During the current Dusshera celebrations, our tradition is to have multiple thanksgivings. We thank our house, tools (like scissors, kitchen knives), books, currency, vehicles and anything that helps us earn our livelihood and live comfortably. People whom we employ for domestic help are gifted something as a token of thanks, as they make our lives easier. This was celebrated as a festival in our region called Ayudha poojai and Saraswati poojai. In hindsight, this was nothing but a tradition introduced to value our various stakeholders in life. It instills a sense of gratitude and a reminder every year that we owe our success to our stakeholders. I have seen this first hand when I visited a small restaurant owned by a relative. They were serving unlimited rice in a meal, I asked what if people eat a lot and leave you with less profits, will you add slaked lime to make them feel full faster? The restaurant owner replied, that is killing your customers, it is a form of fraud and you should never do it.

On the corporate side, I have never observed the word stakeholder holding a 360 degree meaning. It is almost and always a person who has invested in the company through money, a share holder or an owner. Stakeholders are never employees nor customers nor tools, in other words these are numbers to be used for profit generation. What this leads to is a quarter on quarter rush to increase shareholder value neglecting the real stakeholders. A restaurant treating their customers profit sources will lose in the long term than the ones who think about them as patrons who deserve good hospitality.

Success is a collective construct, keeping that 360 degree view will help to keep decision ethical, create long term loyalty from customers & employees and also keep the workplace morale high. There are very few examples like Costco, Semco who genuinely attempt this mindset and is able to succeed. Many of them are lured by the short horizon profits and lose out in the long run.