This article is about
Entrepreneurship in its contemporary form. It is NOT about the shamefully few
examples of ecologically beneficial and socially equitable, effective problem solving
or about the positive act of initiating change.
I read this on a website today, “Entrepreneurship is living
a few years of your life like most people won’t, so you can spend the rest of
your life like most people can’t. ”
Entrepreneurship is supposed to save us. Social
entrepreneurship is supposed to save the planet. Taking initiative and starting
your own business is supposed to make you stand out, prove that you’re better
than all the other lazy people out there who just follow orders. This is the
culture surrounding us these days. And it’s pathetic.
Until a few years ago (and even now in many places),
technology was hailed as the great saviour. Give poor people a computer and they’ll
be happy, developed and satisfied. Nuclear power will give us all the energy we
could ever need. Cancer cures and the hydrogen car are just around the corner…
they’ll make all our troubles go away.
Now people have realized the problem is deeper. So if
machines can’t do it, maybe people can. How? Give them a small loan so they can
prototype that little invention they always wanted to. Get the seed capital,
iterate the design, and release the product to the market. Keep growing till
you’re successful, whatever that means. There, life set. Money, respect, fame
and material wealth – all yours if you have the determination to follow your
gut and don’t give up.
Every age has men engaged in one or the other quest in order
to prove their worth and gain respect in the society – the approval of other
men. The concept of honour in this case, is a closed loop of bestowing
appreciation between the individual and the collective, with no concern for
anything beyond(either smaller or larger than) this two part system. Once there
were warriors, priests and kings. Then scientists and finally the lamest most
superficial of the lot – businessmen.
The respect that we subconsciously associate with certain
images is a tremendously powerful force. It’s a kind of heavy undercurrent to
all our thought processes and social interaction. There was this simple
experiment on a TV show recently, where a man goes around giving fake news to
people in a mall. The first time, he dresses up in a suit and tie, plus a fake
cameraman beside him. The next time he has a t shirt and jeans on, no camera. The
difference in the people’s responses was so huge. Each and every person
stopped, listened, thought and shared a carefully worded opinion on the crazy
news story (Texas is becoming a new country), in the first instance. The second
time, people didn’t come closer than 5ft, made faces and ridiculed our guy.
This was maybe a funny example. But the effect is stark. Our
mind automatically attributes a whole lot of respect to anyone wearing so
called formal attire. Everyday we see people drastically change their behaviour
in the company of strangers in business wear. The assumption here – that a
person wearing shoes, a suit and tie is to be taken seriously, his/her words
are to be believed, and (most importantly) going against anything he/she says
must be seriously wrong - is rarely acknowledged, let alone spoken out.
Misplaced respect is a sickness of the world. The notion
that businesses must be allowed to flourish and anyone who says otherwise is an
‘obstacle’ to the ‘smooth’ working of the economy, is a toxic thought
processes. It disgusts me to no end. We run the whole world based on it. It is
the reason we are force fed GM food, forced to breathe toxic air and drink
water with heavy metals in it. The all encompassing, loving and nourishing
Mother Nature is an obstacle in their smooth workings, apparently. Sick.
One of the fundamental differences in material flows in
nature and in man made industry is that one is cyclical and the latter is
linear. So in Nature, there are no raw materials and wastes. Everything is
flowing and so everything is ONE in space as well as in time. There are no starting points until we label them as such,
and no ends. In the linear business model however, there is a staring point;
and since the economy is based on continuous growth there is no fixed end point
assumed. It is a classic case of the fear of death, manifesting as a refusal to
accept any scale that measures happiness from zero to ten(finite, contentment);
and instead always going for zero to infinity. If one’s goal is defined as
growth itself, there is no mathematical end point, but several ecological, social
and physical ones. So the end is inevitable as always. But since we are
uncomfortable with it, we invented a deathless entity called the corporation, the
firm, the business. Mathematically and legally, it doesn’t die.
We are a global people obsessed with extremes. That godforsaken maggi HAD to
come back. Our taste buds and far too numb for normal food. Anything in
moderation isn’t good enough. Extremes are the only tangible options to us. So
if one extreme is abhorred, feared and detested, the other must be loved,
talked about, and glorified. Enter Entrepreneurship. As long as there are
enough people starting businesses,
there will be success and prosperity and those other few words that no one
understands. YAWN. I don’t know if our civilization even deserves to be called
adolescent. I mean children have more sense than this. Anyway, we are obsessed
with starting businesses, just as we are obsessed with starting relationships.
No one knows or wants to know how to maintain anything or, horror of horrors-
gracefully end anything.
I would love to see people actually come forward to say “I
want to end a business!”. As Bertrand Russel says, far too much damage is done
in the world by saying that work is virtuous. Business is not virtuous; indeed
most businesses on Earth right now are the complete opposite. And no, this does
not mean we can’t earn money or solve problems. A functional world existed
before the concept of a deathless corporation, and shall exist once again, although
differently.
Entrepreneurship is not a new idea. It’s the shit of the
last century packed in a new word. Don’t fall for it. Inventions are not needed
to make the world better, nor is money or technology. You don’t need a lot of
intelligence, any talent or gift or ability. A willingness to get your hands dirty
is all there is. Or feet if you don’t have hands. Or if you don't have those also then just a mind that can
communicate; or even one that wants to but can’t. Where there’s a will, things
will happen.
So the next time someone is introduced as a businessperson
or entrepreneur, hold off the urge to give a damn. Pause your thoughts. Ask
them what they do, get to know their story. Ask them the uncomfortable questions
about how many people choke in Delhi or how many children work in sweatshops in
order for them to be successful. Ask them what’s the point of wearing a suffocating
suit, shoes and tie in a hot tropical country like India and then switching ON
the AC because they feel extra hot. Slap them. Ok maybe not that. But you get
the point.
Look
for the ones with grace in their answers, compassion in their gaze, and
patience in their voice. Look for God in the details.
