Tremendous potential of the HR

Human Resource is the key to revival, yet very rarely the same is understood or appreciated. And we search for solutions in strategies, high sounding words and solutions and often in power point presentations.

Slick power point presentations have caused the nation and its organizations much harm. Presentations conceptualized and made by young MBA’s while remaining fairly distant from ground realities, yet presented powerfully under a false shroud of conviction have the ability to take many for a ride. The boss, partaking of the presentation remains under an illusion of a time well spent, even though it is totally wasted.

The problem of an illusory ground connect especially at apex levels is for real. Unfortunately our society, already highly compartmentalized, differentiates between the lower and the upper echelons on an almost 24/7 basis, thereby preventing the much needed interaction that makes one aware of what is really happening.

The solutions touted therefore remain theoretical and fail to work. What remains constant are post mortems of why and where we went wrong.  Jet is one such example. With a debt that is apparently manageable if the organization is well run, one fails to understand why the organization went down under, if the management was capable and committed enough.

And so have been many other organizations, the national carrier being one of them. How can an organization be allowed to remain in reds continuously for over a decade since merger, a scenario that has resulted in the current debt trap, without real remedial measures being initiated the moment the dip became apparent.

I have witnessed the same everywhere, be it Madhya Pradesh tourism, ITDC, Railways or the National Carrier, all faced the ignominy that emerges out of inadequate top management. In all organizations, invariably the blame for shortcomings was laid at the altar of the field soldiers. On the other hand I have also witnessed though rarely, organizations rising from the ashes whenever a humane leadership played on the front foot.

We all know how we would like to be handled by those above us in the organizational hierarchy, yet we fail to apply the same when we handle those below us in the hierarchy. We are rough with those down below and extra polite with those above us, regardless of the merit of the argument being made and the subject being discussed.

The ability to stand up for what is right and to be able to correct what is wrong is amiss, almost always, everywhere. This quality is what defines an individual and all other traits are borne out of this singular attribute only. Everything else is secondary.

Let us all focus on the human resource, alleviate their grievances and suffering and get the best out of them. It is indeed almost impossible to comprehend me as to how much more we can get out of a charged motivated individual.

We need to believe in the tremendous potential of the human resource.

The travails of a public sector chief

My stints with three public sector organizations, spanning almost a decade have made me experienced enough if not exactly wiser. Reinforced I am definitely with the thought that PSU’s have an inherent strength that other commercial organizations devoid of governmental backing apparently lack, yet the thought that if left free and with an absolute clarity of goal and purpose, conquering the skies would indeed be a child’s play always lurks at the back of the mind.

Very early forties is a fairly young age to be a public sector chief but that is what I was when asked to take over the reins of the mammoth tourism conglomerate, the Indian Tourism Development Corporation. Faced with a loss making entity on one hand and a system hell bent on getting rid of commercial entities from its fold, the job on hand was definitely not an easy one. Yet gaping mouths is what we encountered when the entire team rose as a goliath to rid the entity of its loss making traits. The spectacular growth, almost impossible to achieve even in the best of the private sectors left almost everyone speechless. And then I paid the price.

Then came the three stints with the tourism major of the wonderful state of Madhya Pradesh. While the state rose over all others in its successful quest for being the numero uno, the rapid turnaround of the commercial properties, and there were many, surprised almost everyone including myself. The ferocity with which the men (and women) of the state tourism development corporation shrugged off the cloak of ignominy and inefficiency made even the private sector speechless. Ofcourse the proactive support of the entire state machinery made the job easier, yet the fact remains that what really happened was our dipping into the inner strengths of the public sector that was almost given up as an also ran.

And now the third and the most challenging, the national carrier that also appears keen to shrug away its cloak of years of rot and neglect. It is now also certain that this entity would soon surge ahead of all its competitors in the not so distant future.

Towards the end of all my postings, I am often asked to put in place systems that would last forever and in the process enable the organization to keep its head above water perpetually and one always remains at pains to explain that such a system is not yet born, nor it shall ever for leadership is a role that can never be substituted by systems or inanimate objects. Yet the expectation of utopia remains.

Yet some stability can be brought about in the functioning of the public sector undertakings only if the dragnet of vigilance, audit and complex processes in the garb of transparency are loosened. The fear of committing a mistake and then getting mauled by the machinery is what keeps most of the public sector mandarins away from the path of decision making and even bringing clarity in their desires. And if decisions are not made in a commercial organization, or if safe play is always resorted to, the outcome can be easily fathomed by even a grocery shop owner.

Why performance or the end result alone should not be a criterion to judge an organization or its mandarins is what amazes me. Why even petty decisions or acts are microscopically examined without a speck of a concern for the overall performance is beyond comprehension especially for those whose primary concern remains overall growth and results. And finally why should one’s actions be subject to examination by someone who may be less competent, less honest and less committed really foxes me.

While beginning my career, the professor of finance at the staff college professed the canons of financial propriety, the foremost of which was – spend government money as if it is your own. And since then I have been wondering why a tender process has to be initiated for purchasing a sofa for the office whereas one simply makes the best buy off the shelf for a requirement at home.

As long as our focus remains on the process coupled with a thought process that everyone is dishonest unless proven otherwise, we shall remain where we are and shall keep on cursing all public organizations. The focus has to firmly shift to delivery if we do not desire to perish. Mere utterance of words “Perform or Perish” will never be enough.

The inherent goodness of mankind - 2

The huge outpouring of emotions on my last day in the service of the heart of incredible India took its toll. Yes, despite the huge anticipation of an impending challenge that I always looked forward to,  I was drowned in the sea of love and emotions. And why not, the love and affection put on open display by almost everyone in my circle is enough to give pangs of pain to anyone, and I have always been by nature, a very emotional person.

Madhya Pradesh is a lovely state, inhabited by simple people and MPT, by hardworking and sincere men who lifted the organization from the abyss to everest and I sincerely hope they continue to rise further under bureaucrats whom I always admired and also loved.     

The outpouring of sentiments from men in the air also overwhelms me. Air Indians I am certain are also as good and God willing, perhaps a shade better than the ITDCians, MPTians and Railwaymen. This belief stems from my experience with one such guy who worked with me since the last six months and who is now going to plaster the MP sky with planes, albeit smaller ones. I believe there must be scores like him and that thought alone gives me confidence and courage.

HR is the crux, unfortunately most of us in the sarkari seva pay no heed to it and remain embroiled in the mundane. If everyone is able to realize his or her potential, there is no reason why organizations will not grow by leaps and bounds. The mere thought that all of us, at the core are one with the almighty makes me treat with utter disdain the artificially created divides, for I have often experienced great work being delivered by mortals unfortunately regarded low in the artificial hierarchies.

I often remember with great pride, the rise from abyss of men during the days ITDC was being hived off. The tremendous zeal that my men then displayed to pull the organization out of the red and compete with the best in the private sector often make my eyes swell with tear and pride.

Perhaps I have been lucky, having gotten so much love and respect in the past, and God willing this lucky streak shall continue. This I am absolutely certain will be the greatest test of all my beliefs and convictions, the strongest of which is the belief in the inherent goodness of mankind.

Amen!

On the move once again!

This time to head the beleaguered Air India, the erstwhile Maharajah of the nation with its trademark logo. The sheen has been lost but not the inner strength is my firm belief and this alone gives me the hope that the skies can be ruled once again. And it shall happen.

My diehard belief in the inherent goodness of men at large who have delivered while I have merely shown them the way is the reason for my optimism. My experience in running commercial enterprises is that leadership by apex management indeed remains the primary issue, while the mundane takes priority and that too in a reactive manner. Providing proactive leadership is the crux and playing on the front foot the easiest way to demonstrate the same is what I believe in.  

Heading Air India had always remained a dream, especially since I was shown the door after turning around Hotel Ashok Delhi and putting on the right track, the India Tourism Development Corporation, for since being turned around myself, the belief that a turnaround is indeed possible had festered inside me.

And now the moment of truth has indeed arrived. All my beliefs, and there are many would now be put to test and I will realize whether I was wrong or right. Yet I have to be right for I cannot afford the ignominy of defeat especially in my last tenure. My firm belief that will power is still the biggest power to overcome any obstacle and impeccable integrity and adherence to value systems the only way to perform miracles would now once again be put to test.

My stint at ITDC helped, for I witnessed a tremendous team-work amongst employees, something that till then was never considered possible. And when the team rises, as I pleasantly witnessed, a turnaround emerges. Yet hard work has to act as the major ingredient of the pie.

And Madhya Pradesh Tourism has been fun. With open support from the powers that be, the men at the corporation rose to the occasion to propel the state to the forefront of tourism in the country and the corporation, a perfect commercial enterprise.

A motorcycle advertisement where the rider blends with his bike and they become one has been one of my greatest inspirations. That is the crux, the CEO has to completely blend with the organization that he heads, almost like sugar in water and then the decisions that he takes would invariably tend to be right. Gut alone provides the right answers in commercial organizations, I have almost always realized.

Like always before I shall not fail this time also, perhaps my last innings in the service of the nation, is a promise that I have made to myself.

May God give me the strength!

Need to look beyond!

NEED TO LOOK BEYOND CLICHÉD APPROACH

Monday, 07 April 2014 | Ashwani Lohani | in Oped

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Tourism, which has been handled in a slip-shod fashion, needs to emerge as one of the focal sectors of the new dispensation at the Centre

The national perspective on tourism should not remain confined merely to figures of foreign tourist arrivals and the home population moving within the country. Unfortunately the mindset of the sector has been unable to rise above the jugglery of statistics, and therein lies the malaise. Even while remaining confined to statistics, the essential difference between the tourist, who is basically an explorer, and the traveller, who may be moving for many reasons, is not being appreciated, though both form part of the tourism statistics that are regularly being churned out and touted by those who matter in the matter of tourism in the country.

Another fallacy is related to promotional advertising. Our sheer inability to appreciate that the bottleneck in so far as foreign tourist arrivals is concerned, is not the inability to showcase but the excessive load factors on the flights plying between our country and the rest of the world. Advertising has to be primarily driven by Indian ethos, culture and achievements and not merely the number game.

And the third is about infrastructure. The much-needed basic tourist infrastructure is a physical necessity and merely dumping loads of money on hapless State Governments who permit only a trickle to reach the ground, is not going to help. The release of funds needs to be followed by proportionate conversion into hard reality, and without that happening, patting the back is not really in order. Perhaps the emergence of a good monitoring and executing machinery is the need of the hour.

The story of the (in)famous India Tourism Development Corporation says it all. An inherentlyprofitable business brought to seed by inept management is indeed the sad story of India’s tourism. Tourism development is the mandate, yet the corporation finds it difficult even to stand on its own feet and has emerged as perhaps the glaring national example of sloth, inefficiency and corruption. Now, matters seem to have improved. But almost a decade and a half ago, whenever I visited the Ministry of Environment and Forests, I wondered how a ministry that fails to maintain the environment within its headquarters can be expected to do justice to the environment of the country.

There is absolutely no doubt that tourism as an activity almost always happens on its own, without prodding from the Governments, and that it helps local economies to grow at a pace much higher than in other sectors. The employment potential as well as the multiplier effect of tourism have already received adequate hype. Tourism definitely needs to emerge as one of the focal sectors of the new dispensation at the Centre.

Emerge it shall, provided the new Government looks beyond the established clichés and takes necessary steps to enable tourism drive local economies, besides giving a thrust to the re-emergence and positioning of ancient Indian heritage, art, culture and thought.  It would indeed be a futile exercise to look at tourism without looking at all that the country stands for. The sectors encompassing tourism and culture are complimentary and a much higher natural synergy can be achieved by merging, once and for all the two separate ministries.

Tourist offices that earlier formed the backbone of the national effort to give a thrust to tourism need to be revitalised by suitable empowerment and injection of fundamentals of administration and management. The unfortunate state of affairs in which these offices and the men who man them stand castigated only because of the envious environment that foreign postings tend to create, should not be allowed to continue.

The focus on numbers has to go and the emphasis must be on setting the ground in order. Tourism can happen on its own, with timely facilitation by the Centre and State Governments.

Organizational Excellence

Inaugural Address

Delivered by Ashwani Lohani at ISM, Dhanbad on 6^th December 2013

Really a pleasure and an honor to be with all of you here for the national seminar on organizational excellence with emphasis on ethics. An honor because the Indian School of Mines is a great institution and a pleasure mainly for two reasons – the first - it is an enlightening experience to be addressing a big gathering of budding youngsters and the second – it was at a god forsaken place called Patratu in the Dhanbad division that I got the first field level administrative posting in my railway career. Oh what an experience it was – I was 29 and Patratu was the biggest hub of activity on the eastern railway and a place always on the edge. It was here that I realized the tremendous, almost overpowering role of the human resource in running organizations. It was here that I learnt that “Men” is by far the most important of the 3M’s that one talks about in management.

And so ladies and gentleman, I am indeed happy and honored to be here today.

I am no management expert as is often misunderstood. In my career spanning over 33 years I have never been nominated even for a single training session in a management institute and therefore I regard all of you from the department of management studies as far ahead of me in so far as management techniques and strategies are concerned. My only plus is the varied experience that I acquired during various postings in the railways – open line, headquarters, production units and the National Rail Museum, in the Govt of India as Director Tourism, as a public sector honcho at the infamous ITDC and later at MPSTDC along with my role in the state government of Madhya Pradesh handling all governmental functions in the department of Tourism. This variety in postings gave me an insight into and experience of the grand mess that in other words is known as a government department or undertaking. The two public sectors that came my way imparted a rare experience of handling loss making commercial entities about which I can confess I knew nothing about till then.

It is my varied experience and that indeed is all I have that therefore forms the basis of  my talks and any impression that conveys eulogizing of any kind needs to be taken in the right spirit. This is my humble request to this august gathering in all humility.

The subject of today is organizational excellence yet what really is excellence in organizations all about, I often wonder?

Perhaps it is all about achieving the optimum blend of profitability, productivity, operating ratio, work culture, employee and customer satisfaction, ethical values, environment and corporate social responsibility. Or maybe much more, as I said earlier I am not an expert on this subject. Please bear with me therefore if at times you feel that my blabbering is not making any real sense. Yet if I am asked to lay a finger on the one single indices that can be a pointer towards organizational excellence, it has to be the operating ratio of the organization.

My first visit overseas was an eye opener. It brought me down to earth and that did me a lot of good in ensuing years. I would therefore like to relate two or perhaps three incidences that really had my head reeling and made me appreciate that there are no rich and poor nations but only productive and unproductive nations. My second visit overseas mainly to the land of the rising sun and then England also opened my eyes wide and fully awake.

By then I was almost convinced that the road to prosperity goes via deliverance. What is needed in our country is a quantum jump in deliverance – cutting across sectors and states. Since then the hindu rate of growth has failed to impress me for that would keep the nation relatively at the same place almost forever. Why cant’ we aspire for growth rates in excess of twenty five percent per annum especially in the case of commercial organizations, I have since wondered. Perhaps therein lies the difference between capabilities of managers and leaders.

We need to cultivate leaders rather than merely focusing on imparting managerial skills. One definition of leadership is that it is the art of achieving many times more than what the science of management says is possible. This is one singular trait the trail blazing results of which have been amply witnessed in the cases of Gandhi from India, Lee Kuon Yew of Singapore and Mahathir Mohammad of Malaysia to name a few.  

Leadership is the issue, nothing else is. It is a lot about believing in yourself even when none believe in you. It is also about being more committed to speaking the truth than seeking the approval of others. Besides it encompasses all core managerial and human values.

Now let us look at success.

We all aspire to be successful, yet what is success all about?

It is important not to measure personal success and sense of well being through material possessions. Success is not about what you create for yourself, it is what you leave behind that defines success.

Success is your ability to rise above your discomfort, whatever may be your current state. You can, if you want, raise your consciousness above your immediate surroundings. 

Success is about Vision. It is the ability to rise above the immediacy of pain. It is about imagination. It is about sensitivity to small people. It is about building inclusion. It is about connectedness to a larger world existence. It is about personal tenacity. It is about giving back more to life than you take out of it. It is about creating extra-ordinary success with ordinary lives.

If wealth gave happiness and satisfaction then Mukesh Ambani should be the happiest person in the country and if power and position gave that, then our prime minister should, yet that is not the case. There is something else within us that is the true  fountainhead of happiness and satisfaction. The sooner in life we understand this simple philosophy, the better it is.

At Patratu I started appreciating the real value of the human resource. The combined strength of over a thousand men working in unison delivered much more that what even the best of my predecessors ever expected of the team. That the men in return expected neither enhanced wages or promotions or rewards but genuineness on the part of management was a realization that dawned on me at Patratu and continued during my next stint at the Diesel Locomotive Works at Varanasi. That unions are an essential part of any enterprise with a substantial workforce, yet they merely thrive on the incompetency or non genuineness of primarily the apex management was also a deep realization.

Slowly with the passage of time it dawned on me that whether it is a parchun ki dukaan, towering corporate or a nation, it is the top guy who really matters and everything else is merely a symptom. Yet how wrong most of us really are in almost always attempting to tackle symptoms? Thankfully our family doctors are not like us – they rightfully attack the disease!  

Tackling the 3 M’s in a defined time frame to achieve the desired objective is at the core of the philosophy of management. Yet in the complex maze of organizations that we live in, we invariably fail to appreciate that the “will” to achieve is at a much higher plane than the how’s and the why’s. The regular engagement in the How’s and Why’s therefore amazes me no end. There are examples galore of the tremendous success achieved by nations and organizations inspired merely by the sheer will power of the leader. The meteoric rise of Germany in the thirties and then again after total demolition in the second world war is a vivid example of the power of the will power. I often wonder what would have happened if we Indians were left in the lurch in 1945 as the Germans were –we would still be begging the developed world, the world bank and the IMF for dole. What we would have done with the dole is another matter. National catastrophe’s like cyclones, earthquakes and what Uttarakhand recently went through have started emerging as occasions for the rulers to make hay while the sun shines. Unfortunate yet true! How deep is the abyss still I wonder?

A few days back one of my younger colleagues asked me how to differentiate between a good and a bad posting. My reply was that a posting conventionally regarded as good by the masses is bad and vica versa, provided of course rollicking in power and money is not the aim and making a difference is. After all who ever said that USA has potential or Germany has potential? It is India that is still accumulating potential in almost every sphere of activities. Potential is indeed a dirty word and generally postings regarded as bad possess tons of untapped potential.

Tackling the tourism major, the India Tourism Development Corporation and that too during the era when the nation was going through the motions of selling the family silver was an interesting assignment. Beleaguered on all sides – heavily loss making and corrupt organization, my not belonging to the elite service of the nation, the adhoc appointment and the disinvestment ministry excited about the selloff to follow, even paying the salaries to staff was by no means a cakewalk. And then 9/11 came as the icing on the cake! Yet Hotel Ashok, the flagship and the conscience keeper of the corporation posted the biggest ever hotel turnaround of those times – its turnover grew by almost 60% in the year when the hotel industry worldwide plummeted. This turnaround that gave jitters to the powers that be was mainly fuelled by two components – the decision to turnaround taken by the apex management and the absolute commitment of the staff in ensuring the success of the effort that followed.

Firm adherence to ethics, value systems and genuine concern for the employees is what really differentiates excellent firms from the routine. Clamping down on corrupt practices, imbibing value systems and providing genuine leadership to the men therefore has to be the fundamental focus area of the top guy. That this is far more important than merely chasing production or revenues is not yet apparent to many of the corporates especially those from the sarkari sector! 

In the rotten sarkari domain often most of us are at a loss to decide from where to start, and therefore there are umpteen sad stories of merely confining ourselves to planning and power point presentations that paint a rosy future yet fail to impress. Grandiose future emerging from dingy rooms occupied by demoralized employees is just not acceptable. And therefore in all my postings I literally begin with a cleaning up drive starting with the seat of power to be followed by other offices, units and workplaces. I really cannot visualize a bubbly enterprise in the absence of smart offices, units and workplaces. The men have to start feeling the change and that is what started happening at the dingy headquarters of Madhya Pradesh Tourism in 2004 and continued to happen for the next five years.

The organization turned around in the very first year and the turnover rose so fast that the profits at the end of five years were almost double of the turnover at the beginning. Meanwhile rapid strides in infrastructural development, innovative and bold promotional campaigns and making things easy for the private sector to make an entry propelled the state to the fore front of tourism in the country – an achievement celebrated by a number of recognitions in the form of national awards given by the federal government.

While managerial excellence played a major role, the almost vertical growth was made possible by inculcating ethical values, rooting out corruption and genuine concern for the men of the corporation. 

What however took me by surprise was the tremendous positive response of the railway staff in the Delhi division of Indian Railways. Infrastructural development works that normally take decades to show were completed in a record time and at such low costs that even the CAG profusely complimented the renovation works at New Delhi station in its audit report of the CWG games. Here again a transparent environment, genuine concern for the men, quick decision making and regular emphasis on value systems played a major role. 

All great performances appear smooth, be it Geet Sethi playing billiards or Sachin Tendulkar scoring centuries and all bad performances give an impression of tremendous activity. The test is that if an organization and its constituents appear to be at peace with themselves it is almost always certain that the organization is on the road to achieving excellence. 

Leaders clearly differentiate between remaining busy and delivering. They also quickly separate the grain from the chaff. 

Finally I would like to conclude by saying that achieving organizational excellence is simple though it often appears impossible. It only requires the will, commitment, genuineness and integrity on the part of the management. Once the decision to achieve excellence is taken, the next step is merely to put our life and soul in achieving the objective. 

Thank you everyone for being patient. 

Thank you for this honor once again.

State firms fail because of inept management

(This article was published in the HT of 17/10/2013)

On October 10, civil aviation minister Ajit Singh told a private TV channel that the national carrier - Air India will have to make itself  “profitable or a subsequent government will have to explore at privatising.” The statement created a flutter reminiscent of the era of disinvestment when the hospitality sector giant India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and many others were sold off.

As the head of ITDC, I was often amused at the irrationality of the excuses trotted out for justifying the sale of the family silver — governments should not be in the business of running hotels, the company facing huge loss and the government needs money — were the three major excuses trotted out, but without substance. The counter-arguments were: if the government can’t run even hotels profitably then can it run the nation, give us time and the company will be as profitable as those in the private sector; and if the aim is to maximise sale proceeds why not sell through an open auction and why attempt restricting post-sale operations.

Major properties were palmed off at prices that would not fetch even a decent house in the outskirts of Delhi. Unfortunately, the tremendous enthusiasm over selling the family silver overshadowed the need for sanity.

The theory that governments should not be running businesses and, therefore, get rid of them is inherently faulty. Running a business enterprise requires sound commercial sense. That is why private enterprises burn the midnight oil while selecting their chief executives. Had the same diligence been applied while choosing CEOs for State firms, the story of even the national carrier could have been different. With the might of the State behind it, the public sector has an inherent advantage over the private sector. Unfortunately, this advantage is now being frittered away.

Also, the latent strength of the Indian public sector enterprises lies untapped even after 66 years of Independence. It defies common business sense why many of these commercial enterprises set up with public funds and backed by the State perform so badly.

The reason lies in inept apex management as often the criterion for appointments lack merit. That the kinds of ownership and technicalities are mere peripheral issues and what matters is the commitment, zeal and integrity of the person in charge of these enterprises.

Air India and ITDC are textbook examples of inherently profitable business enterprises brought to the mat by inept managements.  Contrary to public opinion, blaming political masters or the external environment for the ills of a company merely diverts attention and shrouds the real causes. The fact remains that the ‘companies act’ and the ‘memorandum of articles’ sufficiently empower the chief executives to ward off any hostile threats to the efficient working of the enterprise, yet in many cases the chief executives lack leadership traits besides showing undue eagerness to succumb.

Any commercial enterprise, be it the local paan shop or a multinational corporation, is only as good as its leader, or in other words the officer who heads it.

Unfortunately, most of the senior officers only look upwards and display extreme keenness to be identified as the blue-eyed boys of the powers that be. They achieve that goal but in the process the company they head often lose out.

Public Sector can Excel!

The public sector enterprises have miles to go and they can provided...............

That ITDC the only central public sector enterprise in the hospitality sector is deeply in reds is a news that saddens yet reflects the state of the nation. On a lighter note one feels that a lot of effort must have gone in over the years to achieve this distinction considering that the hospitality business is inherently and also highly profitable. The reasons for the debacle indicated in the news item are simply unacceptable.  

It is indeed sad that the latent strength of the temples of modern India, the Indian public sector enterprises lies untapped even after over sixty years of existence as a free nation. It defies common business sense that many of these commercial enterprises set up with public funds and backed by the state are underperforming yet many of them continue to do so. The reason lies in inept management as generally the apex level positions are filled not based on performance or leadership traits but on other criterion or considerations. That the shades of ownership and mere technicalities are not issues that matter and what really matters is the commitment, zeal and integrity of the top guy is a fundamental premise that needs widespread acceptance.

Air India and ITDC are text book examples of profitable business enterprises being bled to death by inept managements. Despite the general public opinion being to the contrary, blaming political masters or the external environment for the ills of the company merely diverts attention and shrouds the real causes. The fact remains that the companies act and the memorandum of articles of the enterprise sufficiently empower the chief executives to ward of any hostile threats to the efficient working of the enterprise, yet in many cases the chief executives either fail to lead or else succumb to pressures and attractions. 

My stint as the head honcho of the Delhi division, the largest division of the mighty railway system of the country firmly reinforced my belief in the goodness and the immense utility of men at large. It also reinforced my belief that the primary problem of the nation is neither the politicos, nor the unions; it is the bureaucracy that with passage of time has evolved into a self seeking organism. The bureaucratic clan indeed has to take the major blame for the pitiable condition the nation and organizations like the ITDC and Air India find themselves in.

My two stints as a public sector honcho, namely the short-lived stint at the India Tourism Development Corporation and later at the Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation reinforced my belief that CEO positions in public sectors are primarily leadership positions. Any CEO who does not appreciate this basic premise is bound to fall flat on the face and that is what has been happening regularly in the Indian public sector scenario. Giving a short shrift to this premise while making selections for apex positions ensures a mediocre future existence for the enterprise, a situation not healthy for the economy.

My stint at the India Tourism Development Corporation coincided with the aggressiveness that was then being displayed in the disinvestment of the public sector and also the 9/11 incident which affected tourism worldwide. The combined synergy of both the events made the revival an almost impossible exercise, yet the unprecedented turnaround that the company witnessed in 2002-3 was the result of a massive team effort, a team effort that even the junior-most of the employees identified himself with. Doubts over the ability of the public sector to perform at par or even better than the private were also successfully laid to rest.

The iconic success of the Madhya Pradesh Tourism in finding its place in the big league of Indian tourism and also the unprecedented financial turnaround of the state tourism corporation was fuelled by the same employees of the once beleaguered corporation who were earlier being blamed for the mess that the state tourism corporation was in. Posting over 30% growth year on year by a state public sector undertaking that had already hit the bottom and was being actively considered for a sell-off again proved that a turnaround is possible provided the top guy has employee focus and is committed to the growth of the company.

Any commercial enterprise, be it the local pan ki dukaan or a towering corporation is only as good as its leader, or in other words its top guy. The top guy has to have leadership qualities and by his words and deeds, should be able to command the unquestioned loyalty of his men. Everything else is secondary, yet unfortunately most of the top guys only look upwards and display extreme keenness to be identified as the blue eyed boys of the powers that be. Blue eyed boys they become, but they lose the company and that is what has happened with most of the commercial enterprises that have gone downhill or are performing below par.

The top guys also have to be able to distinguish between the “effort to deliver” and the “decision to deliver”. While the effort part is good and appreciable, the decision part is almost mandatory. Unless the company led by its top guy decides to deliver, the effort will almost always never bear fruit. It is also sad that generally, the top management gets busy in the “how” and remains busy in the same while the corporation continues its downhill slide. That the “will” to improve is far more vital than the “how’s” and “why’s” needs appreciation.

And lastly, any commercial enterprise that works in a competitive environment, howsoever profitable the sector may be, has to have its foundations firmly in the ground, grouted in value systems that are universally accepted as good and also good practices. Stamping down corruption and other vices should therefore remain the principal focus of the chief executive who should lay this issue on the table and lead by personal example.

The public sector always attracts criticism on grounds of non-performance due to sarkari ownership. Yet with sound commercial sense, the ownership pattern can turn out to be the biggest strength of the company provided the CEO has leadership traits. He is the pivot and he is the one who can take the company forward or sink it. The buck like in any commercial organization stops at the chief executive even in a public sector undertaking. 

The failure of Indian democracy

Today for the first time I felt as if the Indian democratic system has collapsed. The suspension of Durga and the escalation of the political fight over her, not for the cause of justice but for earning brownie points made me sad as never before. Never before, even while witnessing abject poverty, failed governance, rampant corruption and rapid downslide of moral values I regarded them as the failure of the democratic system, yet this single incident crashed the world and hope around us.

I was momentarily transported to those cold wintery days of December 2002 when after having been given the boot from the post of CMD/ITDC, I was reverted unceremoniously to my parent cadre, the railways for having delivered a performance that was regarded as sterling even by my rivals in the hospitality sector. Despite the uproar and the apparent travesty of justice, the government did not budge and went ahead with the sacking even though many in the cabinet expressed their annoyance with the treatment meted out to an officer for turning around a sick public sector organization. Yet the difference remains that apart from the blatantly unfair repatriation, the government did not persecute me like the Durga of today.

The suspension of Durga somehow did not shock me. After all this was what she truly deserved in the India of today, a nation far removed from the ideals that it held close to its heart while aspiring for independence from foreign rule. It is indeed true that the tall personalities who led this nation to freedom would have been unable to visualize the massive drift from human value systems that we are witness to in the present times.

Perhaps our democratic model has been faulty. The social structure that has emerged post independence is bereft of values of any kind and service, despite the piety it evokes has degenerated to service of the self cutting across the bureaucratic and political spectrum throughout the length and breadth of the nation.

Durga Shakti therefore faced the consequences of her action, an action that would have placed her on a very high pedestal had it taken place in a society that places good acts above everything else. Unfortunately the degeneration that picked up pace in the early nineties now runs so deep that far from being considered laudable, such actions have started being regarded as worthy of a severe punishment. Yet the inherent strength of her name and the radiance that her personality exudes makes me confident that her resolve to take on illegal activities regardless of the strength of the powers that (mis)rule would indeed get strengthened with time.

The case of Durga, spurred by the media has caught the imagination of the nation. Yet there would be hundreds of such cases where honest bureaucrats are routinely crushed by dishonest politicos, cutting across party lines. Khairnar was one and Khemka is another. I wonder what would have been the state of affairs had the media not been what it is today.

Sadder still is the race amongst the politicos to adopt a holier than thou attitude in castigating the Uttar Pradesh government, yet following identical norms in territories that they govern. It is also true that the brazenness of the politicos and bureaucrats alike in committing loot or unjust acts is gaining ground in the absence of better alternatives with the electorate. The electoral system is now confined merely to election of the best amongst the worst and this is not what the founding fathers of Indian democracy visualized or what we actually deserve.

Divine Intervention Solicited!

The Times Now debates have of late emerged as the widely accepted practice of killing time, killing time without later being able to recollect later what indeed the debate was all about. The debates that earlier started and continued with a flourish are now fast losing their relevance as discussions are being held merely for the sake of discussions. Perhaps it is a fine way of many to put on display their faces and thus remain in the reckoning in the public arena.

A couple of years back while living in Bhopal, the city of lakes, I often wondered at the architecture of Hotel Lake View Ashok a property of the tourism major going by the name of ITDC.  The hotel designed by an internationally renowned architect whom one would not like to name had a lobby that can never be air-conditioned for it had all high ceiling with all corridors opening in the vast open space. It was pretty obvious that the hotel was designed for the sake of architecture with perhaps only the architect getting a kick out of the design.

On a similar analogy, handing technical issues now, the injection of new technology in the form of latest international designs of locomotives and coaches always makes me wonder whether a technological upgrade merely implies a transfer of technology from beyond the shores and a couple of overseas junkets without handling the overall associated gamut. And therefore all such upgrades come with massive labor pains that carry well beyond the birth of the child.

I have now realized that a pinch of salt is what one should take while consuming rhetoric of any kind, whether it is a claim to a nationalistic fervor or trumpeting of efforts to heal the wounds of the humanity. The efforts to nail those found with their hand in the till also have to be taken with a lot of salt as the final punishments are never commensurate with the extent of the crime. At a lower bureaucratic level also the statements of intent often proclaimed from rooftops turn out to be falsity personified. The wheel continues to be invented again and again with the difference that unlike in the golden past, those inventing keep on taking sole credit ad-infinitum.

The last decade has indeed been the most horrifying in so far as decline in human values and a disgraceful conduct on display on the part of those occupying high chairs is concerned. Partially successful efforts at selling the family silver cheap marked the beginning of absence of probity in public life, a trend that continues unabated till today, with brazenness emerging as the hallmark of those in power.

Railways also have a long story to tell. While still being counted as an organization that delivers, albeit in a sellers market that too in monopoly, the standards of leadership, governance and management have witnessed a steep decline. The Mahesh Kumar episode is indeed the tip of the iceberg, but perhaps as matters stand today, the full iceberg is never going to be visible and things shall soon return to normalcy with corrupt and unethical practices continuing to rule the roost.

And that makes me certain that the only person capable of setting the nation in order through his impeccable standards of commitment, honesty and guts will never be allowed to rise and lead all of us to glory. Perhaps we can only wait for divine intervention to bail out the nation now!

The naked truth

The turmoil that the masters in the art of corruption have presently brought about in the nation is appreciable, if only for its never before magnitude. That even members of the national cabinet can put on display a character that would better suit a mafia don is something that we are a sad witness to for the first time in the history of India as a free nation. That the two main national parties are almost equal rivals in the art of corruption is also a reality that has caught the imagination of the nation.

“Hamam mein sab nange hain” is what even newly born are heard uttering these days with almost amazing regularity.

I am reminded of the days when in the mid eighties we learnt through the media and political utterances that  India is great and then in the late nineties that the nation is shining. That the shine and the sheen always remained restricted to certain select members of the then ruling establishment was never in doubt. Yet the culpability of a senior member of the cabinet remained under covers till all hell broke loose when the issue of selling national silver at throwaway prices caught the attention of the masses. Disinvestment of certain prized yet undervalued public undertakings at prices one would laugh at had emerged as the primary focus of the establishment that had vested interests tucked away almost everywhere, almost akin to the present times.

Literally booted out I was, yet the priceless “Ashok” at Chanakyapuri lived and that one victory which made me almost a pariah for a few months till the issue was forgotten, has been my most cherished possession. I now fully appreciate after almost a decade of greying further that the fight that I then undertook was an offshoot of the anger every right minded citizen of the nation feels when the politicos or the bureaucrats usurp what belongs to all of us. Yes I was angry, extremely angry in the frustration that follows the inability of a protector to protect. That the establishment and the anti establishment had as always become silent partners in looting the nation is a trend that invariably continues to this day.

And we the common men rightly feel cheated when the guy we elected as the custodian turns out to be the crook. And the thought that India is only for men with power or men with money and not for the aam Hindustani gets ingrained deeper and deeper with time.

In hope we live. Insha Allah!

Cultural degeneration

A visit to any of the establishments where I earlier worked has always been a nostalgic experience. My visit to mpt office in hotel janpath yesterday had me almost in tears. Blessed I am for the tremendous love and affection that I have always received from all those who ever worked for me, be it the ministry of tourism, the india tourism development corporation, my various postings in the railways including the last one at the delhi division and the iconic posting as the head domo of tourism in the heart of incredible india. Such has been the love and affection that often I wish it was possible to be in more places than one, all at the same time.

In the face of such an outpouring of love and affection, the rise up the ladder in the conventional sense seems to have lost all its charm and relevance. After all we are mere servants of the government and being a higher ranked servant therefore does not attract me the way it normally does the entire clan. What however is really of essence is our ability to deliver and delivery itself.

It is indeed sad that most of us from the bureaucratic clan regard a job as an instrument of self aggrandizement and perpetuation, not as a means to serve the organization or the nation by means of bringing about a positive change. And therefore one witnesses almost always, a hasty clamour for obtaining personal gains by the occupants of fancy chambers in sarkari buildings cutting across sectors and services in this nation of ours.

Sadder still is the state of affairs in the railways, a so called HR centric organization the managers of which display absolute indifference for all those who work for them while at the same time going to ridiculous extents to satiate the unhealthy desires of those above. Moreover the language and the demeanour of the top brasses is also increasingly become a matter of serious concern. The usage of intemperate language and the inability to accept a difference of opinion often leads me to wonder whether we are really railroaders or are slowly acquiring the cultural traits of road side truckers. Perhaps being in the business of transport, and the time having arrived we have sadly degenerated to the level of truckers.

Railroading with the cultural traits of truckers, what an irony indeed!

Amen!