Indian Social Values – Root of Corruption

Page three newspapers are full of celebrities’ rave parties, fist fights, sex scandals, botox treatments, etceteras. The not so rich idealize these celebrities and mimic all, to be the in-crowd. With these social values, can Indian’s consider it cool to be good?

The west puts India on the pulpit for its values. From Beatles to Julia Roberts, western celebrities talk about Indian culture of prayers, the land of discovering one’s spirit and sense of being. When majority of the middle class Indians themselves are lost, the crown of leader of spiritual world appears  somewhat misplaced. Indians in the present world, from birth, get to understand that all human emotions come at a price. This may sound as a harsh statement, but is reality. Let us walk through the different phases of life of a middle class Indian to discover the spiritual compromises they make.

1. Indian Childhood

India post-independence from a land of leaders propagating good values  has turned into a land people indulging in  unscrupulous behavior in the name of social values. It starts with birth. From the 1960′s the desire to have a son grew among parents. Educated parents get female fetus aborted  since the son has more value in the marriage market. The sex ratio is 109.4 males to 100 females in 2011. According to reports nearly 50,000 female fetus are aborted every month.

The reason for abortions is financial. According to the Indian system, a girl’s father in arranged marriages pays dowry for getting a husband for his daughter. Secondly, in the conservative families daughters aren’t allowed to work. Hence, the cost of raising a daughter, educating her, is lost while a son earns back the money for parents from working and getting a dowry. Therefore, sons get a better treatment from parents from birth. From food, clothes, education and hobbies the girl is forced to sacrifice for the brother. Basically, from the day a child is conceived, Indian parents put a value on the child. There is a profit and loss motive in child upbringing.

With these values apparent in the household from childhood, is it surprising that Indians ethical values are confused? Can a child raised on the basis of returns s/he will bring to the parents on becoming an adult, consider emotions and principles above money? Are parents raising kids or cattle for sale?

2. Indian Youth

Indian parents tom-tom about their love for their children and their dedication to keep the children with them. They look down on their western counterparts, who let the kids leave home between the age of 16-20 years to live on their own. In India, 30 year old unmarried sons and daughters can also be found living with their parents. It arises from an attempt to control who the youngster marries, specially for sons, so that a big fat dowry can be earned.

In respect to daughters, it is a need to keep their image unsullied. A daughter having an affair is a no-no among conservative families. Good girls don’t have relationship with boys. While the boys can have relationships with girls, and any girl who has a sexual relationship with a boy is of loose moral character. It it surprising that with this culture, Indian youth does not have normal relationships with the opposite gender.

India is the 4th most unsafe place in the world. Eve teasing or sexual harassment is rampant and young Indian women endure comments from men even when walking to office at 9 a.m. According to a survey of developing nations, Indian men are the most sexually violent, with 24% having committed a sexual crime. Another survey states 65% men believe sometimes a women deserves to be beaten. With these results and mindset, can one ensure gender equality at work?

An Indian’s professional mentor/buddy in the first job is the person who teaches them to fudge the reimbursement bills of their salary. For instance, employees are entitled to medical reimbursements. The friendly mentor will share information of a medical store from where fraudulent medical bills can be obtained by giving a cut.

After being raised in this culture, can Indian youth have independent thinking, proper adult relationships and professional values? Most lip sync their parents’ desires for them, rather than discovering and understanding their own being. Abnormal behavior – living with one’s parents in adulthood, harassing opposite gender – is socially considered normal. Normal behavior of having adult relationships, independent living and maintaining professional ethics, may make the youth a social outcast. After being raised in this social climate, can Indian youth make India the next superpower?

3. Indian Marriage

The biggest trade in India, is of arranged marriages. Marriages aren’t made in heaven, they are negotiated for the best deal. The sons are put up for sale and the daughters’ fathers attempts to purchase the best available husband for her, according to their financial position.

If one sees it from an economic angle, the husband to provide for the wife lifelong, takes upfront payment from his wife’s father. Looking from another angle, the woman gets a man to have sex with her for life after being paid by her father. Prostitution is illegal in India, and prostitutes are looked down upon. But sale and purchase of husband and wife is a socially accepted norm.

In rural areas, the situation is worse. If a couple belonging to different castes falls in love, the male members of the girl’s family do honor killing, they kill the couple. It is a crime to fall in love, and humiliating for the parents. From all this one can conclude that Indian rational of honor, esteem and self-respect is quite contrary to human race.

Even divorce involves social stigma. In reality, 90% of urban husbands have had extra marital affairs. Most of the urban wives are educated but don’t leave their marriages even after being aware of the affair, as their standard of living will become lower. India has one of the lowest divorce rates with just one in a hundred marriages collapsing. There are just around 10,000 or so divorce cases filed each year. Despite the fact that there were 8391 dowry deaths in 2010 and 90,000 cases of torture and cruelty towards women by their husbands. This is when most women don’t report to police due to sense of social shame. Aren’t the numbers ironical. Abusing women is considered a social privilege of the Indian male. Moreover, educated women prefer to take abuse rather than stand on their own two feet and earn their living.

Closing Thoughts

Can Indian marriages teach valuing human emotions when they are nothing more than a financial transaction? After parent-child relationship, the second most precious relationship is of husband-wife. In India, both have monetary values attached to it. When critical relationships are not based on ethics, what is the probability of the society respecting professional ethics?

Indian ideas of honor, respect, ethics and principles are bunkum. A thief steals a women’s purse, he is a criminal. A  husband steals his wife’s dignity and her father’s retirement saving, he is respectable. It is a case of sacrificing rational thinking to camouflage social ills.

Last week, the government issued a “White paper on black money”. The paper describes ways and methods to curb corruption and reduce black money. However, with this social environment, the best efforts are likely to fail. Can an average Indian be considered as having a fully developed “Conscience”? Anywhere close to spiritual awakening? What do you think?

References:

1. Disappearing Daughters: Women pregnant with Girls pressured into abortion
2. Divorce Rate High Among Indian Techies
3. Dowry murders in India result in few convictions
4. Indian men most sexually violent, says survey of six developing nations
5. International Center for Research on Women

Diversity Management Risks in Global Organizations

Barack Obama in his autobiography “Dreams of My Father” reflects  “where do I belong?”. Being a child of parents of different races and religions, he spent a childhood searching his identity. Bill Clinton in his autobiography “My Life” discusses a white child’s perspective on segregation of schools in America in 1950s. Both men grew up without their real fathers presence; Obama’s lived in Kenya and Clinton’s lost his real father before birth in a car accident. Their step-fathers didn’t play an important role in building their characters, both attribute their mothers for raising and guiding them.  The personalities reflected in the books are different. Obama comes across as an intellectual and philosophical man, Clinton appears to be a people person and detail oriented. However, Americans and worldwide public had remarkably different viewpoints just because of the color of the skin.

Moreover, their religious faith did swing some votes in their favor. Barack Obama’s credibility is still questioned by opponents by stating that his grandfather was a Muslim, hence Obama cannot be following Christianity. Even in the world super power politics, race and religion play an important role. The more recent case is of Nicky Haley stating she has converted from Sikhism to Christianity. She is an Indian born in US, with the name Nimrata Rhandawa married to Michael Haley. That she felt the need to convert, and was questioned by a Time magazine reporter as to whether she will give a bigger tip to Sikh cab drivers, depicts the hypocrisy of choosing candidates based on performance, ideologies and meritocracy.

Closer home in India, religion still plays a major role in politics. Dynastic politics prevails and even the first family of Indian politics projects belief in Hinduism. It is ironical that the family is secular in religious belief, however, has to present themselves as Hindus for public consumption. As per historical records Indira Gandhi a Kashmiri Brahmin (Hindu) married Feroze Ghandi, a Zoroastrian. To prevail politically, the surname spelling was changed to Gandhi, making it sound similar to Mahatma Gandhi, though there was no family connection. Rumors prevail that Feroze Ghandi by birth was a Muslim. Their first son Rajiv Gandhi, married Antonia Edvige Albina Maino (Sonia Gandhi), an Italian Christian and the second son Sanjay Gandhi married Maneka Anand,a Sikh.  However, the next generation of Gandhi’s – Rahul, Priyanka and Varun - publicly follow Hinduism.

Can’t blame them, because in India religion and region bias are huge. South Indians will view North Indians suspiciously and vis-a-versa. Among South Indians, the Telugu and Tamils will fight, whereas in North India the Punjabis and Jats will battle for superiority. Worse, grouping also  occurs on bases of caste and sub-castes. In such a scenario, with globalization, can organizations really ensure unbiased behavior and decisions on race and religion? Is it possible to wade out prejudices, suspicions and intolerance for a few hours at work, and come home to indulge in the same?

The challenges for organizations are mind-boggling due to technological advancement. As in this wordpress blog where readers from 50 countries visit daily to read posts, in global organizations faith, philosophies, ideologies, race and religion of employees are quite different. Homogeneous behavior cannot be brought about by a code of conduct or compliance team. Meritocracy can win only when it is built into the culture of the organization, else the spirit of the organization will be in tatters due to the dichotomies in employees faiths and beliefs. Hence, let us take a look at diversity management risks in multinational organizations.

1. Regulations of various countries.

Labor laws relating to age, race, religion and gender differ among countries depending on the legal, political and cultural environments. Additionally, in large countries, for instance US or India, they differ state wise and some vary according to industry. Therefore, multinational organizations have to devise policies and procedures on diversity management according to the laws of the country in which head quarters is located, and international operations.  Compliance to various laws and regulations can be a challenging task and head office may not have the full picture.

2. Variance in local cultures

Local cultures impact diversity management initiatives of multinationals. For instance, in Saudi Arabia, women sit separately in a room and do not mix with the men in office. In India, the number of local languages tend to group people of a state together. Hence, the status of embedding diversity management initiatives in head office and regional offices may differ significantly. Cultural integration may become difficult due to behavioral attitudes. For instance, Americans are more outspoken and aggressive in nature, whereas Indians are diffident and respectful. Due to these aspects, global communication and integration plans have to be adopted to local environment.

3. Anti-discrimination protection

The effectiveness of anti-discrimination protection is dependent on enforcing laws and the judicial environment in the country. For example, in US a number of discrimination cases are filed by employees and huge penalties are levied on the organizations. However, in India, though similar laws exist, there is hardly an instance where a case is filed by an employee on the basis of discrimination, as there is minimal possibility of employee winning the case against a large organization. To ensure same level of adherence is maintained at head office and regional offices, diversity management officers need to play a critical role.

 4. Increase in workplace violence

Globally and in India, workplace violence is increasing. Employees report increasing number of cases of bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and physical threats in various surveys. Here again, a group or individual  belonging to a specific race or religion may get mobbed by the majority, depending on the political climate in the country. Hence, the challenge for multinationals again is that similar laws may not exist in other countries. For example, India still doesn’t have an act passed on sexual harassment in workplace, though the bill has been pending in the parliament for sometime. Therefore, awareness levels of these issues differs in various countries. Multinationals, to bring uniformity need to have extensive training in regional offices and subsidiaries.

5. Mergers and Acquisitions

With the ongoing trend of multinationals acquiring companies in different countries, addressing diversity issues becomes critical. Mergers fail, due to failure in culture alignment and not because of failure in merging financial numbers. Post merger, for cultural integration one of the first things to do is devise a strategy for diversity management and implement the same.

Closing Thoughts

An extremely complex subject that impacts organizations especially those with international operations, at three levels – customers, productivity and staffing. However, it is often ignored by the management and definitely by risk managers and auditors. Very few risk managers do a human resource risk assessment, hence these problems continue to brew within the organization, till the culture becomes toxic or legal cases are filed. Hence, it is a good move to develop global and local diversity management strategies and implement the same. Indian organizations can take a leaf out of US organizations, and start appointing diversity management officers.

References:

Workforce diversity initiatives by US Multinationals in Europe - Mary Lou Egan.. Marc Bendick, Jr.

Recruitment in Dysfunctional Organizations

Six months back you landed your dream job, the pay was great with an incredible job profile and a company brand name to match. Now you are not sure what you have gotten yourself into. You are perpetually asking yourself – should you continue or quit? You are asked to compromise personal values on a daily basis for showing loyalty to your boss and company. The situation that you are in, is not out of the best practices of human resource management or ethical culture, you have joined a dysfunctional organization. Putting it another way, an organization with a deviant corporate culture.

Employees face incredible personal and professional risks on joining an organization with a deviant culture. On the face of it, initially, everything looks unbelievably good. As the layers are peeled off, the employees feel they are in a sinister environment and are swallowed in quicksand. The walls of silence maintained ensure that employees do not discuss these concerns openly and fear of retaliation forces them to comply. Employees deceive themselves into believing that these unethical activities they are doing are just for a short time, and the situation will improve in a short while. A cold hard look is required in such circumstances, to understand the symptoms and take a decision.

The paper “Organi-cultural Deviance: Socialization of Individuals into Deviant Culture”, describes the process of individual indoctrination into the culture. A new employee goes through five stages of socialization into the workplace according to Wanous research. These are:

a) confront the reality of the new job –newcomers adjust their expectations to the reality of the job;

b) achieve role clarity-newcomers learn and negotiate the expectations and requirements of their roles in the organization;

c) locate oneself in the organization-newcomers learn how their work contributes to the work of the organization;

d) assess success-newcomers assess the value of their contributions to the organization; and

e) during the stages of socialization, the individual learns the language of the organization.

The above mentioned process is adopted by employees in a regular organization in the probation period, that varies from 3-6 months in most companies. In a deviant organization culture, the employee starts feeling the social pressure to comply to unethical practices and lose individual identity in this period. The process of indoctrination describes how the individual “self” is socialized into a deviant organization culture. The stages are as follows:

1) Stage I - In normal course of action, an individual has various separate identities, that they maintain to lead a fulfilling life. For instance, the employee has a work identity, a social identity, a family identity etc. In a deviant organization, these identities are slowly stripped away, and the employee is completely dependent on the organization identity. The employee is lured by big rewards to compromise their individual identity for the organization.

Since, the employee is still in probationary period, the fear of job loss makes them succumb to group think. The organization or group attempts to brain wash the individual by giving justification of the behavior for altruistic purposes. For instance, they will ask to humiliate or harass another person or employee, to improve the harassed person’s behavior. The justification given will be that it is for the betterment of the victim, rather than accepting that they are indulging in socially unacceptable behavior. Further on, they are asked to indulge in degrading activity for the sake of fun. In the book “The Wolf of Wall Street” Jordon Belfort describes activities at Stratton. He mentioned that seniors in the company had free for all sex discussion in the morning meetings and to boost morale arranged depraved acts. For example, in one case, they cut hair of female employee with her agreement in the conference room. Women employees especially have a tough time as they are mostly treated as sex objects.

2) Stage II -  In this phase the employee becomes dependent on the organization and the psychological chains tighten. The idea initially sold to the individual is that the group has an altruistic purpose and is for the benefit of the society.  The individual is forced into thinking that the rules of the group must be obeyed at all personal costs and no dissenting views are permitted. Employees are rewarded amply for complete compliance and punished severely for disagreement and disobedience. The individual is encouraged to share vulnerabilities and weaknesses with the group, and these are used to exact compliance to group. Simultaneously, fear and threat are used if an individual wishes to leave the group. The group follows its own code of conduct and uses loaded language and signs to communicate.

In this situation, the individual is indirectly commanded to put his/her personal and family needs over the group or organization. An article of Vanity Fair titled “Lehman’s Desperate Housewives”  narrates the situation from Vicky Ward’s book -”The Devil’s Casino: Friendship, Betrayal, and the High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers“ at Lehman before collapse. It says -

“Lehman Brothers C.E.O. Dick Fuld expected his top executives to get married, and stay married. For their wives, the firm was both fishbowl and shark tank, with unwritten rules about the clothes they wore, the charities they supported, and the hikes they took at the company’s Sun Valley retreats.

One of the senior executives wife described her child delivery with these words -

“I was in labor with our daughter and had to lie there without him … but I wouldn’t get mad at him—he had called the entire Hong Kong office in for a meeting. We knew that it would have been used against him. If you made a personal choice that hurt Lehman, it was over for you.”

Stage III – In the last stage, the indoctrination is complete. The individual’s motivation, judgments and perceptions are transformed as the person becomes a member. The individual derives his identity from the group or organization and opinions from outside the group are completely discarded. Any information that contradicts  the groups perception is considered harmful for group unity and the sender/ giver of the information is attacked. The individual has no freedom of action and blindly obeys instructions of the group. Unfortunately, the leaders and existing members of the group have so ingrained the thought pattern of socially and psychologically harmful behavior that they lose insight of right versus wrong.

For instance, as in the case of Enron or the more recent “News of the World” phone hacking scandal, seniors knew of the unethical and fraudulent activities being conducted in the organization. Some even know the details but will not take any concrete action to bring change.

Whether this culture sets in large organizations or small social groups, the psychological pattern is established for deviant behavior. The longer the person is a member of the group, the less probability exists of the person being able to see a true reflection of themselves. All inputs from group outsiders of logical, rational and socially acceptable behavior are disregarded and members adopt a posture of willful blindness. The members continue to compromise their morals for financial, physical and social security.

Closing Thoughts

Deviant cultures are set up by leaders in powerful positions with derailment attributes. However, once the culture is established in a social or corporate organization, it is hard to re-establish normal behavior patterns. People have a choice to either comply or be isolated. To avoid the social, physical and financial threats most compromise their morals and show unquestioning alliance to the more powerful people. Either an internal revolution by the members or  intervention from external parties can break the psychic trap established in such organizations. An individual’s best option is not to join such a group or organization, and if they have mistakenly joined it, leave at the earliest possible point. Else, the life course for unethical and criminal behavior is established without a return ticket.
References:

 1. Organi-cultural Deviance: Socialization of Individuals into Deviant Culture

2. Lehman’s Desperate Housewives – Vanity Fair

A Debate – Profitability Versus Human Life

Everybody uses everybody else for their own benefit. That is the justification we give for most of our negative actions. Some follow use and discard policy; others follow use, abuse and discard policy. The complexity arises as it hard to differentiate when it is right to use. Isn’t a wife being used by her family when she is doing house work, looking after the kids and sacrificing her pleasures? Isn’t a husband being used by the family when he is putting ten hours in office to earn a living so that his family has food on the table and leads a comfortable life? What about the hired help in-house, who works twelve hours for minimum wages just because they are poor and uneducated, isn’t that exploitation? Hence, can the public really blame corporate world for perusing profitability at the expense of human life.

1. Scenario – Non-profit Social Organization

A couple of days back in Bangalore, a young footballer collapsed on the practicing field in Banglaore. There was no medical aid or ambulance available on the field and the young player died. Karanataka State Footballer Association is getting the flak and offered Rs 100,000 to the grieving parents. Is the money sufficient compensation for death? If a million was offered, will the negligence of the association be more tolerable to parents? What is the right value of use or exploitation of human life?

2. Scenario – Corporate World

The old 1960′s Ford Pinto case is an example where organizations put dollar value to human life. The Pinto had a gas tank in the rear, and it burst into flames on collision. A number of car users lost their lives or were severely burnt during accidents, but the company continued to lobby for lower safety standards. The engineers knew about the defects, however, the senior management advised them to continue manufacturing. In a judicial hearing, Ford management justified their actions claiming that they had done a cost-benefit analysis for the same. The cost of removing defects was higher to the benefit of saving a human life, hence it didn’t make business sense to improve safety measures. In the analysis, the price of human life was US$ 200,000.

The case is relevant, as Tata Nano in India, has in a few occasions burst into flames without an accident. The car just becomes a fireball. Although Tata Motors management has claimed that the defect was removed, customers are still wary . Therefore, the question is – is it justified for organizations to risk the life of customers for profitability?

3. Scenario – Crime Scene

With increasing crime, the question becomes more complex. Let us take a hypothetical case. A man was hired by group A to conduct a crime on X, to ensure X does something for group A. The same man was hired by group B to conduct a different crime on X, to ensure X agrees to the demands of group B. Now the man double crossed group A and didn’t inform them he was working for group B. He double crossed group B and informed them that he will be successful even when he knew his plan isn’t working. He involved a number of friends and associates to help him with his plans. He double crossed his friends and didn’t inform them about the risks of the crime and how they are jeopardizing their life.

In nutshell, he used everyone to his own advantage for sake of monetary gain and safeguarding his own life. He assumed safety in numbers;   involvement of other people will bullet proof him against the negative repercussions of  group A, B and X. Now in this case, would you say, since all involved except X were undertaking unethical behavior, the use and exploitation of everyone else is justified? If we remove the legal aspect, how should this person be judged on moral aspects of his action? If one is risking another’s life, does loyalty to his own group has value?

Closing Thoughts

In all the above cases, we will say it is wrong thing to do even if we ignore legal aspects of each case. Human beings code of conduct and morality states that use of another for fulfilling duty or a greater cause is justified. However, use of another for personal benefit without compensating them appropriately for labor amounts to immoral behavior. There is a saying that even in the mob world, loyalty counts. There also, using your colleagues or clients which might harm them is not acceptable.  Human life has value and all human beings are expected to respect it. A code of conduct is followed as it keeps all human beings safe and secure. Breaking those always results in negative repercussions.

References:

1. Ford Pinto

The Battlefield – Pleasure Versus Morality

People madly pursue materialism to lead a happy life. A person’s main belief is that expensive products give pleasure; hence more the money, more the pleasure, more happiness. In leading a pleasurable life, if some ethics need to be compromised, so be it. When the ultimate goal is happiness, some sacrifices are worth it. It is better to subdue the conscience, than listen to the voice within when hurting someone or breaking laws. It is a dog eat dog world, and the toughest will reach the top of the food chain. Therefore, morality be damned; either ways everyone is doing it, so why not me? Morals won’t pay the medical bill, money will.

To live a happy life, does one has to choose between pleasure and ethics? If so, what is pleasure? As per Oxford dictionary – a) feeling of satisfaction or contentment; b) source of enjoyment and delight; c) sensual gratification or indulgence. Materialism focuses on b and c parts of the definition, it doesn’t give contentment. Simply put, a content person sleeps when his/her head touches a pillow. Money gained from an illegal means cannot provide contentment. The insidious fear of being caught  generally erodes all feelings of peace and contentment.

To illustrate, let us say that a person has acquired US$ 50 million through fraudulent means. To protect himself from being caught by intelligence agencies, he has involved 50 other people in the fraudulent activities. He has ensured that those 50 others also earn US$ 50 million each. He has cleverly used 20 different countries with 20 different methods of frauds over a period of 10 years to remain undetected. He lives in the lap of luxury and so do the other 50. Do you think, any of them can say they are happy? Most probably, they need sleeping pills, alcohol and drugs to have eight hours of sleep at night.

The misconception about morality arose from Utilitarian or Happiness theory by philosopher Jeremy Bentham. The theory differentiates between right and wrong on the basis of happiness obtained by the majority.  It holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure. Hence, people misconstrued that doing immoral things is okay if it makes the majority of the people happy.

However, J.S. Mill pointed out a fundamental misinterpretation by most, of the term pleasure and morality. He said it is incorrect to assume that pursuit of pleasure equals an immoral sub-human behavior “worthy of a swine.”   Human beings have faculties higher than animals hence degrading themselves to pursue perverse desires isn’t suggested by the Happiness theory.

The theory on the other hand mentions the higher order of pleasures. Michael Sandel in his lecture gave a simple example of the same. He asked a question to his students  - if given a choice, would you watch Shakespeare’s play, Simpsons or Fear Factor. Though most would watch Simpsons, Shakespeare’s plays offers better mental enlightenment and higher satisfaction. The difference is that most human beings need to be taught to appreciate higher pleasures of life, while lower ones come naturally.

Therefore, does the confusion between pleasure and morality prevail because most humans are not taught the higher pleasures of life. As per Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs Theory”, self- actualization needs are at the top of the pyramid. People primarily focus on meeting physiological, safety and social needs. Most follow lower road to morality even when they are aware. For example, in India in social events, song numbers by heroines (example Chhammak Challo, Sheila Ki Jawani) though absolutely crass, are enacted by 4-10 year old girls publicly in the presence of their parents and various adults. This of course raises the questions – are we teaching kids the wrong things to get pleasures in life?

Closing Thoughts

The battle between pleasure and morality appears more of a case of lack of education in higher orders of pleasure. Maybe something as simple as educational institutions inculcating the desire for self-actualization in students would transform the society. The focus would shift from materialism to morality. As the saying goes, money may pay the medical bill, but one cannot buy good health. Will continue my meanderings on the subject. What do you say?

References:

Justice at Harvard- J.S. Mill Utilitarianism Theory

Competition – Cause of Unethical Bahavior

Greg Smith, ex- Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, resigned last week. His public statement in New York Times “Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs” has generated worldwide debate on organization culture and ethics in financial institutions and other organizations. He clearly mentions – “And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.”

Then he further articulated that now clients interests are ignored to benefit the organization. The focus shifted from making profit for the clients to making profits for the organization. Brokers suggest clients to trade in securities that benefit Goldman, even if the products are wrong for them. The “Business Ethics” blog mentions Goldman Sachs was charged with 13 cases in the last decade, hence this isn’t the first time ethics of Goldman Sachs employees have come under search light. Excessive competition to be the leader makes organization culture dysfunctional. Employees driven by salaries, bonus and other perks, find it difficult to be ethical if the tone at the top is wrong.

The research paper “Organi-cultural Deviance: Socialization of Individuals into Deviant Culture“ authored by  Gendron, R. and Husted - states that financial self-interest is the key reason white-collar-criminals engage in illegal acts. He states that wealth and success are the central goals of human behavior. In a capitalistic society personal wealth and power give the stamp of success. When people compete, and realize that they cannot achieve success by legal means, they indulge in illegal acts.  He further describes Coleman’s thoughts as -

“Unable to lawfully obtain goals that are deemed appropriate or correct by the specific organization or society writ-large, an individual or a group of individuals may engage in neutralization strategies and begin to engage in deviant behaviors. Often more acts of deviance are required to continue to meet the organization’s or society’s goals. In this process, the individual or group may negate any concerns about their actions arguing that it is in fact “market forces at work”, that there are “no real victims” in such transactions.“

The 1998 money laundering and securities fraud case of Jordan Belfort, illustrates this thought process. Jordan Belfort in an interview mentioned that if anyone had asked him at 21, his aim in life, he would have answered = “to get rich”. Belfort while still in his twenties opened Stratton Oakmont, a securities company. He hired youngsters in their teens and early twenties to sell stock to high net worth investors by writing their sale scripts. Over a 1000 people worked in the company. In his book  ” The Wolf of Wall Street” he narrates the hard playing culture in his organization -

“They were drunk on youth, fueled by greed and higher than kites. And day by day the gravy train grew longer, as more and more people made fortunes providing the crucial elements young Strattonites needed to live the Life.” 

Fast cars, mansions, babes, drugs, expensive products and dysfunctional behavior defined the core attributes of “The Life” of Strattonites.  Youngsters in their twenties without professional qualifications earned salaries over a million dollars. Since they spent their whole salary on living the Life, they were totally dependent on Berfort. He led the culture and in the rehabilitation center for drug addiction, he described himself as - “My name is Jordan, and I’m an alcoholic and a drug addict and a sexual deviant.”

Jordon Belfort was prosecuted and spent 22 months in federal prison for a pump and dump scheme, which resulted in investor losses of approximately $200 million. In the book he narrates that he transferred over US$ 10 million illegal cash funds to Switzerland bank accounts and FBI tracked his activities. He talks about Swiss Bank executive putting him in touch of a trustee who basically functioned as a master forger. He opened skeleton companies to pass fictitious transactions. Most of his business associates were also prosecuted by FBI as Belfort cooperated with FBI after his arrest.

Closing Thoughts

Some take Gordon Gekko’s statement “Greed is good” seriously. The desire to have money and become rich fast pushes them to take risks. Since legitimately one cannot become rich overnight or have savings higher than salaries, a few break the laws. In the financial sector, with the knowledge and relationships, it becomes easier to override the laws. Hence, they pursue a rich lifestyle far more aggressively than employees of other industries. As they sink deeper and deeper in illegal activity, they believe they can control the situation and have nine lives. They ride a tiger with no capability of stopping.

References:

1. Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs - New York Times
2. 13 Reasons Goldman’s Quitting Exec May Have a Point
3. The Wolf of Wall Street – How Money Destroyed a Wall Street Superman – By Jordan Belfort
4. Organi-cultural Deviance: Socialization of Individuals into Deviant Culture

A Philosophical Discussion on Murder of Whistle Blowers

This Sunday, Anna Hazare is fasting in Delhi in support of Whistle Blower Protection Act. Indian laws don’t provide for whistle-blower protection and the damage is evident. Over the years, numerous whistle-blowers have lost their life. A few cases are covered up as personal dispute due to the high level corruption in the system.

Corruption benefits the majority, so does it make it acceptable? Legally, public will say – of course not. But even Hazare’s big protests in 2011 have lost public support. The government used delay tactics and maligned the name of key leaders of his team. Most state leaders didn’t want a Lokayukta in their states. There is no political will among the politicians, bureaucrats and business to pass a strong bill against corruption.

Then it isn’t surprising, that even on  witnessing the death of whistle blowers, public doesn’t protest about it. On the other hand, most keep quiet, lest they become the target. In such circumstances, majority of the people have given implicit consent to murder for their own self-interest. Of course readers would be outraged by this suggestion and claim they were no way involved in the murder. They didn’t give implicit consent!

Let us discuss this from a philosophical lens. Micheal Sandel, the Havard professor discusses this point in his video lectures : Justice – The Moral Side of Murder and The Case of Cannibalism. In the episode “Moral Side of Murder” he discusses a hypothetical case:

“Suppose you were driving a trolley on a rail track and its breaks failed. Five workers are ahead on the track, if you continue to drive straight, all five will die. On the other hand, in a diverging track, there is just one worker.  If you change track, that one worker will die but the other five will live. What is the right thing to do?”

Most students responded that they will swerve to the diverging track and chose to kill one to save five. At a psychological level, they have given moral justification of murder. Then Mr. Sandel gives another example :

“Suppose you are standing on a bridge with the track below, and you see this trolley hurtling without breaks. There are five workers on the track. There is a fat man standing next to you. If you push the fat man over the bridge, on the track, the lives of five workers would be saved. Would you do it?”

Majority of the students said – “No, they wouldn’t do it”. The reason is that it would involve explicitly murdering a person. Can we conclude from these examples, that human race is fine with implicit consent to murder however have qualms on explicitly murdering?

Some whistle blowers due to the psychological torture have committed suicide. That is an indirect attempt to murder. The rich and middle class gain from corruption, hence they give an implicit consent to murder of whistle-blowers. Does this statement hold true, or would you debate it?

Mr. Sandel discusses this in the next part of the lecture on cannibalism. He discusses The Queen v. Dudley and Stephens case, and the facts are as follows:

“At the trial of an indictment for murder it appeared, upon a special verdict, that the prisoners D. and S., seamen, and the deceased, a boy between seventeen and eighteen, were cast away in a storm on the high seas, and compelled to put into an open boat; that the boat was drifting on the ocean, and was probably more than 1000 miles from land; that on the eighteenth day, when they had been seven days without food and five without water, D. proposed to S. that lots should be cast who should be put to death to save the rest, and that they afterwards thought it would be better to kill the boy that their lives should be saved; that on the twentieth day D., with the assent of S., killed the boy, and both D. and S. fed on his flesh for four days; that at the time of the act there was no sail in sight nor any reasonable prospect of relief; that under these circumstances there appeared to the prisoners every probability that unless they then or very soon fed upon the boy, or one of themselves, they would die of starvation.”

To protect oneself or the majority, is murdering someone else justified? The students raised interesting aspects :

1) Some said if selection was done by lottery, then maybe it is illegal but more acceptable. Reason given was they would consider it that all participants on the boat knew the risks of losing.

2) A few students stated that if the boy would have volunteered to die for the benefit of others, it would be acceptable. The boy was an orphan and all others had family responsibilities.

In case of whistle-blower murders, the person dies without have consented to die or being made aware of the decision of the most. The majority votes behind his/her back for murder to safeguard themselves. Does that make majority behavior acceptable?

Watch the hour-long video, and share your thoughts.

In whistle blowing, most feel threatened about the repercussions from people in power and say that they have family responsibilities and cannot expose themselves to the risk. Hence, it is better to go against the whistle-blower attempting to do the right thing, than the person who is doing the wrong thing. Do the same psychological reasons as given in the above mentioned case apply when society goes against whistle blowers?

References:

Harvard University – Justice with Michael Sandel

Leadership Lessons From Cricketer Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid bid farewell this Friday to test cricket – his passion and his profession. In his retirement speech he eloquently described his 15 years career manifesto:

“My approach to cricket has been reasonably simple: it was about giving everything to the team, it was about playing with dignity and it was about upholding the spirit of the game. I hope I have done some of that. I have failed at times, but I have never stopped trying. It is why I leave with sadness but also with pride.”

In one of the interviews, Dravid mentioned he read autobiographies of great men to learn the lessons of life. Now with his 15+ years career he inspires many to follow in his footpaths. Business managers, especially Chief Risk Officers (CROs) takeaways from his life can be clubbed in three main attributes of his personality.

1. The Gentleman

Rahul Dravid is equally known for his batting and his gentlemanly conduct. He left his sporting legacy spotless, by putting his best foot forward not only on the batting crease but also in public domain. Fame and money didn’t affect him, and he continued to be humble and dignified.

Even his toughest opponents – the Australian team – honored him. He in December 2011, became the first non-Australian cricketer to give the annual lecture at the Bradman Oration. While giving his tribute to Sir Donald Bradman, he recalled Sir Don’s inspiring thoughts in the following words -

‘That the finest athletes had, along with skills, a few more treasured qualities : to conduct their life with dignity, with integrity, with courage, and modesty. As this he believed were totally compatible with pride, ambition, determination and competitiveness.”

Dravid further added - ”Maybe these words should be put up in cricket dressing rooms all over the world. ” Maybe organizations should incorporate these words in their mission statements and core values.

In the business world, some  believe that business ethics and competitiveness are mutually exclusive goals. A few CXOs think that any means can be used to achieve their ambition. While most have participated in sports and played the game by its rules, they don’t give a second thought on breaking business rules.

CROs have a double role to play. They must be role models for balancing ethical conduct and business growth. They also have to ensure that others don’t compromise ethics for monetary advantages and personal agendas.

2. The Wall

Dravid got the nickname “The Wall” from Reebok advertisements and it stayed with him. The nickname was so popular that one twitter @NigelBritto today posted this amusing tweet – “As is usual in India, they could name a street after #RahulDravid. But then, the Americans have already done it – Wall Street.”

During his career, he mostly held number 3 position in the batting order. He made the middle order impregnable and his consistent performance made bowlers miserable. When the top order collapsed, he showed grace under fire. Nothing deterred him, his concentration on the job at hand was so great. He protected his team.

In the corporate world, CROs basically hold the number 3 position and have to bat under crises when top order is collapsing.  They have to provide the organizations a circle of protection and a defense against all risks. CROs are responsible for risk identification and mitigation – strategic, operational and financial. Hence, they are “The Wall” for their companies.

3. Mr. Dependable

Dravid’s teammates nicknamed him “Mr. Dependable” as he put the team before personal glory. While he is a batsman, when the team needed a wicket keeper, he pitched in. He did the job even when he was publicly   criticized for lacking skills. He is also a great fielder and holds a few records on catching balls. He gave up captaincy when he felt he wasn’t the best man for the job. He retired to give new blood a chance to make it to the big league. In all his decisions, the team came first, and none of the decisions were based on egoism.

Amazing attributes for a person of his caliber. Indian team was fortunate to have such a team player. When he led, he thought of the team; when he followed, he worked with the team. Companies invest heavily to inculcate team spirit but a few fail due to the aggressively competitive organization culture.

Again, CROs have to wear various hats and be there for the business units to help and handhold them. Whether it is for managing financial risks, or risks of entering emerging markets or managing disaster scenarios, they are the person business teams must rely on. Business teams must trust the CROs to give the right advise. CROs must be the “Mr. Dependable” in the organization.

Closing Thoughts

Dravid is leaving a spectacular legacy and will always be counted among cricketing greats. His batting won him millions of fans and his unassuming behavior respect from everybody. He conquered all the lows of his career with quiet determination and persistence. There are very few public figures who inspire for both – skills and character. A big thank you to him for being a role model for an entire generation. There are numerous lessons for corporate citizens to learn from his life. Maybe now we need to wait for his autobiography.

References:

1. ESPN – Rahul Dravid’s Retirement Speech
2. Rahul Dravid’s annual lecture on Bradman’s Oration

Does Age Impact Ethics?

Michael Douglas’s movie “The Solitary Man” depicts a story of a high-profile businessman becoming a criminal. It is riches to rags story, where Ben, the character played by Douglas is reduced to asking his daughter home rent. The movie makes one contemplate – does age impact ethics? Watch these last scenes of the movie first.

The crucial point in the conversation is when Michael Douglas says – “No one noticed”. He changed from being a faithful husband to sleeping around with young women, because his wife didn’t notice. He shifted from being an honest businessman to a fraudster because no one noticed. The crux of crime – opportunity, reward and rationalization. When no one notices or stops you, it became easy to rationalize criminal behavior.

In another scene of the movie, he says to his friend Jimmy – “In the highest moments and lowest moments of life, you are all alone. On the cover of Forbes magazine, I am by myself. In business magazine cover with handcuffs, I am by myself.” As is the cliché it is lonely at the top. Does the isolation at senior level positions impact psychology and behavior?

Since very few juniors will confront a senior or CEO on unethical behavior, it becomes easier to rationalize. As seniors do not receive negative feedback they remain unaware of the impact of their behavior on juniors and the organization. Social intelligence antenna works on receiving direct and honest information. With diplomatic responses, some miss the signals.

One more critical comment that describes his psychology on ageing was - “I was becoming invisible. Thirty years ago the room changed when I entered. I was a lion.” With age no one noticed him and his ego couldn’t take it. He compensated it by chasing young women.

Douglas couldn’t transition from the sense of invincibility that comes with success and youth, to being just another mortal, whose significance diminished with age. Hence, he broke all social and ethical norms to delude himself into feeling powerful.

In all careers the change is significant. Before retirement, one is generally at the highest level of their career, and suddenly on retirement, the people whom one was working with don’t have time for the person. A person deals with loss of self-esteem, insecurities and feelings of vulnerability. Each retiring person treads this uncertain path; however huge the savings and retirement plans he/she has kept.

Moreover, statistical data shows that old people are subjected to extensive verbal and emotional abuse at home. A survey by Helpage India indicates Bangalore as the number one city in India for mistreating elders. Previously Bangalore was known as pensioners paradise, and now 44% elders say they face abuse at home. In upper strata of society sons mistreat, and in the lower-income group, daughter-in-laws abuse. India, a country where youngsters respected elders by touching their feet, is fast becoming a nation that abuses elders. Further, as India does not have a social security system, if elders do not have sufficient savings, they are financially dependent on the younger generation, mostly sons. As India has a huge young population, a second job after retirement is difficult. Hence, living separately is not an alternative available to many retired people.

The sense of financial insecurity increases propensity of fraud of  employees near retirement age.  Various surveys state that the frauds conducted by older and senior employees are much larger in value than junior employees. The focus on training senior employees on business ethics is low, as organizations assume that old hands are aware of the norms and culture. However, since outward behavior is normal, colleagues don’t realize when the person has snapped inside. Therefore, this group requires more focus than normally given.

Ideas for Action

1.  Organizations can handhold older employees prepare transition plans for retirement. Coaching employees on developing second source of income through developing different talents and hobbies will benefit. An active alumni group for retired employees helps in keeping their social circle intact. If organization provides pension benefits, including medical insurance generates confidence.

2. Employees themselves may develop supplementary business ventures near retirement. For instance, civil engineers in India generally buy residential properties and farmlands. After retirement they venture into real estate and farming.

3. Relationships with family and friends matter. Irrespective of the amount of money available after retirement, without family support one leads an unhappy life. Hence, employees must keep up work-life balance and focus on relationships outside office.

4. Organizations need to train employees that frauds do not contribute positively to retirement funds. The probability of legal penalties and miserable old age are high. With rising inflation and government targeting black money, illicit money put away in lockers is not a viable option. To mitigate this risk give refresher business ethics courses to older employees annually.

5.  Companies to detect fraud propensities must periodically conduct a background verification and credit check of old employees to confirm their financial position. For instance, in a few cases employees develop gambling, drugs or alcohol addictions. They conduct frauds to fund these addictions. A background verification discloses these deviations.

6. India socially has two challenges – lack of old age homes and a social stigma if any person seeks psychological help. Psychological abuse remains an unmentionable issue.Hence, abused elders don’t have any alternatives. They cannot seek outside medical or other help as they attempt to protect family reputation. Organizations in their corporate social responsibility programs can  build awareness about these two aspects.

Closing Thoughts

India’s transition from a developing country to global powerhouse has eroded Indian culture and social values. Adoption of western culture has benefited is some aspects. However, western societies challenges of lack of family support system are ignored. This has resulted in creating a number of social problems in Indian society. Balancing the advantages of western and Indian culture and addressing the negatives will benefit the society. Achieving economic growth at the expense of certain sections of society will harm the social fabric and destroy moral values. This old story says it all :

Devil appeared before a middle-aged man. The man was worried that his career wasn’t doing well and he  won’t have any retirement funds. The devil said – “I will ensure that you and your future generations will never have any financial problems, if you give me your soul.” The man agreed. Devil continued – “And the souls of your children, their children and all future generations.” The man again agreed and asked – “What’s the catch?”

References:

Daughters-in-law emerge as major abuser of elderly: Study

Corporate Social Responsibility The Dalai Lama Way

The new Companies Bill 2011, section 135 on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), has raised a lot of debate about the merits of holding companies responsible for social responsibility. Some have stoically  refuted that companies are any way liable for social responsibility as their objective is to earn profits. According to this view, earning profits and social responsibility are not complimentary goals. Another view presented, to which I subscribe, is that companies owe it to the society and must meet social responsibilities. Profitability and social responsibility are not divergent goals and are mutually beneficial.

Hence, I thought of sharing His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s ideas on social responsibility expressed in his book “My Spiritual Autobiography”. He epitomizes a socially responsible life. While the act is the dry subject, below are some deeper philosophical musings on social responsibility. Read on, and tell me, do you agree with it?

Section 135, Companies Bill 2011

The section stipulates that select Indian companies form a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee with three or more directors of which one must be independent. The Committee will report to the board, formulate a CSR policy and recommend expenditure. The board is expected to approve the policy, make it available on the company website and ensure that at least 2% of average net profits of preceding three years is spent on CSR activities. If the CSR budget is not spent in a particular year, the same shall be disclosed with reasons for not doing so in the annual report. The section is applicable to companies that meet either of the following three criteria. That is, have a:

• net worth of Rs 500 crore or more or
• turnover of Rs 1000 crore or more or
• net profit of Rs 5 crore or more.

The big question is – should companies be asked to spend 2% of average net profits on CSR? Let me share the financial logic and the spiritual reasoning for doing so.

The Spiritual Reason

In the modern world we believe spirituality has no place in business. This is more of a western concept rather than an Indian one. In India, even a small shopkeeper will have a photograph of their god and start work after offering prayers. In my view, spirituality promotes ethical thinking and behavior. Organizations are in dire need of building an ethical culture. In the present world organization behavior and culture impacts society, hence one cannot dissociate the two. I am impressed with Dalai Lama’s story in his book. He said :-

 ”I remember an Indian politician who invited me to discuss this point with him. He said to me, with sincere humility, “Oh, but we’re politicians, not monks!” To which I replied: “Politicians need religion even more than a hermit in retreat. If a hermit acts inspired by bad motivation, he’ll harm only himself. But if a politician, who can directly influence an entire society, acts with bad motivation, a large number of people will experience the negative consequences.”

He has then further described spirituality as :

“Spirituality, in my view, consists of transforming the mind. The best way to transform it is to get used to thinking in a more altruistic way. So ethics is the basis for a secular spirituality for everyone, one that is not limited to a group of believers in one religion or another.“

The same logic applies to business also. A CEO’s decisions impacts thousands of employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders and the public. Can we afford a CEO not to be spiritually aware? Wouldn’t promoting secular ethics help organizations build an ethical culture? Studies indicate that major frauds in organizations – Enron, Satyam, Olympus – occurred when senior management stopped differentiating between right and wrong business practices and was governed by greed.

The Social Reason

Backbiting, backstabbing and bitching are thought of as normal in corporate world. Employees show surprise when a fellow colleague shows compassion, consideration and empathy. Fear, insecurity, ruthlessness and competitiveness have led to deterioration in human values and humanity . The paradox is that with these value systems and emotions prevailing in organizations, we want to create winning teams. A near impossibility, and then we wonder on reasons of failure.

The problem arises because of the thinking that emotions have no place in business. How is it possible to segregate emotions during business hours when we base 70-80% of decisions on emotions? Should one view it that good emotions have no place in business, only negative emotions are allowed? Dalai Lama   hit the nail on the head and identified the core problem in the following words:

“Unfortunately, love and compassion have been excluded from too many areas of social interaction, for too long a time.”

He further identified the impact of positive emotions on a human being. He aptly points out:

“A mind dedicated to compassion is like an overflowing reservoir: it is a constant source of energy, determination, and goodness. You could compare compassion to a seed. If you cultivate it, it makes an abundance of other excellent qualities blossom, such as forgiveness, tolerance, inner strength, and confidence, allowing us to conquer fear and anxiety. The compassionate mind is like an elixir: it has the strength to turn adverse situations into beneficial circumstances.”

Studies show that corporate philanthropy programs not only attract talent but retain employees. Employees at all level appreciate organizations that have a humane culture and are dedicated to the welfare of society. Although managements believe that numbers and targets drive achievement of profits, CSR activities contribute to the bottom line by improving ethics, culture, commitment and engagement levels within the organization.

Secondly, companies are linking CSR activities with their brands. Results show that customers view organizations better and are more loyal to products when they consider the company socially responsible.

Lastly, India really lags behind in charity. As per the Worlds Giving Index 2011, India ranks 91st among 153 countries assessed. India was ranked as the most uncharitable nation in South Asia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc. all rank better than India. With India’s poverty levels and discrepancy in incomes, this status is really sad. 

The Financial Reason

Presently in Indian media there is a debate going on The National Food Security Bill ( NFSB). The objective of the bill is to eradicate hunger and malnutrition in the country. For 2011-12 financial year the food subsidy budget is  Rs 60,572 crore. The NFSB plans to provide subsidized food grains to 64% of the population with a budget of approximately Rs 95,000 crore. The debate is that should government be providing such a large subsidy to the poor?

Professor Bardhan rightly pointed out in Economic Times interview saying “About 9 % of GDP is being given to the relatively rich in the form of subsidies, why should the government then mind giving 1-2% of GDP to the poor.” Indian organizations receive benefit in the form of direct tax, excise duty and sales tax subsidies for building the industrial sector and exports. Should these be withdrawn to give the whole amount to the poor? Asking organizations to invest 2% of their average net profits in society seems a small price, when public money is being used to subsidize business. Of course some naysayers are saying that government is being financially irresponsible by giving this huge subsidy. Question remains, do they hold the same view on subsidies given to business sector?

This gets me back to Dalai Lama’s thinking - ”Everyone must assume his own share of universal responsibility.” Unless the corporate sector gets committed to fulfilling social responsibilities, the country will deteriorate. Besides economic power, the society needs a lot more to flourish and be healthy.

Closing Thoughts

I found Dali Lama’s description of his morning rituals enchanting. He narrates – “As a practicing Buddhist monk, as soon as I wake up I pay homage to the Buddha, and I try to prepare my mind to be more altruistic, more compassionate, during the day to come so that I can be of benefit of beings. Then I do physical exercise – I walk on a treadmill.” World’s most influential and renowned monk happily adopts modern day gadgets into his daily life. He talks of ethics of genetic engineering, global warming, environment risks etc. with complete ease and knowledge. However, we the management experts, the technical geniuses, the advocates of change hesitate to incorporate spirituality, compassion and social responsibility in business. Ironical isn’t it. Can we leave our hearts at home when we come to work?

I want to share the prayer Dalai Lama read on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. He wishes that this prayer is on his lips when he dies. Very few people in the world can have this level of generosity of spirit, but maybe in 2012 we can think of new beginnings.

May I Remain In Order to Relieve the Suffering of the World

May I be the protector of the abandoned,
The guide for those who wander the path,
And for those who yearn for the other shore,
May I be the vessel, the ferry, the bridge;
May I be an island for those who need an island,
The lamp for those who need a lamp,
The bed for those who need a bed;
May I be the wish-fulling gem, the vase
With great treasure, a powerful mantra, the healing plant,
The wish granting tree, the cow of abundance.
As long as space remains,
As long as beings remain,
May I too remain
To relieve the sufferings of the world.

Indian saint Shantideva’s prayer read by Dalai Lama on accepting Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

References:

1. My Spiritual Autobiography by His Holiness The Dalai Lama
2. New Companies Bill – Ministry of Corporate Affairs
3. India should cut wasteful expenditure on subsidies: US prof Pranab Bardhan