When UK Prime Minister David Cameron asked a participant in Bangalore what had shifted in his thinking by being on a Common Purpose course, the participant said:
“I knew I was a leader at work but not for a minute had I thought of myself as a leader of Bangalore”
This says it all. What Common Purpose is about. What has happened to democracy – even a young democracy – that young leaders don’t know that it’s not just about voting but about standing up too. And most of all it says what democracy is. He got it, was up for it and knew he could lead.
India and the UK have much in common. One may be an old democracy and the other quite young, but they have much in common. Leaders have a deep sense of responsibility and possibility in both countries that it does not take much to awaken. They understand the deep cultural implications of one person – one vote, accountability, commitment to transparency and a sense of justice. And they understand frustrations, short-termism and the discouragement of difficult decisions.
That’s why there is such a special relationship between the UK and India that will benefit both. That’s why Common Purpose will continue to grow in India and connect with Common Purpose in the UK.
2 responses so far ↓
1 James // Jul 29, 2010 at 21:35
I think that’s an incredibly crass soundbite about Britain as an old democracy and India as a new one – if what was preventing India being a democracy was the action of Britain, then Britain was a tyranny until India was a democracy. This makes me very suspicious of what Common Purpose is doing in India, if the old master-slave relationship is so at work in the thinking of it’s leader…
2 Julia Middleton // Aug 5, 2010 at 17:23
Thank you for your comments James. I think you’ve misunderstood what I’ve said here. There was no intention to be crass and certainly no intention to revive any type of master-slave relationship. I speak quite plainly, and I acknowledge that the UK and India are linked together as countries by history. My comments are not elitist in the slightest, I am just confronting the reality that the power shift from West to East is not just imminent, it’s here. The world has much to learn from India and its dynamic, enterprising and buzzing culture, and there’s nothing subservient about that.
Leave a Comment