“All his happier dreams came true
A small old house, wife, daughter, son,
Grounds where plum and cabbage grew,
poets and Wits about him drew;
‘What then?’ sang Plato’s ghost. ‘What then?’”
Impeccable Academic record. Networked to the nth degree. A mind that spots opportunities as they evolve. An ever smiling demeanor that leads teams of warriors with the same gusto of a Mongol warlord. A ruthless go-getter who has climbed the corporate ladder, literally lad by lad. At less than 40 the global CEO of one of the fastest growing entities in the domain. What then?
A plush apartment. A trophy wife. The latest cars to play with. Memberships at the hottest spots in town. A personal gym that professional body builders eye with envy. A “money for nothing an’ chicks for free” lifestyle. Bally shoes. Rolex watches. Frequent flyer status in ten odd airlines. Living out of Presidential suites in star properties. Single Malts (preferably from the Speyside) in the evening. What then?
“You know, I started life at a CTC that was higher than what my father made at his retirement” boasted one, blissfully unaware of the fact that he suffers from the same ailments at sub forty, that his father had at the age of sixty plus – high blood pressure, hyper tension, diabetes, coronary afflictions – all so-called stress related, lifestyle diseases!
Getting back to the drift, our “young achievers” – the prime movers of corporate India – are a terribly distressed bunch of destitute. For, it is one thing to reach the pinnacle at an obscenely young age, and a completely different thing to remain there for long. “It’s hell up there” said one with some of the most envied achievements, “every morning you wake up and tell yourself that you have to run faster than at least the slowest gazelle to survive in the jungle. Just as every gazelle hopes to run faster than you to survive. One is constantly driven by the fear that some upstart kid with an additional degree will be recruited at some damn campus who’ll come and topple your apple cart!” And with it will vanish all the trappings – the push car, the plusher pad, et al!!
“Today I recall an incident that happened when I had joined by first job. I was a knight in shining armour hired by a mid level entity as a VP to charge their surge forward. I was placed above an engineer with three decades of experience in the company at about a few times his pay. On our first meeting he had asked me as to what it is that I have – a rank outsider to boot – that he didn’t? I don’t remember what I had answered, but today, I can identify with the pain that was there in the man’s eyes. After his long and dedicated service to the entity, when he was forced to report to an alien kid who did not even possess a fraction of his knowledge and expertise, he must have wondered to himself, as I wonder today, surmising in my corner office … what then?”
“What is the way out? What do message do you have for your brethren?” I ask. “Be prepared to move on nomads. Be prepared to seek out and move on to greener pastures even before the world can predict the dry spell, of the exhaustion of resources” said my friend, aka corporate wizard.
And herein lies the crux of the problem, viewed from the other end. If the general himself is in the lookout for better paying armies, who will lead us to war? For, with all their spreadsheets and Power Point Presentations they are concentrated on winning battles – Pyrrhic victories that will stand the test of time. Short term steroid induced growth that is bound to falter when the effects wear out. And herein lies the biggest question that corporate India will have to answer – what then?