The Fourth P

(my speech at the valedictory function at DTRTI, Bangalore 19.07.2013)

“ ……The school failed again. It was the annual sports meet.  The school which had a great track record at the meet has been failing miserably from the past couple of years. The situation in football was particularly pathetic. They not only lost matches but also the hope for the future. The school desperately wanted to improve the situation. As everyone else does in such a situation, the school hired a renowned football coach.  The coach immediately accepted the challenge and started his job. In no time he found out that the team was hugely short of both talent and attitude. The coach wanted to build a new team and for that he wanted to infuse new talent and a fresh attitude in the team. The coach started to observe other kids in the school. And like all good coaches do, this coach had trusted his intuition and zeroed upon one boy whom he thought had great abilities to be a footballer. Ironically, this boy knew nothing about football. However, he was enthused with the attention he was getting from the coach. The coach started his training sessions. Soon he was overwhelmed by the choice he made because the boy was indeed a prodigy. Within a short span of time the coach made him an extraordinary footballer, far ahead of his peers. The whole team was buoyed by his performance and everyone else was contributing more than they thought they could. The coach and the school were very happy and were looking forward for the sports meet.

            The D-day finally arrived. It was the first match for the school and was a very crucial one too.  The coach confidently fielded all his team led by this boy. The match started. As expected this boy started showcasing his extra-ordinary talent. The remaining 21 players were no match for his speed and skill.

          ….The half time score read 5-5.  The audience was awestruck. The coach simply went blank. One would have expected the school to just demolish the opposition but the scoreboard simply didn’t reflect that. What happened then? ALL THE GOALS WERE SCORED BY THAT BOY!! The coach taught him all the tricks of the trade but he didn’t tell that kid where his goal is……”

            This was a story told to me in my childhood. Back then, it was nothing more than a funny fable. Today, I often think about it and the relevance it has in our day-to-day life. Knowledge in itself has no intrinsic value. Wisdom to use that knowledge imparts value to it. Without the wisdom, knowledge is not only useless but sometimes dangerous too. The atomic bomb and the Manhattan Project. Scientifically it was one of the greatest inventions of all time. Generating enormous amounts of energy from one of the smallest particles in the universe is nothing short of amazing. However, the purpose for which it was used resulted in a catastrophe, the ashes of which are burning in those two cities even after 70 years.

            We are often so overwhelmed by our “means” that we forget our “ends”. Whereas as we ve seen in the above story, without a purpose, all our efforts are in vain. In management parlance, an employee in an organization is motivated by  “Pay, Promotion and Privileges”. I would not agree with this in totality. Of course these things motivate us in short term but these would not sustain after a certain level.  There comes the fourth P, the “purpose” to fill in the gap. The motivation must be “Purpose, Pay, Promotion and Privileges” in that order.

            The purpose becomes even more prominent in the case of a civil servant. Rather, I would prefer the term “Public Servant”. The term ‘servant’ is quite interesting. All of us want to be ‘masters’, and none of us want to be a ‘servant’.  Then the question arises as to why many of us want to be public servants, which often is after clearing some of the toughest exams in the world. That’s the greatness of service. It gives the greatest satisfaction. The “purpose” here is the Public service. Today in our governmental services, I see both talent and skill. But the greatest problem is probably indifference. The reason for that is most of the servants do not understand the real purpose and the impact their work makes in the Nation Building. Corruption and inefficiency, which are most talked about in the context of the governmental service are the result of the same. Are they not more of an attitudinal problem? If true then where does the solution lie? The answer lies in developing a healthy organizational culture. When you trust your employees, generate respect across the hierarchy and help them realize the real purpose of their job, the employee develops a pride in the work he does. When this happens, the employee tries his best to atleast uphold that pride if not increase it. People’s perception is bound to change in a positive direction.

            The society is evolving and so is our governance. Irrespective of the much hyped mishappenings here and there, there is a lot of positive energy in today’s India. India is about to reap the benefits of the one of the youngest population in the world. There is need for each one of us to channelize these positive energies towards a common goal. Let us all Dream of a wonderful India and work together towards it.

                

One Billion Leaders

(This is my speech at Ramakrishna Mission,New Delhi on the occasion of 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda on 12th Jan. 2013.)

Respected swami Shantatmananda ji, Revered monks of the Ramakrishna order, chief guest Shri Sam Pitroda, distinguished Olympians Shri Abinav Bhindra and Shri Akhil Kumar, and my dear friends, I am honored to be given an opportunity to speak on this wonderful occasion. I am extremely grateful to RK Mission New Delhi for providing me with this opportunity.

I bow down to the great leader in Swami Vivekananda and his great master Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. If I were to summarize the mission of swamiji in a single phrase, then that would be the message of “Empowerment from within”. Swamiji believed in the Divinity in man and encouraged everyone to realize and accept it.

We Indians, as a society, today stand on the edge of a cliff. There is authoritarianism being exhibited at the top of the pyramid while the danger of anarchy is lurking at the bottom of it. And when these two forces come into contact, then there will only be destruction. There is a growing inequity in the society. On one hand, there are millions starving and on the other we boast of few of the richest men in the world. On one hand, we take pride in our rich cultural heritage where women are accorded the highest respect and on the other, there is a growing incidence of female foeticide, sexual harassment and dowry deaths. The society as a whole is getting frustrated. People want a change and in real quick time. We already are witnessing glimpses of this revolutionary spirit. Fortunately, these protests are peaceful till today but we never know when it will take a violent turn. I don’t want to see a Libya or a Syria here because India is no Libya or Syria and if we come down to fighting, there are so many differences amongst us that it will lead to the bloodiest civil war ever fought in the history of mankind.

How do I stop this? What is the root cause of all this misery? What is the kind of change that we want to see? Has our leadership failed us? Do we need better leaders and better governments? Or do we need to relook the very conception of leadership that we have. Here comes Swami Vivekananda’s message as an answer.

Gone are the days when leadership was based on the criteria of birth. Gone are the days when leader was perceived to be one who possessed a fixed set of traits. Gone are the days when different leadership styles to suit different situations were “taught” in colleges. The time has come. The time has to come to discover the leader within each one of us. A leader need not have followers. Be the follower of the leader within you. Let us accept the infinite power present in each one of us.

We do find leaders in our day-to-day life. A young budding cricketer probably sees his leader in the great Sachin Tendulkar. What we need to understand here is Sachin is nothing but the closest reflection of the great hidden potential in that young cricketer. The real leader is within.

Every young has a dream. I am young. And I have a dream. I dream of India as a country of “One Billion Leaders”. I dream of One Billion leaders who do not fight each other for power but accept the infinite potential within each one of them and grow powerful by day. I dream of One Billion leaders who readily sacrifice their individual egos for the common good. I dream of One billion leaders who infact are the servants of the whole mankind.

How do I plan to realize this dream of mine? How do I integrate these one billion leaders towards a common goal?

We always take pride in talking about “unity in diversity” whenever we talk about India. It is a great attribute indeed. But even greater is the fact that this land has actually allowed such a diversity to flourish which no other civilization could ever achieve. Now what is the unifying factor of all this diversity?

A century ago this unification was achieved through Nationalism. Thousands of leaders sprouted to fight the mighty British and achieve national independence. Today we are a strong independent nation and hence nationalism wont be as effective as it was then. Today probably religion serves the purpose better. Infact religion will serve as a better unifying factor compared to Nationalism because the diversity we talk about is rooted in this very religion. Religion in India, unlike in many other countries is founded on the principles of secularism and democracy. Throughout the Indian history, Religion has been striking the right chord in between the temptation of authoritarianism and chaos of anarchy, thus been a vehicle of good governance.

By the word Religion, I do not refer to any particular sect like that of a Hindus, Muslims or Christians. Nor do I wish to create a new sect altogether. By the word religion I refer to a set of values and a way of life that makes a Hindu a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim and a Christian a better Christian. I speak of that religion where to serve is to pray and to conquer is to sacrifice. Progress and not mere reform; Evolution and not mere revolution is the motto of this religion. I wish to take up this religion to realize my dream. It is the vehicle of change within each one of us. The change we are longing for is the change within.

Yes, there are challenges. Yes, I cannot preach this religion to a hungry stomach or a diseased man. But I am not talking about churning out One Billion leaders overnight. It must start with small infant steps. It is a chain reaction in which leaders breed new leaders. In fact the very process of this chain reaction solves many of our problems today.

One Billion Leaders. This is my Dream. This is my Belief. And this is my Hope. Let us make it our Dream, our Belief, and our Hope.