Love Thy Barcelona..??

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, was not only a great scientist but a great teacher and philosopher  with several of his speeches and quotes being testimony to this fact.

In one of his famous quotes he said that ‘you should love your work and not your organisation‘. I was rather surprised at this statement from the great man and to tell you the truth I did not agree with what he had said.

My understanding was clear, ‘work hard and love your organisation harder‘, and I believed strongly in developing a sense of belongingness for the organisation amongst the employees. I continued  my ways, still perplexed at  Dr Kalam’s statement, untill the day came when I realised how true his statement was. I felt I was rather naive than pragmatic.

The recent exit of Lionel Messi from Barcelona is an example which comes close to what Dr Kalam was saying. Messi moved to Barcelona Football Club as a school boy, and in over  2 decades with the Club, he scored 682 goals ( highest by any player for Barcelona), won 10 La Liga Titles, 4 Champions League Titles and in short became the most decorated player for the Catalan Club. He brought riches, fame and silverware to his Club which was his extended family. Other players in his generation moved from clubs to clubs, but Messi stayed with Barcelona only.

However, just a few days earlier, Barcelona announced that they were not extending Messi’s contract and that he would have to leave Barcelona for good. The club had their issues with burgeoning debt (but that was not Messi’s fault), with  Messi even agreeing  to take a 50% pay cut, just to stay at the Club, his home. But that was not to be, the Club took a decision and Messi, arguably the best football player of all times, had to leave. He wept and wept at the press conference, which was painful to see . He loved his club Barcelona, but they couldn’t love him back. For it is not possible for an organisation to love you back, they have their limitations, which needs to be understood.

Therefore, after years in disagreement, I  am totally in sync  with Dr Kalam’s statement. It is necessary to love your work and be good at it, as Messi was. Keep working hard to improve your skills, as Messi did. But don’t love your organisation, rather love the objectives of the organisation which need to be achieved  and then move on. The sense of belongingness, which I mentioned earlier should be for the larger purpose of the organisation rather than the organisation itself. 

If it can happen to Messi, it can happen to anyone in this world… so please follow Dr Kalam’s advice in letter and spirit and stay in peace.