East is East

I went yesterday to the annual lunch of the Kipling Society in London and it brought to mind one of his most famous/infamous poems. If there’s one thing that Asians, especially Indians, of my acquaintance know by Rudyard Kipling, it’s

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,

And many know the next line of this verse

Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great judgement seat;

Clear evidence (if any were needed) of Kipling’s fundamental racism?

Yet very few seem to know the next two lines

But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!

Puts a different complexion on it, doesn’t it? I think the most he might be accused of is sexism (a concept not articulated in 1889).

In effect, what Kipling is saying is: people think that major cultural differences are impossible to bridge, but in reality, when there is trust and respect, these differences are of no importance.

Of course, he was born in Bombay and Hindi was his initial language. One of my favourite books, regularly re-read, is Kim, a sort of love-letter to India and the Indians.

Innovation and Islam

I spoke recently about innovation at a conference (organised by Continuum) of family businesses from the Middle East.

Many issues were raised by the delegates, but there was one that seemed to hang in the air unspoken. And it was this: does Islam itself have a dampening effect on innovation?

I have thought about this a good deal in the intervening days – and my tentative answer is that any dampening effect springs not so much from Islam, but rather from the very hierarchical nature of Middle Eastern society. And, of course, this is so often strongly present in family businesses.

After all, Islam is alone among the major religions of the world in having been founded by a trader. And the Koran is supportive of success in business – quite unlike the New Testament, which has practically nothing positive to say about the creation of wealth.

The powerful presence of respect for elders, within a command and control culture, always has a negative impact on the expression of new thinking and new ideas. This is true in all societies where hierarchy is a primary force – in Russia, China, India, the Middle East and elsewhere.

If these countries wish to grow dramatically in their capacity to innovate – which they all do – the question in my mind is not so much how to reduce hierarchy in general, but how to create situations where it is temporarily removed, so that people can express new ideas without fear of reprisal.

Innovation in India

The dramatic growth in the Indian economy, and with it the reduction of poverty and the emergence of millions into the “middle class”, is extraordinarily heartening.

My work in India and with Indians over many years has shown that entrepreneurship is right at the heart of the culture. In America, Indians are expected to be extremely rich. According to my friend Alyque Padamsee’s experience in Houston, on learning that he was Indian, a taxi driver asked Alyque (above), “Are you a billionaire?”

Of course, the cost base is still relatively low and educational levels high. Plus there’s so much energy deployed, physical and intellectual. So will growth continue unrestricted into the foreseeable future?

A factor that I envision becoming more and more of a barrier is the extremely hierarchical social structure, which operates within companies as elsewhere. In an article in Market Leader magazine (Summer 2008), Jitender Dabas wrote: “[Indians] either look up or down at other people; there cannot be a third way.”

I notice that in meetings Indians are reluctant to speak until they know the boss’s point of view on the topic at hand. And even then they are reluctant to contradict, even a little.

If change does not come about, this aspect of the culture will become a major block to innovation. And the ability to innovate will become more and more important, as people costs rise.