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Bismillah-ir-rahman-ir-rahim.
Pro Chancellor Syed
Babar Ali Saheb.
Rector Janab Razak Dawood Saheb
Distinguished ministers and judges.
Honourable members of the Board of Trustees of the Lahore University of
Management Sciences.
Members of the faculty and staff.
Parents and friends of the graduating students.
And, above all, the graduates for whom we have assembled here today.
Assalam-wa-laikum.
I am honoured to be
given this opportunity to participate in the 13th convocation ceremony
of LUMS. One sometimes wonders why one is asked to deliver a convocation
address. I suspect I was chosen for today's task because I myself was
once an MBA student. As a result I have more than a little sympathy for
the pain and anguish the graduates have endured to be here today. Like
you, I too lost countless nights of sleep trying to grasp the meaning
of a chi square distribution, the complexities of net present value and
the validity of Pareto's Curve.
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| President
Shamsh Kassim-Lakha delivering the keynote address at the convocation
of the Lahore University of Management Sciences. |
I have two particular
reasons to be pleased to join you today and to share in the passing out
of another class of outstanding graduates from this distinguished university.
The first is my close and long standing friendships with your Pro Chancellor
Syed Babar Ali and Rector Razak Dawood. My second and most important
reason for being here is to be amongst the graduates and to compliment
LUMS, its leadership and its faculty for the excellent work they are doing
in developing bright young graduates to become the business leaders of
Pakistan. By inviting me to deliver this keynote address, you have done
great honour to my institution, Aga Khan University, Pakistan's first
private university. Together, AKU and LUMS have demonstrated in several
ways what can be achieved by the private sector, this time in the service
of high quality tertiary education, accessible to all on the basis of
merit.
Let me begin by congratulating
the parents of the graduates. In many ways, this is also your convocation.
It has involved years of motivating your son or daughter, giving good
advice, assuming a financial burden, and of course, worrying and bearing
many headaches. But as a result of your support and encouragement over
several years of study, you rightfully share in the success of your graduates.
I take particular
pleasure in congratulating the graduates. Well done! Through your hard
work, determination and energy, you have completed a course of studies
that will provide entry to the exciting world of business. You are about
to enjoy new levels of independence, free from the rigours of formal education,
and you will be given opportunities to test the skills you have learned
in this fine institution. But you will also take on new levels of responsibility
and new pressures demanding unprecedented amounts of your attention and
application.
On this important
day of transition in your lives, as you prepare for this future challenge,
I would like to address you, the graduates, and leave you with some thoughts
on which to ponder.
First, I'd like you
to reflect on the value of ethics and social responsibility in business.
Next, I'd like to
express some thoughts on the importance of lifelong learning and the need
to develop yourselves as whole persons through general education.
And lastly, to consider
the role you can play, as educated men and women and future leaders, in
helping our compatriots, our fellow Pakistanis, to better appreciate the
value and importance of pluralism and diversity in our society.
Perhaps more than
at any other time in history, Pakistan is going through a period of major
political and structural change. In the face of widespread social and
economic difficulties, it is struggling to take its place in the global
community. But with that struggle comes the opportunity for citizens
and professionals alike to make choices about how our country can be made
better for generations to come. Among those choices is the very important
role and value of ethics and social responsibility in shaping the way
our country is governed, how our companies conduct themselves at home
and in the global marketplace, and above all, the ways we behave as individuals
in our communities.
Since you are graduating
for a career in business, let's look at business ethics in our society,
perhaps expanding somewhat on what you have already learned in the course
of your studies at LUMS.
Ethics in our business
world are deeply rooted in Islam, and there are many references to business
ethics in both the Holy Qur'an and in the teachings of the Holy Prophet
(peace be upon him). The Holy Book describes people who attain success
as those who ". . . are inviting all that is good (khayr), enjoining
what is right (ma'ruf) and forbidding what is wrong (munkar)." This
passage indicates that ethics refers to a set of moral principles that
distinguish what is right from what is wrong, and what one should do or
abstain from doing. Business ethics refers to a set of moral principles
on how a business or an organization is run, and how people within that
organization should conduct themselves and make decisions. They are the
standards and protocols of civil society, and should reflect the high
moral standards and responsibilities you set for yourselves as individuals.
Social responsibility
is an extension of business ethics. It means being a good corporate citizen,
upholding societal values, not only protecting the environment, but improving
it. It means contributing to the building of a strong and equitable society,
good government and good governance.
At this stage in our
history, business ethics and social responsibility are lacking in much
of Pakistan. Although there are many outstanding examples to the contrary,
business people in our country are often viewed sceptically by the general
population, and their perceived reputation has spread overseas to a degree
that many foreign companies are nervous about trading with us.
Probably not more
than a few dozen corporations in Pakistan have clearly defined a set of
ethical and moral principles by which they will run their companies and
serve their customers. I assure you that those that have are succeeding.
They are striving to reach the success achieved by, for instance, Xerox
Corporation, one of the leading proponents of business ethics, and one
of the leading companies of the world. As some of you may know, Xerox
has a 15 page ethical code which it summarises in one simple statement
. . . "We're honest with our customers. No deals. No bribes.
No secrets. No fooling around with prices. A kickback in any form kicks
anybody out. Anybody."
If you wish to emulate
the success of these ethical companies, indeed to set new, higher levels
of ethical practice, I urge you to make a pledge that you, as an individual,
will run your business or your department honestly. As honestly as you
would deal with members of your own family. Make a vow that you will
protect your company's assets and its reputation from damage or theft.
Promise that you will protect shareholders' investments, respect your
competitors, keep an honest set of books, pay your bills on time. And
promise that you will pay your ethical share of taxes. It is well known
that in this country of 140 million people, fewer than two million pay
any direct taxes. Many who should pay taxes, businesses large and small,
either pay none at all or use every trick in the book to pay no more than
a trifling sum. I don't need to remind you that taxes help improve our
cities and our environment. They help our country grow. If business
leaders call upon our government to be ethical, responsible and transparent
in the way it deploys tax revenues for the benefit of society, does it
not make sense that businesses should be just as honest in bearing their
share of the tax burden?
I hate to admit how
long it's been, but about 40 years ago, when I was in MBA school, we were
taught to concentrate on one thing, the bottom line. Profit was our motivator,
our golden rule and it didn't matter how we achieved it. The adage was
not "Sell the best for the least". Rather, I recall one senior
professor telling us, not altogether in jest, that it was "Provide
goods and services as badly as you can get away with."
Today, I'm pleased
to say, things have changed substantially. Business leaders now realise
the positive link between good business and good business ethics. While
they still watch the bottom line to ensure they have profits with which
to reward shareholders, to grow and to re-invest, there is a new focus
on factors external to the company over which they have control. Smart
CEOs now realise that their company's success also depends on how their
processes affect the environment and the community in which they work.
Steel plants can no longer pollute the atmosphere with furnace gases,
chemical companies cannot dispose of toxic waste in public areas and
increasingly, companies that extract their resources from the ground are
made to repair the environment for future generations.
Companies have always
been judged on their products and their profits, but now they're also
judged by investors and customers on how they treat their employees, how
they provide opportunities for the advancement of women, how they interact
with the community, and how they support the building of a civil society
through contributions in cash and in kind.
While the progress
is slow and we are only at the beginning stages of what I hope will become
a trend . . . we are beginning to see new business practises in Pakistan
that emphasise ethics and social responsibility. We are fortunate to
have many such enlightened businesspersons amongst us today, on this stage
and in this audience. Many of these leaders of industry advocate such
principles and are taking their values and expertise into government.
Some, like our Minister of Commerce, Rector Razak Dawood, are leaving
successful business careers to enter government to lend their skills to
building a better nation. Others are encouraging their companies to form
public/private partnerships in which business and government join together
in major ventures for the public good that government cannot do alone. Indeed, I can testify that the recent establishment of the Pakistan Centre
for Philanthropy, whose board I have the honour to lead, and on which
your Pro Chancellor sits, owes everything to the support and backing of
some of the most enlightened leaders in the business world, in civil society
and in government.
So, graduates, as
you embark upon your new careers, think how you will translate your own
high moral values and responsibilities into the way you run your business.
Let me now turn to
my second point of this address . . . the question of lifelong learning. Your years studying at LUMS have prepared you for a life of business. Now you must prepare yourselves for the business of life . . .
and that is a lifelong process. The speed of technological advancement,
and the rate at which the world in general is changing, dictates that
just about all that you learned in the last four years will be obsolete
ten years hence. You cannot afford to become what I call an educated
illiterate . . . someone who received a good education but failed
to keep up with the changes. The famous futurist, Alvin Tofler, wrote
that ". . . the illiterate of the 21st century will
not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn
and relearn."
The question is .
. . what should you learn? And that is my third message to you today.
Your university has
provided you with a solid grounding in business-related subjects, but
according to a landmark study on higher education by the World Bank and
UNESCO published last year, " . . . all students who have engaged
in specialist, professional or technical areas of study would benefit
from continuing education of a more general, broader, multi-disciplinary
nature."
That statement raises
a couple of questions, so let me address them before I go on. The first
is: what do we mean by general education?
Your education in
the past four years or so has not been general. On the contrary, in many
ways it has been fairly specific. It has dealt with matters of business
and the social sciences and, according to your interests, has concentrated
in some particular aspects of business.
General education,
on the other hand, is not specific. It covers a wide range of subjects
that impart a general knowledge and understanding of the world around
us - in the sciences and the humanities. General education focuses on
development of an individual, a whole person, apart from his or her technical
or specialised training.
And then there is
the second question. I can hear you saying now, "Why continue
my general education when my skills are focused on business?"
For an answer, let me refer to a 1977 quote from a Harvard University
study on the need for curriculum review in that most prestigious institution. The Harvard report said that a liberally educated person . . . one who
is not a specialist . . . has a broad knowledge of cultures and
societies past and present, and can make decisions based on reference
to a wider world and the historical forces that shaped it. It said that
a person with a general education has some experience thinking about moral
and ethical problems, and better understands our universe, our society
and ourselves.
What Pakistan needs
if it is to realise its goals for sustained growth and development is
leaders, out-of-the-box thinkers who can tackle a range of problems, see
things from different points of view and identify solutions from many
disciplines. If you are to be the new leaders of tomorrow . .
. in business, in government, in the community . . . you must broaden
the scope of your education and seek knowledge outside of your own narrow
discipline or area of interest.
So the message is
simple. You have your specialised training by which you will earn your
living. Now you must continue your education on a broader scale to develop
yourself as a whole person able to participate and contribute in all areas
of society.
Now let me turn to
my third and final thought: the need to broaden the outlook of our compatriots,
to eradicate the sort of narrow thinking that limits vision and hampers
societal development.
There is a hadith
in which the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) says there would be 73 sects
in Islam. But the hadith offers no judgement as to which of those 73
sects would warrant any greater or lesser validity than any of the others. Instead, the prophet recognised that people have the right to be different
. . . people with distinct ethnic, religious and social backgrounds and
beliefs should be present and tolerated in society.
Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad
Ali Jinnah's vision of an independent Pakistan reflected the prophet's
ideals.
In an impassioned
speech in February 1948, he said that ". . . Islam demands from
us the tolerance of other creeds . . . willing and ready to play their
part as true and loyal citizens of Pakistan."
When he was waging
his titanic fight for independence, Quaid-e-Azam had in mind a model democratic
state governed by Islamic principles of tolerance and the rule of law. He saw a country in which people of all faiths, of all creeds and of all
classes could live together as brethren.
In short, he envisaged
a pluralistic society. A diverse society capable of seeing things from
many points of view.
While many look upon
a society of mixed races, faiths and beliefs as a recipe for conflict,
others have a different view. In speaking of the advancement of societies
in the developing world, the Chancellor of my university, His Highness
the Aga Khan, has said that pluralism is not a weakness of society. On
the contrary. " . . . if it is allowed to occur within a constructive
environment, pluralism is an enhancement and a strength of society."
He said that pluralism has the ability to ". . . harness the
wide spectrum of creativity and intelligence to the process of improving
the quality of life of all the people of Pakistan."
If you wish to become
leaders in a new and better society, I call upon you, the graduates, the
fortunate ones, to do what you can to change the psyche of our nation.
This is a time of great change in our nation's history, and in some respects
we have a unique opportunity to grab the moment when Pakistanis are reflecting
on recent events in our region. Follow the lead being set by forward-thinking
business and government leaders who see the dangers and risks of narrow
thinking. Broaden your horizons. Look for diversity in your organizations
and use it to view problems and opportunities from different social and
cultural perspectives. Celebrate the differences between people. Capitalize
on the richness of their diverse views. And recognize the value of pluralism
for our future generations.
As you embark on your
new careers, it is your decision whether you will settle for the
ordinary, or become one of the few who will shape and mould and build
a better community, a better society and a better Pakistan. If you want
to be a leader, a true leader, the sort of person who effects change,
who builds systems and communities and nations, you have been equipped
with the tools necessary and you must take the decision now.
Decide now that ethics and social responsibility . . . doing the right things, behaving
and acting in the right way . . . will be the foundation of your business
and your personal life. Decide now that you will embark on a lifelong
journey of discovery into new areas of knowledge and understanding, venturing
out beyond the world of business. Decide now that you will help
banish narrow thinking, replacing it with a true appreciation of our diverse
cultures, beliefs and values.
Congratulations, graduates,
on your magnificent achievement. It's time now to go out into the world
and make your mark. As you do, I ask you to bear in mind an admonition
made by Quaid-e-Azam to the Punjab Muslim Students Federation in Lahore
in 1947. It is as valid today as it was when he made it. He said, "You are the nation builders of tomorrow . . . you should realise
the magnitude of your responsibility and be ready to bear it."
I pray that Almighty
Allah bless you with success and much barakaat.
Shukria.
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