THE ALUMNUS

This is the story of Noah, an engineer and mba from a reputed institution.

The name Noah is fictitious. Yet this story could be the story of any aspiring global citizen.

Noah hailed from a small town in India. Coming from a middle-class, value-driven family, Noah grew up watching and imbibing most of the values that were constantly ingrained into him by his parents and his Guru.

Noah completed his studies and decided to try his luck by gaining experience in Mumbai, a city considered as the proverbial “Pot of Gold” for all aspiring Indian graduates and post-graduates. However, considering Noah’s simple lifestyle, a deeply spiritual background and sheltered living in a small city, he found the going difficult in this large metropolis, and yet, was unwilling to give up. After a few years of struggle, changing jobs, making painful mistakes, his career took an upward turn. He got a great break in an mnc, then got an opportunity to re-locate to Delhi and handle half the country at the young age of 29. All this while, Noah had this deep desire to get some international exposure and to make some decent money so that he could give his family a better existence.

Ultimately, the break came. He moved to Hong Kong to start as head of a new project of launching an OEM brand for a large transnational group. From then onwards, there was no looking back. For Noah, busyness and frequent international travel became a coveted status symbol. Noah also got relocated to Dubai, the city of gold. For eighteen consecutive years, his international travel routine was a punishing 100 days a year.

Noah worked for a few more organizations before taking on the role of the CEO of a billion-dollar enterprise. During this entire period of four decades, Noah continued to live largely by the values and ethics ingrained in him by his parents, his family and his spiritual Guru.

A short while ago, Noah was conferred the best alumni award by his alma mater. This was the second time he was recognized with this award. He decided to fly down to get the award and to further strengthen his bonds with his institution, his friends and his roots.

During that one day that Noah spent at the new, sprawling campus of his alma mater, a rush of thoughts, emotions, feelings, memories engulfed him. A flash-back of his entire student-life and working career, what he had done right, the regrets, the mistakes he made and self-corrected – all came back to him.

Noah reminisced that there was a time when leisure and stress-free time were considered marks of success and admirable aspirations. He realized that this attitude had significantly transformed. In the current workplace culture, busyness remained a coveted status symbol, even if organizations publicly touted?the importance of mental health and well-being. For many, being perpetually busy had become synonymous with being engaged in important work.

While looking at and feeling the energy levels and zest of the new students and the crowd in the auditorium, Noah remembered his own working years. Organizational leaders and followers alike regularly encounter issues and pressures that require not only ethical leadership but also moral courage.

Sadly, Noah felt that globally, there was some diminishing of civility. One could see it in the short-hand that is experienced every day with technology, where we don't have to actually say complete sentences to one another. We see it just in our inability to have actual conversations with one another and ask questions that might be about the other person. It's a very self-centered world these days, and that did worry Noah about our future as a civilization.

One of the things that Noah’s parents taught him when he was a kid was that we need to take responsibility for our own actions. By setting higher ethical standards for ourselves, is one of the key ways, and maybe the only way, that the world can change to be a better place.

The most important way that Noah thought he had made a difference was the four decades of effort that he had put into hiring, mentoring, developing juniors who were coming up in the generations behind him.

And when he thought about how he had impacted in powerful ways, it was really by helping other people grow into the role of having an impact that he valued. He wanted his legacy to be a legacy of developing people who would really want to make a difference and who valued diversity and inclusion and think ethical leadership mattered in the world. Noah could do this because he was internally very secure.

Noah looked at the new, energetic batch, realizing that there is no such thing as a “Typical MBA.” These days, MBAs are more apt to be social advocates, platoon commanders, artists, sustainability champions, entrepreneurs, and global citizens. For them, an MBA is more than a degree. It is a chance to pursue passions, find purpose, and devise new life plans.

The atypical will emerge as the typical. Instead of checking all the right boxes, the new breed often are taking the roads less traveled. The energy levels were significantly higher in the auditorium than when Noah was a student. Risk-takers all, they defied expectations, and with a curious and optimistic spirit that steeled their peers’ confidence and opened them up to new possibilities.

A deep and abiding sense of courage is a quality that separates good leaders from great ones. Research shows that?professionals who demonstrate high levels of ethics and courage?in the workplace not only perform better, but also influence their peers to act with bravery and drive organizational success.

Throughout history, there have been scores of iconic individuals who exemplify the?characteristics that define courageous leadership, such as resilience, commitment to purpose, and authenticity. As Noah left the campus with his award, he was happy in this belief and conviction that the newer generation will look at parameters of success which will go beyond just the materialistic. Also confident that his Alma mater was in safe hands.

Nothing can change if we don’t get comfortable with being uncomfortable

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