Sundeep Waslekar Director of Strategic Foresight Guest Columnist printable version send your friend message to author add comment (1)

Tuesday, 12 May 2009

Big Questions of Our Time - Part 34 - 

In a recent visit to Istanbul, I stayed at Ciragan Palace, once the abode of the Ottoman emperors. It is on the Bosporus with one of the most panoramic scenes in the world. At this spot, you see Asia and Europe, modern and ancient, nature and technology. It would be the most expensive property in Turkey and indeed one of the most highly valued real estates on the entire planet earth. Adjoining the Ciragan Palace is a high school. It is joyous to see students smartly dressed in their uniforms and playing on the school ground. As you walk further down, all you find are schools, colleges and universities. There are students carrying their books and files, enjoying the fresh air and natural beauty and debating loudly. It is no surprise that Turkey’s economy is advancing and its diplomatic clout growing. Any country that invests its best properties in the institutions of learning rather than selling them to politicians, businessmen and resort owners is bound to emerge as a great nation. While in Istanbul, I met a Swiss friend. He told me the story of his journey with a distinguished Swiss leader, who has been President of Switzerland and is now a cabinet minister. Once the leader was travelling in a second class train compartment and mistakenly occupied the seat meant for handicapped persons. The ticket checker asked the leader to get up and the leader quietly vacated the seat. This reminded me of my own experience with another Swiss leader, also a former President of Switzerland and an important cabinet minister. He arranged to meet with me at Geneva railway station, where he was arriving by train. We were looking for a quiet table in a café for a chat. Somehow most cafés in the Geneva station area were packed and we were wandering from café to café for a while looking for a table before we finally got one. Switzerland is one of the most successful countries in the world on all fronts. Any country where presidents and cabinet ministers travel in trains and follow all the rules applied to average citizens is bound to emerge as a great nation. The state of affairs in countries where political leaders are worshipped speaks for itself. In Switzerland, as also in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, it’s not that only leaders follow rules applied to citizens. The citizens do so too with great vigour. It is a pleasure to see how cars move at a circle or a square where several roads meet in a city like Stockholm or Oslo in rush hours. In a highly disciplined way, the cars from alternative streets move ahead one by one, waiting for the next car from the other street to go ahead of you. Sweden and Norway have a combined population of 12 million, and yet the views of these countries carry tremendous weight on the world stage. Any country where citizens make way for other citizens so that the entire city runs well, without the help of any traffic police is bound to be a great nation. Any society where car drivers jam traffic to try to overtake others legitimately ahead of them is bound to experience crashes and clashes of all kinds. The greatness of a nation depends on many factors. I know and admire Jim Balsillie, founder of Blackberry. He is based in Waterloo, a small Canadian city. Jim has invested his surplus funds in creating institutions for the study of governance and international relations in Waterloo. His partner has invested in a major institute of theoretical physics, also in Waterloo. Canada enjoys respect in the world. Any country whose business tycoons invest in the institutions of learning dedicated to governance and basic sciences, and that too in small cities, - rather than sponsoring beauty pageants and events that merely offer photo opportunities with politicians in capital cities - is bound to emerge as a great nation. Another friend I admire is Peter Schwartz, the founder of Global Business Network. He once hosted a dinner for me at his home near Berkeley in California. As we stood near the window of his house, he indicated me to streets in his neighbourhood where Nobel laureates lived aplenty. Later on at dinner, he had invited a few of his friends – no Nobel laureates. The predominant topic of conversation was innovation. Any country where Nobel laureates are walking past you every now and then and an average person at a dinner party can discuss innovation stories is bound to be a great nation. If a society reaches a stage where dinner gossip circles around stock market indices, real estate prices and preferred cosmetics of movies actresses, it can expect no greatness. The day I visited Peter Schwartz, he had asked me to address his group of friends of GBN. These were the days of the Bush presidency. In my speech, I candidly said that America was losing its soul and its moral leadership of the world even though it was trying hard to expand its military and economic power. As I uttered these words, some members of the audience literally started weeping. That is the moment I realised that the United States of America was a great enough nation where people would replace Bush by a leader who would believe in America’s moral leadership and military limitations. I didn’t know that the name of such a leader would be Barack Obama. Here is then my test for all of you to see if you belong to a great nation. Does your country offer the most precious and exclusive real estate to institutions of learning rather than politicians, businessmen and resort owners?

Does your country encourage your cabinet ministers and political leaders to travel by public transport without causing nuisance to anyone and ensure that they follow all rules applied to average citizens and are given no preferential treatment whatsoever when they visit restaurants?

Does your country have traffic rules voluntarily followed by drivers without the assistance of any traffic police, giving way to the other, rather than stealing a way ahead on a crowded road?

Does your country have leading industrialists who invest in institutions for the study of governance, social development, theoretical physics, genomics, and similar subjects rather than blowing money on beauty pageants or sponsoring events where they can have photo opportunities with politicians?

Does your country have dinner conversations about latest scientific breakthroughs by one of your neighbours, or innovation, rather than the value of your property, or rather your father-in-law’s property, or the perfumes used by the leading movie actresses, which you must buy from black market for your daughter?

Does your country have people who feel very ashamed of the abuse of military power and indeed the pursuit of power?

Does your country have voters who vote for dynamic, inspiring, highly educated community workers with clear ideas and value-based missions and political leaders with popular base and thoroughly reject sons and daughters of political families, criminals, and leaders surrounded by shady businessmen?

If the answer to most of the questions is ‘yes’, you belong to a great nation. If the answers are mixed, you have some hope for future though yours is not exactly a great nation. If the answer to most of the questions is ‘no’, be assured that you are on a drive to a cliff and it is about time that you and your fellow citizens changed course.