Friday Jul 05, 2024
Friday Jul 05, 2024
Saturday, 1 February 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
People, especially buses and three-wheelers, drive and stop wherever they please till you honk and get them out of your way! They are a law unto themselves! Most often the Police just stand and watch! I was picked up at the Melbourne Airport and immediately saw the difference law and order and basic decency and courtesy makes! This was the First World with its own set of challenges.
A month later, I arrived in Kuala Lumpur, enroute to Colombo. It was not Australia, but the immigration lady responded with a smile when I greeted her in Bahasa Malaysia and welcomed me to her country. There was a good degree of law and order on the streets. Malaysians are very hospitable people. This was the Second World! Malaysia has its own challenges.
A week later I arrived at Katunayake Airport! There was no welcome or smile on the face of the immigration officer. I asked him why he did not smile. He told me that he was tired and sleepy! As I came out of the airport, I knew I was back in the Third World! Ceylon used to be known for world class hospitality. What has gone wrong in Sri Lanka today?
CHOGM
A few months ago, the nation, especially Colombo, was totally focused on CHOGM, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Prince Charles represented the Queen. Late in the morning on the Friday before CHOGM, I was at a bank on Independence Avenue. As I turned into the bank parking area, I saw the street with school children rehearsing for the CHOGM events. They were waiting for the music to begin.
I walked up to some young school girls and asked them in Sinhala where they were from. They were very shy but replied, “Tissamaharama.” I 
asked them what they were doing in Colombo. They replied: “CHOGM.” I asked them what CHOGM meant. They did not know! The one word that is now on the lips of almost everyone in Sri Lanka today is CHOGM! A new word has entered the vocabulary in Sri Lanka!
The member countries that attended were once ruled by Great Britain. Winston Churchill once said: “The sun will never set on the British Empire.” It did! A shadow was cast over all the excitement in Colombo by the absence of Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of Great Britain’s largest colony, India and the stated “mission” in Colombo of the Prime Minister of Great Britain itself David Cameron. And Channel Four!
For the sake of Sri Lanka, I hope CHOGM was a success. What really matters is what the country will do the morning after, after the party is over and when the bills come due! And what it will do to ‘manage” the deadline set by David Cameron.
English language and universities
If there are two things of utmost value in the new global economy that the British Empire gave a nation like Sri Lanka, it is the English language and universities that were once respected in the world. We appear to have lost both!
Whether we like it or not, English is and always will be the language of global business and international relations. In Sri Lanka today the most common sign one sees in every town is “Spoken English Classes”. The principal of a leading school in Sri Lanka remarked to me after I had addressed 170 selected student leaders that this was perhaps their biggest challenge. They were graduating students by the thousands who had a very poor knowledge of the English language.
Look at the state of our local universities today. Almost every building on Galle Road has a classroom delivering degrees, especially MBA degrees, from a foreign university! There is a strong likelihood that in five years almost every other employee in the private sector will have an MBA degree. This was once a very coveted qualification for employment in business. There appears to be a growing indication that many are now even going after PhDs being offered by so many schools, some reputed and some very questionable with virtually no globally recognised accreditation by respected bodies.
Many of the advertisements in Sri Lanka from organisations selling foreign degrees use the words “globally recognised and globally accredited”! Recognised and accredited by whom? The reader must understand that the most respected business schools in the world are those accredited by AACSB. Only 3% of the world’s business schools are accredited by AACSB.
Keys to move up
The right education to compete in the new global economy and a mastery of the English language are two keys to getting from Third World to the Second and First. This must begin in our pre-schools and early childhood development centres.
What is the sense in graduating future leaders from our schools and universities with a degree in any language other than English? We are crippling them for life! I have seen the result in my 20 years of teaching students and managers from all over the world as an adjunct professor of global business in MBA and Executive Education Programs in California. If there is one place on earth that the best and the brightest come to learn, it is the USA and yes, California. Let me be clear. A person must be proud of his or own native language.
So much is written about human capital performance and productivity in the public service, the nation’s biggest employer. Two years ago, I spent three hours with Ministry Secretaries and Heads of Government Departments discussing leadership, change, capacity building and developing a world class public service.
They were basically good people who wanted to make a difference. Many of them got very emotional and told me that morale was very low, that they were helpless and could do nothing except follow orders. With very few exceptions, they had little or no respect for their bosses and there was little or no trust.
Respect and trust are the foundations of any society and any organisation. How can you even begin to develop effective leaders, drive change and build the right capabilities if there is no trust and respect? Leadership must be by example. Something dramatic must be done. With very few exceptions, the private sector is no different.
I hear the same thing from the youth that I address. As a result, so many of our best young people are migrating. In real sustained human and economic development, a rising tide must lift all the boats, not just a select few. Our young people must see a credible future. A recent global study published in the Sunday Times in Colombo revealed that Sri Lanka is listed among the 20 worst passports to have for visa-free travel. This is so sad. What must this nation do to change this? This also adversely impacts the nation’s “brand identity”.
In conclusion, my organisation is in the business of management consulting, corporate education and learning and development. We are engaged in numerous assignments globally, in Asia and Sri Lanka.
As a result of our work, my global team and I see what makes a nation a Third, Second or First World country. Each has its own challenges. We see what makes an organisation get on and stay on the list of most admired companies. It is all about people.
What kind of people and future leaders is Sri Lanka producing? A nation like Sri Lanka must be “born again” from within. One first step is to remove two words from the Sri Lankan vocabulary: “Yakko” and “Bugger” and start respecting each other!
[The writer is Chairman of the Center for Global Leadership Worldwide LLC (USA) and Adjunct Professor of Global Business, California. He can be reached via [email protected].]
