“We can’t predict when. But given the continual emergence of new pathogens, the increasing risk of a bioterror attack, and how connected our world is through air travel, there is a significant probability of a large and lethal, modern-day pandemic occurring in our lifetimes.” said Bill Gates, on April 27, 2018, delivering the Shattuck Lecture for Massachusetts Medical Society. He wasn’t the only one to predict COVID 19. Medical professionals across the world, have been trying to warn us about a pandemic, for years now. Apparently even film makers knew about it — the chilling similarity between the 2011 released ‘Contagion’ and what’s happening now, has been a favourite Lockdown Zoom discussion.
Yet, millions of people have been affected by COVID 19, Lakhs have died and the counter is ticking at an alarming rate. According to New York Times, March 2020 issue, other than a handful of organisations, like Microsoft, which urged its employees to work from home as early as March first week, very few responded, even when the virus was knocking at their door.
What makes humans not heed evidence which points at their own destruction? Is short term thinking making us endanger our own species?
Profit Motive- the case of ITC
Triple bottom-line- people, planet, profit — reporting has been done by leading organisations since John Elkington pointing the ‘simple logic’ of it, in 1994 . It can be argued that traditional organisations, which have been around for 100 years and have set business and operating models, will have to take a huge hit on profit, if they start changing it to look at people and planet outcomes. Interestingly, a lot of them have turned around and continued to prosper. An example is ITC group of companies which started operations in India, in 1910 and is now a 50 billion USD company, present all over the world. ITC has many firsts to its name, in the area of sustainability. 41 percent of its energy requirements are met through renewable sources. ITC has been been a leader in multiple industries, and is also leading the way on how to achieve sustainable growth. ITC talks and walks ‘Badhein sab ke saath’ — roughly translating to ‘Let’s move forward, together, with every one’. This tenet coupled with their motto ‘India First’, has led to them to create 60 lakh sustainable livelihoods, especially in the tier 2–3 cities. Their e-choupal program, watershed development, sustainable agriculture interventions help in strengthening rural incomes. And it feeds right back into the business, as they can be employed in ITC’s large range of businesses and supplier companies, as well as become customers, especially for their Agri-business. It’s a win-win for all stakeholders.
ITC’s long term thinking is amply clear in the way the businesses have integrated their value chains. An example is its Agri Business. It has focussed on building capabilities of the farmer, empowering her/him to produce more efficiently, contributing to the supply chain of ITC’s food business, more effectively. This also feeds into their Hotel and speciality restaurant chain. ITC’s technology business provides the required technical support to all its businesses, including to the farmers.
ITC hotels is the Greenest chain of Luxury hotels in the world. All their hotels are LEED ( Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design –https://www.usgbc.org/cert-guide) certified which is a global green building certification. Their tagline ‘Responsible Luxury’ captures their focus on ensuring that customers experience delight but not at the cost of Planet and Society. Discerning travellers are choosing responsibly and that makes ITC hotels a world renowned brand, with an expanding customer base.
ITC has constantly strived to keep its view at the long term goal of ‘Adding value to India’. It has aligned its businesses, group companies, supply chains and other stakeholders under this overarching target. This acts like a cohesive bond that brings the company together and enables it to respond to future demands and uncertainty, swiftly.
Again, fairly simple logic and yet evading majority of large organisations in the world, who have the wherewithal to take a short term reduction in profit, for long term gains.
According to McKinsey and Company, organisations that have ‘purpose’ at the ‘core’ of their business, will be able to emerge out of crisis situations faster, as they did after the 2008 Financial Market crash and as is expected, after this Corona crisis.
Looking at both individuals and groups, we find action being taken to make things better by some. They seem to have the required understanding of facts and the ability to connect dots to look at success in future. But how do we explain indifference by those who have the facts, can connect the dots and still don’t act?
Present Bias, Peer and Leader pressure
Could it be Present Bias, at play?
Last year’s Economics Nobel Laureates — Banerjee, Duflo and Kremer, have used this concept to explain why smallholders in Africa, refused to use better agriculture techniques, even when made available at a favourable or no price. The fact that it would improve yield, was not questionable. We can see present bias in many activities we do. Like postponing that health check-up or delaying a financial investment, fully aware that it would lead to long term benefits.
While working with the government school system, I have seen Present Bias demonstrated at multiple levels. Teachers of lower grades were happy to ‘Teach to the Test’, so that the students pass the exams, set centrally by government bodies. Students seemed equally pleased to only spend effort on the few questions which would get them marks in the test. Learning became increasingly difficult each year for such students as their fundamental concepts were flawed. When the same teacher got rotated to a higher grade, she realised how short-sighted her methods were. Her students stopped getting the marks that they got in the lower grades. As a consequence, such teachers were sent back to lower grades and not allowed to move up. Little does the system realise that the problem starts at the lower grades — where concepts are being built.
Could it be apathy towards the students, which make the teachers behave this way? Maybe they just don’t care about what happens to them and have only taken on this noble profession, for money. Unfortunately, I have met teachers like that. But fortunately, I have met more honest, hard working teachers for every indifferent one. Along with present bias, I have seen another factor play out — peer and leaders’ behaviour.
Between two schools with similar locations, student profiles and other variables, the one with a leader who believes in working on improving students’ lives, has better pedagogy in the classrooms. You see that in organisations all the time. Anand Mahindra talks relentlessly about ‘Alternativism’ and ‘Futurise’ in almost every public address. Consequently, his immediate leadership team imbibe these concepts and it has now percolated down to the engineer at the assembly line, rolling out their cars.
Conclusion
In his book ‘The Great Derangement — Climate change and the Unthinkable’, Amitav Ghosh asks, without mincing any words — Are we Deranged?
Reflecting on our collective response to disasters and inexplicable ability to learn from them to prevent future ones, it would appear we are. Or maybe just entirely incapable of joining the dots, making sense of data and thinking long-term.
