(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.
