Once I met Padma Vibhushan E Sreedharan, the “Metro Man” of India who led and created iconic Indian infrastructural marvels such as Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro. I had met him few days after he demitted office as the Delhi Metro Managing Director, at a young-veteran age of 80. In the course of our conversation, I requested him to share an accomplishment that filled him with pride. While a prejudiced me was anticipating a response regarding one of his several illustrious projects, he responded that “changing the culture of Delhi” was a success that filled him with pride. It was humbling as well as insightful to hear his pride emanating from a soft & invisible accomplishment rather than the hard & tangible ones to his credit (execution of Delhi Metro, Konkan Railway, Turnaround of Cochin Shipyard, Design of Calcutta Metro etc)
Mr Sreedharan’s perspective and thinking reinforced the insight that the true organizational leaders not only focus on the hard numbers and visible achievements, but they also focus on intangibles like the organization’s impact on the larger community. These leaders leave an indelible trail of big-picture thinking, long term orientation and associated professionalism. In addition to providing the superior results for companies, they bring about a transformation in society.
In another example; Uber, a company that made two-way performance evaluation (of Drivers as well as Passengers) a norm, has brought about significant shift in the etiquette and professionalism of drivers (those who serve) as well as the attitude and behaviour of passengers (those being served). A big plus for our country due to Uber’s way of enhancing the professionalism.
A reflective question for us on the boards of various companies, could be — does my company/ Board members display conscientiousness and/ or generate uplifting possibilities to bring about societal impact?
About 10 days ago, I ordered a microwave oven on Amazon. It turned out to be a defective piece. A call to their customer service was not only promptly & empathetically answered but within minutes the exploration to replace and then plan for return & refund finalized. A benchmark service, I wondered how many companies I associate with as a consultant, offer service such as this. No wonder, Amazon positive customer sentiment score was reported at high of 61%1. Notwithstanding my Amazon loyalty, one big grouse I held against Amazon has been their over-packing products and company’s seemingly oblivious attitude to the environmental impact on account of growing mounds of plastic and trash. As a consumer my heart celebrated, when I read this month about Amazon India’s resolve to do away with the single use plastic packaging by June 20202,
From the smallest manufacturing unit which settles for a lower profit in favour of not polluting the river to a hospital chain focusing on patient wellbeing rather than revenue per bed (a la Devi Shetty’s Narayana Hrudayalaya) we have opportunities galore. This is an era where justifying the bamboozling of customers and squeezing workers and suppliers to justify the Board’s objective of “maximising the shareholder value” is dying3. We all can now exercise our power in the Boardrooms and demonstrate responsibility to make our products and services promote societal wellbeing. We don’t have to be the largest of companies, to make our entity triple bottom line4 responsive. Fortunately, today’s Marketing 4.0 age, only the companies which appeal to the customer’s soul are likely to thrive. Today’s consumers are conscientious and now the ball is in company boardrooms to be in touch with their soul to mitigate environmental degradation, to promote inclusivity, to engender enabling attitudes or to professionalize actions & behaviours.
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