I am in a private road construction company working as a manager (admin & liaison).

My job involves all sorts of (in house) administrative dealings and curbing of unfair activities. There happened quite a few incidents when I was informed about  my staff engaged in unfair activities like taking bribes, manipulating company’s expenses, being absent from work,enjoying at home etc.

These so called employees (though not having high posts and working as supervisors) have links with the higher authorities/management. During the start of these activities I tried to bring this to the knowledge of the management but they brushed my information under the carpet which resulted in more unfair activities being done with impunity and abundance.

Further I almost became a sore in the culprits’ eye which could have resulted in back biting and even my ouster from the company. Sensing this I had to close my eyes and gulp down the milk so poisoned with such happenings. This was hard to do and I feel almost a culprit as I was trained by my Father (who is no more) for HONESTY, DEDICATION, DEVOTION and DETERMINATION.

I am writing this article seeking YOUR suggestion. It is necessary for you to step into my shoes and advice.

1. Am I doing right by ignoring such activities? If not then should I put my job at stake (during recession phase) and start leading a pauper’s life and force my family the same?
2. Do the words like HONESTY, DEDICATION, DEVOTION, DETERMINATION etc. hold no meaning in our present environment in India (I haven’t been abroad) and do they just lead to problems and miseries?
3. What ‘SANSKARs’ should be given to my children which are in a true sense perfect and adaptable to our present environment?

Related posts:

1. A Good College Vs Inner Values
2. Does God Exist?

We will now call my dream college as ‘College X’.
The discussion present below has been taken from my Facebook account. Ken and I debate over the importance of going to an extremely good college to inner values which an applicant must have to make a difference in this world. While I support the importance of going to a good college he supports inner values which an applicant must have which are ultimately responsible for his/her success. I must warn you though we haven’t reached on a conclusion yet!!

Ken
‘yeah, do apply again but don’t let the system tell you that you need the brand names to make you what you can be. What about if it is you that makes the brand have something to stand up for!

Me
‘hmmm I thought about it and I don’t agree with you there. The system is generally right about a lot of things especially when it comes to colleges. It’s like Xians on one side and the other college students on the other side.’

Ken
‘Kofi Anan was one of the better known graduates but in the end it is not what (in the words of Kennedy) College X can do for you but what you can do for your College X. The graduates have without a doubt built companies worth many billions of dollars but the questions especially in a world post global warming, is what are the colleges producing as far as serving the world rather than mere search for ways and means of getting a larger slice if the pie? Any college can be good if the person has the right principles but no college can produce tomorrows heroes unless the applicant is having some inner value system that motivates him to see a bigger picture’

Me
‘Ah sir…..but don’t you see you have given an example of ‘exceptions’. And you have kind of supported my point of view. It is generally ‘what College X can do for you’ and not the other way round. The numbers of opportunities present in College X, to change the world, are far greater than they are in other colleges. I don’t think a student from let’s say a community college has that many opportunities.
As far as a ‘larger slice of pie’ is concerned you don’t expect someone who’s broke to look at the bigger picture? Everyone can see a bigger picture but one needs funds to actually make it a reality. And the billion dollar companies of grad students are providing employment so its kind of a happy ending right?’

Me
‘Well Suryansh, I can only say that I appreciate your clear thinking and your ability to argue logically.
I work in some of the schools with the very best facilities, most opportunities here in Dehradun and other place in India. Looking at results comparing with our school for the orphans and village children, I am amazed at how many more graduates we have who have gone on to effect their country or state for the better socially than those from the “good’ schools.

Look at Kiran Bedi and Abdul Kalam and their humble backgrounds for example. Oh but here we go getting into a logical interaction again. Would these greats been great independent of where they studied even Steve Job or Bill Gates for instance whop neither one even completed college forget about “the” college! By the way are you aware of where I have done my PhD?’

Me

Well I feel the same way Ken. Although I can think of a few excellent points to prove you wrong, I don’t think we’ll ever agree on colleges. However I do respect your point of view and won’t deny that it did force me to think but it did not change my thinking.
P.S:- I don’t know where you did your PhD from. An extremely refined search on the internet revealed you to be a ‘a tall, bright eyed Canadian’ but there was no mention of your PhD.

Ken

About the PhD, if truth be known, I never completed high school. I was already having a staff of 30 under me at the age of 18 and earning more than my father. At that point I was focused on being millionaire by the time I reached 32. School moved too slow and made me feel like I was being babysat rather than prepared for the world around. There are too many things now that I wish that I had studied but the system for me looked too focused on helping people to know that which they had no use for, rather than opening up the chance for exploration in the areas of our heart and searching. 3 idiots said some things that are on my heart.

End

There has never been a clash between work and college education in India. What with its huge population, emphasis on college education has been great. But the downturn of economy has changed the dynamics of education and work particularly in the U.S. The U.S. has been transformed from a manufacturing-based economy to an economy based on knowledge, and the importance of a college education today can be compared to that of a high school education forty years ago. It serves as the gateway to better options and more opportunity.

This drastic change of scenario has increased the pressure on students. Now we struggle to get into the best colleges we can and thus hope to change our lives.

But the question still remains…. Is going to a good college everything? Your thoughts……

——————————————————————————————-

Links : – Shishya School

Related posts:

1. What after 100% ?
2. Why Should I go to School?

UNETHICAL CHOICES & CONSEQUENCES

BBC News reports dated 12 & 13 March have profiled modus-operandi of two renowned swindlers Bernard Madoff (1990 – 2009), US Financier and Ivar Kreuger (1880-1932), Swedish Businessman. Both have been clubbed together because of striking similarities in their operation and impact; ‘genius application of mind for fraud, enraged investors, phantom profits, weak auditing, and a clamour for tighter regulatory control’.

Blatant violation of laws for nearly two decades by Bernard Madoff, while enjoying enviable social status (former chairman of the Nasdaq stock market and a Wall Street figure for more than 40 years) highlights the oft-repeated statement that human beings never learn from history. Both Ivar & Bernard, though separated by more than 60 years, seem like comrade in arms in defrauding hard earned money of innocent investors.

Instances of greed for money in the corporate sector have been surfacing with alarming regularity. Flashback since 1980s brings to mind collapse of corporate giants like Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) built around a web of deceit and fraud followed by Enron, WorldCom, Xerox, Tyco, Bearing Bank, Anderson Brothers, Satyam Computers to name major ones.

World economy has nose-dived in 2008 due to the financial mismanagement of Lehman Brothers and a few more conglomerates. Despite speculations it is anyone’s guess as to when the economy would recover. Suffering has been heaped on innocents; ironically their only fault lay in reposing trust on scoundrels, whose survival depends on public money, masquerading as competent Captains of industry & Government Regulatory Agencies comprising supposedly committed public servants.

Evidently, humanity is paying a huge price globally due to unethical choices of high & mighty. Worst hit are those who have been retrenched and suffering from job insecurity. Cascading effect of it on the poor is bound to cause more social disturbances.

Excerpts of the two reports:

MADOFF ADMITS $50BN FRAUD SCHEME

BBC NEWS 12 MARCH 2009

My Comments in Italics

1. Disgraced US financier Bernard Madoff has been jailed after pleading guilty to all 11 charges surrounding an estimated $50bn (£35bn) fraud. The 70-year-old defrauded thousands of investors in a fraud he admitted had been running since the early 1990s. “I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for what I have done,” Madoff told the court (what a meaningless confession). He said that when he started the fraud, he had hoped it would only be for a limited time.

2. Madoff is said to have run a Ponzi scheme, whereby early investors were paid off with the money of new clients. He pleaded guilty to money laundering, making false statements, perjury, making a false filing to the US financial watchdog and theft from an employee benefit plan.

3. Greatest con artist probably in the history of the world. He could receive up to 150 years when he is sentenced in June.

4. Evil incarnate. A number of Madoff’s victims attended the hearing. Speaking outside the courtroom, Cynthia Friedman told the BBC Madoff was “evil incarnate”. She and her husband lost $3m with Madoff. “He has no remorse. He’s a horrible man,” she said. “He stole from charities; he’s just an awful man.”

5. Many of his victims told the court they opposed his guilty plea, because they wanted the case to go to full jury trial so they could find out exactly what he had done with the money. Yet most clapped when he was handcuffed.

6. What is a Ponzi Scheme? A fraudulent investment scheme paying investors from money paid in by other investors rather than real profits. Named after Charles Ponzi who notoriously used the technique in the United States in the 1920s‘

7. A Genius. One of Madoff”s victims, Burt Ross, a former mayor of New Jersey town Fort Lee, told the BBC he did not expect to recover a single cent of the $5m he invested.

8. Despite widespread press coverage of famous names and a wealthy elite, Mr Raymond, of law firm Broad and Cassel, said many were normal working people, including a retired couple from Atlanta. “He’s 82, she’s 78, and they are both looking for work because they have lost everything,” he said. Mr Raymond said another victim was a plumber who earned no more than $60,000 a year (how can a human being be so insensitively cruel.)

IVAR KREUGER 1920 – 1932:

THE ORIGINAL BERNARD MADOFF?

BBC NEWS 13 MAR 09

1. Swedish business genius and swindler Ivar Kreuger, had the fantastic idea of turning his family’s matchmaking industry, based in provincial Sweden, into the leading provider of loans to the shattered economies of post-war nations during the 1920s. He raised cash through a number of share and bond issues in the US, and then loaned the money to national governments in exchange for matchmaking monopolies in those countries.

2. Like Madoff he promised fantastic rates of returns to investors, as high as 25%, but the loans he provided to countries such as Germany were returning only 6% to him. Money was shuffled between dozens of subsidiaries to provide the illusion of profits, while Kreuger speculated with other people’s cash in an attempt to fill the interest rate gap. But the stock market crash of 1929 delivered a mortal blow to his speculations, and the whole house of cards came crashing down in 1932.

3. Over the period of seven years from 1922 to 1929, as share-buying and investment mania hit the US, things went well, but then disaster struck. “In October 1929 he made his massive $125m loan to Germany, just days before the stock market crash of Black Monday and Black Tuesday, and it was about that time that his troubles really began,” says Professor Partnoy. But, ironically, in 1929 at the height of the great stock market crash, confidence in his firms grew even more, as they continued to return large dividend payments, even though Kreuger’s ability to generate speculative returns was being squeezed.

4. Kreuger’s “great aversion to divulging information, especially if accurate, had kept even his most intimate acquaintances ignorant of the greatest fraud in history”.

5. Meanwhile, Kreuger’s financial methods were becoming increasingly devious. He had always sailed close to the edge of legitimacy; keeping liabilities “off balance sheet”, establishing a network of more than 200 firms that bamboozled his auditors and bankers, and inventing non-voting shares.

6. He then began Enron-style financial engineering, reporting profits when there were none, and paying his generous dividends by attracting new investment or plundering existing ones.

7. Meanwhile, Kreuger was seen as a business titan of the times, with his firms seemingly triumphing during the crash. President Herbert Hoover regularly sought his advice about the problems affecting the global economy. He was hailed on the cover of Time magazine, and was seen as a hero in countries such as France, which he had bailed out with a huge loan.

8. In March 1932 Kreuger shot himself in a hotel room in Paris, just before a meeting with bankers, at which he would have faced some extremely tricky questioning. At the time of his death his Swedish bankers estimated he was third-richest man in the world. The recriminations began once the extent of his deception became known and investors were hit by what was known as the “Kreuger Crash”.

9. Regulators were lambasted by Congress for their light-touch approach, and in the fallout a raft of new laws and regulatory bodies were created, including the Securities and Exchange Commission.

10. “A generation of people have forgotten Ivar”, says Professor Partnoy. “But if they look back they can see he was arguably the Madoff of his day. It is going to take years to get to the bottom of the Madoff case, as it did with Ivar’s empire too.”

Lessons.

A typical response could be ‘Oh! Things have degenerated beyond redemption. What can I do as an ordinary citizen? Given an opportunity may be I’ll do the same because what matters in life today are money, power & status’.

The all important question is do I need to become a part of the problem or can I be different? Fact is that either of the two choices have consequences affecting one’s own life! Kreugar committed suicide and Madoff, 72 years old, is heading for 150 years in prison.

It would be interesting to know from Madoff as to his feelings for the old couple, who having lost investment of 3m dollars, are now looking for job to survive!

Ineffective governance due to unethical attitude of functionaries at all levels be it the State/Corporate sectors or Audit Firms is, perhaps, the root cause of such blatant frauds. How to identify and induct ethical functionaries for effective governance is the challenging issue?

Related posts:

1. Is It Possible to be Ethical in an Unethical Environment?
2. Who is the real me ?

LEADING WITH WISDOM

Spiritual Based Leadership in Business

by

Peter Pruzan,

&

Kirsten Pruzan Mikkelsen,

From the Book.

This book portrays an emerging global culture. This path-breaking book offers the experience and perspectives of 31 top executives from 15 countries in 6 continents. They are executives who express from their first hand experience what it is like to lead a business from spiritual basis. They tell amazing, down-to-earth, real-life stories about how spirituality and rationality can go hand in hand in leadership and life.

Their words of wisdom demonstrate that executives who lead from spiritual basis can achieve success, recognition, peace of mind and happiness, while at the same time serving the needs of all those affected by their leadership.

Written in an engaging style, where the special ‘voice’ of each leader is heard, this book will be profoundly valuable to business leaders at every level and for all those women and men who want to lead with integrity from a spiritual basis.

Janice Webb, Senior Vice President, Motorola, USA. For me, the single most important issue we have to conquer in life is fear. And the way I conquer fear is by getting in touch with my spiritual Self. ………I believe that a position of power is a position of serving the people around you. I feel it is my job to serve people. No one gets anywhere by themselves. I am only as good as the people around me. ………I do not identify myself with my title ; that’s the label someone decided to put on me ——.

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Former President of India. The most important thing (the core competence of business is righteousness), dharma. When there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the house. When there is harmony in the house, there is order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world. The question therefore before all of us today is, how to get righteousness in the heart?

My Impressions.

This is the book that would clarify the doubts of all those who struggle with the question ‘Is it possible to be ethical in an unethical environment?’ Reading the ethical convictions & success stories of achievers in the Corporate Sector and life, one would be inspired to pursue a principle-centered life style. Must read for the youth in particular.

Peter Pruzan, (Professor, Department of Management, Politics & Philosophy,

Copenhagen Business School,Denmark) |

Kirsten Pruzan Mikkelsen, (Eminent Journalist and Former Newspaper Editor Denmark)

Publishers: Sage publications  Published 2007

Related posts:

1. Consequences of Unethical Leadership
2. Relation between Power, Authority and Legitimacy