David Brooks in his book “The Road to Character” wrote about the distinction between resume virtues and eulogy virtues.

Resume virtues are things such as income, net worth, your designation at work, the size of your house, the car you drive and so on. In our industry it is about the AUM you have, your SIP book, your rank in the industry (or your state, city, and town), the size of your company, the number of team members you have, how many awards you have won and so on.

Eulogy virtues on the other hand are things such as helping others, making a difference in the lives of others, being kind, being honest, loving, giving and so on.

What do you think happens at the prayer ceremony/meeting of a person?

Would people say – he graduated from Harvard or was worth several million dollars or he had several thousand crores worth of stocks?

Or

Would they say, “He was a very nice guy, super helpful, and kind?”

Another example…

Would people say – She/He had a Rs.1000 Crore AUM or that She/He built the fastest Rs.1000 Crore?

Or

Would they say, “She/He was a very helpful person…She/He changed the way people invest…She/He was a visionary who made a difference in the lives of people?”

Well, you know the answer to these questions…

But the irony is that while we aspire for the eulogy virtues, we focus and put our effort on the resume virtues.

Don’t you think so?