The way management of organizations and governments have changed in last few decades its obvious to see that hierarchy has come to play a strong role. For many of you it was probably like this since times immemorial although there were many more checks, balances and concept of collective responsibility earlier. The way hierarchy works now, the CEO / Managing Director or the Prime Minister / President of a country yield immense power to control the path of an organization or a country. This in turn governs the trajectory of the entity being governed. Does this also lead to accountability in case of failure, especially in the government, is a moot question which doesn’t seem to have clear answers.
The head of a country (lets assume its the PM, as in the case of India) can steer his or her country in the direction they desire. This can be done with unlimited power in case institutions abdicate their responsibility or are governed by pliable men & women. The current scenario in India is more or less akin to this. Our institutions are being run by pliable persons who are “Yes” men and women and they stay as “Yes” people because they want to retain their jobs. The purpose, ethos and values of the institution that they serve doesn’t matter. The constitution has failed to protect them from the PM and also ensure that they retain their jobs if they do it honestly and with dedication.
Our country can easily be made to follow a path to prosperity. It only requires two traits in our PM – honesty and vision. Actually it requires a more important and critical ingredient in addition to these two, viz. a PM who is not worried about winning the next election. If our PM decides to massively focus on Education and Healthcare then this country would be on its way to prosperity in the long term. This might not show much results in the short term but over a period of 10 years this will start showing results. If our PM starts working on Judicial Reforms, Police Reforms, Bureaucratic reforms and Job creation then the core wheels which run our democracy will start moving smoothly. Focusing on the basic issues bogging down our growth will yield good results on all fronts including the economic and jobs front. As pointed out earlier, the PM must also ensure all institutions of the government including autonomous ones work independently without any interference from politicians and the government itself. Once all organizations of the government start working in tandem and following the rule of law then peace, law & order, low crime, higher productivity, economic prosperity and happiness for our citizens should follow. Making institutions stronger is the right way for a country to stay on the path to prosperity in the long term. Heads of states who don’t let strong institutions be created or destroy institutions already built or make them pliable, lead to downfall of the country in the long term. Such countries end up having either corrupt governments and civil wars or major economic issues. We have numerous examples in front of us in South America.
Consider the instance of New Zealand. Jessica Arden has been successful at managing the country and keep it on the path to prosperity. Her traits, honesty, clear vision, decisiveness and a collaborative team at the back.
Honesty and Transparency will be the oil which will lubricate the wheels of our country. A PM who is honest and has a vision is all we need. Curbing dissent, muzzling and manipulating the media, filing sedition cases on journalists and citizens for questioning the government is not a long term solution for staying in power for any PM. This country only needs a PM who is not worried about winning the next election but is more interested in setting the country right. The concerned citizens and media will ensure that such a PM wins the next election. One good PM is all we need.