6

Go Beyond Technology
Add EQ and SQ to the IQ

In the fast movement toward the top or the pinnacle of success, one may forget the requirement of improving the Emotional Quotient (EQ) and Spiritual Quotient (SQ). Both of these are as necessary as high IQ to be successful. You will need the ability to understand other people above you, around you, and below you, and to connect with them.

Mother Teresa, a well-known social worker in Kolkata, later, a Nobel Prize winner, had once addressed a large national convention of personnel managers in Delhi, India, and compressed her keynote address into a few minutes by asking just two questions:

1. Do you know your people?
   Really know them, not just the obvious, but their hopes and aspirations, their fears and concerns and so on and their inner self as well?
2. Do you love them?
   In a very genuine way, do you have concern for their welfare and also concern for their families?

She believed this was the fulcrum of managing people in organizations, and if each manager in every organization did this, the world would be a much better place.

In an organization, you will need to build a genuine “connection.” A concern for all the people you are associated with—customers, suppliers, and employees.

Case Study

My first job interview was with Ian Mckinnon, then Purchase Director of Glaxo India. I arrived to meet him on a very rainy day in Mumbai, with semi-wet clothes and a dripping umbrella. I was embarrassed but he put me at ease. He picked up my raincoat and hung it, ordered some hot coffee and talked about the weather. Before I knew it, we were already through a two and a half hour interview. He had put me so much at ease that I felt I had known him for a long time. Such was his EQ.

No wonder, some years later, he became the Managing Director, first in India and later in Glaxo, France.

Case Study

Many years later, I had another boss in another company, who was sent to a fortnight-long program on “Human Relations” at Harvard, USA. One of the rules he learned there was that you should always ask about an employee's family to establish a bonding. On his first day back in the office, he asked me, “How is the family?” I said they were fine and found it strange that he asked for the first time since I had joined the company two years earlier. When I met him later in the day, he asked me the same question twice. I was amused. He did not even realize or know that I was a bachelor, and had no family with me in that town.

This was EQ by “formula,” and not by “heart.”

Case Study

Look at the stories of Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, who made Starbucks a star in a very short time. He looked after all his employees; even temporary hands were given full medical coverage so that they would never be in “need.” Schultz was, therefore, not just admired, but also respected and loved. He went on to build one of the most iconic brands in the world.

Jeffrey Brotman and James Sinegal are the founders of Costco, the big wholesaler chain in the US, whose employees wear the Costco badge on their shirts with pride. On that badge, they carry the boast of how long they have been with the company—twenty years, twenty-five years, and so on—along with the baseline, “Proud to be at Costco!” The employees are so well looked after in their service conditions that most of them would not think of working for any other employer.

Case Study

Dini Gaitonde of Century Enka, India, a leading polyester fiber company, even as the President, went out of his way to help with school admissions for some of the employees’ children and medical attention for some of those seriously ill, or even for members of their family. All of them knew Dini was always there. He spent as much time away from his desk as at the desk, yet the company grew in revenue and profit. The company morale was high.

EQ and SQ reinforce one another. SQ is not a formal religious quality. It is the sense of humanity, of belonging, and of subscribing to a core of ethics which goes beyond just “organized religion.”

“A higher EQ and SQ enables you to evolve into a more ‘complete’ human being and takes you much beyond just a high IQ.”

This helps to create balance so that there is reduced pride due to social progress and a reduced sense of superiority, which may come from money power.

A THOUGHT-PROVOKING STORY

YOU WILL BE ETERNALLY HAPPY!

A woodcutter had to struggle hard to earn two meals a day. He met a monk and explained his pitiable condition. The monk advised him, “Don't stop at the edge of the forest, go right in. One day's work will fetch you one month's food.” The woodcutter followed the advice. Deep within the forest, he found sandalwood trees. He was very happy. He expressed his gratitude to the monk.

The monk advised him again, “Take the risk of going still deeper into the forest. A day's work will fetch you food for six months.” This time, he found a silver mine. He thanked the monk again. The monk said, “If you trust me and go still deeper into the forest, one day's work will make you earn enough to fetch you food for a lifetime.” This also turned out to be true, for he found a gold mine.

The woodcutter wondered why the monk still stays at the edge of the forest and not venture into the forest as he has been advising me. He expressed his doubts to the monk. The monk replied, “If you want to be eternally happy, sit under this tree and I will teach you to go within. Then you will be eternally happy.”

To be an outer winner, one has to explore the outer world. To be an inner winner, one has to go within oneself. The balance between being an outer winner and being an inner winner is what would make us feel good.

Source: When Things Go Wrong, Inspirational Quote, May 2012.

WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND

Joy……until we face sorrow

Faith……until it is tested

Peace……until faced with conflict

Trust……until we are betrayed

Love……until it is lost

Hope……until confronted with doubts

Source: Author unknown, Cited in Lists to Live By, Multnomah Publishers, Inc.

Life is not a spectator sport…If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life.

Jackie Robinson (1919–1972),
Baseball player,
Bits & Pieces, August 10, 2000

DOES BEING ETHICAL PAY?

Many young people on the threshold of their working life mull over this question. They feel that there is a lot being talked and written about ethics—ethics in the business world, ethics in the political world, and ethics within the social circuit and in the family. They see that many of the people who have prospered are generally known to have been quite “unethical.” Naturally, most of us want to progress and prosper. So what is the route that we should take?

I am reminded of a story of the preacher at Sunday service who gave a sermon to the congregation on following the straight and narrow path. In other words, the ethical way. He ended the sermon with the admonition, “And remember brothers and sisters, there will be no buying and selling in heaven.” There came the loud rejoinder from one in the congregation from the back of the church, “That's not where business has gone anyways.” There was a pregnant silence. The preacher was stunned. He carried on with the rest of the service in silence. The dissenter wanted to affirm that “business has gone to hell.”

We read about the famous Mr Maddock who swindled so many people for so long with his “Ponzi” scheme and has now been sentenced to 150 years in prison.

There are thousands of finance advisors, financial dealers, bankers, and others who have used unethical means to make the quick buck and acquire large fortunes. In that process, they have tried to change Norman Vincent Peale's book title from Think and Grow Rich to Cheat and Grow Rich.

This is the time to reflect that the crooked path finally leads to disaster. It may take a short time as in the case of Harshad Mehta, the notorious stockbroker or a longer time as in the case of Ramalinga Raju, who is said to have misappropriated 7,000 crores or more from Satyam coffers, a company he founded. But finally, the chickens come home to roost.

Fortunately, there are some, among us, who have achieved great heights while still treading the straight and narrow path. For example, people who have achieved high office like President Kalam or who have achieved great financial success like Narayan Murthy, Nandan Nilenkani, Azim Premji, Vikram Lal, Harsh Mariwala, the Godrej family, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. They have all achieved a modicum of Position, Money, Power (PMP), without resorting to chicanery or crime. They are all able to hold their heads high and look everyone straight in the eye.

One wishes the media would focus more on such icons who are models for the youth of India in the 21st century so that these candles may light many more candles, to make this a better community, a better country, and finally, a better world.

VALUES AND THE MANAGER

The best summary I have found, and practical to live with, is the one put forward by Cyrus Vance in his book, Manager Today, Executive Tomorrow. Vance gives eight basic attitudes, which I have expanded and elaborated on with my own thoughts.

From Birth to Death We Are Alone

There is no one in this entire world that can help us or be with us all the time during our entire lifetime. From birth to death, we are alone, only interspersed by periods of togetherness. That is why one must learn to enjoy one's own company to convert the concept of “loneliness” to a concept of “aloneness.” Loneliness is negative, depressing, sorrowful, and stark. On the other hand, aloneness is positive, rejuvenating, and enjoyable.

This is one of the reasons why it is recommended that we all grow up from childhood with two hobbies—one collective, for example, team sports such as hockey or cricket, where you spend time in the company of others; and another creative, like music, art, where one can spend time with oneself.

There is a lot of sense in this guideline. It makes you less dependent on other people, on movies, TV programs, or video films.

No One in This Entire World Owes You Anything

We are all brought up to believe that people should do things for us. We all have expectations—some very high and some totally divorced from the reality. If anything is given to us, it should be graciously accepted. If it is denied to us, it is pointless getting annoyed. There are no rights or favors that are due to us.

Much of the unhappiness in the world today is not because people have lesser than the earlier generation but because expectations have changed and increased, and when these expectations are not met, people get annoyed and revolt.

The Word “Progress” Means Different Things to Different People

Most people measure their progress based on where they stand in relation to the friends who have perhaps gone places and are apparently very successful. Vance suggests that we measure progress by the objectives we have set ourselves in life and how far we have achieved these objectives.

There is little point in Arunachalam M—who refused to sell his technology outright and is still not a millionaire—the innovator of the low-cost sanitary pad making machine, comparing himself to another innovator, Sachin Bansal of Flipkart, whose 7.5 percent equity in the company he founded was worth $800 million as of 2014. Arunachalam helped 10,000 rural women by providing jobs of making pads and converted 3.5 million women in Asia and Africa to the use of the effective and more economical (2) sanitary pad. Each of these two men has followed his star and helped to make this a better world.

Never mind what other people are doing or have done. Let them do their own thing as you are doing yours. Let them follow their own star as you follow yours. Progress means different things to different people.

In Life You Accept That You Are Going to Win Some and Lose Some

Some people get spoilt as children because their parents give them everything they ask for—from ice cream to expensive toys. Later, they find it difficult to face a situation where they cannot get everything they want. It is the same with toppers in the school. They expect and get a pat on the back after every excellent performance in the exams. They expect that in real life, they will also be served “kudos” for their excellent performance. When they do not get it, they become despondent. They have lost the ability to fight for themselves. They expect the world to be fair and they also want to win every time.

The really complete person with a balance of IQ, EQ, and SQ faces up failure with some disappointment, but without the depression, bordering on wanting to commit suicide.

With Arunachalam's experiments on sanitary pads at home, first, his mother left the house in disgust. Then, his wife followed. He was left all alone. But he still pursued his dream and finally, after some years, he succeeded. He won many prizes for his achievement internationally. Fortunately, his family has returned now after his triumph. He went through agony because he had passion, he had a goal, and he had an unfaltering commitment to reach it. It took him seven years.

Like other managers/entrepreneurs, he knew that “in life, you win some and you lose some.”

A Life Without Problems Is Impossible

Most of us are looking for a life which is ideal, where we will encounter total happiness and contentment without any cloud of sorrow. But this is a dream. It never happens. Perhaps, it happens in novels, in unrealistic movies, and in short stories, not in real life.

Look at the lives of our high-flying e-commerce entrepreneurs. Nearly all of them have failed once or twice before they saw success and became millionaires. Among many others, the same is true for Anirudh Sharma (Haptic shoe) and for H Satyanarayana (Virtual Trial rooms). They all know that life is always a graph of high and low points, of peaks and valleys. Some may have longer periods of peaks and for others; it may be the other way round. But we all have our due share of both, whether we are born rich or poor, intelligent or dull, handsome or ugly, brown or white.

No Matter What Others Say, You Never Stop Learning

At least seventy percent of the products we buy today were not available some twenty years ago. Impatient managers have made that happen and it continues to happen with more impatient managers coming on board.

This rule is not really applicable to the impatient manager because he would not be where he is, if he did not keep learning, questioning why it cannot be changed, or asked, why it cannot be improved.

As shown earlier in the book, impatient managers have quit jobs when they have stopped learning from their superiors, they have questioned the status quo, and found alternative solutions, be it cheap but effective sanitary napkins or Mitticool clay refrigerators, innovated by Prajapati.

Deepak Ravindran's offering of the offline internet on mobile phones through Innoz Technologies opened up a whole new world for 5 million people who use a simple phone which does not support internet connectivity out of 6 million people who have access to mobile phones. By connecting the unconnected, Innoz is changing the world for the better.

Change Is Taking Place All the Time, You Must Welcome It

Most people do not welcome change. They prefer the familiar, standard routine with everything in its place. I still visit the bank, although I could have done much of the work “online.”

I selected a senior manager for a job in Mumbai with a forty percent increase in his emoluments from the present job and he turned it down because his wife would have to move to an upper class neighborhood where she would not feel comfortable.

It is only the positively oriented who welcome change and enjoy it, which includes the impatient managers as well. They do not wait for everyone else to change and then join in. They are among the first; they are the “agents of change.” They realize that “the only permanent feature of life is change.” The change also involves learning and relearning, which most of the people resent. But the agent of change does not resent it, in spite of the trouble involved.

“The impatient manager understands and accepts the fact that he must welcome change. In fact, he is a part of the change.”

You Must Choose Optimism Instead of Pessimism

It is so easy to be pessimistic these days. The examination papers are leaked and sold. There is cheating at the exams. You cannot get admission into professional colleges even with a ninety percent score. Seats for “unreserved category” are very limited. Jobs are obtained only by influence. Fast progress in one's career needs a godfather. The country is going to the dogs. There is corruption everywhere. The old sense of ethical values has completely vanished. The prices of necessities are spiraling.

All this is enough to depress any normal human being, but it cannot be allowed to happen. As Henry Thoreau said, “Men were born to succeed, not to fail.” A person with a positive attitude looks at the bright side of things and moves forward. He looks for ways and means to bring about changes and improve the environment. Instead of being totally influenced by others, he makes an effort to influence others. He keeps asking himself, “What can I do about it?”

These are eight basic values which will help the impatient manager to go through life as a “living” human being rather than being just a zombie. These basic values have helped me a great deal over the past many decades for which I am grateful to Vance.

TO THE “STATUS QUO ANTE”

Fifty years ago, I was hired by Glaxo India, as the first Management Trainee from an Indian University. Because of my qualifications in Pharmacy, I was earmarked for specialization in “marketing,” an area not too well known at that time as compared to “sales.”

After a few years, when I was made responsible for new product introductions, one of the products I had on-stream was a combination of Vitamin B1 and Vitamin B12. Glaxo was already a leader in Vitamin B1 injectable (Berin) and Vitamin B12 injectable (Macrabin). We found that many doctors around the country mixed the two and then injected the patient. So Glaxo developed a stable ready mix injectable to make it easy for doctors and called it Macraberin. The product was an instant hit. After just one year, Macraberin became one of the company's fastest growing products—a favorite with doctors and in turn, with chemists.

One day the blow struck. Over a period of four months, Glaxo received three complaints from different doctors in different parts of the country that a patient had a reaction to Macraberin. It was just three complaints out of the thousands of vials sold. It was known that the occasional patient is allergic to Vitamin B1. A patient could have got the reaction even if she were given just a Berin injection. But Joe Kidd, Managing Director of Glaxo, India, at that time would accept no explanations from the Medical Department of the company. He would certainly not accept any explanations from the Sales Department. The manufacturing of Macraberin had to be stopped forthwith and the product was dropped from the list of offerings. No amount of arguments—that the number of complaints constituted 0.0001 percent of doses sold or that the patient would have gotten the reaction with any brand of Vitamin B1 or that this would imply a huge loss of future revenue, without any sound reason—could change Kidds’ mind.

“Glaxo will always stand for ethical principles,” he declared confidently. It was the time when Glaxo was Numero Uno in India. Kidd wanted Glaxo to be Numero Uno in integrity and ethics as well.

Fifty years later in 2011, we read a headline in the Wall Street Journal, “Glaxo settles with US for $3 billion.” It had to settle several long-running criminal and civil investigations into the company, including allegations that Glaxo marketed some drugs illegally and defrauded the Medicaid program.

The settlement also covers a Department of Justice probe into Glaxo's development and marketing of the diabetes drug, Avandia, which has been linked to heart attack risks. The final settlement terms are still under negotiation. Andrew Witty, the CEO of Glaxo, says that this settlement

is a significant step towards resolving difficult and long standing matters, which do not reflect the company we are today. In recent years we have fundamentally changed our procedures for compliance, marketing and selling in the US, to ensure that we operate with high standards of integrity and that we conduct our business openly and transparently.

Over fifty years, the wheel has turned full circle. And many may ask…Why did we put integrity and transparency to sleep for periods in between?

THE CHALLENGE OF AMORALITY

Perhaps the biggest challenge we face in India—and it would be true for many other parts of the world—is the challenge of “amorality.” Many are losing the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, between black and white. It is all shades of gray. It would seem to follow the old dictum, “There is no right, there is no wrong, but thinking makes it so.” If most people in the country feel like this and then act on such decisions, it will be like a ship without a compass—a sailing ship that sails whichever way the wind blows because it does not know where it is going. It can go anywhere.

The garage mechanic who repairs the car requested me to pay him the 7,000 I owe him by cash. “Won't a cheque do?” I asked him. He explained to me that he plans to buy a house in Mumbai and a house in Mumbai needs to be paid for with forty percent cash. So he was collecting the cash, not giving receipts so he can rustle up the forty percent that he needed to pay. He knew he was wrong, but justified his deed with the plea that he has no choice. It is a shade of gray, not black.

The medical doctor takes commissions from the pathology labs, from radiologists, and from consultants to whom he may refer patients. Is this a right thing to do? Is this system of commissions or kickbacks covered by a disclosure to patients? Certainly not!

A doctor explained to me that he has paid 60 lakhs to buy the premises for his dispensary. It is a lot of money in addition to the 15 lakhs that his education has cost him. Now the question is: how and when is he going to recover this large investment? Can he do this without a supplementary income from these commissions? Otherwise, he can only recover the investment by the time he is seventy-five. The end justifies the means and again we have the shades of gray.

If you stand in the queue for the bus at Mumbai Flora Fountain, you will find that the queue dissolves as soon as the bus arrives. Then, it is free for all. The able-bodied push their way from the rear of the queue to the front. There is a little consideration for the elderly and for women. One of them told me that it takes two hours to reach his Andheri home from Flora Fountain and, therefore, there is no time for niceties and etiquette. He saw nothing wrong in what he does every evening as he muscles his way into the bus. He had become “amoral.”

If this contagion spreads and if our young people are not imbued with a sense of morality in the home and in the school, India will one day collapse as a nation. A whole proud civilization would come to an end in the same way as earlier civilizations, like the Roman, came to a sorry end with a corrosion of the country's moral fiber.

PRIDE AND FOLLOW-UP

There are two areas where we generally fail in India. First, we fail to have “pride” in the work we do. It is seen in the detail. It is always the little things that demonstrate the pride people have in the work they do. It does not matter what the work is; it could be a manual work or it could be a mental work. The major job certainly gets done, but the small details are not attended to. And this reflects poorly on the author of the assignment.

Last week, the bus shelters in Mumbai were being changed. It was being done by the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) at considerable expense. It is a new modern design with clean lines and, in fact, these have changed the ambience of the bus stops. But the workers have set these up and gone away without removing the paper cladding on the metal sheets—a cladding done to protect the material in transport.

Why did this happen? Lack of knowledge and moreover, lack of pride in a job well and completely done. Has this been noticed by anyone else? Perhaps not. Because it is unlikely that there is any system of follow-up either by the superior or any ombudsman.

Boundary walls at most places have a sign, “No painting or posters please.” These are walls that look good with a coat of fresh white paint. Within days of the painting, slogans were painted on the walls by political parties or posters pasted by film companies. People ignore this and move on. Is there a follow-up to penalize the miscreants? None! Although there should be.

It is the same with the paver tiles laid on our pavements. Some of them have been fitted without enough foundation. The workers have pushed on, done the allotted pavement as fast as possible, and gone away. Many paver tiles have sunk in. They can cause grave damage to children and the old and can be the cause of falls, sprains, and fractures. Was there pride in the job? No! Was there a follow-up to evaluate excellence? Probably none or only superficial.

New speed breakers are set up regularly on many roads. A good concept, poorly executed. Many speed breakers are car breakers. They are too high and too pointed. They do not follow specifications. But is there a follow-up to the work done? Perhaps none.

There is a story of two bricklayers working on a project. When one was asked what he was doing, he said he was laying bricks. When another brick layer was asked, he said he was building the biggest temple in the country. Both were doing the same work, but one saw the big picture, a grand vision. He had pride in what he was doing. The other had blinkers on. He just saw the bricks.

The famous author, Pearl S Buck, says, “The secret of joy in work is contained in one word—excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.” If you have pride in what you do, you will always do it excellently. And if you do it excellently, you may not even need any external follow-up to check if the job was well done.

MAKING AND BREAKING OF REPUTATIONS

My friend and colleague Homi Bhabha told me that his father, who was one of the most reputed bankers of yore, kept dinning into the children that “there are only two things worth accumulating in life—education and reputation. Both of these cannot be stolen from you.” Both take a long time to accumulate but can be easily and quickly lost. Here was a moneyman talking, and he did not put the emphasis on accumulating money. Homi told me that he, likewise, tries to instill these values in his children as well. Will they succeed in a world where established reputations are being broken every month, sometimes, every week?

In the recent times, there has been news about Mr Kahn, the French Minister who was tipped to be the next chief of the International Monetary Fund. He was accused by a hotel maid in New York and had to appear in court for improper behavior. He had risen in the hierarchy over many decades, and within a few weeks, he was a “hounded celebrity” both in the US and in France, in fact, throughout the world.

Another example taken is of Tiger Woods, an icon in the sports world and the uncrowned King of Golf. He has been caught out for infidelity, had a marital problem, which then affected his game, and moreover, his high reputation. It was a reputation he had built over a decade and it took just a few weeks to completely destroy it. The repair process has begun, but it is going to take a long time.

Maddock, the supremo of Ponzi schemes in the world, who became a billionaire, building castles for millions of people till it was found that these were the castles built on sand. He was finally caught and ended with a 150 years jail sentence, which can only mean “death in Jail” since he is well into his seventies.

Rajat Gupta, the brilliant and very personable young man, who won scholarships to work his way through IIT and Harvard and then joined McKinsey to become the first Asian to head the most reputed consultancy firm in the world. He even made it to the Indian Prime Minister Advisory Council and helped to set-up the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad. Finally, he was accused of insider trading and within a few months lost a reputation he had built over forty years, without money, influence or pedigree, but just by his own brilliance.

One is inclined to ask, what is it that makes intelligent, successful people like these, throw a dice and risk their solidly built reputation? Is it overconfidence? Is it arrogance? Is it the loss of judgment? One will never know the motivation.

It is enough to know that all of us have to be careful and to know that it takes decades to build a reputation and only a few hours to destroy the edifice so carefully built. It is like seeing the Taj Mahal on fire.

GONE FAR BUT NOT FAR ENOUGH

There has been a survey done which showed that in India the level of education is at 73 out of the 74 nations where the survey was conducted. The only one after us was a Central Asian country, which is a great shame. Has it not come as a surprise? We now have so many private schools from Montessori and the Tiny Tots chain to ICSE and the international baccalaureate schools, and with every worldwide connection you can think of. The stylish private schools also charge astronomical fees, totally out of sync with the earnings of the average middle-class Indian. And yet, where are we going wrong?

There are the large IT companies like TCS, Wipro, and Infosys which recruit 30,000 (and more) fresh recruits every year. They say that in spite of the large numbers of the unemployed, they find it difficult to find an adequate number that is employable. They have now gone beyond the IIMs and the IITs to graduate colleges in the metros, give them training and then put them on the job. They find that even this is not enough to get the large numbers. So they have gone further to the colleges in the smaller towns, like Pune, Coimbatore, and others to find a semblance of the talent they are looking for. Yes, there are many unemployed but most of them are unemployable.

It is not much different in the United States. Ed Gordon, a futurist specializing in education, and author of Winning the Global Talent Showdown says that it is a myth that the US does not have a talent shortage. In the past, this shortage was not very evident because the US brought in talent or they built factories in Germany, China, or India. But times have changed. People from China and India who came to the US for advanced degrees and stayed on to accept positions in the US are now returning home due to attractive business opportunities in their native countries.

According to Gordon's analysis of data from the Conference Board and Society for Human Resources Management, in the US alone, there are 5 million jobs that are vacant. Of these, 1 million jobs will not be filled because employers have given up either because the skills are too specialized or the costs are too high. Most of the vacant positions are in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

This is also because of the big gap in the education system. In addition, students today are poorer than in the past even in communication skills—thanks to mobile phones, iPods, internet/email.

The Wall Street Journal says,

According to research by three of the most respected research organizations—Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation, and Stanford Research Institute—Technical skills and knowledge account for 15% of the reason you get a job, keep a job, and advance in a job. 85% of your job success is based on your communication/people skills.

Is it that both in the US and in India we are failing in the two important areas of STEM and CS? An urgent correction may be needed.