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IS LEADERSHIP ON THE LINE?
By Sujit Mundul
As measurement will just distract you from the true appreciations of life, the form of your contribution is likely to be far less important than the content. In Shakespeare’s last great tragedy, Kind Lear, Lear himself was caught up in the role and forms of the royal court, so much so that he rejected Cordelia, the sincere daughter, finding her expressions of love too simple and sparse. Misled by pandering and pretensions of love, he bestowed his kingdom upon his other two daughters. When Lear finally came to his senses, he asked, “Where have I been? Where am I?” But by then it was too late. He lost both his kingdom and Cordelia.
How are we to keep from making Lear’s mistake, only to discover too late the difference between form and substance?
Early in his career, Ronald worked in a health care facility unit in New York City that provides physical examinations for top business executives. He had the opportunity of talking at length with many top corporate executives who looked back as they approached their late 50s at having devoted themselves to “winning in the marketplace”. They had often succeeded remarkably yet many were having difficulty making sense of their lives in the light of what they had given up. They felt disturbed, and some had begun to wonder if it were possible to create a greater sense of mission for their businesses. Some of these top managers described, with insight, the risk of questioning corporate purposes. They had seen predecessors and colleagues who, upon expressing the desire to bend the organisation to larger social purposes or even create customer value, were “bumped upstairs” to the board-put out to pasture where they could be “visionaries on their own time”. In the meanwhile, the company would recruit or promote the next hard-charging star in his or her 40s with a single-minded focus on the bottom line. Often the cycle continued, from generation to generation.
These people felt “cheated”. They had kept their eyes on the prize all right, and had reached the goal, only to find it wanting. The accomplishments for which they had sacrificed so much seemed empty. They were living with the discomfort of the growing gap between the goals that had been driving them and the aspirations that would make their lives worthwhile. They began to distinguish between form and substance, and many were now looking for the latter.
More recently we have come to know young high-tech billionaires who are asking themselves the same question but far earlier in their lives. What for? These folks are lucky, not just because they’ve made their money early on, but because they’ve discovered the essential questions early.
When young people start contemplating on professional life, the world seems full of options. As they get older, chance, seemingly random events, friends and family, an inspiring teacher, an immediate job opening –all determine much of what people choose to do.
Normally, that choice works well for a while, maybe even a long while. Then, sometimes, a crisis hits. You might feel like you’ve been knocked off your horse. Perhaps you have reached the end of the line in a successful career, or you’re a doctor and the structure and values of the health care environment have changed around you.
People experience disorientation at those times because they’ve mistaken form for essence. They tend to believe that the form of the work is what makes it important. They confuse the form of their participation in life with the essence of its meaning and purpose.
If the essential ingredient of the meaning in life is the experience of connection and contribution, then part of the magic of life in our organisations and communities lies in the human capacity to generate many forms for expression. Meaning derives from finding ways, rather than any one particular way, to love, to contribute to the worldly enterprise, to enhance the quality of life for people around you.
Fundamentally, the form doesn’t matter. Any form of service to others is an expression, essentially, of love. And because the opportunities for service are always present, there are few, if any, reasons that anyone should lack for rich and deep experiences of the meaning in life. The most common failing, perhaps, is Lear’s failing: We get caught up in the form, and lose sight of what is essential and true.
Few roles are more mesmerising than occupying the White House. But even less glamorous forms can be just as seductive.
Of course, these aspects of any job matter, not only because they are fun, but also for the leverage they may give in mobilising action. But frequently, it’s not the instrumental import of these forms and trimmings that matters to people as much as the symbolic import. The forms become a misleading proxy for the value and essence of what we do. As a consequence, not only do people lose sight of the essential opportunity, but they also allow their experience of self worth and meaning to get tied to the wrapping, rather than the gift.
Having purpose differs from having any particular purpose. You get the meaning in life from the purposes that you join. But after working in a particular discipline, or job for 20 or 40 years, you begin to be wedded to that specific purpose, that particular form.
When you lose that purpose, that specific form, you think you have no meaningful options. We know a 70 year old man, Michale, who can retire with full salary and medical benefits. He’s been in the same job for 40 years. He no longer has the strength to do the tasks that go with the job. He refuses to quit, he says, because he does not know what he will do with his days.
Michale fears retirement because he can’t redefine the purposes in his life. Minus the form, he thinks he will lose his source of meaning. But what Michale really has lost is something that he probably once had as a child: a sense of purpose. Children have generative power. They create meanings as they busily connect with whatever is happening around them. But grown-ups often lose that ability. They tend to lose that playful, adventuresome, creative generation by which they can ask themselves: What’s worth doing today?
The vehicles we find for meaning obviously take some tangible form, and certainly that form matters in significant ways. Some jobs suit your interests, personality, skills and temperament; others do not. The point here is not to diminish the importance of finding forms and taking roles that personally gratify you, but simply to rekindle that youthful capacity to imagine a host of possibilities. Then, when you are forced to compromise, or when you suffer a deep setback, you can recover your natural ability to generate new forms of expression.
Exercising leadership is a way of giving meaning to your life by contributing to the lives of others. At its best, leadership is a labour of love. Opportunities for these labours cross your path every day, though we appreciate through the scar tissue of our own experiences that seizing these opportunities takes heart.
(Mundul is the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd.)
Is there any validity of Values in Today’s Business?
‘Values. A terrible business. You can at best stammer when you talk about them’.
- Wittgenstein ( 1889-1951)
Austrian – born British Philosopher
Sometimes it is good to stammer about important things if the only alternative is to shut up and forget about the whole business. And, let's face it, values are important business. Terrible! Maybe. But important nonetheless.
We all want our lives to have some meaning, some direction and some self-evolved authority for guidance. Values give us all this, so it would be foolish to ignore them. Let's open our eyes, therefore, and stammer for a while.
Meaning of Values: There is a good deal of vagueness and confusion about the word ' values'.
'Values' is most commonly used as a substitute for the word ' virtues' and 'morality'. The latter are plainer words, and yet many people, especially politicians seldom use them - either because of credibility or the religious overtones of these words. So, instead of them they use 'values'. But values do not mean just virtues. One way to understand what 'value' means is to distinguish values from facts. When we say that the Bhagvad Gita was composed before the 3rd century BC, we are making a factual statement. But when we say that it was wrong on the part of Arjuna to lay down arms- we are making a value statement.
In fact we live in two worlds: of facts and of values. These worlds do not always correspond to each other. Values often lead us beyond the world of facts and point to goals beyond the senses. The term value entered philosophical thinking by way of economics. In economics it is used to mean (i) the capacity of an object to satisfy a human need or desire (this is known as value in use) or (ii) money (value in exchange). Values are the higher normative needs of humanity which individuals experience as inner moral or aesthetic imperatives or goal seeking. Values can be classified in many ways. One way is to put them into two groups: Positive values and negatives values.
Positive values are those that lead us toward freedom, peace, joy and fulfilment. They are warm, shining and uplifting - hence directed ' upward'.
Negative values are those that lead us toward bondage, conflict, sorrow and frustration. They are cold, dark and debasing - hence directed ' downward.'
What is Business? Let's look at what the attempt to bring values, particularly spiritual values, to business means today. What is meant by business? Business not only refers to the organisation or institution engaging in trade but also the act of engaging in that profession. Business involves all actions related to one's occupation or profession whether that be as a retail merchant, doctor or teacher.
Business Ethics - is it an oxymoron? Many people believe that embracing ethics would limit their options, their opportunity and ability to succeed in business. It's the old suspicion that good guys finish last. One of our problems is that ethics is never a business or a social or a political issue. It is always a personal issue.
Our experience in business should not be fundamentally different from the rest of our lives. Our lives are an integrated whole and not a separate compartment. We can't spend our time at work in a way that is harmful to our spiritual values. The mind, wherein our thoughts and actions make their impressions is the same at work as it is at home. The thoughts and actions we undertake at work become a part of us even at home. This is the fundamental reason why we can't have two codes of values that are in conflict - ' business ethics' for work and 'personal ethics' for home.
E + C = W: If you embrace ethical behaviour will it automatically make you rich and successful? Of course not! Can it pave the way for you to become successful? Absolutely!
Ethics (E) added with Competence (C) is a Winning (W) equation.
In contrast, a businessman who continually attempts to test the edge of ethics inevitably goes over that edge. Short cuts never pay off in the long run. It may be possible to fool people for a season, but in the long haul, their deeds will catch up with them because the truth does come out. In the short term, behaving ethically may look like a loss. However, in the long term people always lose when they live without ethics.
A classic example is Enron. When the ethical environment is poor, organisational performance suffers because of poor group dynamics and suppressed communication which harms openness and clarity - vital to growth. These are hard to measure but can be felt. Easily measured are drops in productivity. Overall, the morale is badly affected, leaving the organisation vulnerable to setbacks.
Business with a Soul: Now a days we talk a lot about ' Value Added Service' and ' Business with a Soul' in corporate parlance. All successful companies have established their success on the bedrock of customer service. This value is easily spiritualised into serving the highest aspect in man: seeing the customer as a manifestation of the divine. We should use all our abilities to engage in service that treats our customers respectfully.
When we speak of ' The Soul ' - twin thoughts come to mind. One, that the soul is something that is permanent and indestructible, whereas the body ages and finally perishes over time. Two - the soul represents something deep within and fundamental that urges one to move towards what is right, like the voice of conscience. Some of the major economic scandals in the world have proved that a flaw in the character could crumble down something that has taken considerable times to build. Sustainability and ethics are inextricably linked in business. One can not have one without the other.
Globalisation, Value System and Social Change: We are in a world of convergence brought about not just by technology but also by the process of globalisation by the sharing of information and by the fusion of knowledge domains. The manifestation of convergence therefore goes beyond the confines of products to people, practices, ideas and even ideologies.
To become a global partner, one has to process a global character. What bind us are our values- integrity, commitment and passion. These values are to define the character of an organization and as guiding principal for employees. These values are a moral contract between the employees and the organisation--a contract that goes beyond business and economic transaction. Satisfied employees breed satisfied customers.
Western values are invading Eastern societies and vice versa. Where this amalgamation process will take us all, time alone can tell. What is in our hands is to take charge of our own lives and to ensure that the current changes do not shunt life - wagon on to an undesirable track. One should not insulate oneself from the world around. One need to shift healthy, nourishing values from unhealthy , debilitating ones and integrate them in value system so that instead of being hindrance multiculturalism might prove to be a blessing after all.
Holistic Teaching of Vedanta: The Vedanta provides a world view that embraces both the spiritual and the physical in a vision of unity. It provides a synthesis to the conflict between business and spirituality. If we look at business as an arena to develop the values necessary for spiritual practice we find that the opportunities to give work a spiritual turn are unlimited. Business then provides a chance to express one's deepest convictions and experiences as a form of service and worship - whether of a personal God or the underlying unity of existence.
(Dr. Ghosh is the Manager for Nepal of National Insurance Company Ltd. of India)
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