Inclusive society - 2016 teaches us a hard fact...

I am returning to my blog page after 5 years - results of the US Presidential race being the catalyst.

A lot of the noise around the election result seems to be an over-reaction to me (disclaimer: I am not a fan of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton).

What is interesting to note in the 2 most talked about events of 2016 till now (other being Brexit vote) is the fact that the media and especially social media went berserk once the results were out. We all (the active users/consumers of social media) got influenced by what we heard and saw through the 'myopic' eyes of others. Human psychology at its best - 'believe what you see' but all that we see is through a 'digital bioscope' (internet). The reality was different and that's why many of us seem to be in a state of dis-belief.

When I read statements like "This is the beginning of the end...", I really do not understand what it means. The 'so-called' civilized world moved to democratic structures indicating clearly that each person has a equal say on who should represent them and be responsible for their welfare; irrespective of what their net worth is.

But wait --- most democracies existing today are less than a 100 years old and in most cases, cannot be 'tagged' as socialist. In almost all countries in the world, the gap between the rich and the poor has increased since the beginning of the 21st century - a more of 'capitalist' trait although within the legal contours of democracy.

So clearly there is a strata of society in each of these countries, which is continuously drifting apart from the progress levels that some of their country people have been gaining from. They do not have a strong voice and are invisible through the 'digital bioscope'. They are the people who are feeling vulnerable and thus got influenced strongly by 'anti-establishment' talks - commonality between what we saw with Brexit and the US elections. All surveys and polls got it wrong coz they were skewed towards what they heard and saw through the 'digital bioscope'.

I hope that the world realizes sooner than later that progress necessarily has to have a prefix - 'Inclusive'...

Who is corrupt in India? YOU, ME and EVERYONE else

As I write this blog, there is a second revolution of sorts sweeping India and Indians globally but for me its the hypocrisy around it that is really puzzling and even funny at times!!

At last count, a few hundred thousands had joined Anna Hazare and his team of leaders to support their movement against corruption in India.

But just pause for a minute and answer this question to yourself - who is the corrupt person we are targeting through this movement? The politicians, the rich businessmen, the film stars,.... who are these corrupt people?? I am sorry to say this but the corruption that we seem to be cribbing about is our own child. WE the 'common people' have made it rampant and made it a monster. YOU, ME and EVERYONE else we know of, are the people who are corrupt and the hypocrisy I am referring to is when its the same set of people voicing their support for the movement - on camera, within friends and colleagues; they want to show solidarity and thus would like to go on a fast as well - ironically they are ready to bribe a traffic cop when stopped for violation of a rule or to pay hefty donation amounts to get their children admitted in schools!!

From getting the birth certificates to the death certificates, we want to 'pay a bit extra' and get the job done quickly so that we don't have to wait and chase. Let us see what is our score on corruption. In the last one year:
1) have you produced a fake bill to claim expenses?
2) have you paid bribe to a government official (police, municipal corporation, utilities representatives, etc.) to get any favour done or avoid hefty fines/bills?
3) faked a signature for a friend, sibling, colleague!! done that?
4) you have not declared the interest that you received from your bank deposits, as part of your income while filing taxes. Is that correct?
5) your buying decision was not influenced by the ethical principles of the product/service company. Yes or No?

Give 20 points for every 'yes' and 0 for every 'no'. The sum total reflects OUR individual corruption score and the most important change required is to get this to 'zero'. Its there in our DNA and so called 'culture' - we need to get rid of it.

Do not blame the politicians alone, everyone is corrupt at their own level and unless we remove this problem from the root, this problem cannot be eradicated.

While I appreciate Anna Hazare and thousands of others who have initiated this mass movement, the revolution in our own minds is more critical to ensure that this movement brings that change and does not stop at just being an event!!

I promise to bring my corruption score to 'zero'; how about you?

When would I be a good consultant?

Today, I was posed with this fairly simple looking question by one of the campus recruits from the 2010 batch. I replied (what I thought was a simple reply) - "You are not ready yet!!"

But after 2.5 hours of the session and some more thinking, may be I was wrong. I had a different question in my mind by the end of it - Should we be imposing our thoughts on a generation that has always learnt to create their own destiny and paths? I remember my elders constantly telling me that my destiny is in my hands and I am the only one who needs to work on it. After hearing the same thing again and again in my life, it became a part of my thought process. My generation took some time to digest it as we saw an economy opening up, opportunities coming our way. I was 23 when a more liberal finance minister (Dr. Manmohan Singh) decided to open the Indian economy and thus changing the way India and Indians would be looked as, in the decades to follow. At that age, I did understand the difference - my brother (2 years younger) could get a decent job after he graduated (unthinkable for a non-engineer when I graduated).

But the new generation has not and would probably not be able to relate to this as they were too young in 1991 to understand it. The aspirations are different, the lifestyle is different and more importantly they are far more impatient to deliver the goods than we were at their age. They are not scared to stand in front of their CEO and question the strategy of the company - they don't understand the word 'protocol' (rightfully so). If we want the best from them, we have got to respond with a far more nimble and adaptive culture, give them opportunities where they could prove their worth and finally become more modular in our approach towards their career plans so that they are able to get what they want and the way they want it.

Now, how do we respond to this changing environment? I may not have all the answers at this point of time but here are a few suggestions:
1) Let each individual actually create at least 50% of their goals and objectives that they would like to be measured upon and as an organisation we should create a culture of adaptiveness to support them.
2) Share with each employee the business objectives and ask them to write their contribution in front of each of those objectives. 'What' is more important than 'How' - let them figure out the 'How' question even if it means that they come up with a 1000 different ways of achieving it as it would evolve based on each other's learning.
3) LISTEN more - I think preaching is the easiest thing to do, practicing slightly more difficult but listening is the toughest while it is the most important thing. I truly believe that effectively listening to the problem can give the right solution almost instantaneously - most of the times.
4) Mentors, supervisors and leaders should only guide. One of my close friends once told me during a discussion, "Organisational leaders should be the guiding force and not the dictating force if they really want the organisation to succeed but more often than not, they end up being the latter".
5) Belief is more precious than experience - seniors in the organisation carry extensive experience but the young guns have more belief in themselves and are better prepared for failure with their higher risk appetite. We should give them a chance - they may fall and dent their self-confidence but when they regain that confidence, it will be stronger than before.

Finally, having heard many people talk today as if they have been trapped in a bottle, I just have one suggestion for all of them - do not wait for 'Aladdin' to come and unplug the bottle, use your strength to open it on your own. Your strength is your belief, your knowledge and your dreams. They day you manage to unplug yourself - I'll come to you and acknowledge that you are ready!!