jabdakhata

Is Selflessness Practical? The selflessness of the business leader is also driven by another consideration. Any business model is a temporary endeavor. A temporary endeavor cannot result in a permanent or a lasting benefits, it can only cause a temporary outcome for all including the leader whose tenure is also temporary. Therefore for the sake of temporary gains if one puts ethics behind one would be having a long term personal integrity and reputation at stake. As Sri Krishna would have said in Gita -  akirtim chapi bhutani kathayishyanti te avyayam sambhavitasya chakirtir maranatatirichyate "People will say things of disrepute about you for eternity. Those who are of great repute, to them disrepute is worse than death" The leader who is selfless would never try to influence business outcome by following unrighteous means. In this case the leader is detached from the outcome and instead focuses on the means as well as compassionate enough to take into cons

Ethics through the prism of “Selflessness” Project Management Institute (PMI) definition of ethics says that Ethics is the discipline of  “how to do it best.”   In Bhagavad Gita we surprisingly find a similarity  – “Work without attachment and desire is the art of doing things in the most efficient way”. By definition, the three components of ethics are: (a) Disposition - one's, customary manner of emotional response or temperament; (b) Character – moral strength, integrity, and fortitude; and (c) Attitude – a state of mind or feeling with regard to some matter. One or more of them are needed to comply with ethical norms and ensure successful business outcome and character is undoubtedly the most important one. But how are these components, esp. that of character, cultivated and inculcated? As discussed earlier, the key drivers behind unethical behaviors are fear, greed, weak monitoring (environmental) and passion. If we critically analyze we’ll find that all of them

Ethics is the backbone of leadership and forms one of the cornerstone of the philosophy behind good management. Ethics is not something which is rigidly defined. It has got a fairly flexible boundary and different project situations and even different cultural norms permit different ethical behavior. Therefore is there any thumb rule by which we can ensure ethical behavior under all circumstances? One of the key pillars in leadership is ethics and integrity. If we critically examine the term ethics in leadership context we find that it’s a term that is not very rigidly defined. It deals with the ideal behavior under different situations. Codes of ethics vary greatly in terms of the types of the activities and actions they cover and the degree of enforcement.   Wherever there is a conflict of interest there is a question of ethics and integrity. Broadly the key drivers for ethical problems are threefold – Fear, Greed and Passion. The first one is well known, fear is basically pres

Imagine riding a boat with many holes. You are aware of the holes. Some holes are bigger and some are smaller. Water enters through these holes and may lead to critical conditions for the boat, depending on degree of water entered. Therefore some holes may need greater attention while others less. That's what project management as a profession is all about. Being aware that there are holes is called risk management. When water enters through one or more holes they are called issues. It is important that we know which holes need plug in in order to keep the boat floating. Else it may sink at any moment. We also need to be aware of the existence of the holes. Unless we know that there are holes we won't be able to identify the source of the water entering the boat which may tilt and sink it. Being aware of the holes and the tactics and strategies adopted to plug these holes so that the boat does not sink is the essence of project management. 

There was a small piece of news the other day that one prominent Indian IT Company is donating $35 mn to Carnegie Mellon University. That set me thinking, why do Indian corporates donate to US universities who obviously have more resources, than to Indian universities and institutes? Even if these universities have better infrastructures for doing research, isn’t it more apt for an Indian company to invest in human capital and research in its own country than in foreign lands? The reason however is not hard to find. It is the eternal principle of satisfying one’s master and to give something in order to get some favors. Indian IT industry is already plagued with problems of having to grapple with accusations ranging from sending people unethically on wrong visas to following unfair employment practices and they will have to try all means to satisfy the policy makers in US so that they return the favors. Indian industry is adopting such clandestine measures in order to gain foothold i

A team which performs well consistently has two ingredients which are absolutely critical - love and respect for each other. Respect is the highest quality and most essential for success on a long term. However love and respect does not come easily. It is rare to find a team where every team member is bound to every other by these twin bonds. There may be few members who share mutual affections, but others may not. In a large and complex team, esp. one which is spread over diverse locations rather than collocated, the lack of these ingredients are palpable. This is because over longer distances and among many members, it is very difficult to develop trust, let alone respect and love. However in smaller teams which are collocated, it is easier to develop respect and trust and through social interactions some bonds of love as well. It is to be noted that the love and respect shared by even most intimate friends are not selfless, but there are some selfish interests. So shared goal fo

Swami Vivekananda was quite impressed with one quality of the West - the power of organization. He saw that much of West's material progress and success is driven by this power. An organization run efficiently can bring in much more progress than that can happen when there are only individual entrepreneurs. He saw that Indian history is full of individual successes, esp. in trade and commerce. Vaniks or Vaishyas have been able to lead trade initiatives individually, but there were no organized, monolithic trade blocks or entities which could employ a large number of people in a sustainable venture. However one person had truly understood the power of organization in ancient times and had developed an organization which was vastly superior - Lord Buddha and his sangha. But after Buddha, the spirit of organization was lost and Swamiji wanted to revitalize that. He jokingly remarked to Ms. Lyon in America that he had one of his greatest "temptations" in America. When being

A leader is one who grows not at the expense of others, but take others long. A true leader is perfectly unconcerned about himself/herself, and is concerned about the welfare of his people. A true leader loves his/her people and does not differentiate or discriminate. A true leader is painstakingly righteous and would never allow personal compulsions cloud his/her sense of justice. A true leader will always do whatever it takes for the real long term benefit of his/her people and would never give in to short term temptations like popularity. For their long term benefit he/she would not even hesitate to take hard and unpopular decisions. He is, in the language of Sri Ramakrishna, a good physician. An inferior physician will merely prescribe medicines. A medium one will only request the patient to take medicines. A good one not merely requests, but will apply force if necessary, because he/she knows that it is in the best interest of the patient. A true leader does not enjoy power. He/