I'm sure that you have been following the events of Infosys as they have unraveled over these last 4-5 days with the resignation of Vishal Sikka as CEO and MD, and Narayana Murthy's intervention, and all that has been going on. In fact, a lot of influential people that Narayana Murthy was over reaching. Omkar Goswami wrote: "When you gotta go, you gotta go, Mr. Murthy!" Another article by G.R. Gopinath, founder of Air Deccan, one of the earliest private airlines poses this question, "Why can't we let go?" Both these articles were on the editorial page of The Economic Times. It seems that Narayana Murthy's shadow has cast a bit of tension and has resulted in so much of upheaval in Infosys and with their clients all around the world.
But as I looked at it, and thought about it, I realized that sometimes we have such difficulty in letting go of the past. In his article, Gopinath quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson who says, "Is the acorn better than the oak which is its fullness and completion? Is the parent better than the child into whom he has cast his ripened being? Whence then this worship of the past?" This is asking the question: Why can't we let go after investing so much into the things that we do and seeing it evolve into something that was a dream or a vision when we started? Why is it so difficult to let go having seen the finished product now begin to evolve?
As I was reflecting on that this morning, I was reminded of the 'Sunk-Cost Fallacy'. Some of you may be aware of the term and have seen these logical fallacies that play out and how we can get caught in it without realizing that it is not logic but a fallacy. How would one describe the Sunk-Cost fallacy? It is the reasoning that further investment is warranted on the fact that the resources already invested will be lost otherwise, not really taking into consideration the overall losses that will be involved in the further investment. In other words, we look at what we've already invested and say, "If I pull out now, then what I invested will be lost, not thinking that if I put in even more resources, investment, energy, money, further losses will result. The logical fallacy is: Since I've already invested, I should follow through; which is completely unwarranted.
Yet, so often that is one of the motivations for us to stay involved or engaged. We've been involved in a project, or in a relationship with somebody, a partnership and maybe it's gone on for a couple of years. We've put in money and suddenly we realize that it is not working. But we look at what we've invested and think that we've already invested so much so let's keep going. I realized that as I looked at all that was happening, that we can fall into this sunk-cost fallacy so easily. Sometimes it's easier to stay engaged in something because of investment, than it is to pull out and say, "I'm going to cut my losses and find something else to do."
I began to ask myself: Are there things in my life that I need to quit or stop trying to re-engage in? Or an investment that has not worked out, whether it is in terms of finances or in terms of personal investment of time or resources? Then I want to ask this question to all of you reading this post: Is it time for you to quit something? Are you re-engaging in something instead of walking away? It could be something work-related, or a project you are involved in, or an investment or leadership or a board member? Are there things that are taking your time that are completely detrimental to your life's work? Are you involved in a futile pursuit of something that you ought to be getting out of?
Sometimes it is very difficult to do. I was reminded of Jesus, as He poured into His disciples, spent 3 years with them. They still hadn't got a lot of what He was trying to tell them. Yet, He knew that the time had come for Him to go. I wonder how difficult that was – whether He was tempted to stay on and say, "Maybe another 2 years and they'll get it." We know that He agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane. It's not an easy thing to do. But, in the long haul, it's the best thing for us to do. When it's time to go, it's time to go.
I remember Lord Tennyson's poem:
The old order changeth yielding place to new
And God fulfills himself in many ways
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.
My friends, I wonder whether you and I need to take a good hard look at our lives, and the things that we are pouring our energy and time and investment resources into. Ask the hard questions: Is it something that I ought to be doing or something that I should have pulled out of a while ago or even now? Am I into something just because I've invested into it, that there's a history, or is it time to just stop and say, "I've done my bit, and now I've got to let it go on its new avatar." Is it time to go or is it time to stop? Is it time to be less involved than I am now? Hard questions I know, but God gives us wisdom to answer them. My prayer is that we will lean on His wisdom and understanding to get clarity in our lives.
Allow me to pray with you. Almighty God, help us as we try to look at our own lives and take hard decisions. Sometimes it's so much easier to just go with the flow, to do what we've been doing. Yet, it could be that, this morning, You are prompting us to stop something, let go of something, pull back from something, something that is detrimental to our own value and worth and the things that You have in store for us. So, give us wisdom, we ask, to be able to understand this. In Jesus' precious name, we pray. Amen.
· GR Gopinath, "Vishal Sikka: 'NR Narayana Murthy must let go, can't run Infosys like a family-controlled listed firm.'" http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/nr-narayana-murthy-must-let-go-cant-run-infosys-like-a-family-controlled-listed-firm/articleshow/60147910.cms
· Omkar Goswami, "Mr Murthy, Walk away before you further destroy your reputation and debilitate Infosys." http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-commentary/mr-murthy-when-you-gotta-go-you-gotta-go/
· Sunk-Cost Fallacy, https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/173/Sunk-Cost-Fallacy
Sunk-Cost Fallacy, https://www.behavioraleconomics.com/mini-encyclopedia-of-be/sunk-cost-fallacy/
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