Fundamentals for a new age

Sudhakar Ram, chairman, Mastek, is putting together a collaborative book.

There are people, actually CEOs, who collect, maybe, stamps. Some others play golf or take up photography or do something which is really all about self-gratification, and an affirmation of being deserving of me-time. Sudhakar Ram, chairman and managing director, Mastek, has a larger and more ambitious pastime. Ram is looking at re-defining what he calls “the fundamental constructs of our life”. He says, “The Industrial Age has run its course. Therefore, we need new constructs. We still have various beliefs that are rooted in the Industrial Age.” Practicing what he hopes to preach, Ram has set up a website, www.thenewconstructs.com where he engages with people on seven core beliefs. He also does this on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and so on, and will compile a book based on these online interactions.

A “collaborative” book, according to Ram, is the answer as “no one person can have all the answers”. He continues, “The idea is to raise a level of awareness of a world beyond the Industrial Age.” The seven key beliefs that Ram is hoping to challenge are: success, learning, work, consumption, wellness, governance and globalisation. Explaining some of these key constructs, Ram says, “The definition of success is unidimensional. Just GDP growth or other such markers, whether at an individual, corporate or national level, doesn’t mean that everyone is happy. We need to relook at success.”

Warming up to his theme, Ram says, “Our concept of work too is outdated. Today work is about a job. During the hunter- gatherer phase, people worked to a certain rhythm. The Agrarian Age had a certain rhythm, the Industrial Age had a certain rhythm and now, the next age will have to have a different rhythm.” India, feels Ram, is well suited to be at the forefront of this change. Ram’s point of view on this is, “Like many Indians went straight to using mobiles and skipped landlines altogether, here too, the Industrial Age didn’t really take root.” The US, on the other hand, feels Ram, is less likely to let go the Industrial Age beliefs and way of life as the country’s economy embodies that period.

Says Ram, “The thought leaders on this issue are on the fringes in the US.”

Ram, an IIM Calcutta alumnus, has had no difficulty in finding supporters for this amorphous point of view. “My batchmates from IIM have been very supportive, and didn’t find it hard to grasp the concept. When I started to think about it four months ago, I thought people would find it difficult to understand and relate to,” Ram says with some surprise. Closer home, his wife has been his biggest supporter, as well as being one among a small group of people who act as sounding boards for Ram.

“The co-founders of Mastek”, says Ram, “have been very supportive.” Ram uses his weekend for travelling to different parts to meet people who are already living the seven key constructs. His wife usually accompanies him, making it easier for Ram to devote time to his passion. After personally meeting with the case studies, a video is uploaded on the site showcasing their work and ideas. “There are already several people who are managing to do and make these constructs a reality,” says Ram. He mentions an XLRI graduate who became a Buddhist monk and travelled all over the world with no money and ate only one meal a day. His aim then and now is to spread happiness. There is another case study of an Oil India executive who gave up his corporate career and returned to his village and in a matter of just eight years made it completely self-sufficient. Is that scaleable?

“Scaleability is an Industrial Age idea,” counters Ram, “everything doesn’t need to be scaleable.”

The idea to showcase these case studies is to “inspire, and to create an ecosystem of support that will be a catalyst of change”. Aware that human beings aren’t always happy about change especially tectonic ones, Ram says realistically, “I expect this change to take at least a generation or two.” To further keep this connected conversation going, to keep new ideas and solutions emerging, Ram intends to embark at some point on a lecture tour which is aimed at college students.

Such tours will, he feels, “start a movement of change”. Ram is also working on a set of tools that will define words like success.

Ram, whose career trajectory — be it getting through a prestigious institute like IIM Calcutta or creating a large IT company — can only be defined as being successful, says that personally too, he defines success differently. He says, “My personal idea is to be able to make a small difference for India. I want to make a social impact on this country.”

Next on Ram’s agenda is going to be education. He is looking at different, already existing models of education, and is hopeful of being able to identify one that will tackle the problem of primary education in India. “The task at hand in primary education”, he admits, “is daunting, whichever way you look at it.” Not one to be deterred by that, Ram is hopeful that the “blind optimism” with which he and his partners started Mastek will see him through what he hopes to achieve outside his work.