Three Reasons To Watch Or Read Tragic Dramas - Mint
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I have realized that watching and reading tragedy has tremendous implications for CEOs and entrepreneurs to succeed at business, and become better individuals
Baba PrasadPublished21 Jul 2015, 12:38 AM IST
Some years ago, a movie theatre in Philadelphia screened ‘Pather Panchali’. I remember returning late night from the movie—a bunch of us teary-eyed Wharton graduate students.
Why do we pay money to watch or read a tragedy and weep? The Greeks saw the function of the famous Greek tragedy to be catharsis, an emptying out of our emotions.
Indeed, this is the case with one of my favourite movies—Guru Dutt’s 1959 classic, ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’, which paints the dark story of a successful film director, Suresh Sinha. He is rejected by his wife and her family for being in a so-called low profession, falls in love with an actress who leaves him, loses custody of his daughter, and ultimately, goes into an empty studio, and dies unrecognized in a director’s chair. The movie empties you. Yet, it is regarded as one of the greatest movies of all time.
As I have tried to sort out this paradox of tragedy over the years, I have realized that beyond catharsis, watching and reading tragedy has tremendous implications for chief executive officers (CEOs) and entrepreneurs to succeed at business, and to become better individuals.
Tragedy helps us develop into humble, resilient and great leaders
As we watch or read a tragedy, we vicariously emote with the protagonists. We laugh with them, and we weep with them. Things happen that are beyond the protagonist’s control, and these things, we realize could happen to us. By pointing out the limitations of human effort, tragedy makes us humble. Robert Thomas in his excellent book, ‘Crucibles of Leadership’, points out: “Great leaders become great by finding meaning in adversity—in traumatic and unplanned crucible experiences—and then transforming those experiences into improved performance.”
Tragedy provides us vicarious crucible experiences. We begin to ask deeper questions about the meaning of life. As King Lear weeps, “Age is unnecessary”, we begin to ask how we treat our parents and older people. We walk away from the theatre or close the book, filled with sorrow, but stronger and wiser, especially about the larger goals of business—to create a just and happy society.
Tragedy teaches us how to handle growth
The world of entrepreneurship is filled with ambitious people, and the talk is all about growth—whether the pressure and expectation come from the energetic young entrepreneurs, the 100x-returns-hungry investors, or the voracious marketplaces that are looking for the next big thing. Bigger is better; becoming bigger faster is even better. The story behind Housing.com’s dramatic rise and the crash of its CEO Rahul Yadav is testimony to the dangers of this path.
Famous agricultural economist Kusum Nair once told me that there are two approaches to growth—Western and Eastern. The Western approach, which dominates the entrepreneurial climate across the world, believes that growth is linear, sometimes even parabolic. Growth means bigger sizes, higher yields and greater reach—year after year. The Eastern approach believes that growth is part of a life cycle—birth, growth, decline and death.. The Eastern approach thinks long-term, is more tempered, and as a result is more focused on sustainability, not just of the self, but also of the world.
The Western approach to growth often features important people and great companies who rise to great prominence and fall mercurially. Their life histories become the subject of tragedy. Take the story of Macbeth, for instance. A Scottish general, Macbeth, goaded by his ambitious and evil wife, kills the king of Scotland, and takes over the kingdom. As the dark story unfolds, we see the evil and sorrow that results when ambition is not controlled by a sense of ethics. The story also tells us how evil builds a rationale and a logic to justify the actions it takes in order to grow and be successful.
Ambition and evil are, of course, part of human nature. But close attention to such a play will warn the business leader of the snares and traps that lie on the path to success. The executives at Satyam, Enron, and the myriads of scam-ridden business disasters could perhaps have benefited by reading tragedy.
Tragedy inspires us
Tragedy tells us that the world is mightier than us, and we face a choice like Hamlet did. Such dilemmas are part of the human condition. Perhaps this is why the most famous lines in English literature arguably are about Hamlet’s dilemma:
“To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
To die: to sleep”
Do we accept the world as it has turned out to be, shrug at our inability to change things, and move on? Or do we take on the challenge of change, give free rein to our pioneering spirit, and bring hope to a dying world even if we know we may be destroyed in the process?
The actions of the tragic protagonist in the face of inexorable change, and an uncontrollable world offer inspiration to the entrepreneur.
We can now watch on YouTube with a sense of the tragic, the lone man who came to be called the Tank Man. Alone, in Tiananmen Square in 1989, we can see him in the grainy video, defying advancing tanks, holding in his hands two shopping bags that mark the ordinariness of human life. As the tanks approach and stop, he stands still. As the tanks try to go around him, he jumps and repositions himself in front of them. The scene is powerfully tragic: One man against a bunch of battle tanks. All for freedom. If that does not reflect the indomitability of the human spirit, nothing can. If that does not inspire the entrepreneur to fight against the odds, nothing can.
So my advice to entrepreneurs, and CEOs, and just about everybody: Grab some tissue papers, set yourself up in front of a TV, and watch a tragedy this weekend. And do it every so often. I guarantee the habit will keep you grounded , and make you and your company successful in a sustainable way.
Baba Prasad, president and CEO of Vivékin Group, is a leading thinker in the area of management strategy and innovation.
An unabridged version of this article is available at www.foundingfuel.com.
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Business NewsOpinionThree reasons to watch or read tragic dramasMoreTag » Why Do People Like Tragedies
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Why Do We Like Sad Stories? - Verywell Mind
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Why Do We Love Tragedy? - Quora
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Why Do People Like Sad Stories And Tragedies? : R/TrueAskReddit
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Why 'Titanic' And Other Tragic Movies Make Us Happy - The Atlantic
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Tragedy And Comedy: Why We Love Them, What's The Point
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Study Shows How Tearjerkers Make People Happier -- ScienceDaily
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Deciphering The Age-old Question: Why Are Tragedies So Popular?
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Why Does Tragedy Give Pleasure? - ResearchGate
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The Dramatic Allure Of Other People's Awful Experiences. - Kate O'Neill
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Why We Like Sad Endings - Screen Therapy
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What Draws People To Tragedy - JUVEN
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Why Does Tragedy Give Us Pleasure? - AD's English Literature
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Why Do You Love To Read Tragedy? | Page 2 - Novel Updates Forum
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