Chandran's Thattukada (Chandran's Tea Shop)

I reached the Jorhat airport on a cool February  afternoon. The flight from Guwahati felt like a family trip. Everyone knew everyone, except for me. I felt like a new comer in a hostel constantly on the threat of getting ragged. It was an indication of what was to come. A flight where everyone knows everyone means I am headed to a small city. It was a small city by all means.

The airport was a very small one and I guess the flight I came was the only commercial fight to Jorhat. The airport is more of a military base. I wanted to take a cab to the hotel. But there was none  available. I got out of the airport hoping for some kind of transportation to the hotel. I see an auto stand a little ahead. I reached the auto stand and asked the first auto driver I saw to drop me to the hotel. He quickly agreed. I asked "Kitna" (How much). "Dho so" (₹200) he replied. Not having a clue on whether it was the right price or not and realizing whatever be the case I didn't have too many options, I agreed.

There was a young man in a blue shirt and jeans standing next to us listening to this conversation. His features indicated that he did not come from this side of the world. He asks me in flawless Hindi (flawless as far as my limited understanding of Hindi goes) "Sir, mere ko bhi town ki tarah janna he. Aap ok he tho mein bhi aake saath aaonga, sou rupee mein denge" (Sir, I also have to go towards the town. If you are ok, I ll come with you. I ll pay ₹100 of the ₹200 that you have to pay.) Realizing that the man did not look to be a native and hence realizing that my probability of getting robbed is less and also looking at the probability of getting robbed by the auto driver also gets significantly reduced when there are 2 of us (that's an engineer speaking), I reluctantly agreed

So we started our journey. My fellow passenger says that he is working with ONGC and he is travelling to a location that is 70 kilometres away from Jorhat and that he is going to town to catch a bus. He says he is currently based out of Ahmedabad and he is in Jorhat for a visit. Something in his face says that he is not from Ahmedabad.

I ask him from Hindi "so apka native kahan he" (where are you originally from). He says Kerala. As if i have found my sweetheart lost from the ages,  I ask affectionately with a beaming smile "Malayali aanalle" (you are a Malayali!!). He replies with equal or more enthusiasm "athe" (yes).

I have never taken the phrase, "Wherever you go, you will find a Malayali there, even in moon" seriously. I felt it was just an over representation, even though I must confess that there were Malayalis in everyplace in India that I have been. I still remember a place called Karakambadi, a remote village in Andhra Pradesh, close to the temple town of Tirupati. The owner of the hotel where we stayed was a Malayalali and for some reason he was very suspicious of us. Maybe because we were Bachelors then and we had mischief written all over our face. But just imagine this. In the North East corner of India, on a  place alien to me, the first person I meet is a Malayali and that too in a pooled auto rickshaw. Malayalis are indeed everywhere.

Binu (his name) and me then starts our conversation in Malayalam. He says that he was posted in Jorhat for 5 years in the past. He gives me an indication of the town, gives direction to the hotel that i am to stay and gets down in the bus stand. Our driver Montu seemer happier than the both of us that he facilitated the meeting of 2 Mallus in Jorhat.

I may never meet Binu anywhere again, but 2 things I know for sure. Firstly, Malayalis are there everywhere, I wouldn't be  surprised even if they find one in moon. Secondly, a Malayali can always recognize another one.

Self Righteous me....

A Monday morning in Venad Express is always crowded. I was lucky to have a reservation in the AC Chair car compartment. Outside my compartment I can see people standing, not an uncommon sight. My journey started at 5AM in the morning from Trivandrum to Aluva. I was on my way to the Nedumbassery Airport to catch my flight to Pune, the city where I work.

Next to me, was seated a family of 4. From their accent and mannerisms, I could figure out this is one of the NRI (non resident Indian) families on a holiday from US. The grandfather, who looks to be residing in Kerala from his dressing and mannerisms is on a trip with his Son and his family. The son seems to be somewhere between the 2 cultures. His son, the youngest of the group though seemed very excited. Probably his first train journey. Lucky that he is not with the majority that does not have a reservation or a seat. It may not have been that exciting.

The tea vendor comes calling "Chai Chai". The younger ones face gleams even more. Another first for him I guess. They buy tea. Through out the course of the 3 hour journey, they drink 4 more cups of tea. Tea drinking, I must confess is highly contagious phenomenon. I also had my 2 cups

The family alights at Kottayam. The empty cups of tea they had were left at their seats. Wonder if they would have done it in America. I am sure they would have picked it up and disposed it properly. What happens when they come back to their homeland? I thought for a moment whether I must give them a lecture on social etiquettes. I decided not to.

I took my 2 cups and went outside and disposed it, feeling pretty proud and to a certain extend self righteous

On board came a foreigner ( a real one not an NRI). From her accent she could be French or even from Russia. The curious contagious phenomenon of tea drinking spread to her too. She too bought a cup of coffee from the vendor that came by. She drank her tea, and to my admiration she not only picked her cup, but the 4 cups that was left by the earlier family and disposed it off

It was a moment which not only bought my short lived self righteousness crashing down to mother earth but also made me realize that we are way way behind as a  society.

Reflections….

Of 3 good years....

The year was 2012. It was a tough decision to make. I always wanted to do an MBA. But after my engineering, I had started to work and hence this was always in the backburner. I also wanted to do a course that was well recognized and hence satellite programs were not an option. Technical reasons apart, I seriously doubted by perseverance skills. People who know me from my engineering days would vouch for that. For me it was never a problem of skill or ability but more of going through the grind for a long period was a problem, the basic requirement for any good professional course.  Thanks to the encouragement of my wife, I decided to give it a shot. Selecting the college was a no brainer for me. Any institute other than a A level institute was not even in the consideration set. Being located in Jamshedpur as part of my work, XLRI was the only option. Since satellite programs were out of the question, the only course to pursue was the 3 year evening post graduate diploma program. The 3 years in the program, to say the least, was a roller coaster ride. I went through successes, failures, joy, jubilation, frustration, anger, sadness, stress and many more. Lets just put it this way, it was the whole platter. Was it really worth it? I really do think so. Was it the academics that I learnt or was it beyond that? I think it was way beyond. Academics is surely something that you will learn but the learnings beyond the academics was what i felt, atleast for me the real learnings. Let me just pen down a few

Time Management

I was the classic student always. Even after 10+ years of working, I was the classic student. If student syndrome was a problem for students, it held on to me even after my engineering days. I was the classic "P" in MBTI. The perceiver, who like to wait till the very last moment. While all of this sounds very nice, the fact was that I was plain lazy. I would not like to get up from the couch unless my ass catches fire. I had no option but to change. After starting my course, my typical day looks like this. Wake up at 5:30AM, play tennis from 0600 hrs to 0730 hrs. Back home and quickly eat something and run to office. Work from 0830hrs to 1745 hrs. Drive to XLRI and classes from 1830hrs to 2140hrs. Reach back home, quickly eat something and in bed by 2300hrs. The assignments, reports etc were additions to this. This was my routine for 3 years,  6 days a week. While this may sound crazy, there were 75 of us doing it and another 2 batches of 75 each. I realized that it was not at all difficult, provided you plan it well.

Waking up half an hour late meant disaster, sitting idle on a weekend meant disaster. This course just took the "P" in me for a ride to Chinatown and back.

I also realized that time management is not just about scheduling things, but also about prioritization, delegation and communication. You have to submit an assignment at 1800hrs and your boss needs a presentation at 1700hrs and both was told to you in the morning. Which one will you do? Or would you do both. This is where prioritization comes in, the ability to delegate comes in and the skill to communicate in advance of what is possible and not comes. All of us are reluctant delegators.  A lot of it has to do with what we are culturally. We as a culture like to yield power. Look around, you will find people trying to yield and hang on to power. Delegation means, that you have to transfer some of that powers to someone else. You have to share information and knowledge that you think gives you power to someone else. This from a mindset perspective is not easy. Every working professional will go through this dilemma at one stage or the other in their careers. But the good leaders, are the ones who get it right. It was when I was  pushed to the wall, that I understood the power of delegation.

People think delegation is pushing the job down, to your subordinates. While this is one of the forms of delegation, this course also taught me how to delegate to your peers and in many cases to your bosses too. This is where the ability to inspire comes. Come to think of it, the only way to make someone give in their 100% for you is through inspiration only. No salaries would, no carrot and stick would. How did Arvind Kejriwal make working professionals earning 5 figure salaries to quit and join him with? The answer is inspiration. You can inspire someone only when you display behaviors that inspire. Do you practice what you preach? Do you have a good value system? Are you honest, trust worthy, fair? If you are, people tend to get inspired and work for you. Delegation at any level will work only if you are able to inspire. Can you get your batch mate to do the assignment for your group that you committed that you will do because you are stuck with work?  Can you make your boss make that presentation himself as you are busy with your assignment? This is when you are a good delegator and not when you shove it to a hapless subordinate

The importance of Give and Take

I realized while delegating, inspiring etc, the importance of the phrase "Give and Take". Ever wondered why it is not the other way round? "Take and give". Because it does not work that way. You have to give something to get something in return. People even misinterpret this. People think that give and take has to be in the same time frame, otherwise they lose out. For example, if you want someone to do something for you,  take him out for a dinner. How silly can that be? It is not only silly, it looks plain sleazy. The key is to give first and without the take part. When you are in a position to give, give as much as you can.  Dont worry about when you can get it back. Fact is sooner or later you will. It may not even be from the same person, but someone else. The fact is people observe you far more closely than you think. Your act of giving is not only watched by the recipient of that act, but a whole host of others too.

In the initial days of the course, I used to take a lot of interest in doing the presentations, group assignments etc and used to do it on behalf of the team since I had the bandwidth then. During the latter stages of the course, people used to help me back, not necessarily the same people whom I have helped. That is the way it goes. Give and take works, but not in the way we think normally. Delegation at peer level and above works in the same philosophy. Be ready to be delegated by your boss and colleagues, help them, you will have an army of people inspired to be delegated by you.

The "Experience" and Perseverance

I began this article by mentioning about the doubts that I had about persevering for 3 years to complete this course. I had these doubts from my previous experiences as a student and the struggle it was. But through this course, I realized my problem was not that of perseverance but that of the environment and the experience that you go through. What is this experience? It is the whole package that makes the time spent at any place, be it work, college or home, memorable or detestful. In pure Organizational Design parleys, it is called as the culture of the place.

I realized that perseverance in XLRI was not a problem at all due to its fantastic culture. Our education system encourages us to be conformists. It starts from school days, where deviations from the norms is considered to be a sin. It continues to college where anything that is not the norm is dealt with severe resistance. My biggest problem from my school days has been conformance. I find it very difficuilt to follow something blindly, until it makes sense to me. Attending classes that is of no interest to me, or listening to professors who cannot add any value made absolutely no sense to me

But XLRI is one place where I found a significant difference to this. There is very little emphasis given to being a conformist and to be bounded by boundaries. The discussions in the classes, the freedom given to students to think independently, the maturity of the professors in these matters is to say the least, very welcoming. It is this experience that makes this institute what it is. I would certainly go out and talk about this fantastic place, but may not talk about some of the other places where I have studied.  The difference is the experience. The size of the buildings does not matter, the wi fi does not matter, the library does not matter, if this experience is not there. It is the culture that frees up people to use all the knowledge, experience and infrastructure on campus to excel. Spending 3 years in such a fantastic culture, despite the pressures of academics becomes a pleasure. And what makes this culture? It is people. In fact it is all people, the administrators, the faculty, the students, the guards, Daddu and many many invisible and unseen people. I fondly remember the warmth of the security guards to begin with

I realize this is true even for organizations. What makes employees stay long in an organization is the culture. No gyms, salaries, holiday tickets, chauffeur driven cars, state of the art buildings can make an employee stick to the organization if the culture is not there. And it is people starting from top to the bottom that makes the culture. For me the definition of a good culture is a place where one can just be himself and does not have to pretend. Cummins is one such organization where working has been a pleasure and not a stress.

Managing Stress

A lot of people mistake my earlier said perseverance issue to inability to handle stress and pressure. I hope that I was able to explain the connect between "experience" and perseverance. I have realized that while trying to manage stress it is very important to understand the reason behind the stress. Many a times, people dont even understand the reasons behind the stress and try to attack it. No yoga, no religion would help if you don’t understand the cause of stress. And many a times, people think stress and pressure are the same things. Fact is that they are not. You may be in pressure to meet an impending deadline, but that may not be stress, and that you maybe doing nothing at this moment but under a lot of stress

I had mentioned earlier of my daily work routine for the past 3 years, starting from 5:30 in the morning to 11 in the night. Any outsider would think it as a highly stressed life. But let me tell you, I was never under stress. I may have got tired, but was not under stress. I used to play, which was my passion, I was working in an organization that had a fantastic culture, and was studying in an institute that also had a fantastic culture. There was no stress. I was enjoying it. Of course there was the pressure of deadlines, exams, performance at work etc, but they were not stresses. They were just pressures and I always enjoyed a challenge or two.

However, imagine I was doing only one of the main 3 routine activities that I mentioned earlier. Lets say that I was only working, but in an organization that had a terrible work culture. Lets assume that the work place had terrible politics, that every step might be a landmine waiting to explode, lets assume people are generally suspicious of each other there. And believe me, I have worked in such places too. Lets say since I do nothing else, I work for 8 hrs and back home early at 5PM every day. For me, this is stress. Being in a place where I cannot be myself and must be guarded everytime, faced with all insecurities at all times, surely is stress. I would any day trade this kind of a life to a jam packed 18 hour day, but in the right environment

Performing under pressure

While performing under pressure was a daily task in this 3 year endeavor, I learnt about how to perform under pressure outside the academics of XLRI. I ll have to bring in our fond XLRI - IIM C meet here. Being part of the winning tennis team for 2 years, i realized the meaning of performing under extreme pressure, first by a failure and then learning from that failure to a win. In 2014, even though we won the team tennis , I lost the men’s singles match to a player whom I thought was not better than me. I was angry, felt humiliated and frustrated. On hindsight, when I looked at it, that match had nothing to do with skill or ability or talent. It had everything to do with my ability to handle pressure. The first thing that you forget when under pressure is your ability to think logically. This is where muscle memory comes into play. This is why the more you practice, the more equipped you become to handle pressure as muscle memory takes over. I learnt this big lesson. While I have played a lot of tennis, I was woefully short of match practice and also that I did not think logically under pressure. It took almost a year to work on this and come back the next year and win. The key to performance under pressure is to have the experience of 'being there done that' and the ability to take a step back and think. I ll never forget the sledging, especially the one in Malayalam in the 2nd year. To be in the midst of such pressure and be in a zone of yourself is an art. This is true even in the professional work place. While under pressure mangers forget to think logically and tend to take decisions, in many cases stupid ones, in the heat of the moment. The trick is the ability not to get sucked into the situation, but to take a step back,  think through and then decide. Needless to say it comes from experience. I have read somewhere, that whenever you have to take a major decision, either professionally or in life in general, always sleep over it, if you can afford to. A good nights rest allows logical thinking while keeping the emotions in check

The Importance of "Loved Ones"

R Gopalakrishnan in his book "When the Penny Drops" said that the most bluntest and honest feedback that you can ever get is from your loved ones. While one may look around for feedback in office, from friends and may get it too, it may not be the correct one, as it is always given considering the social norms. Loved ones may be your parents, spouse, some special friends etc. This is because, this is the only set of people who is going to stick by you through heaven and hell and hence will have the courage and conviction to give you the most honest feedback. They are the ones who genuinely wants you to get better every day as they are in it for the long haul with you

For me, my family was the pillar of strength which allowed me to go through and complete this course. For 3 years, the entire responsibility of running the family was taken up by Cheryl (my wife). From buying groceries, to taking good care of the kid, to keeping alive our social commitments, including talking to our parents, planning holidays and much more, was completely done by her. Our son was also born during this period. While her name may not appear at the certificate that I get, she deserves a place in it too. In fact the whole family chipped in in ways that they could. Parents who ensured that I was not bothered with anything else, to them visiting us every now and much more pitching in.

Come to think if it. When you suddenly start with something like this, for the extra time that you spend in the college, the time at work cannot decrease. You are paid salary not for attending classes but for delivering results. The only place hence, where the time spent can decrease is the time spent at home. This can become a hell, if the ones at home does not accept this fact. For me, luckily, I had a family who not only understood, but also went out of the way to support me to succeed. My son, was too young to understand all of this, except that his dad disappears time to time

The inverse relationship between Ego and Competence

Ever wondered what makes people to behave with ego? I have always wondered what drives people to behave in the way they do and even take stupid decisions because of their ego. I was never able to understand this one

But through the course of the 3 years at XLRI, I realized that ego and your competence levels have inverse relationship with each other. In other words, the more an authority you are on your subject, the lesser of an ego you will carry with yourself. I have made this observation from some of the great and brilliant professors at XLRI. Professors like  Pingali Venugopal and Rajiv Misra are known experts of their respective areas not just in XLRI but across the country and globally. They carry around themselves with absolutely no ego. People at such levels of competence normally have no ego. The reason: they are not there to prove anything to anyone. What excites them is when they transfer that knowledge to someone and also when they are challenged intellectually. In their classes, conformance does not carry marks. Getting attendance may not carry marks but your ability to take part in good intellectual debates may, vomiting out theoretical concepts may not, but your ability to use those concepts in a practical situation will.

This is so true in organizations too. The egoistic ones that you come across are the ones who lack the skills. The only way to hide the incompetence is to build a wall of ego. Rather than focus on building the skills and striving to become experts they create a fortress of ego which not only makes them behave irrationally, but put them in a situation where they can’t ask for help as they have shut themselves from their colleagues who can help. Hence, they themselves deprive themselves a chance to become good at something. The result, they try to hold on to whatever they know, try not to share any of it with anyone and in a way, desperately attempt to prolong the inevitable. But the inevitable happens every time. I have seen it far too many times. They will make themselves useless over a period of time. The pattern and the result is the same always.

Unfortunately, in the Indian context, a large number of our middle managers fall into this category. This is the reason why, in the Indian organizations, a lot of the politics, ego clashes and so on happens at this level. I am not saying that other countries are immune to these problems, but I see it more prevalent here. I am not expert to find out the reasons for, it may be our mindset of conformance, or our culture of paternal relationships that exists in Indian organizations even today. Whatever be it, I can surely say that it is not good for the organization. The problem is large enough when we have a lot of mid managers who fits into this category, but the larger issue is when these ones gets promoted to the senior management. This is where it starts affecting the culture of organizations. Fiefdoms and power centers hence starts getting creating within the organization, as the primary intent is not excellence, but that of protecting ones terrain. Good organizations manage this smartly by ensuring that this lot does not move up further.    

The real meaning of Team Work

What is team work? The image that comes to most of the minds is the picture of smartly dressed man and women, in a corporate board room, discussing and debating things, till they reach the Eureka moment. This happens in Indian corporate organizations also. The naturally argumentative Indians, in the name of team work, gets into endless meetings, discussing everything relevant and irrelevant and no concrete actions. The results, countless hours of productivity lost and umpteen cups of coffee drunk.

During the 3 years at XLRI, I understood the real meaning of team work. It was never taught as a lesson, but was literally forced upon us due to our circumstances. Since most of us were working professionals, time was always the constraining factor. Especially in group activities like projects and seminars this was a big factor. There was no question of meeting for countless hours, debating etc. In fact, this was the route we tried in our first couple of group assignments, and by the end of it, we burnt our fingers well enough to realize that this will not work. For any group activity the plan was simple. Individuals in the team decide, who will do what, and get it done. On the day of the submission, meet once, the individuals explain their part to the others, and final consolidation happens.

For me this is the real meaning of team work. Team work means, breaking down the project into tasks, make individuals responsible for the tasks. The role of the leader of the groups is to equip the team members with whatever they need to complete the tasks. The other job of the team leaders is to ensure that the big picture is not lost while the tasks are being carried out by individuals. It is that simple. It does not require, hours of meetings, and discussions on all issues under the sun. I am not trying to discount the importance of meetings. All what I am trying to say, is meetings are not an indication of team work, in fact it can be counter productive

Passion and Drive to Succeed

Let me go back to my favourite part of my 3 years at XLRI. The XLRI – IIM C meet. For the first time in many years, XLRI won for 2 consecutive years. While this may look to not a big achievement, lets look at the numbers. XLRI always had a smaller student community when compared to its rivals. This is because of the differences in the batch size and the courses on offer. Hence the pool to get the talent to play in these events is smaller for XLRI. I have interacted closely with the XLRI teams of the last couple of years. And the difference I find in them is passion. Passion and drive to succeed in fact are synonymous with each other.  It is the passion that helps to break the systemic barriers, be it the smaller talent pool, or anything else. It is the passion that makes people do unbelievable things. The sheer passion exhibited by this group of students was plain incredible. The passion that drove them to success

Look at all the sporting greats. The only factor that differentiates them with the rest is passion. Look at Roger Federer. While he may have loads of talent, he may not be the only talented tennis player around. In fact there may be many who might have had more talent but have not achieved any of what he did. He definitely is not the most muscular man in the tour. He is not the fastest around. What makes him apart from the rest. It is his passion for the game. It is that passion that drives him to success, it is that passion that pushes him to play at the highest levels at the age of 33, it is the passion that takes him to court for practice even today after almost 20 years in the tour. The truly great ones are all driven by passion

The real meaning of Diversity

I have heard the word diversity given a lot of importance in todays organizations. Many organizations preach that they are the best in diversity and taunt best practices to prove their point. Very few organizations, from atleast the ones that I have worked in practice diversity in its true spirit. Cummins again is a good example.

What is diversity? The moment the word gets spoken, what comes to a lot of peoples minds is gender diversity. Is diversity only gender? Is having a good male to female ratio a good indication of diversity? If so, all IT companies are good places as far as diversity goes. The fact is gender ratio numbers are not even indicative of diversity. Diversity has a far reaching definition that goes far beyond gender into geography, religion, age, caste and many more.

The real issue in fact is not the numbers. The real measure of diversity is culture. In fact, what our founding fathers mentioned in our constitution which is part of our fundamental right as per the constitution is the real meaning of diversity. Right to equality of the Indian constitution says: Which includes equality before law, prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, gender or place of birth, and equality of opportunity in matters of employment, abolition of untouchability and abolition of titles.

Going by this definition, how many organizations truly are places which promote diversity. They may have great male to female ratio, but what about opportunities? Is women given the same opportunities to grow as their male counter parts? Have a look at the gender ratio in the middle and top management, the story begins to emerge. Does the organization has a bias towards a religion, caste or language? Does the organization have a redressal mechanism that the employees truly believe in? Almost all organization has a grievance mechanism but how many of them has a believability attached to it? Needless to say, very few organizations practice diversity

XLRI is one place where I have seen real diversity in practice. Where you are from, what gender you are, what religion you practice does not matter. What matter is only merit. This extends beyond academics to non-academics. In fact diversity gets celebrated in a unique way and the institute supports it. I fondly remember the Keraxi dinner, with Appam and Stew hosted by Keralites to the entire student and teacher community. Similiarly all other states host their own dinners, not for their own lot, but for the whole campus. Diversity gets celebrated here. I have never heard a girl student in XLRI say that I cannot do something as it is meant for men only. Everything is open for everyone. That is the true meaning of diversity, when equal opportunity exists for everyone.

Conclusion

I feel that students passing out from colleges like XLRI are sought out in the industry because they tend to bring to the table, things which are far beyond academics. I realized through the last 3 years, that great institutions make this possible for students by offering avenues that goes way beyond academics. Academic skill in todays world where information is widely available can be learnt even if these great institutions does not exist. But what gets really taught in the campus that goes far beyond normal academics cannot be taught be everyone and only truly great institutions can.

Integrity

What is the price of your integrity?

We live in a world where everyone seems to have lost integrity. Atleast that is what we get to hear from all around us. What is this integrity and what is ethical behavior? Oxford dictionary defines integrity as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. According to me integrity is the quality of an individual to act ethically in line with the accepted norms of the society when no one is watching.

To put it in layman’s terms, integrity is being true to one’s own value system and hence automatically confirming to the norms of the society.

Is integrity a value? Or is it something more than that? Classical definition says that integrity is a value. But does it limit itself to being a value? Can it be told that learning the definition of integrity or attending trainings on integrity makes you a person with integrity? For me integrity is more than a value. It is not a single value. It is a combination of a lot of things. For me integrity is a result and not the path. And since it is a result, the actions that we take, the pressure that we face and the circumstances that we are in all lead to the result which is integrity. This also means that each one of us has a break point where we will be ready to compromise.

This break point is different for different people and gets decided by a host of factors, some of which are mentioned below. These circumstances, pressures and actions that we take ultimately decides whether we would behave ethically or not.

1) Values taught at home:

Research shows that the value system of a child is formed by the time he reaches the age of 5. The famous psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg, in his Theory of Stages of Moral Development, stated that the first level of moral development is that of obedience and punishment. This then further gets developed through different stages till he reaches the level of universal ethical principles. Or in other words, from the stage of an action and its associated consequences, the person moves to a stage of universal awareness and informed choices. A child is typically in the first stage of development. However, as the child grows up he learns to make informed choices. And he gains this information from his surroundings and primarily parents. He learns to move from the stage of doing an action to prevent punishment to a stage where he makes decisions based on what he sees and observes others do, in the child’s case, mainly parents.

Values taught at home do not mean the words spoken by parents. More important is the actions of parents. Our children are far more intelligent than we think. Every act of the parents gets registered in them. If any parent has a misperception that he can fool his child, it is that they are fooled themselves. Our actions, at the witness of our children lay long lasting impressions on them. Small acts that lack integrity, which we may think as inconsequential may leave deep impressions in them. For example, a father how promises his child to take him out and does not, may have a child who promises his teacher that he will do his homework but won’t. He may even be an expert in cooking up excuses for not doing it, like his father does. Our children learn from us.

Children who are raised in families, where values of honesty, truthfulness and so on get practiced everyday tend to develop more of these qualities. Punishing a child for a behavior that is even exhibited by the parents will not have any impact on the child. Now I know why many developed countries have strong laws against punishing the child (sic).  But punishing a child for an act which not only his parents disapprove of, but also that they do not do, will leave a lasting impression on the child.

2) Pressure from loved ones:

If the pressure put on an individual is to live a life of integrity, then the world would have been a different place. The greatest need of a human being, after meeting his need of food, shelter and clothing, is to love and to be loved. In other words, it is the need to be accepted by those whom he loves. Sadly the ones he loves, holds him to a ransom when they measure his love, through his performance and results. A school boy is told that he must repay the love of his parents by being the first in class. There is a point where we are ready to let go our value system and succumb to that pressure. I call it the break point. Like the case of a boy who is ready to cheat in his exams, as he wants to live upto the expectations of his parents to top his class. The parents may have taught and shown through their lives exemplary values, but he is ready to give it up, due to the pressures. The only other option that he may have is to take away his life, tragically as to is the case with many youngsters these days.

This continues even as we grow up. It’s only that the stakeholders change. The expectations from wife, husband, and children and so on may lead to the break point

3) Societal Pressure

A society is defined as the community of people living in a particular region and having shared customs, laws, and organizations. Within each society every individual has interactions with different individuals and groups within the society. This means that we may be part of different groups at any point of time. Some of them can be your groups at work, community groups, and society / lifestyle groups and so on. Each of these groups can put pressure. The term peer pressure that gets used very often is closely related to this. One often wonders why CEO's cheat. They have achieved almost everything anyone could have possibly achieved. They have money, power, position and everything you can ever think of. One may say it is raw greed. But is not greed related to this pressure? Everyone wants to score a point over their peers. In business it can be termed as ambition, to be better than the rest. But in layman's terms it is nothing but pure greed. In fact, from our school days, we are taught this. To better the rest, to leave the competition behind. And there comes a point where this pressure forces us towards the break point

This societal pressure also includes pressure that gets from the perceived definitions of success. Media and the present day education system have a lot to do with this. When I was in school, my definition of being successful was wearing a suit and a tie and owning a big car. Even today's media portrays success this way. If these would have continued to be my definitions of success, then there would come a point where I would break up and compromise to achieve those signs of success.

4) Strengths and Weaknesses

Every individual is gifted with his own sets of strengths and weaknesses. This is true in all areas of life. Education, intellect and even values. There may be some values that we are strong at and some that we are not. These strengths and weaknesses may also determine your tipping point. I guess the biggest weakness of us is to accept the fact that we may not be strong in all values. It is sort of demeaning to say that I am not strong in values. Atleast we all like to be known as men and women of incorruptible values.

For most men, the typical weaknesses are the 3 W's. Wealth, wine and women. I know this is like painting the whole canvas black. Each one of us has a set of weakness and strengths. The break point of weaknesses will be way lower than the strengths. For some IPL players, it was Rs 60 lakhs. What is yours?

Bribe giving and taking culture (Applicable for only some countries)

Looking at all the scams that have been in the news, especially the ones in India got me thinking. Why would anyone want to give a bribe if I have an option of doing business without it? Look at the 2G scam. (For more read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2G_spectrum_scam). The accused are all players with prominence in the field of telecommunications if not in India, globally. Why would such organizations bribe? Is it that these organizations are filled with men and women who have reached their tipping point? The thought is hilarious isn't it? An organization filled with men and women who are crazy as they have reached their tipping point. It’s too simple an explanation to the point of being illogical. If this is not the case what else? I guess the reason is that in some countries you cannot do business without giving bribes. Especially in sectors where government permission is required to open up a business.

Aristotle defined politics as “A polis is not an association for residents on a common site, or for the sake of preventing mutual injustice and easing exchange. The end and purpose of a polis is the good life, and the imitations of social life are means to that end”. According to him a politician is someone who has the moral right and the character to lead the society towards this good life. Considering this definition of a politician, how many of today's politicians have the right to be in politics? One may think this is an epidemic in the developing countries, but looking at some of the developed countries and their unholy alliances with gun makers, prostitutes’ shows that the cancer of corruption is everywhere. In countries where bribe taking and giving is almost a culture, surviving as a business without being party to it is almost impossible. Organizations that operate in such countries are definitely not made of employees who have reached their tipping point, but it’s such a case of survival. Let me make myself very clear. I do not support giving bribes or taking it. I personally do not do both. And let me tell you that, from experience, in the country that I live in, it’s a very very tough thing to do.

5) Relationship with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Fig: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs]

 One gets to wonder, whether the willingness to act without integrity has any relationship with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Proposed by Maslow in 1943, this theory classifies needs into 5 main categories starting from physiological to self actualization. According to him these needs are in the form of a pyramid, with the most fundamental needs like breathing, food water etc at the bottom and the need for self actualization at the top

Linking propensity to violate ethical standards and act unethically with the hierarchy shows that the lower the need that is not met, greater the chances to move towards break point. For example a person may act unethically if he does not have food to eat, than the need to own a car.

But does it mean that those who do not have food to eat steal would steal more that the ones that does not own a car? If that is the case, many of the thefts, robberies, scams that we see would have no possible explanations.  If Maslow’s hierarchy is looked at in isolation, the hypothesis holds true. Given that all the other possible causes that leads one to the break point given above remains constant and equal for an individual then the probability to steal for food is more that the probability to steal to buy a car. For example, consider two individuals whose value systems are exactly the same, pressure exerted from the family is exactly the same, the pressure from society is exactly the same, strengths and weaknesses are also exactly the same. One of this individual does not have food to eat. The other has all the bottom 2 needs of Maslow’s hierarchy met (food, shelter, security etc). His need is that of a car for social acceptance. In such a case where all other reasons for break point is same for the 2 parties considered, the chances are that the person whose need for food to act without integrity is more that the one whose need is for a car.

Hence, all of the reasons mentioned above cannot be treated in isolation. Each one of these points can add up and lead to the point of break down and compromise. The difficulty here is that all of the above reasons for break point are not measurable and hence we do not know how it adds up. But looking around one can surely say that the effect is atleast a sum if not multiplier or exponential.

This is exactly the reason why we see so many cases where people compromise and choose to give up on integrity. The pressure is from multiple quarters these days when compared to the past. This can surely be attributed to the sudden increase in unethical behavior over the last few decades. It is the pressure from all quarters along with your weaknesses. Even weaknesses add up. A little of money and immorality may suffice for one, rather than a ton of money for another. This is why this epidemic runs across. From children to scientists to businesses to sports.

What can I do?

I think that the least a person can do is to accept that everyone including oneself can be corruptible. It is just a question of what will make you corrupt and how much will make you corrupt. I think this realization itself is humbling. This in itself will make one to be aware. It is indeed a depressing to know and accept that I have a break point.

 Understanding your strengths and weaknesses in terms of values is important. It is humanely impossible to be strong in all values. For example a person who is strong in honesty as a value, may not be strong in transparency as a value. He may have a weakness for wealth. This is a fact that is difficult for us to accept. We all like to be known as people with good values. Accepting that we may not be strong in all values may not be a very easy thing to do.

Having a clear view on your goals and dreams for life is also important. One must spend enough time on what my aims and dreams in life are. These dreams and goals will prove to be an anchor that will prevent you from sailing after the expectations set in from others

What can businesses do?

1)      Accept that there is a break point for everyone:

Organizations must accept that everyone including their CEO has a break up point. Hence organizations must have 2 thumb rules always in mind

a) Natural state of human beings is to act with integrity

b) Every human being, whose natural state is to act with integrity, has a tipping point, where he will behave and act unethically

Hence, it is the prerogative of organizations to have policies and processes to prevent, monitor and address unethical behavior that is applicable for everyone. In fact these must be policies that has no exceptions and applicable to all, from the CEO to all below.

2)      Evaluate values at the time of hiring

Research shows that 80% of employee turnover is due to bad hiring decisions and a poor hiring decision for a candidate earning $ 100,000 per year could cost, on an average $ 250,000 [Source: Harward Business Review http://resources.dice.com/report/the-cost-of-bad-hiring-decisions/]. It is only logical so say that hiring an employee whose values are not in place is like handing over the key to the thief. The more senior the position is the riskier it gets. It is important that the recruiters look for any signs of unethical behavior even before the candidate gets hired. Getting proper feedback from previous employers on the values, background checks etc can help. Organizations must be willing to give away with a potential good resource, if his values are not found to be in place

3)      Mechanism to report, address and track ethical violations:

Organizations must have sound processes in place which enables its employees to report ethical violations. Some of the characteristics of  good reporting system includes

Facility to report without fear of retaliation

Facility to report without revealing identity

Certainty of impartial investigation and closure

Organizations must have clear systems and processes that keeps track of these reportings and must have a database of those employees in the susceptible category

4)      Certainty of punishment

The biggest deterrent to a crime is not the severity of the punishment but the certainty of punishment. Organizations must ensure that disciplinary action is taken without any exceptions for all ethical violations. This not only helps in reforming the concerned party but also is a serious deterrent for the rest. Most organizations make the grave mistake of showing exceptions when employees in the leadership team is involved. This is highly dangerous and will cause unethical behavior to spread like cancer in the organization.

5)      Pressure cooker management

Today's world of business is like a pressure cooker. This pressure as explained in the above pages can be a primary course for unethical behavior. Hence it is important that the leaders of organizations realize this and promote a tension free atmosphere in office. Having a good, understanding and positive leaders can eliminate unethical behavior.

6)      Work Life Balance

Organizations must ensure that its employees have a good work life balance. The earlier school of thought told that the whole responsibility of ensuring good work life balance lies with the employee. But I feel that it is for the employer’s interest that good work life balance is maintained. The employee must not be in a situation that in addition to his pressure from work, he has pressure from home which when added with his weaknesses will rocket him to his break up point.

Epilogue

The reasons mentioned above are only some. A complex human mind, when multiplied with a complex world will give rise to umpteen other reasons as to why human beings behave unethically. In fact, this is the reason why it is almost impossible to predict human behavior accurately. This article is just an attempt to lay down some reasons that I feel are major contributors to acts that lack integrity

A Day at the Adhar Queue

A Day at the Adhar Queue

It was a typical January morning at Ayroor a small rustic village in Pathanamthitta District in Kerala. Many would associate a January morning with blankets and sweaters but here in Kerala it is a different story. It was hot and humid with the mercury touching 33 degrees. It seemed so unfair when the rest of the country was inside blankets, that here wearing a shirt itself seemed to be a torture. Unfair, is what I felt when I had to spend a day of my meager and hard earned leave to get registered for the Adhar card.

Adhar, an ambitious project of the Government of India, touted as a project that will change the face of this country. Many parallels has been drawn with the Social Security Number that is in existence US and many developed countries where an individual gets tagged to a 10 or 16 digit number. But the comparison stops there. Tagging a citizen and all about him is no mean task in a country where most of its citizens live below the poverty line and more than half of its population does not even know how to read and write. In fact, one if left to ponder whether this multi billion project is the real need of India today. Will tagging a poor man who owns under Rs 22 a day, as below poverty line as per the strange definitions of the Government of India provide him the food that he needs to feed him and his family. Or will it eradicate the caste based imbalanced and injustices prevailing in this country? Surely, the authorities must think so. Otherwise, why would they attempt something like this at such a hurry?

The process of getting an Adhar card is very simple. All you need is an address proof and an ID proof. You need to enter all your details in the form given, stand in a queue, give your finger prints, get your retina scanned and viola, you are done!!! Easy ain’t it? Well it looks good in paper. In a country of 1 Billion people, it is no mean task. Queues can tend to be very long, and confusions galore. In fact, the government agencies also seem to be confused as to what are the uses of Adhar and as to why the common man must be getting himself tagged. In fact the sheer number of "cards" that is there issued by the Government is a clear indication of the confusion of the Government and the ego clashes between the different ministries within the Government. Each ministry seems to be keen on having its own "card". Gone are the days where a simple ration card was enough a  proof of your identity. Now there is a PAN Card, Voters ID Card, NPR Card, Adhar Card and the list goes on.

The queue was not very long at the Akshaya Center in the sleepy town of Plankamon. About 30 people had queued up, those lucky ones who has taken their token numbers in advance. I was approximately 25th in the line. Cursing my luck I stood in the line. People from all walks of life  was  in the queue. The young and the old, the educated and the uneducated, the rich and the poor were all in that line. In front of me was Chandran an auto rickshaw driver from the nearby town of Kozencherry has come here to get registered as he thought the queue would be shorter here that at his hometown.

Plankamon is a small agricultural town. In fact it is so small with a few shops that seems frozen in time that it can be better termed as a junction than a town. The whole area of Ayroor and the nearby village of Ranni is primarily an agricultural region. In the earlier days, these villages had different cultivations that include sugarcane, tapioca, coconuts, bananas, rice and many more. Our fore fathers worked in this land and reaped gold out of it. They worked till their backs broke and they educated their children. They sent them to good schools, gave them good education all with the hope that their children will have a good future, And indeed it did happen. But it came at a cost. The educated children did not want to do agriculture any more. They moved to cities and far off countries like US, Europe and Gulf while their parents stayed back. Hence, the towns look deserted. The once bustling towns look sleepy. The villages seems to be filled with the old and the young is nowhere to be found. I am no exception. I also come here only on holidays. Just like a tourist. What a tragedy. They say that home is where the heart is. By that definition, Ayroor is where my home is. I cannot associate myself to belong to any other place in the world. The real tragedy is when that ceases. The real tragedy is when the future generations fail to associate themselves with this place and the sacrifices and hard work made by their forefathers.

It takes around 25 minutes to complete one registration of Adhar which includes finger print recording and retina scanning. The officer was doing a real commendable job working with virtually no breaks. In spite of her commitment and best efforts the queue was moving very slow. Almost all in the queue were from Ayroor and hence knew each other. Mr Varghese a Gulf returnee is still not sure as to how Adhar is going to benefit him. He is engaged in a conversation with Mr Nair a retired government employee. They talk about the Goonda culture in Kerala and the "Quotation Gangs" that runs. They feel that the society in Kerala has become compartmentalized and everyone confined to the affairs of his home and not bothered about the society at large. They are reminded of those golden days of their youth when people used to respond to the needs of the society. I have to agree to their view that such "Quotation Gangs" cannot have any rule in a place where people collectively respond to such ails. But I guess such a Kerala exists only in stories today.

Through the Adhar scheme government is trying to get rid of all middlemen involved in all subsidy related transactions in the country. Presently, the cooking gas distribution centers, ration distribution centers etc holds the trump in the distribution of subsidized commodities. Wide spread corruption with one person holding multiple ration cards, gas connections etc is a head ache for the government. The government plans to transfer the subsidy amount in cash directly to the citizen's bank account thereby eliminating the middle men involved. However, does this involve real elimination of middlemen or it is shifting to a new different set of middle men who in fact are the most corrupt lot in the country? I am talking about the entire bureaucrats here. What if the same corruption and misuse happens through this new set of middlemen? They do not have such a good track record any way. What if the same problems of multiple ration cards and gas connections still continue? All if needs is multiple Adhar cards and it is surely easy with the able support of a corrupt bureaucracy

Its 12:00PM which means I am standing in the queue for more than 2 hours. In the line is an old 88 year old man Mr. Thomas. I have known him from the time I can remember. I remember his press "Ebenezer" which had stood the test of time. But time does change a man. I am seeing him after a good 10 years. My memories of him were of a man always in his white "mundu" and white sleeveless banian in his press. Everything in his press seemed to be old. The old fan which was once white looks pale yellow. The colour is not just because of the age of the fan but also the pale yellow light coming from the 40 Watt bulb. Every book in my house was bound by him. I remember going to his press with my grandmother to bind old bibles, novels and other books. He even bound books which were half eaten by termites. He reminds me of things that remain forever. Neither the weather, nor time nor the new technologies have changed him and his press. It stood the test of time as a testimony to those things which holds fort come what may. But time has changed him. He has grown old and has difficulty in walking. He is finally closing down his press for good as he like all the others in his village has worked hard, educated his children. They are now in different parts of the world and have no desire to come and run their ancestral press.

He was engrossed in a conversation with a young man in the queue. They say that you lose your ability to lie as you grow old. This is the reason why many children would want to vanish from the face of the earth when their old parents talk. However, listening to Mr. Thomas talk, I am sure his children will be proud. I guess this is a measure of a good life. At the fag end of your life as you grow old, will your children feel proud when you talk or would they squirm in their seats on seeing their parents talk. He was a good man.

I began to wonder why am I standing in this queue. What benefit am I going to get? Frankly, I don’t have an answer. I guess, the only reason is that I am a law abiding citizen and want to make every attempt to follow the law. One of the main reasons why many are in the queue is that going forward the gas subsidies will get transferred directly to the Adhar card holders account. In fact the process has already started. So the citizen will get a gas cylinder at Rs 1000 instead of Rs 480 if he does not get registered at Adhar. Mrs Indira, a house wife says that her neighbor has travelled back and forth between the gas agency and the Akshaya center 5 times to get her gas connection subsidized through Adhar. Other than this, no one in the queue had any reason to stand at that queue. In fact not a single soul in that line including me believed that this will make a paisa's worth of difference to their life.

Its 1:00PM and it is time for lunch for the official. She was a sincere government employee and promised that she will be back in 10 minutes after lunch quite contrary to the lunch breaks that lasts the whole afternoon which I have seen in different government offices. I did not go for lunch as I am now the first in the queue and as she promised she was back  in 10 mins. "Hmm", I thought. "There are atleast some officers that are sincere". When would you call a whole class of people corrupt? I would do so when a whole majority of them are corrupt that it legitimates the usage of such a sweeping statement. By that definition, calling the political class and the bureaucracy as corrupt is a fair statement in the country that we live in. In such a reality, will an Adhar scheme bring any change when the one agency that is to bring sanctity to the scheme itself is corrupt to the core? The work of one or maybe handful of sincere officers like the one here will get drowned.

This brings about a larger question into the picture. What is needed in this country? Do we need stronger laws, like what was demanded after the Delhi rape case? Do we need a Lokpal or do we need better systems as an Adhar would do? What if we bring all of this in this country? Will this change anything? What if Lokpal itself is corrupt? What if stronger laws gets misused by those in power? What if corrupt government officers misuse Adhar?

Organization use a widely accepted term called organizational culture. Organizational culture talks about certain practices that gets followed in everything that the organization does that it is a part  of the DNA of the organization. Similarly every country has a culture, which are a set of practices that cuts across every class of people and everything that gets done in the country. Sadly, over the past 66 years of independence corruption has become a part of the culture of our country. It is rampant at levels of power and that is why it is more prevalent in the political class and the bureaucracy. Culture cannot be changed by new laws and new structures. Organizations spend crores in trying to change its culture. It brings in consultants, does trainings, workshops and many more participative activities to attempt to change the culture. Culture change is always participative in nature. It cannot be done with an iron hand. It needs the buy in of all those involved. Resistance to this change has to be addressed. Concerns of employees have to be addressed. Once this is achieved new processes and system gets implemented to support the new culture. Most importantly cultural changes take time. The more the time the organization has been in a certain culture, the more the time it takes to change it.

This is exactly what me must strive as a country. Before bringing in new systems, what is needed is a sincere coordinated effort to change our culture of corruption. This includes both giving and receiving bribes and favours. Our government and our leaders must strive for this change in culture and we must be ready for the long haul. No band aid solutions are there. The culture of corruption that took 66 years to be at what it is will not vanish by the wave of a band. No magic laws or systems can change it. It needs the long sustained activity of culture change starting from those in power to the common man.

Finally it is my turn. The official takes my photograph. I feel like a criminal whose photograph is taken for criminal records. My finger prints are taken, my retina is scanned. I got a feeling that I am trapped for life. I am skeptical if this will do me any good. Will the corrupt agencies wrongfully use this data against me? I am not sure. Nor is anyone. And no one seems to have any answer. In fact, in a democracy, it is the duty of the government to bring its people into confidence before they launch something as path breaking as this. But as typical with the new style of governance in India, the Government refuses to talk to its people. The intentions of those in leadership in this country might be entirely noble, but they also have the moral duty to communicate it effectively to its citizens. The behavior of the government is of blatant arrogance and seems to go on with its activities as if the citizens do not exist.

They say that all that is needed for a bloody revolution and anarchy is a corrupt and arrogant leadership and an impatient young generation of sizable number that does not believe in that leadership. Examples are there in the history books. What we have seen in Egypt, what happened during the French revolution are just some examples. We are a country at the threshold. I really hope that history does not repeat itself. I hope this for the sake of this country and for our future generations. The beautiful idea called India that was visioned by our founding fathers cannot go waste. It is not late. In fact it is never late. Everyone has a role to play. But any change must be championed by the leadership. Out political class must change first and champion the change. If not for the country, they must do it for themselves. If not their existence is at stake. From them it must drill down to those in power and then down below to its people. Only then not only new laws and systems like Adhar, Lokpal etc but also existing laws will have any meaning in this country. The change has to be top down. It means nothing short of a revolution if the change is bottoms up in nature, i.e the citizens changing it leaders. It certainly is not the best option.

I have finally registered myself for Adhar. It’s been a long day and I am tired, vanquished and hungry. I also have a sense of accomplishment even though I do not know for what. I really hope that I will get an answer to that some day.