Over the last few weeks I’ve been in Copenhagen and India, as well as the UK of course. That not only makes me very lucky, it also gives offers some interesting insights as the world waits: in the words of the bloggers, what will be the future judgement of history, Hopenhagen or Nopenhagen?
I guess what I want to say is this – that as we look to the ‘developed’ world for solutions, it is going to be the so called ‘developing nations’ who will shape the future: and as Dianne Dillon-Ridgley says, in the Age of Sustainability, we all live in developing countries now.
One experience stands out in particular, the one I was fortunate to have with several hundred brilliant students of the Indira School of Business Studies at Pune: ‘Indira welcomes Tony Manwaring’ said the banners, I almost cried!
Well I was reminded of this over a morning which moved from interactive dialogue, to presentation, to 400 brilliant young people responding ‘yes sir’ in one instant to an extended dialogue with a number of students around the geo-politics of climate change negotiations: and the deep resentment of seeking to tackle climate change in a way that fails to recognize the unfairness, impact and legitimacy of aspiration for American standards of living.
Given that many – most? – of these students had come to Indira from rural India, and were investing in learning as a pathway from poverty, this argument has a force that can surely not be denied. Bottom line, any solution has to recognize and respond to the basic and self-evidently legitimate (how can it not be, doh?!) demand to enjoy material security.
(This throws up a whole set of issues which go beyond this blog – for now the sheer force of this perspective is something that western commentators tend to mention ‘in passing’ without acknowledging the depth and breadth of what it means: think global financial meltdown, to get some equivalent sense of the driving and transformative energy which it represents. The damn has burst; it may be possible to channel the waters but not to rebuild the damn wall)
I’ve already reflected on my extraordinary visit to Tata in another blog –
LINK. Tata is sufficiently long established, deep rooted and prevalent in India, that to understand it through the same lens that we apply to other companies is misleading. But what it can teach us to understand business as a force for good is profound.
To get some real sense of the transformative vision which is coming from India, I can only encourage you to read Anand Mahindra’s superb address given to the National HRD Network in Mumbai – a gathering of hundreds of the nation’s business and HR leaders, at which I talked about Tomorrow’s Global Talent -
LINK
Anand addressed the theme of the Conference - “Lead from Uncertainty to Certainty” – in the humbling context that almost exactly a year ago, Mumbai had been witness to “the worst terrorist attack we have ever known was unleashed”.
His contribution was truly profound and deserves to be shared widely: “It’s a brave theme, even a heroic one. But I must confess that my first reaction, when I saw it, was that it goes counter to everything we have learned in the past year; indeed it goes counter to everything we have learned and unlearned in the past century!”
Anand reminded us that the twentieth century started as an age of certainty. “In 1900 the president of the Royal Society of Science made the ringing declaration that everything that was to be known in science was already known …. The dream of the Age of Enlightenment that the world could be understood through pure reason, seemed to be a reality. And there was smug belief that the sun would never set on the British Empire. Never had certainty, social, political and scientific, seemed more firmly entrenched.” He then goes on to chart the crumbling of certainty in the twenty first century, until we arrive at the start of the new century we are now living in, marked by recession. “We have been living with uncertainty for more than a century” he concludes.
So what endures, Anand asks. His answer: “The consistent subtext is whether we can harmonize values and situations that are potentially in conflict?”
For India one of the great challenges is to ensure inclusion: “So whichever way we look at it – whether we look at it as the right thing to do, or whether we fear the rise of social tensions, or whether we just look at it from the perspective of enlightened self interest because a more prosperous India means more consumers – from any angle, inclusivity is the burning platform for the country as well as industry, and we have to resolve that conundrum” Which of course takes us back to the students from rural India.
Anand then goes on to detail the three certainties of our times:??“The first certainty is that going forward, modern HR, as indeed, modern thought, is going to be about building pathways that traverse seemingly irreconcilable differences”??The second certainty is that we as Indians are brilliantly equipped to navigate the first certainty. … There is probably no nation in the world that is so comfortable with handling constraints and contradictions as we are”
He then goes onto provide such a brilliant example, of designing the Scorpio car, whilst working with Ford: the point being that Mahindra built it for less than one fifth of what it would have cost to develop it in Detroit.
The third and last certainty – the certainty that our time for thought leadership has come. Indian HR is gradually evolving a very distinctive model that can handle the paradox and uncertainty of our times. Certainly it is based on a culture and a state of economic development that is particular to India. But the challenges that it tackles and resolves are challenges that are common across the world”
All of which was great for me, as my central theme, drawn in particular from thinking about leading talent management practices we have looked at from across the world, is that there is indeed much to learn from India – and that this is due to a unique combination of globalization, liberalization, culture, entrepreneurialism and heritage.
Anand goes onto explore the key characteristics of the Indian model of HR today: Purpose, People and Pride.
If this sounds a bit predictable, then consider the ‘parable of building a cathedral’
“There is the story of 3 men who were engaged in the humble task of cutting up slabs of rock. A passerby asked each one of them what they were doing. “I am breaking up rocks” said the first one. “I am building a wall” said the second. The third man looked up at the heavens and said “I am building a cathedral”. Everyone in this room is in the happy position of building a cathedral”
As Anand says: “
We are incredibly lucky to be working at a time when we can all see the link between our work and a larger national purpose.
And that perhaps is what others most need to come to terms with in thinking about India – for as with a business, even more so a nation: with a clear sense of purpose allied to a deeply held set of values, one can only wonder at the cathedral that India will become.