top of page

By:

Rahul Kulkarni

30 March 2025 at 3:32:54 pm

The Status Quo Is a Competitor, Not a Baseline

“You’re not competing with other ideas. You’re competing with “leave me alone”. You’ve seen this happen. You call a meeting. You explain the logic. People nod. Some even say, “Yes, correct.” And then… nothing changes. Not a fight. Not a refusal. Not drama. Just a slow, polite slide back to the old way. Most leaders call this laziness. I don’t. I think it’s something more precise: The status quo is doing its job. Quick recap if you’re joining mid-series Week 1: You inherited an equilibrium,...

The Status Quo Is a Competitor, Not a Baseline

“You’re not competing with other ideas. You’re competing with “leave me alone”. You’ve seen this happen. You call a meeting. You explain the logic. People nod. Some even say, “Yes, correct.” And then… nothing changes. Not a fight. Not a refusal. Not drama. Just a slow, polite slide back to the old way. Most leaders call this laziness. I don’t. I think it’s something more precise: The status quo is doing its job. Quick recap if you’re joining mid-series Week 1: You inherited an equilibrium, not a business. Week 2: People don’t oppose improvement; they oppose loss disguised as improvement. Now Week 3: even if you reduce the fear of loss, there’s another force sitting quietly behind it: “Do nothing” is not neutral. It’s a protected strategy. Which seat are you stepping into? Inherited seat: People will smile and wait for your “phase” to pass. Hired seat: People will test whether you can enforce, or whether you’ll get tired. Promoted seat: People may agree publicly and revert privately because habits don’t ask permission. Different entry doors. Same default: do nothing. Shortcut Route Every industrial area has that one shortcut road. It’s narrow, broken, sometimes risky. But it avoids signals and saves a turn. So, everyone keeps taking it even when a better road exists. That’s how organizations behave. Your “new process” might be cleaner and smarter. But the old route is familiar. And familiarity feels like safety. Researchers call this status quo bias where we stick with what’s already in place even when a better option exists (Samuelson and Zeckhauser wrote about it decades ago). But you don’t need a paper to believe it. You just need to watch what happens after your first improvement announcement. Do Nothing Incoming leaders often treat the current way of working like a baseline: “Okay, this is where we are. Now we improve.” But inside the system, the status quo is not baseline. It’s a competitor. It protects people in very specific ways: It keeps accountability soft: everything stays “situational”. It preserves informal power: who can “manage”, who has access, who gets heard. It avoids hard data, which avoids hard blame. It keeps old loyalties intact. It keeps flexibility for firefighting even if that firefighting is the problem. So, when you introduce a new system, you’re not offering a better idea. You’re threatening a survival arrangement. That’s why resistance here is rarely loud. It’s quiet. Continuous. Patient. The real competition is friction Practical Truth People don’t choose the best option. They choose the easiest option. This is where the idea of defaults matters. Thaler and Sunstein popularised it in Nudge: if you make something the default path, most people follow it … not because they love it, but because opting out takes effort. In MSMEs, effort is expensive. Not because people are incapable—because they’re overloaded. Understaffed. Running on memory, calls, WhatsApp, and urgency. So “small extra steps” are not small. They become the place where change goes to die. If your new system adds friction, the status quo wins. New Behavior Use these four rules: 1. Remove one step, don’t add one. If your change adds steps, it will lose. Kill one existing step immediately (a duplicate approval, a manual register, a second reporting format). 2. Attach it to an existing moment. Don’t create a new ritual. Piggyback on something that already happens (dispatch call, purchase huddle, daily production chat). Change travels on existing rails. 3. Make it visible and usable. If the new behavior produces something people need (a live queue, a simple list, a shared status board), it becomes real. If it produces a report nobody reads, it becomes theater. 4. Create a soft gate. Not punishment. A gate. Example: “Only logged quotations will be discussed in the pricing huddle.” Calm rule, consistently applied. No drama, no exceptions-by-loudness. If you do only this much, you’ll notice something powerful: adoption starts rising without motivation speeches. Because you stopped trying to win by persuasion and started winning by design. (The writer is Co-founder at PPS Consulting. He writes about the human mechanics of growth where systems evolve, and emotions learn to keep up. Views personal. Write to rahul@ppsconsulting.biz)

Annasaheb Patil: A Lifelong Advocate for Workers’ Rights

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Annasaheb Patil

Annasaheb Pandurang Patil, a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, made significant contributions to the uplifting of scattered workers in Mumbai. For this reason, he is regarded as the architect of the progress of the Maratha and Mathadi workers in Maharashtra. Annasaheb Patil proposed a simple yet broad definition of a `Maratha,’ stating that every person residing in Maharashtra and standing for its defence is a Maratha. With this ideology, he established the Mathadi Workers Union and the All India Maratha Federation.

When Annasaheb Patil arrived in Mumbai from his native village, Mandrulkole in Patan Taluka, he began his career as a worker. At that time, workers in Mumbai were facing dire conditions, and a majority of them were Marathas. Annasaheb Patil believed that workers needed to experience both economic and social progress. He deeply studied their issues and began organising them, forming the Mathadi Workers Union, formally known as the Maharashtra State Mathadi Transport and General Workers Union. This became one of the largest labour unions in the state.

At the time, most labour unions were led by communists, but Annasaheb Patil rejected their ideologies, instead building a union based on Indigenous principles. He organised protests and movements, putting forward workers’ demands for better wages, healthcare, and basic rights for workers before the government. His relentless work eventually bore fruit, and he became the guiding force for workers.

Annasaheb Patil’s efforts resonated with the government. The then-Chief Minister, Yashwantrao Chavan, addressed the demands put forth by Patil, and on June 5, 1969, the Mathadi Workers Act was enacted in Maharashtra. This legislation brought joy and relief to the workers, improving their quality of life. Due to this act, facilities such as hospitals, consumer societies, housing through CIDCO, and educational and medical services were made available to Mathadi workers. Patil’s contribution to their welfare was pivotal.

Today, the issue of Maratha reservation is a significant topic in Maharashtra. Annasaheb Patil, the father of the Maratha reservation movement, made sure that his demands were reasonable and did not disturb social unity. His image is revered across Maharashtra for this reason.

Annasaheb Patil worked tirelessly for the welfare of Mathadi workers, most of whom were Marathas. He united the 12 Balutedars and 18 Pagadi communities, forming various organisations under the All India Maratha Federation. His leadership earned him widespread respect, and on July 8, 1980, he became a member of the Legislative Council.

During this time, the demand for Maratha reservations based on economic criteria was gaining traction. Annasaheb Patil toured Maharashtra while advocating for this cause. He resolved to lead a protest march to the Legislative Assembly. As an MLA in the Congress government, Patil, along with Advocate Shashikant Pawar, led a massive procession from Azad Maidan, Mumbai, on March 22, 1982. The sight of the marchers carrying Shivaji Maharaj’s saffron flag caught the attention of the citizens of Mumbai.

Annasaheb Patil submitted a list of nine demands to the then Chief Minister, Babasaheb Bhosale. Realising that the demand for reservation would not be considered, he declared that if justice were not served to the Maratha community, he would not live to see the next sunrise. True to his word, he ended his life on March 23, 1982, leaving an indelible mark on the state.

Annasaheb Patil devoted his life to the progress of Mathadi workers, raising their issues before the government and improving their living conditions. His efforts for the Maratha reservation and social justice brought attention to the problems faced by the community. His life was a testament to the struggle for the welfare of society. Rightfully, he is remembered as the father of the Maratha reservation movement and the architect of Maratha upliftment.

On his birth anniversary, we humbly pay tribute to the sacred memory of Annasaheb Patil.

(The writer is a BJP member of Maharashtra Legislative Council. Views personal.)

Comments

bottom of page