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"Productivity is attitude." Peter Drucker.

05/12/03

Once upon a time, I heard this loud and rather impatient demand from many Indonesians: We want revolution, not reformation! Well, what kind of revolution?

While both refer to a change, those are two different things. And to demand for change and to desire for revolution are often completely two different things. Those who demand revolution may feel the change they desire can only be accomplished by a complete overthrow of government or the replacement of all existing political and social institutions.

Undeniably, Indonesia badly needs change. We have moved too slowly in recovering our economy – creating jobs, eradicating poverty, promoting robust small and medium scale enterprises, establishing more healthy financial system and reducing independency on foreign debts. We have moved too slowly, if not backwardly, in combating corruption, nepotism and collusion practices. And we have moved slowly in building national identity (unity).

But the foremost solution does not rest in power and institutions. They are both the vehicles needed to solve problems. But the drivers, the mechanics, the road builders, the map drawers, the passengers are all human beings. All is people.  Changing the power and the institutions with new ones but still employing people with the same qualities are ineffectual. We have tried that experiment once with Gus Dur only to harvest a miserable failure.  It was in fact known as an era of disorder.  There is no guarantee that revolution will succeed in bringing improvements. This is because in most revolution the name of the game is power. And power, whether it is gained through “peaceful” or democratic process, tends to corrupt. Besides, power is merely a vehicle.

The justification for those who demand revolution is the existing problems which are not being solved seriously. Unfortunately, in most cases the answers they provide are also the problems themselves. They provide the solution by merely illustrating the failure of the system to solve the existing problems. That’s why their solution is: Replace the system.

The mindset revolution

As the mahaguru of management, Peter Drucker wrote, “Productivity is attitude,” the solutions to our nation’s problems cannot be found in the system, but they are in our mind and attitude.  Replacing power and institutions and yet using essentially the same qualities of attitude and mindset will not work. In fact, we will be worse off since our domestic and global environment keep changing.

Take for example the case of building national unity.

Much of concerns and debates on national unity have focused on a territorial integrity issue. While it is important, it however tends to sideline the most important issue in realizing unity, the unity of people. Facts have shown that achieving a territorial unity does not guarantee a unity of people living within the same territory. The breakdown of the former Yugoslavia, where its territorial unity was superficially imposed under the Tito’s regime, is an example. Another example is the former Soviet Union which was disintegrated in 1988 after experiencing an imposed territorial unity for decades.

On the other hand, a unity of people could lead to a territorial unity. As Berlin Wall was collapsed in 1989, the territorial barrier between East and West Germany crumbled, bringing the people of the two countries into unity. To a greater extend, the sense of unity among the people of Western Europe has brought the region into European Union, not only by tearing down geographical borders but also by bringing the economy of 15 nations into one management which is symbolized in one currency - Euro - and European Monetary Union. They now share a common destiny of a more prosperous Europe. As of today, a number of Eastern European countries such as Poland, Rumania and Latvia are in the process of joining the Union. Unity among people brings territorial unity.

For almost 30 years of repressive era of the New Order regime, the Indonesian civil society cannot develop itself properly. The superficially imposed unity during the New Order regime had failed to stimulate and energize closed inter-relationship among different groups of people without worrying about the issue of SARA (an acronym of ethnicity, religion, race and social classes). Each element of SARA has been seen as a potential cause for a violent conflict that could lead to national disintegration, inducing people to live in a constant anticipation that there might be conflict driven by SARA. As a result, it had failed to foster cooperation among people across various types of diversity. And it certainly had failed to transform diversity from challenge into opportunities which is a necessary foundation in building a winning nation.

Indonesia is a very diverse nation. Economically and politically, the nation is still in transition, from economic crisis to recovery and from authoritative to democracy. Given this reality, the need for unity is even imperative more than any time in the history of the nation.  In building a unity of people, the nations need a new paradigm in building unity.  Rather than centered on territorial, power and politics, the new paradigm must be centered on people. And rather than focus on human emotion, it must be focus on human devotion and affection. I call this a mindset revolution.

This mindset revolution will challenge Indonesian people to have a new way of viewing others, valuing life, interacting with others, respecting others, building solid and mutually beneficial communities and developing winning attitudes.  It begins by developing an attitude that regards that all people – whether they live in the African desert, the Middle Eastern desert, the Latin American jungle, the Kalimantan jungle or the crowded New York City – are human beings, our neighbors, just like ourselves. This may sound a trivial challenge but many problems today, either domestically or internationally, are caused by people’s attitude that tends to view different people differently.

Next is by developing an attitude that not only respects differences - because biologically and culturally people are always different – but also considers others as an asset in building mutualism cooperation. Ironically, although the founding fathers had shown a wonderful example of the priceless of cooperation in realizing a common goal, their successors have failed miserably to follow their path. The last three decades have witnessed how cooperation had become a political commodity and people have viewed it sarcastically. Cooperation becomes a joke.  Its invaluable nature – as the essence of harmony and abundance – has been buried in the joke.

The mindset revolution is aimed not only at achieving national unity, but also at building a winning nation. This is due to a simple reason that is realizing national unity is not just for the sake of unity, but for a greater purpose that is to make Indonesia become a prosperous nation. Winning individuals give birth to a winning nation.

But, how to build winning individuals? Drucker points out to attitude.   Attitude is the way of thinking or looking at things which determines how we behave. Our actions are often a result of how we think or feel towards people or situation which in turn determine how we interact with others help us raise our performance and productivity.

Quite similarly, Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes the importance of perception.  As Emerson wrote, “Do what you know and perception is converted into character,” perception could finally become one’s destiny.
No doubt, in most cases perception is reality. When one perceives she will win a game, that perception is transformed into power and subsequently converted into action.  Perception is often the single factor that separates the losers from the winners. So, building winning individuals – thus winning nation, is essentially building a set of winning characters.  And building winning characters requires a mindset revolution.

The next time you hear someone shouts "We need a revolution", it's time to remind him/her of the mindset revolution.

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