Down the rabbit hole

With so much infighting around, from schoolroom killings to ethnic cleansing, the world today is a violent place to live in. More so with the rise of social media. It quickly exposes the wrongdoings that would have otherwise remained hidden under the carpet. Rich or poor, anyone can be caught unaware in such a situation. As a result, there are behavioural changes in our life. Mothers are seen to chaperone their daughters to Karate classes. In the olden days it was dance classes. This shift, or addition, is due to concern for personal safety.

Speak no evil and Do no evil are cornerstones of a legal system. Even half a century ago much of these evils were unknown or ignored as pranks of the rich and the powerful. That has now changed. Discrete elements of wrongdoings, pieced together, open up newer elements, increasing the volume of wrongdoings. This is done by social media with the aid of AI. Technology can be a curse or a boon, depending on which side you belong to.

Human is a very possessive race. They want to control everything around them. Ethical issues are disregarded in many such situations. History is replete with examples of such abuses. Not long ago half the human population were chattels tradable in the market. This was accompanied with land grabbing and related abuses. The grabbing is still on as lands are taken away from the weak for strategic or geographic reasons. The situation is symptomatic of Tagore's poem 'Two Acres of Land'. In addition, we are now up in a new race to conquer the outer space. There will be many claimants and hence, if there is a fight it will be uglier than what was in the past. The consequence can be a Planet of the Apes situation.

Against this background of unease, we examine some of them in our backyard. The rich and powerful have always been above the law. The fall off on public life is enormous. The financial market is ablaze all over the world but us. External investors are seen to withdraw their stake in the country as accountability of companies cannot be ensured. Internally the investors bleed from the wrongdoings, in particular, banks. Many banks have sunk with no reprieve in sight for the account holders. This is a unique situation when the regulators fold their hands. The financial market is risk-prone and such situation can happen, but one at a time. When it is a bunch of them, it is failure of the regulator irrespective of how it happened. Basking in the glory of earlier mismanagement is at best incompetence. A prime requirement of good leadership is to own the consequences, good or bad, and not pass the buck.

Look at the health services. In spite of having some of the best doctors in the country patients make pilgrimage to neighbouring countries. I have one experience when I was advised an arterial bypass in a reputed hospital. But there was a wait due to non-availability of a small item of instrument. I made a trip abroad through courtesy of my children and the doctor advised me against the surgery as it would be an unnecessary risk. He prescribed some medicine. That was ten-years ago and I am doing fine. No problem whatsoever. Back at the same hospital when I enquired with the doctor, an acquaintance, he said there were two approaches in surgery, one intervention and another risk averse. His choice was intervention to avoid possible future complications. How convenient!

Education is another casualty in the country, in particular, at the higher level. Recently there was a newspaper report about graduates of some Pakistan Medical Schools being allowed to practise in Singapore. These are not isolated items with regard to our weaknesses. Ignoring them can only hasten the peril as we sink deeper in the rabbit hole.

It all boils down to one basic question. That of leadership. Leaving aside political leadership, we look at the corporate world. Most organizations in the country are not doing as well as they could. Business world today is very dynamic where customer preferences change overnight, requires proactive management to understand customer behaviour before they happen. Many good businesses in the country have been lost to external competitors due to inability to understand this dynamism. A leader cannot do it alone. He will need support from people within the organisation, above and below. Senior managers are wheels of an organization on which it runs. Failure can result for reasons such as faulty internal processes in filling up senior positions. Support from the top is required in order to pursue deviant roads that may require stepping out of a comfort zone. This is entrepreneurial leadership in its true spirit. We see this happening across the globe, including our neighbours, where some leaders risked their shirt in pursuit of excellence. It requires a bond of trust among members within, part of corporate culture.That is HR function, not as visible in most organizations.

chowdhury.igc@gmail.com