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Eavesdropper
The Baat syndrome
Professor Pankaj Ghemawat, the youngest ever full-time Professor at the Harvard Business School, has not forgotten his Indian roots. His holding an Indian passport in spite of spending the last 20 years or so abroad, is proof of his love for the motherland. As is his concern for India's economic progress (or lack of it), which he made abundantly clear in his address at Ficci on Tuesday. But his talk on `India in the era of globalisation' in the capital also made it clear that he remains in touch with Indian ground realities with his concept of the `BAAT syndrome'. Elaborating on this uniquely Indian phenomenon, he explained that it stood for `Believing that the Alternative to Acting is Talking'. The assembled gathering of industry and government bigwigs tittered somewhat embarrassedly.This is close on the heels of the MAFA syndrome -'Mistaking Articulation for Action', devised by another academic. Here's hoping that someday we Indians will prove all of them wrong. But, as they say, OHDH - Old Habits Die Hard. Ghoshal's debut On December 18th when the governing board of the Indian School of Business (ISB) meets in Hyderabad, it will be a momentous occasion: this will be Prof. Sumantro Ghoshal's first visit to Hyderabad. Nothing odd about that except that as Founding Dean, Professor Ghoshal has the unenviable task of convincing students and faculty across the globe that they should come and join the ISB rank and file. Just how he manages to `market' Hyderabad without ever visiting the city is anybody's guess. More significantly, if he has accepted the mantle of Founding Dean without ever visiting Hyderabad-leave alone the campus currently under construction-one hopes that his maiden visit does not shake his resolve. For he would routinely have to shuttle between Hyderabad and London, wherehe holds the Bauman Chair in Strategic Leadership at the London Business School. Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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