Mr Ratan Tata had my sympathy when I heard his chocked voice saying “It is for the people of West Bengal and Kolkata to decide whether we are unwanted or to accept us as a good corporate citizen.” And he lost it when I saw an unseen, and old news-clip yesterday. It was of Ratan Tata introducing Nano to the world, with a sly remark on how the choice of the name came about. “Buddho car, Mamata, or despite Mamata..”

I refuse to believe that someone with Mr Ratan Tata’s calibre can have such offhanded approach to stakeholders. Yet in that introduction, he demonstrated exactly that. A mild arrogance on the lines of “nothing can stop us now,” perhaps? I’d never know.

If history is any proof, corporations have been brought to their knees by a mere handful—time and again. And yet, they refuse to learn from the mistakes or misfortunes of others in their business fraternity.

Stakeholder engagement may sound like a corporate jargon lacking empathy, but it is a powerful tool if used early on, with honesty, and integrity. Stakeholder engagement is what Erin Brockovich did by approaching each one of those affected by PG&E’s actions.¹

Nobody seems to debate the fact that it is not enough for companies to take the Government provided land, particularly in the background of unrest from primary stakeholders. It is not about being right, legally correct, or having the nose-up because of it. It is about facing reality.² Those who do not take heed, end up facing the wrath of opportunists like Mamata Banerjee.

Doing business in a developing world is no excuse for Harvard graduates to skip chapters from their business management books. It would be a shame to see the Nano project wither away because of ineffective stakeholder engagement.

1. Watch the film, if you haven’t already. It is mind boggling.
2. This does not only happen in India. Look at Corrib pipeline project for example.

An actor’s blog tends to receive only the good stuff and the adulation of the fans. This unfortunately isn’t true of those in active politics. Omar Abdullah—whose passionate speech in the Indian Parliament recently on the vote of confidence, awoke us all—is quitting his blog after just a handful of posts. He says:

We truly are a bunch of intolerant people. We want to be heard but do not have the strength to hear, we want to have an opinion but do not believe anyone else is entitled to one.

I am going back to being an old school politician and you can read what I think in the newspapers. The handful of you who are my Facebook friends as well - we will continue to spar there and I look forward to it.

Please do not give in to the trolls, Mr Abdullah. We direly need voices like yours, which need to be heard.

I suppose my blog post struck a chord with someone whose business is in helping improve Postal systems around the world. I received a response last Sunday from Dr. José Ansón, Chief Economist, Universal Postal Union!

Aside from considering what an honor it is to receive a few words of appreciation from someone like Dr Ansón, it is heartening to note that my post finds some credibility among those who have the power and ability to change things for the better. I could not have expected a better result than this.

Dr. Ansón also pointed me to the happenings from the 24th Universal Postal Congress, in particular, a presentation [pps] and a transcript [pdf] by Ms. Radhika Doraiswamy, Secretary to the Government of India, Director General of India Post.

The one that interests me most—from the Director General’s transcript—is that which talks about “Post Office as an e-service provider.” It is so great to see India Post taking this initiative.