How Adam Smith can change( y)our life

----------------------------------How Adam Smith can change your life------------------------------

Recently I stumbled upon a beautiful work - authored by Russ Roberts a well known contemporary economist about another well known economist Adam Smith who produced great classic -The wealth of nations- written some 250 years ago.The book written by Russ Roberts is not about The wealth of Nations.In fact before Adam Smith produced his classical economics theory which is very much relevant and revered even today ,he produced a beautiful work  named - The theory of Modern Sentiments. This book viz The theory of Modern sentiment tries to answer questions such as - what is good life  and or how one should live a good life .Is it about money or about fame or about success or  does it mean helping others and making the world a better place? The theory of moral sentiments tries to answer - where the morality comes from,and why people act decently, even when it conflicts woth their self interst.Adam Smith tells about good life,and how to achieve it. Though the book was a success in its own time but was subsequently dwarfed by famous classic produced by Adam Smith viz WEALTH OF NATIONS published in 1776 and made Smith forever famous for his theory of capitalism.

Scottish Adam Smith was a philosopher and his writing style was very different from today's authors.However reading about The theory of Moral sentiments from the work of Russ Roberts 

' How Adam Smith can change your life - an unexpected guide to human nature and happiness.'

I liked this book so much that i read the same over and over again.Hence my desire to share the learning in this blog.

Adam smith in this book - moral sentiments - makes one understand to what extent people are self centered and beyond a stage they do care about others , whether achieving what one has desired for himself is of much consequence , he dispenses timeless advice how to treat money,ambition ,fame and morality.How one should take failure and material achievements.

It gives answers to questions such as why people like say Meena Kumari or Guru Dutt had to face failure or such an end. Or some like Virender Sehwag had failure and brought an abrupt end to their carreer.are so unhappy at times and why people cry if anyone of celebrity meets tragedy anytime.

Irony is that author of WEALTH OF NATIONS write on futility of persuing money with hope of finding happiness.Besides Adam Smith also tells in this book - how to lead good life in the fullest sense of this phrase.

While Smith's Wealth of nations says that people are basically self interested ( not the same as selfish) we try to specialise and excel in our field and othersdo in their respective fields and we exchange our expertise so that we all survive for the overall good ofsociety.A beautiful sentence of Smith is quoted in this regard as below

It is not the benovelance of the butcher ,the Brewer or Baker , that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self interest .We address not to their humanity but to their self love and never talk to them of them of our own necessities bit of their advantage

In this book ..Moral sentiments ,Adam Smith  who was not a big fan of the persuit of fame and fortune ,he sums up his philosophy about human beings in following few word
Man naturally desires ,not only to be loved ,but to be LOVELY.
The whole book revolves around these 12 words and tries to find answers asto how one can be LOVELY as perceived by Adam Smith.It is necessary to mention that Smith when he says - to be loved he does not mean in the sense we mean today - i.e as to be loved by family and near ones and Lovely too does not refer to attractive .First about' to be loved' means to be appreciated,desired ,liked or respected .And 'lovely' also in broader sense - we want to be seen as praiseworthy,or one does not want to be hated.The book revolves around Smith' s effort to explain how one can be LOVELY.
Smith also says that ' To be loved without being lovely- to be praised without being praiseworthy- is a temptation of weak and foolish person ,not the wise one.The wise man avoids all such temptations.We all like to be genuinely loved rather than just because we hold certain position of power.
We are able to understand when someone praises us though we do not deserve that praise.We so want to be LOVELY that we can convince ourselves that we deserve certain praise heaped on us for a particular act of ours. Smith encourages us not be carried away by false praise.
There are two ways to be loved .One , you can be rich and famous.Second you are wise and virtuous.Smith says that second is a proper way to go about.According to Smith appropriate behavior or proper behaviour will ensure that.
What is this appropriate or proper behaviour?
It is same as meeting the expectations of people around us.
There can be some actions which may be perceived by us as proper but other's may not view them like that.However what we are talking here is about actions which would be universally considered as appropriate.
Like ability to be sympathatic to others where thery need sympathy or compassion.
Smith says that we do share happiness of others when they succeed but if someone gets very abnormal success ,our ego takes over and we may not express but our joy has an aspect which we are not able to conceal which is - how come he got so much unbelievable success.we are unable to digest.Similarly in someone' s grief too we do share grief of others but the same is momentary and it passes off after a while.Smith says that our emotions have to be similar to the emotions of others in their joy or tragic moments.Our genuine happiness at abnormal success of others or tragedy others go through should be similar to that another which makes us LOVELY.
Smith also wants us to be virtuous.The traits which makes us virtuous are
Prudence,Justice and Beneficence. These traits makes us respected,and admired by those around us and thus loved.
A prudent person is one who has mild manners, he does not impose his will or ideas on others or so to say he does not dominate or is not aggressive .
Smith says about prudentperson as below
The prudent man always studies seriously and earnestly to understand whatever he professes to unferstand and not merely to persuade others that he understands it ; and though his talent might not always be very brilliant ,they are always perfectly genuine.
Smith's prudent man may seem little boring as he is very mild, not dominating ,does not display his talent unabashedly, but he is one who is prudent and thus admired and loved because he is lovely.
What does Smith means by being just is that we act in a fair manner to others or not being unreasonable or unfair.Hillel a philosopher who lived a few centuries before Smith said
Don't do unto others what you would not want done to you
Don't steal,don't cheat don't take advantage of others etc
Smith invokes the concept of justice in another way as well.We are generally decent and nice .why is it? It is because when we act - even wrongly or unreasonably - we become conscious as if someone is watching from within us or through our shoulders whom we can't face or we want him not to feel that we are unreasonable , we correct ourselves and be judicious.It is not God or any other force it is this impartial person who we feel judges us and we want to come upto his expectations.

ARE WE INDIANS LIKE THAT

                                                        Are We Indians Like That   

I though that any one who has read the headline news in today’s TOI Delhi Edition(Nov 24^th 2014)-

                   ‘300 Delhi lower court  judges under probe in Laptop scam’

 must have been  shocking. However when I spoke to a few of  friends about this, I got an impression that they were not quite surprised after reading the news. Obviously this does not mean that those whom i spoke to, were not approving of such a misconduct on the part of judges involved .In fact they were appalled though and still  not surprised since such misdemeanour happens every other day. Some day it is a high profile  politician, another it is top banker or some other day it is a revenue official or even a ponzy scheme run by someone who gets protection from some powerful people or even a perceived honest politician or a  private promoter  misappropriating investor’s money. The issue becomes very crucial if we ask ourselves a question -Are such instances’ one off ‘ or these are happening too often to be not concerned about. 

I am not a cynic .At the same time  like many , I am often concerned to find that our society often brushes aside such news (about corrupt and unfair practices ) as not something unusual. Defintely no right thinking person likes such behaviour .However it also appears that this is something which is taken casually.

When I reflect on this issue I like so many  feel much more disturbed at state of affairs.

Media ,CAG and  the  judiciary have been slamming top politicians and beurocrats often on instances of nepotism, crony capitalism and mala-fide in decision making causing losses to the exchequers. One good part is that most of such politicians  do not find favour from voters these days after their name is part of such misdemeanours.

It is not only the high profile cases(which is matter of big concern anyway) than the fact that this disease of favour seeking,trying to help known people at the expense of merit,is rather widespread to every level where stop the misdemeanour on the part of common man when  in position he can wield power- issue a driving licence,register an FIR,issue a ration card or admit a child in a school or college etc.

Of course it does not mean that high profile cases can be continued to be allowed to go on.In fact the spread of the disease amongst lower hierarchy of power  is mainly  on account of committing irregularities by the  rich and powerful and the same goes unquestioned. In other words they present a model which makes them unquestionable and may be encourages commoners to follow the example as it appears as a shortcut to “success”.

Is it not an irony that a country where people are religious generally ,a country which got independence 67 years ago from a foreign rule whose trademark was favouritism to those who worked against the common man ( by giving them estates for return of loyalty to the ruler),the commoners have taken to something done by the foreign ruler against the common man.

How can we change for the better

We have to urgently take such steps that will not only stop it from spreading further but also gradually eradicating it.

Looking at some of the organisations like RBI,Delhi Metro,SEBI,NDDB,Technology Mission,Delhi Prison under Mrs Kiran Bedi, it appears that Top Person heading the organisation makes lot of difference to the moulding of people working there,setting a good example for others.The initial people who head the organisation are also responsible for good practices which continue for long times. We have recently seen the adverse comment of SC in case of a head of apex investigating agency to show how a top person can make or mar the image of the organisation itself.

So the solution lies in selecting a top man who is sparkling white as far as his conduct and honesty is concerned .Give him a fixed tenure and independence in functioning so that he has no fear of being persecuted by political masters.Is it not possible to select few tp people who have flawless reputation?

Second, we need to be strict and prompt in taking action against the people found committing illegal acts.

Thirdly discretion to be minimal. At the same time certain flexibility in functioning of organisation even if it amounts to excercise of discretion by top person and delegation by him. The delegation as well as discretion to be institutionalised. In other words the balance of convenience to be in favour of meeting larger objectives of organisation rather than following of procedures which are cumbersome.Bonafide decisions if they delay the larger objectives to be achieved must not be given that much of importance.

Fourthly encourage transparency by use of technology.

Fifthly a continuous dose of moral education in home ,school, college and the organisation itself.

It may be a daunting task but it is definitely not impossible to achieve

Korea-Value system similar to India but Economic Progress vastly different

I had a chance to study about Japanese and Korean value system over last few months.Today I am going to write about Korea which really fascinated me.
Independent contemporary South Korea is almost as old as India.India got freedom from colonial power on 15th August 1947.Coincidently South Korea became republic with the help of UN and US on 15th August 1948.There was an attack on the SK from China immideately thereafter and with US help the peace was restored in 1953.In 1950 south korea was one of the poorest nations of the world.there was close similarity with India 's economic woes.On family values front too the Koreans have similarities with India.Joint family system,Businesses driven and managed by family value system,In other words the family bonding helps in driving the businesses-again similar to tradional businesses in India.In Korea too the males are head of the family.Another interesting similarity is that till a few years ago the bridgroom in Korea would go to bride's place on a Horse and the bride would come after wedding in a Palki.

Ancestroal ceremonies are held in honour of deceased parents for three previous generations(Like conducting Shradh ceremony in our Hindu culture)-for parents ,grand parents,great grand parents. Such ceremonies are only performed for paternal ancestors.

However the similarities end there.Korea grew at annual rate of 9% to 10% from 1953 to 1993.From a poor nation in 1953 to one of the most prosperous in 1993 is something Korea must be proud of.What is the difference -despite having so many similarities  in the family value system in two countries.
One fact which is noteworthy is that Japan ruled over Korea from 1910 or so till even after the end of second world war .Just as Japan grew from the rubbles of second world war and became a most powerful economy of the Asia,Korea too got its inspiration from Japan.Korea's work culture is much like Japan.Everything they do is for the nation.Nation takes precedence over everything.That drives everyone to contribute.While family bondings drive the business,Excellence ,Quality and productivity are the objectives as they make Korea strong economically.
I think most of you would have seen Japanese way of managing the businesses after Maruti came to collaborate with Suzuki in India to produce the best selling cars in 80s and thereafter.Similarly Korea too created an impact in India by its brands like -LG,Samsung and Hundayi.LG,Samsung entered with TVs and other white goods but now are a major brand in mobile hand sets etc.Similarly Hyundayi is a formidable car brand giving tough competetion to Japanese and US brands.
Koreans are known to be dilligent,hardworking ,work towards being self reliant.
Besides Nation first another value they exhibit is that they are not alienated from the society's interest.
Also the state propels industrialisation.Otherwise this tiny country with very little population could not be a industrially accomplished nation in 40 years.
Koreans are very proud of being Koreans,they value their accomplishments.While they may criticize certain aspects of their society they would not like anyone (foreigners ) making negative comment about Korea.Just like Japanese.

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I have usually been sharing my views on diverse issues through the social networking sites like Face Book,Twitters or Whatsapp.Most times it is on current topics either concerning the group to whom I am talking or on the issues which concern all of us.This blog is another platform which I intend to use to articulate something which might benefit my young friends in their future journey of life.
Today I intend writing on something which I heard often from my colleagues during my years in a couple of banks I worked and everyday I hear from my young colleagues expressing their unhappiness at the treatment they got from their colleagues or seniors or from the HR meaning their organisation itself.
No organisation much less the service rendering outfit would be silly enough to rub their employees so as to make them feel unhappy and therefore contribute less than the expectation of the organisation.Still this kind of feeling of frustation amongst some people is spread all across the organisations.
I have been reflecting on this issue for a long time.My assesment on this issue and what possibly can remedy this situation to some extent is given in following lines.
WHETHER SIZE OF ORGANISATION IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SUCH "POLITICS"
Having worked in a few organisations of different sizes and had first hand experience in these organisations I conciously reflected on the impact of SIZE.For those of you who may not know I worked in Canara Bank from the time it was a relatively small organisation(1000 branches) and grew into one of the top three banks when I left and is still bigger in size now.Andhra Bank where I spent crucial 3years is relatively small organisation.In the interim I had opportunity to work in CanFin Homes -A much smaller entity and as CE of Canara London though a part of Canara Bank (de jure) for the purpose of this article it can be treated as a small entity looking at the profile of the staff working there.
A relatively small organisation -be it Canara of 70s or Andhra bank of the present day there are advantages as well as some issues which cause concern to people working there.Advantages include the top management is able to observe critical functionaries from close quarters or know about what is happening at micro level through some important functionaries.
Wherever the crucial functionaries depend on the feed back from few important functionaries -like circle /zonal head or the HR or other fuctional heads and does not care to have an alternate system to check the chances of unhappiness or feeling of irritation amongst lower functionaries are more.Not that all crucial top/important functionaries have bad intentions to create a feeling of discomfort in minds of branch officials but it is individual pperceptions and their respective past expperiences to pass a judgement over others.HENCE WHAT IS NECESSARY IS THAT THE TOP FUNCTIONARY HAS TO HAVE ONE OR MORE ALTERNATE LINES OF COMMUNICATION TO COME TO A CONCLUSION ABOUT CAPACITY OF JUNIOR FUNCTIONARIES.
Major areas which cause heartburns or a feeling of top management being impartial or not objective is the placement and promotion..actually if we talk of banks we can zero it down substantially to placement and promotions at higher levels-say Scale IV and above.
Top management has to (besides having alternate communication channels ) institutionalise the system of placement and promotions.I mean that the management has to reduce theoral individual opinions to the least or totally avoideed.For that it is necessary that people at middle level are bold enough to mention aspects which require improvement in the subordinates.Fixing key areas has not to be mechanical process.Half yearly review of the performance needs lot of care and be realistic.Once half yearly review and fixing KRAs are taken seriously the communication channel of appraiser and the appraisee will be better and making a genuine record of performance is relatively easy.
In smaller organisations I have seen that informal channel of communication is very strong.The chief executive has to be careful to discourage such informal communication channel and not think that such channels put him on stronger padestal vis a vis the other top management personnel..I have seen a chairman of Canara Bank who never used to allow anyone to sit before him to talk other than business(i.e to talk about sundry matters of others)I have also seen good number of GMs or CMD who had ear to everyone and will not mind humilating their subordinates by talking about unvetted issues to the concerned or to others.The CMD who would not like to hear about others from even top management people was Canara Bank's Mr R V Sastry.
The top functionaries like GMs or branch head included comes to know of something which is unsubstantiated and it has disturbed him he must go for direct communication with the subject rather than go by unsubstantiated opinion.It is the job of top management or the HR department to institutionalise the appraisal process.The process should have questions asked about the appraisee in yes/No options as far as possible,The questions are to be carefully designed differently eliciting a uniform response to questions asked differently but have same connotations.In case the managers are giving generally good report but marking low-as per their percetion the bank should have a method to normalise the appraisal.
The employees need to be called to training school at leasst once in a year.The training gives not only an opportunity for learning but also for an independent asssesment of attitude.This assesment also needs to be codified and recorded in the file.All this data should then be reconciled by the HR.In case there is a deficiency in expected performance or attitude the bank should design some training and also direct communication by the HR head or someone really high.
It will not be correct to say that smaller organisations have only informal communication and that it is bad.My experience as head of CanFin Homes Delhi and even Canara London or some brances like Canara Faridabad or Parliement street which in a way were smaller entities but we could manage situation very well even though there were no institutional mechanism to asses people to the extent I mentioned above.The important responsibility is that of the chief of small entity who has to conciously be transparent and good at communication skills with subordinates.
As a leader the chief has to be leading by example if he has to inspire confidence in subordinates.He ( leader) has to take higher responsibility and not shirk any duty.It may mean longer hours for him,it may mean restraint for him in his intra communication.
The effort in present day has to be innovative in meeting competetion.This also gives people down the line to be creative and innovative (in other words bold).It requires explicit support to the juniors as to the deficient outcomes sometimes.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF SUBORDINATES:
Ideally the subordinates too has to be communicative-not necessarily to colleagues where they cant help but to the boss if he needs to take corrective action.
Be open rather than secretive.If he has problem with other colleagues or customers one should be prepared to talk to the boss politely rather than in aggressive environment .
also he should be prepared to change.Change does not mean that he has to go against his concience or against the rules.But that need s to be told emphatically but politely.
If he feels that some wrong is on in the branch he should not only be not a party to this but also work as a whistle blower.
I know it is difficult but the present environment is such that being a quiet watcher of illeagal activity can be construed as being party to irregularity.
In smaller organisations it is relatively easy to have good team and get the best out of people.I saw this at Can Fin Homes,Good team would mean excellent results.It is in the interest of chief to lead the team rather than promote groupism(which also is possible in smaller entities wher informal communications are dominant)
Hence it is the joint responsibility of Top people and subrdinates alike.All are working towards a common purpose.Also one should go for big picture rather than by individual purposes..

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