FOR THE BIG LEAP

History of mankind is the history of quantum leaps amidst plateaus of status quo. Till 1954 it was believed that human beings cannot run a mile in less than Four minutes. And this belief was nursed since ages. But on May 6, 1954 a British Medical Student Roger Bannister broke that barrier by running the one mile distance in less than a minute. Even though it was just a shade less it was a gigantic leap for mankind. ‘Yes, it could be done’. That is what Roger Bannister’s feat established that afternoon as he became the first runner to break the mythical 4 minute barrier that seemed to be an obsession for several centuries. The Roman kings had tried all the tricks in their bags, from training under controlled conditions to chasing runners by lions. Yet, they did not succeed, and the conclusion was that man is not made to run one mile in less than four minutes. We remember Roger Bannister not just for running one mile in less than four minutes but for his contribution to the power of the belief system. Bannister, who died early this month has proved the point that human potential is immense. But to harness it one must have the faith in his/her belief system. The fact that the barrier of four minutes mile was broken several times in the same year tells a very basic story about the human nature. It is the psychological barriers that are the biggest stumbling blocks in progress of the human kind. Only someone has to believe in himself, persist wholeheartedly and do it. And others will follow suit. As Roger Bannister had himself said that if you can run a mile in four minutes, you can certainly do it in less. As a medical student conversant with human physiology he knew that psychological and not physical barriers stop man’s progress. Many have expressed doubts when a popular psychological assertion is quoted that humans realize at best 10 percent of their latent capabilities. Mythical or real, the assertion makes a lot of sense if we juxtapose it with the actual human behaviours in a wide array of fields. Individual differences, notwithstanding, the effort potential gap is a real problem for most. We often hear people boast that they could have done this or that, yet do not do it. Potential unutilized is potential wasted. There is no dearth of knowledge or skill. The problem lies with their application. Motivation is a magical force that has the power to drive human beings to achieve seemingly impossible feats. The only problem is that there is a huge difference between wishing and desiring. Wishing is fantasizing and desiring is trying to realize the desired objectives. What motivates is not the allurement of the goal, but that fire in the belly that keeps one pushing towards the goal. Motivation is not out there. It is an intrinsic force. When it is powered with a firm belief in one self and backed with commensurate efforts, it can move mountains. This is the message of one of the most motivating statements attributed to Archimedes — “give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth”. Human potential is immense and it can work wonders. The past century saw Everest humiliated, moon conquered and the mile myth broken. Let us hope more in the present century as we wait for the next big leap of mankind.

THE GUNS OF PROSPERITY

A news item reporting a recent shootout at a Florida school in the US that killed 17 people proved once again that all is not well with the fancied American society. If children go to schools with the fear of being murdered by gunmen on the lunatic fringe, there is something terribly wrong with that society. It was in the month of February this year that a gunman opened fire with an AR-15 style assault rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and killed 17 people. And it is no stray incident. Such incidents are taking place at a nagging frequency. In fact it is estimated by a general interest news site Volks.com that firearms killed more 15 to 19 year olds than cancer, heart diseases and diabetes combined in 2016. And 2018 has just begun. What do we call such a society where these things are happening? Championing human rights in other countries is different and makes headlines and also helps those champions score brownie points. But what about protecting human beings in your own country? There is something terribly wrong with your societies which proclaim to be advanced, liberal and, yes, world leaders. But let them look inwards. Are they? The US society is a case in point. Too much openness and a heavy dose of liberalism seems to be the problem leading to such ugly scenarios. Rightly are the people waking up to the ills effects of unbridled freedom that the liberal societies permit? The issue is the subject matter of a major debate as one parent of an 18-year-old daughter killed in the indiscriminate shoot out puts it. “How many schools, how many children have to be get shot? It stops here, with this administration and me, because I’m not going to sleep until it is fixed”. Many such parents are questioning President Donald Trump with anguish and rage. The intensely emotional debate veers around the question how to respond to such gun massacres in American schools. And who knows it may well be the parks, the market place, and the public congregation. It definitely calls for some serious and ingenious solution. Merely wishing that if the teachers of the school had concealed weapons they would have shot the gun man makes little sense. Rather, it is utter nonsense. An eye for an eye ends up making the whole world blind. Or at best, leaves in the end one man with one eye. A society that throws values to the wind in its mad race for material prosperity will in the end come to grief. That perhaps is the lesson that can be learned from these shoot outs. But there is need to go deeper into the problem. Why is there  so much of hatred and anger that explodes in indiscriminate firing. Why does violence become a means to vent pent-up feelings. There is a need to find answers to all such questions. Violence begets violence and, more violence more so. Only peace and non-violence can win over violence as was demonstrated by the apostle of peace Mahatma Gandhi. There is need to create a culture of peace and non-violence if America wants to be the world leader and the land of opportunities. They need to learn peace and non-violence from Gandhi. People going on a shooting spree in schools are signs of sickness of a society. Vulgar consumerism and excessive consumption leads to such sickness.

THE ALCHEMY OF LEADERSHIP

What makes a good leader has been a question researched for ages. Yet, the right formula has not been convincingly found. This is one reason why most management schools seem to be obsessed with the leadership conundrum. Of the many basics skills that they aim to instil in management students, leadership is one, perhaps the most critical one. Seemingly for this reason, many of the seminars, conferences, symposia and workshops focus on leadership development. It was for this reason that a reasonably reputed management school of Varanasi had organised an International conference on the subject Alchemy of Leadership for Sustainability and Innovation recently.

This columnist had the opportunity to be a part of the deliberations both as an invited speaker and a session chair in a plenary. Listening to the myriad of views from practitioners and academics, students and researchers far and wide the one essential leadership attribute that could be filtered from the welter of ideas and information was that effective leaders need to be persons of substance driven by some core values that help them take ethically sound decisions. But, then there were as many views as individuals as to what was the basis of arriving at those ethically sound decisions and what were those core values that would drive those decisions. In other words what is that alchemy, the chemistry of an effective leader? No easy answers. But we now realize that effective leadership is more about ethical leadership than anything else. To put it more succinctly it is some unique combination of the head and the heart that helps a leader arrive at or choose the right decisions from the information jungle that is now available due to sophisticated technology and makes choice a matter of serious intrapersonal conflict. One advantage that the modern day leaders have over their previous generation counterparts is the availability of choice.

But this also is a major dis advantage which they face. What is that right choice? Theories may not be able to provide the right cues and clues given the wide array of situations which leaders have to face. But looking at the actions that leaders take may give some inkling as to what is ethical leadership. Coming to the chemistry of an ethical leader, we have to look at people with proven leadership credentials. And what better example than Lord Krishna, the real hero of the Mahabharata war. The first attribute that we need to understand about leader is that he makes things happen. His role is that of a catalyst. Like that of Manganese Dioxide in the production of oxygen. In our chemistry laboratory classes our school teachers used to tell us that Manganese Dioxide did not part take in the reaction. Yet, its presence was crucial for production of oxygen. This was the role Lord Krishna played in Mahabharata war. He did not take part in the war. Yet, his role was crucial for the victory of Pandavas. There are other important aspects of the leader chemistry.

He must have a high boiling point, that is, should keep cool in worst of the situations. He should have high melting point also. A leader needs to be driven by empathy and not sympathy. Further, a leader also has to be malleable and ductile. Must be strong, yet soft, tough yet not brittle. Most of these properties are qualities of gold. An effective leader is like gold having a natural shine that doesn’t fade.