The current book has been on my target for
a long time – any title that says “Gandhi, The Management Guru” is sure to be a
fascinating read for an avid Gandhian like me, and nothing less than a
pilgrimage into the mind of one of the greatest human beings to walk the
planet, a true Mahatma in every sense of the word. I cant even say his name –
to me, he will always be “The Mahatma”. And that is how I will refer to him
here…. The Mahatma. That said, all
things happen at the right time; and having 78 books on my to-read list meant
this was in my inbox ever since its launch. In the interim, I managed to read
at least 2 other authentic books on
The Mahatma, including his Autobiography. For the record, the
Autobiography has not been reviewed; I frankly don’t find myself equal to the
task of reviewing that great book, a must read for all!
I will deviate from my usual review format
for this book; regular readers will note that this is rare for me – and
reserved for some special books only. Instead
of the writing style analysis, I will choose to delve into what makes this book
a 5-star rated must read book, and how it could have been even better than it
already is. This approach is due to constraints of space, as the traditional
format would make me write pages. On reading, I was underlining and noting on a
large majority of the pages of the book,
and thus far, only very few books has
matched this noting detail– The Indian Media Business, 3rd and 4th Editions,
and HBR Top-10 series, The End of Alchemy – Mervyn King {Ex Govnr of the BoE}, plus
a few others in my admittedly extensive collection.
The author has pulled out the essence of
The Mahatma in more ways than I would
care to comment; not only that - he has
gone further, drawing inferences based on solid verifiable facts that tend to
give a deep insight into The Mahatma. Thus, this was, for me, far more
important than the management aspects of the book - the learnings & insights the author has
laid out. But most critically, he has not
shied away from calling The Mahatma’s faults; he was, after all, a human being,
prone to error. These faults are not the ones some sections of the public
blame him for; they are basic errors he made. Thus the tome comes across as a
dispassionate factual analysis, making
it a gem.
Perhaps, what impressed me the most about Dr Surana's third book was the highly
nuanced and well-understood take on The Mahatma’s Economic, Political and other
Philosophical policies, views and statements. That is indeed a rare thing. This
is evident in the off-beat but highly accurate takes on The Mahatma littered throughout
the book. Most people have thought of The Mahatma’s philosophy as impractical;
here – the author has impressed by a controlled and critical examination,
admitting their current lack of utility, but at the same time highlighting the
positives that emanate from them. Thus, this becomes a treatise in thought, a
thought experiment on The Mahatma’s thought, as it were.
It is not my position that the author has
not made mistakes; such a human does not exist on this planet. But, when you
read and review a book, you have to look at the overall balance, as well as analyse
whether the negatives overshadow the positives or not. In this case, they do
not – the positives far outshadow and outnumber the negatives, which – so far
as I could see – number only 1 or 2 statements, both made on political
realities. That I can live with, for sure; especially given the innumerable
insights the book provides on Leadership, Economic Thought, CSR, Education and
more.
This is a book that leaves you wanting much
more; it could have been developed into a full-scale detailed examination of
The Mahatma’s policies, which have been needlessly panned in the Media and in
the public discourse. The Mahatma was never against Industrialisation for
example; he wanted a balance. Having read on The Mahatma quite a bit, this I am
aware of. He wanted education; he wanted livelihood for Rural India; and today,
more than ever, as the Urban-Rural & poverty divide gives mute testimony
to, he has been proven right. Perhaps we should have tried to listen to him a whole
lot more, and tried to discover ways to reduce the impracticailities of his
approach and apply the best of his thought, discovering a new method in the
interim. It is also a book that kindles deep thought…
70 years ago there was a man who gave an admittedly
impractical method, which we rejected as a people; today, globally, the path we
took as a planet stands discredited beyond doubt after sub-prime and climate crisis. Nowadays, questions - deep questions are being asked about Capitalism, Economics and more... to take an unrelated example, } in The
End Of Alchemy: Money, Banking and the Future of The Global Economy by Mervyn King – "as we learned how
inadequate our understanding of the financial system was. There is more to
managing the economy than hitting a target for consumer price inflation…" page 208. The
author is the former Governor, the Bank of England! At many other places in
that book are many scathing uncomfortable questions being raised; and he is
nowhere near being the only one to do so. I
think now, having admitted our current path is not right, is the time to reopen all alternative theories, and try and
arrive at a path that is more sustainable… full credit to the author for
bringing out the current book under review; may his tribe grow!
Comments
Post a Comment