What ails India?

The views expressed in the article are entirely personal. I am aware that my job with the advisory practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers is going to lend a lot of critical attention to what I write but nonetheless I will write. All through my days, from my education to almost a decade long work experience, from my visits to UK, USA, Kuwait, Indonesia to Bangladesh and Zambia, from my travel across Indian cities for work from Bhubaneswar to Baroda and from my home-town Hyderabad to my matrimonial grounds in Kerala, I have been amazed by the way we live our lives. We invariably have two personalities – one that we want the world to know about us and the other one which we and some of our close friends and relatives know us as. A third may also exist, the one which we know ourselves as and would not reveal to even our spouses. While this may be true about several other peoples, the disconnect between the two or the three personas that we have here in India is marvelously wide. We are quick to call others as racists and simultaneously treat most we come across with quite disrespectfully. We are atrociously quick to judge and tag people; and quick to call another person’s slips as sins and our own sins as contextual and only rational reactions. We are not anguished unless the loss is our own. Quite interestingly, we have begun also to love our own inequities and happily brush them aside saying ‘we are like that only’.

I write this not to bemoan how we are, but to begin the debate on the corrective course. One of most fundamental and key reasons for why we are how we are is because we really don’t value lives. A clear evidence of this are the way we look the other way and continue our routine even when we see someone needing our help for life. Or the way we drive on the roads not willing to brake even when we see a expecting mother trying to cross the road forcing her to run for life, and then we follow that with a menacing snare. I cite these examples than those of apathy for the victims of terrorist attacks or mob violence because everyone likes to blame the government, the bureaucrats and the system. A closer look at our own behavior would indicate why we have the system which we have. The corrective measure is to begin to believe that every human being has been created by the same God and in His own image. He has created everyone for a purpose and we have no right to look upon anyone with contempt. We must begin to teach our children the dignity of everyone around, from domestic help to doctors, from neighbors to relatives, from teachers to politicians and bureaucrats. The corrective measure may take a generation or two, but help it will certainly.

The other key reason for all malice is the low benchmark that we set for judging ourselves. In one of my professional association’s national meeting, we were discussing the reasons for financial frauds. Greed was considered the epicenter of the evil. However, some said that greed is good for the development and advancement of entrepreneurship and human development, and hence, controlled greed should be okay. Well, such philosophies look good on paper; however, we must admit that if we were to judge ourselves, we would never convict ourselves as greedy and crooked. That said, there essentially does exist a need to set up a benchmark. A tough call, when we tend to assume that our society is on the brink of moral bankruptcy. For me the benchmark has been established through the word of God. Here I don’t wish to project myself as a righteous man; on the contrary, I may easily be one of the worst sinners. But the key to my happiness has been the fact that only God’s approval matters to me and when I fail Him, it takes me no time to repent and pray to Him for my restoration. The key here is to declare ourselves as imperfect and extremely easy prey to temptations, which will then help us see if the level of our greed is overboard and if that has made us commit wrongs.

Coming back to financial frauds, which have been the flavor of the new year thus far, we must admit that we have made money our master. This in our country where we have always been told that money is a good slave but a horrible master! Attempting to tame the temptation of money is indeed “riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten”. Referring to my faith again, I know that I cannot serve two masters. So, the question then precipitates down to choosing between a loving God and a roaring cash-tiger. However, the riddle certainly is not that easy to crack. Money has its glamour and seducing power which can uproot strong people. For the society as a whole, I guess, the corrective measure is to de-glamorize money; and teach ourselves and our children that money indeed cannot buy us everything, and even the things it can buy are not really worth compromising our soul. It is indeed high time that we stopped measuring our success with monetary yardsticks. It is indeed high time that our youngsters graduate from the colleges with a dream to live a happy life serving others than accumulating cars, houses, jewelry, shoes and doormats. The two are, however, not mutually exclusive, and one does get rich by serving others.

There may be several other ways and means, which I trust that we all know and understand. The need, therefore, is to take charge of ourselves and our hearts and minds and souls. Not that we will not fail but our failures will only make us better and stronger. Shall we begin the work of re-making India?

A gratifying day

A few days ago, it was a gratifying day in my consulting career. It came completely unexpected and hence, was more pleasant. I began the day slightly earlier than usual to take the flight to Delhi. I had my meeting at 12 noon there with NTPC Limited, India's largest power generation utility. I had met them a few times earlier regarding providing advisory services for coal assets acquisitions abroad. This meeting was as a result of new business leader at the helm of affairs. I had to meet the executive director of corporate planning and head of strategic management group. Our Delhi based partner had met him a few days earlier and had suggested that I should meet him to apprise him of the status of the industry, the acquisition markets and the targets we had brought on the table for their consideration.

As usual, the flight was delayed. Upon landing at the new runway of the Delhi airport, the aircraft could make its way to the parking only after half an hour. However, once I came out of the aircraft, it wasn’t very difficult to locate the cab that was waiting for me. I headed to the client office and could make it at 11:59 am. The meeting started a little later as the executive director desired to get some of his senior team members to attend the meeting. That was unexpected as I had planned for a one on one meeting. But then I had a presentation from my earlier meetings which I thought could be modified to suit their needs. I made the modifications in less than five minutes in the time the team gathered.

We talked about the prospects of coal mining in Indonesia, Australia and South Africa. The presentation was not the best I could make, but I was satisfied since I could answer most of the queries. Most questions were the ones which I have answered time and again in several meetings. But that’s how every corporate house takes the first step into entering a new business domain, taking learning step by step.

After the meeting, I was eager to leave so I could catch up with work at Delhi office. The executive director engaged me through his questions about my experience and also shared some of his thoughts about his current role in the organization. After a while, he thanked me for coming all the way from Hyderabad for the knowledge sharing session. And he suddenly rose from his seat and began looking into his drawers. Out from there came a nicely wrapped gift pack, which he insisted I take. I was surprised. Consultants are not used to receiving gifts for presentations. I could compare this with another meeting with a prospect a few days ago, where the senior managers quizzed me endlessly and got most of the information, worth a few thousand dollars engagement. I wasn’t sure if I should take it, but I took it eventually for his insistence. I didn’t even know how to thank him for his extra-ordinary kindness.

Well, on my way back I could recall reading in one of the books regarding an episode of Dennis the Menace cartoons. After receiving cookies from Mrs. Wilson, Dennis reveals to his friend that Mrs. Wilson gave them cookies not because they were nice but because she was nice. The same applied to my gift, the executive director gave this nice necktie to me not because I deserved it but because he is good at heart. May God bless him abundantly.

The concluding remark in this article has certainly to go back to God, who has saved me all through, blessed me, has been merciful and given me grace to work according to his purpose for me, even when I have been completely undeserving of His love.

(Picture is from MEAI Seminar on Managing Performance in Mining.)

Attrition Story in Consulting

Well, the story isn't very different in consulting either. We have not been able to retain many people whom we may have wanted to. Though it may sound quite surprising, coming from one of the largest professional services firm, but it is true. The Indian member firm has to serve the Indian clients and our clients are not very generous. Most cases than not, we win engagements though competitive bidding where very little emphasis is given to the quality of proposal, team and experience. Only the financial quote decides who gets the assignment. That makes us squeeze our margins, and, several times we work at our cost. This has been true for some of my key government-owned clients. They like us to bid for work on a fixed fee basis and the initially estimated as six-month engagements last more than two full years, while all the money one would expect to make would go paying to the airlines for flights to attend meetings. In such a case, how can we pay lavish salaries to our people even when we wish to? This is quite in contrast to knowledge process outsourcing companies who serve US or European clients and earn heavy hourly rates, thus can easily afford a higher payouts to staff.

The other crucial reason is the way we work. Our engagements have never been structured pursuits for well defined goals. I have worked on assignments where the Clients haven't been quite sure of what they wanted. Our thought process has to begin much beyond the imagination of the clients. We have helped some of our clients to define the scope of work even for consulting assignment. The courses of engagements too are the same way. Then our solutions have to be within the regulatory, economic, socio-political and financial framework and those in the know of how India works may find such framework too restrictive at one time and utterly ambiguous at the other. Many of our business school graduates join us with an expectation of highly structured assignments, and when they encounter the hard and chaotic realities of the work they shrink back. Consulting in Indian context is a continuous battle, with enormous number of challenges and needs a fighting spirit to succeed. Many can not take these in their strides.

The biggest professional hazard in consulting is traveling. Half the week on an average you need to be traveling if you are indeed doing good. While going places, meeting new people, exchanging ideas and sharing experiences are the most enriching aspect of a consulting career, jet setting and sometimes traveling even by trains and buses take the fun out. I have heard of stories where people developed back-ache and such other ailments while they were globe-trotting solving client issues. The difficult part is the future does not hold any hope either. In fact, as you grow up the ladder, traveling time may go up since you focus more and more on business development than on engagement execution. One of my acquaintances called up from his business school campus to find out the details of the consulting job and decided not to appear for the interview just because he didn't wish to travel!

There may be more reasons than these. I wrote about attrition today since we had a farewell in the afternoon. Mohit left to support his father in his family owned business and we bid him quite a unique farewell, where he sang, mimicked and cracked jokes. He may have just set a trend of joyous separation!

Meeting No-Meeting

This was Friday morning and I had a meeting fixed at 10 am with a Client that desired to raise capital for growth and expansion plans. The client had requested for the meeting as they thought that the matter required their urgent attention and also that they needed our help sooner. Since I did not know the details of the company's operations and their expansion plans, I had been speculating about what they may need from us. Thus, it had been difficult for me to prepare for the meeting, although I had alternate plans for all the requirements I could imagine they might need. But my under-preparedness kept playing on my nerves. The week had been hectic and I hadn't been able to even talk to them on phone to better comprehend the purpose of the meeting. So, I was kind of anxious.

I drove my way to their office. I had called up their office to find out the location, but to my dismay, the reception had failed to direct me properly and I was left to the knowledge of strangers walking by to find my way. But there isn't any better way to find your way in India than keep asking people by the roadsides all along until you locate where you desire to reach. It worked effectively again and I could reach in time.

At the reception I was told that the fellow I was supposed to meet hadn't turned up yet and I was told to wait. Out of eagerness, I thought I would call him and check if he was on his way. He picked up the call to tell me that he was laid low by fever and wouldn't be coming to office. He also said that all his efforts to leave a message for me at my office had been futile and hence, this outcome. I was angry but wouldn't express that. When people require to meet you, they will do everything possible to reach you. Our Indian clients do not hesitate in calling you at odd hours and even on Sundays. But when they need to tell you about any changes in the meeting schedule, mostly they will fail to reach you and would not mind blaming everything else in the world. Verbal apologies accompany such explanations, sometimes, very convincing too.

I thanked God for He had some plans for me even in this disappointment, so I could prepare well for the meeting whenever it happens next.

(The picture here is from my second trip to London. A beautiful meeting with the Tower Bridge!)

Young Mining Engineer of the Year 2007

I will begin with a good news. Mining Engineers' Association of India (MEAI) selected me for the award of Young Mining Engineer of the Year 2007 and I got Abheraj Baldota Gold Medal for the same. The award was given in recognition of my contribution to improve the industry in India through advisory sevices to the mining sector clients and through opinion-making by writing and speaking at several forums. I am happy that my efforts are recognized and thank God almighty for His mercies and blessings.

The award is also precious to me for it being an award for the 'young' mining engineer. In this world, where our excitement, enthusiasm and exuberance wanes fast due to the grind of life, youthfulness is lost almost immediately one steps out of education. The corporate world catalyzes the process and makes it painful. So, it felt good to be called young. Well, now don't look at the picture!

On the lighter side, one of my friends suggested that since the award was for the year 2007, that was time I was young, and now I am not any longer! The receding hairline and rugged facial morphology suggests the same and I have no intent to discount either and, thus, I surrender to my age.

Consulting days

Being a part of the consulting fraternity, I have been amazed by how our clients work. My experience in the last eight years have been those of joyful excitement, lively interactions, philosophical intersessions, and sometimes pure fun and yet some other times, of frustration, desperation and disappointment. But nonetheless, every day has something in for me, every client meeting has revealed lots about human psychology, behaviour and thought patterns, every engagement has untold stories, and every moment spent with people has made me fuller.

This blog is dedicated to all of my clients, and my mates at work whose shared experiences I will write here. I have always thought of penning down my thoughts and will attempt to do so through this blog.

In the picture George and I stand in Kuwait where we worked together dressed for our jobs as financial management and corporate finance consultants. George has been a witness to my growth as a consultant, for a short but important phase of my life, and I will write more about him on this blog.