Let Us Salute Narayana Murthy

No great achievement or discovery or invention has been achieved without hard work.

While the inspiration may have been an insight, it needs work to flesh the insight which requires hard work, asserts Mudit Jain.

At the recent CNBC Global Leadership Summit, Infosys Co-Founder N R Narayana Murthy's innocuous comment on work and work life balance lead to a furore with many people castigating him for encouraging Indians to over work and only focus on work disregarding everything else.

Let's first re-read what Mr Murthy said before reaching conclusions.

To summarise, Mr Murthy reiterated his resolve of hard work, being a personal living example of it in his Infosys days as a CEO, and adding that there is no substitute to hard work.

Despite being intelligent, he said one needs to put in efforts that contribute to a nation's progress.

Quoting K V Kamath who said 25 years ago that India is a poor country with a lot of challenges, that to get a life, we have to first get a life and then worry about work life balance.

The same holds true too even today.

Mr Murthy also added that when our prime minister can work 100 hours per work, we have to match and show solidarity by putting in our efforts too of working 70 hours a week.

Mr Murthy remains steadfast and firm in his views despite the criticism it has caused Finally, Mr Murthy added that India's progress depends on its citizens' willingness to make sacrifices and he views hard work as an obligation rather than a personal value, especially for those who have benefitted from India's publicly funded education system.

Re-reading Mr Murthy's comments shows the transparency of his thoughts and his own personal example of sacrifice and hard work to achieve success from scratch.

This makes Mr Murthy not only very credible but also very consistent in his thinking and not changing it despite the clamour of voices against over-working Indians.

Finally, Mr Murthy also gives cogent examples of other leaders including the prime minister who walk the talk with their hard work and long hours.

To me, Mr Murthy not only gets a complete clean chit but also his sane advice should be heeded by all.

However, there will always be critics and many more sides to a view.

Personally speaking, coming from a business industrialist family, I remember my grandfather saying he used to work 18 hour days and my father and uncles used to stay at the factories than at the head office in Mumbai while my third generation had it easy.

Now there are so many distractions that one is working less which was unthinkable in our parents' and grandparents' generations where one celebrated with new clothes and gifts on Diwali once a year.

Now it is all year shopping and travelling.

In doing so, we have lost our values to being affluent.

My friend put it very well saying, "We got what we wanted but we lost what we had."

Hard work never kills anyone.

The adage, 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop' is a very practical truism.

Indiscipline and bad attitude is what is plaguing our workplace.

Toxic culture of bad bosses and mental and sexual harassment where a person uses his or her power and position to bully people at lower levels is what is the problem and not hard work.

The Japanese culture of etiquette and discipline is extolled as a virtue the world over.

A protestant work ethic in the Western and developed world are what got them there in the first place whereas Third World countries are plagued by bad governance and a poor work ethic.

The trade theory of comparative advantage which says countries make and do things in which they have a cost advantage has given way to countries having good governance are doing well.

What must be attacked are toxic work practices and not hard work and long hours per se.

People working in the financial markets and consulting the world over have to put in very long hours and 12 hour days are common and with constant travel and deadlines.

Likewise is the case in many service sectors like advertising and event management where last minute deadlines have to be met.

People are handsomely rewarded for their actions but it does take a toll on their health and personal lives.

Like workers on the shop floor who deal with the noise and the dust, office work is also a health hazard and leads to lifestyle diseases, an equaliser for the haves to the have nots.

No great achievement or discovery or invention has been achieved without hard work.

While the inspiration may have been an insight, it needs work to flesh the insight which requires hard work.

And dealing with humans is another story where bad attitudes such as corruption and bribery lead to delays and more work which would have otherwise taken much much more time.

We all know the procedures and approvals required from the regulatory authority which are both time consuming and a cause for anxiety and tension for anyone especially entrepreneurs.

In this matter, governments must work efficiently and round the clock to improve productivity and create more employment.

On the contrary, they do everything to stall matters and lengthen the time required to get things done.

All these are the ills which must be addressed rather than criticising long working hours.

Prosperity comes with hard work and, no work comes with poverty and all kinds of bad cultures.

Employment is the most pressing issue in todays modern world and more jobs need to be created which come from hard work.

I would go on to say, hard work leads to a virtuous cycle of more employment and goods and services available for citizens.

Let us salute Narayana Murthy for being a living example of what hard work can achieve and realise the Indian dream where anybody with no lineage or wealth can become successful and be a wealth creator of a virtuous cycle creating a prosperous society.

To denigrate hard work is insulting. All citizens must be allowed to realise their potential through work, hard work.

Work life balance will flow accordingly just like water finds its own level.

Mudit Jain is a businessman and people and society watcher and thinker.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com