Financial Times

Who should lead whom?
At a recently held CIMA conference session on the theme, "From the Third World to the First", an invited speaker from Singapore said that they considered the safety of their people, as the most important factor of focus in their transformation to being a world class outfit.

He further stated that they placed quality and productivity in that order of priority after safety, and explained how important it is to ensure that we all look after our own people, their safety and well-being and focussed on the safety of our customers.

It is fitting that we once again discuss the issue of transformation from the Third to the First World, as we have done for many years now. At every business forum, we express our desire to be the best and even make declarations on time schedules in getting there. But what most of us do least, is focus on our people and our customers in the areas of the need for their safety on the streets, at workplaces and with products and services we provide.

Quality and productivity we speak of, but safety certainly is not on our priority agenda. When we think of our staff, how much attention do we pay to notice that most have to take on a battle between life and death, hanging on footboards of buses and trains each day, in their attempt to get to the work place on time? Even those that drive their own vehicles or take more comfortable shared transport, are subject to travails as a result of the chaos we create on our roads, in getting from one point to another. Is it not true, that we often do not think, if the meal they partake for lunch or the snack they eat with their tea may be contaminated with unhealthy substances?

An ensuing discussion also focussed on whose responsibility it is to ensure that there is discipline, leadership and safe environments to provide us the momentum to move to getting to the 'First World', whatever that may mean to each of us.

A point of view was expressed, that we lacked the political will and leadership to get the macro issues right, and therefore cannot expect to see the models of others work here for us.

Another view was that the micro units - meaning each of us - through 'getting our own houses in order' must work to push the political leadership to do the right things.

An Indian business leader reiterating the point gave an insight of how the work team at their manufacturing plant volunteered during the weekends to clean up the shop floors through conduct of "Sramadhana".

The message to the many younger leader managers in the audience was not to wait for the political leadership to make things happen for them, but to make them happen themselves, at our own levels individually and collectively.

The point is that such an effort could well mean that we do not get leaders we deserve any more.

'Light a solitary candle without cursing the darkness' is an old Chinese proverb. A critical mass of solitary candles lit together can indeed help to keep the deep darkness away from all of us. We have been cursing the darkness for far too long and pinning our hopes on a hopeless polity of a 'leadership' at the macro level, to deliver us all from this darkness for far too long.

Self-help, may perhaps be the only Godot of hope we have, to see that we make some progress in leading ourselves, towards a better life for all of us and for those that are to be born, in this most exotic and beautiful motherland of ours. For, if we do not, what other hope do we have?

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