Protective gears - Part II

When I look at our behavior or attitude I sometimes wonder, is the new India really NEW for us to shed some of the protective gear! Because, unlike other nations which were wrecked in decades, we survived centuries of foreign rule and emerged gracefully after independence. This would not have been possible without the strong fabric of culture of protectionism! So, if we have to shed some of the protective gears, we better be sure that we are ready to do so!

After pondering for a long time I did conclude, YES, it is a new India and it is time for us to shed some protectionism and bring about a change in our business attitude!

Being a liberalized country with tax sops and an environment conducive to do business on a greater scale, we are poised to unleash the human capital and create large multi-national industrial power houses. We are on equal footing with the rest of the world. In fact I would go a step further to say that we are at an advantage on all the three fronts, culturally, technologically and economically to make India the best place to live on this planet!

Companies in the west spend enormous amount on diversity training. India, on the contrary, is already a multi cultural society and tolerance is our second nature. Our core values and the very existence of the concept of India as one nation in spite of the hundreds of languages we speak, the clothes we wear, the geographies we live in, is a testimony to our belief in diversity. If you extrapolate this thought, European Union in many ways is an attempt to create a ‘European: India’!

Technology has been our forte for centuries. A temple around the corner of your street, a mausoleum in the north, the centuries old irrigation canals which work perfectly fine even today, the weather forecast systems passed down the generation via vocal medium, Indian mathematics, astronomy and medical science are all something which we should be proud of. The foreign rule did hamper our innovation cycle, and we missed out on the opportunities during the industrial revolution.

If you observe carefully, the nations which were in action during the industrial revolution are the developed nations today. The IT revolution is the next big thing to have happened to human society after industrial revolution! The world around every one of us has changed since the IT revolution! We as a country are in the thick of things as far as the IT revolution is concerned and we should capitalize! The moment is upon us!

Our economic policies are getting better. It was bound with all the protectionism and protective gears to insulate a just born nation. However, as we have progressed over the last half a century, we now feel that some of these policies impede our growth than expedite. Otherwise, why would you think the Oxford / Cambridge educated conservative policy makers of this nation who in the first place, were instrumental in padding us with these protective measures are working hard to remove some of these un-necessary protective policies?

There is no point in just the system shedding its beliefs; there can be no real progress unless the individuals who make up the system shed some of their age old belief mechanisms!

So, what are the possible items that you could do…

• Ask the why instead of what
• Muster the courage to challenge if you think otherwise on a given topic.
• Treat people the way you expect to be treated and do expect the gesture to be reciprocated, if not, do express your concern.
• Create an identity for yourself and make sincere attempts to move away from the crutches of growth by association
• Feel free to have your own opinions and you can choose to disagree
• Do what you feel is the right thing to do instead of doing things just to please others

The above steps are not some prescription for assured success or achieving greatness in life! These steps will help every Indian to make significant progress in achieving his/her business potential in the new world order!

I was inspired by a huge inscription on the wall of a community hall, it read “Do your duty and expect desired results!” These were the words of Rajinikanth a superstar of Indian cinema who happens to be the owner of that community hall. This is from a man who has been there, seen it and done it! This new paradigm which has been unearthed will create a tectonic shift in our belief system and hence will drastically improve our personal and societal productivity!

You would be surprised to know that when you shed some of your protective gear, you get not only faster but also would not get hurt even if you fall down.

But, the usual Indian “but” – the case I have lobbied for is purely in relation to doing business whilst in the western world and US especially. So keep in mind that this rhetoric is a case in context and not a panacea.

Ciao

Sundar