Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful Executives

The Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful Executives

Sydney Finkelstein, the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, published “Why Smart Executives Fail” 8 years ago.
In it, he shared some of his research on what over 50 former high-flying companies – like Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, Rubbermaid, and Schwinn – did to become complete failures.  It turns out that the senior executives at the companies all had 7 Habits in common.  Finkelstein calls them the Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful Executives.
These traits can be found in the leaders of current failures like Research In Motion (RIMM), but they should be early-warning signs (cautionary tales) to currently unbeatable firms like Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), and Amazon.com (AMZN).  Here are the habits, as Finkelstein described in a 2004 article:
Habit # 1:  They see themselves and their companies as dominating their environmentThis first habit may be the most insidious, since it appears to be highly desirable.  Shouldn’t a company try to dominate its business environment, shape thefuture of its markets and set the pace within them?  Yes,but there’s a catch.  Unlike successful leaders, failed leaders who never question their dominance fail torealize they are at the mercy of changing circumstances.They vastly overestimate the extent to which they actually control events and vastly underestimate the role of chance and circumstance in their success.
CEOs who fall prey to this belief suffer from the illusion of personal pre-eminence: Like certain film directors, they see themselves as the auteurs of their companies.  As far as they’re concerned, everyone else in the company is there to execute their personal visionfor the company.  Samsung’s CEO Kun-Hee Lee was so successful with electronics that he thought he could repeat this success with automobiles.  He invested $5 billion in an already oversaturated auto market.  Why? There was no business case.  Lee simply loved cars and had dreamed of being in the auto business.
Warning Sign for #1:  A lack of respectHabit #2:  They identify so completely with the company that there is no clear boundary between their personal interests and their corporation’s interestsLike the first habit, this one seems innocuous, perhaps even beneficial.  We want business leaders to be completely committed to their companies, with their interests tightly aligned with those of the company.  But digging deeper, you find that failed executives weren’t identifying too little with the company, but rather too much.  Instead of treating companies as enterprises that they needed to nurture, failed leaders treated them as extensions of themselves.  And with that, a “private empire” mentality took hold.
CEOs who possess this outlook often use their companies to carry out personal ambitions.  The most slippery slope of all for these executives is their tendency to use corporate funds for personal reasons.  CEOs who have a long or impressive track record may come to feel that they’ve made so much money for the company that the expenditures they make on themselves, even if extravagant, are trivial by comparison.  This twisted logic seems to have been one of the factors that shaped the behavior of Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco.  His pride in his company and his pride in his own extravagance seem to have reinforced each other.  This is why he could sound so sincere making speeches about ethics while using corporate funds for personal purposes. Being the CEO of a sizable corporation today is probably the closest thing to being king of your own country, and that’s a dangerous title to assume.
Warning Sign for #2: A question of characterHabit #3:  They think they have all the answersHere’s the image of executive competence that we’ve been taught to admire for decades: a dynamic leader making a dozen decisions a minute, dealing with many crises simultaneously, and taking only seconds to size up situations that have stumped everyone else for days. The problem with this picture is that it’s a fraud. Leaders who are invariably crisp and decisive tend to settle issues so quickly they have no opportunity to grasp the ramifications. Worse, because these leaders need to feel they have all the answers, they aren’t open to learning new ones.
CEO Wolfgang Schmitt of Rubbermaid was fond of demonstrating his ability to sort out difficult issues in a flash. A former colleague remembers that under Schmitt,” the   joke   went, ‘Wolf  knows everything about everything.’  In one discussion, where we were talking about a particularly complex acquisition we made in Europe, Wolf, without hearing different points of view, just said, ‘Well, this is what we are going to do.’”  Leaders who need to have all the answers shut out other points of view. When your company or organization is run by someone like this, you’d better hope the answers he comes up with are going to be the right ones.  At Rubbermaid they weren’t.  The company went from being Fortune’s most admired company in America in1993 to being acquired by the conglomerate Newell a few years later.
Warning Sign for #3:  A leader without followersHabit #4:  They ruthlessly eliminate anyone who isn’t completely behind themCEOs who think their job is to instill belief in their vision also think that it is their job to get everyone to buy into it.  Anyone who doesn’t rally to the cause is undermining the vision.  Hesitant managers have a choice: Get with the plan or leave.The problem with this approach is that it’s both unnecessary and destructive. CEOs don’t need to have everyone unanimously endorse their vision to have it carried out successfully.  In fact, by eliminating all dissenting and contrasting viewpoints, destructive CEOs cut themselves off from their best chance of seeing and correcting problems as they arise.  Sometimes CEOs who seek to stifle dissent only drive it underground. Once this happens, the entire organization falters.  At Mattel, Jill Barad removed her senior lieutenants if she thought they harbored serious reservations about the way that she was running things.  Schmitt created such a threatening atmosphere at Rubbermaid that firings were often unnecessary.  When new executives realized that they’d get no support from the CEO, many of them left almost as fast as they’d come on board.  Eventually, these CEOs had everyone on their staff completely behind them. But where they were headed was toward disaster.  And no one was left to warn them.Warning Sign for #4:  Executive departuresHabit #5: They are consummate spokespersons, obsessed with the company imageYou know these CEOs: high-profile executives whoare constantly in the public eye.  The problem is that amid all the media frenzy and accolades, these leaders’ management efforts become shallow and ineffective. Instead of actually accomplishing things, they often settle for the appearance of accomplishing things.Behind these media darlings is a simple fact of executive life: CEOs don’t achieve a high level of media attention without devoting themselves assiduously to public relations.  When CEOs are obsessed with their image, they have little time for operational details. Tyco’s Dennis Kozlowski sometimes intervened in remarkably minor matters, but left most of  the company’s day-to-day operations unsupervised.As a final negative twist, when CEOs make the company’s image their top priority, they run the risk of using financial-reporting practices to promote that image.  Instead of treating their financial accounts as a control tool, they treat them as a public-relations tool. The creative accounting that was apparently practiced by such executives as Enron’s Jeffrey Skilling or Tyco’sKozlowski is as much or more an attempt to promote the company’s image as it is to deceive the public: In their eyes, everything that the company does is public relations.Warning Sign of #5:  Blatant attention-seekingHabit #6: They underestimate obstaclesPart of the allure of being a CEO is the opportunity to espouse a vision. Yet, when CEOs become so enamored of their vision, they often overlook or underestimate the difficulty of actually getting there.  And when it turns out that the obstacles they casually waved aside are more troublesome than they anticipated, these CEO have a habit of plunging full-steam into the abyss.  For example, when Webvan’s core business was racking up huge losses, CEO George Shaheen was busy expanding those operations at an awesome rate.Why don’t CEOs in this situation re-evaluate their course of action, or at least hold back for a while until it becomes clearer whether their policies will work?  Some feel an enormous need to be right in every important decision they make, because if they admit to being fallible, their position as CEO might seem precarious. Once a CEO admits that he or she made the wrong call, there will always be people who say the CEO wasn’t up to the job.  These unrealistic expectations make it exceedingly hard for a CEO to pull back from any chosen course of action, which not surprisingly causes them to push that much harder.  That’s why leaders at Iridium and Motorola (MMI) kept investing billions of dollars to launch satellites even after it had become apparent that land-based cellphones were a better alternative.Warning Sign of #6:  Excessive hypeHabit #7: They stubbornly rely on what worked for them in the pastMany CEOs on their way to becoming spectacularly unsuccessful accelerate their company’s decline by reverting to what they regard as tried-and-true methods. In their desire to make the most of what they regard as their core strengths, they cling to a static business model.They insist on providing a product to a market that no longer exists, or they fail to consider innovations in areas other than those that made the company successful in the past. Instead of considering a range of options that fit new circumstances, they use their own careers as the only point of reference and do the things that made them successful in the past.  For example, when Jill Barad was trying to promote educational software at Mattel,she used the promotional techniques that had been effective for her when she was promoting Barbie dolls, despite the fact that software is not distributed or bought the way dolls are.Frequently, CEOs who fall prey to this habit owe their careers to some “defining moment,” a critical decision or policy choice that resulted in their most notable success.  It’s usually the one thing that they’re most known for and the thing that gets them all of their subsequent jobs.  The problem is that after people have had the experience of that defining moment, if they become the CEO of a large company, they allow their defining moment to define the company as well – no matter how unrealistic it has become.Warning Sign of #7:  Constantly referring to what worked in the pastThe bottom line: If you exhibit several of these traits, now is the time to stamp them out from your repertoire.  If your boss or several senior executives at your company exhibit several of these traits, now is the time to start looking for a new job.

This Article was published in 2012 in Forbes.com . Link provided below.

 - http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2012/01/02/the-seven-habits-of-spectacularly-unsuccessful-executives/

Everyone needs a Coach!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=a7qnTMvw92U

This Link conveys & establishes that " Everyone needs a coach"...

Please have a Look

Portability

Very recently came the concept of portability in Mobile telephony. It was to provide the customer the choice of migrating, in case he has service issues with his service provider. Customer retains his identity, his unique number.
I used this service few days back. No sooner, my application got registered with my next service provider; I got a call from my old service provider, seeking reasons for my leaving. The call from service rep. was apologetic with promises of improving all issues that I faced over next 7 days. I guess these promises & apologies were too late. I am now waiting for activation of same number with new provider now.
This experience set me thinking.
The concept of portability has existed for much longer. Employees make choices when they are not happy with their current organization. They look out for opportunities and change jobs to new organizations. That’s employee portability. His perspective. Organization perspective, call it attrition. Some organizations use the more positive term – Retention. Employee is a customer too for the organization. There is concept of internal customer discussed for a long time now.
Who owns the customer / employee after he / she has been acquired by the company? Are there any lessons to be learnt?
Yes of course. In the call I had from service provider, he only made promises to improve the experience, which was too late as I had already got my application submitted (akin to putting in resignation). The caller should have asked me what are those things which we need to improve apart from your reasons shared. He did not do so. He let go of an opportunity to get feedback and perhaps feed it into organization to be able to proactively improve services & retain more customers.
Portability / Attrition can be predicted or forecasted. If it can be, why do organizations and businesses do not consider proactive actions.
Like in case of customer it is fair to ask a question, who owns the employee? Is it HR? Is it the Function Head? Is the ownership shared by HR & Concerned Business/ Function? There are arguments for each of these. The one argument that I have seen most organization throw up to preclude any discussion when an employee quits is:
“Employees do not leave companies they leave their Managers”
To be fair, research does show & prove that, it is one of the top reasons among others, for people to quit jobs. When it happens more often, does it not make the responsibility to treat & go about resolving the challenge? Most often it is seen that, as soon as this argument is put forward, out goes the accountability and pain of Top Management & HR. Abandoning. My guess is that most senior employees in organization extend conveniently this argument to cover up deficiencies related to company culture, talent management etc.
Organizations would do well when they conduct a follow up analysis to highlight managers who have contributed to the highest or critical attrition. (High_PO). I have worked with few organizations and have talked to innumerable professionals but none have confirmed that any Manager was asked to leave because he had the highest attrition in his team.
Organizations need to truly acknowledge attrition (Employee portability) only then the perspectives will change. Till then attrition as a performance indicator is not owned by any. It is akin to orphaning the employee. Literally. So if & when an employee resigns / quits no one sheds a tear. No one owns him. He becomes a statistic. And then again we hear. People leave managers not companies. Think about it from the perspective of organizations facing high attrition at almost 25-30%. Such high attrition means that virtually all the Managers in the companies are to be blamed. Collectively these Managers make an organization.
Organizations now seem to resolving the attrition problem by analysing data as Voluntary and Involuntary Attrition.  That’s reduces the pain and effort a bit. To further distance the issue from HR ,  there is a thought process to measure attrition as only Critical Resignations % (people who have to be retained / have High PO).

 It seems an admittance that HR community did not understand the concept well and measures it all wrong. They have now redefined measurement rather than addressing the issues itself. Most organizations don’t seem to acknowledge it. At their own peril. 

Nightmares with Checked-In Baggage

I have taken innumerable flights in last 2 decades. Different Airlines .  Domestic and International.

There have been great, good & bad experiences in all areas from ticket booking, refunds, delays , flying time to food. In fact one is never prepared for all these experiences and can never plan. All one does is to hope that next flight experience be better than last one. With Low cost carriers one has become quite used to bare necessities’. No lounge, Cold food and lucky to get your choice of seat (without a charge).

There is one area though I have always planned / prepared myself. I believe we should all prepare. Loss / Misplaced Check-in Baggage. It never happened to me, although I meticulously pack, just in case I am not left stranded when I making important Business Visits.

Did I say never Happened to me? Well they say "Never Say Never" . It finally did in Nov 12. Travelling from Jaipur to Kolkata. I waited at carousel till the last bag arrived and then nothing. The flight took off for Gauhati too and yet no sign of my bag on carousel.

When I went to Airline booth at Airport to lodge my complaint, in few moments I realised that all I have has no value. It has depreciated so much that I should be discarding them. I felt poor. The feeling of lost baggage is unexplained.  You curse yourself for check-in, thinking you could have carried baggage in cabin. Thinking you could have worn that costly shoe or Jacket. Thinking why the hell did I leave my laptop in check in baggage. While you do that, you also start calculating the cost of replacing them, running  in to few thousands rupees. Nightmare. Unexpected expenses make one dizzy. You look skywards and say “why me “.

As I trooped out of Airport calculating the damage , after good one hour of search , adding zeros to that figure , I got a call from Airline Manager, asking me to come back as a bag has been relocated , which looks like mine. Relief. Hope.I got back and saw that it was indeed my bag smiling at me. Suddenly I realized that Airline has saved me few thousand rupees. Rather than being angry with them for misplacing my bag,  Profusely thanking them I got out with my bag.

Thereafter I have again taken few flights. I have tried to avoid baggage check-in. But you cannot manage that for long journeys. So whenever I check in , I make a small prayer. When I get down and wait at carousel, I am still saying my prayers. My joy is unbounded when I sight my bag. I almost scream with Joy. I think I should not scream out of joy at airport. It is not a good manner, especially when people around are saying their Prayers.

One last tip. When you approach the airline, they will ask for make, size and color of the bag. Men are mostly color blind and have no sense of size. So guys one suggestion. When you check in Baggage, take a picture of it on phone and retain it, so that you can answer the airline, if your worst nightmare ever comes true.

If you are lucky, you may delete the picture, till next time you take the flight and check-in your baggage.

Indian Employees need Motivation Pill

Professionals from Medical fraternity should relax as “Motivation Pill” is not some illegal substance. This Pill has been in existence for pretty long though. We have Indian athletes are disadvantaged due to poor support, infrastructure & inadequate coaching still work hard with meagre resources to make it to the top of their game.  Indian entrepreneurs similarly, not supported by transparent policies & infrastructure support, still create successes.

Clearly this pill resolves some problems which are ailing most Indians working here, troubled and uncertain, stressed and engaged in unhealthy competition.

This pill initially helps in clarifying & improving thinking and focus. Over a prolonged period, subject to discipline it helps one stay fit mentally & emotionally leading to higher productivity.  The nature of treatment by “Motivation Pill “works at the root of the problem.  Like medicine, here again there has to be proper diagnostics, self-diagnosis. Any other person ( read boss) diagnosing for you is not really in the interest of employee, as it is too late by then (Read Performance Appraisal)  

       

For self-diagnosis, Indian employees need to sense the force of discontent in them. Well post 2008, the world has changed atleast for some time now. Organizations have become leaner, focussed with eye on details. Perhaps this over-caution in approach has led to an environment which Indian employees have never experienced. It is impacting the cultures too which has far reaching and deep significance. Today you would meet, more than ever before, employees in 35+ age group who are wanting to go independent perhaps disillusioned by the fact that they have not made it to corner office and / or do not get the culture / environment to be creative and independent.

So first thing first , is it that today , more than ever , Indian employees are feeling frustration with things as they are... a feeling of powerlessness, anxiety, depression and lethargy. Do goals, aspirational or material, seem more distant, or unrealistic in current circumstances? . This discontent and dissatisfaction with things , as they are, inspires one to change & correct the situation. This discontent triggers the motivation to take action.

So if most Indian employee’s sense discontent & frustration creeping in it is time for a magic pill with essential ingredient of hope. Do not underestimate the therapeutic power of hope. The power of hope leads to motivation and action. Staying motivated is much easier when you enjoy what you are doing.

Experience suggests that when employees improve their skills and develop thinking capacity, they become more valuable to themselves and to others. That’s why organizations of value invest in training their employees to keep them motivated. Investment in yourself is an asset that will pay dividends throughout your life. In short, having useful skills will make you feel good about yourself!. So when your organization do not invest in your training and up skilling, do apportion a part of salary on self - development. Go out and attend programs.

Success is preceded by discontent. You’ll need "motivation" pill. It is not enough to just say, "I’m going to be successful" and expect it to happen. You have to be motivated enough to make things happen.

Turn commute time into something worthwhile

In the last 25 years of my professional life, I have lived and worked in Delhi, Noida, Chandigarh, Mumbai & now Hyderabad. In each of these cities the stay has been atleast 4-5 years. I observed these cities change as time goes by and traffic chaos increase. It has impacted the commute time and except Delhi where Metro may have helped people manage their commute better, all other cities have had no respite. I don't know anybody in Delhi or Mumbai who takes less than half an hour in their daily home-office commute, one way. Quite a many take a minimum of 45 minutes, some even go up to two hours one way. Assuming the average at 45 minutes, taken both ways that makes it an hour and a half daily, 540 minutes a six-day week, and 432 hours a year. So, we are actually on the road 18 days in a year! And that is just work commute alone.


A study puts the average commuting time in Mumbai at 47.26 minutes; Delhi at 42.96; Bangalore at 37.91; Chennai at 36.08; Hyderabad at 33.82 and Pune at 30.87 minutes.

In India especially the frustration of bad driving habits, poor road conditions and endless jams are real cause of stress. Indians are adaptable, and so they have adapted to this as well. One can see that those lucky enough to be driven by another, putting their time to good use. In most cases, it is the ubiquitous cell phone that comes to the rescue, as people fix business appointments, give instructions, return calls or catch up with friends while cooped up in a stationary vehicle. The technology, read Ipods, Ipads (Wifi, 3G) has made people spend their time, catching up work, and not fretting over being stuck in jams or driving long distances. Music continues to soothen the nerves too. The FM channels in all metros have lots of funny and humorous anchors who can keep you in splits while waiting for traffic to move. FM channels do give updates on traffic jams on certain stretches of roads, for commuters to take plan detours and avoid delays and resultant stress.

Well, there is certain category of people, in fact a large number that I know of who now consider & plan their schedule during commuting. You will hear very of often someone saying “I will call you once I get into car” or “I look at mails once I get into comfort of my car”. One would say it is a perfect way to optimize your productivity.

All this is fine as long as the stress and fatigue of long travel times does not result into road rage or carrying over stress to homes in evenings ( rather night) or offices in the morning.

One trend which may emerge over time, only if some marketer sees money in it, is audio books. The audio books exist, we all know. I had never thought about them, never bought any. Lately, I felt that commute can be put to some better use other than doing usual stuff. So, began listening to Audio books during my 20 minutes commute. In fact it is a good way to marry your love for reading & paucity of time. I just happened to come across these audio books at a store in Hyderabad. Just recently walked into “Reliance Time-out” and was amazed at the no of titles available, all reasonably priced. Even on Flipkart.com there are great no. of titles available. I believe this is a boon for all the harried commuters. One can copy these files into Ipods and even while travelling in local bus, metro train can read (listen) to books they always wanted to but had no time for. The run time on an average, for any of this audio book is 3 hours and going by average commute times, one can read (listen) a new book every week. These titles range from self help, management to fiction too.

So guys happy commuting & wish you time well spent.

Success @ Failures

We all have loved stories , From early childhood stories of " Ek Tha Raja" from our grandparents and parents to Chacha Chaudhries & Amar Chitra Kathas to Films and TV.We love them , we adore them and very often we do learn from them, when we care to pause and reflect.

In this day and age of nuclear families and fast paced Double Income households, we have probably lost the art of pause and reflection to so much happening around us. Perhaps we think , this is a luxurly pursuit and let it be left to thinkers.

However , those who do pause and reflect , do learn from incidents , events, people & situations happening dime a dozen in their own lives. They grow wiser from it. Only they do. Or may be a very small group of friends and family , if they chose to talk and discuss about it. Even that may not happen as we all fear censure and ridicule , havent we heard - Fools make mistakes and Wise men learn from it.We all want to be known as wise.

My take is " Learning happens " even when you may be perceived as a fool or a wise person.

Why label ourselves.We all make mistakes . Dont we.But when we learn from them and avoid repitition , we all are wiser and not fool's anymore.

Organizations realise the cost of mistakes and hence HR / Business Managers encourage employees to share their failures. They almost make " Failure a celebration". They have an interest in doing so. They dont want precious resources of company being wasted- Time and Money - and with such sharings they avoid repititions and repeated failures.

Do we have similar mechanism in our small communities of family and friends. NO. Do we have larger communities talking about it . NO. Is there any way that we all can understand our issues and their resolutions as a student ,Children , parents, Spouse amd a member of society.

Perhaps there is. Perhaps a networking cutting across close family and friends , perhaps a collobrative society culture and perhaps colloborative learning will help.

We do find lot of self help books now on shelves of book shops , where people go to buy books and learn from EXPERTS , who seem to have an answer. However how many have access to them .

I am therefore inclined to believe that we must , as a role holder in our families, share our failures and learnings from it , in personal capacity . The sharing could be from events and situations where we acted prudently but in hindsight realised our approach was not correct. These situations could range from decisions about child education stream , to choosing a groom / bride for your kid , to choice of career etc.

Parents

There comes a time in our lives , when we seem to have either " arrived" or we are well on course to rreach our Goals, material that may be. Atleast for our generation ( 60s Born) , it is generally said that people peak in their potential by mid to late 40s. Probably it means that people feel pretty secure about their own and their children future and well being.

While this may be true in most cases, one fact seemingly is also true that people of this age group ( as of now) miss their parents. Either they are no more , sad, or the parents have reached an age , when they are not as healthy and filled with enthusiasm.

There is no bigger and better joy, as a parent, than to be able to enjoy and partake in the success , by any paramater, of their children.When you meet and talk to your old parents, the glint in their eyes, smile on their face, the hug and affectionate placement of their hand on your head and back to wish you more of success, health & peace , gives a feeling which is unparallelled , so humbling that I wish that there was a magic wand with me to make them younger and healthier.

But I can only wish. It makes me emotional. It breaks my heart.

My parents generation have had a difficult life - Loss & Pain of Partition , Living lives within limited means , no fancy holidays , Raising us in difficult times, struggling in times of cash crunches due to failed business yet providing us all with what we needed.

They have forgotten all their trying n painful times , because they see in us the fruits of their wishes and hard work.

They have forgotten. I have not. I hope I can payback.

God give me the strength and us time to do that, all my life.I am sure HE will listen.

What is the purpose of your life?

I regularly watch videos on ted.com. If anyone has not known or seen the videos posted by them, do so at the earliest. Inspiring & thought provoking. One such video provoked me to write this blog.

In the video I saw, the speaker goes to great lengths to argue & establish that organizations which successfully sustain themselves over long period of time do it based on “why” – purpose of their existence and not on “what” they produce/sell to customers. He goes to great length and with evidences attempts to establish that customers respond to genuine purpose of organizations; their why?

One case comes to me of “Wal-Mart” which I believe is also an example of what has been stated above. Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, said in 60s, that their purpose / mission is to bring down the cost of living for an average American. Profound, Sincere, Transparent, ambitious. Firstly his own employees believed him. Secondly the customers believed him as the “why” of walmart aligned with their “why The case that is being made here is that, People are not buying “what they (walmart) sell”; that is product at lowest price; people are buying because of “why” Wal-Mart is selling. ”. In the following years, many emerged as competition in this space for Walmart, but customers continued to believe in walmart more than anyone else.
This concept works in various situations and environments, just that terminology changes. Let us look at selling. In selling, it is said that seller must identify needs of a prospect. Isn’t identifying need of prospect “why”, customer proposes to buy the product? It is.

Companies research the needs and pain points of customers before designing and marketing the product/services. These needs are “why “the customer will consider & buy their product. While buying he is convinced of “why” you wish to sell to him. He believes your intention to produce that good/service is to “help him satisfy his need”; his” why” to buy. If they believe otherwise, a mass of them, critical mass, will not touch the product.

Let us look at situations within organizations. People work for people. People work with people. Only when a subordinate senses the purpose, explicitly or implicitly, “why” of actions being demanded of him by his organization, senior, leader, boss as uplifting, honest & sincere- does he go about putting his heart & soul in achieving it. Leaders establish purpose. Leaders do not drive people. Purpose drives followers, subordinates, teams, organizations. I am sure employee takes “pride” even today@ Wal-Mart; as they truly believe that their leaders are sincere to the purpose. Hence, employees at their own levels contribute to cutting costs, avoiding wastages, controlling leakages, driving efficiencies etc. Once “why” is established, they know “what” to do.

Let us look at our relationships @home. Our ability to manage our child develops considerably when we share with him the “why” of what we are asking him to do (what). Try it out with a youngster. Tell him to do something and more than likely you will hear him whispering F%$@ o%$. Explain “why” you want him to do that and you have a fan. Is this not very basic & is this not the way we want ourselves to be treated? Yes of, course.

At the root of Chris Argyris’s concept of “Advocacy & inquiry” is enabling people to reveal & share “why” they say “what” they are saying, to be able to travel the “Ladder of inference” together & reach a common, shared understanding. Advocacy & inquiry helps establish alignment around the core ” why” than “what”.

It is true everywhere that people respond to “why” and not “what”. We all know it. We forget the basics. We focus too much on “what”. Great Movements are built on “purpose”. People have followers because of purpose. Gandhi had a purpose. Did people follow him or followed his purpose. I think it was the purpose. His “why” had become people’s “why”. Freedom movement sustained and we won independence.
Do you know your “why”, your purpose or are you just going around doing” what” others have done in the past or are doing today ? Perhaps this could be the reason of our stress & unhappiness. Following the “what” but not asking “why”.

"Why” is a difficult question to ask yourself but track record of successful people & organizations suggested that it makes life easy. Wanna bet.

Reference check of Employers

These days, we hear & in some cases experience that employers are using internal and external resources to conduct reference check on candidates to verify claims on salary / experience etc as some of them encountered false declarations from candidates.

Who is to be blamed - Obviously candidates. You just cannot lie , be untruthful to organization which will provide you employment and career.

Let us reverse the discussions for a moment.

I am sure most of the new joinees in middle/senior management encounter surprises and shocks after joining a company. While they are communicated great things about the organization and its practices , they do find a yawning gap between promises and delivery.

Is it not fair for candidates to ask for names of ex candidates from these companies to carry out a verification on various things which impact his work and output. Work culture , Execution culture , delegations , independence etc.

Candidates should ask to spend a day in the organization meeting a lot of people asking and seeking out what they deem fit to be checked about the prospective employer.

Is it asking for too much.

I do not think so. I believe in next 3-5 years this will start happening.

In fact people may be reluctant to joing certain organizations and these very companies will offer such an opportunity to market them selves. What a day it will be!!!

Think !!!

Save Tiger Campaign - Whose Responsibility

You login in to any website - you would get a banner reading - 1411 left.

My question is this. Who is responsible to save them ? This answer should come from who is responsible in first place to get their count down from 4000 to 1411 in India in last 100 years.

Normal citizens like me can join campaigns - online, sign a petition to Govt, take out a candle light protest. Will something happen. Concrete actions has to come out from experts who are either not visible or are not heard / given the platform and freedom to so something.

Apathy.

Today Morning I read a news item. Supreme Court Judge has said in a petition filed to " Save Yamuna" that it is a " gandha nallah". -Dirty drain- He is right , when 25 major drains of Delhi city bring muck, filth,pollutants without processing in to the river , stangnant river at that, what would happen.

In last 15 years there were three occassions when Govt of Delhi has given a written undertaking to courts that drain water before being released into Yamuna shall be treated and only then allowed in to river. Has anything happenned - No - not even a single politician , bureaucrat has lost his job.

Apathy.

These areas are just a few which are not owned by any body. No one.Money is still being spent. Tax Payers money. No accountability.

I am reminded of a story- Everybody thought somebody will do it. Somebody thought any body could do it. In the end nobody did it.

3 Idiots - Who has learnt the lessons?

There was a virtual flooding in my Inbox of stories and presentations singing praises and enumerating learnings from the film 3 Idiots. Indeed a nice story telling by master craftsmen raju Hirani.

Trainers in India would flog this film snippets to death. Bore people with the film / scenes to highlight and emphasise learnings to the managers.

These very managers then would go back to their respective organizations after trainings. What would happen when they wish to put their learnings in to execution/application? Any guesses?. We know it and have seen it in the past.

One thing that I believe we all have missed and it does not find a mention in any of the presentations / messages being circulated - is the role of employer / organizations.

Behaviours are changed for good when they are encouraged , an environment is provided for people to flower. Is it just enough that only one stakeholder changes his approach and while all other key stakeholders in the system continue to live in the old world/order?. Here I believe stakeholders being looked at is only colleges institutions, as in the film?. Don't you think institutions success is determined by their ability to attract top corporates for placements and top drawer salary, whihc makes new headlines. Top corporates want to pick the first graders.

Is it a coincidence that in the film this aspect has not been highlighted enough.Perhaps limitation of an entertaining story to be told in 3 hours meant highlighting one aspect of a problem which has multiple tpuchpoints in our lives.

Clearly the company which hired Raju - what were they thinking?. Why did they hire a guy with more or less poor academic records? . Will anyone today hire similarly just on attitude. Major corporates go to Tier 1 institutes and would like to be first / second on campus to pick up best of the talent based on scores/grades. They are only offered brilliant candidates based on exam gardes.

Will the corporates now provide colleges a profile for shortlisting based on behavioral indicators and soft skills and not ask for students with grades above a certain level?

Will the Corporates when they go out looking for youngsters at entry level ( 1 -2 yesr experience) look for attitude and behavioral indicators. If so do they have knowledge / tools to do it?

Let these brilliant organizations lead the way - Infosys / L&T / HDFC / any one plZZZZZ...........

Let us not wait for Raju Hirani to make a sequel highlighting the responsibility of corporates to nurture the natural talent and skills. It will not happen. It is a commercial world and perhaps there is story to tell but not good enough script and moolah for Raju and Vinod Chopra.

So let us wait ..... or somebody write to Kapil Sibal ... he is making couargeous and right moves. We cannot wait. let us not wait.

5 day week -

Few days back, I was thinking about the rationale & logic used by companies to determine working hours/ days / week in their respective organizations. Times have changed since 80s when , If I recall correctly, most MNCs and large corporate had a 5 day week in their main corporate and regional/zonal offices while sales team had a 6 or 5.5 day/week.

This piece today has been triggered therefore by above and newspaper report “Deccan chronicle”.
Study: People happier on weekends
This study appeared in Journal of Social and clinical psychology. Briefly it states that free time allows people to chose things to do and this freedom results in their doing things which makes them happy.

There have been articles circulating on the net – Infosys chairman Mr. Narayan Murthy stating that people who work extended hours through the week and even on weekends – make mistakes on Monday and then work to correct all other days of week due to pressure and fatigue.
I am still wondering that when research, history and contemporaries are all vocal about the weekend why do organizations continue to have more than 5 day week? Is there still a belief that more hours spent = more output. I don’t think so. Do you?

Is there a case for 5 day week today again when with Blackberry/ emails etc there is actually no. start and end of day?

Is there a case for regulation to ensure max hours work/ per week?

Is there an issue of organization behavior? Will HR ever understand this subject and stand up for their most critical resource?

Usha Didi

There are inspiring stories around us. Do we even notice? The learnings from these, if we bother to understand, are quite profound. I think we are basically lazy as we want these stories to come to us. The person has to be famous for us to believe the story & get inspired.

Look around for an inspiration you will have one. I did recently. I must admit though that I was also lazy all these past 25 years.

My great learning got revisited when I met “Usha Didi” few days back at my parents place. My earliest memories of Usha Didi is when I was just 12-13 year old in Meerut, a small, sleepy (then) town in Western UP. I was too young to understand then. Later I left the city when I was 20 and hence was not privy to developments in her family & life.

Usha Didi is an illiterate lady, who had to fend for her 4 kids and a disinterested husband. The kids were all less than 5-6 years age. In the last 25-30 years, she has raised them, educated them, married them off and now lives independently a retired life with her two sons who live next door to her.

You must be wondering what is so unique in this. Let me share.

Usha Didi lived and survived by being a domestic help in houses in the vicinity including mine. She used to mop floors and clean utensils for a living. She ran her household on the meager amount. She has raised her two sons who have now grown to be business person working together. Both her daughters are educated, married , working and doing very well.

I met her few days back. Rather she came to meet me when she heard I am there. Smiling. I noticed now in that old face were two eyes “twinkling”. No worries look & fit as ever. Amazing self esteem. Pride in her children’s progress when she shared all what is happening in her children’s life.

I as ked her on how does it feel after all these years of hard, manual work. She only said I only wanted my children to have a better life than me. I have been able to do that. That makes it worth-while.

Who was her source of inspiration? Did she read books on positive thinking? Who told her about responsible parenting? How did she guide her children? She could not afford TV.
Being illiterate no reading of books, magazines and self help articles.

So I reflected on my way back from Meerut to Hyderabad – a good 6 hours of road and air travel. I recalled some incidents & carefully analysed various random incidents she shared and have to come to some conclusions. That is when I decided to write this blog.

She had aspirations. Aspirations were the motivation for her. Better Life.
She was realistic. Influenced her son to marry a working girl.
She was also good to spot talent. Got great Grooms for both her daughters.
She knew importance of networking. She is still in touch with families where she worked.
She read the environment. Knew importance of education.
She encouraged her kids to feel equal to anybody. The kids have grown up with lot of self esteem and confidence.
There are millions of stories and people around us which we tend to overlook. Because of what? Our learning disability.
Usha Didi is still smiling without knowing that her life has inspired this blog.
Usha Didi still cannot read.
She will never read this article. Perhaps one day when I meet her next I will explain to her what I wrote and why I wrote it.
Do you think she will understand. You guessed it right.

Do not Fight Pigs - You'll Lose Anyway

How many of you have been at the vicious end of political manipulations in the course of your professional life. I am sure most of us. How have we handled them ?.

I have been at the receiving end on probably more than one occasion. Frankly I remember only one. Other perhaps were too insignificant that they are completely erased from my memory.

It is very interesting that, in 1998-99 while working in a PSU, when I was subjected to political manipulations of some seniors & co workers, I experienced gamut of emotions. I was livid and with a vengeance was contemplating taking them on with a viciousness. It was providence that during this time, I was asked to attend a program by Shiv Khera “Blue print for success” in Oct 99 at Delhi. While the overall program was “Feel good” one thing made a lot of sense to me, probably due to the situation I was living and going through.

He stated “Do not fight pigs”. When you fight them you go down in dirt and filth and even if you physically win over them you have been laid low and dirtied. That is precisely the intention of the “Pigs”.get you down in the Filth they relish so much.

I came back a changed manfrom the program. I promised to myself that “I will never fight pigs”. I have not done so till date. I have been tempted though. I have dealt with them, not fought them.

This lesson has proved once again that persistence & values in life are important. The gentlemen, who started a vicious campaign against me, had the gall to seek certain professional help from me in 2003 when he was at the receiving end of a vicious political vendetta in the organization. By that time I was in another organization. I unconditionally provided him the required help. He did acknowledge at the end of it that he was probably wrong and was fooled by others in 98-99 to do what he did.

When he did apologize in a manner he did, I had already forgotten it. But I remember it today to be able to say Thank You Shiv for that lesson. I am happy to be not fighting Pigs. I can’t avoid them though. I know however how to deal with them. Don’t fight them. They will lose.

Great Guy Yuvraj Singh

These days I am thinking hard about past events and situations. Don't know why?.Does it happen at my age 44?. Don't Know.

Nevertheless I am reminded of 1997-98 . It was early winter in chandigarh. My team had organized a dinner event with entire franchisee staff at one of the local gas stations. The Franchise owner with family was there too. I got chatting with the elder son of franchisee.

I was amazed by what I heard. This guy used to practice cricket everyday for almost 8 hours. Totally married to cricket. In fact he was still wearing his practice gear when he walked in for dinner. 8 Hours of net practice and fitness sessions were in addition to regular cricket matches that he would play during the day for various local clubs who would invite him. He had a great reputation to hit sixes , I was told by his beaming father. That was the reason every club wanted him to play for them. Tall , lanky, awkard 16-17 year old, mama's boy - a kid with very few words to say himself. He perhaps only knew one thing that it is his bat which will do the talking in future. That is exactly what happened later - 2 years thereafter.

The Kid arrived on the scene and got noticed as Yuvraj Singh.

I was sharing this story with my son who is appearing for 10th Board exam in 2010. He is quite focussed but at the same time very distracted.

For my son, it was another story. Johny Depp in POC , Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan of Rush Hour seem more real to him.

How does one build passion and commitment in the child ?. Is it something you are born with ? Are role models important for kids ?

Great Organizations- Stay Simple, Logical & Transparent

This is continuation of my last blog. After I wrote the last blog , I kept thinking of something that I know about other organizations which is worth sharing with readers.

I was reminded of probably 2002 0r 2003 , I was taking a flight from Delhi to Mumbai. As my vehicle approached the Delhi Airport, I saw Mr Narain Murthy getting down from a car ( not mercedes ). I saw him getting off , picking his small bag and walked in to the airport .Alone. No Chaperones. No security. Contrast this with CMD of a Major Banking company whom I incidentally saw in the morning at Bombay Airport who was escorted by two individuals from airport lounge till aircraft seat who left after depositing him in the seat and keeping his bags.

Nevertheless coming back to Mr Narain Murthy.

As luck would have it, I again noticed , je was in front of me in Jet economy Flight queue for Check in. Intrigued, I introduced myself and initiated a conversation with him. I did ask him that I was surprised to see him standing in an economy class queue.

The tall man that he is - simply replied. There is a travel policy in Infosys- Any direct flight less than 3 hours everybody flies economy class- It sounded simple. Well it was simple to understand and execute.
Employees feel great with such policies. Administrators feel good about interpretation. No one can play favorites, well almost. All see being treated equal . All see themselves in organization being treated as Resource. Feels great to feel this way.

Such philosophy I am sure guides Infosys in all its policy making and business decision making.

I am forced to think , what all does it take to be a great organization.

Stay Simple. Stay Logical. Stay Transparent.

It is when we complicate & not have no sound logic, we tend to avoid tranparency in organizations.

Grow by Watering Yourself

I have successfully done the unthinkable for last two days. Don't get ideas. I did not take my Laptop home. Huge Challenge on spending time !!- Late evening and next morning.



No TV at home coupled with no internet / laptop meant - completely useless and worthless.



Surprisingly it worked - Put on an Ipod listened to latest Music - slept for a while, Glanced through a magazine and moved 10 pages ahead in a book which is on my bedside but was not read for last 2 months.



Readers may say what is new in this, we can all do it. The question is not " can" but " will" .

Will you make the change in your lazy daily habits-routine.


I am watering the plants for last one month. However now in last two days I have started noticing them and observing the new leaves and flowers coming out. Even notice how they sway with early morning wind. I am looking out doing the NEW.



Why am I sharing / writing this. I want people to know. The easiest and most difficult person to change is you. Master yourself. I have not yet - am I on the way - perhaps no . Too early. Stay positive. Keep trying. Water your self. Grow.

This piece is influenced hugely by " who will cry when you die" by Robin Sharma.

St John;s Sr. Secondary School , Meerut Cantt

Yesterday on FB, I was overjoyed to locate my Good Ole school " St John's Sr sec School, Meerut Cantt " now 127 years old . Some noble souls have started this and there are now 113 members . Ther are old pics posted which overwhelmed me, memories came flooding back. Faces recognised -names forgotten - memories uplifting.

I am back in Meerut two weeks from now.Intend to visit the school , will try to see if I can collect some more memories to help people accessing face book - connect it.

Schools build character in students - This one did. Salute.

Face Book - what is it ?

I am hooked to FB. Don't know why as yet. Guess people I know are not savvy ( even I am not) in these matters. It is just that I want to play cool for my son ( 15 years) whom I introduced to FB but he has quickly raced past me and has more than 200 friends while I am still below 50.

Why do get on to FB - Convenient. Intrusive, Inclusive what !!. Cheapest option to stay in touch.

The language used and responses that I keep seeing tells me that one certainly will develop a repository of Smart one liners.