Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Be hated...

Mr. Robotic came across the speech by Adrian Tan to the graduating class of 2008 at Ms. InquisitObserver's blog. There is one part which Mr. Robotic can relate to but finds it hard to execute.

The following is an extract of it:

"be hated.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. Do you know anyone who hates you? Yet every great figure who has contributed to the human race has been hated, not just by one person, but often by a great many. That hatred is so strong it has caused those great figures to be shunned, abused, murdered and in one famous instance, nailed to a cross.

One does not have to be evil to be hated. In fact, it’s often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one’s own convictions. It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions. Then one will gravitate towards the centre and settle into the average. That cannot be your role. There are a great many bad people in the world, and if you are not offending them, you must be bad yourself. Popularity is a sure sign that you are doing something wrong."

Interestingly, a highly successful person shared the same idea to Mr. Robotic recently, that is a good leader is not expected to be Mr. Popular or to be Mr. Nice. This is because often a times, a leader is expected to make unpopular decisions or communicate negative information for the greater good of the team.

Guess, Mr. Robotic has to get used to "be hated". Whahaha...