The Importance Of An Open Mind
This morning one of my LinkedIn connections messaged me with feedback on my RFM podcast episodes. He liked it a lot, but he also pointed out some areas for improvement.
Me: Hey, thanks for taking the time to give feedback. I’ll look into the negatives. Please keep the feedback coming.
Him: Will do. I was worried that you might take it in the wrong way!
Me: Never. Constructive criticism should always be welcomed because it’s from someone who cares about what you do telling you of a great way to improve and that’s gold!
This small incident highlighted a big issue with many people, especially Desis. It’s a very hierarchical culture where huge respect is given just because of accomplishments and seniority, Seniors are pompous jerks who dislike the slightest criticism and hence juniors are shit scared of giving feedback and it takes a lot of guts and conviction to do so.
It’s probably more prevalent in Asia and the Middle East because I’ve worked with bosses from across the globe.
This is not just a mere personality quirk; it has disastrous consequences at corporate, societal and national levels. For example, this kiss ass, conformist approach is one big reason we blindly obey our parents on every key aspect of life from religion to politics to education to jobs to marriage. It’s also one reason why the subcontinent is inundated by bureaucracy and shockingly lags in productivity, innovation and R &D.
The opposite is true in most of the western world and you can see the massive results in, inter alia, science, technology, business, investing, infrastructure and quality of life.
This conformism is also why it’s highly unlikely we will ever produce amazing companies like Tesla, Google, NVIDIA or Apple despite having some of the best brains on the planet.
I’m not sure how we ended up like this (probably a topic for another blog piece!).
I work very differently. So, if anyone has any suggestions on the podcast or about CFA Emirates, please inbox me at binodpodcast@gmail.com or find me on LinkedIn.