As I write this, every Ram, Hardik and Hari in India would know about India’s first ever Test match victory on South African soil. And the media has gone ga ga over the dramatic and a dream return of Sourav Ganguly, starting with the 3 day match at Potchefstroom and the good showing in the First Test at Jo’burg.
What I found amazingly different in Ganguly’s approach towards the game was - his attitude. The way he walked up to the pitch in a positive fashion. He played every shot with a positive intent. He looked fitter and leaner on the ground. In the overs running up to India’s win, he even showed his new found atheleticism by diving and saving a run, a far cry from the days when he used to stand at mid-on and be unable to prevent the single, sometimes even misfield and let the batsmen run for two………
What has changed Saurav Ganguly?
All these changes has come ever since he was dropped out of the Indian squad 10 months ago. Greg Chappell had suggested to Ganguly to step down as the Captain and concentrate on his batting. I think we all never understood but Greg saw the usefulness of Ganguly as a batsman. Then, we all know all hell broke loose. It happens in life, miscommunication can ruin even the best of friends and after all theirs was just a professional relationship. Then, as is the wont in anything that is Indian, the issue was politicised and Raj Singh Dungarpur showed why he lacks the class that a person who promotes the Gentleman’s game should have. He went on a personal attack because he saw Ganguly as Jagmohan Dalmiya’s poster boy. Well, the intention of this post is not to analyse why he went out, it has nothing to do with what I want to share with all of you.
Sourav Ganguly had to work his butt off to make his way back into the Indian Cricket Team. Let’s face it, he was under tremendous pressure, intense media coverage and speculation. He went away from all of that and that was when the entire thing started to come to him. I always believe that,
To be able to listen to your own self, you need to shut the door on the crowd.
And that is what Ganguly did, he finally listened to himself and he came out on tops. It takes tremendous self belief to get yourself out of the hole and to swim against the current. Imagine, picking up the newspaper or tuning your tv into any news channels and finding your carer being made business, gossip and small talk of. Anyone would be damn angry and pissed. I would be pissed if someone did even 1/10th of that to me or my career.
Ganguly, had to compete. He had lead the life of a Maharaja and then he was dethroned and he became a commoner once again. The easiest part of success is to go to the top, a bit tougher is to stay there and the toughest is to come back to the top after a fall. Ganguly has achieved what not many can achieve, coming back is the toughes thing in any sphere of life.
After having strayed around my intended topic, I will now come to it. I think you should have been able to read my thoughts by now, I am talking about the virtues of competitiveness. Imagine, a guy who 10 months ago took 262 balls to reach 101 against the weakest side in the cricketing world today - Zimbabwe, is back with a bang today, how is that possible?
The reason is simple, you know people say he had a point to prove and that is why he worked his butt off and made sure he was back in the team, which I admit is also part of the story. I am not denying that there is an ego issue in this. But, if you analyse further you would find that the basic premise is that of competitiveness.
A year ago, Sourav Ganguly could choose not to play against Australia the moment he sees a green top, because there was no one to replace him. The day he was thrown out and he went away from all the media glare and sat down, reality might have hit him hard, no one is irreplaceable (except if you have a particular surname that ends in kar and translates into a Cricket God). He has realised that he cannot just stay in the team and not perform, he had to perform.
I wish that this same yardstick is applied to all of Indian cricketers, because Sehwag needs to go away and get his touch back, he needs it more for his own benefit.
So, what lesson does the Ganguly case have for business practitioners like us? Competition my friend is to be embraced. I say, bring on Wal-Mart, we are ready, we will compete. I say, open everything up. Don’t privatise your so called ‘Navratna’ companies, make them compete. No special stuff for anyone.
I think, the best way to uplift the backward communities of India is to make them compete on an equal footing, competition does not weaken anyone, in fact it strengthens those who compete. That would be a progressive way of uplifting instead of providing reservations.
I was just checking out the requirements for appearing for the UPSC (Union Public Services Commission) exams and I found that those in the SC/ST category could apply for any number of times for the exam. This means that a person can keep on appearing and eventually he makes it, but would that person deserve it? People who clear the UPSC are those who manage the Indian administration, no wonder the management is in a disarray, as the entire management spectrum starting from those whom we elected to those who got selected in these public service exams. No wonder, there are so many things wrong with India - that I would need another blog to write about it.
Take the Indian Telecom industry. When Reliance InfoComm launched it created a major disruption in the Indian Telecom industry and the subscriber growth leaped by miles. Today, we grow at a faster rate than that of China itself, which has the largest number of subscribers in the world and the best part is that our tele density is still low compared to that of China. Another case study to prove why competition is important.
Let us go to the root of the entire ‘India Shining’ campaign, it started in 1992 when we scrapped the stupid bullshit and the most fuckall policy of the requirement of a license to start any business. Once we did that, the MNCs came and the fear was that Indian companies would be extinguished by the MNCs. Circa 2006, the Tatas are in the process of acquiring a steel company that is 7 times its own size. Look at the number of acquisitions Indian companies are making.
Another most remarkable and unprecedented example of improvements due to competitiveness is that of Indian Railway, recently I got a presentation that Lalu Prasad Yadav made to the IIM Ahmedabad. The thing that struck me the most was the way it was talking about competition, it looked more like an analyst meeting and the Chairman of the Board was making a presentation. They were talking numbers like wagons leased, average loads, etc. IR reduced the prices to compete with the low cost carriers (which is another case in point about competitiveness), today the price of a First Class AC Fare on a Rajdhani is equivalent to the cost I would pay for a Delhi - Mumbai flight, before the low cost carriers arrived, the Second Class AC fares cost that much. The way they have re-engineered themselves is proof that they are changing due to competition. Remember, the IR is in the business of transportation and it has competition on both the passenger as well as container fronts from the different modes of transportation.
I can keep going on, but I have to stop somewhere and I will stop here. I just want you to remember that, we as Indians are very competitive, competition is inbred in us ever since we were born. We have always been compared which is the milder form of competition to other kids. In India, when you are in school you face competition, then when you graduate from high school you face the toughest competition for a college seat in the world. Then you compete for a job. Then you compete with people in your workplace. Everywhere you go, you compete. And Indians compete hard, because in India you are not respected if you cannot compete.
I am not saying that there are no negative aspects to that, there are. But, I am looking at the positive side, because it shows that we have the biggest advantage here compared to other people around the world and that is why, we have had our own companies competing against MNCs fair and square in the world market. Think about it.
Recent Comments