it's People

The Catch

Vanakkam. 🙏

How many of you are working at a company right now, reading this? Well over 73%, I'd bet. So out of this whole population, there are certain people who are blessed the ones whose line was drawn with God's own scale, dead straight. Those people either connect with this blog, or they can just leave the room.

My point is this: when people work a job at a company, they have one of two mindsets. Either they're there for the money, or they genuinely like the place and the work. But there's a catch.

It's just like our school days. You might like a subject but 90% of the time that's because the teacher who taught it did it in such a F******g brilliant manner that you fell into the subject, and it stayed with you till the end. Can you see the pattern here?

In every case work, family, education, friends something Keeps pulling you back. And it's usually because of that one little soul who is passionate and compassionate about what they do. Those people aren't here to impress anyone. They're here to enjoy their lives by doing the thing they love.

But here's another catch: you only find those people 1 in 10. Just like that one math teacher out of all the subjects you only studied to score marks. This is where It's People comes in.

From my experience, I'd really suggest this: instead of looking for the work, look for the people who are genuinely there for their work and their passion not the money. If God drew your line with His scale, your team, or even your whole company, would be full of people who are just passionate and compassionate.

The Bottle

Now let me give you a scenario.

Take a company let's call it Super Torture Team. Around 25 people work there, with a hierarchy: the MDs, the team leaders, the workforce, the managers. This is a bottled company. The concentration of power is shaped like a bottle. The neck is where the top-level bosses and managers sit. The body is where the workforce lives.

Now, this bottle needs to fill itself with water or any liquid, for that matter. But to fill a bottle, you need concentration, focus, and a steady aim at the opening to get the full pour inside. If the bottle isn't steady, the water spills over, or it never fills fully. And this water can be Anything: time, money, effort anything that flows mutually. The receiving bottle has to be steady in order to receive the right pour and that's exactly the problem with the bottle approach: the top level is the one that has to be steady, passionate, and compassionate about the call, right?

When a bottle has a neck, we call it a bottleneck. There are people at the top restricting the flow to the whole bottle. That's where you are at the bottom, waiting to be filled while the people at the top aren't open, and they resist the flow. So the company just survives.

And what happens then? People burn out fast. 😮‍💨 They hate the workplace. There's no structure. Their work turns toxic, and they're deemed bad at their jobs. Like the common man says work isn't the task, it's managing people. And as the workforce, you're the one dealing with everyone above you.

The Glass

So what's the solution? A glass. 🥛

To have a peaceful life in a workplace, this bottled setup should be like a glass of water instead — where it's easy for the water to reach the bottom of the vessel. Unlike the bottle, the water isn't concentrated in one place. Some logician might jump in and say, "Just use a funnel" — but that's just the same glass with more complication. So let's keep bottle and glass as our example.

Now the top-level people will come to me and argue: "We're the only ones filtering the water. If we let the full flow through, the workforce will be contaminated." But that's Nothing more than the fake convenience the top uses. Because when you're a workforce employee — the sole tester, the developer, anyone — you know from the bottom what the right way to run things is. You have the idea.

And here's the real irony. When the top-level people say they hold the sole idea, they aren't filtering the water at all — they're the ones contaminating it. The flow that reaches the bottom carries only their mindset, their idea, poured through alone. It's no longer free-flowing water that the workforce can use or leave as they see fit. So the very thing they claim to protect, they poison — and that same intoxication seeps down and clouds the minds of the people at the bottom, the workforce.

Maker vs Taker

See, the people at the top are just decision makers, Not decision takers. Think about it. A decision maker gets to choose between two options they just have to choose properly, so the bottle's mouth is either wide open or shut. But the decision taker at the bottom isn't given any options. They have to take the decision however simple or complex and figure out how it gets delivered.

So always be aware: one day, you yes, the workforce, I'm pointing at you will be at the top. When that day comes, be a good decision maker. Make the bottle's mouth wider. Be inclusive of everyone who's working. Yes, wherever there are people, there's dirty politics. But that dirty politics is between people not the profession. 🎯

Leave the Bottle

I'll suggest one more thing. Yes, there are companies that are just dirty and yet somehow surviving for 20 years just like our Super Torture Team. They've survived only because the bottleneck keeps intoxicating the bottom with the same toxicity it runs on. They're surviving, not excelling. A company that runs on nothing but intoxication like this really needs to open up about mental and professional health.

My suggestion? If you ever feel you're in a company like this where the spectrum is that strong, where the bottleneck is too tight for you to work, where there's no pure water, only intoxication leave the bottle. Immediately, effectively. That's the only way you cut the weed at the budding stage. ✂️

Most people who aren't entrepreneurs work their entire lives, and they just... work. But I feel that's half a life you're forcing yourself through. Just like FOMO the fear of missing out turns into a fear of missing out on your own life. FOMOL. So get into a company, be the rebel, take the risk. I Assure you: you'll be happy, you'll make money, and you'll be at the top of your own world, no matter what. Take that risk at the right time and you'll be happier. I can't promise you richness but I can promise you'll be wealthier.

It's Always People

So start searching Now for a job, or for that one passionate employee for your team.

Just like marriages are made in heaven, your job and you are married together. But a happy life? That one's made by your choice. Always know your people.

IT'S ALWAYS PEOPLE.

நல்லினத்தி னூங்குந் துணையில்லை தீயினத்தின்
அல்லற் படுப்பதூஉம் இல்.

There is no greater support than the company of the good; and no greater sorrow than the company of the bad.

- திருக்குறள் 460 (சிற்றினஞ்சேராமை)