When people get rich, they cut themselves off from the context that has earned them these riches - the context of the common men. They forget they are part of society.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the disconnect between the wealthy and the common people.
N. R. Narayana Murthy highlights a social phenomenon where individuals who attain wealth may lose touch with their roots and the societal context that helped them succeed. This disconnection can lead to a lack of understanding and empathy towards the struggles faced by the common man, reminding us of the importance of remaining grounded and acknowledging our shared human experience.
In practice
During a talk on social responsibility, one could use this quote to illustrate the importance of staying connected to the community.
When you are in business for a long time, you go through good times and bad times. When you go through bad times, you learn to control costs, satisfy customers better, satisfy employees better and become more transparent. Therefore, you build character in the company.
India is known for much development that has happened since our independence, but at the same time, we have also failed on many levels. It is the responsibility of the future generation to ensure that all these failures are corrected and help create a civilised society with equal opportunities for one and all.
The unique instrument to eradicate poverty and usher in prosperity is our youth.
The biggest impediment to growth is in our minds and not in the world outside, and only constant in the world is change.
The future of any corporation is as good as the value system of the leaders and followers in the organization.
If longevity is the best index to measure a company, a basic requirement is the ability of the corporation to generate new and new leaders.
All the arguments to prove man's superiority cannot shatter this hard fact: in suffering, the animals are our equals.
I suspect that one of capitalism's crucial assets derives from the fact that the imagination of economists, including its critics, lags well behind its own inventiveness, the arbitrariness of its undertaking and the ruthlessness of the way in which it proceeds.
Storytellers are a threat. They threaten all champions of control, they frighten usurpers of the right-to-freedom of the human spirit -- in state, in church or mosque, in party congress, in the university or wherever.
The rain that fell on the city runs down the dark gutters and empties into the sea without even soaking the ground
'What I believe' is a process rather than a finality. Finalities are for gods and governments, not for the human intellect.
Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It's awful.
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