Growing up in moffusil Orissa, I was constantly goaded by my folks to aspire for what was probably the most coveted profession in our parts of the world: The Civil Services. Sure enough, as time flew, there were successful "candidates" in the neighbourhood. Their joy at having discovered the Holy Grail was short-lived as a rabble-rousing, union leader of the town that we lived in ( the guy Ma warned you against)went on to occupy ministerial position and our very own blue-eyed boy had to grapple with the ignominy of taking instructions from him. The fear of being shunted to (even more) far flung, famine struck districts and its resultant complications (the wife's kitty parties et al) ensured our neighbourhood envy was sufficiently compliant.
Suitably disillusioned, one decided to plunge for the lucrative world of multi-national corporations with starry eyed dreams of climbing the corporate ladder, raking in the big fat bonuses and teeing off with the gliterrati over the weekends. The corporate world though was not remarkably enlightening and one had to quickly come to terms with the fact that the boss was keener on the price at which you sold his bosses' property than what your "goal-statement" specified and one dealt with "crackberries" who responded to emails on their PDAs at unearthly hours of the night or day depending on the sleeping habits of the CEO. My only consolation, when I checked the toilets of a hotel room the global head of my organisation was slated to occupy was the fact that I was accompanied on this supremely cerebral activity by somebody who was significantly higher up in the echelons.
Whilst grappling with shallow and often meaningless jargon like "mission statement", "strategic intent", "long-term vision" and the like, my thoughts wandered to the day-job of a politician and a comparison with the enviable Corner Office seemed like a no-contest. The challenges and perils of governance aside, if one were to dissect a minister's job like a MBA is (supposedly) trained to do, one arrives at some interesting comparisons.
One of the toughest challenges that corporate leaders face is the need to deal with several talented and ambitious people all of whom aspire to reach the top but the pyramid ensures only a few do while the rest are left licking their wounds. The leader is supposed to reward the truly meritorious and yet ensure the relative "have-nots" are kept suitably motivated after every round of promotions or job rotations. While a business leader has to deal with faceless individuals all of whom will go unrecognised at public places, compare it with the challenge that a political leader has to face post a ministerial reshuffle when he has to deal with bruised egos of public figures as their "moves" (or lack of them) make national headlines the next day and will determine whether they stand in serpentine queues at the airport or qualify not to be frisked.
How about job complexity? Without even getting into trying to compare the relative difficulty of managing a P&L and governing a country, lets get into a more basic facet. The single purpose for existence of a business is profit. The Government on the other hand has a far-reaching social responsibility apart from dealing with several legitimate yet conflicting points of interest. Hydel power generation v/s population displacement for instance. Add to this the myriad pulls and pressures of a system with various forces legally bestowed with powers to influence or obstruct a course of action and the challenge multiplies geometrically. For the record, most corporations claim to have a system of checks and balances too but the single point control of bonus cheque ensures absolute power.
Right from the time one aspired to join business school, one was made to believe that communication skills were the one trait sans which all hopes of making it big could be laid to rest. In north India, this was defined as a superior ability to roll ones "R"s while those south of vindhyas typically believed in peppering their power point presentations with abstract graphs and charts in a bid to appear suitably intellectual. Contrast the communication skills required for a board room presentation full of pretentious Zegna-clad employees with that of addressing half a million people at Ramlila Maidan or negotiating in a "heads-you-lose-tails-i-win" situation a la the topical Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan.
Despite the obvious no-contest on "skill-sets requirement" (pardon the corporate jargon please) it is alarming, and even a tad disappointing to see the absence of interest within the intellegentsia for a political career. The government could more than do with private sector discipline and the private sector would be greatly enriched by folks with understanding of grass-root dynamics and governance. Sadly this cross-pollination is absent in our society even though it defines the developed world where there are examples galore of people making the shift on both sides of the border.
For all the hype around youth and nex-gen, governance in our country continues to rot with the geriatric polity and an archaic, mafia-like bureaucracy which lends itself to sycophancy and self-preservation. Hopefully, some of us can and will make a difference.
10 comments:
Mahesh makes a very important point in his usual eloquent style. Commenting from the sidelines on the buffoonery of our politicians is just not good enough. Some of us need to take responsibility from within the Game.
cheers
Kusal
Way to go my rockstar brother.superlative thoughts as usuall.you should start getting into freelance writing for quality publications on a more regular basis.cheers to your spirit.
Hey
Pretty Neat. Write more often.
Big Sister :)
Cliched as it is, I was pleasantly surprised by Mahesh's flair for expressing his thoughts & also the provoking nature of the piece. But if I may, having struggled with trying to make sense of the corporate world myself, ask some questions;
Even if one does take responsibility & move into the game- is it easy to resist becoming a pawn & eventually start following the rules of the game? When does one draw the line between- being a part of the system to change things or becoming the system itself.
Working in a completely profit driven company, one eventually starts realizing the necessary evils of 'having to toe the line'. So in politics, where the motives should be altruistic, will it be too big a struggle to make a difference
Well written though I hope this is not the shape of things to come!!!!. To make a difference one does not have to be part of a large system(political or bureaucratic). If each one of us( from this side of the fence) tried and made a difference to the lives of even 10 under priveleged individuals I think we could change things. Anything larger becomes a race for power/money or both.
Cheers! It is not Mofussil Orissa but a port town,
Keep writing
The political set-up in India has also been influenced in turn by the corporate world. A good indicator is how the campaigns in the last few elections have been managed & run.
While I would not paint all polticians with the same brush .... some may have joined politics to make a difference .... it must not be easy to resist getting sucked into the system.
Barack Obama has got so far on this very platform .... change the way of Washington politics .... it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Enjoyed the reading & commenting on it. Keep writing.
For someone never shy of a dialog, the curious - and completely imaginary - dot between the Mahesh and Misra was rather uncharacteristic! Perhaps a mere slip owing much to unique coexistence of the silly and sublime on the banks of Ganga an evening in Patna - and for reasons of history, one must give Shri Misra the benefit of doubt.
Be that as it may, the message and the medium in this post are both equally welcome. If these be a harbinger of things to come, then they bear good tidings indeed. Stay on course, my friend - we do need more of your ilk in LBZ. Equally, at the risk of preaching to the converted - you could recall a certain Kautilya on the theory and practice of politics and economics intertwined. Alas, he was a but few furlongs north ;-)
Dear Mr Misra
I have read your blog, and i am writing to show my protest against the reference to gurjar agitation. The gurjar people are deprived people, and it is Brahman people like you who make fun of the agitation. The glorious past of gurjar community is not known by the public. I would like to tell you personally about gurjar people. What is your address? I am seeing in your blog that you are a alcohol drinker.
Please in state of drinking refrain from comments that you have no knowledge of. My mother bring up 6 children without my father. We had deprived a childhood and were not admission into school because of my caste. My mother had to work in upper caste houses to make the living.
If i and my brothers had good school we would be in comfortable place like you. It should be known to educated people like you that caste repression is serious problem, and we have equal right. There are great gurjar people in freedom struggle. We have no recognition and this is not fair. We want equality. This is only by reservation. Our agitation is for survival. Youth gurjar cannot get good jobs, not even good schools.
English speaking is very great in our country. All works are done in English. We want national recognition of the great gurjar community. English speaking people like you have always looked down on the gurjar community, we want justice. I will like to meet you give me you address.
K. R. Bainswal,
PA to Chief Sceretary,
All India Gurjar Samaj
61/244 Ber Sarai
New Delhi 110022
Dear Mr. Misra,
This is to inform you that we have taken serious exception to your irresponsible reference to the Gurjar Agitation in your blog. You are therefore advised to remove the words 'gujjar agitation' from your article.
This is in the best interests of all concerned. my email is given and i would like to meet you personally.
K. R. Bainswal
gurjar.samaj@gmail.com
Sab's comments strike an agreeable chord in me. We need to jump in to make a difference. From Banking to Politics, a small step for man may become a giant step for India (excuse cliche). But Mahesh, go on....lead the way!
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