My work often takes me to different parts of India and gives me an opportunity to interact with people from diverse backgrounds. These experiences are of immense learning to me. Once I had gone to Lucknow, capital city of the state of Uttar Pradesh. There I met a businessman whose business was in a bad shape. He was a middle aged man who had seen good days in the past and retained his sense of humour. Our discussions started from the reasons of his business not doing well but slowly veered around various governments that the State had seen in the last couple of decades. I asked him to give me his perspective about which party’s government was most effective. His analysis was something as follows – I will refrain from naming the political parties here, but people who know will understand without difficulty:

Party number 1 – This particular Party was corrupt but had a strong chain of command. Businessmen had to pay a price for every decision by the government agencies. But once a deal was struck there was complete honesty. Money exchanged hands and work was done within the specified time frame. Businessmen were happy and prospered since they were working in an environment of certainty though at increased costs which eventually got built in the prices. However, business environment was fairly stable and the economy did reasonably well during this time. There was an assurance that the system worked, provided one was willing to pay the price and the environment was quite transparent and democratic in this respect.

Party number 2 – This Party was also corrupt but had multiple power centres. Nothing would move without greasing palms and even after doing so, there was no certainty of work getting done or being completed within a specified timeline. One never knew which power centre was more powerful at a given time and place. More often than not, work never got done despite greasing the palms of all concerned. Businesses and the economy perished during this time. The environment was corrupt not only because one had to buy his way out, but because even after doing this there was no certainty of the outcome.

Party number 3 – This was a Party that was better than the other two. It was formed of committed workers who followed an ideology. Corruption was significantly less during its time. Though this was a welcome surprise, I was shell shocked when my businessman friend told me that even this party was a failure in the State. He said that during this time greasing of palms was not an accepted practice. But it also meant that there were no deadlines and no work was accomplished on time. Most often, things just didn’t move forward on account of minor deviations. Quite obviously, the businesses and economy did not flourish  during this time also.

In a nut shell, the businessman summarised  that Party number 1 was the best in all respects. One was aware of the price of work and there was complete assurance that it  would be done within the specified time. ‘It was a result oriented regime’. Corruption or greasing of palms for him was a lesser evil than work not being done at all. A self-made businessman gave me a lesson on being ‘result oriented’ in life.

There are two countries that many Indians admire, particularly in today’s context – Japan and Israel. Both are small countries and have seen great tragedies in the last century. But despite that, they have excelled in so many diverse fields. People and the leadership of both countries are visionary and proud nationalists. Both the countries have an admirable work culture where the citizens are known for their hard and sincere work. However, there is another lesser known fact about them. Both countries suffer from high political and official corruption. A simple google search will inform us that in Israel, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ministers and public officials have been caught indulging in corruption and have been convicted. Even the sitting Prime Minister is battling charges of corruption. In Japan, political corruption has been a feature since the end of WW-II. Many Prime Ministers have had to leave their positions prematurely because of this. Once again, a google search will give many such names. I bring up this issue neither  to point out that these two countries are corrupt nor by any stretch of imagination, to justify and condone  corruption. My effort here is to only highlight that these countries are islands of excellence inspite of corruption, which means that corruption, or a lack of it, is not the only factor responsible for the well-being of a nation.

India is sitting on a high perch when it comes to corruption. We are a nation known for its corrupt culture. Our ex-Prime Minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, had famously said that out of every rupee spent by the Government only 15 Paise actually end up reaching the desired beneficiary. I am sure no Indian will argue with that statement. What the Hon’ble ex-PM did not say is that many good and important projects never saw the  light of the day due to this. Many Indians suffer at the hands of corrupt officials since this becomes a tool for blackmail also.

But this essay is not about corruption, it is about the absence of it.

Today there is an effort not only by the Government of India but a few State Governments also to check corruption. People in general are quite fed up of bribing their way out or losing to the people who are able to do it better than them. I hope and believe that the next few years will lead to better days when people are able to live their lives with honesty, without bribing or suffering on account of not bribing.

Having said that, I cannot  forget the third example given by the businessman who I had met in Lucknow. The honest government did not deliver to its people. It is not uncommon to hear people say – ‘yes, the government was not corrupt, but it did not work either. Better was the government which was corrupt, but it worked. Even if there was self-interest for making money, at least they took decisions and got the work done’. And I see nothing wrong in this thought of people, since in their eyes output takes precedence over everything else.

Let me illustrate this by a simple example. We Indians are aware how it is to travel by long distance trains in our country. Often seat reservations are not available. Sometimes in an emergency, despite not having a confirmed seat we board the train in the hope that  the train ticket examiner will allot us a vacant berth or seat if and when it is  available. And, we also expect to pay a price for it, which is often much more than the  normal cost to make the ticket examiner happy. In this situation all players are happy – the passenger gets a reserved berth, the railway its revenue and the ticket examiner, his cut. He works hard to identify vacant seats, may be for self-interest, but in the end everybody gains. Imagine a situation on the contrary where we have an honest ticket examiner. He identifies all passengers who do not have a valid reservation, gets them off-loaded at the next station, carries some vacant seats in the train and does not line his own pocket.  Everybody loses in this situation. This example again shows that merely the  absence of corruption is not enough for good things to happen. There is something else that is more important.

I remember my student days for  similar situations. There were two distinct types of students – one, who spent long hours studying and two, who spent lesser hours at their study tables. Results were often not in proportion to the time spent in studying and many times the students who studied lesser hours scored better.

This once again brings us to the conclusion that there is something other than sincere hard work that is also important for success which we are missing out on and not giving  due attention to.

The reason for my remembering these instances from my childhood days is that I have been observing something similar in many different contexts around me even as an adult. I give some of these observations as follows:

• There are people in the work environment who spend long hours in their offices, but are never able to complete their work in time or to the desired level of satisfaction, whereas there are others who come to work on time, leave on time and still manage a sterling performance
• Drivers who drive quite fast but take longer time to reach their destination as compared to someone who drives slow and safe but still manages better timing
• A cook who makes delicious food for a large number of people in a short time as compared to someone else who acts in a meticulous way, takes time and still is unable to do justice with the food
• Scientists who have spent more than three decades unsuccessfully to design a fighter aircraft while a similar set of people in a different country have not only designed and produced such an aircraft successfully but also upgraded the version thrice for better performance

Examples are many. But there is one thread that binds not only all of them but also my childhood memories and corruption. This thread is ‘work culture and result orientation’.

In my view, this explains why Israel and Japan are where they are despite presence of corruption in their societies. This also explains the UP governance example that I have cited at the beginning. And this is also the reason why  many organizations fail despite the presence of many hard working and sincere people. In short, this is the ‘something other’ required for success that we have been talking about. A journey towards lesser corruption in India will remain incomplete unless a simultaneous effort is made towards making people aware that output is equally important. Mere absence of corruption is not enough unless we work hard and the effort is action and result oriented. And this is possible only if an organized effort is made towards cultural change. After all, Indians have universally proven that they have it in them if they so desire and if it is firmly implemented. We have NRIs and PIOs who have made India proud by their work ethics, we have great organizations like airlines, hotels, armed forces, hospitals etc. within India where people work with dedication, without corruption and necessarily not at high salaries. Some may not spend long hours at work but still manage to surprise us with the quality of their service.

My Little Thought Of Life in this context is that as we move towards lower levels of corruption in India and a stressful and fast paced life, we need to consciously move towards a work culture that lays premium on the results. Without corruption, the grease to act may not be available. Nevertheless, we still need to act and deliver results. Similarly, we have information overload on our minds today, life is literally moving faster, we are spending long hours in travel and commute, families are nuclear and there is lesser societal support. All these things are putting much premium on the time of an individual. He needs to learn to spend this time judiciously and treat it with respect. Merely spending long hours at work will hit a person both ways – not being able to complete the task and also not being able to devote adequate and quality time to himself and his dear ones. The need for ‘better work culture and result orientation’ was never felt more important before. This is the moment  to understand and implement it.

To my friends and readers I wish an ability to improve their working style and the culture around them to make it more result oriented to manage absence of grease generated by corruption and also to have a fulfilling life by maintaining proper work life balance.