Who we Are and What we Do
At an innovative address delivered in September, 2016 at the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, Dominic Barton of McKinsey & Company emphatically suggests to students that in the midst of all the thorough and wide ranging changes sweeping across the world, the foremost expectation of the leader in the 21st century concerns “who you are versus what you do.” Thus character, not action, is the primary focus for leadership according to him. The reason, we suppose, is that it is on the basis of the traits in one’s character that actions take shape. Actions following from the leader are not necessarily pre-determined, and mechanically coded in formulas providing action plans for situations. They are instead products of the imagination and perception of the leader as she engages herself in the hard task of combining the macro as well as the micro dimensions together the very same moment, while holding fast to her resilience and decisiveness, all the way.
The modern day situation poses all the more creative challenge to the leader as tremendous changes take place in technology, economic power and demographic structures, and political as well as other forms of unrest and upheaval continue shaking the world with increasing regularity. Barton asserts that selflessness and judgment are the prime requisites of the leader in the circumstances. The leader is not born with the character demanded of her, however; it is imbibed in her through practice in life. The question that naturally comes to mind is: How do the virtues constituting character traits take shape in the leader? Solely through personal will? Or, does the society have its part to play in contributing to develop the virtues in her? Is the role of the schools of management enough for the society to deliver the needed impetus to trigger the process of inspiration and transformation, or is something needed at a more fundamental level?
In a recently published book entitled ‘Character and Environment,’ the virtue ethicist Ronald Sandler pleads for the role of character in giving desirable shape to the state of the environment around us. The same question crops up here: How to shape character in the right way? What role does society play here? What, in other words, are the fundamental virtues that society needs to promote, and in which ways, paving the way to promote individual character development in a way that is truly pluralistic?
Business Leadership grounded in Harmony Within
We need to ask ourselves whether the world we have built for our children is conducive for them to develop the needed kinds of virtues, with bullying rampant at schools and online, along with widespread open gateway to instant happiness and satisfaction through the easy availability of drugs and alcohol. Much of this is an acceptable lifestyle indeed promoted by today’s pop icons whose heavy dependence on sex and other pleasures for expression of human freedom finds unhindered access to the impressionable, tender minds. There is little room here for promotion of harmony within, a concept that does not fit into the texture of the prevailing mood and is rejected as out of fashion. The political world, focused as it is on pursuing and maintaining power, does not pay these considerations much attention. The academic world, engaged in the task of busying itself protecting the cause of freedom in society on the basis of freedom of choice ends up supporting the cause of maximal, instant gratification, and lets the virtue pass by unnoticed. The business world with its focus on expansion does not feel inclined either at first blush. However, since the mandate of business is to deliver and succeed, performance has to be measured thoroughly. And here is where Dominic Barton’s ideas are relevant, as they are meant for action that yields results. Barton does not stop with what are traditionally considered strictly business moves in the narrow sense. Keeping the long-term perspective in view, he stresses the need for business to be involved in societies, to go into communities where it operates, and in the process even motivate leaders at the governmental levels to be with them.
The latest Cape Breton, Nova Scotia teenage suicide as a result of school related cyber bullying on a girl of thirteen points to the vicious atmosphere prevailing at schools, and society in general where the school belongs, with human values often completely missing. Building of character that Barton insists on at the very outset of his talk as prerequisite to actions initiated is possible only with the trait harmony within taking shape in the individual, from which the virtues of honesty, decisiveness and resilience, which Barton considers so important in the 21st century leader, follow. With lack of human dignity pronounced in today’s world, while the torch of human rights and freedom of choice is held up high by social activism all around, society certainly does not promote harmony within, the building block of character.
If the leader in the business world is called upon to connect with the community, as Barton does, can she ignore the facts of prevalence of psychological depression at an epidemic proportion, large scale suicide rate among students, the culture of sexual violence and exploitation at school and the workplace including the military, the opioid addiction culture with associated overdose across an increasing range of population? She cannot. For, character building has its ethical dimension which cannot be shrugged off while character is encouraged in the business world, where honesty is emphasized. After all, business ethics does not have a foundation different from the general normative ethics. The call for inclusiveness that Barton issues at the business world of today to prepare for tomorrow does not limit itself to the physical dimension only of trips into the communities, but also the inner dimension associated. In fact, he praisingly cites the State of Minnesota as a role model where a group of business leaders goes into to the community with the Governor and local politicians to look into ways of improving the education system with immigrants’ considerations included. Here of course the inner, human dimension needs the required focus starting at the beginning of the planning process in terms of where and what the education will ultimately lead to.
Yoga and Sustainable Leadership
Human rights and freedom of choice, important though they are in our life, can hardly shoulder the burden for the foundation of ethics when human dignity deserves our attention. For, values in society resting solely on them happen to be based on the legal system while human dignity becomes a casualty, as we have seen in the Ghomeshi case in our blog entry ‘Global Colonization of the Human Mind.’ In ethics imperatives and commandments of the legal system are not our preferred language forms. Human dignity, in our view, can be safeguarded only with harmony within, the most central character trait. When it is missing, all the social epidemics we have been talking about set in, as has happened today.
With harmony within built into character, a bond of unity takes shape with others around as well as with the environment we are in. Unity is the etymological meaning of ‘Yoga.’ In his talk Barton uses the expression ‘Anglo-Saxon capitalism’ while criticizing the fact that ‘too much microscope, not enough telescope going on today’ is the existing practice in the business world. In the telescopic or ‘long-termist’ vision he promotes through the involvement of business leaders in community building, among other things, the concept of Yoga in the broad sense of building the bonds of unity in harmony, issuing forth from the character trait harmony within, becomes extremely relevant. Here the ancient thoughts from India wait for amelioration of the problems of the world where Barton wants the business leaders to take a lead. They will certainly not be counsellors, nor yoga instructors, but leaders who would try to ensure that values get a strong mooring in society with the requisite foundation of harmony within set, so that community building can be continued on its basis.
Swami Vivekananda came to the West as the first messenger of Yoga during the closing years of the 19th century. Barton emphasizes the importance of philosophical thinking in the business world. Here we have done some philosophical building on his innovative thoughts, on the occasion of the International Yoga Day in 2017 when Swami Vivekananda’s presentation of ideas connected with Yoga, character building and the other philosophical thoughts he laid down by way of explication of the ancient Indian philosophy pick up an added significance.
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