“We are the leaders we are waiting for” – Arun Wakhlu
Arun Wakhlu
“We are the leaders we are waiting for” – Arun Wakhlu
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Let me start off by expressing my deepest gratitude to all of you — to Ume-Haani, Nirav, Sameer, Subhash and Deepak, for this opportunity to talk to you on the theme of Leadership – the Business Challenge.
When we say Namaste in India, what do we mean? I salute the Divine in you, the Sacred in you, which is the same as the Sacred in me.
It’s nothing more than saying that I remember that place in you in which the entire universe dwells — the eternal space of truth, of peace, of silence — which is also in me. And how this links to leadership and the challenges that we have is what I want to address today.
Recently, I heard two dogs talking to each other, two dogs from Pune — that’s where I live. One dog was telling the other dog, “I’ve got some good news for you.” So the other dog got very curious. “What is this good news?” he asked. So the first one said, “The world is going to the dogs.”
But look how beautiful the earth is; I’m tempted to say she’s hot, really hot. Global warming, along with other issues provides scope for businesses to play an active role in rectification. I am told by Sameer and the others here that a large part of you are into business. If you just take the 100 largest economic entities in the world — countries and organisations — and you stack them up, out of the top 100, 45 are corporations. To just give you a feel of this, the revenue of Walmart is greater than the GDP of 174 countries, including Sweden, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.
The reason I’m saying this is that, as Rotarians, as business leaders, as leaders in our field, we have a huge potential to do good in the world. I was absolutely thrilled and delighted to see in this beautiful newsletter that the theme is ‘doing good in the world’ and that’s really what it’s about.
Let’s understand this whole thing from the lens of business and the lens of leadership. What I intend to do is share a bit about the challenges we are facing. What does it have to do with leadership, and what action can we as leaders take going out of here? What is the one thing we can do? Because we are the leaders we are waiting for. There is no one who is going to save anybody or anything, it is you and me and us. So, let’s look at the challenges.
First thing’s first — is business for life or is life for business? Is business for life, that our life should be flourishing, thriving, happy, healthy, joyous, our heart should be functioning well, or is it the other way round — that my life has to be sacrificed at the altar of business. Well, business is for life. This is the context we need to remember. Primacy is of life itself. But is that really how it is? Do you think that people are flourishing and thriving in all businesses? No. There is lots of stress, tension and greed.
It is life that is paramount. And, is life working for all? In a recent talk by somebody at Tata Consulting Engineers, the speaker said that every index of social justice in India over the last 60 years has gone from bad to worse. Even though the GDP (apart from other measures of social justice) is rising, inequity is increasing. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s not working for all. But can we have a world where everyone can thrive and flourish — every single person? A world with spiritual and material abundance and a world with social justice. Can we create together a kind of world where the environment is happy? I think this is the challenge — a world that works for all people. If you look at organisations, Richard Branson, one of the most enterprising and creative entrepreneurs I know, says, “Never go into business purely to make money. If that’s the motive, you’re better off doing nothing.” Money is a means, it’s not an end. Oxygen is very important for life, we can’t do anything without oxygen. However, what kind of life would it be if a person is just collecting oxygen? Collecting cylinder after cylinder, from a hundred to five hundred. It’s not going to work. Therefore, I think many people need to kind of revisit this and get this part clear.
The second thing is, any sustainable business (any business that has to last 100, 200, 500 years is one in which every stakeholder finds value — the environment is finding value, team members are finding value and customers are finding value. If the people in India and China started consuming like the average American, how many planets do you think we would need? Five planets. Where are you going to get those planets? Therefore, sustainable business is what it’s all about.
Many people in organisations feel like this. We do consulting work with many organisations and when we ask them, “Are you happy? Are you using your full potential?”, the answer is no. And when we ask, “What do you want?”, they say, “Can we be like this? Can we be free? Can we be more joyous? Can we be more enthusiastic and energetic?” Do you relate to this? The other thing we found in businesses, and again in the government and everywhere else is that departments don’t talk to each other. What do you think happens when people don’t connect and talk? There is wastage. Wastage of taxpayers’ money. So there are huge challenges out there.
So these, ladies and gentlemen, are some challenges. Now the question is, where does leadership come in? What does this have to do with leadership?
Everything we need on the planet, every kind of resource — technological, material, knowledge — everything is there, to create a world that works for all. If you look at Bombay, all the know-how, all the money, all the talent, every single thing is there, but it’s like yarn lying unwoven, and the tapestry is missing. Can we as leaders make these connections? Can we collaborate instead of competing with each other? Like the brain, continuously connecting, linking, integrating — can we make this happen? Can we become conscious of the spiritual dimension and integration that drives everything else? Because if we remember that deep down no matter what the nation, there’s one common core, one common heart, one common world, and so on, this can happen. Leadership driven from this space can happen, and it drives everything else.
If we remember this inner power, this inner silence, awareness and peace and let our actions, thoughts and words come from this, believe me, the kind of leadership that is created is amazing.
The centre of Rotary’s symbol is really symbolic of this. Can we come together and hold on to that axle and bring everything else together? Do you think Rotary can have a role to play in making Mumbai a better city? We as citizens and as leaders need to take action to be able to make a difference. What is needed is leadership — somebody to initiate that action. Governments are not going to do anything. It is we who can make a difference and I think it is key for everyone to start doing something very, very simple. If everyone contributes even in a small way, the world can be transformed. Initiating these small acts is what leadership is about, and I would simply say, you are the missing piece, we are the missing piece.
But let’s not take it too seriously. Let’s work together to create a world that we are proud to hand over. Let’s be playful, let’s not take ourselves too seriously; believe me, the divine energy is waiting to work through us if we open our hearts, and Rotary is one of the most beautiful opportunities for this energy of leadership for a new world to flow — humanity is infinite, there are no
limitations.