A young boy from Tamil Nadu graduated from IIT Kharagpur and received a scholarship from Stanford University. While all seemed set, the loan they had applied to pay for the plane ticket got rejected. It was at this crucial moment that this boy’s father decided to spend his entire savings and send his son to Stanford. It was the father’s hand that rocked the young boy’s cradle.
Twenty-one years later this very boy would go on to become the CEO of Google — Sundar Pichai. The sacrifice and nurturing provided by his father enabled him to rise to his highest potential. Through his son’s success, his father rules the world.
In this essay, first, we will understand the concept of ‘Ruling’ and ‘Rocking the Cradle’. Second, we will understand the Invisible forces behind every success. Third, we shall explore the cases where Invisible forces can also lead to failures. Finally, we will conclude by evaluating ways to build an ecosystem that provides productive nurturing.
Rocking the cradle and Ruling: An Interpretation
‘Rocking the cradle’ represents actions taken to nurture — a person, a culture or an Institution. Parents nurture their children. Leaders nurture the culture of a company. Visionaries nurture Institutions that thrive long after the individual has gone.
The phrase ‘ruling the world’ refers to making a large-scale impact. It could be a direct impact by an Individual or Institution or an indirect impact where the individual is instrumental in creating an impact Eg: An IIT professor creating the highest quality Engineers who further make a large impact.
The Invisible force behind every Success
At an individual level, the formative care of parents plays a crucial role in determining the value system of the kid. It was Putlibai who instilled the value of honesty in Mohandas K Gandhi. APJ Kalam’s parents taught him the importance of humility and the dignity of labour. These individuals went on to rule the world through their character becoming role models for generations to come.
At an organisational level, founders of many companies have toiled hard to develop a customer-centric culture. It is said that “The culture of a company is the shadow of its leader.” Unlike tangible objects like buildings and assets, culture requires consistent cradling by the leaders. It is only in a crisis that the culture of an organisation comes to the fore.
The 26/11 attacks on the Taj Hospital were one such crisis when the culture of the Tata Group was seen. The employees of the hotel risked their own lives to save the lives of the customers. This cradling by the leaders has led to the Tata Group being ranked as the most valuable brand in the country in 2021.
At the national level, the founding fathers outlined the values and culture to be followed in India through the constitution. It was the dedicated efforts of members of the constituent assembly that helped to nurture the constitution. This very constitution with certain changes is being used by contemporary leaders to rule the nation.
Invisible forces can also lead to failures
While foundational values are important for an individual, we must be careful to avoid indoctrination. Rocking the cradle in the wrong direction can poison the minds of children. This might also lead to ruling the world but in a harmful way. A case in point is that of kids being trained by ISIS to become terrorists.
At a societal level, stereotypes regarding education, marriage and the role of women have deteriorated the nation's progress. 80% of students in Andhra Pradesh prefer to become either a doctor or an engineer. The system of dowry continues to be practised leading to extreme pressure on the bride’s family. Recently in Kerala, this led to the suicide of a woman.
Post marriage most women are expected to manage the household chores. This cradling by the previous generation has led to a declining Female Labour Force Participation rate in India resulting in a phenomenon known as ‘She-cession’
These invisible forces can lead to failures at individual and societal levels. How do we resolve these issues?
Building an ecosystem that provides productive nurturing.
In addition to the New education policy 2020, counselling of parents should be done regularly. They need to be made aware of their influence on the children.
Students must be encouraged to ask questions rather than forcing on them the traditions and customs of the previous generations.
Institutions promoting separatist or regionalist ideologies must be identified and immediately banned. These act as white flies that infests the cradle and cause it to wither away.
Government must encourage programs that promote women's empowerment and break the gender barriers in society.
Schemes such as Startup India and tax breaks for entrepreneurs have played a significant role in creating more than 8 Unicorns in India in 2021.
The seeds of growth have been there around for a while. It is the right soil, moisture and sunlight in the form of effective policies that will act as the “rocking of the cradle.” This will ensure that India achieves $5Tn by 2026 and become a global power to rule the world.
In conclusion, there are invisible forces that play a role in the success of an individual or an Institution. These are the forces that are referred to as the ‘Hand that rocks the cradle.’ It is through them that a large-scale positive impact can be made. While doing so one must be cautious of negative influences that can act as an obstruction.
In the long term, creating an ecosystem that provides productive nurturing will benefit all stakeholders in the world.
While we are grateful to the support givers for their role, we should also ponder upon, “Who will support the support givers?”
While India boasts proudly about leading multi-national companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Twitter being headed by Indians, we must also take steps to curb the brain drain. This will lead to a virtuous cycle of studying in India and Making in India for India.