It is indeed true that any organization is only as good as its top guy. If the top guy is good, the
organization prospers, if not it goes down or sinks depending upon how
nincompoop the top guy really is. Yet it is the misfortune of the nation that
in sarkari organizations cutting across sectors and services, the criterion for
selection of the top guys is generally based on subjective parameters other than
deliverance and human values.
The examples of rampant manipulations invariably set by
the railways in selection of its top guys invariably leave a bad taste in
the mouth. Murky dealings, few cases of which have tumbled out of the
cupboard by chance not by design, rampant manipulations by the outgoing top guy to choose an unworthy successor, the search
for a pliable spine and the web of complex rules of selection, all together have
brought the organization to such a pass that make me certain that by the time
the haze clears, we would once again have a master manipulator occupying the
corner room.
Yet in official forums the debate
continues, endless debates by people who are not delivering where they are
planted yet consider themselves fit to pass value judgement on all matters
under the sun. The “Know all’s” outnumber the “do all’s” by a wide margin and
therein lies the tragedy of organizations like the railways. The top guys in
railways do not lead and are invariably with rare exceptions of-course, never a
part of the team. The job of the top guy(s) remains confined to finding faults
with their team for activities being undertaken by them on their own or under
the direction of the top guy.
Never before in the history of
the railways has one witnessed an outpouring of hate and venom cutting across departmental and zonal boundaries as in the case
of the current outgoing chief executive. The previous guy also achieved the distinction of the worst ever only to be overtaken by the current guy who would go down as the first top guy in whose regime the railways achieved the twin distinction of going bankrupt and and also losing its image. The unfortunate part however remains
that the future appears to be as hazy as earlier with meager hopes of a humane
leadership emerging at the apex level.
Yet with hope we live on.
Amen!
Amen!
It is not how high a chair one occupies but how high his thoughts soar. It is not how powerful he is but how accessible his people think he is. One who has the courage to write down whay one says and thinks. Will we ever have one like that when the guy-who-refuses-to-retire eventually goes home? Ler's keep our fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteA bold and thought provoking blog.