“Are you being watched?”

Radia tapes controversy is about the tapping of tele-conversations of Nira Radia by the informant agencies, the celebrated lobbyist had with a cross section of powerful people from industry, politics, press and a host of other power brokers. This incident has raised a host of questions.

Is it right to tap private conversations? We can say that when there is serious suspicion about possible legal violations, the law enforcing bodies have the right to eavesdrop to help them in their enforcement or to protect the sovereignty of the country. On the other hand how do we ensure that this right is not misused for political gains and industrial espionage? What kind or processes do we put in place to ensure that this is not a means to suppress dissent and democratic processes?

Then the next question is whether it was right to have leaked this information to public domain? These were not private conversations or business secrets or even some escapades which have no social relevance except for satisfying the voyeuristic inclinations of a perverted few. These were conspiracies by people in power, to defraud the public. Don’t the public have a right to know?

The ‘wiki leaks’ has established a forum for the whistle blowers to bring to light conspiracies, corruption and machinations of very powerful people which otherwise would not have been possible because of possible repercussions. It has got kudos and criticisms.
‘The organization won a number of awards, including The Economist's New Media Award in 2008 and Amnesty International's UK Media Award in 2009. In 2010, the New York City Daily News listed WikiLeaks first among websites "that could totally change the news", and Julian Assange was named the Readers' Choice for TIME's Person of the Year in 2010. Supporters of Wikileaks in the media have commended it for exposing state and corporate secrets, increasing transparency, supporting freedom of the press, and enhancing democratic discourse while challenging powerful institutions. At the same time, several U.S. government officials have criticized WikiLeaks for exposing classified information, harming national security, and compromising international diplomacy.[Human right organizations such as Amnesty International criticized WikiLeaks for not adequately redacting the names of civilians working with the U.S. military. Some journalists have criticized the lack of editorial discretion when releasing thousands of documents at once and without sufficient analysis. Among negative public reactions in the United States, people have characterized the organization as irresponsible, immoral, and illegal.’ [1]

Incidences like this and revelations of this magnitude were once only occasional occurrences. But the progress in technology has gradually been chipping away the concept of privacy and secrecy the way we are familiar.

The ubiquitous availability of electronic communication and electronic recordings are giving a different dimension to private conversations. I am not talking about spying which is still considered illegal (except if it is by the authorities who have the right to do so) I am talking about stronger evidences that can reveal the truth about what transpired in a meeting where you and I were present.

For example, although oral contracts always were recognized by law, it was often difficult to prove the validity of the contract. We addressed this by having more people to participate our discussions who could act as witnesses. But even then it was your word against mine. So in critical meetings we started the practice of signed minutes. But this again had the limitation of doctored minutes, ingenuity of the minute writer and limitation of human memory or event the minutes getting lost. It also could not capture the nuances of the conversations which are discernable only when we listen to the way dialogues were delivered. Now the technology provides us with tools to have voice notes, voice minutes and even video notes. It is perfectly legal and even moral if you are not eves dropping or if you are not sharing it with those who are not meant to have access to it. It is ‘the true minutes of meeting’ that can better represent the truth.

Earlier paper documents could vanish could not be traced and would have been too painful to track. But today the mails and files are stored for eternity at very low cost and computer can help us to trace and track these with ease based on key words, dates and so on.

More and more of our friends are going online and share photos and videos of events where we were a part. More people are going to blog about us, more people are going to study, dissect and publish opinion about what we do. We have limited control over these. The higher we go, the more publically relevant what we do, the more open is going to be our acts of commission and omission.

Wiki leaks and the likes of it are going to make whistle blowing easier. Legal enablement of the right to information reduces our ability to hide and obfuscate under official secrets act. Cheaper storage, stronger searches, powerful algorithm to match and generate profiles will make it easier for anybody to obtain a much better understanding of what we are and what we do. As the Economist observed in an article, Wiki Gaga, “Such freedom may test the limits of democracy, in which rights to speech are balanced by duties to privacy and security” [2]

All these are nudging us to change the way we talk and behave. Be more honest in our dealing and more truthful or at least careful in our uttering and behaviour. Bluffing our way through is not the obvious option any more. When we mess up, remember it may not remain a secret all the time. On the other hand we must also learn to be less judgemental about human follies often revealed out of context in the digital world and learn to forget and forgive

As Jeffrey Rosen, a law professor at George Washington University has pointed ‘Our character, ultimately, can’t be judged by strangers on the basis of our Facebook or Google profiles; it can be judged by only those who know us and have time to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses, face to face and in context, with insight and understanding. In the meantime, as all of us stumble over the challenges of living in a world without forgetting, we need to learn new forms of empathy, new ways of defining ourselves without reference to what others say about us and new ways of forgiving one another for the digital trails that will follow us forever.’[3]

I am not making any value judgement of whether this is right or wrong. I am only pointing out that we are moving towards a more open society and whether we like it or not there is a pretty high chance that what we thought to be confidential may not remain so and we have no option. (Read up “Privacy Fantasies” for some futuristic thoughts on this topic)


“You already have zero privacy - get over it” Scott McNealy, Cofounder of SUN Micro System

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks
2. http://www.economist.com/node/16335810
3. The Web Means the End of Forgetting. The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25privacy-t2.html?_r=1)

My first love

Once upon a time there was a kid who, like most of us, feared examinations. So he prayed to god to give him a magic pen that could help him answer all the questions correctly in any exam.

One day in his dream a fairy came to him. She promised to grant him one wish. Promptly he asked the fairy for a magic pen. The fairy took him to a big palace and told him that there is a magic pen in a chamber deep inside that palace.

“I cannot take you all the way in. You have to pass through seven gates and each one is guarded by a scary ogre.” The fairy told him

He walked to the first gate and as predicted the ogre was there.

“If you want to pass through this gate, you need to answer three questions” The ogre told him in a booming voice.

The ogre asked him the questions and he had no idea about any of them. (The ogre did not allow life lines or dial a friend option).

“If you want to try again, look behind you, there is an almirah full of books, read them and you will get all the answers” the ogre told him

He sat there for days and read all the books and when the ogre asked him questions he was ready with all the answers. This was repeated at all the seven gates and finally after many many days he reached the inner room.

He was excited. He looked around for the treasure ‘the magic pen’. The room looked empty. He was sad and felt cheated. He wanted to hit the fairy who took him for a ride. He started crying. Suddenly the old fairy was with him.

“Why did you let me down?” he screamed

“I have not let you down my boy. You don’t need a magic pen any more. You can take any pen to write the exams. The magic is in your head” The fairy replied softly. She had a little twinkle in her eyes

This story that I read as a little boy left an indelible image in my mind. I believe it is this story that set me up with my first love “BOOKS”. All through the years my love for books has only grown and each one of them has added one more ‘magic’ into my mind.

When I observed the rapid growth of internet and the power of Google, initially I felt that it was time to say good bye to my first love. If I have any questions, the answers are a ‘Google search’ away.

Then I realised that Google has not yet reached the level where it can ask the right questions for me, though it can help me to find the right answer. Not only that, it makes this answer available to anybody, from anywhere in the world at really no cost. The information and knowledge is no more restricted to the privileged few who can afford. But now I need to be even more knowledgeable to know what questions to ask and I need new ideas to make a difference. The ‘written word’ is still one of the few triggers that can help me in this.

Technology has now added more options, I can read e-books and articles from the net, from the kindle, I can review from the net what I want to read, I can get summaries of big fat books that would distil the wisdom for me, my friends and the virtual communities could share their opinion with me on what I intend to read and the audio books help me to fall asleep imbibing the ‘spoken word’ without disturbing my kid or my wife with the reading light.

With all these I have only got closer to my first love these days and not drift away...

“The books that help you the most are those which make you think the most.” Theodore Parker

Note. There are still millions around the world who do not have access to this magic of written words or the access to the net. This is one area in which a small contribution can serve many generations. I have been very impressed by work done by ‘Room to Read’ and I believe this truly is one of the most admirable charities in today’s world.

Fire in the belly

Over the weekend I was at IIT Kanpur. I was there to talk to students who had come from the best engineering schools across India to participate in the Asian leg of the annual Intercollegiate Programming Competition. The top team from India will be selected to participate in the world finals which will have about 80 teams selected from about 60 centers across the world.

I spent some time talking to the judges who have been associated with this event a number of times. One of them was a young lecturer from Bangladesh who had reached the finals twice.
The profs told me that in the world competition the top ten places are always bagged by the teams from Russia and China. The best performance from the teams from India ever was a rank of 29.

“How come India which is supposed to be a powerhouse of software development does not fare well?” I asked

“The Chinese kids do a lot of preparation. The colleges give them enormous support. In fact I understand that they even give really good team members relaxed schedule to complete their other curriculum schedules” one of the faculty explained.

I found it quite familiar. We hear similar stories about the focused development support institutions and government provide for development of international competitiveness in different fields including sports in countries like China and Russia. We also need to build such national priorities and support systems to see our competitiveness boosting.

“But then how do you explain the kids from Bangladesh doing better than Indian kids”

“That is a different dimension of performance. These kids are full of passion and are desperate to prove to the world that they are good” The Professor explained.

“With the IT Industry booming, our kids are sure of the job opening irrespective of their academic performance. So they don’t want to put in the hard work needed to be even to participate in the world finals; forget being the world champions.”

“In the Asian leg, practically no teams from IITs ever reach the top positions in the recent past. It is the students from the institute from the next rung that end up in the top 10. In fact the team from Indonesia & IIIT Hyderabad topped this year.” the Prof continued.

“I agree. The inner passion to demonstrate our software credentials helped leaders like Moorthy, Nandan, Bagchi, Soota and their team to slog it out and build large software powerhouses from India. Our kids have it easy these days!”

I remembered what my good friend Ajay had explained to me as a possible contributing reason why Jewish race has managed to win more than 175 Nobel prices though they form a very small proportion of global population. They had been exposed to multiple occasions of severe persecution and they were pushed to their limits for survival. This trial by fire could be one of the reason for their outstanding performance in various fields.

It is a well understood fact that whether it is in sports, computer programming or business one of the key essentials for success is ‘fire in the belly’, a ‘burning desire’ to make a mark. It is of equal importance at the top, at the bottom and in between. If the top dog has no ambition to build, his team will also settle down and relax. If the top dog has ambition but he fails to build a team that share his dream then too the results will be limited. When any organisation get to be dominated by people who have retired in their hearts, it will be the beginning of the end.

And that is the challenge that any leadership faces..

“If you ask people to reach, to think creatively, and produce extraordinary results, they usually will. Too often in our modern world they are simply not asked” John Wood, Founder, Room to Read

To be or Not to be: Part 6 - The Larger Good ?

I was about 18 years old and I used to be a very active member of a youth group in our area. We had a great bunch of talented guys and girls in this group and we used to have lots of fun cooking up interesting stuff together.

Once we decided to organise a cultural evening; an evening of drama, songs and dance for us to perform and show-off. I was the secretary of the group and played an active role in organising the program. I wanted to use this as an opportunity to get wider participation from the youngsters in the area. So I invited them to participate in the event. Among them there was a girl who was very talented, good looking and a bit arrogant who had never actively participated in our earlier programs except for occasional guest appearances. (Let us call her Monica) I asked her to participate in our cultural evening and she agreed. (May be she could not resist my charm!) She volunteered to be the Master of Ceremonies (MC). She sat through the rehearsals to get a good idea of the various programs, helped us to organise them in a creative sequence and worked out nice introductions for each item which was developed with quite a lot or research to include nice quotes and humorous quips. I was really impressed by the work she did.

On the day of the program, we practiced the whole day and late in the afternoon I went home, had a bath, put on nice clothes and returned to the venue. Then a delegation of few guys from our group who were part of many of the main items for the day, like drama, skit and group songs, approached me.

“We don’t want Monica to be the MC today” Their leader told me.

“Why? She has put in a lot of efforts for this and has done a fabulous job” I replied.

“We don’t care. If she is the MC we will not participate in any programs today”, retorted their leader.

“But you should have expressed your concern earlier. Not at the last moment”

“Nothing doing, it is our decision now”.

I tried my level best to persuade them; begged, pleaded, appealed to their sense of right and wrong and tried to call their bluff. No luck.

If I didn’t heed to their demand many of the items of the day would be cancelled. Many youngsters (in addition to the few who led the anti Monica rebellion) who were part of these programs would be devastated. Also, with the star items cancelled the program would be turn out to be a flop.

On the flip side, if I did heed to their demand, it would be unfair to Monica who had put in so much of effort to knit up a wonderful story line for introductions. Not just that, without the MC, the punch of the program would also be lost; unless I convince her to sacrifice for the greater good, share the story line and get somebody else to do the MC Job.

We can argue the merit of each of these options. Sacrifice many for one? Or Sacrifice one for many? It was double bind, a Morton’s fork; I was stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea.

We face these kinds of dilemmas in our day to day work. Take a few examples; (i) A client comes to us with a complaint. The mistake is ours; but it will be difficult for him to fix it on us. If we accept his demand, there is a cost to the company and one of our colleagues could be in trouble. (Recently Toyota had to go through a similar kind of situation) (ii) We made a goof up in our work. It is easy to bury the mistake and our role in it; but the company will have to pay the price. (iii) We want to push some of our agenda; but one colleague could stand in our way. Should we try to get him out of the company?

Some of us have a simple rule. Choose the option that serves our purpose the most. Some of us want to do what is right. Even this distinction is often blurred and contextual. There are two important factors that will determine whether and when we will compromise doing the right thing. It is the balance between the stakes involved and the strength of our moral conviction in the particular case.

Then what is that could leverage our moral conviction? May be the habit that we develop (Our parents, teachers and Society helped us to develop) would encourage us to choose the right thing most of the times. As Aristotle observed “Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts”. If we develop this habit, we will at the least try to reflect for a moment what is right instead of just what we want. When more people think in this manner most of the time, we will have a civilized society.

Sometimes it is difficult to identify what is right. The reasons tell us one and the conviction the other. From time immemorial the thinking man has tried to find a method to figure this out. Mythologies address this question extensively. Yet do we have the answer? When we get “the answer” to this question, I think we will become one with the god; attain the “true nirvana”

Till then it is a search, and that is what we call life ...

About morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after. Ernest Hemingway

100th Milestone Part II - Learning

Continued from last week.. My experience in blogging

My enterprise of writing a weekly blog has helped me enormously. Most importantly it taught me the meaning of the quote “If there is a will there is a way”

It has also taught me the discipline of thinking through issues and doing some research. Normally many thoughts and ideas drift through our mind. But when I sit down to consolidate my thoughts as a post, it helps me to focus and get a better hang on the related issues, it questions some of my assumptions and it forces me to take a position which I am not afraid to share.

Some of what I write are original. Some are new ways of presenting an idea or thought, some are sharing of experience and some are remixes of interesting stuff. The postings I like best are based on my experience. They also frustrate me the most, because it is quite an arduous task to remove the characters and the context to distil the learning. Nevertheless, it is fun. There are of course occasions when I long to reproduce the incidences and the context in ‘as is’ format, which would have been much more hilarious. But then my good senses prevail and I postpone them for my post retirement entertainment :-)

I realized that taking a position in public (not in front of a few people whom we know) is scary for many reasons.

(i) When I articulate my stand in a few written words, it may not succeed in communicating what I meant. (may be my failure in communication)
(ii) As I try layered writing which helps the reader find a meaning in their context, sometimes some people read a meaning that I never imagined. Especially some creative minds may work overtime in coming out with divergent interpretations
(iii) Sometimes the underlying meaning touch some sensitive heart (especially if is perceived to be rubbing them the wrong way) and could bring about a violent reaction. This is specially the case when I write about public policy or governance.

I have realized that these are the risks I should I accept if I decide to publish my thoughts. But I do believe that it is the right of every reader to interpret anything that he reads and to react or respond as he chooses. I cannot and should not complain..Like Voltaire remarked " I don't agree with what he says; but I will defend to death his right to say so"

Writing my blog has been an enriching experience because it improves my articulation, the feedback I get from smart people extends my horizon of learning, it gives me an idea of how different people react to the same stuff and most importantly it forces me to think.

After every posting I am filled with trepidation on how it is going to be received. How many people will read it and how many will like it. The tracker tells me that on an average there are 150 to 200 clicks for each of my posts which come from all over the world. Half the readers are from India and another quarter from US. I get readers from UK, Denmark, Korea, China, Australia, Italy, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, Austria and so on. It really makes me feel good and encourages me to continue with my initiative.

Another great benefit of this venture is that it has helped me to be aware and familiar with the new options evolving in communication technologies and social media. I look at the new blog features, figure out new gadgets to be attached, experiment with social media and viral marketing options. It has also given me lots of new friends who are willing to share their ideas.

Some of my friends who have been reading my posts on a regular basis have been nudging me to consolidate all my blogs to a book. The idea excites me. Two things are holding me back. (i) I am scared (ii) I seem to have very little time to take up this project. But now I feel confident to take a public position again. This confidence arises from the partnership that has been promised by one of my old time friends Sankarankutty, who is well read, has a good writing style and has a sophisticated taste for artistic expression; complementing what I have and don't have.

As most things about life this too is a journey...

There are high spots in all of our lives and most of them have come about through encouragement from someone else. I don't care how great, how famous or successful a man or woman may be, each hungers for applause. - GEORGE MATTHEW ADAMS

100th Milestone- Part 1 - The Journey Begins

This is the 100th post in this blog. Therefore I decided to share my experience in blogging; how it started, how it progressed, the learning from this venture and how I hope it will proceed. I decided to post this as I got a feedback from many of my friends that they would like to attempt this and they are curious about how a lazy guy like me got around to doing it.

I had been nurturing for a while a dream of developing an ability to write some sensible stuff that others would find interesting and/or meaningful and eventually be acknowledged as a writer. But, I could never get around to sit down and write though there have been times when I felt that the ideas that flitted across my mind were worth sharing. I felt too lazy and gave excuses to myself why I could not find the time.

Any writer, beginner or an authority, would need an avenue to express his creation and share the same. In the good old days we were limited in this opportunity and only a few could find the avenue either in book publishing or in placing articles in any publications. It was practically impossible for an individual to share his written expressions to a wider audience without this support.

The World Wide Web and particularly the social media like blog have changed all this. This has given an ability to all of us to publish at practically no cost. So a couple of year’s back I decided that I would setup a blog. But I still would not get started. I convinced myself that this was because of my busy schedule. I had to find a way to ensure that this doesn’t end up being an abortive enthusiasm for a project that that I would not sustain. To put pressure on myself, I announced to the whole world (my friends, relatives, colleagues, acquaintances et al) that I would post at least one article every week. The fact that there were enough friends who used to loudly wonder (maybe to tease me) when I delayed a few days made sure that I lived up to my commitment.

The next challenge was to come up with an idea every week on which I could pen 500 to 700 words and put it out there for everybody to see; especially since many of my friends who read my blog were brilliant people who mostly gave an honest feedback on how they felt. This has also exposed me to the different tastes of different people. When a particular posting was liked very much by some people, others had a different opinion. Among all the feedback I get, the one that still scares me is the feedback from Dr. Indira Rajaraman, my teacher from my IIM days. She is still a teacher and gives her feedback within 24 hours after I post and would comment on content, style and even spelling. I feel proud whenever she has no correction to point out.

I got some caveats from my friends when I started this blog. (i) It will bare to the world my thinking and make me predictable. (ii) On account of the kind of work I do, I may offend somebody with what I write. (iii) If to avoid being controversial I don’t share my experience the stuff I write may get to be quite mundane. Therefore I decided on some ground rules.

(i) I will not write anything about the work I am doing. If there are any lessons from my experience that are worth sharing, I will remove the incident and people, distil the lesson and share in a layered format that will help the readers to understand the learning in their life's context. In many such attempts that I made on layered writing, I got feedback from variety of people on how they found it very relevant in their context

(ii) I will acknowledge contributions and ideas from others including the stuff I read. I won’t stoop to plagiarism.

(iii) I will try to be honest in what I write and I will avoid reference to a person except if he is public figure and there is something worth sharing about him.

To be continued....

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” – Lao Tzu

To be or not to be-Part V; Moral Choices

I knew a few drops of whisky could hit my senses and make my head go around. But recently I was, in a matter of few hours, exposed to two extremes of justice and morality and the experience was enough to make me dizzy.

It started with me spending some time with a person whom I describe as the Bhishma because of his stature, his acute sense of right and wrong, his confidence and willingness to stand up for what is right and his strategic acumen . We spent some time discussing about challenges we face if we decide to take positions which could rock the boat or force some change.

On the way back home from the meeting I was reading the book “The idea of justice” by Amartya Sen. The discussion with Bhishma still alive in my mind, I was able to better appreciate what he meant in his heavy and erudite style when he explains “It is fair to assume that Parisians would not have stormed the Bastille, Gandhi would not have challenged the empire on which the sun used not to set, Martin Luther King would not have fought white supremacy in ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave’, without their sense of manifest injustices that could be overcome. They were not trying to achieve a perfectly just world (even if there were any agreement on what that would be like), but they did want to remove clear injustices to the extent they could.”

The various facets of this thought were floating in my mind and I was trying to relate the same to the challenges that we face on our day-to-day life. I came back home and decided to relax a bit with some light humour and put on the old serial “Yes Minister” which portrays the blunt reality of the world; the world of political expediency, horse trading, empire building and corruption. Particularly, in the context of what I was discussing and reading during the day the contrast was striking.

“Being in a cabinet minister is a complex business Annie. So many conflicting considerations” Said Minister Hacker

“Like whether to do the right thing or the wrong thing?” Asked his wife Annie

“I must tell you about government. You must always try to do the right thing. But you must try never to get caught doing the right thing, because doing right is wrong.” Hacker continued.

“The thing about the government is principle. The thing about principle is you must never rock the boat. Because if you do all the little consciousness will fall out”

“You must always follow your conscience; but you must know where you are going. So you can’t follow your conscience; because it may not be going the way you are going.”

I could not stop laughing. I felt totally spaced out; sort of intoxication of mind. It reminded me of the conflicts we face between our intentions and compulsions, the challenges of wanting to do the right thing and the need to be ‘pragmatic’, the difference between profits and exploitation, being a responsible corporate citizen and maximising the shareholder value at any cost.

These are questions for which it is difficult to find the right answer. These are issues for which we have to make our own choices. The collective total of the choices each of us makes will determine where our society is going. But, if we wait for the other person to take the lead, it is going to be a long wait.The thought expressed by Immanuel Kant “Bringing reason to the world becomes the enterprise of morality rather than metaphysics, and the work as well as the hope of humanity” (quoted by Dr Amartya Sen in his book “The Idea of Justice) makes this point much more elegantly.

“Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is little like expecting a bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian” Dennis Wholey

Soul for Sale

Last week I had a chance to spend few hours with an elderly gentleman and his wife. He is more than 70, still tall and handsome with an extremely winsome smile and an unending repertoire of jokes that he could crack at opportune moments. His wife who is above 60 is full of charm that made it abundantly clear that age can never quite conquer her spirit.

I was able to nudge him into telling his story which turned out to be so captivating that I even forgot to refill my glass.

“I have been always a lucky man” he started off.

“Being the youngest in a big family I enjoyed lot of love and affection and I learned to cherish and value them at a young age though it broke the bread to smaller helpings”

“My father was not a rich man, but with his powerful personality he was able to imbibe in me a strong sense of right and wrong and compassion for fellow living beings”

“When I finished my graduation, I came over to this big city of Mumbai in search of a job. After I finished my interview and was walking along, I saw the board of this professional institution and I decided to walk-in and enquire”

“As luck would have it, the guy whom I started to talk was from my native state and he explained to me everything about how to apply for an admission.”

“I tried hard and got myself an admission; the only problem was how to fund my studies.”

“But I was lucky to get some part time job that I could do before I went to school and after I finished my school”

“Then I started my practice and I realised that one of the key essentials for making lots of money was the skill to fix deals with the various approving authorities”

“I had decided in my life that I will never pay a single penny as bribe even to a policeman on the street”

“For me success was not making lots of money; but making sufficient money and a having a sound sleep”

“I did not have too many needs and I had a wonderful wife who was totally undemanding and utterly dependable”

He looked at his wife and the smile they exchanged had the same intensity of affection that one would sometimes see in a newlywed couple.

“I got many assignments where I could perform without greasing palms”

“I was even an active member of Rotary and even it’s President. I might have been the only member who came for the meeting in a bus as I could not afford a car. I did not find it any demeaning and my many of my fellow members were willing to accept me for what I am worth as a human being”

“When I got two adorable children, my wife left the job she had, to give them a home though the budget did get tighter”

“I have always been quite lucky. Couple of weeks back, with no apparent reason I went for a medical check up and was diagnosed with cancer. It is one of the least harmful varieties and it appears that it is in quite an early stage”

I have narrated only excerpts of his story. I realised that he was not particularly lucky or unlucky. There was nothing unusual or extraordinary about his story. It is just that he was clear in his mind about his priorities, what he considered as success and the price he was willing to pay. He had the usual mix of sorrow and happiness, moments of stress and moments of exhilaration that all of us experience. What made the difference was the equanimity with which he took it all. Looking for the brighter side to be content and lighter side to laugh, looking for opportunities to extend a helping hand. I think this richness of spirit that ran through his life was what made it a spellbinding story; more exciting than the dizzying heights of prominence his son has achieved!

Take a look at the madness that goes around. The definitions of success, lies we are willing to perpetuate and the games we play; Aadarsh housing society, Common Wealth Games, financial skulduggery of our bankers, weapons of mass destruction, unending conflicts at Palestine, WorldCom, Enron, Anderson and Satyam, 9-11, 26-11 the list goes on. We have no qualms in selling our souls for 30 pieces of silver.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? Bible

Quadrants of Success

I recently read a new book by R Gopalakrishnan. It is titled “When the Penny Drops: Learning, What’s Not Taught”. It is a very interesting book in which he shares many of his experiences and his insights of what makes a successful leader. I liked one particular framework he has presented in this book to understand the challenges for leaders. I have tried to use this framework to take a deeper look into managing uncertainty which I had discussed in my earlier postings “Scaling Up, The Art of the Impossible” Part1 and Part II

As can be seen from the diagram, a four quadrant matrix is used to understand the challenges in managing uncertainty. These quadrants are defined on the basis of the ability to identify problems and solve them. One axis is the level of uncertainty relating to problems and the other axis is the level or uncertainty relating to solutions.

In our early stages of career we are normally in the first quadrant. In this quadrant, the necessary ingredient for success is a good repository of knowledge, skills, techniques and tools; i.e. domain knowledge, standard operating procedures, standards, tricks, tips and tools. What we need is to dance as per specific tune; we should know the steps and we should know the tune. In this level, the level of uncertainty is quite low.

From there we graduate to the second quadrant. In this quadrant we graduate to the next level of uncertainty. We strengthen our problem solving skills and we develop an aptitude and skill to undertake root cause analysis. Once we are able to identify the problem, we apply the appropriate tools to solve them. The requirements at this stage are analytical skills and deductive capability. We figure out what type of dance the crowd like and then we perform the same.

From here we move to the third quadrant. At this stage we are move to the realm of pushing the envelope of knowledge. We take up assignments wherein we need to figure out solutions for problems which have been haunting us for a long time. We should have deep inquisitiveness and enjoy innovation. Learn to handle the frustrations of experimentations, learn to persist on a path and learn to discard an idea on which we have invested heavily when it has hit a dead end. We conceive and develop a new dance style.

The Ultimate Challenge is in the fourth quadrant; the quadrant of a leader. Here as a starting point we need to have a vision, a dream of where we are trying to go. The daring to “where no man has ever gone before” as Capt Kirk would say. The problems are unknown and the solutions are not there. It is a embarking on a search with reasonable clarity of the shape of the dream. A big picture idea of the geography of the space we are operating. We have to try to solve an array of possible problems that we need to address. We need to learn to get things done from people on whom we have no control or direct influence. Here we don’t know who our audience is going to be and we don’t know what kind of dance they may like. (For some tips and tricks on this read on Hitchhiker’s guide to Corporate Galaxy Part 1 and Part 2 )

The famous serenity prayer describes the strengths we need at the second, third and fourth quadrant brilliantly. In the second quadrant of uncertainty we need to have “serenity to understand the things that we cannot change”, in the third quadrant we need the “courage to change the things we can” and in the fourth quadrant we need the “wisdom to know the difference”

In any organisations we need people in each quadrant and we need processes to address the needs of each quadrant. We also need skills to identify the growth path for each employee that will address his skill and comfort for a quadrant. Some may never move out of the first quadrant and only few can ever perform in the fourth quadrant. We need to have appropriate transition strategies across quadrants including when to anchor person in a quadrant.

For any organisation to sustain and grow it will have to have at its helm few people who are comfortable and capable to be in the fourth quadrant. One of the primary reasons for organisations decay is their failure to have such leaders.

“You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'” George Bernard Shaw 

Games in Perspective

With 38 gold medals, India came up second, just behind Australia, in the Commonwealth Games that was held in October 2010. "Delhi has delivered. The competitions went well, and it was a comfortable, satisfactory experience," said Commonwealth Games Federation President Michael Fennell regarding India's performance as a host.. Both are commendable achievements for India. But, this high profile event also brings to the forefront some lessons worth pondering about.

Last minute heroism: “We have this great Indian culture of doing everything at the last minute. Whether it is marriage or anything else, but we do end up doing it well,” quipped Indian Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy. This is a culture we appear to be developing from our childhood. The school and college folklore is about those 'cats' who managed to 'crack' the exams without studying, attending classes or doing projects. Planned and systematic effort with commitment to milestones are often seen as weaknesses even in workplace. Last minute rush and 'touch-and-go" finish are perceived as mark of genius and heroism. What we often forget are the wasteful efforts, avoidable expenditure, possible risk and  unwarranted  tension for the participants and last minute compromises that result on account of such heroics.

There can be no doubt that one of the contributors of the astronomical cost overrun associated with CWG could also have been this last minute heroism. It was not just the cost; there was terrible loss in reputation for India in the world stage which almost led to boycott of the games by many nations.

Blatant Corruption: There are serious concerns of financial bungling and corruption; not just incompetence, but willful malpractices. I don’t think this financial mis-handling is an exception. The team that was put in place to manage the games cannot be in any way more in-efficient or more corrupt than the leaders of  many other large projects. The prime difference in this case is that it was a very high profile event (or that some were unlucky to get caught?). It again highlights the need to have more transparency and better accountability in public expenditure. A vision as a country we need to aspire for is a vision to improve our rating in corruption index and not just increase in medal tally.

It is heartening to note that some actions are being taken to identify the culprits. I hope this will not end up as temporary eyewash.

Sensational Journalism: The press played a remarkable role in bringing to public attention the bungling and corruption that took place. But often the press gets carried away and give gossips, exaggerations, innuendos and aspersions more importance than it deserves and fails to place facts in perspective. Looking through the press reports and TV coverage up till the opening ceremony, I got a feeling that we have messed up the games so badly that it would be a total failure and a national shame.

But what I saw in the TV, what I read in the press and the narration of those who witnessed and experienced the conduct of the games gave a comfort that the implementation had a certain quality that we can feel proud of. The medal tally could also be an expression of a resurgent India. First time in history we came second, ahead of England.and Canada

The news reports focused more on the warts and putrefying sores with practically no reference to anything positive till the games opened. I agree, it is important to play the role of a whistle blower but it is also important to recognize the efforts of many officers, laborers, volunteers and athletes who gave their wholehearted best with no malice in their hearts.

This again is nothing unique about CWG. What sells in media both in press and in TV is sensationalism and it has become the fashion. A sense of balance or willingness to place facts in perspective seems to be losing its glamour and a yellow hue appear to getting more popular.

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” Marcus Aurelius

Aadhaar – The First Milestone

“Aadhaar” Unique Id (UID) for Indian residents was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India on September 29 2010 at Nandurbar District of Maharashtra at a function which was attended by a large contingent of political bigwigs including Ms. Sonai Gandhi, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Ashok Chavan, his deputy Mr. Chhagan Bhujbal and the UID chief Mr. Nandan Nilekani.

This ceremony sent out two messages. Firstly it demonstrates that we have been able to keep the promise of rolling out of this project within 18 months. Secondly, by commencing this project at Tembhali in Maharashtra State which is a tribal village, it shows our commitment that we intend to give focus to the poorer segment who today suffers the most on account of lack of broadly acceptable identity.

Aadhaar is a new tool which could find multiple applications in a variety of areas. It can help to prevent ghost claimants, repeated claimants and proxy claimants of various benefits offered by governmental and aid agencies which in turn can reduce leakage. It can also help to give direct benefit to deserving candidates instead of carpet bombing of benefits which is often cornered by unscrupulous people.

But, this does not mean it is a panacea for all problems; even for the problem related to targeted social protection measures. It just means that we have a stronger tool which if properly employed can significantly reduce leakage and improve targeted delivery. UIDAI has come out with papers on how the UIDAI can be of help in different fields. Some of these ideas will fructify and some will not. But there is no doubt that such a tool can be truly transformational. The transformation we have seen in financial markets, especially in capital market on account of sensible use of technology to improve efficiencies and reduce fraud have helped us to become one the best settlement infrastructure in the world from one of the worst in the world in less than a decade.

We see in the press, from the so called intelligentsia the concerns on the cost –benefit balance of this initiative and issues of privacy. Sometime it appears to me as issues blowm out of proportion. Aadhaar is not unique in the world. Many other countries have already attempted this exercise. America has been using Social Security Number as a unique id for it residents. What is unique about our Aadhaar is the magnitude of challenge of issuing a unique id to a billion people and using the technology and processes to prevent duplicates or keep it to absolute minimum.

Nobody is claiming that the Aadhaar project can eliminate duplicates to absolute zero. But I have confidence that if properly implemented, technology and processes are available that can keep uniqueness to such high levels that no other methods can match. With such powerful identity verification tool, a large number of agencies providing services to millions of peoples, (banks, ration shops, insurance companies etc, etc) can save enormous cost of identity verification.

Other concern is about privacy. Let us look at this a little more deeply. Aadhaar takes only very few demographic details (name, gender, date of birth, address, parent’s name, etc ) along with biometric details. In a true sense, it need have taken only biometric details of an individual and it could have issued a unique number. But today’s level of technology needs few more fields for exception handling and more importantly the users of this identity has not reached the level of technology sophistication to map each of its clients on the basis of only a number with biometric mapping. Therefore, Aadhaar requires few critical demographic details.

The list of demographic data insisted at the time of issuance of Aadhaar is so general and is even less than the details taken for KYC verifications by most services providers. There is practically nothing in there that can be used for racial profiling or such measures. The UIDAI act is specifically providing for the same.

Aadhaar does not make this information available to anybody even for verification. Its verification service is limited to a “Yes/ No” response to an enquiry of whether a biometrical reading (finger print) taken from a person and the Aadhaar claimed by that person matches with the Aadhaar database. This does not compromise any private data.

Next concern is that once this number is widely prevalent among various service providers, it will be easy to integrate these data to develop total profile of people. If profiling is a concern or to be prevented fighting Aadhaar is not the solution. Today most service providers have so much of personal information like name, date of birth, even cell number which is sufficient to map one person among the multiple data bases with the current level of technology. What Aadhaar prevents is the ability of one person faking multiple identities among multiple service providers. I don’t think this is a right we need to offer to any person or protect.Though it sounds a bit harsh, the opinion expressed by Richard Posner, (Judge and legal expert from USA) has raises an interesting point. “As a social good, I think privacy is greatly overrated because privacy basically means concealment. People conceal things in order to fool other people about them. They want to appear healthier than they are, smarter, more honest and so forth.”

If we are concerned about misuse of profiling we need to establish legal frameworks that will prohibit such actions, we need to have mechanism to protect those who blow the whistle on violations and we need to have rules on the extent to which data can be shared across agencies. There is no point in preventing issuance of UID which comes with a host of other merits. It is barking up the wrong tree. But, it is fashionable to fight the establishment which I think is one of the strengths of a democratic society; with so many people barking at so many trees some may just hit the target!

“When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else.” David Brin - American science-fiction writer b.1950

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Privacy Fantasies

Why no one cares about privacy anymore

Privacy Fantasies

The technological leap in integration of varied sources of data raises a number of questions on privacy. I have attempted a time travel of 200 years into the future to take a look at these concerns. I would consider that the 200 year time period that I have given for these developments could be an over estimation than an under estimation.

New Delhi, January 15th, 2210: The Society is grappling to come in terms with the impact of the recent invention and proliferation of the Mind X-Ray Vision (Mind –X); a tool that helps us to read and feel with ease the thoughts and feeling of people around. The ultimate tool for transparency; its impact on human relationships, family lives, corporate strategies and matters of governance is unimaginable.

For a society that for years has progressed with the right, option and capability for privacy of thoughts and fantasies, this new invention is a totally disruptive development. A person who can wear this tool like a watch in his arm can now read the array of emotions that passes through minds of the person with whom he is now conversing. No more suspense about what he is thinking; of whether he is happy, sad, suspicious or is aroused. It is no more a matter of guessing.

A truly scary and a loss of control for some and a feeling of freedom and power for the other! It could allow us to be honest about our feelings and misgivings or it could make us self-conscious about what bubbles at the bottom of our heart.

The strategies for competition can no more be built on secrecy, obscurity or obfuscation but based on open manoeuvres. It is no more a game of poker; but a game of chess.

Isn’t this the next transition in the long journey to transparency? Some years ago we got the gadget that could search googols of digital information to find the answers to a question that popped up in our mind and transmit the answer back to our brain. The googols of information also contained sufficient information about each of us from the day we were born that there was practically no private life. This was possible with the tremendous growth of internet, Google and Social Networking in early 21st century.

In a way we have come full circle from the small village life we spent few thousands of years ago where there was practically no secret and everybody knew everything about everybody else in the village. The world has become one big village.

The worries and concerns on the Mind-X reminds me about the privacy concerns that were out there when the internet, Google and then Face book became popular laying bare the information that were once considered private. It was a scary proposition then. With the exploding computing power and the sophistication of the data mining tools, it became practically possible to develop individual profiles with publically available databases. The government with its right to access more confidential data had much more detailed data.

It taught us not to be judgemental about another person based on few incidences of indiscretion and accept the fact that most people become responsible over a period of time. It has also taught us on how to be more sensible in our conduct and how we publish it. There were worries that this increased transparency could be misused by the government and its agencies. There were also incidences of such events. Then many of these transgressions also became matter of public knowledge. But then we learned to address these issues. It brought about stronger checks and balances on how such interlinked data could be used even by the government.


Similar sentiments were expressed when photography became popular in late 19th century. Louis Brandies, one of the most renowned legal experts who also was a justice in the supreme court of United States and his partner Samuel Warren discussed snapshot photography, a (then) recent innovation in journalism that allowed newspapers to publish photographs and statements of individuals without obtaining their consent. They argued that private individuals were being continually injured and that the practice weakened the "moral standards of society as a whole” {1}

But then, can we protect privacy by arresting the growth of technology? Can we stop the usage and proliferation of new technologies for the benefit of our society because it can also be used to harm it? Tools are nothing but tools and it is for us decide how to use it. If we want a government that is fair, we need to elect one and we need be willing to play an active role in making it one. We also have to strengthen the governance structures and its oversight in how the information is used. If we are concerned about our reputation, we have to learn how we manage it.

We can’t fight an idea whose time has come. Mind You, Mind-X is here to stay!

"Sunlight is the best disinfectant." — William O Douglas

{1} Source Wikipedia 

“Rule of Law”

“Vendor Lock-in” is a major concern for any buyer, especially if the product/ service procured is of high value and has long-term implication on future procurement. The concern is quite natural and justified because if the product/ technology has locked-in the buyer, it is quite possible that the seller could use this dependency to extract more than what is fair.

There are quite a lot of discussions on this topic and there are quite a lot of strategies that try to address this. The mirror image of this is the “buyer- squeeze”. In this case the buyer who has significant market power can use the market power to squeeze the vendor to extent that he really may really bleed to death. (take a look at "Market Power & Relationships" for a discussion on Market Power in interpersonal relationships)

Different companies address this problem in different fashion. Some try to avoid over dependency on single buyers; some try to build in strong contracts and so on. One of the most difficult buyers in this respect can be government; especially because of the buying power and the plea of executive necessity. If the legal structure is not sufficiently evolved this risk can be quite high. This is very critical when we are exporting products or services abroad.

Indian law in this aspect has established quite a strong principle on this matter. Our law makers have appreciated that if this issue is not addressed properly, some executives, with short-term view could use this plea of executive necessity to drive his personal agenda and this in long term would discourage availability of high-quality service providers from both within the country and abroad to deal with the government.

The judgment by Justice P N Bhagvati who has served as the Chief Justice of India has addressed this matter lucidly in Motilal Sugar Mills case (AIR 1979 SC 621). I have quoted some parts of his judgment for the sheer beauty, brilliance and clarity of this judgment. "The law may therefore now be taken to be settled as a result of this decision that where the Government makes a promise knowing or intending that it would be acted on by the promises and, in fact, the promisee, acting in reliance on it, alters his position the Government would be held bound by the promise and the promise would be enforceable against the Government at the instance of the promisee, notwithstanding that there is no consideration for the promise and the promise is not recorded in the form of a formal contract as required by Article 299 of the Constitution”

He has further elaborated, “Why should the government not be held to a high "standard of rectangular rectitude while dealing with its citizens"? There was a time when the doctrine of executive necessity was regarded as sufficient justification for the government to repudiate even its contractual obligations, but let it be said to the eternal glory of this court, this doctrine was emphatically negatived in the, Indo-Afghan Agencies case and the supremacy of the rule of law was established. It was laid down by this Court that the government cannot claim to be immune from the applicability of the rule of promissory estoppel and repudiate a promise made by it on the ground that such promise may fetter its future executive action."

When we try to understand the strength of the rule of law of any country, the existence and enforcement of such fair dealing by government in any contractual relationship is an excellent indicator.


Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Lord Acton

Take it or leave it

“How do you expect us to fly as you fly?” came another voice. “You are special and gifted and divine, above other birds.”
“Touched him with a wingtip! Brought him to life! The Son of the Great Gull!”
“No! He denies it! He’s a devil! DEVIL! Come to break the Flock!”
- Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Shashi Tharoor had right credentials for being in the external affairs ministry. Well educated, excellent experience in the field of international diplomacy, an outstanding orator, a thinker, and well connected among the senior political and administrative circles across the world. However, the self righteous middle class and the many among the self serving media together were too eager to pillory him for his ‘cattle class” remark and were happy to pull him down for his IPL imbroglio.

C. B. Bhave is the most qualified to hold the position of SEBI Chairman today and he takes his job very seriously. The enforcement record of SEBI under his leadership in the last three years has been outstanding in comparison to its past performance. The initiatives he took in with respect to the mutual fund industry and the insurance industry have been acknowledged as beneficial for the investors at large. But there are many out there who strongly believe that his ‘tough cop’ style is not what we need in a regulator.

If we look around, we can see many such examples of ‘A few Good Men’ being crucified. When a regular human being like each of us, takes pride in his public responsibility and works hard to do justice to what he is expected to do, there are hardly few who will support him. We seem to be unable to tolerate him for his sense of purpose, his sense of integrity, his initiative in doing the right thing. We are looking for one apparent mistake from his part, one controversy, or one remark, to belittle him if not condemn him.

Why are we so eager to see him flounder? Why are we too happy to see him fail? Why don’t we want him to succeed? Because if he does, then we have no excuse for our inaction; we have no excuse for our failures; we have no excuse for not even trying.

On the other hand, we are willing to tolerate unscrupulous elements in their positions of power, whether in Politics, Bureaucracy, Business or even Academics. The more unscrupulous they are, the more our tolerance. We are willing to extol that iota of good deed that he does as an excuse for our support or at least tolerance of him. We find it easy to elect Phulan Devi and Haji Mastan (I am sure we can think of better living examples around us) to power than to support and encourage honest and clean officers in their endeavours.

Why? Because he is not one of us; he is an exception, an outlier, an aberration. Our middle class morality can satisfy our self righteousness by dissecting his corruption, fraud and self serving behaviours and attribute his success to his shenanigans. We secretly hope that being on his right side would help us in our own little scams when it is convenient to us.

If we want to try to make a difference we are faced with limited options. Be ready to be called a Devil or God. Or be ready to be shot down by own kith and kin. The more pioneering our initiatives and/ or more change it brings to the existing order more vicious will be the rejection. But we have to keep trying because it is through the sacrifices of a few that social transformation is nurtured; albeit very very slowly.

“Don’t be harsh on them, Fletcher Seagull. In casting you out, the other gulls have only hurt themselves, and one day they will know this, and one day they will see what you see .Forgive them, and help them to understand.” Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach


The post represents my personal opinion and not that of any organisations or people with whom I am associated.

“Nothing Succeeds like Success”

After we got our independence in 1947, we decided to pursue a mixed economy, established a strong planning infrastructure that encouraged public sector to lead the way in investment in key sectors. We protected our industry against competition from abroad by import restrictions and high tariffs and against competition from within by restrictive licensing policies and MRTP act.

Our country as a leader of the Non Alignment Movement (NAM) attempted to play a major role in international politics. But unfortunately this movement had as its members mostly underdeveloped and developing countries with little stature in the global political or economic landscape. Moreover, many of them for their own benefit found it difficult to be truly neutral and had mild or strong alignment with one or the other great powers. In this way the influence of NAM and India was not that significant through this avenue.

Thus for sometime post independence, we seemingly had nothing important to offer to the world at large and were therefore almost in isolation. In the mid eighties slowly and early nineties surely, our economy started to open up. Our Industries were not gobbled up by the Multi National Corporations as many feared. We demonstrated an ability to sustain an impressive growth of economy. Our markets were looking attractive; we realised that we had competitive advantage in many key fields; India became a country which could no longer be ignored.

Our President got one of the best welcomes when she visited UK last year. She was invited to stay in the palace with the queen. Four professors from Wharton visited and studied Indian Management practices and they have published a book called the “India Way”. As per Harvard Business Review “The authors explain how these innovations work within Indian companies, identifying those likely to remain indigenous and those that can be adapted to the Western context. With its in-depth analysis and research, The India Way offers valuable insights for all managers seeking to strengthen their organization's performance.”

As per another review “this book closely examines what Indian managers do differently and how their management innovations work, which of these innovations could be transferable to the Western context and ultimately how this new management model could one day modify or even supplant the old.”

Something like a management practice could not have evolved overnight. It would have been around for a long time. But, we now see a much elevated interest across the world for many things ‘Indian’. In fact, we have won more beauty contests since our economy has opened up in early nineties. Why this interest now? It is because we have become relevant.

Ours is a young and growing economy; our markets are large and more open; there are fairly strong institutions in many sectors. Today on the foundation of a stronger economy we are in a better position to get attention, to be heard and to influence; much more than any visionary or intellectual leaders could do as the head of a pauper state.

If we want to make a difference, as a country, a company or as an individual, we have to first establish our relevance in areas which are important to our target audience. The more importance or apparent importance we can project, the more influence we can exert. The relevance could be as a customer, as critical supplier, as a policy maker, as a fixer. as reference, as financier or a strong alley. But there has to be relevance.

This is not a prescription; but just an observation. This is not a value statement; but an expression of realisation. This is not peddling of a panacea; but sharing a reality of life. This may be the “Mathew Effect” that sociologist Robert K Merton propounded and made popular by Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Outliers”. It is left to us to interpret and act on this in a way that makes sense to each of us.

For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. — Matthew 25:29

In God’s Company (humour)

Recently I came across an interesting story a friend forwarded to me; a story about a tailor who fell in love with a princess. Let us call him Sawant. He was smitten so badly that he would not eat properly and he could not sleep well. He shared his desire and desperation with his friend who was a chariot maker.

He suggested a way out. The chariot maker built a chariot that looks like the chariot used by Vishnu the God. Then Sawant dressed up like Vishnu and landed up at the private garden of the princess. Innocent girl that she was, she fell for the story and believed that Vishnu was in love with her. There started a relationship which they continued for many days. Gradually, one of the maids came across some signs of this secret affair. They informed the king. The king accosted the princess. She told him the truth of her affair with Vishnu.

The king was sceptical and hopeful. Next time when Vishnu visited, the princess was not alone; the king was there too. He wanted proof. So he asked the Vishnu for to help him defeat the Chakravarty (the king of kings). Sawant was in a fix. He realised that he is dead either way. If he tells the truth the king will kill him and if he goes to fight the war, he will be killed. He decided to die in the war.

He took a small army from the king and proceeded to a war with the chakravarty dressed up like Vishnu on his chariot. The story of this Vishnu had also reached the heaven. The gods met up with Vishnu and discussed about the public relations disaster of the duplicate Vishnu losing the war. So they decided to support the tailor boy.

With the support from heaven, the Sawant won the war. The king was happy and the princess was happy. Then our hero shared his desire to take human form and live with the princess. He warned the king that as he had taken the human form he might not be able to perform such miracles anymore. The king agreed happily and our hero and the princess lived happily ever after. (May be the tailor needs more appreciation for the ‘ever after’ bit more than the war that he won!!)

The fairy tale has an interesting lesson. This lesson is almost universal and is applicable in politics, in corporate, in religion and in bureaucracy. The rule is that when we attempt some crazy or ambitious ideas make sure that the interest of some ‘powerful gods’ are aligned with ours! How well this alignment is and how powerful our god is will determine the extent and strength of the support we can garner. The corollary is that when you and I compete and both of us have our gods supporting us then what matters become which god is more powerful.

“Success is about actively shaping the game you play, not just playing the game you find.” Adam Brandenburger & Barry Nalebuff

"Candle in the wind"

There has been lots of debate in the media and in private conversations about the recent threefold increase in salary of the Members of Parliament. Most of the reactions were negative and supported by some variations of the following arguments. There are millions of poor people in India and therefore the leaders of these poor people need not be paid so much. Or the politicians are corrupt and make pot full of money; so why pay them more salary.

Even if we add the various perks that the MPs enjoy (excluding the value of housing) the cost to country of an MP compared to the cost to company of senior executives in private sector is still low. A trillion dollar economy growing at the rate of more than 8% per year, can afford to pay its senior management who takes decisions relating to billions of dollars so much. Same is true for the bureaucracy too. In fact, if we pay decent salaries we remove some of the disincentive for good, qualified and capable people to be willing to take up this challenge.

The other discouraging factor that acts as a disincentive is the cost of standing for an election. It is quite a large investment. If one is not personally rich or cannot raise black capital, it is practically impossible for him or her to stand for election. We should think about ways in which funding support can be made available for capable people to afford this cost. May be the state can reimburse the election expenditure up to certain limits for candidates who manage to get certain percentage of votes. May be we can allow companies or industry association to setup funds in a transparent manner to support such candidates.

Today a large majority of the MPs come from very rich background because only they can afford the cost. If we find ways to encourage more honest people to take up this line of profession by paying them decent salaries and helping them to afford the cost of election we may be able to get a larger percentage of such people in the mix. (I am not that naive to think that this magic solution will lead to a legislature full of angels. I am only hoping that we could find ways and means to get some more voices of reason and some more minds with commitment to the cause, to walk into the den of thieves, to build some checks and balances and to enable better decision making at the highest level)

We also need to establish processes and tools to bring about better transparency in expenditure, more directed welfare measures and citizen initiatives to expose incidences of corruption and fraud. The initiative by Janaagraha a Bangalore based NGO, along with Raghu who was a senior civil servant for about quarter of a century in setting up a portal aptly named “I Paid A Bribe” is an excellent example of citizen initiative that offers busy people to participate in a quick and easy way and to play a meaningful role. The vision of this initiative as explained by the team is as follows.

“IpaidABribe.com is Janaagraha’s unique initiative to tackle corruption by harnessing the collective energy of citizens. You can report on the nature, number, pattern, types, location, frequency and values of actual corrupt acts on this website. Your reports will, perhaps for the first time, provide a snapshot of bribes occurring across your city. We will use them to argue for improving governance systems and procedures, tightening law enforcement and regulation and thereby reduce the scope for corruption in obtaining services from the government.

We invite you to register any recent or old bribes you have paid. Please tell us if you resisted a demand for a bribe, or did not have to pay a bribe, because of a new procedure or an honest official who helped you. We do not ask for your name or phone details, so feel free to report on the formats provided”.

I believe that if each of us who make sanctimonious remarks about the level of corruption and fraud around us (especially after a glass of single malt) can spend few moments to support such initiatives we can experience some improvement in our society.

I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty. ~John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

“Lead us not to temptation”

“Marshmallow Experiment” is an amazing study conducted by Walter Mischel, a professor of psychology at Stanford University in the late sixties. This study attempted to evaluate the ability of four year old children to delay their gratification. The children were called to a room and were offered a piece of marshmallow. They were told that they could eat it immediately or if they were willing to wait till the researcher came back in a few minutes, they could have two pieces.

Some kids ate the marshmallows immediately, some waited for few seconds and few of them could wait more than 15 minutes for the researcher to return so that they could claim their prize for delaying their gratification. Walter was trying to study the mental process of this delayed gratification. After a few years, he attempted to track the performance of these children to see if there was any correlation between ability to delay gratification and their subsequent performance. The results were exceedingly surprising. He observed a very high degree of correlation between self control and performance parameters, including SAT scores. This and the related studies have shown that performance was more dependent on self control than IQ.

It does not mean that self control is an inborn trait and cannot be learned and improved upon. There were children in the original sample, who had shown poor self control as children but grew up to have high degree of self control. (Look up this excellent article which discusses this issue in detail)

Let us take this learning to an adult, rather corporate context. Most of our jobs places two kinds of demands on us. These can be described as maintenance roles and developmental roles. Maintenance roles are usually clearly defined, they need immediate attention, the results are immediately visible and no doubt they are urgent. Developmental roles less defined, results are uncertain, results take long time to materialize and often not urgent.

Some of us let ourselves to be caught up with these urgent matters day in and day out. We practically have no time even to breathe. We have hundreds of reasons why we cannot take up any developmental activities now; whether it is reading up on related subjects, taking up a process re-engineering exercise, experimenting with a new technology tool or even finding some time to build relationships.

On the other hand, some of us will find, rather cheat, some time from our busy schedule to take up some assignments or experiments which may not be in the radar of priorities. An idea has caught our attention and we are willing to chug away at it; finding few free moments from our busy schedules. We are not sure what will come out of it. But we know we are searching for a possible tool, working on an idea that in the long run could make a difference.

If we look around we will see that most of the time people who have build something substantial, made a difference and provided visionary leadership are those who had the determination to see beyond what is urgent and willing to search for and toil for ways to make a difference. This also is nothing but a matter of self control. That may be why “Lead us not to temptation” is a key element in the Lord’s Prayer.

“There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud” -- Carl Sandburg, American Writer, Editor, and Poet

Conquering that fear

It was bright and sunny. The sea was calm but slightly wavy with a nice light breeze. The single seater laser (dinghy class) sail boat which I was sailing was cruising along smoothly . The open sea and the calming breeze always had a mesmerising charm and made me feel one with nature. Suddenly the wind started picking up speed. My boat too responded like a stallion that has been spurred. With the adrenaline rush I felt that I was on the top of the world. Nothing seemed to matter other than the feeling of speed, power and control as the boat raced forward skipping up and down the waves.

I was practically horizontal with my torso jutting out of the boat with the sheet (the line that controls the sail) in one hand and tiller (that controls the rudder) in the other hand. Suddenly the wind shifted. I was taken unawares and the boat turned turtle. This happens occasionally when we sail a little boat; nothing to worry about. There is a simple way to turn it around; a matter of technique than strength.

I had already jumped into the water and was hovering around the boat enjoying the waves. Then I tried to turn the boat over. Suddenly I had a severe catch in my shoulder muscle. I could not move my right hand. I realised that I was in trouble. Tried some work around; but, nothing would help. I just could not move my right hand and it was hurting badly. I hung on to the boat and decided to wait it out. The wind was getting harder blowing away from the land and I was drifting into the sea farther and farther.

This happened, when I was based in Jakarta for couple of years. . I always loved the sea and sailing was my passion. When I realised that there was a sailing club not so far away (about 150 km) from home. I was excited. I immediately signed up and used to visit the club at least twice a month. I would for the weekend and sail about four to five hours both the days. I enjoyed the experience thoroughly.

Now as I was drifting deep into the sea with one hand almost paralysed, the realisation dawned on to me that I could be in deep trouble. Minutes were ticking away. There were no boats to be seen anywhere near. . As it was lunch time all the other sailors were back on shore for their lunch or siesta. I started to feel scared; scared at the prospect that I may not return alive. A watery grave appeared a distinct possibility. There was nothing that I could do except pray for divine intervention.

Faces of that little girl who follows me calling me dada, her mother, my mother, my friends; all started fleeting in front of my eyes. Each minute felt like an hour. I felt the energy draining out of my body. I hung on there with a faith that there is somebody who looks after me and without his wish nothing will happen.

I closed my eyes and tried to relax. It was almost an hour since my boat had capsized. Then suddenly I heard the roar of a motor boat. I thought that I might be dreaming. I opened my eyes and looked around, and there it was; the rescue boat looking for me. Oh! What a relief.

They reached near me. I was too tired even to climb into the boat. They had to drag me in. I lay in the boat thanking my luck and the supreme intervention. When I reached the shore I had to be practically carried out to the hammock. Liz told me as she was relaxing at the shore she had a uneasy feeling that something was wrong. So she looked far and could see no mast. She told the rescue team that I may be in trouble. They told her that as I was a good sailor so there was no need to worry. They felt that I might have gone around a small island nearby and that is why the mast could not be seen. But she insisted that they take a look; and that saved my life.

I had a cool drink and lay down for an hour. Then I decided that I had to go out for one more trip immediately. I knew if I don’t do that then, the last memory in my mind would be the scary experience and I could permanently give up my confidence to be out in the sea.

I got up and walked to the boat. My wife and friends thought I was mad and enjoined me that I desist from this. But I got into the boat, went back to the same spot where I was drifting helplessly for an hour.

Then I returned. . I knew I had conquered one fear. The lesson stayed back in my mind. One way to overcome the fear is to try the experience once again (so long as it is repeatable).

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear. Ambrose Redmoon

A leap of faith

Karna is a character from Mahabharata. He was the son of Kunti, the eldest brother of Pandavas. (As he was born before Kunti was married, he was abandoned as a child and only few people knew of his true parenthood) He was a better archer and warrior than Arjuna, the hero of the Pandava clan. But unfortunately he had a curse on him. On account of this curse, he would lose his faculties and forget his skills when he desperately needs them in a matter of life and death. If we explain this curse in common terms, we can say that though Karna was better skilled, when it came to performance under stress, he was not as good as Arjun..

In real life we come across people who suffer from this Karna complex. When faced with an emergency they freeze over; forget what they are supposed to do and can’t remember what they have learned. They break-down under stress.

In some professions like flying and fire fighting where risk is physical, the importance of performance under stress is well-appreciated and there are various training programs to strengthen this skill. But in many of the normal managerial decisions where the risk is not physical, not immediate and difficult to map to the decisions taken, the importance of this factor is often not properly acknowledged. In these roles we look for experience, intelligence, skills and knowledge; but often fail to recognize the skill for of decision making under stress.

This can be disastrous; especially because most often the risk faced in the managerial roles is psychological and not physical and we don’t realize how such stress can affect the quality of our decisions. Even when we recognize the effect of stress on our health, we ignore how poor decisions that are detrimental to the organisations may be taken on account of that.

Our schools don’t train us on this (in fact these days, we mollycoddle our children so much and we try hard to remove any element of stress they face that they could grow-up expecting fairy godmother to make their life easy), our selection processes do not measure the candidate’s ability to perform under stress and our induction programs and organisational trainings do not teach this either. The priority is given only to skill, knowledge and experience.

Most people will buckle under stress at certain level and behave irrationally or take irrational decisions. The threshold will vary from person to person. At higher levels of responsibility we need people with a higher threshold level. We need to recognize this factor as a critical element in leadership development. This is important because whether in a fire-line or company venue, making quality leadership decisions under conditions of stress and ambiguous authority is not a natural capacity. [1] Natural human reaction in times of risk is ‘fight or flight’. Training and practice can help us to override this natural reaction after due consideration of alternatives, probabilities and resources.

But training cannot guarantee how we will react. It is also a question of how we are made up. That is why we have to be careful in our selection process for assignments that have high element of stress, to ensure that the candidate is tested for this trait.

Very often the organisations do not give due importance to this when they promote people to positions of power and make their selection primarily based on skill, experience or even seniority. The worst case is when elevate a brilliant mind with a very low threshold for stress. When they are faced with stress they get scared and they don’t want to admit it. They get irrational and they don’t realise it. As they are quite bright and articulate they will use these skills to rationalise, argue and even bulldoze with a set of specious arguments , make up all kinds of theories and put forward a collection of highly improbable eventualities; all to run away from taking a decision and owning it up.

They do not want to take any risk, will not take timely decision, set up umpteen committees, surround them with a variety of consultants with high pedigree and take everybody for a merry go around. Their subordinates will be intimidated and colleagues will get frustrated. Eventually the team turns out to be a collection of technicians and clerks with no imagination or creativity.

Organisations will have to be conscious of this critical skill. It has to form a part of our recruitment, part of training and part of performance evaluation. Especially when we select people for leadership positions we need to find ways to judge the threshold stress level at which they will start losing their rationality.


Two roads diverged in a wood, and I... I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."~ Robert Frost


Reference: [1] Developing Leaders for Decision Making Under Stress: Wildland firefighters in the South Canyon Fire and Its Aftermath.
MICHAEL USEEM, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; JAMES COOK, U.S. Forest Service and National Interagency Fire Center ; LARRY SUTTON, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and National Interagency Fire Center

“Monkey and Me”

I was surprised when I read in National Geographic.Com that “A comparison of Clint's genetic blueprints with that of the human genome shows that our closest living relatives share 96 percent of our DNA. The number of genetic differences between humans and chimps is ten times smaller than that between mice and rats.”

With such few percentage point differences, see what we have managed to achieve in comparison with our simian cousins! We have built cities, cars and aeroplanes and have walked on moon while our cousins are still hanging from trees. Truly remarkable.

Then recently I came across a book written by Mr.Richard Conniff titled “The ape in the corner office”. This book provides a nice exposition on the similarity between the behaviour of apes and human beings. The focus of this book is more on the human behaviour in corporate setting.

The strategies we use to establish our ‘alpha’ status, grovelling and flattery we employ to get our way, the fights we have and how we makeup, how we use language to groom our colleagues and our bosses; all appear to be the same what our ancestors have been employing for millions of years. Just that the scientific progress helped us to have better and diverse tools for innovative implementation of these strategies!!.

Look at the way the Chimpanzees establish their pecking order and the alpha status. It is not just based on brute force. It is derived from a combination of the leadership skill, courage to take decision, strength of the network and also cunning and political manoeuvring; just like human organisations. The relative proportion of each element may vary. When the proportion skews more towards cunning there is a higher chance for group disintegration.

Many scientists have pointed in spite of all the scientific progress, the source of our base emotions and insecurities have not changed for millions of years. Now it has dawned on me that it is not just with respect to genes that we are 96% apes, many of us in our behaviour and inner desires resemble our ancestors more than we think we do!

Therefore, when we learn to look deep and understand the base emotions and inner drives that provoke us to act in certain fashion we may be able to have a better control on ourselves. This understanding could also help us in our relationships as it might give us a perspective on how the other person could react or why the other person reacted in certain manner.

“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.” Stephen Hawking

Competitive Advantage - A case for blogs and wikis

Mat Ridley in his seminal article “Humans: Why They Triumphed” has put forward an interesting argument that the dramatic progress of Homo sapiens in the recent past is not primarily on account of the increasing size of brain or dramatic increase in human intelligence. But, it has been achieved by the collective intelligence of the society arising out of continuous exchange of ideas. We have managed to build on what others have built. Sir Isaac Newton also expressed this view when he said “If I have seen further, it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants”

The progress in commutation and in communication has enlarged opportunities for people of different culture and experience to contact each other and to exchange their ideas. This has further accelerated the rate of progress. As Mr Ridley expressed brilliantly “The process of cumulative innovation that has doubled life span, cut child mortality by three-quarters and multiplied per capita income nine fold - world-wide - in little more than a century, is driven by ideas having sex”

Books, Radio, TV and even internet (web 1.0) while helping to distribute thoughts and ideas across very long distance, enabled mostly one way interaction; sort of broadcast. Email brought about fast and cheap two way communication and it exploded opportunities for human collaboration.

The recent innovation in Information technology (web 2.0 also supported by progress in mobile technologies) has brought about dramatic changes in communication by making it “two-way” enabling seamless collaboration.

Very often these tools for two-way collaboration like face book, twitter, wiki and blogs are seen by many as either as geeky or as non-serious pastime, juvenile indulgence or even waste of time. Therefore many companies and organisations prohibit access to such tools as they see these as risky distractions.

As these tools are seen as such distractions, the senior management is not giving due attention to how these concepts can alter the way we work and alter the way we collaborate. With so little interest (or so high ignorance), we are unable to harness the power of these tools.

The study by American Sociologist Mark S. Granovetter on the Strength of weak ties is quite relevant in this context. According to this study, for most people their network friends with whom they enjoy strong relationship is quite small, limited and almost culturally and intellectually incestuous in nature. Therefore it is the weak ties between groups enable us to collaborate with a more divergent set of people.

It is in this area that collaboration tools like blogs, wikis and social networks offer powerful, intuitive and convenient means. It can help us to build larger network of strong ties and build and maintain a larger network of weak ties. Wikis help in collaborative developments, Face book kind of tools helps to keep the links with a large number of friends.

Many organisations have woken up to these challenges and have established innovative ways of harnessing the power of this collaboration. The book published by Andrew McAfee, Principle Research Scientist at MIT’s Center for digital business titled Enterprise 2.0, the new collaborative tools for your organisations provides excellent insights to why and how on these tools and it is worth reading. I have drawn on the insights from this book to write this post.

At present this is relatively a new concept and not widely adopted. Therefore, those who can exploit this early will be able to build significant competitive advantage. Once this idea gets commoditized and becomes the norm for most of the players, the extent of competitive differentiation possible with this may come down.

‘If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.’ — George Bernard Shaw