It was some 13 years ago that waiting around at Bangalore airport for a
flight that was very delayed that I bought one of the most interesting books
I’ve ever read. It was just released and I bought it for 2 reasons: The authors
were Gallup researchers and I have
frequently followed the principle that the title proclaimed: “First break all the rules” (Marcus
Buckingham, Curt Coffman). The book is an outcome of research with over 80000
successful managers and what principles guided them. In all these years I have
never forgotten its main principle: “People don't
change that much. Don't waste time trying to put in what was left out. Try to
draw out what was left in. That is hard enough”. (I recommend the book
for any manager or leader, including aspiring ones).
Change matters. But real change happens only with a dramatic experience
or through a conscious new insight gained. Many mothers have lost children to
drunken driving and they usually react angrily. One woman, Candice Lightner,
who lost her 13-year old daughter to a drunk driver, even as she was deeply
upset founded MADD (Mothers
Against Drunken Driving) to combat drunken driving and help victims. That’s a dramatic event that changed a mother to
respond differently from the normal. People who have learned that the Aryan
Invasion Theory is a hoax have changed their thinking due to new insight and scientific research
into history. Change is usually not incremental.
HR specialist Susan Heathfield says about the book: “The
implications of this insight for training and performance development are
profound. This insight encourages building on what people can already do well
Instead of trying to “fix” weaker talents and abilities. The traditional
performance improvement process identifies specific, average or below
performance areas. Suggestions for improvement, either verbal or in a formal
appraisal process, focus on developing these weaknesses”. Let me explain
this. Steffi Graf, the great Tennis
player, had a powerful forehand but the worst backhand in women’s tennis.
Instead of improving her backhand, her trainer taught her to go around the ball to her left
and hit her same powerful forehand. If he had tried to greatly improve her
backhand, he would still be doing it. What great managers do is not eliminate
the weakness but manage it in a way that doesn’t affect one’s strengths. They FOCUS on strengths. They don’t try
to put in what’s not there, they draw out what’s left inside.
Godhra and post-Godhra 2002 Narendra
Modi had a dramatic experience as also gained deep insights. He was
vilified and political opponents, assorted NGOs and gangs and most of all, the
media launched the most vicious witch-hunt ever known in Indian politics or
media against him. He had the choice to fight them by reacting and fighting
like any normal politician. He did not. Instead, he chose to focus on his
strengths, the strength of people’s mandate and the strengths of Gujarat. Talent
and skills are two different things. Skills can be transferred, not talent. One can be taught to fight fire, one can’t
be taught to ‘stay calm’ under fire. The first is a skill, the latter is a
talent. When it came to fire-fighting Modi had both. He stayed calm under fire
and fought fire in his own way. On January 15, 2009, Capt. Sully Sullenberger landed a troubled aircraft with 155
on board on the Hudson river in New York. Everyone was saved. He had the talent
and skill to fight fire and stay calm under fire.
The changes in Gujarat are not of great dramatic achievements, though
many can be listed, but one of leadership. Creator of the artificial heart, Dr. Robert Jarvik says: “Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear
and no concept of the odds against them”. No matter what one chooses to
say about Modi that describes him quite well. He had no fears and didn’t bother
about the odds against him. These are signs of strong leadership.
Imagine, Gujarat is not a state gifted with many natural resources. On
that count it has a lot in common with Rajasthan. A few years ago Rajkot and
Saurashtra region were completely starved for water. Yet, instead of rioting or
agitating against the govt Gujjus pulled out their resourcefulness, their sense
of community and combatted the water issue. The Gujju refuses to beg. He or she may sit on a footpath and sell
Neem sticks as tooth-brush or anything they can sell but they do not resort to
begging; it is extremely rare. It has been many years since one has even seen a
rally protesting anything (unless you talk about Mallika Sarabhai). Many industries haven’t seen a strike in
all their existence in Gujarat. No matter how much a Gujju earns he doesn’t
spend like there’s no tomorrow. Except for a small number and a few weddings
there is nothing ostentatious about the manner in which Gujjus use their wealth
or about their lifestyle.
The only thing that had consistently angered Gujjus is the political
division of society and communal riots. These are trademark features of
Congress politics and of similar parties. KHAM theories, mindless reservations,
freebies and turning a blind eye to communal crimes of the minority and
alienating Hindus. Other than that, may be an increase in VAT or Sales Tax
could upset Gujjus. Since mid-1990s a full-strength BJP has been in power and
there has been no looking back. The last straw was when a known bootlegger and
mafia guy was propped up to rule a small kingdom in one part of Ahmedabad and
the 1985 riots. He was killed in an ‘encounter’ type strike when Shankersinh Vaghela was the CM. Vaghela
had quit BJP to join forces with Congress to realise his ambition of becoming
CM. Something the Gujjus have never forgotten and he is still paying a price
for it. So what do Gujjus really want? Nothing really! Their basic message to the govt is “you mind your business and let us
mind ours”.
Peace, safety or freedom of movement are all nothing new and have
always been around in Gujarat. Even in times of natural disasters Gujarat has a
large number of NGOs that reach the needy faster than govt agencies do. The
plague in Surat in 1994 turned the city into a model city later on instead of
destroying it. In times of disasters you won’t often hear the line “Sarkar
kuch nahin karti”. On January 26, 2001 when a deadly earthquake struck
most parts of Gujarat, power was back in Ahmedabad within 24 hours. The first
responders, as always, were volunteer NGOs. Some parts of Kutch, the epicentre
of the earthquake, are far better now than they were before the earthquake.
All the Gujjus want from a govt is to build great infrastructure,
ensure water supply, create medical facilities and curb evil social practices.
They don’t like their govt to be in their face every day. They don’t want to
see Narendra Modi give a speech every day. They don’t look for grandiose
schemes or announcements frequently. These are the rules Modi has broken and
has been breaking frequently. Corner shops, Cafes and Paan-shops in Kolkata or
Delhi are great places to discuss politics all the time; from morning till
night. These same outlets in Gujarat would hardly have any political
discussions. The best you can find is stock market discussions and during
Cricket season a little more exciting betting discussions. I don’t think even a
Central govt policy, except taxes, find much discussion among common folks. Most of all a huge majority of Gujjus don’t
watch NDTV, CNN-IBN, TimesNow, Headlines Today or read TOI. In fact, most
don’t read anything at all, unless mandatory. Believe me, till some years ago
if you spoke English in Gujarat you were God. Er… That was till this Sachin
Tendulkar came along.
So when the Social Genius from a news channel heads to Gujarat and
wants to find out the condition of Muslims alone, she is not just insulting Muslims
she is insulting all Gujjus. The Congress has built it into the psyche of
media morons that the question must always be asked what a govt is doing for
minorities (read Muslims). First and
foremost it is a great achievement of Indian society that whether you are from
majority or minority you are legally equals. The other question never
occurs to the media: “What have Muslims done for
Gujarat, what have Muslims done for India”? What have Hindus, Christians,
Parsis, Sikhs, Jains and others done for Gujarat? For India? That’s the
question that endeared JFK to the American people. Why not ask what the people
have done for their state or country?
It is in such a divisive and destructive atmosphere and a viciously
hate-filled media that Modi’s leadership was tested. And what did he offer? Let
me quote Marcus Buckingham again: “What a leader does
for followers is… turn anxiety into confidence. They’ve always done that
throughout time and in every different society and situation. When leaders lead
well, it’s because they’re able to rally people to a better future and make
people spirited when they were previously anxious”. It is undeniable
that Narendra Modi broke many rules of traditional Indian politics, especially
Nehruvian politics. No subsidies, no free power, no freebies, no mindless
reservations, no cash doles. Nothing! Have all the problems disappeared? Not at
all! There are quite a few and newer ones are sure to come up. But Modi has quite definitely changed the
political and electoral dialogue.
Modi’s development agenda is much talked about and much recognised.
Which is why enemies of a progressive society will keep reminding of old wounds
to attempt dividing societies. Our media does exactly that. Their only job is
to defend the corrupt and keep dividing society on caste and communal lines to
further their agenda of their political masters. Gujjus are far more liberal
and open as a society than the ones on TV who have a twisted idea of “liberalism”.
The development agenda is
two-dimensional; one that is very visible and one that is not so visible. In
the next part we will try and examine where the road from Gujarat leads to.
