Terms-"Influence" and "Manipulation"

People differ, attitude differs, thought differs, and opinion differs. These are the terms I read in various newspaper, heard from some management thinkers and some friends. Technically speaking, these terms are absolutely true. Everything is in this world are different (Both tangible and intangible). They have certain unique things on their own. In this post I’m going to discuss about two terms 'Influence' and 'Manipulation'. Both are elusive terms.

When I was attending the Leadership training program in my company, the trainer he asked about what are the good traits of a Leader? When I was about to give an answer, someone in the hall already gave that same answer. In order to show my presence, suddenly I said "Leader should be a good manipulator". Everyone in the room started staring at me like I said an offensive word. Trainer asked me with his widely opened eyes, "Manipulator?” I said "Yes, sir". If you take the example of Adolf Hitler...He interrupted me and said "No, no. You are going out of topic."

Last night, I had a long discussion about these two terms with my friend. His opinion is both the terms are different. I asked him why? He tried to convince me by saying lots of thing but i wasn't convinced. We talked about sender's end and receiver's end. Sender is the guy who is manipulating or influencing. Receiver is the guy who gets manipulated or influenced. In the verge of discussion, he said "If the receiver is happy and feel proud of it then we can say he is influenced" and the vice verse "If the receiver is unhappy and not felling proud of it then we can say he is manipulated". Yeah, it makes sense. Some say 'influence' is a positive connotation and 'manipulation' is a negative connotation. This not at all making any sense to me because I’m saying both influence and manipulation are same in this present world.

When I posted I say 'Manipulation' and 'Influence' are same in Facebook. One of my friends commented like this "of course.. u can say anythin u want.. its fb n not xam paper..  Oh God, I don't know what to reply for this. Some friends said attitude differs. Some friends accepted my opinion.

I don't know which one is true. Is it same or different? In order to rationalize my statement “I say 'Manipulation' and 'Influence' are same” I have the following opinion

According to me nothing will come for free except parent's love. Influencing or manipulating other people means making other people to do something for them or to others or to himself or herself i.e., influencer or manipulator. Influence is same that of manipulation. Why do people influence someone to do something? Because they need some benefit out of it. If the people seek for benefit from others, that means they are manipulating others to do something. So, influence=manipulation. No one is going to waste their time to do something, if they are not getting anything out of it.

Hold The Breath

Giant thunders reached the ground

     Smoking grey clouds were all around

Cold winds howled in my ear

     Nothing saved me from here

When I reached for the truth

      Damn- not getting anything worth

Felt like drowning in a sea

     Missed the opportunities to see

Didn’t want to waste my life

     Learnt how to walk on a knife

It was an aisle between the life and the death

     To survive I held my breath

When I grabbed my golden fish

     I told myself, I shouted myself, I never gonna miss

Everything is in your head

     Contemplate yourself till the depth

It’s raining, it’s raining

See the solvent dissolving the darkness

It’s raining, it’s raining

See the white gates are opening

It’s raining, it’s raining

The day gonna come one day

The day gonna come one day

To distinguish the deviation

Word panic slows you down, rips your day

Dropping pain on your shoulders

Reminiscence your failures, impinge in your flesh

Sense the bell ringing in the top

Will show you the path, don’t be tired

Follow the omens that follow you

Pack your hopes, harden your wills

Reminiscence your failures, impinge in your flesh

The day gonna come one day

To distinguish the deviation

Watch the Puppet Master, carrying the torch

Approaching the arena with furious eyes,

To light the sleeping volcanoes

Demons at your back, grabbing your thoughts

Make you cry, make you scream, make you bleed

Reminiscence your failures, impinge in your flesh

This is the day you longing for in your life

This is the day you thinking in your dreams

You found the savior of your soul

Standing in the gate of the sky

Collect the souvenirs on your way

Till the horizon, till the heaven

You’re moving, you’re moving

My friend……..

It’s ALL about ‘CASH and CARRY’

‘CASH AND CARRY’-The name itself defines the business. Pay the CASH and CARRY the goods. This is a unique retail business model. For simple understanding, we can define it as a wholesale model. A wholesaler stocks and sells the goods in bulk. Cash and carry also follows the same. It also stocks and sells the goods in bulk. For more follow this link

http://businesschain.blogspot.in/2012/12/its-all-about-cash-and-carry.html

LAST “1440 HOURS”

Part-1

“I know I’m not ALONE”

It was 21^st March 2012; as usual I woke up from my bed at 6:00am. My roommate Raj was arranging something. He seemed to be busy. He was folding his shirts and arranging them in a large suitcase. I got excited and went near him. This was the second or third time I saw Raj arranging his clothes and other belongings inside a suitcase. Otherwise, most of his belongings, you could say all his belongings were scattered all around the places in his room. I asked Raj, “What happened?” Raj replied, “Bhai, I’m leaving home today. I’m already exhausted. Will you please help me in arranging my book inside this box?” For the sake of saying, I said, “Ok, I do”. It’s always a rare event in my B-School, students touch the books. In order to escape from Raj, I silently closed the door and came outside. I saw some of my batch mates were also busy with packing and getting NOC (No Objection Certificate).

I asked Amit who came out from his room, “Amit bhai, our last working day is on 10^th April 2012. But some of our batch mates are moving to their home. What happened? Amit laughed and responded slowly, “Machi, they got placed. Now it’s their choice whether to stay in hostel or not”. Then he moved towards the bathroom. I contemplated about myself for few seconds. Suddenly, I heard some familiar voice was calling me. Then, I realized that it was Raj’s voice. Raj called me to help in packing his bag. I went inside and helped him in packing his bag. Raj said in hurry, “Bhai, quick. I’m getting late for my flight”. Along with Raj, I lifted some of bags and both of them moved towards the bus stop. I sent Raj to the airport. While walking inside the campus, I thought about the day I and Raj met. I was laughing myself about the days I spent with Raj. I also asked myself, “How did the two years pass away?” On seeing the sky, I replied to myself that those two years were like the shadows which are formed for 2 seconds when the clouds covering the mighty sun. On the spur of the moment I stopped for a few seconds. At that time, I felt the fear of coming out of shadows. I was afraid of facing the sun. I felt alone at that point of time.

On the way to hostel, I saw some of my friends going for breakfast. I joined them and finished my breakfast. Now, my mental state had changed from loneliness to companionship. The next 10 days were also passed in the same way. Everyday anyone of my friends is leaving to his/her home. A few of my batch mates were even joined the companies from which they got the job. So, the change of state was frequent to me. This is the time all the students were feeling the heat. I too felt the same. Only a few of my batch mates realized that they were standing alone in critical stage and they had to take some steps to get out of the heat. Even though the remaining realized that they were in critical stage, they had the mind set like they were not alone. I belonged to this category. I thought that still some of my batch mates were remaining. So, I was not ALONE. It was a kind of secure situation. Didn’t realize about the future consequences. I felt the same. I felt safe when people around me also don’t have the job.

At this point of time, there were various kinds of judgments formed by the students. Those judgments were formed by different people in different mind state. TO BE CONTINUED.............

NOTE: The above names don't resemble anyone.