Series A2

What Is Potential?

Just Esops
  • Essay

If an organisation is a vehicle to maximize your potential, let us first understand what potential is. Potential is a force, a force that can do some work, create something, move something. Potential has two components — it has magnitude, and it has a direction. Potential is a vector quantity. So it is not just about how much potential or force you possess, but also in what direction is that potential, that force, applied. The direction is also important. Let us examine these two in detail — magnitude and direction.

So what is potential with a high magnitude? If your potential has a high magnitude, you have great depth to your thought process. So whatever you do, you develop deep insights about that work or the problem you are trying to solve. A high magnitude of potential also means you have perspectives that are unique to you, to your thought process. It is because you combine all your existing knowledge in a certain manner to create a new compound that only you could have created — it is like creating your own special theory of relativity about your work or the problem that you are trying to solve.

And this could be done in absolutely anything that you do, no matter how routine or mundane it might be. If you apply depth to your thought process, new insights are bound to surface.

So potential with a high magnitude has the depth of thought and can create new insights. You must have potential with a high magnitude.

But in addition to its magnitude, the potential also has a direction, and the direction could be right or wrong. It is this direction that determines your peace of mind. If the direction of your potential is wrong, it is unlikely that you would be peaceful. Financially successful, perhaps. Famous, perhaps. Peaceful, unlikely. So potential with a high magnitude but applied in a wrong direction will be catastrophic. An organisation is a vehicle to maximize your potential. Maximizing your potential means maximizing its magnitude and applying that magnitude in the right direction.

Alright. So we have seen so far that one, an organisation is a vehicle to maximize your potential and your peace of mind. And two, potential has a magnitude, which is the depth of thought, and a direction, which is right or wrong. But how do you maximize your potential and your peace of mind? To do that, you need a systematic framework that you can refer to from time to time to check if you are on the right track.

You need a framework, a set of personal guidelines that determine your thoughts and actions. And you need a tool — Contemplation. Long periods of Contemplation on such personal guidelines help you think clearly. If you can think clearly, you make the right decisions. If you make the right decisions, you feel more peaceful.

FAQ

FAQ: What is potential?

How does the essay define potential?

Potential is a force with magnitude (depth of thought that produces unique insight) and direction (right or wrong application of that force). It is explicitly described as a vector quantity — both dimensions matter equally.

What is magnitude in practical terms?

The depth of your thought process — the ability to develop insights that are unique to you, combining your existing knowledge into new compounds. High magnitude means you can create something only you could have created, even in routine work.

Why does direction determine peace of mind?

High magnitude applied in the wrong direction may yield financial success or fame — but not peace. The essay argues that an organisation should help people apply their potential in the right direction, not just maximise their output.

What tool does the essay prescribe for maximising potential?

Contemplation — long periods of focused thinking on personal guidelines that help you steer decisions clearly. If you can think clearly, you make the right decisions. If you make the right decisions, you feel more peaceful.

Can potential be developed, or is it fixed?

The essay implies it can be developed — through contemplative practice and a systematic framework of personal guidelines that you refer to over time to check whether you are on track.

How does this relate to organisations?

If an organisation exists to maximise potential, its systems — including how equity is designed and communicated — should develop both magnitude (depth of contribution) and direct it ethically. ESOPs that feel hollow undermine both.

What should I read next?

Continue to Discover Your Own Right Road, which explores how values form in individuals and teams, and how to build a culture that steers potential in the right direction.