Change - agent? first learn to understand it - Part 1

My recent visit back home has been a catharsis of sorts. How? well let me share some perspectives over a series of writings all connected to the same theme.

I attended the quarterly meeting of the Lucknow Club where the topic of conversation was Acrobatics of Change. This is a new book written by Mr. Moid Siddiqui and Mr. R.H. Khwaja. I was fascinated by the topic and the fact that older people would be meeting to talk about change. Well, as you would have gathered I was skeptical of this discussion as I am convinced that it is the younger generation which is the harbinger of change and that the older generation is the one which steadfastly opposes it. Mr. Khwaja's speech and the following conversation was much more than what I expected. To get an opportunity to listen first hand to a person who managed change in an organization which employed over 5000 people and led to a transformation of not just a district but a complete national business entity was intriguing. Since my professional job involves encouraging change, managing it and at times initiating and leading it I was able to relate to the conversation and also contribute to it.

It was fascinating for me to get first hand insight into how good governance tends to be a change incubator and how an individual amongst the bureaucracy having the opportunity could break through the logjam and push reforms through. In fact come to think of it in my skepticism I had started overlooking the fact that in a country like India ( this would also hold good for world in general ) over the past many decades in spite of all the failures there have been many positive instances of massive change initiatives which have been successfully managed by the governments of the land.

We the young who are so steeped in the corporate culture and life tend to overlook the fact that change is the permanent aspect of the growth of a country and there are various arms of the establishment / system , a term which is a synonym for stability, which are trying every day to ensure the balance between preventing large scale disruptions and rapid development.