Disclaimer: This post is just food for thought. I don't have any plans to start a revolution. I am quite comfortable in my corporate environment and see the merits far outweigh the concerns. Also, this post is not intended to undermine those passionate achievers, entrepreneurs, leaders etc. who have caused a positive shift in human life. This post is for the larger majority of us who think we make a difference but in reality just add up to the numbers
The pandemic has got me thinking at levels I have not done in the past. Questioning the purpose of our existence, our actions. The fact that I read a bit of Harari's seminal work Sapiens in this period has also contributed to the thinking.
There is no doubt that the human race is at its most comfortable stage in its history. In terms of human suffering due to war, food shortage, poverty etc. we have made great progress as a collective. In terms of general comfort whether its toilets, running water, accessibility, a roof on our head, gadgets to make everyday life easier; the current human race has it all and things will only get better. There are challenges no doubt, of unequal distribution of wealth and resources, poverty, lack of freedom in pockets but all these have seen a reduction in last 100 years.
In my view, there are 3 large contributors to our current state. The first 2 are fairly obvious. The third needs some discussion
1.The industrial and scientific revolution and the mass appreciation of role of education and science in making human life far more easier
2. The role of democracy in allowing free thought, freedom to pursue your interests
3. The role of free markets and the emergence of the role of large corporations in making everything an economic decision.
The role of corporations in making the world more efficient and self-sufficient cannot be understated. Many areas get resolved when corporations come in. Large projects are executed, capacities created, bottlenecks resolved. Structural cost reduction, Structural demand generation (breakfast cereals??) etc. I have seen firsthand how the mandatory CSR spend requirement of the government in recent years has seen so much more professionalism and structural work being done in this space. Even the space of sustainability is driven by corporates seeing it to be of long term value. Electric cars are being made more efficient and economical by the day. Pharma companies continue to research in making more effective and cost effective drugs. Telecom is continuously trying to reduce cost, improve access. Start-ups are trying to identify gaps in the market and plug them with unique solutions. Every corporate is working on making itself larger, more productive, more cost efficient, more responsible. All this makes the world a better place to live. Many of us have created tremendous value through our corporations. Henry Ford, Dhirubhai Ambani, Steve Jobs and many more such legends have achieved greatness through the route of corporations.
How has this modern day corporation evolved. It was not a concept that existed 500 years ago. Yet today, many of these are larger than the economies of some of the countries of the world. And who knows, 50 years hence, people may be known by the corporation they represent rather than their country or race or religion.
But this is not the objective of my post. It was just context.
What is a corporation. A collection of people, driven by a common objective, creating a pool of assets and resources. People come and go, the objective remains, the resources increase. How has the modern day corporation managed to be so pervasive. An average human spends one third of his productive life dedicated to the service of a corporation. If you add time spent travelling, time spend preparing to become worthy (education, technical trainings etc.) to this, it may seem that the purpose of modern day life has become to be worthy of serving a corporation. Makes me wonder if we have conquered the hardships using corporations or converted hardships from the earlier ones to now serving corporations. Has the purpose of humans become serving corporations?
While at a whole, every organisation is striving for excellence, at the micro level it is doing this by creating a very high sense of purpose for its employees. Terms like vision, engagement, value creation, customer centricity and many more have got coined to capture, justify and rationalise everything we do in there. Banal pursuits become matters of life and death. High stress environments are created. The vision and purpose of the organisation and serving its customers becomes the purpose of existence of all its employees. I may be working for a cigarette manufacturer and killing my customer, but i have to make sure every single packet is made, supplied and sold as quickly, efficiently and creatively as if everyone's life and not death depends on it.
In some sense, isn't a modern corporation similar to a religious cult? Here we worship the customer, the shareholders profit and the corporations vision. Isn't it curtailing our freedom to do as we please? Doesn't it limit our actions, regiment us to think, talk and act in a particular manner?
Case in point is Messi. One of the greatest footballers ever, richest sportsperson of our times, loved by millions for the joy he has given to them with his skill. Stuck in a contract to play for a club he doesn't want to. If he opts out, his career is stuck in a legal battle where the only people who win are the legal corporations on both sides. With all his riches and fame, he is a slave to his situation due to the modern corporation.
The corporation has given us all an opportunity to create impact which we may never have done as individuals. However, it may still merit a thought if this justifies it becoming a purpose of existence.
Fundamentally, the purpose of all our existence is the same, the pursuit of happiness. How to achieve happiness may differ for each individual. In varying degrees, all of us have different things that make us happy. Some may get happy creating wealth, some by travelling, some teaching, some watching their children grow, some pursuing arts, some sports. However, the corporation regiments us. It tunes our thinking to make happiness equal to reward, and hence performance. Performance to meet the organisations vision, targets, KPIs. Of course this has caused tremendous human progress in last 200 years. It has created tremendous value, sustainable solutions for many problems, advanced technology. All of us have reaped the benefits of corporations in action. But then how do we balance the overriding influence the corporation has put on our worth and on our behaviour and our priorities?
Maybe, its time to for us to stop worshipping corporations and stop being corporate slaves. Or maybe, that time hasn't come yet. Lets just live for the weekend until then.
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