CAN THE WORLD ALSO BE MADE “WORLD CLASS”

As a resident of Dubai, I have formed this firm opinion that India, UAE and the rest of GCC have what many parts of the world simply cannot have.

Take for example, land. India and the GCC have more abundant land. More than many other countries could boast of. We have the largest number of young people in the world. We still have bearable weather most of the year, though global warming is causing growing concerns. With all this, theoretically, the India-GCC alliance could become world-class in just about anything we do.

But then, there is an inherent requirement: becoming world-class needs to be a goal in itself. Whether it is a "for-profit" organization, an educational institution, a government department or a nation state - an aspirant must be driven by a higher sense of achievement that surpasses mundane considerations. Typically, institutions that have pursued this path anywhere in the world, have been driven by a deep sense of leaving a legacy behind. The sense of legacy stems from a sense of history.

Individuals and nation states who have the capability to create legacies think beyond themselves, beyond generational gratification and fleeting success. For them, a call germinates from deep within, becomes a mindset that then stays for decades and more. In creating the world-class mindset, the one critical requirement is to build both aspiration and humility at the same time.

Leaders, who are power-driven in a narrow sense, sometimes have the aspiration but forsake the capacity to be humble. Such leaders easily forget the fact that humility yields greater power. Just as in silence, we are better heard.

Soft leadership and weak leadership are very different and should not be confused. Without humility, the world loses the ability to listen. When we do not listen, we fail to know where we truly stand. As a result, we cannot make progress. Worse, we go backwards in time. For building a world-class nation, city or organization, one must have a long-term view of time. It is like training from one's childhood to be an Olympic winner someday. Olympic athletes focus on a distant goal. They want to achieve that goal, but they know they do not want to trip up, they do not want to fritter away their resources, and they do not want to aimlessly settle for whatever comes. They deal with themselves patiently, steadfastly, with solidity borne out of self-confidence. Because, no one ever becomes a winner of an Olympic gold overnight. People who build something world-class have to be inclusive in their definition of success. If success is purely personal, it does not become memorable.

The memorability of any success can only come from our capacity to take everyone with us in our journey from less to more. People who can do that are emotionally self-confident. They do not need many external endorsements. They can discount meaningless praise, sycophancy and actually have the courage to take criticism. These people are ruthlessly self-critical but boundlessly self-confident. Our view of the future needs to be significantly inclusive and abundance oriented. Where we need to create an ocean, why do we end up building a pond. Where we need to soar into the sky, why do we circle the courtyard of a closed mind. History tells us that nations that have become world-class have always skipped a few steps and double or triple-promoted themselves.

To skip a few steps, we need to shift our attention from the problem to the opportunity. Take, for instance, the looming problem of climate change. Problems tend to suck as much energy as we are willing to give to them. Feeding problems need not become an occupation for us. We must learn to feed the opportunity, not the problem.

Sometimes we feed the problem for the sake of self-preservation. We become afraid of taking positions into the future because we are afraid of letting the past down. Being world-class always precedes the ambition to become world-class. That ambition cannot be a sectoral ambition; it cannot be in pockets. Very significantly, it cannot be a partisan dream. It has to be a much bigger aspiration, like an anthem it must be on everyone's lips. Only then does the world get to know about it. The world likes to be notified when a nation or a region wants to excel. One can see the desire to be world-class clearly visible in Dubai, the UAE and now beginning to grow shoots rapidly in India.

They say, when we are driven by pure intent, the entire Universe conspires to make it happen. The purity of intent, in this case, calls us to rise above ourselves. For hundreds of years, we could blame various issues that suppressed the intent. As of now, more and more of the world is living in two yo-yo thought processes – being historical or being hysterical.

We talk about cities, companies, products and services being made world class.

The world is currently at a difficult crossroad. Certain articles indicate that High temperatures may impair mood and cognitive functioning and are associated with increased violent behavior; some studies have suggested a 6% increase in homicide and a 7% increase in risk of major depressive disorder globally for every increase of 1 °C in temperature. Worrying indicators.

We could either fritter away all the gains humanity has made over the years. How about genuinely starting work on the concept of making our “World truly World Class”.