Just a little more time....

Today is the third day my father is in the ICU. This probably the end of a long selfless journey, spanning 90 years. He celebrated his 89^th with us on the 24^th of November, and it’s just 23 days since then, being the 17^th of December. My father, papa to us, was brought here on the 14^th. As I sit here and type, flashes of life past float  through my brain. Memory, sometimes, is not a great thing.

For the last three days I have been praying to the almighty for a little more time with him. Just a little more time!

 I don’t know if I will get it.

Why do I want more time? He has lived his life well. A full, wonderful life. Right up till the 13th evening. I want it for many reasons. To understand those reasons one needs to know my re-born relationship with my father.

Typically, children move away from parents once they are married and with families. I did too. And then, for practical reasons, I had to move my parents from Lucknow to NOIDA (where I live) to be able to look after them. So they did that and moved into a flat in the adjacent building. Life went on, with it’s ups and downs. Till after 8 years, on the 16^th of January, 2014, when my mother passed away. You have already read her story in the foregoing pages, so I will not dwell on that. Needless to say, and as the readers will know, she and my father were totally in love,  like forever. Papa stayed on in the same flat and I oscillated between my home and theirs and slept there for a few months, giving him time to grieve and get over her in the same environment. He was then 88. He kept talking about our hometown, Lucknow, and though I tried my best to make a similar environment at home, it didn’t click with him. By this time we had become more like pals, than father and son. So I decided to take him to Lucknow for a visit. My close friends arranged our stay, though they did not realize how critical this visit was for his mental satisfaction. I am eternally grateful for their love and support.

We drove down. Because he loves driving or at least being driven. Just me and him and an attendant who had been with him since 15 years. It was a lovely trip. We saw our parental house (no longer ours) met all the neighbors, his old pals and in short breathed the Lucknow air till we were satisfied. We then came back. Though tired, he took the trip quite well. Slowly thereafter he developed dementia, losing memories. Maybe a blessing in disguise since his grief for my mother was being forgotten.

As time progressed his dementia grew and slowly memories decreased. Though active and able to do basic things he needed to be watched over all day. And so, my status moved from son to care taker to baby sitter. The last 12 months were spent in my trying to understand his communication, which was endless and trying to do what he wished. We spent the days together,  either at home or giving him his outings or drives. Hilary would take him down for a walk, or to the mall for a coffee or an ice cream. I would take him out shopping or the bank at times. Our days were full of papa.

In the few months, he was able to do everything he liked. He lived a full selfless life. Never had any major illness or sickness.

He didn’t make it. On the 20^th of December, 2015, he passed away peacefully. An era had ended.

So, why did I want more time? To be able to do and say things I felt with him but didn’t, make up for our arguments, learn his values, the list is long. So, why do I want more time? To be able to do and say things I felt with him but didn’t, make up for our arguments, learn his values, the list is long.

During the 6 days he was in hospital, I was able to say to him the things I had not said. I was able to promise him things he would have liked to see me do. Though I could not reverse time, in those six days, as I recalled my whole life with him, I was able to understand the legacy he was leaving for me. The legacy of patience, of understanding, of love, of sacrifice, of spirituality, of living for others and of servitude. Everything that I had learnt from him and forgotten over the years.  Even in his dying he was living for me. For us. For our family. He waited those six days for me to understand and accept this new reality. He waited till my brother from Australia was able to reach and see him, something my brother was desperate to do. I am not sharing this for people to praise my father or praise our family or anyone else who served him. So please do not even respond.  I am sharing this so that we all realize that everyone is not so lucky to get that little more time. So let’s learn not to waste it.

Do things which our heart says are right. Spend all the time we can with our loved ones. Help those who need help. Guide those who need direction. If we have a parent, love them and value them. Give them time. Do not grudge what can be done or said, however inconvenient. Otherwise, like me, one will be desperate to have just a little more time. 

Animal Lessons Part II

The Monkey

For me, monkeys are the epitome of what I should not do. I find that, in real life, our mind is the monkey. It  is restless and difficult to predict. Many times it causes trouble and leads us into serious trouble. Like monkeys, we keep somersaulting, never focused, always searching, always jealous, imagining fears that didn’t exist and ignoring those that did. “I have no clue and fear those that speak so I follow whatever they say, changing my mind every single day”.

For me, in Business, the three monkeys depicted by Ghandiji have a negative teaching as well – what not to do. And these three monkeys give birth to a fourth one. All together, they are the ruin of business, of leaders and of employees. 

These four monkeys sometimes run our businesses. And we allow them to, nay, invite them to. We may not recognize them, so below is a reflection. 

Monkey no 1: “I do not want to see”
Businesses are organizations of people. And people by nature are averse to accepting bad news, bad feedback or criticism. It really all depends on the business leader – does he encourage openness and transparency of thought or is he autocratic and does not expect people to speak their minds. In businesses that don’t want to see, you often find a culture of fear and finger pointing.
Not wanting to see the reality will not change it. Since our natural tendency maybe to avoid facing bad situations, if we do not purposely see and address it, we will soon be engulfed and sucked into the problem, as a victim , instead as a challenger.
Monkey No 2 : “I do not wish to listen”
The majority of businesses are unable to listen. Simply, because they never did and don’t see the use of it. They don’t seem to care about their employees or their customers or their business partners. They are always in the aggression mode, defending what they have left.
Listening to others requires a will and an effort. It is a positive aspect of business building; based on feedback, suggestions, news and most of all impending and changing desires and needs of the market. When we do not listen, we will soon be out of the reckoning. That is for sure !
Monkey No 3 : “I do not wish to speak”
In partnership with monkey no 2, this third monkey is distinguished by his lack of confidence and motivation and absolute fear of criticism. It is also true of managers and employees (and some leaders ?) Since it was not in their JD, they are not supposed to. Nor are they encouraged to acquire the space and freedom to be creative, think, listen and speak their mind because they are  defined by those that do not see or listen.
If we do not speak, our creativity, our intelligence quotient and our competence to achieve goals is greatly diminished.
And finally, if we allow these three monkeys to ride on our back , we finally have a fourth and deadliest one :
Monkey No 4: “I cannot act”
Having spent a lot of time in sanctuaries and  jungles, one observation was more profound. If a lion or a tiger stands beneath tree full of monkeys and roars, one or two will definitely drop off the branches. The fear of the cat freezes the otherwise active creatures into complete inaction. And that inaction causes them to lose their life.
Are we letting these three monkeys become so heavy on our backs that out of fear of consequences we freeze into inaction ? This is a very common and main problem in life and in business.
If I do not act in the right manner, at the right time, with the right people, I am preparing my business to be dog food for sure!
In conclusion,
WE HAVE TO GET THOSE MONKEYS OFF OUR BACKS !

Animal Lessons - Part I

The eagle

Flying over the storm – Alone !

Unlike humans and other animal species, the Eagle rises up to face the storm and flies high above it, at altitudes no other birds can fly. It does not choose to remain or take shelter with other flocks. Unlike other animal and bird species, storms actually excite an Eagle. Its life performance thrives and it’s best abilities surface.

Like the Eagle if we choose to do something great in life, we must learn to rise up over our challenges to overcome! Use life's storm to be better, wiser, greater, wealthier and healthier.

The Eagle has  Vision

Flying high above, the Eagle can capture objects 2-3 miles down. No matter how many issues it faces the Eagle stays focused and does not lose sight of it’s prey. We will always face dissent and arguments, but in spite of it all,  we should not lose focus of our goals.

The Eagle rejuvenates itself.

When the Eagle feels weak, exhausted and dying it retires to a high mountain top cave or shelter. No to die, but to shed off their older feathers, break their older beaks and also remove their old talons.

They then grow a  new beak, new feathers and new talons. New life tools for them. Thus in six months, they are “re-born”. Renewed. Strengthened to overcome great challenges again. Like the Eagle we too must rejuvenate. Stale information must be discarded and new things learned. Old habits must be changed to cater to the changing world. We need to adapt to our changing environment, imbibe the knowledge of new life tools and respond to the new life challenges. 

The Eagle Tests Before it  Trust

The female eagle subjects the male eagle to vigorous testing before allowing the male to mate with her. When we want to partner or enter some  kind of agreement with others, we should test the commitment of people before we trust them with our time and resources.

The Eagles prepare with Training

Young eagles have been known to learn how to fly by observing how their parents fly. At first, parent eagle prompts them to fly by holding food in their beaks while flying around the nest. This usually makes the young ones to fly out of the nest and this is repeated till they become perfect. Second, to train it to fly high, parent eagles take the baby eagle to a mountain top at high altitude to prepare it for the challenge of flying at great heights. When the baby eagle is released, the free fall at first is frightening but the mother eagle soon comes to the rescue and the process is repeated again until the baby eagle can fly alone at high altitude in the manner of the parents.

Challenges of life are a constant. These challenges are our training period for higher responsibilities. The better we are at managing our battles in life, the wiser and more responsible we become. Preparation is vital for future success.

Animal Lessons

God may have made Man the master over all the creatures of this world, but we can yet learn quite a few management lessons from animals. My ideals are three – the Eagle which teaches me to soar over the storm and survive; the Monkey who teaches me what NOT to do; and finally the Fish (which also happens to be my birth sign).

I would like to share my Management learning from these three, over three parts in this blog. 

Part I – The Eagle

Part II – The Monkey

Part III- The Fish

Hope these writings can excite and motivate the readers as well as they have me.  

Wealth of the Nations Part 1 of 3

Adam Smith’s pioneering book on economics, The Wealth of Nations (1776), is one of the world’s most important books. I pioneered the concepts of specialization, Natural Price, GDP etc,  new principles that we still use fruitfully today. Smith outlined the concept of gross domestic product as the measurement of national wealth; he identified the huge productivity gains made possible by specialization; he recognized that both sides benefited from trade, not just the seller; he realized that the market was an automatic mechanism that allocated resources with great efficiency; he understood the wide and fertile collaboration between different producers that this mechanism made possible. All these ideas remain part of the basic fabric of economic science, over two centuries later.

According to Smith, a nation’s wealth is its per capita national product – the amount that the average person actually produces for any given mix of natural resources that a country might possess.

If we go one step further and extend the question of the natural price and thereby “natural costs” we need to take into account natural resources that a country might possess, the cost of the natural resource ( for example manufacturing processes using water seldom cost for that water) as well as the opportunity cost of the natural resource. For instance, when we deplete the resource, is it possible to rebuild it and if so what is the cost of that ? And if it is not possible to rebuild it, somewhere that cost, which may be borne later, needs to figure as well.  This would figure in with his earlier writing - The Theory of Moral Sentiments where he mentions something called  ‘prudence’. And he stresses that ‘justice’ – not harming others – is fundamental to a healthy human society. Not harming others can also be viewed as “not harming other generations” as well.

Thus, when we talk of the wealth of the Nations, not as a book but as a concept,  measuring the GDP alone  is not enough.  We have more pressing problems and challenges like socioeconomic and environmental justice.

Development and sustainable development.

In the 18^th , 19^th and 20^th centuries, while the world made great strides in development, the concern is – was our development really sustainable ? Or do we need to change the way we view and measure development.

Sustainable development is now become a catchword. The stakeholder theory also redefines business performance in line with sustainability and justice. The challenge remains on it’s measurement .  Many NGOs and economists including, Amartya Sen worked  hard to develop more holistic, inclusive standards and indicators of overall national health and well-being that consider social, natural resource and ecosystems health in addition to economic growth.

One of the models that seemed practical and holistic is the UN University’s first Inclusive Wealth Indictor (IWI) report,introduced during the June 2012 Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. The Inclusive Wealth Report measures the wealth of nations by analyzing a country’s capital assets, including manufactured, human and natural capital, and their corresponding values. Reproduced below, one can see the changes in the ranking and index points in comparison to GDP rankings and ratings.

Credit: UNEP, UNU-IHDP

Despite its predominance and universal use, the limitations of GDP as an overall indicator of health and well-being have long been recognized by those working in a range of fields. As Hunter Lovins is fond of saying, cancer is great for GDP, but it ain’t great for the patient!

People , Planet and Profit- Part 2 of 3

People Planet & Profit : The Triple Bottom Line

In traditional business accounting, the "bottom line" refers to the sum of revenue minus expenses, which is either "loss" if negative, or "profit" if positive. The term originated because profit is always shown as the very "bottom line" on a statement of revenue and expenses. Over the last 50 years, environmentalists and social justice advocates have struggled to bring a broader definition of "bottom line" into public consciousness, by introducing full cost accounting. For example, if a corporation shows a monetary profit, but their asbestos mine causes thousands of deaths from asbestosis, and their copper mine pollutes a river, and the government ends up spending taxpayer money on health care and river clean-up, how do we perform a full societal cost benefit analysis?

The concept of a triple bottom line (TBL) adds two more "bottom lines"; social and environmental concerns. The three together are often paraphrased as "Profit, People, Planet".

The phrase, Triple Bottom Line,  was coined by John Elkington in his 1997 book Cannibals with Forks: the Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business . Sustainability, itself, was first defined by the Brundtland Commission of the United Nations in 1987.

The concept of TBL demands that a company's responsibility lies with stakeholders rather than shareholders. This seems to be in line with Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments where he mentions something called  ‘prudence’. And he stresses that ‘justice’ – not harming others – is fundamental to a healthy human society. Not harming others can also be viewed as “not harming other generations” as well.  In this case, "stakeholders" refers to anyone who is influenced, either directly or indirectly, by the actions of the firm.

 According to the stakeholder theory, the business entity should be used as a vehicle for coordinating stakeholder interests, instead of maximizing shareholder (owner) profit.

Sustainability

The approach of "People, planet and profit" succinctly describes the triple bottom lines and the goal of sustainability.

"People" pertains to fair and beneficial business practices toward labour and the community and region in which a corporation conducts its business. A TBL company conceives a reciprocal social structure in which the well-being of corporate, labor and other stakeholder interests are interdependent.

"Planet" (natural capital) refers to sustainable environmental practices. A TBL company endeavors to benefit the natural order as much as possible or at the least do no harm and minimize environmental impact by, among other things, carefully managing its consumption of energy and non-renewable resources and reducing manufacturing waste as well as rendering waste less toxic before disposing of it in a safe and legal manner. Thi sis called the "Cradle to grave" approach and can be measured by the use of the life cycle assessment of products ( of which I talked about in m earlier post)  to determine what the true environmental cost is from the growth and harvesting of raw materials to manufacture to distribution to eventual disposal by the end user

"Profit" is the economic value created by the organization after deducting the cost of all inputs, including the cost of the capital tied up. It therefore differs from traditional accounting definitions of profit. In the original concept, within a sustainability framework, the "profit" aspect needs to be seen as the real economic benefit enjoyed by the host society. It is the real economic impact the organization has on its economic environment. This is often confused to be limited to the internal profit made by a company or organization (which nevertheless remains an essential starting point for the computation

An example of an organization seeking a triple bottom line would be a social enterprise run as a non-profit, but earning income by offering opportunities for handicapped people who have been labeled "unemployable", to earn a living recycling. The organization earns a profit, which is controlled by a volunteer Board, and ploughed back into the community. The social benefit is the meaningful employment of disadvantaged citizens, and the reduction in the society's welfare or disability costs. The environmental benefit comes from the recycling accomplished.

“Only when companies measure their social and environmental impact will we have socially and environmentally responsible organizations.”

The Emergence of the New Enterprise - Part 3 of 3

Emergence of the new Enterprise

Given the compulsions of the world we have created and the world we leave behind, the emergence of the new enterprise was only a matter of time. The triple bottom line approach and theory, while being instituted in the 1990s, ignored mainly in the rest of the century, is now gaining momentum.

The stakeholder theory, as compared to the shareholder theory is gaining more and more acceptance. The emergence of the Social Enterprise will sooner or later become a threat to the traditional enterprise. In India, we will all remember the famous social enterprise of the 70s – AMUL.  Even today , AMUL is a huge threat and a powerful competition to modern day enterprises in the same industry.

We have to change the way we look, the way we act and the way we do our business. It is a radical change and as with every radical change there is an interim “change platform”.  In the case that platform can be the corporate social responsibility programs and policies of the enterprises.  

CSR RESPONSIBILITY AND THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE

In the private sector, a commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) implies a commitment to some form of TBL reporting. This is distinct from the more limited changes required to deal only with ecological issues.

For reporting their efforts companies may demonstrate their commitment to CSR through the following:

·         Top-level involvement (CEO, Board of Directors)

·         Policy Investments

·         Programs

·         Signatories to voluntary standards

·         Principles (UN Global Compact-Ceres Principles)

·         Reporting (Global Reporting Initiative)

Triple bottom line (TBL) accounting expands the traditional reporting framework to take into account social and environmental performance in addition to financial performance.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

The aptly named CSR view is that corporations are members of the moral community and these responsibilities fall into four groups: 

ü  Economic Responsibility

ü  Legal Responsibility

ü  Ethical Responsibility

ü  Philanthropic Responsibility

The Economic Responsibility is the responsibility of a business to make money

The Legal Responsibility is the responsibility to obey the law of the land as a proactive duty.

The Ethical Responsibility is the responsibility to do the right thing even when neither the spirit nor the letter of the law apply to the situation.

The Philanthropic Responsibility, is a responsibility "to contribute to society's projects even when they're independent of the particular business."

Triple Bottom Line Approach

Another theory of corporate social responsibility is the Triple Bottom Line. Like the CSR theory we just discussed, Triple Bottom Line works on the assumption that the corporation is a member of the moral community, and this gives it social responsibilities. This theory focuses on sustainability, and requires that any company weigh its actions on three independent scales: economic sustainability, social sustainability, and environmental sustainability.

These three tabulations are all aimed at long-term sustainability. 

Economic sustainability must focus on the long term because this is the nature of a persistent company. A decision which creates an economic boon in the short-term but causes long-term harm, would likely reduce this bottom line to such a degree that the action would be untenable.

Social sustainability gives precedence on the balance of economic power in the society. Competition in the business arena is common, and encouraged, behavior, but maximizing the bottom line in social terms requires that a business foster an environment in which all can succeed. This might seem counterintuitive, but in the big-picture it is better for a whole society to thrive than for one single corporation to thrive alone. “Co-optetion” rather than competition .

The requirement of environmental sustainability stems from the recognition that resources are not infinite, and leads to the reasoning that too much degradation will worsen the lives of us, our children and so on.

Business cannot operate in a world which is poisoned or "used up." Efforts have to be made to renew some of the environments that have been harmed in the past, and these environmental harms and gains belong on this bottom line.

The future enterprise lies in the triple Bottom line

If businesses calculate their gains and losses by  way of the TBL  they will be more likely to take actions which are to the benefit of both the business and the community.

The Triple Bottom Line requires that a business decision be composed of all of these elements from the beginning. When the data shows each of these dimensions along the same line, and measured with the same metric, it will be much easier to see the impact of a decision and to judge the fittingness of that decision.

This then is the future of businesses and enterprises. As we move forward we see more and more companies moving along the path from Traditional to CSR adoption and finally to the TBL approach. This is now not only limited to Social Enterprises but also to whole business ecosystem.