Finding the Healthy Organizations in Pakistan
When I went to Duke University, something that really struck to me was how much school spirit there was! Basketball united everyone - students, faculty, admin, alumni, local community people - everyone! The effects of this went beyond graduation, and were felt all over America. Whether it was Duke parents “adopting” me at airports making sure I was safe till I got into my cab or it was the many many product managers in Seattle willing to help out in any way they could or it was strangers in New York who recognized me by my Duke shirts and would come to greet with a smile (yes in New York so you know it meant something) ;)
One of the greatest testimonials about a brand is the people who work there. Globally we have examples of McKinsey, Bain, Google, Netflix - offices who have made it a badge of honor to work for them. But do we find examples like this in Pakistan? Do organizations and people have the same level of support and genuine desire to help each other here as much as I saw in Duke?
Yes. And my frustration with local media outlets not highlighting these enough is why I’m writing this article.
YASSER BASHIR AND HIS WISDOM
About a year ago, I met Yasser Bashir virtually for a training session. He was there to teach us about building a healthy organization. Yasser was someone who embodied what he spoke about. His entire emphasis was teaching us to have a strong set of values, sticking to them, and finally implementing them company-wide. He gave us frameworks, on what CEOs should do to ensure psychological security in their organizations. Everything Yasser taught us made me realize that a nurtured organization is overall better than a stressful one.
By now, I knew what to do, I knew it was done in countries around the world, but I kept being nagged by one impending question: is all of this practical in Pakistan? Can we even do this here?
ARE THERE PAKISTANI ORGANIZATIONS THAT HAVE GREAT CULTURES?
In recent years, I’ve seen Pakistanis build healthy successful organizations and that nurtured several startups. Careem has to take the crown for this. How many people on LinkedIn do you see with “ex-Careem” proudly displayed in their titles? Same goes for Airlift. A startup that employed thousands of people, announced it’s shutting down, but the employees are commenting tons of gratitude for the experience saying wholesome things about the company, the culture and the people. But it’s not just bog companies that are doing this? Startups like Metric and Paymob have an extremely happy positive culture. I’ve had the chance to meet the C-Suite and the oldest to the youngest employee at Metric and they all gave the most positive vibes you can find at a business event. Currently, one of the things I’m doing is working at Paymob and I can attest to the overall positive culture that this company has too. I have to give a shoutout to an organization founded, lead, and run by a young Gen Z girl - Wardah Noor: Khudkaar. A non-profit that trains students in far-off areas to help them become financially stable. All Khudkaar students have only got nice things to say about their organization and founder!
My takeaway from this is that there are so many organizations in Pakistan that are doing really well and proving day in day out that we can have healthy work cultures which will result in a workforce that is more motivated, and exponentially more productive than if you have bad managers that micromanage and are insecure in themselves.
A PLEA TO THE MEDIA
The case for building a healthy organization is so strong and you can find a ton of literature on it online. What’s missing is the highlight on Pakistani companies. We need to put good firms and good people in the spotlight to we can show our generations two things: 1. It is 110% possible to build a great company in Pakistan and 2. It is 110% possible to succeed by taking care of your employees instead of trying to exploit your way to capital gains.
My Duke experience taught me the power of making an organization so loving and caring that people themselves are drawn to give back to it, and make it greater in every sense possible. If you know of healthy Pakistani organizations, tag below!