We must be determined, not ambitious

Universities have once again produced a large number of graduates this year. Students are receiving their diplomas with enthusiastic graduation ceremonies. I also gave a speech at the graduation ceremony of Üsküdar University, where I am part of the administration. In my speech to our graduates, I felt the need to underline certain points.

I tried to draw attention to the difference between ambition and determination. Indeed, based on my observations, I see that especially those who are new to their professions confuse the difference between ambition and determination. Even if we were to accept for a moment that one needs to be ambitious or determined to be successful in a job, we cannot ignore the fact that these two concepts are actually the complete opposites of each other.

Ambition will certainly lead a person to success in their work. However, it is debatable to what extent work done out of ambition brings joy to the individual. Ambition acts as an effect that increases a person's motivation to work, but on the other hand, it also drags the person into a fierce competition with others doing the same or similar work. Instead of enjoying the act of working and producing, the individual makes it their goal to surpass others in the race. Winning the race may give the person a certain amount of pleasure, but this cannot be said to be the true pleasure derived from production. As the person gets ahead in the race, the pleasure of leaving their rivals behind continues to increase. And over time, the person's goal shifts away from being successful in their own work and contributing to their own life and the world they are in through their work and production, turning solely into an ambition to achieve victory over others. This, instead of giving the person pleasure, begins to cause pain over time. Because while ambition may seem nourishing, it actually consumes. Determination, on the other hand, nourishes, develops, grows, and multiplies.

It cannot be expected that a person who accumulates ambition and puts all their effort on the basis of ambition will transcend themselves, mature, or interact with other people on a human level. Ambitious people cannot develop sufficiently harmonious relationships with their social circles and cannot socialize.

It is also in vain to expect the development of love for humanity, work, and production energy in people who see the people around them only as targets for competition. Especially in workplaces, individuals with such personality traits often try to create small power zones to support their competitive processes by forming cliques. People who join a clique often feel good with the illusion that they have entered a space of solidarity. However, every clique formed, especially in workplaces, is actually a type of power zone, and this zone has a leader. The leader strategically manages and directs the clique to establish their own power. The constant togetherness of clique members, their being constantly exposed to information flow by the leader or a hidden leader, and the presentation of this information—which is mostly gossip-based—to clique members as being informed or kept in the loop are the most well-known operating methods of these power centers.

In our Social Psychology classes, our professor Ünsal Oskay used to explain how terrible a thing clique culture is. He would describe how people who form cliques in search of power, or who join cliques with the desire to gain power, move away from creating a vision or socializing in this limited power center they created with their own hands, and how they begin to consume themselves over time. Indeed, since cliques are formed on the basis of the ambition for power, clique members feel good in the short term, but over time they begin to understand how they are being consumed by the consuming side of ambition and start to become unhappy.

Cliques formed for the sake of ambition and power do not just create a vicious cycle within themselves; over time, they also begin to harm the corporate culture. Indeed, every clique that forms leads to the formation of other cliques, and over time, institutions turn into fragmented structures consisting of numerous small and large, conflicting, and contentious cliques. Cliques begin to see each other's existence as a threat to their own existence, and this gradually leads to fierce conflicts. This environment of conflict and contention not only prevents the formation of a corporate culture but also gradually renders institutions dysfunctional.

Unfortunately, these types of problems are experienced in many institutions in our country. This prevents people from acquiring a corporate identity and developing corporate belonging in the institutions where they work. Because individuals trapped within cliques direct their work and production goals toward each other through the ambition of competition, they cannot succeed in developing ideals or visionary goals regarding the work they do. The clique culture that replaces corporate culture hinders both corporate production and the production and success of individuals on the other hand. Moreover, people who remain trapped in cliques formed by the ambition for power are deprived of experiencing feelings of determination and enthusiasm.

Yet, we have an innate energy related to work and production. As people produce, as they contribute to the society, humanity, and the world they are part of, they derive pleasure, become happy, multiply, and grow stronger. It is only by transforming individual goals into corporate, social, and general human goals in work and production that people grow and strengthen as they produce. Because to produce is to add value. And adding value is possible through production. As a human being produces, they become free and gain human meaning.

Every human being who opens their eyes to this world has a duty to contribute to the life, society, humanity, and nature they are born into. This is the requirement of being human. For this, it is necessary to discover the energy of work and production within us, to make this energy effective not with ambition, but with determination and enthusiasm, and to take pleasure in working, producing, and adding value to life. This is actually what happiness is.