Category: Uncategorized

The past few weeks have been filled with conferences. I was in Mexico City for a conference organized by CEMLA on remittances in Latin America and a meeting there lead me to another conference in Miami, this time the IMTC conference.

Founded by Hugo Cuevas Mohr, the IMTC conferences are where practitioners, bankers and technology folks go. This was my first time at an IMTC conference and I was excited to attend.

Having just returned from Mexico City on a Sunday, I took the Monday evening red-eye to Miami, to reach on a Tuesday, Nov 12th. Speaking of travel bugs, this was definitely a streak of travel for me, unlike any that I had encountered.

So, what did I witness at IMTC?

Quite a lot : Insights from Hugo, who is a veteran of the money transfer industry. His grand-father had a remittances/money transfer business in Colombia and he seems to have grappled with many of the issues facing this industry from an early age.

“I rode the wave of money transfers, and here I am.” he pointed out.

There were several innovative products and companies showcasing them. The most innovative one I saw was a Maya ATM machine that helps you send remittances and also do a host of other things such as pay bills etc.

And there was a firm in Africa called Baluwo, that is billed as a ‘Partner for cash-to-goods,’ meaning you can buy someone goods, rather than send cash, remotely.

Additionally, I learnt about Transfer Wise, a company that was billed as one of the cheapest ways to send money, in terms of its model of functioning. It was the ‘modern hawala’ as one speaker pointed out.

In part 2 of this post, I’ll explain some more insights gathered from this conference.

The recent scandal with Ukraine and Mr.Trump is one of the dozens of ethical (and legal) scandals that we have seen. Scandal after scandal, it seems like the word scandal is losing its steam. However, this one has a new twist : there is a whistleblower involved.

The American legacy of whistleblowing goes far back, the days of the founding of the republic. Just seven months of signing of the Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers passed the world’s first Whistleblower protection act. The U.S. has been a pioneer in this field, as many others.

This act was necessary to protect those government officials who were working under tyrannical bosses or unethical people, who abused the power and authority of the government – either to abuse people or to gain wrongfully from their position, and go unpunished.

As Alison Stranger points out “The whistleblowers who sought protection were 10 American sailors and marines who had reported improper behavior by the Continental Navy’s most powerful man.” This seems to be the guiding principle of why these laws were put in place and continue to exist.

Similarly, Roberta Ann Johnson writes in her book The Whistleblowers that five conditions help explain why this phenomenon exists in the U.S. : 1. Changes in bureaucracy itself 2. Wide range of laws that encourage whistleblowing 3.Federal and state whistleblower protections 4.Institutional support for whistleblowers and 5. A culture that often values whistleblowing (p.4).

Several laws such as the Ethics in Government Act of 1971, Code of Ethics for Government Service and the like were passed that encourage reporting of wrong doing and offer protections to those who do report.

While financial rewards can motivate some whistleblower – the Federal False Claims Act offers 15-25 percent of the money their whistleblowing recovers for a federal agency, many are motivated by a sense of justice and fairness at work.

While the current saga at the U.S. federal level gets sorted out, it is important to keep in mind that whistleblowers are not a nuisance or ‘spies’ but rather a necessity in our democratic society.

Without them, we may lose the moral compass that guides much of public service. We may be lost in the wilderness of corruption, redtape and nepotism.

Whistleblowers, in other words may be our new-age prophets. We better listen to what they have to say!

I received a report in my mailbox today titled ‘Race to lead’ which deals with the issue of challenges that leaders of color face, in the nonprofit sector, in the U.S.

Many of the issues highlighted in the report are quite familiar to me : lack of funding, board of directors not taking you seriously. The report adds “Nonprofit EDs/CEOs of color report more challenges in their relationships with boards of directors when the boards are predominantly white.”

The report also points to the challenge of access to support for leaders of color.

Critics may point to the self-reporting bias and a sense of victimization that leaders of color may have. I have heard this argument myself. However, there is no denying that salary data, experiences of people in leadership positions to tell us a story. And unfortunately, it is not the prettiest one.

What do you think about this report? What is your own experience in leadership – if you are a person of color?

I am teaching a course on Nonprofit Leadership this summer. This is a strange time to be talking about leadership, given that we are witnessing so much chaos around the world and those who are supposed to be ‘leading’ are doing anything but lead.

Consider the world of business, which has become the focus of much of our lives. If one takes the case of Huawei, the Chinese company that is at the heart of supposed espionage – according to the American President – there is increasing pressure on American firms to cut ties with Huawei. Political leaders are pulling the plug on collaboration, creativity and innovation, it seems. Whether Huawei is actually indulging in espionage remains to be conclusively proven, but leaders have chosen to point fingers.

In an announcement that didn’t reveal anything, Robert Mueller read out a testimony basically saying that his report was the last word. He pointed to Congress to interpret and act in ways that were in line with their mandate. In other words, he was asking people with power and authority to act as leaders.

So, what do leaders do?

They craft a vision and inspire people to move towards that vision, says Warren Bennis, in his book ‘On becoming a leader.’ This sounds simpler than it actually is.

What drives one’s vision? It is a combination of one’s values, ambitions, character traits and life experiences.

So, to have better leaders we need better value frameworks, which are more inclusive, just and equal.

Whether is it dealing with change, chaos, crises; all of one’s values come to the fore. Especially, if one is a leader, he/she is asked to define a problem and then help solve it. With a twisted logic and skewed view of the world, one can only mess things up more, rather than solve the real problem.

What we are witnessing today, in the world is not actual definition of problems, but rather twisting and framing problems to suit one’s agenda. Whether it is gun control, climate change or migration, leaders are choosing the easy path to please others. Despite overwhelming facts and evidence that humans with guns are dangerous, that climate change is real and that migration actually helps countries grow, politicians are acting in ways that limit debate on these issues. Populists are framing issues to suit their needs and are dealing in xenophobia and fear.

This, is not good leadership. It may be good salesmanship and PR, but certainly not good and enlightened leadership.

I attended the Jumm’ah prayers at the Masjid Al-Taqwa in Altadena. Here is an abridged version of the sermon. 

The Imam read out a message from a family in the neighborhood. They had left a card as well : “We stand with you on this sorrowful day, we hope you can find some peace.” – A Pasadena Jewish family.

“This is the result of the tireless efforts of local mosque. May God bless our mosque and may god bless our administrators, who connected with members of other faiths. This is who we are, we are a peaceful people. I will remind us, that the Prophet said that the parable of Muslims is to one another is that of a human body: when a part is sick, the whole body will feel the pain.”

“The shooters in Christ Church were not born to hate, they were taught to hate, just as all terrorists. To hate everyone else, than their color or ethnicity.”

We pray that the deceased are in the highest level of paradise. We ask God to bless those who are left behind. The Muslim community is in grief and in pain, we feel this for our brothers and sisters in that community. We must stand united, unshaken. We will fill our mosques, we will fill our homes with happiness and religion. WE will teach our youngesters what islam is  We teach Islam. We teach peace.

The hate of Islam is 1400 years old and will never go away, till end of days. As long as there is truth and falsehood, falsehood will try and cover the truth with darkness. Eventually, truth will prevail, as Allah has promised.

The final victory is for righteousness, Insha Allah.

No place for victimhood, we must act and not react. We must all manifest that in our interaction with our co-workers, on a small scale and a bigger scale. On a community level as well.

Hatred, violence, ugliness oppression and racism have no place in our lives. They do exist However. There is also beauty, belief, faith, generosity, courage, honor and many other wonderful things.

We as Muslims must embody them. Those characteristics that the Prophet taught us. Dear brothers and sisters, Muslims of old were tortured, from the Seerah, we have a lot of stories of Bilal, how he was tortured, in the middle of the desert – heat of mid-day. Stones were put on his chest just to make him disbelieve.

“Ahadun ahad, fardan samad.” That’s what we have to endure, brothers and sisters.

These people who love to hate, do not want to see the light. We have to rejoice that ‘Inna ma al usri Yusra. “ With every calamity there is ease.”

                                *******

In Surah Al Baqarah Allah says, that have you do you think that you enter Jannah without being tested? And without experiencing calamities before you? They were suffering from adversity and hurt and they were shaken until the prophet said “And those who believed him from out of frustration of human frustration. They said, when is Allah granting us victory?” Allah reassured them that victory will come.

     Surah Azhab , #53, “They came onto you from above and below you.”

Prophet Muhammad and his companions were tested severely. Ibn Ummar was tortured and the Prophet and his companions were weak. He had words telling them “Glad tidings to you, Yasar, definitely your abode is in Jannah. We ask Allah to grant them Jannah. Those who are in hospital, we ask Allah to grant them speedy recovery.”

                                ******

God has his own way to reveal things. I just wanted to mention to you, one story that a family, the father was Abu Hamza, from Syria fled in 2013 and were in refugee camps in Jordan; the Zaatari camp. They suffered a lot. Eight months ago, they were granted a refugee camp and were in Christ Church. The father and his two kids were in the mosque and they all died. Regardless of how we run away from our destiny, Allah has his plan. The plan for these people is to be in Jannah. We grant Allah to grant them peace and protection.

The recent news of the John Allen Chau, the American missionary who was killed by tribals in India’s Andaman Islands prompted a lot of writing. Much ink has been spilled and many perspectives shared. One perspective suggests that since his actions – of wanting to spread Christianity- are part of the older narrative of wanting to ‘civilize’ the native, his actions are reprehensible. Another perspective – shared by his fellow missionaries is that he was just doing what he was supposed to do – spread the word of god. He died in his cause, as a martyr, according to them.

Which one is correct? Where does his ‘charitable’ act of trying to bring faith to a supposedly ‘godless’ people  fall? It depends, in my opinion, on where you stand. This is one of those questions that has more grey than black and white. While a commonsense explanation of his action would be that he should have left the poor tribals alone, to do what they have been doing, for ages; others might disagree.

For a bit of history on this phenomenon, have a look at this report, prepared in 1932, titled ‘Rethinking Missions,‘  a report prepared in the aftermath of similar situations that arose in the developing world.

As the report says in the foreward “One of the chief advantages enjoyed by this Commission has been the circumstance that it includes contrasting views in the interpretation of Christianity and therefore of Christian missions. With less of a gamut it would have been by so much less representative of the membership of American churches. These differences are to some extent differences of expression, to some extent differences of substance. Such differences are not unimportant.” The commission that prepared this report points out that missions as they exist may continue to exist, though some of them ‘deserve to perish. (p.6)’ They consider the value of missions to be important, given that they are driven by one’s desire to share one’s faith.

‘By what standards should missions be judged’ the authors ask, before answering it saying that ‘objective’ criterion is impossible.

The criterion for judging the success or failure of a mission cannot be solely determined by any one perspective.

What about those who are at the receiving end of these missions, one might ask? What if they don’t want these missions showing up, like the tribals, in India?

These are some big questions that one has to deal with.