Look for the rainbow in the rain

It is raining trouble outside…and at times like this, it is easy to forget about the rainbow that appears at the end of the rain. But difficult as it may be to think positive, that is just what we did at Unstructure, the unprecedented HCL Global meet, where 600 business leaders met in Florida, US, last month. Together, we hunted for the rainbow behind the dull shades of the business environment today – and we came away richer for it, with the ideas that we shared with each other, carrying back with us the seven colors of hope.

Before I share with you the exciting colors that we discovered, I’d like to post a simple question to you: When you look at the color white, what do you see? Do see just the color on the surface or do you look deeper to discover the vivid spectrum within.

Behind each bright white surface is a hidden promise - of colors just below the surface. It is for us to discover these and, in them, the vast potential they hold. And in a bleak business environment, it is these colors and the possibilities they embody that merit attention.

Each of the seven colors can represent one priority and remind us each day of these individual focus areas, even as they blend into a consolidated white merging into our overall strategy.

The very first priority in today’s environment should be our employees. Within HCL, our ‘Employee First’ philosophy recognizes that these are the people who hold the key to our collective success. In today’s environment where we are all seeking solutions to the global economic crisis, it is important to remember that it is the leaders who created this crisis. And the solution will be found when we look for it beyond the leaders, in innovative ideas emanating from our people at each level of the organizational pyramid. This priority is symbolized in the color Indigo.

The next priority today is aligning technology to business. Rather than offering technology solutions, our industry needs to focus on aligning with our customers’ business goals and offer a solution to their business problems . This is assigned the color blue.

The next is the color of harmony. With each and every one of us is agonized by the recent terrorizing events in Mumbai, it is top of mind for all of us now. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of this color in our world today. The color violet could represent harmony.

The call of the hour is for green focused companies. At HCL, we take our responsibility towards the environment and sustainable development very seriously. Besides our ongoing corporate initiatives, we even made a special effort at the Unstructure meet to ensure that our entire conference was carbon neutral, leaving no adverse ecological footprint behind. This priority, logically, is presented with the color green.

Unlike organizations with a unilateral focus on our cities and urban centres, we can learn a great deal from our villages, which are still home to 70 per cent of India. Rural innovation, impressive as it is to the outsider, is considered ‘business as usual’ in the villages. Our people there live each day with a firm belief that whenever there is a crisis, it can be overcome with innovation. We respect this with the color yellow, reminiscent of the bright yellow mustard in the green fields of the village.

 We can also learn great lessons from rural art, in particular the Maharashtrian art form of Warli painting. It has taught us the power to achieve creative – and sometimes complex - solutions while keeping the brush strokes of our efforts simple and straight. As we strive to find and take these art forms across India to the world, we attach a vivid orange to the beauty of this art.

And finally, we come to the color of celebration - a nice bright shade of red. I do believe that God has given us a great opportunity to celebrate. We must be thankful for what he has given us, rather than think about what we don’t have. There is no reason for us to stop celebrating because of a crisis. If you look back, there have been many a crises which have come and gone. When god gave us humans a mind to create crisis and complexity, he also gave us the mind to solve these crises. So remember, just across the bend, will be time again to celebrate. And in the end, it all comes together to white. The choice to unveil and enjoy the colors within is entirely yours. We made a good choice to discover the rainbow at Unstructure and carried it back with us in our hearts. I’d like to wish each one of you happy hunting as you look for and discover the joy of your rainbow. I have no doubt that if all of us collectively find these colors and carry with us the hope and promise of a rainbow, the world will be a better place tomorrow.