My dear friend and batch mate Pranavanand, as a facilitator of our alumni e-group keeps us thinking, active and fresh all the time. The article he uploaded yesterday, “Four Reasons Why Any Action is Better Than None” by Roasabeth Moss Kanter, Prof at Harvard Business School and author of Confidence and SuperCorp is truly an insightful and motivational piece (blogs.hbr.org/kanter/2011/03/four-reasons-any-action-is-bet.html). After a long time this set my thoughts free in the alumni forum through this article. It also reminded me of the old saying "action speaks louder than word."
These days I am seriously engaged with the idea of social enterprise and exploring the actual feasibility of integrating social enterprise in the work with the poorest communities. I am coming face to face with all the principles discussed by Kanter. I am realizing how even small dose of initiatives and action in new direction break inaction and passivity of months. Over a period of time, such practice helps us overcome worst of our fears and anxiety and suddenly we see ourselves taking risks and bold steps, which we never thought we were capable of taking.
While lack of work culture, enterprise and innovation have made our bureaucracy and government almost crippled and ineffective, moving in the same direction are our not for profit and to an extent corporate world - as passivity, ivory tower thinking and idle talking tends to dominate our social and professional space. Many second and third generation enterprises in our country and abroad are seeing the culture of passivity pervading the work spaces all over. In the US and many European countries, the top leadership is faced with the problem that even the senior management has grown sufficiently complacent – one of the reasons why USA in recent times has gone so liberal with
its H1 b regime.
Our country is faced with another set of problems mainly inflicted through the Maculay doctrine, that privileges ‘chaplusi’ (sycophancy+), ‘divide and rule niti’, passing on the buck (so that it stops nowhere) and ‘bhrastachaar’ (corruption not restricted to unethical economic dealings); over sincerity, talent and hard work. This is why we see such terrible lack of motivation, passion and initiative in most workspaces, where even the leadership and top management seem to deliberately discourage feeling of ownership on the part of workers.
Talking about the middle class, parents still feel happiest when their children, howsoever talented, manage to get secured jobs even if that be less paying and would have less prospects compared to something which brings new challenges and with them opportunities to touch the sky. Even in today’s time one has prevalence of a mindset which seems to believe that secured job is what counts everything else can wait for tomorrow, day after or some time in future. No surprise then that there is such terrible lack of social enterprises, innovation and so few of Indian companies in the Fortune 500.
Yet, what really keep the hope alive is that our population has lakhs and lakhs who break the barriers around them, refuse to let their mind be captive of the situation they are in, among them are the best of thinking people who are also hardworking, all set to achieve the desirable situation - solutions to the most complex of problems. They are not willing to let the situational compulsion hold the entrepreneurs in them, captive.
These people are not just the less celebrated or in the making, 'Narayan Murthy's, 'Nandan Nilekane's or 'Indira Nuyi's of the country who redefine and rewrite success and excellence achieved through a combination of their exceptional minds, ethical tactics and hard work. Actually they are also those many non MBAs, non professionals and without formal education out there, whom we see and meet while commuting in public transport or traveling by trains, who through their indomitable spirit, entrepreneurship and exceptional sense of duty do make us all proud.
As examples of the above kind, I can think of two sets of people. In the first category are employees in different sectors and the second are entrepreneurs who follow the principles discussed by Kanter in his article. These are highly motivated and responsive employees even found in many small town sarkari or municipal offices, court, banks and all kinds of offices who put that extra bit so that they do not go home with unfinished work. We see them in district hospitals or economic nursing homes, as doctors and nurses who would not leave a single stone unturned for the well being of the patients, in school as dedicated teacher whose only goal in life is to nurture his/her every student so that they excel.
I remember many of my school teachers in middle school and high school, whom even as a child and adolescent boy I knew well that they were not very well paid. But till date I can feel their total ‘samarpan’ (unparalleled dedication) for their profession, I can remember Michael sir and Mundu sir of my middle school so vividly and sirs - Narayan Roy (Physics) , Kongari (Hindi), R. Prasad (Chem) who was also the NCC sir and gave up his life for saving a cadet for drowning, Ram Mahato and UK Roy (Maths), G. D Mishra (Chemistry in undergrad) and scores others, so many from XISS too. So are many of my daughters’ teachers. I remember so many sincere and committed clerks and bank mangers and senior ranked officers including from SIDBI, IDBI and NABARD who all made great contribution to SHG movement and later micro finance in our country. So are many state and central government officials at all levels, ministers, MPs and MLAs.
In the other category I can think of my St. Aloysius classmate from Ranchi, Om Prakash or OP as we cal him, set out to study MBA in Delhi but ended up forming a reasonably huge service network for supply and fire sensor devises used in most centrally AC buildings. Amongst his clients today are big public and private sector companies, inistries and government offices in entire NCR. I can think of another classmate Prakash who after completing his engineering degree, built a cloth wholesale empire in Ranchi alone, rising much above his father’s 8’ by 8-9’ readymade shop and also helped his brothers to grow sizeable business. He is prominently involved in charity and various social activities.
Last year while traveling back from Ranchi I met someone in his late 30s from Samastipur in Bihar, who came to Delhi to look for a job some 8-10 years back and now runs a readymade garments factory somewhere in Shahadara employing over 250 women and other staff and exporting to EU. So is the story of Israfil who has the maintenance contract of the intercom system in our office, who came from a village in Burdwan and worked in they have in common with Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Narayan Murthy, is their absolute conviction that the only thing constant in our live is in fact change and they are the agents who would see the situation improve significantly during their own lives. I recommend you all to read Rashmi Banasal’s books – I have a Dream and ‘Connect the Dot’. Although her first book ‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish’ is no less inspiring.
We have so much of talented, hardworking and goal oriented people amongst us. Then, I sometimes wonder what exactly is ailing us! As the saying goes in Bihar – ‘Pados Mein Bhagat Singh Paida Ho, Hamare Ghar Mein Nahin’. This captures everything. We all know what should be the real nature and goal of education but as parents, students and policy makers and implementers just go by its instrumentality. But change is inevitable. If we don’t change this mindset ourselves, we will be changed by circumstances and for worse. If we change ourselves, we still could actually be the masters of our own destiny.
As in recent times, concerns of inequity and injustice in social and economic spheres have created new challenges and implications for the non profit sector in the country. Traditional not for profit funding sources are dying fast. Government funds are schematically tied up. Apart from these bursting of the micro-credit bubble and lack of well grounded mechanisms that can balance social, economic and political agenda in development action domain, which off late is getting too polito-centric have intensified the challenges for the non profit sector.
Till such time even there is a single family left who don't have sufficient means to eat, remain healthy, get best education for its children and others, live without any fear or discrimination and make informed choices for every member - there is so much to do for everyone. Till the time we make the world free of war, till the time we are able to reverse the global warming, till the time we are able to secure our planet, we have no time to while away. And till such time we can't just be ideating. With this resolve, I will soon be setting out on a new path of exploring social enterprise as my career focus next.
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