APNA TIME AYEGA (OUR TIME WILL COME)

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything,” George Bernard Shaw

Recently, I was in Pakistan and like always took out some time to spend with old friends. Whenever we meet, our discussions gravitate to current affairs and we often wonder why is it that despite a lot of outstanding talent in different fields, a young and energetic work-force, unparalleled hospitality, pristine tourist locations, charitable nature of people, resilience to stand firm despite economic, political and security challenges and loads of promise and strong starts, Pakistan has not been able to achieve an economic standing in the world. In memorable history, it has been in a state of constant economic, security and political turbulence.

The cause of the problem may be traced in Human Development. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a tool developed by the United Nations to measure and rank countries' levels of social and economic development. The countries that are doing well in Human Development offer a high quality of life to their people. Norway, Switzerland and Australia are at the top 3 positions, Germany is 5 and USA is at 13 while Pakistan is ranked 150 out of a pool of 189 countries. Human development serves as a catalyst to create a powerful culture that inspires creativity and excellence in everything, leading to outstanding holistic welfare. So a strong culture or a mindset that encourages investment in human intellectual and emotional capabilities are at the core of progress. Those who invest in themselves and others succeed.

Likewise in businesses the collective mindset or the culture of the organization is the magic ingredient that enables some companies to rise meteorically by overcoming gargantuan challenges. In the words of Peter Drucker, “Culture can eat strategy for breakfast.” Some companies have valuations in trillions of USD which is multiple times the size of many economies of the world. They seem to be insulated from growth challenges while many other companies despite the huge potential and a strong business model struggle to keep afloat, under deliver, and go bankrupt. Culture is simply the ideas, customs, values and behaviours prevalent at a place or said in another way the collective mindset of the company or country.

We grow up listening to stories of bravery, compassion, ethics and fantasies that inspire and stimulate our imagination and curiosity. These stories form the narrative of the culture that brings the people together as a nation. Likewise, the business narrative provides the story of how the business was formed and how it grew despite the challenges and serves as a thread that connects the strategies, operations, functions and people into a cohesive team. 

Every culture has some positive and negative aspects and it is up to the people to accentuate the positive stories and suppress the negatives to make the narrative strong and positive to continually evolve the culture for progress. Growing up in Pakistan, I heard a lot of positive stories and also some that need to be revisited. Here are common place sayings that need a makeover to nurture a culture that has a fragrant smell of the place-inspiring growth and welfare.

1. Hum Ko Sab Pata hai (I know everything). Lack of self-awareness and broader global exposure, inability to spend quality time in reading, learning and data gathering and living in an environment lacking education and an appreciation for feedback, leads to a false feeling of knowledge. Let me explain this with the help of an example. I was travelling in an Uber in Karachi from my hotel to my sister's house and the traffic was chaotic, so I was stuck in the car for more than 90 minutes. The Uber driver was talkative and spoke eloquently about the economy, security issues, moral issues, inflation and had a complete solution to the problems of the country. The government should consider hiring him :) Interestingly there are millions like him who have a strong point of view (good) but are not willing to entertain conflicting viewpoints and are dogmatic about their arguments (not good) that are based on a feeble logic with no substantive data. What he knew was ultimate and unchallengeable. This ‘I know everything’ phenomena is very common and is the source of all dogmas. Talk shows have some anchors who believe they know everything. Even homeless people unable to make a life will tell convincingly how to run a country. Likewise, businesses suffer when leaders stop listening and rely on decadent and obsolete knowledge. The problem with this state of mind is that it constricts the ability to learn, listen and improve. Science tells us that when we are not growing, we are dying. A caveat of this statement is ‘Hum yeh pehley kar chukay hain (we have done that in the past). A mindset that dents ideation. 
2. Chalta Hai (Anything will do.) This is my poster child phrase. ‘Chalta hai,’ which means it is fine or anything will do. Parking in a no parking zone, chalta hai, spitting paan (betel leaf chewed for taste and habit) on the walls, chalta hai. Being late to meetings, chalta hai. I can go on and on. The point is that this chalta hai attitude is the symptom of a grave underlying disease of mediocrity. It is a mind pollutant that deteriorates the culture as it spreads like a virus. By pursuing excellence in every small act, every small interaction or every small engagement, we can vaccinate ourselves from the malaise of mediocrity. Complacency, procrastination, living in our comfort-zones, are simply iterations of mediocre living. This limiting paradigm is a heavyweight that many people carry, while they try to run and compete in a very competitive world. Interestingly, these people are surprised, why they are not winning? 
3. Papu Yaar Tang Na Kar (Please don’t bother me). The Pakistani truck art is gaining in popularity internationally and it is awesome. I believe that we should also highlight the truck wisdom. The text engraved or painted on the trucks carries the opinion and wisdom of common people. The phrase papu yaar tang na kar, is funny but is quite deep. It is a mindset that is happy with the status quo and wishes to be left alone in one's own comfort-zone. I am sure we have all seen executives with this mindset. How can you change things if you want to be confined in the comfort-zone (box of limitations)? Another piece of wisdom I read was “Tapar hai to overtake kar, Nahin to bardasht kar.” If you have the courage then overtake and lead or else follow subserviently. What a wise thought! 
4. Bahar ka haath hai (foreign involvement). In this paradigm, the entire power of what happens to people, the company and the country is passed on to the outside forces. We search for conspiracy in everything. If we lose a cricket match, it is fixed (as if we always win). If it rains too much there is a foreign hand, if it does not there is a foreign hand. The root of this mind pollution is in refusing to take responsibility and to put the blame of individual inaction on others. The day we choose to take full responsibility for our situation and circumstances instead of blaming someone else we will make a breakthrough in our lives and in our society. 
5. Cheetaay hai hum (I am awesome). Self-delusion simply means the inability to recognize reality. It is a serious form of mind-pollution. I was conducting a workshop in Pakistan and it was a norm to have the sessions starting at-least an hour late. This was because either the participants were eating well beyond the lunchtime or were on the way and the organizers were waiting for a quorum to complete. As an ice-breaker, I asked people to introduce themselves by sharing their names, what they do and a word that describes them best. Now one gentleman who was one of the last to join the session which was already 60 minutes late described himself as ‘Punctual.’ The entire group snickered and I thought he was mocking but in his mind, he strongly believed he was punctual. He was a cheetah! Maybe he was comparing himself to the people he is interacting with, who might be even worse in punctuality. There is a belief that if you speak loudest and consistently, a lie will turn into a truth.
6. The complex of speaking Hinglish. English is no criteria to judge the capability of a population that speaks Urdu. The important point is to articulate your thoughts succinctly and clearly in the native language. There is a huge complex of English and people are reluctant to admit a lack of proficiency in the language even at the expense of making a mockery of themselves. In the times of the British Raj people who could speak English thrived and this paradigm is still existent despite the British leaving decades ago. The paradigm is encouraged as individuals with good private schooling have mastery of the English language and they use it to accentuate a social hiatus. People will commonly drop English sentences or phrases as a way to reflect intellectualism, whereas, intellect is not dependent on a language. In Europe, Japan, China and even in Middle-East people take pride in speaking in their language and their countries have done remarkably well. 
7. Kiya Baat Hai Sirjee (What a thought Sir). This phrase represents an element of flattery and subservience. The thinking is to boost the ego for getting into the good books of someone influential for personal gains. The limiting paradigm in this mindset is of shutting our questioning and validating faculties to acquiesce to the opinion of authority. This thinking gets ingrained in the subconscious and prevents the fostering of a healthy dialogue with different point of views in the society. Unwavering loyalty to people in power weakens institutions, company or country, as reality and prudence take a back seat. This is also common in companies and many have perfected the art of pleasing called 'managing up.’
8. Hamaray Zamane Ki Baat Hi Kuch Aur Thi (our times were better). It is common to hear from relatively older groups of the population to say at every possibility that their times were better as potatoes were cheaper and so was the meat. However, they fail to tell what were their salaries in those good times. They did not even have smartphones, top quality health care (though still not accessible to everyone), global connectivity, faster travel and global information. We are living in the best times. The life a common man lives today is better than the lives that Kings had in Tudor times. Tudor did not even have a sewerage system. My question is that if their times were that good then they should have laid the foundation for a great future in which they could proudly say that our contributions created a great today better than our zamana (times). In businesses, we all have heard some old-timers talking about the good old days and how things have deteriorated. People left in time should be left there…
9. Haalaat ki wajah se aisey ho gaye, warna talent bohat hai (Circumstances caused us to be like this, otherwise, we have huge talent). Blaming the circumstances, competition, economic crisis, inflation are all excuses. The reality is that challenges will always be there. Let’s look at a data-based example. Pakistan came into existence in 1947. Around the same time, two countries were completely devastated as a consequence of the second world war: Japan and Germany. Japan suffered from the agony of nuclear weapons that not only decimated Hiroshima and Nagasaki but affected future generations as well. While Germany was at the losing end of the war and had to bear huge financial, infrastructural and people losses. The point is that they started from a worse position than Pakistan. In the last 70 years, these nations have become the 3rd and the 4th biggest economies of the world while Pakistan is at number 40th (nominal GDP) as per Wikipedia and ranked 158th on GDP per capita which is the true reflection of prosperity and income distribution. We have a long way to go and the positive steps we take collectively today can ensure a better future for our coming generations. Don’t blame haalat, recognize that we are not the best and strive for continual improvement to become the best. 
10. The Messiah Mentality. Many people suffer from the paradigm that an external force, a superman or superwomen will come to save us or put them on the path of glory. The bad news for them is that no superman or superwomen will come. They have to resurrect their own flagging fortunes. We pride and talk about the last ball 6 by Javed Miandad in the final of Sharjah cup in 1986. I too was ecstatic but since then how many matches have been won on the last ball? We cannot leave everything for the last and hope against hope that some miracle will happen to save the day. Take charge of your life. Planning, capability building, strategizing and executing the plans with excellence are all more important than last minute heroics. 
11. Yahan Ka System Hi Kharab Hai (The entire system of the place is bad). Judging and pronouncing verdicts is commonplace. Facts can take a back seat, it is emotions that rule the place. Watch any political talk show, speak to common people, talk to students or business people, each will say yahan ka system hi kharab hai. How can the entire system be bad and everyone corrupt? If everyone is indeed bad then the people criticizing are also part of the system. The important point is that what are they doing to rectify it? Interestingly, many of those who criticize are also doing some level of beimani (cheating) and when shown the mirror will retort, itina to chalta hai (this much is okay) or doosray bhi Kar raheen hai (others are doing the same) Two wrongs don’t make a right. The problem with this mindset is that it is negative, discouraging, promulgates a judging culture and creates pessimism. Before criticizing the system or others look at the mirror to see if the real kharab (bad) is the one appearing in the mirror. If each one of us work on our circle of influence the system will improve automatically. 

Conclusion

Time is never good or bad. Current times or circumstances are simply a reflection of the choices that we made in the past. Instead of fretting, blaming and getting angry, we should focus on the now to ensure that the coming times are bright. All change starts from within and once we bring a positive change in ourselves, our time, our situation and our entire world changes for the better. 

I try my best to spread positivity and encourage people to contribute by inspiring, uplifting and energizing people in their circle of influence to bring about small positive changes. These small positive changes will soon reach the inflection point to become a collective tsunami of a positive mindset of courage, confidence, communion and creativity that will inspire growth and prosperity. 

I see awareness is building, thinking is evolving, individuals are getting courageous to look at brutal facts and doing the right things. I am positive that Apna time aye ga (our time will come). 

                                                              Waqi Munim