In our own corporate world, we have to show quarterly growth, irrespective of constraints. Then we tend to pursue victory at any cost. Recently, I was surprised to read the results of a survey.
The question was: ‘When no one is watching and you find a suitcase with a million rupees on the road, what will you do?’ Majority of the respondents said they will silently take the money with them. However when the same question was slightly twisted with a new condition being that there is 25% chance that someone is watching you - the majority of them answered that they would report the case to the police.
We can see from this that people do not want to be clean on their own. They do not mind in diluting their values when they know that they will not be caught red-handed. This kind of cut-throat behavior is viewed as smartness today. Ethics is what you do when no one is watching. However, today when no one is watching, wr try to exploit the situation. This is emerging as the new mantra. No more do people hesitate to make money by machinations that ensure they will not be caught. The situation is very unfortunate.
Let me tell you a few stories on this subject ..
-An industrialist who was on his death bed, called his sons and said he would divide the property he owned between the two of them. However, he wanted the liquid cash (money) that he had earned to come with him. Hence, he requested each of his sons to deposit Rupees one hundred thousand along with his body. After the old man’s death, his elder son returned from the burial ground saying he had made a mistake by only placing Rupees ten thousand in his father’s grave as he thought his father would not be able to count anymore. On the other hand, the younger son said he would never ever cheat his father dead or alive and had left behind a cheque for one hundred thousand rupees in his father’s grave, as had been requested.
Do you realize that the younger son is not exactly straight as it may seem. He has kept his promise only because he knows that the dead man would never visit the bank to present the cheque! In today’s world, if you see, most of us tend to behave like the second son and then go around calling ourselves straight. This in my opinion is cut-throat behavior.
-Let me tell you another interesting story. A village once initiated a milk collection drive for its poor children. It was agreed that before daybreak every family in the village would contribute a glass of fresh milk to the collection. One villager thought that since the whole village is to contribute, it would do no harm if he put in water instead of milk. Nobody would find out and they would have collected enough milk from others anyway whereas he would have more for his family. In the darkness of early next morning the villagers poured their contributions into a common container. At the appointed time when the container was opened in the presence of all the villagers it was filled to the brim. But guess with what! WATER! So, Arjun, are you like the villagers? Would you like to live in a village where you have such neighbors? Irresponsible people are most interested in individual profits than individual responsibility.
Now, where do we go from here? This is the kind of success that we enjoy. This is the reality. In the words of Ayn Rand, ‘You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of reality.’ We are in a race between co-operation and catastrophe and the threat is overrunning our response (Sam Nonn). If we respect each of our stakeholders, then we will be operating in a fair manner. Cut-throat behavior is clearly nothing but winning through unfair means, while real smartness is winning through fair and just means. We should demonstrate conviction towards our value framework, instead of compromising on our priorities just for attaining victories.
Be smart but a cut-throat.,. Stay blessed
Drdd
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