The other day, I was watching a TV quiz show, wherein the anchor, one of the leading actors in India shared a quote from his father’s poetry. His father was one of the leading poets of India. It read something like this in Hindi – “ Mere Bete, Bete hone se, mere uttaradhikhari nahin honge, jo mere uttaradhikari honge, woh mere bete honge”. If roughly translated, it means – “My sons, being my sons, will not be my inheritors, those who will be inheritors will be my sons”.

This was very insightful and it is applicable, both in personal and professional lives. Let us first understand this deep thought from an organisational perspective. My true successor may not be the senior most person in my team. The real successor will be the most competent member to take over from me.

Even in a sports team, we have seen it, multiple times. The most experienced player may not succeed the captain, but the successor to the captain is the best player to succeed.

Life is no different. I was surprised to learn recently that the Pandya dynasty kings had this thought in their kingdom. The eldest son need not be the successor of the king, if the king finds someone other son, daughter, nephew or niece, more competent to succeed him. The successor declared by the king is the true inheritor of the king. Imagine a poet in the early 20th century having a similar insight.

What we need to learn from this insight is that we do not succeed anyone by being the senior most in a team or being the eldest in the family. We succeed someone, because we are the most competent member in the team or the family.

Succession has to be earned by our competence and cannot be determined by our seniority or gender. In life and work, we tend to assume many things erroneously. We need to understand everything in the right perspective.

Even as per law of inheritance in India, we do not inherit anything from our parents, if it is a self acquired wealth. Similarly, even in organisations , succession planning does not necessarily follow the seniority principle. Rather, sometimes, successors could even be from outside the organisation.

Even in sports, the most competent leader succeeds the captain and not necessarily the senior most player in the team. Seniority and experience is important but does not give us a birth right to succession.

We need to earn our right to succeed by our competence and character. It does not come by seniority, gender or experience. This is indeed a great insight for us in life and work.

Let us earn our rights from today.

S Ramesh Shankar

7th Jan 2025