History, as we are aware, is divided into eras and ages – pre-historic age, medieval age, anglo-saxon era, the industrial age and so many others. Within these larger definitions, there exists many other demarcations of time punctuated by more micro events or phenomenon. In the context of the Indian economy, for example, the years after 1991 are referred to as the “post liberalization” era – a period of rapid economic growth (compared to the first four decades after independence) since the opening up of the economy to foreign investment in several sectors in 1991.
Socially, I believe, we could well call this the “Age of Ambition” for India. On that fateful August night in 1947 when India became independent, Jawaharlal Nehru said “A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance”. While we are still debating whether the soul of the nation truly shed its shackles that night, we are more unanimous in accepting that the “animal spirit of India’s economy” (as the current Prime Minister called it recently) was unleashed in 1991. Since then, there has been no looking back – roads have been paved, airports expanded, houses built, cars bought and lifestyles have been upgraded at a pace unprecedented in human history. If there is one characteristic that defines almost everyone I know today, it is “ambition”. It is as if a billion people have jumped on to a juggernaut of ambition and aspiration and there is no stopping them now. I am very much on the bandwagon too. Who wants to miss the bus, especially if it is a bus on the road to prosperity? After running the proverbial rat race for many years, couple of months ago I paused to ask myself what ambition really means.
In my quest to find the answer, I indulged in a social experiment. On a recent trip to Delhi, when I had the opportunity to speak to some 10-15 young professionals (all in the first 1 – 3 years of their career), I asked them that million dollar question (I told you, I am ambitious. In my world, if it is a tough question, answering it should come with a large monetary reward); I asked them what was their ambition? If I met them twenty years later and all their dreams had come true, what would they be?
The answers were mostly what I had anticipated. In twenty years’ time, people wanted to be heads of departments, CEOs and CXOs, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and things of that sort. One person said his ambition was to be happy – that perplexed me a bit and triggered some thoughts (a blog on that some other day) but everything else that people said were the kind of ambitions I had for myself.
Aided by that initial input, I built upon the hypothesis and tossed a second question at the group – I asked them to think of a person they knew whom they greatly respected and write down the reasons why they respected the person. After everyone had a few minutes to do the exercise, I asked them to share what they had written with the rest of us. There was no pattern in the people they respected – some respected family members, some friends, sometimes it was a colleague, a teacher and so on. But there was a distinct pattern in the reasons why they thought someone was worthy of respect. Almost all the attributes were related to human qualities and values – knowledge, humility, open mindedness, dedication to a cause, honesty and integrity, ability to work hard, ability to inspire and motivate others, commitment to family and friends and things of that sort.
And then came the moment of enlightenment for all of us – how is it that there was such a large gap between what we wanted to be and what we respected in others? How is it that what we respect in people are values and human qualities but what we want for ourselves are all to do with a narrow definition of career success? No one seems to respect another person just because the other person lives in a villa or drives a fancy car; why then are all our plans about how we can own a villa and a fancy car? The evening was soon over. We left the room with a resolve (no, we didn’t decide to renounce all worldly pleasures!), we said we would think more deeply about the concept of ambition so that one day we are able to become the kind of people we respect.
It has been a few months since that discussion, yet the thoughts it provoked stayed with me and led to this blog. People who are in my age group are at a point in time in our lives when we are thinking about what our goals in life are and how do we go about achieving them. Some are even parents and sowing the early seeds of ambition and career planning in their children. While we are at it, I hope we don’t miss the wood for the trees. That is to say, I hope we don’t define our life’s ambition by an insufficient barometer of career success but instead we aspire to become people who are worthy of respect and whom our friends and family can be proud of.
Socially, I believe, we could well call this the “Age of Ambition” for India. On that fateful August night in 1947 when India became independent, Jawaharlal Nehru said “A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance”. While we are still debating whether the soul of the nation truly shed its shackles that night, we are more unanimous in accepting that the “animal spirit of India’s economy” (as the current Prime Minister called it recently) was unleashed in 1991. Since then, there has been no looking back – roads have been paved, airports expanded, houses built, cars bought and lifestyles have been upgraded at a pace unprecedented in human history. If there is one characteristic that defines almost everyone I know today, it is “ambition”. It is as if a billion people have jumped on to a juggernaut of ambition and aspiration and there is no stopping them now. I am very much on the bandwagon too. Who wants to miss the bus, especially if it is a bus on the road to prosperity? After running the proverbial rat race for many years, couple of months ago I paused to ask myself what ambition really means.
In my quest to find the answer, I indulged in a social experiment. On a recent trip to Delhi, when I had the opportunity to speak to some 10-15 young professionals (all in the first 1 – 3 years of their career), I asked them that million dollar question (I told you, I am ambitious. In my world, if it is a tough question, answering it should come with a large monetary reward); I asked them what was their ambition? If I met them twenty years later and all their dreams had come true, what would they be?
The answers were mostly what I had anticipated. In twenty years’ time, people wanted to be heads of departments, CEOs and CXOs, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and things of that sort. One person said his ambition was to be happy – that perplexed me a bit and triggered some thoughts (a blog on that some other day) but everything else that people said were the kind of ambitions I had for myself.
Aided by that initial input, I built upon the hypothesis and tossed a second question at the group – I asked them to think of a person they knew whom they greatly respected and write down the reasons why they respected the person. After everyone had a few minutes to do the exercise, I asked them to share what they had written with the rest of us. There was no pattern in the people they respected – some respected family members, some friends, sometimes it was a colleague, a teacher and so on. But there was a distinct pattern in the reasons why they thought someone was worthy of respect. Almost all the attributes were related to human qualities and values – knowledge, humility, open mindedness, dedication to a cause, honesty and integrity, ability to work hard, ability to inspire and motivate others, commitment to family and friends and things of that sort.
And then came the moment of enlightenment for all of us – how is it that there was such a large gap between what we wanted to be and what we respected in others? How is it that what we respect in people are values and human qualities but what we want for ourselves are all to do with a narrow definition of career success? No one seems to respect another person just because the other person lives in a villa or drives a fancy car; why then are all our plans about how we can own a villa and a fancy car? The evening was soon over. We left the room with a resolve (no, we didn’t decide to renounce all worldly pleasures!), we said we would think more deeply about the concept of ambition so that one day we are able to become the kind of people we respect.
It has been a few months since that discussion, yet the thoughts it provoked stayed with me and led to this blog. People who are in my age group are at a point in time in our lives when we are thinking about what our goals in life are and how do we go about achieving them. Some are even parents and sowing the early seeds of ambition and career planning in their children. While we are at it, I hope we don’t miss the wood for the trees. That is to say, I hope we don’t define our life’s ambition by an insufficient barometer of career success but instead we aspire to become people who are worthy of respect and whom our friends and family can be proud of.
