Who decided to put Feta in our salad?

Greece - a soap opera, was building up since few years & is now finally the first page headline in all mainstream Indian newspapers.

We learned that the earlier 'No' referendum of Greece, was akin to just a lady's sulk for not being allowed to spend; she actually just wanted more attention & not a divorce. Had the German-man actually left her alone after the 'dead'-line, he too would have gone wife-less life-less & hit a self goal, with the possibility of triggering a financial meltdown Part -2 ( recall Lehman Brothers scripted the 1st one).

What German-man and the other chief global village elders ( namely the troika comprising of - European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund & European Union ) came out as a compromise instead is, that Madam Greece can live in the same Euro-house, but her spending habits will be severely curtailed and controlled, including her credit card limits. She will now go to her mom's home i.e. the Greek parliament for approval, and he too, to gain confidence will go seek an okay from those in his dad's mansion i.e. the German parliament.

It is likely that family members of both will agree & then unhappily they will live thereafter, till the next mood swings happen. That's when the status will get elevated from being just unhappy, to unhealthy - speaking financially. The gloom shall then spread across the global village.

The manner in which the compromise between the players happened, is noteworthy and gives us great insight into decision making. 

The saga of the Greek tragedy had been going on for so long & yet when the time came ... again, the European leaders met for 9 long hours on the Saturday before Monday D-day and found no solution on Greece, as if the Greek problem fell from the sky, suddenly. Sunday, they resumed the closed door huddle and continued through the night. Then they came out with a just-in-time 'solution'; which is exactly opposite of a great bargain - all parties returned home feeling less satisfied. How long thiz lasts, is to be seen.

This got me thinking - why?

I start with a ponder - is Status Quo, the other name for God?

  

For it seems to me that at the very kernel of all big decisions, there is either greed or fear. For Greek one, they have certainly acted out of fear of failure & not through courage of conviction.

Decision making is complex & thus esoteric in nature & so one cannot hope to resolve it with a committee of stakeholders. The reason is, all big decision are precedence setting & likely to become future citation and reference points and so even when problems are born today, their proposed solutions could have far reaching consequences in the future. This requires that such problem solving decisions be taken by the visionary, who are willing to let go the immediate gain for future security.

 

Oppz.. Democracy often strikes where it hurts the most. And then, who is to decide on who are the enlightened ones?

The easiest answer is, all stakeholders must decide. Greek imbroglio disproves that - disproportionately so. Stakeholders can be the beneficiaries, not benevolent decision makers.

Getting the desired decision, when all stakeholders are consulted, for most part, remains elusive - be it politics or business. Typically, a committee decides to not decide.

A committee is a group of people who individually can do nothing, but who, as a group, can meet and decide that nothing can be done - Fred Allen

Not all persons are Mahatmas. Much of 'decision by concensus' is found only in management books, a theory made popular by western academic fellows, citing the more surer Japanese way of doing things. The college professors say it works.

Doze it?

Well, it is more of romanticism than a fact, besides the Japanese innate culture of severe discipline is a prerequisite, not found easily elsewhere in the world. Here I mean, the cultural discipline of not speaking out of turn, no matter what & the unlimited capacity to suffer from abundance of politeness, if I may.

Having said so, the Japanese parliamentarians have in the past got down to blows & fists and Japanese economy today has one of the highest debt to GDP ratio in the world - over 300 % !  The Greek ratio is only 175 %, but unlike the Japanese, they have no control on printing of the Euro currency notes. Further, the Japanese politicians of the last 2 decade, are infamous of stitching up governments that run more on coalition of convenience than those that produce projects of purpose.

The Japanese economy has been in a state of funk since the 90s bubble burst.

The problem with democracy - long dubbed the least evil form of governance & not the best, is that it is in direct conflict with human nature.

Let us, for argument sake forget the evil side of the human nature & it's possibility of becoming corrupted.

People by nature, tend to "take a stand where they sit" i.e. they simply won't  budge from a previously publicly stated position. That is because it is one's psychic, genetic and environmental-istic make up that is summoned upon when one has to decide and that is too deep and different for each individual. Worse, if they do change, say after a better wisdom dawns upon them, they are seen as - weak, fickle, wavering or defector by a certain camp. Pressing the " un-do" button is just that much more difficult. Still worse, most won't easily admit that they have no opinion or not enough research at their disposal to make an informed vote. They let the interpersonal relationships get in the way and side the, let's just say - the friendly side.

With all equals in the room, once any mouth in the room opens & speaks, entropy is unleashed.

Majority can never win, as mediocrity loses in the long-term. Only the brave and the enlightened few can produce anything beautiful but unfortunately lose out in the numbers game of democratic voting, be it elections, law making or board room.

For all its flaws, empires lasted for centuries and so did the caste system through generations without any stigma. Even professions and business as we know today, went from great grandparents to great grandchildren. Then there was no law, only order. Many were called upon to consult but all knew who decided.

Today, we have law but not necessarily order.

After a little over a few decades, since the concept of 'management by consensus' took shape, joint irresponsibility is on public display & almost every nation and mega institution is stressed.

Today, if a company lasts for 40 years (working life of a healthy human - start to retirement ) in it's original form, it will be considered as an achievement rather than the expected norm. The less said about parliamentary consensus, the better.

We cannot turn the clock backwards, but I certainly know that what we have now is a recipe for many more Greek tragedies.

Ah Globalization !

Looking at the current global circumstances, India looks like a safe haven.

Bolo Bharat Mata Ki ..Jai Only Please !