Published in 2005
The first part of this series can be read here and the second part in series can be read here. In this third and final part I will focus on leadership.
While the government incentives can encourage innovation for the simple reason that it directly leads to profits, leadership is a different ballgame altogether. Leadership cannot be switched on or off with incentives and it certainly cannot be taught just with degrees. The ingredients of leadership can be learnt but one attains the status of a leader over the course of time. A person is a leader because of demonstration of the qualities of a leader not because s/he has received a certificate stating that the person has attended leadership courses. Also, leadership is like character, which takes a lifetime to build and a moment to destroy.
My fundamental premise is that India cannot be a leader in technology or any other field not because we do not have the knowledge but because we, as a society, do not breed leaders. Critique me as you may, but I do not see any signs of leadership in society, period. If by the end of this article you have an argument that will negate my view, please send me an e-mail and I will be extremely happy to change my perspective.
The fundamentals
Why do I consider the large English-speaking population as one of the core strengths of India while number of graduates as perceived strength? For the simple reason that no matter how smart or intelligent you are, if you cannot communicate with the outer world all that knowledge and education is wasted. That, precisely, is the problem with China. With India the problem is the next rung in the ladder – we do not demonstrate the behavior of an educated society.
The owner of the flashy and expensive car does not hesitate to pee on the side of the road similar to the driver he employs, and their driving habits are very similar too. The so-called intelligent and educated segment of society refuses to vote because of the weather or the long queues it may encounter. They would ride in an SUV with rolled up windows and complain about air pollution, rather than take public transport. An executive returning from a trip abroad would prefer to bribe the official at customs than to pay the duty on goods purchased. Even our esteemed army officers do not hesitate to break the queue when in a shopping mall. Parents and schools discourage failure and risk taking, while celebrating a desk job in a meaningless government department that adds no value to citizens. We lack the fundamentals of leadership and until we address that issue, we can forget about leading in any area.
This does not mean that we do not see some sparks of leadership. But these are primarily from individuals who chose to learn and follow leadership values and develop those traits. We will have to instill certain values right from childhood so that the next generation grows up with leadership qualities built into the social fabric. While that may serve as a long-term solution, I will also propose ideas for addressing this gap in the short to medium term.
Breeding Leaders
Leadership is becoming an overused and abused word with almost the entire world talking about some or the other type of leadership or lack thereof. I believe in fundamentals and therefore will focus on the key ingredients rather than the recipe.
Risk Taking: We encourage our kids to take the easier path rather than to take risks. This prepares them to be good followers but not leaders. Leaders need to take risks because of the mere fact that they are leading. When you are in front of the pack you may be walking down an unmarked path but the people you are leading will look up to you to show them the way. Without taking risks, we will never see failure and without failing we will never succeed. The art of life is to change your failure into learning experience and take calculated risks to explore new avenues.
Discipline: If your child throws trash while walking down the street, do you ever stop him/her from doing so? Do you encourage your child to break the queue in front rather than wait for his/her turn? Forget about the child, what do you do in many of these seemingly menial social situations? If you do not set the right examples, then no matter how much you preach your child is not going to learn. Discipline, or rather self-discipline is one of the most critical ingredients of leadership and we need to demonstrate it to our younger generation by setting example.
Pursuit of perfection: Why are we always satisfied with ‘good enough’? As long as the road is good enough to drive on, we are happy. As long as the food tastes good enough we are happy. As long as the service we get is decent enough we are happy. We shy away from seeking larger opportunities because what we have is good enough.
All this lowering of expectations leads to mediocrity. We expect less of everything and everyone around us, including ourselves, and get the same expectations in return. We compare downwards rather than upwards. This holds us back as a society and as individuals. The ‘chalta hai’ attitude is a virus that needs to be wiped out from our society.
Passion: What fire burns in your belly? What or who is it for that you are ready to give up everything in your life and start all over again? Is there anything that you would die for? I hate to say this, but we are a passionless society. We discourage our children to follow their passion and with that we kill their spirit and clip their wings. I am surprised that even in today’s day and age I frequently come across parents, well-educated and successful in their line of work, who push their children to be an engineer or a doctor and nothing else. I thought we had already grown out of that about a decade ago.
Challenging the status quo: What do you do when your child questions, WHY? Be it a decision you take or a ritual you follow. We do not provide answers and on the contrary, we discourage our kids from asking the right questions. This practice kills whatever curiosity a child may have at the very early stage, which then leads to mindless conformity to age old customs, rituals, practices that have no relevance in current era. This all ends up creating excellent followers but no leader. We, as a nation, take pride in not changing over the last so many centuries. We are so deep rooted in our past that we fail to see even the immediate future. We have grandeur visions and dreams of our future but take no action to turn them into reality. Rather than address and solve problems we sweep them under the rug and wait for time to solve them.
I know that all this paints a very depressing picture of where we stand in terms of leadership, but all is not lost. There is hope and loads of it that we can turn this around in our favor, just like we did with the evolution of technology.
Leaders are born, not made
That is what the famous quote says, but I think otherwise. Yes, there may be natural born leaders but that does not mean that we cannot develop leaders out of the ordinary masses. I am confident that if we instill leadership qualities into our society, we will have every individual become a leader in their own right.
The industry can help spearhead the change. Out of its own necessity it should initiate infusing these values within their employees. The corporate culture should be driven towards identifying and encouraging leaders in their respective areas. The corporate can influence the political leadership to bring about the changes that will help them achieve the goal of hi-tech leadership.
The linchpin to any solution is an individual. If we as individuals fail or refuse to change, then no matter what laws, programs or education is brought in, nothing will change. How can individuals help position India for leadership in hi-tech, or for that matter any domain? Easy – become a part of the solution. Refuse to add to the problem – whether it is bad driving, pollution, bribery, poor product quality or as menial as spitting on the road. If enough of us do what is right, things will start improving and become right. It needs patience, resolve and self-discipline. We need to start behaving like a highly intellectual and educated society. Once we all internalize this, we will bring in necessary changes or else we are doomed to remain where we are – as hired hi-tech laborers.
Finally, if you still disagree with me then think back on the 2004 general elections. In a nation of more than 1 billion people we could not find one Indian to lead the country, and our esteemed leaders were pathetically begging a foreign-born person to take the reins.
I rest my case.