Bala Sir on Academic Leadership-74

The Danish Disease and the Remedy

The term ‘Danish Disease’ is quite interesting. The term was coined by John Adair who refers to the mental state of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark in Hamlet. ‘To be or not to be is the question.’?Interestingly most of us become victims of this Danish Disease at one or the other point of life. As leaders in different places or situations, we yield ourselves to this dilemma. What follows is inaction sometimes leading to a disaster.

In one of the seminars on HR Development, a speaker narrated a beautiful story:

A donkey walked alongside the market. It saw a heap of cabbages on one side and another heap of carrots on the other. It liked both. It was hungry. But it had a problem- Which to eat first? It sat in between them and started thinking quite seriously – when to start and where to start – and spent hours thinking till it died out of hunger.?Though said in a lighter vein, it makes a lot of sense about certain people who yield themselves to the dilemma and suffer the pain of indecisiveness.

Shakespeare describes such a situation:

Thus, the nature hue of resolution

Is sicklied o’er with pale caste of thought

And enterprise of great pith and moment,

With this regard, their currents turn away

And lose the name of Action.

This does not mean that one should not devote time to thinking. But there is a lot of difference between what we call the time lag for thinking and indecisiveness. Sometimes we tend to hold our actions for the fear of results; sometimes to assess the strength of the opposing forces and to evaluate our preparedness to face some challenging situations. And there could be several reasons. It does not necessarily mean we are indecisive. But one must also muster courage and time the action.?

Sun-Tzu writes in his book “The Art of War”:?

“Amid the turmoil and tumult of battle, there may be seeming disorder and yet no real disorder at all; amid confusion and chaos, your array may be without head or tail, yet it will be proof against defeat; simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline; simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength.”

I think there is great meaning and energy in the words of Sun-Tzu. It characterizes a sense of diplomacy to hold oneself till one is warranted to take an action. Hence, we need to understand the difference between procrastination, dilemma, indecisiveness, and diplomacy while executing an action.?

In his book “After I was sixty” Roy Thomson, a Canadian media magnate writes about IBM:

“IBM – one of the world’s great business organizations – has had for many years a single word as their motto. A sign over every executive’s desk spells it out: ‘Think’, let us be honest with ourselves and consider how averse we are all to doing that.?It is hard work in the early stages of a man’s career. When a difficult decision or problem arises, how easy it is, after looking at it superficially, to give up thinking about it. It is easy to put it out of one’s mind. It is easy to decide that it is insoluble or that something will turn up to help us. Sloppy and inconclusive thinking becomes a habit. The more one does it the more one is unfit to think a problem through to a proper conclusion.?

If I have any advice to pass on, as a successful man, it is this; if one wants to be successful, one must think; one must think until it hurts. One must worry about a problem in one’s mind until it seems there cannot be another aspect of it that hasn’t been considered.”

Don’t you think it is worthy advice to follow? If you want to grow as a leader, you must think, but you should not suffer from the Danish disease.

Bala Sir is the Chair of the Advisory Council at CLLE. A thought leader in education, he was the former Director (Academics) of CBSE, Delhi. He is a passionate teacher, curriculum designer, and mentor for various educational institutions and leaders across the world. He brings his extensive experience and wisdom to propel various learning partnerships and initiatives at CLLE.