You will find armchair critics everywhere; at formal meetings or informal discussions or even at home—waxing eloquent on what is wrong with the organisation or the society or their homes. At offices, they are forever complaining about their management for anything gone wrong or not done!
“You know, if I was in the GM’s place, I would have handled this problem differently. He has messed up the whole matter.” If you ask them how they would have handled it differently they have no answers. They can only criticise it for the sake of criticising.
Many who belong to such a group like to hear their own voices in meetings, as it happens in many board meetings of voluntary organisations like social clubs. Some of them are so articulate that others who are less aggressive are scared to open their mouths, lest they get snubbed. With such aggressive intruders in the meeting, a meek president often finds himself still stuck on point 2 in the agenda containing 12 items, while time is running out.
I have never believed in being an armchair critic. When I was still a junior account executive in Clarion McCann Advertising, Bombay, I found several things going wrong in the office administration because of a sudden spurt in business. Almost everyone was feeling frustrated and constantly complaining about the management. I was also an affected person. Instead of just being an armchair critic, I took two days off and prepared a 10-page note to the management giving my ideas to tackle the crisis. Though I was a bit apprehensive about possible fallout of my unsolicited effort, I was delighted and surprised to see the positive reaction from the senior administration manager. He not only publicly acknowledged my initiative but also used the note to create a positive impact on the rest of the staff so that we worked as a team to solve problems facing the management. From that day onwards I was on a fast track growth in the company!
At one stage our Rotary Club was unable to retain young Rotarians because it had transformed from a dynamic club into a dull one leading to a leadership crisis. While everyone was grumbling and doing nothing about it, I volunteered to help. I launched a membership development programme called “Operation New Blood” under which the club inducted 10 faces who fulfilled the strict parameters I had set. Over the years these young members brought in their own young friends as members, infusing new ideas and activities which has galvanised the club into vibrancy once again. Today, there is no leadership crisis in the club and it is the envy of many other clubs in the district.
As John Kennedy said: “Ask not what the country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”