Why We Need Meritocracy

It is useless to expect an oak tree to bear apples. Similarly, it is useless to expect governance systems designed to exploit and steal to deliver justice. Even though the world has evolved significantly, it is hard to find genuinely good leaders and 90% of the population is still languishing in poverty. I therefore think that the current governance systems have overall failed miserably to alleviate misery. The key reasons  are affliction with narrow interests, short-termism, mob mentality, and the concept of rights without responsibilities. The systems are well designed to pacify power groups and keep a few in charge of many. They are designed to enslave and not liberate, even if they claim otherwise.

Therefore it is very important for the thinkers and the doers to come together and work towards building a society that is governed by three basic principles:

• always try to get one of the best people to do the job
• rights come with responsibilities
• it is not enough to theoretically endorse the above two principles: they have to be purposefully built into the very fabric of the nation

This, in essence, is meritocracy. And this, in essence, can be a extremely difficult to implement in practice. Even profit oriented corporations often find it difficult to stick to this simple mantra. For a nation it can be devilishly difficult.Nevertheless, it stands to reason that even partial implementation of these ideas should change the fortunes of a country for the better.

In future essays I will try to explore how I think a leader can implement it.

The Time for Merit

From the time human society has started organising itself, it's surroundings, intelligence, and knowledge level have had a profound effect on its governance structures. Through the ages we have seen various versions of rule of a man/ family (despotism, monarchy, aristocracy), rule of God (theocracy), rule of men (democracy, republic, socialism, communism, nationalism), rule of money (capitalism), and even no rule (anarchy). 

The first radical change  came via the advent of the printing press and the corresponding realtively wider availability of knowledge. This steadily eroded ideologies that rely on people's ignorance, and strengthened those that either empower or manipulate them. This ultimately led to the decline of theocracies and monarchies, and the rise of democracies, socialism, propoganda fuelled dictatorships, and capitalism. When combined with older forms of governance, this has produced a wide range of governance structures around the globe.

The knowledge that came with the printed word did not get rid the human race of thirst for power, control, and pseudo-superiority. In fact, it made the quest more sophisticated and destructive. As rulers adjusted to the shock of more informed and combatative subjects, they tweaked their tools of propaganda, terror and division. The same knowledge that developed  life saving drugs also came up with nuclear weapons. Promises of communist utopia often turned out to be despotic hells.

Nevertheless, democracy has slowly become the most common form of governance, and ideas of capitalism and socialism have both become deeply embedded in the system. However, the rise of the Internet, satellites and the ability of the rulers to track their "subjects" closely is changing things in a way that may see revival of totalitarian regimes, with even the current "free" democracies slowly eroding away the freedom of their citizens using propaganda, fear, monetary control, and intimidation.

Having said that, I think that these same technical advancements present an opportunity to build a strong, transparent, and meritocratic country. The happiness and prosperity of nations will be determined by their ability to command an effective economy, to generate superior scientific knowledge, and being militarily strong. This in turn would depend on having better people in top positions, which perhaps can be done more effectively in an inherent meritocratic system. I find the thought pretty appealing, and will write about it as and when I get time in form of similar articles. I hope somebody, somewhere, someday finds it useful and interesting.

एक प्रेम कहानी

दूध की बोतलों और राशन की कतारों में खोयी सी एक प्रेम कहानी
कुछ सिक्कों की खोज में गुम एक और प्रेम कहानी
थकी रातों की मसरूफ सुबहों का इंतज़ार करती प्रेम कहानी
सुनहरे कल को खोजती, परदेस में भटकती प्रेम कहानी
गुमसुम, उदास : पर जाने क्यों ना रोती प्रेम कहानी
फिर भी उम्मीद है कि ढूंढ लेगी अपनी मंज़िल अपनी प्रेम कहानी
क्योंकि है साथ जब तक मुर्शिद, रंगीन है यह अपनी प्रेम कहानी

Being Happy

Happiness, I now truly know, is an attitude. This attitude is born in a free mind, and allows one to live more effectively. Freedom, in turn, is a direct function of one’s ability to think, their commitment to spirituality (which is not the same as religion), and the intensity of desire to be self-aware.

What do I mean by the ability to think? Beyond clichés there is thought: the genuine, actual ability of human mind to create an idea and express a first-hand opinion. This is, however, hard work for both hard pressed and ignorant alike. One group is caught in the perpetual struggle to survive and make it through each day, wondering if there is an end to this winding road. The other is simply unaware, sleep walking through life. And both are, in ways, enslaved by their fears and prejudices. Bounded by what they know and what they don’t know, stuck in the middle of nowhere.

What does thinking do? It simply opens doors and aids the process of self-awareness. It is one of the key initial tools towards the path of self-realisation. Humans rule this planet due to their ability to think, and they can become self-aware because they can think. Thinking is, however, a two edged sword that needs the guiding hand of spirituality. Spirituality leads thought to freedom and not self-destruction.

But what is spirituality? For me, being a good human being is the essence of spirituality. Practices that reduce stress without harming your health, hence allowing you to be a better and more effective human, are spiritual practices. Vedic breathing techniques (pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya) and yoga are potent spiritual practices that I have experienced first-hand. There may be other techniques, but I am not aware about them.

Finally, one needs self-awareness to be truly happy. Without self-awareness even spirituality can give a false sense of accomplishment, ego, superiority complex, and illusion of control.

What is self-awareness? For me, self-awareness consists of understanding one’s conscious self, learning from mistakes, learning the art of handling the mind, and taking conscious decisions. Art of Living teaches various techniques to aid this process, though I am sure there will be other schools teaching similar things. To start on the path of self-awareness, however, one needs some initial amount of thinking and the realisation that self-awareness is of paramount importance.

At some point of my life I believed that we also need sufficient money and good relationships to be truly free. From my experience, I have learned that pursuit of money can as easily bring in more unhappiness to the one who does not make an effort to become self-aware. It is the same story with relationships. As Sri Sri says, to meet your soul mate you first need to first meet your soul. All in all, without the self-awareness that emanates from spirituality and first-hand thinking, everything in this world will ultimately lead to sorrow. 

सो जा

ओ मेरे प्यारे, आँखों के तारे, राजदुलारे,  सो जा …

अंखियों में तेरी निंदिया है इतनी
परियां तुझे पुकारे
चंदा को लेके, तारे समेटे, बाहों में मेरी सो जा।

ओ मेरे प्यारे, आँखों के तारे, राजदुलारे,  सो जा …

Bad Management is Easy!

Recently I came across a manager who gave her entire team a negative feedback. Strangely, the feedbacks for the same people for jobs done for other managers before and after this particular job were fairly positive. This got me thinking: did the people drop dead for two weeks or was there something else going on. I was surprised that this did not get any alarm bells ringing anywhere else. Even worse, the blame and negative consequences got apportioned to the team rather than the manager. I think this is a very good example of bad management compounded by poor organisation response.

I think a good manager lies at the heart of a vibrant organisation and needs three crucial skills to succeed: project management, communication, and team building.

Project management can be learned by studying and adapting project management techniques and frameworks like Scrum/Agile, PRINCE2, etc. Alternatively, it can simply mean being organised and keeping on top of the project and actively managing its risks. 

Good and effective communication is an integral part of project management. I write it as a separate skill as I have now seen too many poorly worded emails and negative communication as one used by the manager above. For example, in the above case the manager did not effectively communicate with her team during the project, holding on to a grudge and giving a negative feedback two months after the job to a surprised team. Not to let the team off the hook, it can be argued that they could have tried to communicate with the Manager as well. However, if the Manager is deemed more senior, paid more, and given more responsibility, I think it is fair to say that bad team communication is primarily a managerial failing.

Team building is a skill that I would look out in manager who I expect to take on a leadership role in the company at any time in the future. If you are operating in a super-competitive knowledge based industry, success will be defined by being able to hire and retain top-quality talent. And, managers can be pivotal to this: most of the times when people leave a company, more often than not they leave their managers.

In the above case, I would definitely try to dig a bit before readily blaming the team (especially if they seem to be doing a good job otherwise). I would pull them up for taking an initiative on communication if the manager was doing a poor job of it. However, my main target would be the manager from whom I would expect more than trying to escape blame for a badly run project by blaming the team.  

All the skills above are not rocket science and can be taught. Really, these are the basics, and better organisations stick to them.

The Absolute

Days will pass, nights will go
Years will pass, years shall show
Love will fade, friends will vanish
Doubt will creep, trust shall tarnish
Eternity and I are friends, I know
Beyond this prison there is nowhere to go
Generalizations are easy and too cheap
Petty wisdom that I don't keep
Convenience and profit is what world knows
The one with courage and strength grows
On the branch of relativity I perch
As for the absolute I vainly search.