We love to be unequal and to justify this boastful slander; we say that’s the only way to reward genetic differences, enterprise and risk. Of course as we stand today in our evolutionary stage, we are restrained by our dwarfed intellect to support this logic.  We have established a human civilization that values individual enterprise and makes it more rewarding than collective endeavor. As a race we have wanted leaders to lead our business establishments, somehow we have never believed that collectively the human race can function without leaders. Although we claim to be highly civilized compared to other species that inhabit the planet earth, we remain primitive when it comes to our thoughts about human ability and enterprise. Why do we need to be led like sheep? And what cost have we paid for this folly. An enormous cost, yet we refuse to recognize this loss. Why? Because we cannot and will never be able to question archaic beliefs that have formed the basis of our society since the time we were hunter gatherers. No matter how much we claim to have civilized, our instincts remain more primitive than other species. Herded in cages and led to believe in hero worship we have created a society of slave workers led by masters in the realm of business. We remain fascinated by and fantasize about an authoritarian business regime under a “strong leader” rooted in a people with tightly regimented minds, where every form of dissent is deemed as, “seditious’’. New names have adorned the corporate feudal set up as we love being led, for we have little faith in collective decision making. Now let us reflect upon our progress as human society over the ages and then dissect the extant world of business.

As hunter gatherers man had to collectively hunt, for no single human was match to the more agile species who rubbed shoulders with them. However, individual feats of bravery began to outshine the group efforts and soon the strong and mighty led the hunt; the first seeds of leadership were decided by brute physical force. No wonder that our fascination for the warrior class and violence has withstood the ravages of time and our penchant for blood has outlived all advances in our so called civilized evolution. However, there has been a marked difference over the ages; machine violence powered by artificial intelligence has far outshone and much intimidated the feats of physical human violence. Machines have killed more men over the last century or so and if this saga continues, then not so far in the near future, we will be ruled by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The evolution of AI will be the offset by the devolution of the human race. Let us not get carried away by the potential futuristic ravages of AI, let me return to the core discussion of our agenda.

As humans settled to an agrarian life, the herdsmen with the largest herd who acquired more land holdings had people anointing him as the leader. More land holdings came his way and his stock began to rise. Tribes, languages, cultures and habits began to be defined. In geographies where humans lived, diversity began to flourish and in this milieu the leadership cult began to take roots. Land holdings became dearer. Plunder with pillage was used as advancement for land gains. Feudal societies took shape and slavery of the defeated people was established. Such and many more abominations drove our feudal societies, as land holdings of the feudal lords made them bolder and the conquered people became submissive of the rulers might. The conquerors became rulers and divinity was ingrained in their autocracy. Nobles, Lords and Dukes and many such titles were ordained by the clergy to support the claims of a particular class. The proletariat and bourgeois were well defined and social classes became too entrenched and the vicious cycle of exploitation of masses took shape. Wealth and power rested in few hands and society was herded in to submissiveness. Greed for power led by a ravenous appetite for money established a voracious society. Colonialism and subjugation of the defeated class became the hallmark of human civilization. Exploitation of man by man became the norm. We sank deeper and deeper in to a self created abyss of slander and putative hope, as dynasties came and went. The poor became poorer and the rich became richer, the rulers became all powerful and the defeated slaves led lives of misery. At times the tide changed, slaves became masters, poor became rich, established their rule and the vindictive nature of man never ebbed. So on and so forth went the wheel of time; history was written and intertwined by religion, blood and economic interest.  Rulers became kings and then emperors. Might became hereditary. The children of kings were anointed as kings and the progeny of slaves remained slaves.

Somewhere man lost the virtue of collective leadership which had thrived briefly in some areas of the world like the republics of India (called ganas), ancient Greece and republic Rome. But here again these leaders came from hereditary families and the common man who wasn’t of noble birth or stock couldn’t become a part of these trials and tribulations. Yet in these times there lived a man called Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, twice granted supreme power, he held onto it for not a day longer than absolutely necessary. But these instances were far and few and man could not learn from them. There were others who came, messiahs, saints, prophets and men of wisdom and learning, philosophers who yearned to establish a more democratic and republican way of life. They professed simplicity and in their sermons called upon their brethren to give up the lust for power, pelf and self embellishment. They were seldom listened to when alive, some were martyred, some admonished, many of their sermons and words convoluted and interpreted to suit the ruling establishment, whilst many were forgotten in the annals of history. These zealots remain the true heroes of human history who gave up their lives to encourage man to think and act differently. Many lives came and went by, as ages passed on our collective covetousness for power never allowed us to rise up the social ladder of justice, equality, fraternity, freedom and republicanism.

Then came the age of industrial revolution and with it came a new feudal order, that of the merchant princes, who rivaled the kings and emperors in their accumulation of supremacy, pelf and wealth. They set up institutions that became hereditary and became the new slave runners. Pitiless economic exploitation combined with the colonial phase of the European powers created an unequal world. National boundaries were redrawn, tribal affiliations were re created, ancient cultures wiped out, native races exterminated, their religion obliterated, their ways of life pronounced and denounced as barbaric, and whimsical European rulers, civil servants and military establishments created notions of racial superiority thereby casting havoc amongst the people and kindling non-existent hatred. The flame of this intentional carnage is still being witnessed in Asia, Middle East and Africa. The sins of the European powers far outweigh all that they do today to re establish their image as a caring and humane civil society. Colonial powers cannot purge the sins of their barbarity. The ravages of time alone shall punish them as future generations will disown hold them, holding them accountable for their inhumanities.

From this carnage, the many revolutions that followed and the destruction caused by the two world wars came a new era, heralding the birth of democracy and the death of the feudal class. New republics that were born in these tumultuous years were ruled by heinous military dictators, communist despots and fascist dictators. The world of today has come a long way from these notorious and riotous years as the balm of democracy backed by power to the people through suffrage has seen many governments fall and rise. Democracy has calibrated the concentration of power in politics and representative to masses has become more profound. By restricting the term of governments and those of the men who administer them we haven’t allowed power to reside in a few hands. However, a lot more has to be done to achieve more inner party democracy and to restrict the cult of hero worship. Democracy can function in a two party political order like the US, UK, multi party democracy like India, a single party functioning like China and in many benign monarchies that give voice to people through legislative assemblies. Our societies have evolved to accommodate dissent; and tolerance is now the hallmark of a vibrant democracy cum political system. Political systems have evolved to limit the influence of charismatic leaders through a combative opposition, and democratic checks and balances through legislative and judiciary. This has been done since human societies realize that an evolved social order should give an opportunity to every citizens to rise to the pinnacle and that one man or his ideas alone cannot revolutionize the system, country or the world. The purse strings of political leaders have been pruned, and their remuneration linked to provide them a comfortable life whist they remain in power and outside when they function as a citizen of a state. Excessive wealth for politicians is checked and charismatic leaders lead frugal lives to set an example of austerity. Democracy in our political establishment recognized the value of collective decision making and the need to limit power. Such that we don’t get to be ruled by the same set of people who then become dictatorial in their regime when their term and power goes unchecked. Having said so, in many countries inner parry democracy has not fully evolved as the same leaders get elected, leading to a dictatorship in guise of elected democracy. To get over it some countries has restricted the term of leaders as in the US where the President can serve a maximum of two terms.

Now for a moment let us juxtapose democracy in to the realm of business. Do we practice democracy in its fullest sense when it comes to business enterprise that dot our world? We have in all our wisdom allotted a very high risk reward premium to the entrepreneur who sets up the business. In this we fail to recognize the efforts of the many people who toiled to create the eco system and environment in which the business was set up. The corporate czars of today have replaced the feudal lords of the yester years. Corporate feudalism has rewarded the entrepreneur/CEO such astronomical sums of money that today we remain no different from the feudal era where the emperors, lords and dukes had accumulated vast sums of money at the expense of the slaving masses. The capital markets of today have replaced the vast land holdings and the workers akin to the peasants who toiled to make the master richer and richer.

Do corporate chieftains deserve such differential wealth accumulation when compared to the millions who work for them? We justify this by an incredulous argument of “individual excellence”; as it takes women and men of special caliber who can lead groups to perform. This argument is as archaic as it can be and keeps the corporate workers hoping that I too may one day reach that position and hoard such absurd wealth. We apply equanimity to human society and talk about lowering income differences to create a just society that would boast of low levels of wealth polarization. But how often do we talk about this at the corporate level. How often do we compare the standard deviation of the salaries earned by workers and management and how regularly do we want corporate to lower this differential. Of course individual brilliance has to be rewarded so as to retain talent and groom them. Adding to the work responsibility and accountability is one such way which corporate does; but to create massive income disparities in the quest to reward talent, we have created a corporate order of unequals. No talent can justify such massive income disparities that we are witnessing in today’s world. Our ordeal of corporate voyeurism has created emperors of unfathomable wealth who rule the roost and are the new age feudal lords. These emperors rule transcontinental corporate abetting wealth accumulation and helping create a disorderly society of unequal humans.

If we expect to limit the rule of political parties and leaders then should we not apply the same yardstick to corporate CEOs and entrepreneurial chieftains who at times rule their corporate fiefdoms for decades and at times lifelong? Such lust for power does no good for the corporate. As new ideas get throttled and dictatorial tendencies tend to creep in, we create megalomaniacs. Imagine the loss of dreams and thoughts on account of lack of opportunity when CEOs refuse to vacate their positions. There is a limit to the individual’s imagination and motivation. He has to leave aside the mantle of leadership to others who may bring innovation and change that sometimes cannot be adopted for deference and fear to the long serving corporate dictator.

Corporate chieftains including CEOs and Chairmen of boards should have a limited tenor after which they have to be replaced. Why is it not possible for the CEO once he has relinquished his post after serving his term to return to work in another unit? Our current corporate culture would term this as demotion but it should be treated as a collaborative effort to further the interest of the corporate. If we do not challenge the present order we cannot create a social order that shall be truly remarkable and revolutionary. In our current megalomaniac corporate culture vast discriminatory amount of stock options to a few people creates competition to aspire for the management post. But in doing so we are creating a corporate culture of greed rather than performance, the risk reward prejudice we have built is shockingly disparage and prone to financial misdemeanors.

Entrepreneur who set up companies or invent technologies (this is most susceptible since the initial technology undergoes a sea change and a lot of minds create the eventual product and eco system that help the entrepreneur mint billions), love to become perpetual lords of the corporate. We have founders as CEOs and Chairmen of companies who remain lifelong CEOs and never retire or just cannot remain out of the limelight. How different are these men and women compared to emperors and feudal chieftains who latched on to power or different from dictators who ruled the masses eternally. The stock options and powers they provide themselves through an acquiescent and subservient board is legendary. Their wealth and ostentatious lifestyle would put the mythical Midas to shame. We have to put an end to this overtly discriminatory system and drum up a more equitable corporate culture. Regulations have to be built to regiment income disparities within the corporate world. The yardstick of democracy and regulations that we apply to our political establishment has to be applied ab initio to the corporate world. We should not create denizens of the corporate world who rule political establishments and are larger in size than the leaders who run nations. If we do not act now, we will leave behind a world of anarchy and mayhem. Our civil society will become disorderly as wealth resides in few hands and disparity creates disparage on the masses.

Nature never deemed us as unequal’s! It is we who have nurtured inequality. We need more Cincinnatus and less of Neros. Our attempt should be to democratize the corporate world and limit the unabated reign of CEOs and Boards. Corporate governance should promote laissez faire but stop abetting hoarding of power and wealth. If we initiate the change today, our future generations would look upon us with pride as each of us becomes a Cincinnatus, only then shall the conundrum of “To be Equal or not to be Equal” be resolved and human progress remain righteous and unrivalled.

Mufaddal Idris Khumri