The Old Money Book

My apologies.

A family situation is keeping me occupied at present. I have not posted as regularly as I would have liked.

A few weeks ago (!) I came across the following article which addresses India’s future in particular, but can be applied to any person, community, or country. It explores culture, the work ethic, and their relationship to the fate of nations.

Interesting indeed…

Bhagvad Gita or Harvard: Why work ethic matters

The correlation between the number of hours of practice and expertise has long been recognised. Countries such as China, Japan and South Korea have proven it. India’s Gen Z will now have to dig deep to find the work ethic in its own cultural roots. That may be the only way forward

A recent interview with a widely respected corporate leader has sparked heated debate. A larger statement made on work culture and productivity has been taken out of context to focus solely on a suggestion of long work hours by the current generation for economic success and national growth. This has been criticised as being out of step with Generation Z’s life aspirations or work-life balance. Much newsprint, prime time, and social media have since been devoted to various views on the subject.

The 10,000 Hour Rule

Generation Z will, of course, make their own personal choices, which will determine the trajectory of their own future and that of the nation. But the wider relationship between time spent on a task and developing expertise has long been recognised. The “10,000 hour” rule, as articulated by author and thinker Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Outliers,” best summarises it. When discussing the Beatles, the most successful music band in history, he quotes John Lennon about the Beatles’ early days performing at a Hamburg club. “We had to play for eight hours. We got better and got more confidence. We couldn’t help it with all the experience of playing all night long. We had to try even harder, put our heart and soul into it .. in Liverpool, we’d only done one-hour sessions, and we just used to do our best numbers, the same ones, at every one. In Hamburg, we had to play for eight hours, so really had to find a new way of playing”. Gladwell then quotes neurologist Daniel Levitin: 

“The emerging picture from studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert in anything… in study after study of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again.”

Gladwell recognises, however, that practice alone is insufficient. Talent and opportunity are also required. One must be in the right place at the right time. By a stroke of fortune, India’s Generation Z is in the right place and at the right time. Does it have the perseverance and practice to seize the opportunity to make themselves and India an outperforming outlier in a bleak global scenario? 

Swami Vivekananda once advised a young generation to “take up one idea.” Make that one idea your life; dream of it, think of it, and live on that idea. Let the brain, the body, muscles, nerves, and every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.” In management jargon, it’s called self-actualization—becoming the best version of oneself. 

The big question, however, is: how does Generation Z choose to view its future? Is it the slavish drudgery of a mindless 70-hour work week or the endless possibilities and fulfillment of a smarter 10,000-hour mastery, expertise, and leadership?

What is true for individuals and groups is also true for nations. Culture is now recognised as an important factor in the political, institutional, and economic development of nations. According to Daniel Moynihan, a prominent American sociologist, “the central conservative truth is that culture, not politics, determines a society’s success. While the central liberal truth is that politics can both change and save a culture”.

There is a growing recognition that the economic success of each civilization’s nation-states is also based on their core shared cultural values. If the West’s economic growth has been attributed in large part to what German sociologist and economist Max Weber referred to as “the Protestant Ethic” for the rise of capitalism, China and much of East Asia’s more recent rise have been attributed to “Confucian values” such as thrift, hard work, and discipline.

Politics shaping culture and mass mobilisation have also played an important role in nation-states and their economic development trajectory. The rise of Japan, South Korea, and China in the modern era bears testimony to this. All tapped into the resurgence of a latent but strong work ethic in their societies. India, too, attempted to realise this central liberal truth through exhortations for mass mobilisation and improving work ethic and productivity, like “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” in the 1960s and the less successful “Garibi Hatao” in the 1970s. However, it soon entered an era when political capital became scarce, coalition governments survived on fractured arithmetic politics, and cynical electoral considerations were paramount.

Economic reforms in India began in 1991, but in an unfavourable political and cultural environment. As a result, reforms were shallow, and India was unable to fully capitalise on the opportunities of the time. India has elected a majority government at the Centre since 2014, allowing for political stability and a long-term view of India’s development needs. During this time, the need for reviving and mobilising its culture’s latent work ethic has become apparent, and tentative, if symbolic, steps toward the evolution of an all-inclusive cultural mobilisation have also occurred.

However, it is also true that modern politics, whether socialist-secularism or religious-nationalism, has been unable to reconcile the long-term imperative of a unifying development narrative with the short-term incentives of political parties winning votes by pandering to multiple identities and interest groups.  The challenge of transformative mass mobilisation to address India’s deep-rooted socio-cultural issues that impede its development remains. It is these challenges that Gen Z will have to face in the lead-up to the nation’s centenary celebrations in 2047. A national narrative for a unifying work ethic that draws upon India’s civilizational ethos would go a long way in crafting a new and inclusive mass mobilisation that would harness both conservative and liberal truths for the development of the country.

Getting To A Strong Work Ethic

It is a line of cultural thought that is supported by Landes in his analysis of socio-cultural characteristics that influence economic development “You want high productivity? Then you should live to work and get happiness as a by-product. Not easy. The people who live to work are a small and fortunate elite. But it is an elite open to newcomers, self-selected, the kind of people who accentuate the positive. In this world, the optimists have it, not because they are always right but because they are positive. Even when wrong, they are positive, and that is the way of achievement, correction, improvement, and success. Educated, eyes-open optimism pays; pessimism can only offer the empty consolation of being right.”

Or more simply, as Lord Krishna advised Arjuna in the Bhagvad Gita (Chapter 2, Verse 47), “Karmanye vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana, Ma Karmaphalaheturbhurma Te Sangostavakarmani”. You have the right to work only, but never to its fruits. Let not the fruits of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction”.

Harvard or the Bhagvad Gita, both pose a question for Gen Z to ponder. It is also not only about the hours put into a task but also how smartly and productively they are used. A strong work ethic and productivity are not a zero-sum game in a stagnant pond, but a rising tide that holds out the promise to lift all boats in the sea of personal, professional, and national development. Clearly, cultivating positive cultural attitudes for the future will matter more than we think it will.

Sandeep Hasurkar is an ex-investment banker and author of `Never Too Big To Fail: The Collapse of IL&FS’.

Of course, I now have some questions for you:

Does America still have its work ethic? Or does it need a new one that is more reflective of today’s society?

Does America need a new ‘unifying narrative’ that cuts across politics, race, and socioeconomic barriers to give us a new national purpose? If so, what would that be?

Do you think we can learn something from the work ethic found in other countries?

Please have a wonderful holiday season. Happy New Year. Be safe.

I’ll be back in 2024.

• BGT