Competitiveness and spite are endemic in the world, particularly in business. In 2017, Angelina Jolie directed a brilliant film, Unbroken, which is streaming on Netflix. American Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete and Second World War participant, suffered severe torture by the Japanese, upon his capture.
I am delighted to begin this monthly column titled “Building Businesses.” In this column, I hope to engage with readers on Entrepreneurship, Education and Eudaemonia--Greek for well-being, all of which are highly relevant for the progress of India. Why so?
Indian business leaders tend to be opportunistic rather than strategic, perhaps a hangover from the license raj. Gurus exhort business leaders to view business through a long-term lens.
Recent rhetoric says “less government, more governance” but the unfolding reality does not match up. Indian government, center and states, face a real governance issue.
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has a mummified Philadelphia man, who was buried around 1800 and whose body turned into soap. It seems that alkaline water seeped into his casket and combined with his body fat, thus making him into soap. He is called Soapman.
Think of past crises which delivered dramatic opportunities for India: for example, Quit India (1942), Green Revolution (1964) and Liberalization (1991). Crises excavatesociety’s hidden energy. Even the current crisis shows signs of our society doing ‘impossible’things.
10th April 2020 THE WISE LEADER. I received positive reader responses to my last column. (Beware of competence without humility or humanity, BS, 13th March). One reader posed a tricky question: why are so many leaders arrogant if it is obvious that humility is very important?