Passion is the key

Dr Wilfried Aulbur, MD & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, talks to Manoj Khatri on life and choices we make.

• Manoj Khatri [MK]: At Complete Wellbeing, we believe that freedom of choice is inherent to happiness. What’s your opinion about this? Can you share some of your life’s experiences about making choices and exercising this freedom?

  Wilfried Aulbur [WA]: Freedom of choice is essential for everybody's well-being. Nobody wants to be in a situation where he or she is held hostage and cannot exercise free will. For me, it is one of the most important ingredients of a fulfilled life. You simply don't want to be in a situation--be it in your relationships, your career, or choice of brands--where you have no choice. The feeling of being trapped or forced to do something that you don't like, or being with somebody who you don't want to be with is extremely detrimental to your health. For me [and I suppose this is valid for most people], even if you like your current situation, it is still nice to have a choice. Having the confidence that comes with feeling "Yes, I have a choice" empowers you with a certain amount of personal freedom or independence, which I think is beneficial for your attitude towards work and performance. Moreover, the feeling of being in control of one's own destiny is very important to our self-esteem, and self-esteem is very important for our wellbeing and happiness.

  Take personal relationships, for instance. It is nice to be married--or to have a relationship--with the person you love and want to be with. At the same time one should always have the option, the freedom to walk away--it helps bring a balance in relationships. Yes, there can be a situation where a person is totally dependent on the other, but that is not good. In my opinion, it is better to be in a situation where each partner has a certain amount of flexibility, as this ensures that both put effort in making their relationship work and neither takes it for granted.

  So, coming back to your question, it is nice to be conscious about the choices that you make. I think the most important thing is to have the freedom to choose from several options, so that one evaluates the options and then decides which one to take and how to move forward. But that does not mean that once you have made a choice, you are stuck with it forever.

• Manoj Khatri [MK]: What drives your choices in your life--professional and personal? Is there a philosophy you follow or do you go by your instincts at the time of making the decision?

• Manoj Khatri [MK]: Was your joining Mercedes a conscious career choice? What made you join this company?

• Manoj Khatri [MK]: How long have you been with Mercedes?How's the journey been so far?

• Manoj Khatri [MK]: Can you name one personal value that helped you cope with pressures of challenges in different settings and countries?

• Manoj Khatri [MK]: That brings me to an interesting issue of staff welfare. According to the World Economic Forum, wellbeing initiatives at workplace have a direct impact on the bottom line of companies--through lower absenteeism, higher productivity, better staff morale and such other benefits. What has been your experience at Mercedes? Can you answer this in the context of the current recession?