Going against the times...

On the ‘18-hour’ fun fest, the gentleman telling others to ‘take one on the chin’ had to take one himself and didn’t like it. The surprising thing about the reaction is that the statement came from someone who is supposed to be worshipped (founder of a startup, that venerated class of society who can do no wrong), and yet... Times are changing indeed.

The pandemic has done something to people. When Narayan Murthy said something similar in 2008 (Youngsters must work hard: Narayana Murthy), no one objected. His 2020 statement (Angry Twitter Has Tips for Narayana Murthy Who Wants Indians to Work 60 Hours a Week) got quite a reaction. Currently, we have a raging debate going on about ‘quiet quitting’ that seems to baffle business leaders (here is ‘shark’ Kevin O’Leary railing against it in an interview).

There are some elements of personality involved. If someone like Elon Musk said the same thing, most likely there would have been no reaction at all. But then he can get away with almost anything. Being a ‘meme lord’ and ‘shit poster’ of that level takes years of hard work.

There is nothing new in old folks lamenting about young people not working hard enough. This BBC story — People have always whinged about young adults. Here's proof — traces this glorious tradition back some 2000 years. And there is nothing new in business leaders hectoring young folks to work 12 or 15 or 18 hours a day. What has changed is the willingness to listen to this gratuitous ‘advice’. Young people who have seen entry level salaries stagnate for years, no investment in development and practices like unpaid internships (which at one time could run up to 3 years in the US) are refusing to take it any more. With global discussions going on about ‘quiet quitting’ and people questioning return to office, landing such a grating message is just being tone deaf.

At least there is an upside. The strangely funny ending (the giant sulk) has put the gentleman in the news cycle for a few days and gotten him fair bit of sympathy (including mine). His face is on the BBC website, apart from every major news site and paper in India. No publicity is bad publicity.