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Things Converge

Reading these lines from Nandan Nilekani's Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation, gave me pause. I had to remind myself the author is talking about the average Indian politician and not the struggles of middle management in a large matrixed organization except they deal with performance review cycles that are no less predictable than an Indian election cycle: 

..an Indian politician for all his faults faces a complicated balancing act in our government, where the socialist ethos is still dominant. Being a legislator in this system means negotiating for money from both the central and the state governments; getting work out of an often reluctant bureaucracy; navigating an agenda through the various, often unconnected, state organizations; and of course meeting the demands of one’s constituents and somehow retaining power through our unpredictable election cycles. These various pulls and pressures mean that when it comes to policy the urgent wins over the important, tactic triumphs over strategy and patronage over public good.

Similar to the said Indian politician such operating environment often breeds deep cynicism. A middle manager may see no upside to a worthy idea someone brings forward. It does not help their cause enough and the time to value is just as long as a major infrastructure development might be for a up and coming minister from Uttarkhand aspiring for better things.

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