Political Consultancy, Samagra | Gaurav Goel | TEDxIITRoorkee

Summary

The speaker discusses the traditional assembly line process for products and humorously compares it to the educational and professional trajectory of an individual in India. They then share their personal journey of breaking away from this 'semi-line' to start a social enterprise, Stomach Development, which partners with politicians to enhance constituency development. The talk explores the importance of political consulting, drawing parallels between business and political leadership, and introduces the concept of a 'development entrepreneur' in politics. The speaker concludes with predictions for the growth of political consulting and the potential for political leaders to leverage professional teams for effective governance.

Takeaways

• 🏭 The speaker discusses the traditional assembly line production process, comparing it to the educational and career trajectory often followed in India, which includes DPS, IIT, IIM, and McKinsey.
• 🚀 The speaker chose to deviate from this 'semi-line production process' to start 'Stomach Development', a social enterprise at the intersection of politics and development.
• 🤝 'Stomach Development' partners with elected representatives to support them in various aspects of constituency development.
• 🏫 The speaker believes that their education and professional experiences at DPS, IIT, and McKinsey were preparatory steps for their current role in development entrepreneurship.
• 🔍 The speaker redefines political consulting, aligning it with business consulting, emphasizing diagnosing issues and leveraging expertise to address them.
• 🌟 Political consulting, as described, includes campaign management, on-ground development, policy support, and formulation.
• 🔑 The speaker highlights the stark contrast between the resources and support available to business leaders versus political leaders, emphasizing the need for political consulting.
• 🌱 The importance of political consulting is rooted in the belief that politics is the most potent instrument for sustainable, large-scale change.
• 🛠️ 'Stomach Development' operates as a development entrepreneur within the political system, connecting factors of development to create impact.
• 🔮 The speaker predicts an expansion in the political consulting landscape, increased collaboration, and a future where political leaders have access to professional teams for support.

Q & A

What is the main difference between assembly line production and the semi-line production process for individuals as described in the script?

The main difference is that assembly line production is a manufacturing process where a product moves through various stations to be completed, while the semi-line production process for individuals refers to a metaphorical path that people follow through educational and professional institutions like DPS, IIT, IIM, and McKinsey to become a 'product' of that system.

Why did the speaker decide to leave the semi-line production process?

The speaker decided to leave the semi-line production process to avoid being just another 'product' like a bottle of coke or a Tata Nano and to take a risk by starting Stomach Development, a social enterprise at the intersection of politics and development.

What does Stomach Development do, as described in the script?

Stomach Development is a social enterprise that partners with elected representatives (MPs and MLAs) across six states, supporting them with various aspects of constituency development.

How does the speaker justify their transition from their past education and work experience to their current role in Stomach Development?

The speaker believes that everything they've done in their life, including their education and work experience, was in some sense of preparation for their current role. They argue that the skills and experiences gained from DPS, IIT, IIM, and McKinsey have collectively contributed to their ability to work hard, be competitive, learn quickly, lead, build teams, and apply transferable skills in their current work in development entrepreneurship.

What does the speaker think about the current definition of political consulting found on Wikipedia?

The speaker finds the current definition of political consulting on Wikipedia outdated and archaic, as it only refers to supporting political candidates with election management and does not capture the essence of the broader role of political consulting.

How does the speaker define political consulting in comparison to business consulting?

The speaker defines political consulting similarly to business consulting as a process of diagnosing problems and issues with a political entity or individual politician and leveraging external expertise to address them, which can include campaign management, on-ground development, policy research, and formulation.

What is the primary belief of Samar, the organization the speaker is associated with?

The primary belief of Samar is that politics is the biggest instrument of change for bringing about sustainable and impactful change at scale.

Why is political consulting important according to the speaker?

Political consulting is important because it helps to empower well-meaning politicians to deliver on their mandates and effectively bring about change at a large scale, which is essential for sustainable development.

What does the speaker predict about the political consulting landscape in the coming years?

The speaker predicts that the political consulting landscape will see an increase in the number of entities operating in each cell of the landscape, more collaboration and consolidation among entities, and established players moving to serve clients from the business consulting domain.

What changes does the speaker anticipate for political leaders in terms of professional support?

The speaker anticipates that at some point, the government will make provisions for legislators to hire or leverage the services of high-quality professional teams to help them deliver on their mandates.

What is the speaker's final prediction related to the 'semi-line production process' for individuals?

The speaker predicts that more individuals will have the courage to step off the traditional path of the 'semi-line production process' and take risks to pursue their own unique paths, similar to how the speaker did with Stomach Development.

Outlines

00:00

🏭 Escaping the Assembly Line: From Education to Entrepreneurship

The speaker begins by discussing the assembly line production process, drawing a parallel to the educational and career trajectory that many individuals follow, which they term as a 'semi-line production process'. They recount their own decision to deviate from this path by starting 'Stomach Development', a social enterprise operating at the intersection of politics and development. The organization partners with elected representatives to support constituency development. The speaker addresses the common question of the relevance of their past education and experience to their current work, arguing that every step was a form of preparation for their entrepreneurial venture. They outline their approach to development entrepreneurship, which involves creating impact at scale by combining various skills and experiences.

05:01

🔍 Redefining Political Consulting

The speaker critiques the outdated definition of political consulting, which is often limited to election management support for political candidates. They propose a more comprehensive definition akin to business consulting, which involves diagnosing and addressing issues within a political entity or for individual politicians by leveraging external expertise. They discuss the various aspects of political consulting, such as campaign management, on-ground development, policy research, and formulation. The speaker also introduces a matrix that maps the types of services to potential clients, highlighting the evolution and complexity of the political consulting landscape in India.

10:02

🌐 Empowering Political Leaders for Effective Change

The speaker contrasts the responsibilities and resources of a business leader, such as a CEO, with those of a political leader, like a Member of Parliament (MP). They point out the significant responsibilities MPs have, with limited support and resources, emphasizing the need for professional teams and external expertise. The speaker's organization aims to empower politicians to effectively deliver on their mandates. They argue that politics is a critical instrument for change and that political consulting, particularly development consulting, is essential to achieving sustainable and scalable impact.

15:03

🚀 The Role of Development Entrepreneurs in Politics

The speaker describes their role as development entrepreneurs working within the political system, akin to business entrepreneurs but focused on social impact. They define the factors of development as including innovative solutions, funding, administrative support, and mobilization. The speaker outlines their approach to bringing these factors together to create change at the constituency level. They conclude with predictions about the future of political consulting, the potential for political leaders to access professional support, and the courage of individuals to break free from traditional paths to create significant impacts.

Keywords

💡Assembly line production process

This refers to a manufacturing process where a product moves through different stations, with each station adding value or completing a component. The speaker uses this concept to draw a metaphor for a standardized, linear career path that many people follow, such as DPS (Delhi Public School) to IIT to IIM to McKinsey, questioning the excitement and fulfillment of this 'production-line' approach to life.

💡DPS-IIT-IIM-McKinsey

This sequence symbolizes a typical, elite academic and career trajectory in India. The speaker humorously refers to it as a 'semi-line production process' for individuals, suggesting that many people follow this predictable path without questioning whether it leads to a fulfilling life. The speaker himself steps off this 'production line' to pursue a career in development.

💡Development entrepreneurship

This concept refers to creating social impact by combining entrepreneurial skills with a focus on development, particularly in underserved areas. The speaker left a corporate path to become a 'development entrepreneur,' working at the intersection of politics and development, helping elected representatives with constituency development.

💡Political consulting

Political consulting involves diagnosing issues faced by political entities and providing solutions, similar to business consulting. The speaker contrasts outdated definitions of political consulting, which focus solely on election management, with a broader view that includes on-ground development and policy research. His organization operates in this expanded domain, supporting elected officials in development efforts.

💡On-ground development

On-ground development refers to the practical, grassroots work of improving infrastructure, services, and quality of life within a political constituency. The speaker’s organization focuses on helping elected officials deliver tangible results in their communities, distinguishing it from the more abstract realm of policy or election strategy.

💡Campaign management

This refers to the process of planning and executing election strategies for political candidates. While campaign management is a key aspect of political consulting, the speaker emphasizes that it is only one part of a broader set of services, and that on-ground development and policy support are equally important.

💡Legislators and political leaders

Legislators such as MPs and MLAs are elected representatives with a wide range of responsibilities, from lawmaking to constituency development. The speaker highlights the contrast between their extensive duties and the limited resources they have, particularly compared to corporate leaders, suggesting that professional teams and political consulting services could help them become more effective.

💡Business consulting vs political consulting

The speaker draws parallels between business consulting, which diagnoses and solves organizational problems, and political consulting, which aims to support politicians in governance and development. While business consulting is well-defined, political consulting is still evolving, especially in countries like India. The speaker's organization aims to bring similar professional expertise to the political domain.

💡Development entrepreneur

A development entrepreneur is someone who brings together various 'factors of development'—such as innovative solutions, funding, administrative support, and mobilization—to create positive social change. The speaker describes his role in coordinating these elements to implement development projects in political constituencies, positioning it as analogous to the role of a business entrepreneur.

💡Factors of development

These include innovative solutions, funding, administrative support, and community mobilization, which are essential to driving social progress. The speaker emphasizes that a 'development entrepreneur' must bring these elements together, leveraging political power to make real-world impacts in constituencies.

Highlights

Introduction of assembly line production process as a comparison to life paths and career development.

The concept of a 'semi-line production process' for individuals, comparing it to an academic and career journey from DPS to IIT to IIM to McKinsey.

The speaker's personal decision to step off the 'semi-line production process' and pursue social entrepreneurship in the field of politics and development.

Founding of Samarth, a social enterprise working at the intersection of politics and development, partnering with elected representatives across six states.

Reflection on the speaker’s academic and professional journey, viewing it as preparation for their current role in development entrepreneurship.

Breakdown of skills acquired from various life stages: work ethic from DPS, confidence and learning agility from IIT, leadership and team-building from IIM, and transferable skills from McKinsey.

Definition of political consulting and its comparison with business consulting, focusing on diagnosing and addressing issues in political entities.

Criticism of outdated definitions of political consulting, emphasizing the need for a broader, more comprehensive approach.

Samarth's focus on development consulting within political consulting, specifically on-ground development for elected representatives.

The unique matrix of political consulting, where services like campaign management, on-ground development, and policy support intersect with different political clients.

Importance of political consulting in empowering political leaders to deliver on their mandates and bring about sustainable change at scale.

Description of the challenges faced by political leaders, contrasting their minimal resources and high expectations with the well-equipped support structure available to business leaders.

Explanation of the role of a 'development entrepreneur' working in politics, bringing together factors of development like innovative solutions, funding, administrative support, and community mobilization.

Predictions for the political consulting landscape, including increasing players, collaboration, and eventual transition into business consulting.

A call to action for more people to step off the assembly line production process and pursue their own unique paths, similar to the speaker’s journey.

Transcripts

so all of you here would have heard

about assembly line production process

it is a manufacturing process in which a

product goes from one station to another

and at every station some value gets

added to the product or some component

of the product gets completed and at the

end of the assembly line the finished

product comes out

a bottle of coke is produced like this

a tata nano is produced like this a lot

of things we consume on a day to day

basis

are actually produced through assembly

line production

process but that's not what i'm here to

talk about

the interesting question is have you

ever seen a semi-line production process

for an individual or a human being

this one that right that exists right

here in this room and in our country

and it is something as follows

you get on to something called a dps

from there you get on to something

called iit

from there you go to a iim and then to a

mck

and pop-up pops out a product of this

assignment line production right

so

and most of you sitting here in this

room today are in a sense somewhere in

this assembly line production process

most of you

uh but it's not exciting to be a

bottle of coke it's not exciting to be a

tata nano right

so with this in mind i said okay let me

try and get off this production process

and actually try and take the plunge as

we call it and that's what i did when i

started stomach development

so it's a

as the uh

introducer described it's a it's a

social enterprise that works at the

intersection of politics and development

and essentially we partner with elected

representatives mps mlas across six

states right now uh and support them

with various aspects of constituency

development but i'll talk about that a

bit later

the important point is decide to get off

the semiline production process and take

the plunge with the hope of course that

at some point a parachute will come and

the risk would pay off

right since the time i have done that

two and a half years back this some some

people a lot of people who ask the

question that what you're doing right

now doesn't have any link whatsoever

with what the training you've undergone

in the last

all or your life right you've gone on a

complete tangent you learned something

else and you're doing something

something completely different right i

like to look at it at a very different

way i believe

everything that is done that i've done

in my life was in some sense of

preparation for what i'm doing right now

and the good thing about this assembly

line is also it helps you

kind of create convincing answers to

these questions and i've tried to create

one so the way i'd like to answer this

is that

a dps taught me the ability to work hard

and to be competitive iit gave me the

confidence

that yes i can do what i want to do

and

and i can quickly learn things that i do

not know as of now

i am give me some basic skills around

leadership around team building and so

on

mckinsey gave a core skill set

which is transferable in any situation

and also a lot of exposure in a very

compressed period of time and therefore

if you do a plus b plus c plus d then

you essentially get to get to what i'm

doing right now which is which is

development entrepreneurship and trying

in my own small way to create impact at

scale so that's the way i look at it so

there's no disconnect between what i've

been doing all my life and what i am

doing right now in fact there's a very

natural flow in which things have

happened

i'll spend the next 10 minutes talking

about three aspects

one is what we do

then why we do what we do

and the third is how we do what we do

starting off with the what question

uh i decided to kind of get on the

internet and look for the definition of

the word business consulting

what is business consulting the first

link that popped up was a wikipedia link

and it defined business consulting in a

very holistic manner it said it's the

process of diagnosing it's a it's the

process of diagnosing the issues and

problems with the business entity and

leveraging external expertise to address

the same and then went down to list a

set of things that can be done on

aspects of business consulting like like

operational transformation strategy

inputs human resource management

technology interventions and so on so

forth so i thought it's a very nice and

holistic way of defining business

consulting i said let me test google a

bit more i put in the term political

consulting

right and this is what it had to say it

said that political consulting refers to

a newly emerged industry to support

political candidates with election

election management

that's to me very very uh outdated in a

way right this is a definition that

would have worked say five years back

it's it's a bit outdated it's a bit

archaic it's it's it doesn't capture the

essence of political consulting it's not

comprehensive enough

right so i said okay let me

let me try and define political

consulting from my side and this is and

i strongly believe that it has to be

defined in the same way as business

consulting

it's a process of diagnosing

the problems and issues with a political

entity or individual politician and

leveraging external expertise expertise

to address them and like business

consulting there could be various

aspects of political consulting campaign

management is certainly one of them

but this on ground development what do

you do after you win campaign is only

till the time that you have you supposed

to you get into the power but on ground

development and of course policy

research and formulations and so on and

there'll be several more that will

emerge with time

samar operates

in the domain of political consulting

and within then within that specifically

on on ground development as i said in

particular we support elected

representatives with holistic

development or some of the development

of their constituencies that's the

that's the that's what we do now if you

want to understand the political

consenting landscape in bit more detail

then i would like to the way i like to

look at it is the following you move the

types of services that you're providing

the potential types of services on one

access so you have campaign management

on ground development policy support and

formulation and then the other axis you

put the various potential clients that

you can serve right you can either serve

a legislator a mla mp a zilla parishad

member a municipal councillor and so on

you can serve a political executive

which is a minister a cabinet minister a

chief minister or prime minister for

that matter you can consult political

parties right and the intersection of

this so this is a three by three metric

metrics and each cell of this represents

one aspect of political consulting

and today as we are sitting and talking

here

there are there are entities in india in

each and every cell of this matrix so

that's the way political consulting has

evolved over the last few years so to

say that it is just a recently newly

developed industry to support candidates

election management would be probably

grossly incorrect

so that's the what part of it

let's move to the why why why is this

important why is political consulting

important in the first place and why we

are doing this

again i decided to draw parallels from

the business world

let's look at a business leader and say

for instance a ceo of a mid cap company

right

what are his responsibilities he's

supposed to manage a uh maybe a

team of of a few thousand people

employees he suppose he would have a

typically revenues of a few hundred

crores let us say

or a few thousand crores for that matter

uh he has to take care of the clients

which could be other businesses or which

could be the end consumer he has to make

sure that the quality of the product

service his company is producing is up

to the mark so that's broadly his

responsibilities right

what are the

what are the things that he has under

him to be able to deliver on this

expectation on this responsibility he

has at the very least a well established

functional office right he has a

professional support team which he has

the ability to fire and hire

right he has the freedom to leverage

external expertise whenever he feels

something doesn't exist within his

system that's the least that any ceo

would have

now let's let's now contrast this with a

political leader right and here we take

instance of a member of parliament let

us say what are the roles and

responsibilities of a member of

parliament

let's say they spend around 100 days in

parliament given parliamentary

functioning and it it started

functioning off late so 100 days in

parliament right and there they're

supposed to kind of talk on everything

from nuclear liability to food security

to sanitation and everything

so they're supposed to kind of

participate in debates raise questions

represent the viewpoints of their

constituents and and and also

participate in standing committees where

they're members of and deliberate there

on lawmaking and so on so that's the

parliamentary part once they are in

their constituencies around 250 days in

a year

they become like very very superhuman

social animals right they have to attend

so many foundation links flagshops

inaugurations death ceremonies marriages

and like it's countless

that's one aspect of what they do when

they're in the conference it's a

significant aspect by the way

any grounded politician or mp at least

at that level would when he is in in his

constituency have around 100 to 500

people visiting him every day with all

with some issue or the other it could be

individual concerns it could be

community issues and he's supposed to

kind of address them grievance reduction

is a big component of what they what

they're expected to do

then add to that the whole

responsibility of facilitating

development in the area that they come

from there's an expectation of the

people it's not a constitutional mandate

but this expectation from the people

that you're supposed to kind of develop

the region that you are elected from

and then they have political party

responsibilities of campaigning and so

on so just think of this this is the

expectation the responsibilities that an

mp

or the people have from an mp and what

is the empowerment

a minimalistic office hardly it can be

called an office the provision that they

get to run the office is is probably not

even sufficient to take care of the

monthly t expenses of their office right

then they have no professional support

at all they have party workers which are

very good in organizing rallies meetings

and so on but they don't they don't have

the

expertise the professional skill set the

mindset the inclination the drive to

develop to do development work or policy

work so in some sense they have no

in-house teams

and then

no provision to liquidate leverage

external expertise you don't have

anything in-house but you also don't

have a provision through which you can

seek external help

so that's the situation in which the

ground reality is contrasting it with

the popular perception right

fundamental belief that we have at samad

is that

politics is the biggest instrument of

change if you want to bring about

sustainable and change and change at

scale then politics is the instrument

for that it has to sharpen it has to it

has to become effective that's the only

way we can reach there and what we try

to do is to empower or support

well-meaning politicians in bringing

about or or delivering on the mandate

that they have that's primarily what we

uh uh what we do and that's the reason

why we why we believe political

consulting is important and that

particularly development consulting is

very very important

so that's the why part of it

let's come how do we do this

again so we have talked about

political consulting we talked of

business consulting political consulting

we've talked about a business leader a

political leader now let's i thought

we'll continue the same analogy and

let's talk about a business entrepreneur

to describe how we do what we do

again i went to google you look at the

first few links it comes of very nice

and clean definition of what a business

entrepreneur is and you would know most

of you would know the definition right

there are three main factors of

production land labor capital and

business entrepreneur is somebody who

gets together these factors of

production takes the required risk

produces the required product or service

and

reaps the benefits of the rewards of it

that's the definition of a business

entrepreneur economics 101 as our

professors would tell us right

good then i said okay let's let's test

google again i put in the word uh

political entrepreneur right in the

recent context and especially in the

context of india what you get out of it

is this right that's political

entrepreneur so i said maybe maybe the

terminology has to change right here in

the in this section so i said okay let

me try something else development

entrepreneur working in a political

domain right and that's a better

description maybe slightly longer but

more precise

there's no definition of this that

exists on on google or anywhere right so

i said okay continuing with the same

analogy let me try and define what a

development entrepreneur working in the

political system is and what are

what's the definition of this animal

right

so like factors of production

if you look at from a development point

of view i'm not talking about policy

here you look at from a development

point of view there are factors of

development and i define them as the

following

there has to be an innovative solution

to a problem and a set of people who are

willing to implement that you can call

it idea plus labor uh but but that there

has to be so this that's one factor of

development this has to exist then there

has to be funding that has to exist it

can either be government funding it

could be private funded it could be

self-funded but there has to be a

mechanism of funding things

administrative support becomes very very

important because when you're working in

the system you need government support

you need approvals you need kind of you

have to penetrate the system and so on

and lastly mobilization is very

important and that's where politics

comes into play you can you can actually

you can actually mobilize a whole

community towards something positive

we've seen

instances of it in recent past

but that's also very important and then

a development entrepreneur working in

the political domain becomes someone who

kind of brings these factors of

development together

and creates the desired impact that's

that's how i would like to define and

this is exactly what we do

and this exactly how we deliver on our

mandates at a constituency level we are

that invisible hand we are that

connecting the dot people who will bring

these different factors of production

will identify a problem identify a

solution identify implementing agency

agency who does this identify a source

of funding get the government

administration the bureaucracy to align

leverage the political powers of an mp

to kind of mobilize community towards it

and then make sure something gets

delivered right so that's that's how we

kind of operate at a constituency level

now before i end let me let me just make

a few predictions right i won't go into

the reasons for it but but based on what

i've seen over the last few years the

certain predictions of this domain the

first set of predictions is related to

the

political consulting landscape right

my sense is that over the next few years

we'll see increasing number of entities

operating in each cell

of this political consulting landscape

this already some other entity in each

cell but that number will increase

significantly plus you could also see

the type of services increase and so the

political landscape itself getting the

political consulting landscape itself

getting expanded so that's one thing

second

increasingly you'll see entities

collaborating consolidation happening in

this domain and somebody say for example

who's working on development and

something who's working on on

campaigning joining hands because their

client happens to be the same so a lot

of consolidation will happen people will

come together and they'll be players

operating across different cells of this

political consulting landscape

and third which is a very interesting

one

my sense is that in a few years from now

we'll see players who get established in

this domain

slowly moving and leveraging their

skills tools and expertise to kind of

serve clients from the business

consulting and the business dynamics the

revenue dynamics

and the skills that they require will

make sure that that transition happen at

some point in time so that's the third

that's one set of predictions

the second prediction is around the

plight so to say of a political leader

right i think sooner or later it has to

happen but at some point in time the

government itself will make a provision

through which

legislators mps mlas and and and the

sorts could actually hire or leverage

the services of high quality

professional teams to deliver whatever

mandates they have it happens across the

world will happen in india sooner rather

than later

and the last prediction and i end with

this and this is the most important of

the lot i think

which is related to the 79 production

process i think over the next few years

more and more people like you sitting in

this room will have the courage and will

will kind of decide to get off the same

line production process and take that

plunge and remove the full stops

question the full stops all the best for

that and thank you

you