What's your signature?

I was at a family get together when I ran into an elderly gentleman who was an old acquaintance. He eagerly shook my hand and and asked me about the time I met Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He listened in rapt attention as I recounted how fortunate I was to meet Dr. Kalam along with my author friend Raghu. After I finished, he remarked, "You were lucky to meet Dr. Kalam. He was indeed a man of great integrity and character". The words from the elderly gentleman exactly summed up the imprint Dr. Kalam had left on me. 'Integrity' , 'Character' and 'Focus' were indeed Dr. Kalam's signature. But what was mine? Do I even need to have one?

Imprint your signature on other's hearts and minds (Credits: Leon Seibert)

It only took a few seconds before I answered 'Yes' to the second question. The reasoning was intuitive, you can pass on your material assets such as wealth and property to your near and dear but what intangible assets (such as wisdom, values, intellect, discipline etc..) can you pass on to your family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances and anyone who comes in contact with you during the long course of your life? The only thing you can pass is on is your signature. Your signature is nothing but a positive trademark quality or personality trait of yours which makes you standout and constantly distinguishes you from others. The support of these intangible signature assets is extremely vital for preserving the material assets we acquire.

You might ask me why should we even bother about these signature traits. The answer is very simple, to lead a meaningful life. Why shouldn't we stand for something significant in our life? Irrespective of whether somebody notices our signature or not we will only stand to benefit from the positive qualities we cultivate. Plus, we all have been recipients of several such signature traits from our parents, teachers, family members and friends. We were moulded by these signatures. While we might never be able to pay back the positive attributes that were imprinted on us we can definitely pay it forward.

Great people like Dr. Kalam pervade scores of positive qualities when they interact with others. That's probably the reason why different people have different signature imprints from great people. Ordinary people like us can only hope to start with one positive quality and work on its consistency. Therefore if you are consistently punctual you will force your entire team to be on time. If you are all the time accountable you will infuse others with responsibility. If you are thoroughly honest you will permeate some degree of honor within the other human being.

A word of caution - Your signature must consist of positive qualities which you have either honed or come naturally to you and hold a deep meaning to your existence and sense of being. If you don't know what these qualities/traits are then spend as much time as possible to review your value system and understand what defines you as a human being. Once you grasp the qualities which are most valuable to you, work on not only improving their consistency but also adopting new ones which are synchronous with your personality. Do not put on a charade as false pretenses will permanently damage your reputation and relationships with others. Do not at the same time be forceful with your signature traits. Be natural, behave the way you always do just don't be conscious of leaving a signature on others. If others grasp the beauty and grace behind your actions then great else continue to keep doing whatever you are good at.

Well Friends! That's what I call a heap of thoughts for a leap day. I gotta rush now to find out and analyze my signature. One question for all of you before I leave: