They
happen only over a beer, these discussions of philosophical import for which any
form of circumspection or inquiry into human nature is elicited. And there we were, Dilip, Vij and I sipping
the lager of animated conversation.
Our
topic of discussion moved on from one to the other, until we landed on the
issue of ethics among Indian working ‘professionals’, or, to be precise, the
absence of ethics amongst them. The
papers have recently been full of all that Kingfisher has been upto - except
their planes, of course, which are not upto, but down to a dozen or so, most of which grace the tarmac with their
unsolicited presence all day. And then
there was Reebok, where the senior leadership milked the golden goose (to mix
up metaphors, much to an ecologist’s chagrin).
Closely followed by the CEO of Onmobile, whose entire goal seems to have
been to make the company Offmobile for good.
There are dark rumours about Subhiksha’s CEO that have now come to light (in which case,
you could argue, the rumour would not be dark any more). Multiple stories of sales heads of big –
really big - pharma companies pinching samples meant for doctors,which practice
itself is not high on anyone’s list of ethics, and then selling them in a
market that they have made all their own.
These luminaries, of course, line the walls of a rogues gallery that is
under perpetual construction, where the demand for space far outstrips its
supply.
‘What
is it,’ Dilip asked meditatively over a Tintin Toit, ‘ that makes our managers
this way?’
I
have pondered on this question for the last few days, much after the beer wore
off. Was this always true? Is it our
upbringing? Is it society? Or is it that
a meditative beer should be best avoided?
Until
some years ago, money was just another factor in our judgement of another. Was his integrity unquestionable? Did he have guts to stand up to
authority? Was he skilled at his
job? Was he tough, but fair? Did he carry himself with dignity?
Of
equal importance was his lineage - the
“he comes from a good family” bit - or
even his school (I was sent to St Joseph's for this reason). As you think of this,
reflect on the men and women you admired in the 1970s and the 1980s (if you are old enough, that is). Most of them were possibly not rich, certainly not by the standards of 2012, yet they were conscious of their image and down played their wealth. Those who chased money all
their lives were christened Delhi-wallahs, Banias or Marwaris, unequivocally. A telling way to see this is to ask the
question: who would have been a Chairman of any of the IIMs in the 1980s? The answer is: most probably a retired public
sector head or a distinguished economist (such as Abid Hussain), or possibly an
academician.
Sometime
in the 1980s, this began to change and, in the 1990s, wealth became the
factor in judging a person. Usurious wealth that stock options generated in the
US and, to a lesser extent, here, added fuel to a growing fire. This was above board, but got many thinking
of, not the means, but the ends. Cricket is a good metaphor: as the substance
of test cricket gave way to one-days, and now T-20s, the mantra changed from style
and technique to ‘let the runs come, no matter how they come.’ So too with
money.
The
accepted yardstick now for measuring a person’s worth is by measuring his Generally
Accepted Bank Balance (GABB). If a guy
in school with me, who got less marks than I did, is now worth a couple of
hundred crores, surely I should be as well?
If not stock options, how about a quick bank heist or IPO (which is what many
entreprenuers have done in the last fifteen years, taking public money off for themselves). Or a fudging of shoe stock
at Reebok? Or a quiet diversion of some customer
payments to an overseas account, with a later claim of ‘bad debt’?
And, now, for the clincher. The Chairman of IIMB is Mukesh Ambani. What academic input can he provide, other than to design a session on 'how to pocket a Government' or 'how to lose a billion dollars in a new business without really trying?
Maybe it is the meditative
beer. Or maybe I am right. In any case, since we can’t do a damn about
it, how about one for the road?
