The Contrasting Lives of Senzo Meyiwa and Oscar Pistorius

Two men, two athletes and such contrasting lives. One took a bullet defending his girlfriend from armed intruders who attacked her house and the other pumped bullets in his girlfriend’s body to sniff life out of a young soul.

Senzo Meyiwa  the South African football captain and star died a couple of days back when his girlfriend’s house was attacked by armed intruders. He reportedly was shot while trying to save his girlfriend. Senzo was in true sense a star, backbone of the South African football and very dear to his team mates and his countrymen. He died like a hero.

On the other hand, Oscar Pistorius the champion blade runner was convicted, also a couple of days back, for murdering his girlfriend. Oscar claiming the incident to be an accident could not escape prosecution. In one of the most publicly reported trial, anger for Oscar only grew as disturbing truth and facts about him started coming to light. He was reportedly described as a one with serious behavioural issue and his relationship with his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, whom he shot dead, was also reportedly coming to an end. Reeva had reportedly packed her bags to leave Oscar on the fateful night when she was shot dead.

What turns a person into a selfless hero and on the other hand what turns a hero into a villain? Is it genetics, environment or situation or a combination of all three? Does environment play a major role or does the situation dominate in bringing out good and evil out of people? 

PhilipZimbardo said that a bad situation turns good people into bad people but it also could produce a hero amongst them. Why Oscar and Senzo despite their individual sporting heroics come out as two different persons? Why Senzo did not save his life considering that he had a whole sporting career ahead of him? And did Oscar kill his girlfriend to prevent the world from knowing the real ugly truths about him?

These questions would keep lingering and would keep social psychologists busy. However Senzo to me remains the real hero and man who stood his ground selflessly and took the bullet on his chest while protecting his family.

Brave Senzo, RIP.

Signs of a Disengaged Organization

Is court is the right place to settle issues between employees and employer? Right or Wrong, but definitely not the ideal place, especially when the issues are trivial and could have been easily sorted-out away from the public and media glare.


The fact that for the first time a serving general of the Indian Army has dragged the government (employer in this case) to the court over the issue of correction of his date of birth is both unprecedented & unfortunate. Army Chief Gen V.K Singh has reportedly challenged the government in the court over the festering issue of his DOB, that he claims to be May 10, 1951 then what the records show to be May 10, 1950, amidst accusation that he was trying to extend his service at the fag-end of his career.

The issue appears too trivial to become a case in the court. Is it a case of a general trying to protect his honour or an organization bearing the brunt of a disgruntled employee? Well! The blame-game can continue but truth may never be known. However one thing is certain that prima-facie it is apparent that the issue could have been resolved internally. And, who shall win this case is of less significance. More than anything else, it perhaps shows how the organization is communicating; what levels of trust prevails in the organization! If the head of the organization (equivalent to CEO of the company) feels that the only recourse with the employer is the legal recourse, then what impact does it have on the morale of other employees in the organization? Is this a sign of a deeper systematic rot? Is this the symptom of a disengaged organization?

An airline recently dropping its passengers at the wrong airport, the pilot mistaking Kochi for Kozhikode; the members of a state legislature demanding a gadget that has yet not been released by the company that manufactures the same aren’t they all similar symptoms? Although, they appear to be funny& trivial, but deep down something appears to be seriously wrong inside the organization.

A latest Volkswagen Polo, TV advertisement shows a man (owner of the VW Polo) taking a rebirth as son of his own son to ride the car again. The punch line appears – ‘Volkswagen Polo, You will come back for it’. Another advertisement that caught my eye was of Hero Motor Corp, the new avtar of Hero Group (after breaking-off with Honda) trying to build its brand. A song ‘Hum Mein Hain Hero’ that has become quite famous now is played in the background but unlike the first ad of their campaign (where it shows people fighting against their odds& winning), it depicts kids lip sing the song. Both advertisements attempt and largely succeed to create a strong ‘engagement’ with the audience. The hero ad tries to engage with the kids, their future customers (who shall not remember them as Hero Honda).
Both these ads show- a) A little communication can create engagement; b) However, communication has to be appealing (touching both emotional & rational chords) to create engagement: and, c) Engagement is always for a very long term. It never sets- out to just to cling for the time being. The vision is always for a long haul.
Engagement is no rocket- science but some organizations make it look like one.