The new Indian

Public crime is more severe and more elaborate and more devious and more hurtful than isolated murders and robberies and rapes because here an entire country is subjected to plunder – mind, body, and spirit. Millions of people are impacted. Generations destroyed.  However not even one politician / bureaucrat has been booked till date. Nobody is in jail. Nobody has been reprimanded.

How can the judiciary, activists, media, and people not have a forum or a platform to force things? Can’t we force a legislation to create fast track courts to discharge justices?

Most TV commentaries just about scratch the surface in the debates & discussions and soon another topic lands up, another priority lands up, another ‘story’ emerges and the first one is never taken to its logical conclusion. Problems dropped from the face of the public attention.  The politician and the bureaucrat know this only too very well. They know that the attention span of the society is only as small as the next ‘story’ in line.

We need a quantum change in the way we need our country to be governed.

We need powerful conversationalists, debaters who can communicate the essence of the issues to a variety of people - common man including. We need an economic analysis of the crime perpetuated. The opportunity loss has to be determined and the lost opportunities had that crime not been perpetuated must be communicated in varying degrees of comprehensiveness so that every section of our society gains understanding of what that means to us Indians.

We need to cite evidence of similar 'atrocities' from across the reasonable world and explain in lucid terms as to how they were dealt with and what measures were introduced into the system to reduce the possibility of the crime of a similar nature from being perpetuated.

We need a mechanism to debate the issues confronting the nation and it has to be particular - we want to fight the big battles and not boil the ocean fighting all the issues of the day because it does not become practical. Citizens must have the means to assess the important issues of the day, the solutions proposed, and the realism behind them.

These issues must be the planks on which future political parties must fight their battles for us citizens. We need to have a mechanism for the society at large to understand what issues are important for these political parties, why are these issues important to the local society and community, are the proposed solutions viable, what sort of barriers exist to solve these issues, what timetables are being proposed to address these issues, who are the actors that are responsible for addressing these issues, do they have the credibility, do they have the required resources, responsibility, accountability, power, and governance to work the issues, and several others along similar lines.

People should not be electing their representatives based on emotional planks. They need to understand that their future lies in their ability to elect individuals and governments who are best placed to solve their problems in the short and in the long term.

Now I understand that these are quantum changes that must be brought to our dealings but this is only possible if large audience aggregators, thought leaders, influencers, activists, industrialists, and educationists, and people like you and me all come together and start the process.

Let us elect such MPs and their leaders and therefore the right government who are best placed to:

a) Solve the people problems predictably

b) Grow our country economically and equitably

c) Define the best security apparatus for our country - internal & external

d) Understand the economics, security, & the politics of the world

e) Implement the best governance for accountability

f) Implement the best judiciary for speedy redressal

That means we need to be the new Indian ourselves. The starting point is us. Don’t settle for less.

If you get into a hole how do you come out of it unscathed? Lessons from the Chilean saga

The 70 days that the Chilean miners got stuck in that rat hole provides us valuable management lessons for today’s corporate world entangled in similar 'stuck in a hole' situation. Right from the very word 'go' the miners and the leaders tasked to get them out of the hole made very purposeful decisions.

Securing the Leadership

On one hand the Chilean president was on the ground - he made it a point to be there at all times in the 70 days to drive the government machinery, provide the leadership to drive home support & confidence, and above all to mobilise his good offices to secure the best talent available in the industry to get the planning and the rescue started. By his presence he ensured that all the necessary support required to the crisis through was discharged with minimal slack in the process.

On the other end, the miners themselves elected their most experienced and cool headed man as their leader to plan and set the direction and operational practices for the forceable future. It was total confidence displayed on that one single person. The quality that this leader brought to the table was his acute understanding of the landscape, the connection that he had with his team, and a clarity of mind in such trying circumstances.

Assessing the ground situation - what went wrong and how?

The first 14 days nobody in the organization (miners or the stakeholders) knew why it had happened, how it had happened, what was the damage, and how weak was the foundation. I believe an accurate assessment of the ground situation was fundamental to deriving the right solutions because as the old adage goes 'one can solve problems but not vapourware'.

Both the miners and the stakeholders at the top tried to understand the ground situation using a variety of mechanisms. They concluded that the mine was old and deep. It had cracked in the middle and had given way however determined that the rock that surrounded the shaft was stable enough and that further erosion may not occur. They did a detour of all assets on the ground - found that they had spare vehicles, battery, some left over food, some water, some fuel, and a makeshift resting area.

The stakeholders on the top tried to assess the 'leverage' they had at their disposal. Capital was scarce. The expertise to turnaround was just all over the place. The leadership @ the mining company had lost all its credibility. The rescue team, code red, as you call it had to find the leadership, the capital, and the force to mobilise the machinery.

Bottom-line was that the miners and the stakeholders had complete clarity of the operational situation and the exact techniques required to turn-around and the team that must be made available to get the job done.

Rationing scarce working capital and govern by an Iron discipline

One of the first tasks before the leader of the 33 miners was to assess the working capital and how to use them most efficiently such that they survive the ordeal as a team. Extreme diligence and stringent working practices were introduced. consumption was reduced to the barest of bare minimum. Daily rigours was adhered to without exception. Everyone of the miners went through their chores as if it was just another day in the mine. They worked in shifts, They leapt at proper times. They played and relaxed. They ate at proper times. They joked and soon they became obsessed - obsessed to work this through - obsessed to live again - obsessed to look forward - obsessed to dream again. Those were the positives that the leader slowly entrenched into the psyche of each and every individual.

The stakeholders at the top were very clear. It was a high profile event. The whole world was watching. They knew that they had to be successful. There was no failure. Time was running out. Money was not there. They had to do so much in so very little time. I believe this was a monumental disaster that required extreme leadership skills operating at a level of agility that required 24X7 operational control and management.

While one end of the world was making their working capital run an extra mile, the stakeholders at the other end was devising teams, rescue strategies, mobilising funds, consulting experts from across the world, securing an operational governance to monitor this on a minute to minute basis.

Consistent & Continuous Communications and Expectation management

I believe one of the fundamental points that kept the miners moving was a positive communications channels that was opened up between the top and the bottom. I believe the people on the ground knew exactly what had happened and how precarious their situation was. They were told that the going is going to tough and would be long drawn and that they had to conserve their sanity and working capital (resources) and plan for a long run. The communications was clear - here is the operational situation, this is what is being planned to get them out of the hole, here is how and when we are planning to do, these are the people who are helping us get out, this is the progress we have made thus far.

The communication was perfect. It was a no nonsense communication. It was real. It was pragmatic. It was not defeating. It spoke of hope. It ensured that all people in this hole had an uniform understanding of the ground situation and the way forward.

While this business like communication was consistently made an emotional tone was also silently discharged. Families were connected. They were installed on ground Zero. Their needs were catered to. They were connected to the miners below. The miners emotions were managed.

I believe this was one of the single most important strategy on part of the stakeholders - effective, true, consistent, and continuous communications.

Leverage the best talent from across the world to plan the journey forward

Clearly this event had no precedence at all. There were several isolated rescue incidences that the stakeholders could have relied for strategies and tools and techniques. I believe this rescue mission required a different sort of ingenuity and strategy to get the job done without mishaps. It was very clear that effective collaboration across the mining community was required to extract the best techniques, technology, and expertise for conducting this rescue mission. The team was purposeful. They thought out of the box. They planned their strategies meticulously and consulted the best in the world.

I believe when organisations go through a rut period it is important to thrown politics out of the window and find the best people, place them in the right place, provide them complete support, and manage through stringent governance and that’s exactly what transpired in Chile.

Develop multiple execution Plans and work the contingencies

Various execution plans were blueprinted - two were field tested and the strategy finally settled on the third blueprint. I believe that was so fundamental because in the process multiple strategies were conceived, discussed to bare details, boiled down to three executable ones, tested two, and then settled on one to take it to conclusion. I believe that required a governance mechanism that was not tied down to any particular philosophy, receptive to any idea, open to apply innovation, a decision making process that was quick, and a direction that was an univocal and unambiguous.

Contingency planning was top class. at one point the authorities was so clear that when an observer asked as to whether they thought about this and that this stakeholder alludes that they have through everything that can go wrong and have hundreds of contingencies planned.

That was something. That was so very responsible for getting this done 2 months ahead of time.

Setting new operational standards

The new lesson I am sure this saga finally opened the way for was the new operational standards for the whole mining industry. I am sure new operational standards and SLA and quality mechanisms will be industrialised throughout Chile definitely and lessons drawn by the large mining world. I also believe this saga will have created a new waterline for operational efficiencies.

The 33 miners have come out alive. They have inadvertently united a failing state. Made them believe that if push came to shove the country can do it. They have the people. They just need clarity, direction, and management. It has now created a new faith of followers. The country has gained a new faith. New confidence. New hopes. They have also seen their leader in action. I just hope these micro level stories mobilise a more macro economic revival over the next years.