communication whose practice is considered to differentiate one’s personality. Organizations, being a group of people working together to achieve common goals, require effective communication to get management into existence. In that context, the section argues that communication becomes more than getting the message across and suggests ways and means of accomplishing it. The section then moves on to ‘listening’ which is essential for effective communication and discusses how active listening can and need to be practiced at work places for effective relations and in personal life to discharge social obligations. The section ends with a discussion on the art of negotiation for ‘win-win’ outcomes.

The fourth and final section – “Job-full of Relationships” offers some final thoughts on management of interpersonal relations at work places and different capabilities such as interpersonal skills, assertive behavior, conflict management, counseling and mentoring colleagues and finally leadership qualities that are essential for effectively influencing others’ behavior. The discussions also highlight how these soft skills can be leveraged upon to lead a most fulfilling life both at work and outside of it. An attempt has also been made to supplement theoretical underpinnings with suitable illustrations. It also discusses the Indian Doctrine of Triguna and advocates ardent practice of Satvaguna – equanimity in one’s disposition towards external world, as it reinforces trust in interpersonal relations leading to better living.

As this book has had the general readership in mind, no serious attention has been paid to authenticate the scientific comments used in the text diligently. However, a brief bibliography is appended for further exploration. I wish to amply make it clear that whatever I have articulated in the book has already been thought of and expressed by the most eminent of yester years and I remain grateful to all those intellectual luminaries.
While writing this book, I have had my mind, glued to what St Paul said: ‘For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? For ye shall speak in to the air.’ I have tried to make my communication clear and to the context and, if there is any thing in the book that I can claim as mine, it is that.