Faith

I visited a place of pilgrimage called Palani in Tamil Nadu in India yesterday.  It was another day at the Palani Temple - 450,000 devotees coming from across the country. As the chants "Vel Vel Vetrivel, Vel Vel Veeravel" filled the air, the atmosphere was just electric.  It was charged with absolute positive energy. The pilgrims had to wait 4.5 hours in a long queue that snaked around the temple to catch a less than 10 second glimpse of the idol.  As I was talking to few there I heard how they had walked over 50 to 60 kms to visit this temple - and they got a less than a 10 second glimpse of the idol.  Got me wondering...why do so many people do this?  What makes them walk these long distances, get jostled around in the crowd, keep chanting the name of Lord Muruga and finally see the idol for few seconds but walk out feeling absolutely thrilled?  One of them told me that while they may get only few seconds to take a look at the idol, they have only thought of good deeds and thoughts and lived with God for all the hours that they waited to see the idol.  The fact that they all walk out happy is what I call faith.

Faith, like love, is not driven by the brain but by the heart.  They say, both faith and love, are blind.  There is a lot of emotion attached to faith and so, any amount of rationalising does not really change too much of the outcomes.  Could not these devotees who walked for hours and waited for hours to catch a few second glimpse of the idol of God not have done this at home? Could they have not just prayed to a photograph of this idol which I am sure they will have at home? Are they fools to go through this arduous exercise? No, definitely not. This has to do with the emotion in each person...with the feeling of being one with God.  And it is this faith that makes them do these acts.  I saw people of all ages at this temple...from the really young to the really old.  I saw people in wheelchairs.  It was just amazing to see so many people - all looking towards the Almighty.

Faith makes us do such extraordinary acts.  It drives us in many ways.  In the Tamil Movie "Dhill", the director builds a very strong character who defies all physical odds to start walking again after he is beaten up and many of his bones are broken.  The character in that movie displays extraordinary faith in himself to be able to do anything. And when he wills, he finds the way.  As they say, "Where there is a will, there is a way." 

The dark side to this faith is what I see in terrorism.  Just imagine the courage it would take to give up your life for a cause. That is what these terrorists do.  From the suicide bombers to those who kill thousands of innocent people, it is faith in some cause that drives humans to behave like this.

What this shows me is that this faith in a cause or in someone or both results in extraordinary acts.  This is because this faith drives an amazing attitude to make things happen for the cause and/or the person.  This is the faith that leaders in organizations can harness.  A good leader with a clear vision can instill tremendous faith in the people and that translates in to a very positive attitude.  I have experimented with this concept where I have worked on a clear vision with expectations that are easily understood by all.  I have then empowered people to achieve this vision - i.e. put faith in people.  Once people saw me put faith in them, they in turn put full faith in me, the vision and the expectations.  This created positive energy all around.  And this positive energy resulted in a multiplier effect that is not easy to put in words - it has to be experienced...felt inside each one of us - very much like faith!!!

Tolerance

I was discussing with a friend of mine whether the Indian family system of taking care of elderly parents and grandparents at home was better than letting them live on their own or in an old age home.  Whether the Indian system of taking care of their physical, emotional and financial needs by making them stay at home till they passed away was better than letting them live alone and fend for themselves.  Societies in the US and Europe and Australia seem to have got a clear way where each one cares for himself/herself.  Some are less fortunate and so the Government has to pay for part of their bills and so, the condition in which they live are not always the best.  In India, we do not have a social security system and the family takes on that role.  Somehow, I see this as equivalent of self-help and people do not need to depend on the Government to take care of their elderly.

With life expectancy moving up all over the world, elderly care is something that needs thought.  While they may need help on the physical and financial fronts, they will definitely need help on the emotional front.  More so, if they have lost their partner.

We seem to not have tolerance for the lack of speed of reaction of elders.  This causes stress both in us as well as the elders living with us.  While some of the elders come with years of baggage in their heads, I have always found it useful to set clear expectations without hurting the person.  After all, when we were young, these same elders set ground rules for us.  It is now time for them to follow ground rules.  This is where problems arise.  Some see us as children setting ground rules for them and some learn to accomodate and live, though with a lot of disagreements.  So, how do we handle this situation? Is it better to make them live on their own or would it be good to be with them?

These are difficult questions.  The advantage of having our elders live with us include tapping in to their experiences so that we do not re-invent the wheel everytime.  Others include the fact that they enjoy spending time with our children, telling them bed time stories, playing with them, helping them in their studies, talking to them about our culture, teaching them a way of life that is fast disappearing in India.  The problems that come along are that the elders find it difficult to adjust to some of the modern day realities and could become sarcastic, some do not want to do anything but sit and watch TV all through the day, some have physical or mental disabilities that are better looked after in a hospital or through full time care.  Apart from all this, some of us believe that they have become a burden on us.

I have been observing situations that many have faced and come up with my conclusion that it is best to keep them with us if possible or to get them to stay with their age group relatives but keep them close to our homes so that we can spend time with them daily.  We need to spend time daily with our elders, listen to them with patience, not to be judgemental and heed their advice as it comes with years of experience.  For this, we need not only to love them as our own but also have tolerance as their physical and mental abilities are not as quick as they used to be.  This tolerance is absolutely critical in our lives for as we grow up, we need to be tolerant to our next generations.  If we show this tolerance, the Universe will come back and pay us back with the same tolerance that we deserve when we become "the elders".

Spotting Leaders...

My wife never refers to a plant as "it" but as "her".  We had a plant that had been re-potted and was struggling to come back to life.  My wife kept talking to "her" for over a month and kept encouraging her to spring back to life.  She kept telling her, "I want to see your flower."  One sunny day my wife and I returned home and as we stepped through the gate, my wife let out a squeal of joy.  She pointed out to the plant that she had been talking to for over a month..."she" had a bud.  To me, the one month of continuously talking to the plant and showering the love "she" needed is seeing the unseen and hearing the unheard.  This is leadership.

Many a time we pass existing leaders in our teams and bring someone from outside.  This happens for few reasons.  It is like our child who is growing up in front of our eyes. We struggle to imagine our little daughter has become a teenager.  Similarly, we struggle to see the leader that has grown in front of our eyes.  The other reason is that since we have been closely watching the people we work with, we know their strengths and improvement areas.  These improvement areas are familiar to us and they breed contempt.  We do not notice the improvement areas of the new leaders that we interview and realise that, many a time the leader inside the organization was better than the one we just brought in.

Many organizations and leaders in organizations struggle to spot leaders. What has worked for me in spotting leaders have been few qualities that I notice as I begin to work with people - these include "the can do" attitude, negotiation skills, collaborative skills, taking ownership and being accountable, ability to take decisions and more importantly living down wrong decisions, willingness and ability to communicate expectations very clearly, ability to be on the dance floor while bringing in a balcony view and above all, being a human being.

Spotting leaders is an art and it is often the small deeds or acts that bring forth the leaders in us.  As I stated above, the act of talking to the plant to bring "her" back to life and bloom, to me was leadership at its best.

I was talking to this 10 year old child who was the leader of a gang of girls in her school.  This was a small gang of 5 and they all had decided that she should be the leader.  Other gangs were trying to poach members from this gang so that they could grow their gang.  So, in order to protect her gang, she made one of them Vice-Captain of her gang.  She then made another member the Stand-In leader when she was absent and another member the Stand-In Vice Captain when the Vice Captain was absent.  This way, she negotiated positions for each person and they all were so happy that they decided not to leave the gang.  When the time came to go in different directions, she did not think twice to disband the gang.  These are clear signs of leadership of a 10 year old who is ready to take decisions based on the circumstances on hand and not take a stance based on her own position or a decision made earlier.

In my earlier writings, I have discussed what it is to be a human being and what it is to have a "can do" attitude.  I would like to talk today on living down the mistakes that we make as leaders and not beating ourselves up.  In our daily lives, all of us wear the leadership hat.  Many a time we don't know we are wearing the hat but actually do.  We take thousands of decisions.  Many of them do not work the way we thought they would or have un-intended consequences...consequences that we could not imagine when we took those decisions.  As they say, we are always smarter on the hindsight.  Many of us are ashamed of the decisions that we took and beat ourselves up and live with the burdens.  There are others who are willing to accept the errors of judgement made and move on in life.  True leaders don't beat themselves up continuously.  If we are humans, we will make those errors - it is after all human to err.  The leader is not above this maxim.  If we understand this and take the errors that we make in our stride, take accountability for those errors, face the consequences and not let those errors stop us in lives, we are on our way to becoming true leaders.  When President Nixon accepted his errors of judgement, in an interview on television on the Watergate Scandal, he showed what it is to make a mistake and live down that mistake.  He showed courage, grit and leadership.

Money

Jeff Crowther said, "Some one really lazy would have created money".  He was correct.  Money serves a dual purpose of being a unit of value and also a medium of exchange.  Before money was invented the rice dealer would have struggled to exchange his goods to, say, buy clothes or utensils.  Barter would have been a huge issue for society and some lazy person, who had all this time in the world, would have been thinking how to resolve the problem and would have come up with the concept of money.  Once money was created, kings started wondering how to physically make this money without being in a situation where everyone created this money. Hence, gold was used.  Over a period of time, gold gave way to silver, then came alloys of cheaper metals and now paper.

Man tends to over extend everything in life. Our greatest strengths, when over extended, become our greatest weaknesses.  We end up losing whatever we thought we would get out of these strengths.  To reduce problems in society being able to access everything it needed in life, we created money.  Slowly, greed took over and since we wanted everything that this society had to offer, we started trying to make more of this money.  We hoarded money and when we did that, we started robbing from each other.  When we started robbing from each other, we started keeping them in safe locations.  These safe locations, over a period of time, became banks and these trusted people became bankers.  Banking, grew over the years, and used this money to lend to those who needed this money.  So, money started circulating around.  It could do much more than what it was originally created for.  Thousands of years after money was created, in 2008, we saw one of the biggest crisis take place with millions of people being displaced from their homes, lose jobs, commit suicide, etc. and all this happened all across the world.  We called it the Global Financial Crisis.  Our solution to resolve the barter problem landed us in one of the worst crisis that we experienced. 

As Santosh was about to step in to the cab, I asked him, "Santosh, would you be willing to leave Rs.25,000 in this cab and go out shopping for an hour without worrying that it will be stolen either by the cabbie or someone else?"  He said that there is no question of trusting a cabbie who he did not know with Rs.25,000.  I asked him as to how does he trust the cabbie with his life by getting in to it and taking an one hour ride back home?  What if the cabbie drove rashly resulting in a fatal accident?

We go through life without thinking through so many things.  Money, they say, is the reason for most of the ills of mankind.  I have to disagree.  We have only ourselves to blame.  Money has never asked us to over-extend its use.  It has never asked us to become greedy.  We have become greedy.  As the actor Rajnikanth says, "So long as we have adequate quantities of money, it will protect us.  Once we stock excess quantities, we have to protect it."

I read two snippets of news that actually shows the power of money. One was about a very rich businessman selling some of his equity holdings to contribute a significant amount to his foundation that focusses on education.  Education to millions of Indians will result in a stronger India in the future and is clearly the only way out for Indians to come out of poverty.

The other snippet was about a wayward son who had gone in to drugs.  After his parents died, he realised that they had willed away all their money to a charity.  Left without any money, he is now living in a charity home outside of Bangalore.  He now realises that his misuse of money and his disrespect for it is what has resulted in the lousy situation that he finds himself in today.  Money seems to have taught this young man a real tough lesson in life.

In India, we worship the Goddess Lakshmi and many say that we do that so that we can get more wealth.  What our ancestors wanted us was to respect money and so created this Goddess of Wealth, Lakshmi.  This would ensure that we give money the due respect and treat it well so that it helps us.  Clearly, our ancestors seem to have known more than us...wish we learn from the lessons they have taught us and find peace with our lives!!!

True happiness seems to be in sharing the wealth that we have with others than in hoarding it.  There is the story of a very rich farmer in the US who sprayed not only his farm but also the ones of his not so wealthy neighbours.  He did this for 2 years till his neighbours became rich enough to afford spraying themselves.  But, what this did for him was that his farm started yielding more and he made more money because he had rid himself of the problem of insects coming in from the unsprayed neighbouring farms.  This example is true for us in all aspects of life.  The more we share, the more we end up getting!!!

The Airline Industry and Lessons of Life....

I had moved from a job that got me to travel nationally to one that got me around the world.  In those years, my domestic travel was very little and the biggest casualty was my flying status with the domestic airline.  From a Gold Member, I was quickly downgraded to a Silver and then to the lowest membership level.  From all the check-in and lounge priveleges, it was suddenly, nothing.  An amazing transformation in the way the check-in counter staff of the airline looked at you when you checked in.  I watched a movie in which people went to any extent to keep their flying miles up to date - ironically, on a flight - and realised why.

I have been travelling by air for years now and the only thing I have seen happen with absolute regularity is that the size of seats has been decreasing i.e. becoming narrower.  I am sure some industrial engineer would have told them that they could stuff more seats in to a plane and hence make more profits.  I saw the worst of it on a flight to the US last month.  There was this slightly plump lady who was struggling to get in to her seat and as the flight was going full in the economy section, there was no place where two contiguous seats were empty.  Finally, the airline had to upgrade her to business class.  She struggled quite a bit before fitting in to that seat as well.

This made me think...why do I think so poorly of this industry when it is really keeping us honest!!!  We realise that our positions mean nothing when we retire.  We mistakenly identify ourselves with our positions only to realise that our own staff look straight through us when we retire or move on...by downgrading our status if we dont fly regularly, the airline industry is doing the same.  If we experience this few times, we will never get hit with retirement blues. 

Further, with all this belt-tightening (not the seat belts ofcourse!!!) and seats getting narrower, the airline industry is really forcing us to slim down.  Obesity is one of the biggest challenges that we face as a society today as it moves to become an epidemic.  Obesity, like many other problems, does not come alone..it comes with other ailments such as diabetes, back problems, etc.  This unwritten policy of "slim down or dont fly" from the airline industry has done us a huge favour. Call it Airline Social Responsibility!!!

Life has its ups and downs.  Only when we go through the troughs do we appreciate the peaks.  Troughs help us get level headed and keep our feet to the ground.  The airline industry is like these troughs.  We are well and truly grounded!!!

Attitudes and moods...

I was talking to this 9 year old girl, "Tell your friend to go away...she is really irritating me."  She replied, "My friend is not irritating you...you are getting irritated!!!"  The thunderbolt from this 9 year old hit me very hard.  For many years I have been trying not to react negatively to situations and I have succeeded in getting the better of situations many a time when I have stepped back and thought what to do next.

Most of the time our moods depend on our attitude and how we decide to react to a given situation.  Yet we blame our work conditions, our colleagues, our friends or the not so friendly ones, our families and everyone else on this earth for all stress that we have to put up with.

I read the story of a New York Cabbie who would just smile each time someone cut him off on the road.  When someone asked him as to how he could do that, he replied, "Someone is trying to dump junk on me.  It is now left to me to decide whether I am going to accept it or not.  Since I control whether to accept it or not, I have decided not to accept it."  We have heard of so many stories of violence because of road rage.  If only we could adopt the attitude of this New York Cabbie.

Another story that I have heard and think is worth sharing is about this donkey that fell in to a very deep pit.  He could not get out and started screaming.  The villagers could not tolerate the noise and when they saw this donkey in a very deep pit, they decided that the best course of action was to pour mud in to the pit and bury the donkey. So they started bringing in mud from close by and started filling the pit.  As the first few buckets of mud fell on the donkey's back, he started screaming at the villagers and how ungrateful they were for all the good work that he had done for them.  The mud started filling up and he realised that if he could jump on top of each bucket of mud poured down, he was moving up as the pit got filled.  Soon, the pit was filled up and the donkey was on top and he trotted away happily....deciding never to complain when he is stuck in a lousy situation but to figure out what to do next to get out of it.  They say that "attitude decides your altitude"...in this case, for the donkey, his attitude literally decided his altitude - from the bottom of a deep pit to the top of it!!!

Many a time when something goes wrong for us we think, "Why me?".  Instead, if we decide what to do next, life takes a different turn and, definitely, for the positive.  We can decide whether we want our lives to move positively or not.  Let us take time and decide to live a life with a positive attitude.

When mother earth hits back...

"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction", said Issac Newton and this is his 3rd law of motion.  In the 1800s we went down to 69 feet to get some oil.  Now, we dig thousands of feet in to our earth and below our ocean beds and we do this across the world.  By drilling for minerals and oil, by blasting the earth for metals, by cutting down mountains and trees in the name of development, we have set in motion a series of actions.  She has been receiving all this over the years and patiently putting up with our deeds that destroys her slowly and steadily.  Once in a way, she gets upset and decides to teach these stupid kids a lesson.

She was tired of all the drilling that had been happening all over Asia and in the Indian Ocean.  She lazily stretched her arms (I guess) and the shift in the tectonic plates (measured 9.1 on the Richter Scale) ripped through 30 kms of water from beneath the oceans and triggered of a tsunami that created waves of up to 30 metres, earthquakes that could be felt in Alaska and destroyed coastlines in 14 different countries.  The 2004 Tsunami killed over 240,000 people.  All done and over in few minutes!!!  Millions of dollars worth of property destroyed.  The death toll was 80 times the size of the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York on 11 September (please don't mistake me to being insensitive to loss of human lives in New York but was just explaining the scale).

We are the only species credited with the power to think...and, yet, our thoughts seem to be so self-centred.  We kill millions of undersea creatures by conducting nuclear tests, we do deep sea trawling and deep freeze fish that gets eaten after few days/weeks/months, we are probably the only species that kills for entertainment, we do not respect lives of other creatures that live on this earth but expect every other creature to respect our lives.  So, why is a human life more valuable than that of the poor fish that swims happily in the oceans? Have you heard of an animal that kills and stores its food for months before eating?  Have you heard of animals that kill for the sake of pleasure? 

We have now slowly started realising that if we live in harmony with this earth, she will give you much more than what you want.  We call this "sustainability".

Our insatiable need for energy is our biggest reason for digging up our world.  If we decide to invest these dollars towards harnessing the power of the Sun, the Wind, the Oceans, our energy sources will not only be enormous but also completely clean and green.  Instead, we spend millions digging up the earth for coal/oil, create coal based power stations to generate electricity.  We believe that we generate power cheaper with coal than these other natural sources like the sun.  However, if we count the cost of displacement of people as we do indiscriminate mining, the cost of air pollution that causes us to spend millions on treating ourselves for asthma and other lung/body disorders and the real cost of waste disposal, we will hopefully understand that this is really not sustainable and far too expensive.  If she gets angry and decides to stretch her arms once again, the cost we will have to pay will be just far too high.

Governments are battling with companies that mine away in the name of creating wealth but are actually causing maximum damage to our mother earth.  Governments want to charge a special tax on their profits and use that money to fund their schemes for re-settling people, restoring other parts of earth, etc. 

We are marauding mother earth in the name of wealth creation and I believe that the cost we will pay for this will be huge in terms of lives.  Years and years of our efforts will be paid back in minutes!!!

Mathematics and God

I was talking to children who take extra tuition classes and their teachers on why tuition classes were needed and which subjects children really wanted these extra classes.  Most children take tuition in mathematics.  When I was talking to the teachers and children as to why they took maths tuition, it was becoming increasingly clear that some children were frightened of maths. They scored low marks and they just did not want to go through exams without extra tuitions.  I was wondering why this was so with mathematics.  Someone told me that it was because mathematics was abstract and, therefore, difficult to understand. She also told me that Maria Montessori (the founder of the Montessori Method of education) had made it more tangible by making use of materials to make children understand mathematics.  The use of materials to explain maths made it fun for children and it removed the abstract nature of the subject and actually made it tangible - something children learnt by touching and feeling.

This got me thinking of the questions that gets asked by many - Why do you have idol worship in India? or Why do Indians give some kind of a form to God and use photographs or paintings to pray?

Our ancestors seem to have thought through this well.  They quickly realised that the concept of God was difficult to explain because we could not see or feel God.  We had different types of people - some who said that God exists (the theists); some who said that God does not exist (the atheists); and some (the realists) who said, "we do not say God does not exist but it would be great if he/she can help out once in a way".  People were struggling to relate to God and were also struggling to explain to their children on what/who God was.  I believe that is why a form would have been created by our ancestors.  Once form/s were created, then, there had to be stories around how such Gods came about.  That is why we find so many stories on each of the Gods in India.  Most importantly, every element of nature became a God and people could relate to them easily.  This way they also started respecting every aspect of nature and preserved nature - the birth of what I call as The Green God!!!

What this all means is that when something/someone is abstract like mathematics, we need more help in understanding.  God is as abstract.  And, Gurus are these tuition masters.  They help us get closer to the understanding of this abstract God.  The term "GuRu" means "One who removes darkness or ignorance".  Gu stands for darkness or ignorance and Ru means the person who removes this.

I read an interesting interpretation of the term guru by the great Yogi Jaggi Vasudev.  He said that a guru is one who shatters the disciples’ assumptions and beliefs and shows them the truth.  So, what is truth?  As abstract, if not more, than mathematics and God. Truth, like God, is abstract and there is more than one interpretation to it in any given circumstance.

Our teachers built some models and taught us mathematics and when we solved few problems and built models, we started figuring out what maths was.  So, how do we then understand what God is?  Much more complex and that is where the concept of faith comes in.  When the concept of God gets ingrained in to us from when we are young, we start trusting what we have been told since we were young.  This trust turns to faith when things that we pray for happen.  As Paulo Coelho says in his book, The Alchemist, "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

If we understand that God is nothing but one part of us and if we could use this God in each of us to remove the thoughts in us that is likely to cause harm to others, we will understand that God resides in each of us.  To better understand this and to remove the ignorance in us, we need these teachers - the Gurus.

The concept of faith and God is in each of our minds.  Faith in God creates meaning for us in our lives.  If it is all in our minds and helps us make out the meaning of our lives, I am not sure why we fight wars and kill/hurt each other in the name of God.  I have never seen anyone fight wars and kill/hurt people in the name of mathematics!!!

Your Health...a social responsibility

Maintaining a good work-life balance is essential and all of us have heard this.  But, what does this work-life balance mean?  Is it coming home on time and then plonking oneself on to a sofa and watching TV?  Is it good compartmentalisation of office and home so that we don't carry the problems of home to office and vice-versa?  I used to think that it is easy to leave your thoughts at the doorstep of your office (when coming from home) or of your home (when returning from office). I have tried this many times and failed.  I have now stopped trying and carry my moods through.  I have found that what works for me is to be in the moment wherever you are and with whoever you are.

To me, work-life balance is where you are able to mentally focus completely and honestly at whatever you are doing at office and home...meaning, you should be capable of focussing well at work and you have a passion that consumes your attention at home.  This truly brings out the best in most of us because if we are too focussed on only one aspect - either home or office - we get stale and neglect the other aspect.

Imbalance in work and life causes stress and that in turn impacts health.  Does it worry you if your health is impacted?  Of course, it does. Does it worry others?  Of course, it does.  Your family, friends, colleagues and well wishers are all worried.  The cascading impact is huge.  So, to think that your health is a private issue and that it impacts only you is totally out of whack.  Your health is a social responsibility for you and you owe it not only to yourself to stay healthy but to others as well.  These others value your relationship with them and so, you need to respect that.

I heard a story about a press conference that the Ambani brothers and their late father did in the US.  This was when they were raising funds for one of their projects in the 1990s.  Those were apparently the days when Anil Ambani was fat.  Someone from the audience asked him as to how he could take care of the health of the company and its shareholders if he did not take care of his own health.  Anil came back to India, hired a personal trainer, worked out daily and started getting fit.  After a year, he was in much better shape. He took a photograph of himself and sent it to the person who asked him the question and thanked him for asking that question.  Even to date, he stays very fit. This clearly shows how Anil took the suggestion seriously. Obviously, he had understood that his health was a social responsibility. Millions of shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, his family and many others need him to stay healthy.

The other thing about health is that it is wealth.  It really hits your pocket when you lose it.  I was calculating what it costs to handle a major health problem.  It is equivalent of paying for your gym for at least 15 years.  So, if we had hit the gym daily for the last 15 years, we may have prevented a major health problem.  Further, once we get hit with a major health problem, it creates a deep psychological impact in us.  This reduces the quality of our life.  That is why we hear the saying, "Health is wealth"...though, it is also true that it hits our pockets!!!

Needs, wants and rainy days...

It is election season in the US and the campaigns are at their peaks.  As I watched the news, I saw a constituency where the home loan foreclosures were touching a whopping 79% and all that the candidates were talking off was who is to blame.  No one was offering solutions to the voters.  This is the first time that I am coming across a situation where home foreclosures in a location is as high as 79%.  The pressure must be really high for these families.

These are rainy days for these families.  So, what happened to our old habit of tucking away something for the rainy day?  The Household Savings Rate in India is 24% and in China is 25%.  Germany is at 11%, Japan is 7%, UK is 5.5% and the US is touching 5-6%.  It was hovering at less than 2% in the US till 2007.  With the onset of the Global Financial Crisis, we see an increase in the Savings Rate in the US. The rainy day principle does not seem to be working in some of the developed nations.  I am still wondering why the savings rate in the US is so low.  Maybe the policies of the 1980s famously known as the Reaganomics is a contributor.  These policies resulted in what is now called "Supply creates its own demand"...with more money in the hands of corporations and individuals, consumption shot up.  In the US, consumption is 71% of GDP.  This, combined with easily available loans and increasing asset prices, saw savings rate in the US came down from 10% in the 1980s to 1.4% when the global financial crisis hit all of us.  Over the last 3 years we have seen the savings rate go up but there is a lot of room for improvement.

What does this low savings rate mean for the common man?  This means that if you earn US $100 (disposable income), the whole household saved only $1.4.  Now, picture a scenario of where interest rate goes up and you have to pay more for your mortgages.  Even a very small change in the economic circumstance such as a layoff or a temporary loss of job or an increase in interest rates, would cause tremendous stress in the family because they have to change their consumption habits completely in order to pay off their mortgage commitment.  Those who have saved will be able to manage the crisis.  However, those where the savings is just $1.4 out of $100 will struggle.  The result is default and this is what we are seeing in the US.

Closer home in India, we see inflation going past 10% and food price inflation at close to 18%.  This is because food production has not been able to keep up with increasing population and also the number of people moving above the poverty line.  Though the economy grew by 7%, agriculture grows by only 1.4%.  This has caused a supply side problem and, hence, food price inflation.  What is now needed is inclusive growth where the agriculture industry grows at a faster pace.  This needs investment and more area to be brought under cultivation.  Families have been under stress as they divert money towards food spend.  This has caused stress in families as they have lesser disposable income to manage other expenses.  However, banks have not seen as many housing loan defaults.  This is primarily because of the habit of higher savings.

My dad once told me that he managed his family expenses when his salary was Rs.100 per month in the 1950s and did the same when he earned much more in the 1980s.  He told me that happiness is not in how much more you have to spend but managing within your means.  He told me that if I can limit my needs and wants to be within my means, there would always be better long term consequences.  He must be correct because he managed to maintain his standard of living till he passed away.

When I look at all this, I am reminded of what Buddha taught us in his middle path - to remove greed. He said that most of our problems start because we struggle to contain our needs and wants and after sometime greed takes over.  If we can reduce our needs and wants, I am sure, we will learn to live within our means. This will help us stash away something for that rainy day.

Vacuum at the top

Each time a medical breakthrough is announced, we cheer loudly.  We are willing to pay any amount to save a life. We are willing to spend millions on research to find cures for all the diseases that this Universe can throw at us.  This has increased the average life expectancy significantly - from around 50 in 1900 to close to 76 now.  It is more in some countries - 78 to 80.  So, when I saw the news clipping this morning on how France has come to a standstill because of nationwide strikes to protest against the proposed increase of retirement age from 60 to 62, I was not surprised.  The people were upset that the Government is reducing retirement benefits by increasing the age of retirement.  Most countries are struggling to meet their pension commitments as populations age across the world.

Italian granite and marble was something that would adorn the houses of the really rich in the late 1980s.  The actual marble and granite came from across the world and were cut and polished in Italy.  The finished product (tiles and slabs) were sold all over the world by Italian companies at over 6 to 10 times the price of the raw granite/marble.  There were no complaints then.  So, why is there such a noise today when Fiat wants to shut down its plant in Italy?  I have always maintained economics is a great leveller!!!

Closer home, in India, the Common Wealth Games are over and a probe has been ordered in to the alleged corruption in the procurement of goods and services for the games by Government Officials.   China has stated last week that Norway has sent the wrong signals by awarding Liu Xiaobo the Nobel Peace Prize.

Wherever you turn, you will find something not going too well or disagreements leading to rhetoric and, many a time, violence.  Violence on a scale that causes destruction to life and property.

To me, all this shows that there is a lack of leadership and an absolute lack of tolerance in us.  Leadership, that is both inspiring and engaged, is essential to manage these kind of issues in every country.  Such a leadership will also bring about the much needed tolerance in our society.  Most country leaders are not leading from the front anymore.  Leading the country has become more a job than a passion.  Leadership seems to be coming through coups, by father passing on the mantle to the son or daughter (whether he/she deserves the position), through violence, through machinations...and the list goes on.  As a society, we seem to be passive to these poor leaders that we select.  When the CEO of a company misses the mark for few quarters in a row, the Stock Market and the Board of Directors/Shareholders, move quickly to replace him/her.  Should there be such a system for our political leaders too where their quarterly or half yearly results are published and debated?  Where they are replaced if they fail to manage the country well?

Just like the CEO needs to position a company well in the market so that it survives, it is the job of the Political Leader (call him/her the President or Prime Minister or King or Queen) to position the country well so that it survives in this world.  If a company does not give its CEO more than 6 months to prove himself/herself, why should we give 4 or 5 years to these Political Leaders?  Is it because countries are larger than companies and so, they will need more time...fine, let us give them a year and then after that judge them every quarter or half year.  These unrests are happening because our leaders are not thinking ahead. 

These Political leaders need to position their respective countries appropriately for their strengths and take accountability for their actions.  The topic of outsourcing has caused so much noise and rhetoric.  Beyond all this rhetoric, I am sure we all heard the American President say that the US must position itself firmly in Research & Development and use its strengths in this.  Bingo Mr.President!!!  Hope more countries look towards creating a workforce in their respective countries that is relevant to the new social order.

I am reminded of a story.  A Chinese emperor was growing old and was worried that his son was no where near having the qualities of becoming the King.  So, he called for his son (the Prince) and told him to go to the forests and seek out an old monk who would train him to be the King.  The Prince went off in to the jungles and located the old monk.  He walked up to the monk with a swagger and introduced himself and told him that the Emperor had sent him (the Prince) to be trained by the monk.  The old monk asked him to go in to the forest, listen to the sounds that he heard, and come back and report to him.  The Prince sniggered, rode off in to the forest and came back in the evening. He told the old monk of the sounds of the rivers, the rustling trees, the breaking twigs, the singing birds, etc.  The old monk shook his head in disapproval and sent off the Prince again. Months had gone by and the Prince still did not hear the sounds that the old monk expected.  The once over confident Prince was completely out of depth.  As he was lying on the grass one day thinking of the really long months he had spent in the forest, he suddenly heard the sound.  In joy, he rode back to the old monk, walked up to him (without the pomp that he had shown months ago), bowed and told the old monk of how he had heard the sound of the flower blooming...the Old Monk smiled and stopped him and said, "You are now ready to be the Emperor.  The person who sees the unseen, hears the unheard and speaks the unspoken, is the Leader that this world needs."

Storytelling

My great grandfather sat down next to me and talked of why it is worth putting your faith and trust in God.  I cannot remember how old I was then, but I remember I asked him what faith or trust meant.  He told me a story that I remember to this day.  The story was about a man who was driving and his car met with an accident. He was alone on a hill, it was pitch dark and he had been thrown out of the car and was hanging on a tree.  His mind raced back and he remembered seeing a tree at the edge of  cliff with its branches overlooking the cliff.  He realised that he must be hanging on one of those branches and if he let go, it would be over a 3000 feet drop.  He prayed to God, "Please ensure I do not sleep. Please give me the strength in my arms to hold me up till I get help.  Please, please don't let the branch break."  God replied to him, "Why don't you just trust me and let go of the branch.  You will fall on my lap safely."  The man said, "Are you crazy God? I want to live to see my family again.  I am not yet ready to come to your lap in heaven."  He spent the next few hours hanging from the tree branch. Those were the worst moments of his life.  His arms ached and he was desperate to get off the tree.  The man was thrilled to see the first signs of light.  As he looked down, he could see earth just a foot below his feet.  He had been hanging on one of the branches that was on the other side of the cliff and if he had let go the branch, he would landed safely.  As he let go, he kicked himself for not trusting God and letting go. 

Our ancestors in India realised the importance of storytelling years ago.  The Panchatantra Stories, The Jataka Tales, Chandamama Stories are few examples of how concepts and values were passed through generations.  I always loved reading these story books.  Enid Blyton's Noddy Stories were among the best on passing on values through generations.

For years, students of the top business schools have said that the best learnings have come from examples shared by professors, other students and case studies.  These are all, nothing but stories.  The best of our learnings are always from life experiences of ourselves or others.  What remains etched in our minds are these stories and the morals/values that we got out of them.

Most corporates today have started asking their leaders to develop the next generation of leaders and one of the most important methods suggested is storytelling.  Most leaders have started sharing stories of various experiences to coach and this is leading to the creation of better leaders.

Storytelling creates a lively atmosphere. It creates a bonding. It electrifies because it brings with it the emotions.  These could be happy, sad, fear, anxiety, laughter... anything...but it brings through emotions and, therefore, lets the audience experience the moments.  It helps the audience to relate to the speaker at a more personal level.  I have said this in my earlier blog, "You may forget his words but you will never forget how he made you feel."  Stories are etched because they create an emotion that you will always remember and relate to.

When I started working in a large back office, I realised that my biggest problem was conveying what I wanted across different layers in an organization and for it to be understood in the same way.  What I wanted to convey may not create an impact because it gets lost in translation as it percolates across the various levels in the organization.  So, I started using storytelling.  This created the necessary impact and I regard impact as the most important part of communication.  With that came the bonding, the excitement and the relationships.

Like most of you reading this blog, I decided not to wait to become a grandfather to communicate through stories... there are so many who would love to learn from your experiences...as they say, "Experience is one of our best teachers."

India has moved on...

While the Ayodhya Verdict was being awaited, most TV Channels were asking the question whether the new India had moved on beyond Ayodhya.  The Home Ministry had shared a lot of economic data to show how much India had moved on - Growth rate in 1992 was 2% while in 2010 it was at 9%, Per Capital Income had grown from Rs.12,000 to Rs.43,000, the number of computers had increased from 0.4 million to over 40 million and the foreign exchange reserves had moved up from $200 million to over $200 billion...yes, they said, India has moved on.

On December 7, 1992, many thought that all Indians were discussing the demolition of a structure in Ayodhya a day earlier.  All newspapers carried news on the demolition on their front page.  While many were discussing the demolition, our cricket team was in South Africa playing a one-day match which they lost by 3 wickets to South Africa.  In Mumbai, there were many sitting and discussing Cognitive Bases of Learning at the Homi Bhaba Centre for Science Education.

It was Dec 4, 1992.  A film director was tensed.  His movie had released that day.  It was important for him that this movie do well in the box office.  The reasons were not just because he was the director of this film but because this was his son's first film as the lead actor. Like him there would have been many others who were worried about other things happening in their lives (not that the Ayodhya event would not have worried them...but they also would have had other priorities).

India is a very diverse country.  For over thousands of years, huge contradictions have existed in India and they all co-exist.  The greatness of the country is the way it takes this diversity in its stride.  Just 200 years ago in many parts of the world, people were put to death or put in prisons and tortured for having contrarian thought. Gautam Buddha was invited to endless debates in India when he challenged the Hindu Religion 1500 years ago. He was not locked up or killed. 

I switched on the TV this morning to check if there was any adverse impact as a result of yesterday's court verdict.  The breaking news was on the Tamil Movie Superstar Rajini's latest film "Enthiran - The Robot".  The first show had started at 5 am in Chennai, India.  I watched news clippings of Rajini's fans (calling themselves Rajini Fanatics with an Orkut following of 96,000) celebrating the new movie release.  They were having so much fun that I wondered whether this was the same India that waited the whole of yesterday with bated breath.

In many ways, India has moved on and in many ways, India has remained as beautifully diverse in thought as she has always been for over 10,000 years...I am really not sure if India has moved on as there is actually no need for that!!! 

Which other country in this world can boast of having a Prime Minister and the President from minority communities and the Leader of the Ruling Party with foreign origins?  Only India!!!

Value Education - Your brand ambassador

"How did the Physics classes go?", I asked my daughter.  She walked up to me and said that at College they have these Value Education classes.  Somehow she felt that these were very useful to her and to her classmates in general.  She asked me as to how people use this education at work.  I told her that most corporates have a set of Values by which they operate.  "If you read these values you understand that they are all based on the principles that you are studying in the Value Education classes", I told her.

This incident got me thinking.  Most of the time, as parents, we are asking our kids as to how they have done in their course examinations.  We always focus on the subjects that will get them admission in to other universities or jobs in companies.  These universities and companies seem to focus on subjects like mathematics, science or commerce.  They do not focus on what these children learnt in their Value Education classes.  If most corporates are so focused on Values and actually pay so much attention to them, then why are they are not focused on what these children have learnt from a Values perspective?  Just think about it - if you are someone who is joining a University to do a degree program or have just passed out of University and taken up a job - which University or company actually asked you to talk on your values and your opinion on such Values?

Somewhere, I tend to believe that only few Universities and Companies put their money where their mouth is by focusing on Values.  For most, it is more a paper exercise.

So, what is the use of these sets of Values for a company?  These Values, if embodied well in to the organization, set the real culture of the organization.  If leaders in the organization walk the talk, demonstrate that these Values are critical to them and follow these Values in their day to day activities and interactions at office, it sets the Culture within the organization.  This Culture is essential and critical for any organization to survive in the long run.  This Culture, in my opinion, is probably the best brand ambassador for any organization.

I was talking to few people last week and they told me how a Montessori School where their children study has few good points but the one that really stands out is "Honesty".  They all called it an "Honest School".  They felt proud that their children studied in that school.

As I walked out of that meeting, I called my wife and told her how the small school that she runs is known as "the honest school" to few people.  The Values that your organization is known by do become the real brand ambassador.

Leadership - Alone at the top!!!

I was looking out for a coach and someone offered me his services.  While I was talking to him to figure out whether I could be someone who can get coached by him, he said, "Many leaders feel lonely at the top.  If you do too, don't be too surprised.  The best thing is to recognize it and learn how to deal with it."  I have heard so many leaders, be it in the corporate world or in the world of politics, say that they are lonely at the top.  I believe that this need not be the case.

While we are all individuals and have so many skeletons in each of our closets, we can share most of these secrets to someone in our lives - could be our spouse, our partner, our children, our parents, our friend, our relatives.  Once we share our thoughts with someone, we are not lonely anymore.

In the corporate world, this is easier said than done.  We have created a brownie points culture in most organizations.  With so much emphasis on individual performance and pay based on individual contribution, we systematically kill team work.  People just do not know who to trust.  My secret, when shared with someone, just seems to do the rumour mills and before I can wink, comes back to me in a different form than what I intended.  So, my secret, remains my secret.  If I cannot trust, I don't share and this is the beginning of loneliness.  If we decide to work as teams and not as individuals, to trust each other as good human beings, there is no room for this loneliness.

Till I reach the top, I have someone who I can talk to, share things with and enjoy the moments.  When I reach the top, I become conscious all of a sudden. The same colleague with whom I was able to share everything suddenly cannot be trusted. He/she does not have all the information that I have.  He/she does not know how vulnerable I am at times.  If I end up sharing this with her,  I end up sharing the chinks in my armour and she could become my boss.  Hey, do I really need that?  Of course not...so, I stop sharing...and when I stop sharing, I become lonely.  If we stop for a moment and recognize that leaders are human beings, not those in-destructible heroes in movies, we would appreciate vulnerabilities and appreciate leadership better. 

Many of us believe that we can compartmentalise our lives as "personal" and "professional".  Our families or friends need not know what happened in office today....if it was not good, my family recognizes it because I am a bit grumpy.  It is difficult to leave your feelings outside your home as you walk in because in today's world, the laptop and the smartphones are walking in with you.  Instead of compartmentalising our lives, if we are able to share our experiences of the day with our partners or children or parents or friends (without having to mention names), we have found our coaches at home!!! 

Fight or Flight

The pre-historic man was walking round the corner and he stopped. His heart skipped a beat.  In front of him was a huge tiger who was as surprised as he was.  Fear gripped the man.  He had to fight the tiger or run...in other words, fight or flight.  Both needed extreme physical activity.  The body prepared him for that by pumping adrenalin in to the blood stream.  The extreme physical activity of fighting or running washed away the adrenalin from the blood.  This was probably the only fear that man had in those days.

The modern man walked in to office.  Unlike the pre-historic man, who had only the fear of death, he had many more fears.  The biggest among them was the fear of failure.  As he opened up the email box he noticed that it was filled with complaints from his customers.  He swore under his breath.  This could be the end of his career in this company. His boss would probably ask him to leave.  Two of his team members had let him down badly.  He was 35 years old. He was married and had two children.  He had moved in to a new apartment recently.  His monthly loan re-payment was high. What would he do if he lost his job? Fear gripped him. His body reacted in the same way as it had with the pre-historic man.  It pumped in adrenalin in to the blood stream.  However, the only thing this modern man could do was thump the table or swear out loud or both.  This was definitely not enough to wash out the adrenalin from his blood stream.  This excess adrenalin started settling all over his body and had a very adverse long term impact on him.  This is what we call stress and there are so many illnesses that are related to this stress.

Most of our anger, anxiety, etc. go back to the emotion called "fear".  This deep rooted fear in us can happen for different reasons.  Change is one big reason.  Most of us are not used to change. Any change causes this fear which we call anxiety.  Similarly, fear could be due to possibility of failure - could be failure in exams, in our jobs or at home.  This fear is what we end up calling stress.  Most of the time we are stressed out.  This stress could be because "I don't have a dress to wear to the party this evening" to "Gosh, a tiger is standing in front of me".  Whatever be the reason, the body reacts in the same way.

Stress is the cause of most illnesses in our society.  If we think through it clearly, we can all beat stress.  The trick is to reduce the reasons for fear.  Then, try deep breathing every time you are free for few minutes (Deep breathing yoga exercises really help).  Try and walk briskly for 5 to 10 minutes every hour.

My physician once told me that apart from a table, chair and computer in my office, the best thing to have would be a treadmill.  I laughed.  But, now I understand how true this is.  The best way to de-stress our bodies is to breathe deeply and to exercise it.  As they say, "The happiest of people, get back home stinking to high heavens."

So much more to know...Proud to be Indian

Today I thought I will write on the deep and complex India...the fact that there is so much to know in its 10,000 year history...that there is so little that we know of its past and its greatness.  Over the past 20 years, I have received guests from various countries from across the world.  They have asked me so many questions on India and to the best of my ability and knowledge, I have given them replies.  When I reflect on the answers I gave them, I realise that some of these answers have changed as I have got more and more data over these years.  I am penning down five of the oft repeated questions and my repies to them...

1. Why are there so many Gods in India?

India has many Gods/Goddesses that reflect many aspects of our life – education, wealth, arts, the elements such as fire, wind, water, etc. These are to ensure people respect everything around them.  Eg. We worship Goddess Lakshmi not to get more money but to respect the wealth we possess.

2. Why do Indians wear bright coloured clothing?

There is a general lack of cheer in deserts and dry areas of the country because of the lack of greenery. Bright colours bring in cheer, so you will find people in the Rajasthan area, mainly a desert, wearing bright coloured clothing.

In other parts of the country, where people work in fields, it’s difficult to locate them if they are wearing black, grey, blue or white clothes. So, they wear bright colours like red, orange, pink, etc. These help to identify people and also bring cheer to the work atmosphere

3. Why do Indians celebrate a festival almost every month?

What happens in a country during a festival? There is always a lot of positive attitude, a sense of giving and sharing and generally a willingness to spend more. This spend ensures that wealth is shared across different parts of the society. In my opinion, we have festivals every month so that the positive attitude is retained throughout the year.

4. What is the significance of the rangoli and lamp lighting?

In the past, Rangoli was drawn outside the gate and a lamp was lit and placed in the middle of the rangoli.  Rice flour was the rangoli powder.  The area would be made damp with water and disinfected with cow dung.  The area was made damp so that dust would not go up in to the atmosphere.  Rice flour was used so that ants could eat that, go away and not enter the house - a neat way of avoiding the use of insecticides at home. 

The lamp placed in the middle of the Rangoli served as street lighting. With a rangoli in every house, the whole street was lit up!

5. What does the word ‘Om’ mean?

Om is actually spelt as A-U-M and pronounced as “AA – OO- M” – these are the only three sounds that a person can make without moving the tongue.  These three sounds resonate and vibrate with the body and when chanted correctly, have a therapeutic effect.

There are so many things to note about this country with a history of over 10,000 years - in India, the Pythagoras theorem was written about 1500 years before Pythagoras was born, planets and how they revolved around the sun was also described in our ancient scriptures. Galileo described this in 1610, thousands of years later! The brain and its cell structure was defined in our scriptures over 3500 years ago even when there was no microscope! Ancient Indian gurus were able to use their knowledge to see and explain things that we are unable to do even today.

There is so much more to be proud of this country, but many of us are not aware of the rich cultural heritage. What can we do to preserve the rich heritage of this country? Why have we lost our pride as a nation? Points to ponder… Please feel free to write back to me with your thoughts.

Chhota Bheem and Corporate Speak

The “Chhota Bheem” comic series that runs on a children’s channel will probably be a popular program for many parents too. Personally, I love to watch the series with my daughter, as I find similarities between Bheem’s character and the values that we see many organizations building.

On the show, Bheem, reputed to be one of the most powerful men in Indian mythology has been made “Chhota Bheem”, so that children can relate to the character. The kids absolutely love this Chhota Bheem as he is strong and fights with villains where necessary. And of course, the show has become an instant hit with most children! The creators of the show are amazing and have popularised mythology with their target audience – children. They have been able to bring out the concept of customer-centricity, in other words, doing what the customer wants.

Chhota Bheem always puts the well being of the kingdom, the king and the people in the kingdom before his personal well being, which is what we call in corporate parlance “no personal agendas”.

Chhota Bheem also resolves complex issues facing the king and the kingdom by going to the place of the problem, taking a look for himself (along with his friends) and then coming up with a solution that is simple, yet, effective. This is what few organizations call as the STARS Framework – STARS is the acronym for Stand Back, Think, Act, Resolve and Self-Check.

Chhota Bheem does not sit on issues under the garb of thinking through solutions – he is quick, decisive and makes his move very rapidly.

In my experience, I have had many staff who have come to me and said that what they really like are leaders who take decisions and take them quickly – some could be wrong – but hopefully you are roughly right most of the time!!!

Leaders must try and create more Chhota Bheem's apart from becoming one themselves!!!

Fastfoward through life

I was reading an article in the newspaper yesterday on how couples are planning children in a way so that they are born between January and March/April of the year so that they do not lose a year in school.  In India, the academic year starts in June.  Children below the age of 6 as at June 1 do not get admitted to the 1st grade.  They will be put in an earlier grade.  Most parents sweat this. So, when I read this in the newspaper, I was not surprised.  To me, this just does not matter.  To a child going to Grade 1, it does not matter. Not sure why parents go to such great lengths just to ensure their child is not 6 to 8 months overaged in their class.  Frankly, does it make any difference in a life that spans close to 70 years?  I don't think so, but most parents do.  I must not be getting this right at all.

My friend was telling me the other day that he had retired and this happened a year earlier because his dad had given a wrong date of birth just to get him in to school a year earlier!!!  I told him to enjoy his well deserved retirement.

In India, we seem to rush through our lives.  Most kids in Europe and Australia go off on a 1 to 2 year travel after they are through with their Grade 12 or University.  They travel different countries, work whenever and wherever they want to and enjoy understanding the lives and cultures in these countries.  I believe that travel is one of the best teachers that we can get in life and in India we do not seem to attach too much of importance to this.  While most of these kids in Europe are travelling, our kids are going to colleges and then to tuitions from 9 am to 9pm every day in Grades 11 and 12.  Not sure what we are doing to them.

Is it worth fast forwarding ourselves through our lives?  I was asking myself this question.  So what if we start working at 26 and not at 22?  So what if we do an MBA program at 40 and not at 24?  We do not seem to pace ourselves through our life. We want everything to happen fast...fast food, quicker promotions, a fast buck...and the word "fast" follows us through our lives.

I was watching a movie that showed the life of a very small sect in India, the Aghoris.  These Aghoris are ascetics and they spend a lot of time meditating, living in crematoriums and try and understand the duality of life.  They do not have any attachments with people and try and believe that we must accept the perfectness of everything in nature.  They seem to be the other side of India where life is almost on a rewind mode and not the usual fast foward that most of us are used to.

When I look at this complete spectrum starting from the Aghoris who just move through life at their own pace to the city dwellers who are busy going at breakneck speed, I wonder where I fit in.  I wonder where should we be?  Both sides of the spectrum seem to have their advantages and disadvantages.  So, is it worthwhile being somewhere in between?  Like the great Gautam Buddha taught us - take the middle path!!!

Which business are you in?

I was watching an interview with the Managing Director of a famous Indian company that makes biscuits this morning.  Let us call it X. The MD was talking of Corporate "Sustainable" Responsibility instead of Corporate "Social" Responsibility.  She said that it needs to be understood that the corporate sector is not an NGO. So, what ever be the spend for the society, it must be sustainable.  She talked of how her company had 99% of its products made without using transfats and the addition of a critical ingredient in glucose biscuits (pretty much similar to iodine in salt).  She said that 47% of children below the age of 5 in India are undernourished.

This got me thinking of the story of the three masons who were in a building project. When the first one was asked as to what he was doing, he replied, "I am laying stones".  The second one said, "I am building a wall."  The third one said proudly, "I am building a cathedral."  The third person was very happy with his job while the other two were not.  This is the power of understanding the end objective and how everyone should relate their part of the work to the end objective.

While, it is critical for everyone to understand the vision and the objectives of the company they work for and how they contribute towards it, it is important for leaders to understand, define and articulate the business in which their company is.  So, what business is X company in?  Making of biscuits or in the business of foods?  Somehow, after hearing the MD speak, I thought X was in the business of Nutrition.  I am not sure how the management of X views the business they are in but if they viewed it as Nutrition, their decisions on products, markets, etc. could end up being different.

Likewise, it is critical for every management team to figure out what business their companies are in so that it helps focus on sustainable development of the company and the society in which it exists.  This co-existence is critical for healthy growth of the society and the company.  Very similar to inclusive growth that I had discussed in one of my earlier writings.

Apart from understanding the business they are in and how to position products/services, the management of the company can also identify the real competitors.  This is what people today call "wearing a wide angle lens".  Examples of this are - IPL became the biggest threat to movies - both these versions entertain people for 3 hours and people seem to enjoy IPL more than movies. So, movie producers and distributors decided not to release new movies during the IPL season or atleast go slow on releases.  Movie stars own some of the IPL Franchises.  If IPL was seen as a sports business rather than entertainment, then, the movie stars would not have seen this as competition.  Similarly, one of the biggest competition to business travel is high resolution video conferencing eg. Telepresence of CISCO or Halo of HP. 

It is essential for management executives of companies to wear a wide angle lens and define the business they are in.  This will help bring clarity down the organization and staff can relate to their companies better.

Price of Greed

India, as a country, was taken over by Britain not just because of the power of the cannon but also by what is known as the "Divide and Rule Policy" of the British. This was nothing but taking advantage of the greed of certain individuals.  The price we paid was huge.  Various accounts are there of how much Robert Clive took back from India to UK in the 1760s. One estimate puts it at Pound Sterling 200 million and he took back personal wealth of Pound Sterling 20 million himself. Not sure if these numbers are true, but we did indeed pay a huge price for the greed of few of us.

The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 was a result of greed perpetrated by various financial institutions and the way bonuses were paid.  The Satyam Computers fraud is another classic example of greed.  There are numerous examples of how greed has destroyed companies, individuals, governments and countries.  Yet, we just do not seem to learn.

Does this mean that most of us are not greedy and only few are? Absolutely not!!! Everyone is greedy... what differs is the extent.  Some take it too far, while most are greedy in moderation.

In the corporate world, the bonus system based on performance "at any cost" has resulted in greed going unchecked.  Should pay be based on performance? Why not? The person working harder and putting in more effort definitely deserves to take home more.  But then, what is enough?  This is the imponderable question.  Very difficult to answer and lies in the judgement of each and every individual.  While a hundred thousand rupees as bonus could seem like greed to a poor farmer who is struggling to pay off a debt of rupees twenty thousand, for the typical corporate executive, this could be peanuts.

So, who is to judge? I believe, no one. Let each company take its call.  However, when it impacts the general public, like what the Global Financial Crisis did, each of those companies should pay for the loss impact or hand over the management to the general public.

I have seen societies live happier with lesser money than what we earn today.  Again, happiness is a state of mind and differs from individual to individual.  Our society in India is paying a very high price for greed (in the form of corruption)...poor roads, power cuts, limited water supply, traffic congestion, adulterated food, poor quality of products/services, poor quality medicines...you name it, greed has a role to play for most of the problems that we experience in our society.

One way to reduce the impact of greed in each of us is to practice "giving" or charity.  If each of us can support a cause that leads to more inclusive growth, our sense of greed starts coming down.  The smile on the face of a poor child when he is able to afford a better school or a better shirt, is definitely worth more than a second penthouse.  This sense of sharing and giving, if inculcated in our children, will make our world a better place to live in.

The Cup is Half-Full

I was talking to this 9 year old who had asked me to do something. I told her that there is a 99% chance of it not happening. Her reply to me was,"That means there is a 1% chance that it will happen".  And guess what, it did happen.  I loved the enthusiasm and the optimism of the youngster.  Hoped, this enthusiasm and such a positive attitude was there with all of us.

A visiting foreigner once asked me as to why there is almost one festival every month in India.  I asked her as to what happens in her country during the month of December when Christmas is celebrated. She said that there is lot of joy, a feeling of giving, lot of shopping, lot of visiting relatives..and generally, a lot of love and fun in the air.  I asked her what if there is a Christmas every month?  She said that would be the best thing to happen in her country. I told her that is why there is something to celebrate every month in India. It keeps the cheer and the feeling of giving, love and sharing throughout the year.  The atmosphere is charged with a positive attitude.

Our ancestors were amazing at ensuring that the positive attitude remained throughout the year and they came up with different reasons to celebrate.  Most of the time, we are caught up in the day to day chores that we forget to celebrate our successes.  We forget to see the positives in the messages that we receive in this universe. 

I was flipping between various news channels the other day and saw only depressing news coming through.. an accident here, floods there, miners trapped, someone murdered, etc...it is not Sri Lanka that won the cricket match..but, it is India that lost the match which makes news value...I am sure that for every such sad news that we have, we also generate enough happy news.  We just don't seem to share such happy news.

In the corporate world too, we see that the senior management is always grumpy and under pressure.  Have we ever wondered why?  Day in and day out they are getting only bad news - what we call "escalations".  If someone is just feeding you with bad news happening in the company through the day, how do you expect your mood to be?  Despite all this bad news, the company would have grown 20% during the year.  So, I keep wondering as to why only bad news should reach the top management? It is good to get the bad news out there on top so that quick decisions can flow through to rectify the situation.  But, it is also worth the while to sandwich this bad news with good ones too. That will create an atmosphere that is positive to work in while resolving issues.

Let us look at this universe in the way that the creator wanted it to be...balanced, peaceful, happy!!!  If each of us decides to share one piece of happy news every day with at least one other person, this world will be a better place to live in.