Freedom must be tempered with wisdom

Those of you who read this column will recall that I have a ten month old son, Yazdaan. I do get odd looks when I go around with him. People wonder and find it difficult to comprehend that it is quite okay to have a child at my age, even though our eldest is a lanky 22 year old.
Just as he crossed from nine to ten months, Yazdaan learnt to crawl. Suddenly he has found a new sense of freedom, to roam and explore the house. Going around the rooms, having the fun of his life and making ga-ga sounds, he is a bundle of fun and hardwork for all of us. You have to be constantly on the lookout for what is he up to. His favourite game is now to pick up and drop things, the choice being telephone sets.
Our daughter, when she was about this age, did the same thing. One day, the telephone handset went missing. Searching the whole house did not yield the set. Later, as soon as the washing machine was switched on, there was a noisy racket and we thought the machine was breaking down. Pulling out the wet and sodden clothes, we found the handset, wrecked beyond repair, having gone through the spin and tumble and making all that noise. During her romp around the house and finding the open door of the washing machine, our daughter had put the set in, part of her play.
As I watch my child dash around, I bear in mind how important freedom is in an organisation. We are born with this sense of freedom. We want to contribute to the well being, to the growth of the company. We want to test our creativity, our innovative spirit and we want to be part of an organisation which will value our freedom to contribute.
I am sure many in the corporate world know our venerable Monower Ahmed, an HR stalwart, having retired, a well known consultant. I was privileged to have him visit us. As we talked over tea and 'daal puri', Monower Sir shedded light on today's up and running professionals. There is a wealth of daring-to-go professionals who like to work independently, who love their freedom to contribute. They do not like people watch over their shoulders because they have the confidence to produce results. However there is a short supply of such creative talents and the young professionals know that. Beyond the remuneration package, they seek for openings in organisations which have a good image, and where career and personal development is given due importance.
The world has changed. It isn't company loyalty that drives today's talents to stay anymore. They want to be heard, their freedom to create and contribute, be accepted. They want the top position at an early age, not willing to mellow their short lived experience to wisdom. I guess this is something to do with age. I recall when I was made head of the agro business I was in my mid thirties. You had that spark in you then when you think you can conquer the world and you know everything. Most things looked either black or white.
During an argument with our landlord where I resided, a retired man, he would say, “Take it easy, calm down young man. Life is not black or white. There is a lot of grey around.” And at that age, I would mutter, an old man with his mumblings. I now value that wisdom, that life indeed has so many shades of grey and brilliant colours too! This wisdom was not spelt out in any business school course. You need to be in close touch with business reality to acquire this wisdom. And this of course needs and takes time.
Young age also makes you take risks, which is fine. However, these risks have to be calculative to bring good, and not hamper the business. Recall how the Barings Bank (1762 - 1995), the oldest merchant bank in the City of London and the British Queen's personal bank, was brought down by a 28 year old bright management employee, Nick Leeson. He lost $1.4 billion and the bank was led to bankruptcy. ING, a Dutch bank, purchased Barings Bank in 1995 for the paltry sum of £1 and took over Barings' liabilities.
And the latest, early this year, the French bank, Societe Generale was hit by massive fraud by a 31-year-old Frenchman, Jerome Kerviel, which resulted in a loss of $ 7.1 billion. You shudder to think of the scale of risk taken and the eventual catastrophic outcome.
Just as much as Yazdaan would like to bring down the whole house, he is being told and he is learning, that he cannot do this. Freedom has to be tempered with wisdom. Only then will we see the benefit of freedom.

The writer is the managing director of Syngenta Bangaldesh Ltd.