When the hunter became the hunted

My simple policy is: any man made commodity (money, stocks, trade) should always be dealt in a way that, man is at the top of the schemes; and any natural commodity (oil, water, forest, and subsequent economic equivalents) should be allowed to lead the way and managed around. The recent financial turmoil in US was invariably the result of allowing mortage funds to lead its own way and define the market.
An article which came in 'the Hindu' gave wonderful depiction of this.
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/10/05/stories/2008100550010100.htm

Jack Welch on getting ahead

I just cannot resist myself from quoting Jack Welch over and over again. Mind you, I have read dozens of books on business and leadership; some of them are good; but none of them came as downright and straight forward as Welch's. (If you are interested I recommend you reading "Straight from the gut" first and then the "Winning". As Warren Buffet said, No other management book will ever be needed)

Now, as I am approaching closer to my very first career promotion, I remember the words of Welch in his book "Winning" on getting ahead. On contrast with other career books, which provides lame, abstract philosophies on getting ahead, Welch gives you practical points like a capsule that can be swallowed.

Below, I have summarized few points on his take. Obviously, by summarizing, some of its sharpness is compromised. But nevertheless, it will give you the essence.

Some Dos and Don'ts

1. Do deliver sensational performance, far beyond expectations, and at every opportunity expand your job beyond its official boundaries

"an even more effective way to get promoted is to expand your job's horizons to include bold and unexpected activities. Come up with a new concept or process that doesn't improve just your results, but your unit's results and the companies overall performance. Change your job in a way that makes the people around you work better and your boss look smarter. Don't just do the predictable"

  

2. Don't make your boss use political capital in order to champion you

The following are some of the behaviours which leads to it.

 a) Transgression of your company's values and behaviours

 b) Lack of candor

  "Not only boldface lying, but even withholding information accounts to lack of candor" 

 "Don't make your boss ask the perfect question to get information from you"

 c) Wearing your career goals on your sleeve

3. Manage your relationships with your subordinates with the same carefulness that you manage the one with your boss

Two career-damaging traps:

 a) When you spend too much time managing up:

"As a result, you become too remote from your subordinates, and you end up losing their support and affection"

 b) When you get too close to your employees, overstepping boundaries, and end up acting more like a buddy than a boss

 "the best thing employees can say about you is that you were fair, you cared, and that you showed them tough love"

 

4. Get on the radar screen by being an early champion of your company's major projects or initiatives

5. Search out and relish the input of lots of mentors, realizing that mentors don’t always look like one.

 "there is no one right mentor. There are many right mentors"

6. Have a positive attitude and spread it around

 "Have a sense of humor, be fun to hang out with. Don't be a bore or a sourpuss. Don't act  important, or worse, pompous. Smack yourself in the head if you start taking yourself too seriously"

7. Don't let setbacks break your stride

"Once or twice or more times than that, you will not get promoted. Don't let it break your stride"

"work like hell to let those feelings go"

"by all means, do not let your career setback into the office cause celebre. What a way to alienate everyone"

"If you want to complain about your career, do it at home, at a bar across town, or wherever you go to worship. The people at work, while they know a lot about your case, should not be drawn into your emotional experience"

"More important even if you think of leaving your company, try to accept your setback with as much grace as you can muster, and even see it as a challenge to prove yourself anew. Such an approach will serve you well whether you stay or go"

 In essence, "Exceed expectations, broaden your job's horizons, and never give your boss a reason to have to spend political capital for you. Manage your subordinates carefully, sign up for the radar-screen assignments, collect mentors, and spread your positive attitude. When setbacks come, and they will, ride them out with your heads up"

Of course it sounds ridiculous when read in such a condensed form. However when you read the book, which assists you with real life anecdotes and examples, amazingly everything will make sense and how. When I think of some of the amazing leaders I have worked with and relate them with some of the above factors, I could realize how true each of those is.

 and therefore I do intend to follow this. What about you?

'Bomb'galore

Its a wake up call again!! For all that is happening in the city where lives keep running at such a frenzied speed, its sort of a wake up call that stumbles upon and jolts you down. Yes, despite of our state of denial, terror indeed exists!

Yet fortunately, inspite of what the terrorists like us to believe, it is only that, a wake a call. People where tensed, not terrified. Routine rattled, but life move on. Perhaps the best way to tackle terrorists as public is to ignore them. For that is what they need - Public's attention. If you are reading this and you are worried about some one in Bangalore; don't worry. At worst we missed a weekend out. (having said that, I deeply sympathise with those who are injured and dead)

On the positive side, bloggers are really turning the world on. From Katrina to Bangalore serial balsts, bloggers are becoming the fastest and reliable source of information. read more here.
Way to go!!

The Halo effect

I recently came to know few interesting facts about Google. At Google apparently the performance reviews are done based on Peer review. Now, come to think of that. Managers are fast becoming clueless about what the team does and are becoming more and more fragile to people who create a false illusion that they perform(aka Bull shitters). When your performance review is done by your peers, you cannot hide or represent facts about your work and you realise that your team has sudddenly becoming more cooperative now that you know that they are no more a competition but a source of advancement.

In addition to this, there is another interesting phenomenon. It has to do with a cognitive bias termed as 'Halo effect'. Wikipedia says this,
"The halo effect refers to a cognitive bias whereby the perception of a particular trait is influenced by the perception of the former traits in a sequence of interpretations".

To put it simply, its a illusion that is created in your mind that a person who dresses like a rockstar is really a rock star. Also for ex, see the image below,

Notice that the round light behind bush creates a godly illusion to bush while in reality its quite the opposite. This is Halo effect.

A dude called Edward L. Thorndike, discovered this phenomenon by interviewing few army commanding officers to rate their soldiers; where he noted the overall perception of their's over the soldiers actually depends upon the judgement based on only few factors. This phenomenon can also be observed in our perceptions over celebrities.

Now, how can this be different from the appraisals done by the managers? I bet, this is also a typical scenario where Halo effect comes into play. Managers pass a holistic judgement over the employees when in reality the impression is actually created based on knowledge on few factors. If that is the case what can be done about it? Nothing can be done about it. But with a peer performance system, the judgement will atleast be made by people who may know little more about you. What do you think?

In memory of my loyal friend

The pet dog is the most fortunate living being. It is the only being that recieves and reflects instant unconditional love in the world. Most of the people, no matter howmuch they love their parents or siblings or wife or kids, do not go about showing and sharing their love to them all the time. No matter how close the relationship is, it has its own share of tussles , anger or just plain nothing moments. But when it comes to a pet dog, it brings out immediate love and joy from anyone. It's instant gratification. A pet dog can bring the smile out of anyone in the world. Afterall its the only being that does not expect anything from you except for an odd gentle tap on its back.

I had enjoyed my own moments of such unlimited love. I have had pet dogs in the past but nothing stayed longer with us for various reasons. And as a family, we always had a longing to have one. Almost two years ago when we moved to a bigger house, the situation just seemed to be right to grow a dog. We got a pet dog. Its a white, furry breed between pomeranian and 'god-knows-what' variety. And over the two years it grew as massive as its almost even scary to take liberty towards it. It had six fingers which someone said as a sign of cleverness. So I named it Newton.

Newton used to be so alert that even a mosquito could not enter our premises without it's notice. At times we had noticed it sitting erect and alert watching the each and every corner of the outside of our house even at midnight. The love it had towards our family was unwavering. During the times of difficulty it was the source of solace for all of us. And though we never encouraged it to enter inside the house, we got used to the image of looking at its happy face and jumping massive frame everytime we entered in or went out of our home.

It was especially dear to me. Months after we got Newton, I was abroad for almost a year and never got a chance to visit my home during this period. The moment is still fresh in my memory, when I returned home after year and Newton was jumping and crying and hawling from the moment it saw me. During the evenings we used to leave it free and it runs around the house in such a mad pace that there was no tomorrow. Just a sight of it when we enter the house would make us forgot whatever happened outside and a sense of pleasure and pride creeps in our heart.

For all that it has done, I should have done more and spent more time with it. Newton died today. It happened due to some complications arised from food poisoning. I still remember the time, I tried to take a photograph with it, but was unsuccessful due to its repeated protest. I thought I could always take one later, when it was in a better mood. Ironically that moment never happened. It was just 2 years old and still in its infancy which made it even more harder for us to grasp.

This is not an isolated moment. Just before when we bought Newton, we were unfortunate to loose another pet dog (Juno) at a young age too. And with Newton, it has become two in a row. The gigantic frame which is not prevalent for its breed and its child like scowl everytime when it looks at me are sights that can never be forgotten. The thought that I could not be with it at the time of difficulty and sorrow, makes me wonder what I could be missing from the near and dear ones while I toil away from them to make money for a living. But as my family says, this poor being has taken our shelter, carried our karma with it and ceased to live so that it can be born again in a higher state of embodiment.

We owe you, my dear friend, live longer wherever you are born again!!

Love in the Air!

Not for me! Not again.. But occasionally you feel the tickle in your heart when the breeze of love swatter through you apart. I think its Plato who said, " At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet". I had been a poet many times in the past.. not now.. may be I have got too old to be a poet.. or might be too young.. anyway, this poem which I found in http://www.lovepoemsandquotes.com/LovePoem131.html made my day..

When I Saw Your Eyes

When you came to your door tonight,
And your beautiful eyes gazed at me
From the darkness within,
The world around me came to a stop,
For just a few seconds,
As I saw the love from within you.

You looked at me with your warm smile,
Your black hair around your face,
And whispered softly, "hi baby",
And once again,
I was at your mercy.

For when you look into my soul
And I hear the sound of your sweet voice,
My heart opens to you my love,
With all of my dreams now fulfilled.

I never knew that a love like this
Could ever exist,
A love that consumes me,
A love so powerful,
And so overwhelming,
That I fear if I were without it,
My heart would no longer have a meaning
To its existence,
For the love that flows through it now,
Is what keeps me alive,
Keeps me whole.

As I gaze into your eyes my love,
Down into the depths of your very being,
I can see the love you feel for me,
A love as strong as my own,
A love that fills me so full of emotion,
So full of hope for the future,
That I pray I will spend the rest of my days,
Gazing into your eyes.

- Jim Caspary -

What should I do with my life?

Its been a while since I blogged. Life is little dull and depressing at this moment. For months I was planning for my MBA and subsequently GMAT, but then it never materialised. I figured out that no matter where I live, what I do, I never had enough time to do anything constructive for a long term. Life is plagued with instant gratification.

Meanwhile, I have been reading this book, "What should I do with my life". If at all I wanted to write a book in my life, I would have written such a book. Real stories of real people. Its amazingly obvious that the whole world is suffering from identity crisis and struggling to find the real self. Nice one. The whole book is written in interesting and soft way and the character of the author gets reflected in it. Po Bronson (author) seems to be a considerate, compassionate and immaterialistic which is praiseworthy. That too from the part of the world notorious for it materialistic tendencies.

Well done Po! Not so much for the book. But for the intention to bring out a well thought out, judgement less, realistic, deep topic.

Winning Welch way - 2

Oh!! This is time for all part 2 posts I guess. A few days back I wrote a piece on leadership under the topic ‘Winning Welch way’. Out of curiosity, I also posted that article in the Welch’s website http://www.welchway.com/. Believe it or not, I got a reply in my mail from Welch. Unbelievable!! The following is his reply verbatim.

“Dear Vinoth:
Thank you for your thoughtful and comprehensive email on leadership. I think the most important thing any of us can do is be ourselves and act with conviction and passion.
I wish you great success doing that.
Best,
Jack Welch”

Oh!! It’s really unbelievable. But hey, it might have happened that one of the website admin could have replied on behalf of Welch. But what the heck! Let’s be optimistic and imagine that Welch himself has read the post and replied… ha ha.

How to lead your peers - 2

A few days back I posted a piece on how to lead your peers. Here is another interesting case study on it from Harvard online portal.
http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/watkins/2007/10/managing_your_peers_what_would.html
Let me know what you think.

Winning Welch way

We relish heroes! We always look upon them! We wanted to be them when we grow up! We emulate them! We copy the way they talk, the way they walk and sometimes we even laugh the way they laugh! Our heroes are the people whom we want to be!

Then we grow up! We get a job or become a leader. We feel wonderful! What a great time to get into action all that we wanted to be! Just like our heroes!

Jack Welch is my hero. Not because he is the sort of hero I wanted to be. It’s because he is the sort of hero I never wanted to be. He is the sort of guy who I not only wanted to be but also the sort I wish I never had to put up with.

Not anymore!

My heroes have always been the super hero types; The ones who charm their way out of adversity and command respect with ‘super human’ charisma; they spread the picture of perfection, sophistication and elegance personified. I wanted to be one of them. The ones who hold the finest of French wines, wearing a ubiquitous smile in their face and mesmerize the fellow fragile humans out of their comfort zones. The ones whom you can see in those luxury car ads. I always wanted to be one of them. The ones driving the deals and the board room, who are looked upon as a natural leader. The ones for whom nothing can go wrong and display a picture of perfection. Yeah. I always wanted to be one of them.

Not anymore!

What I found out eventually that, though I always strived to be one of them and act like one of them, it lit upon me that I never really liked to work under them. Don’t take me wrong. They are not any less inspirational. In fact they are more inspirational as leaders than any other kind are. They exist in media, books and the movies. But when it comes to reality, when it comes to the real people with ‘blood and skin’ they never really inspire or to put it in a correct perspective they never really exist.

The inspirational leaders are not those sophisticated utopian types but those who blatantly reflect humanity. The inspirational leaders are those who make mistakes like rest of us, who live and breathe and eat like rest of us and who make us believe that if they can then we surely can. The inspirational leaders are not those who gain our admiration for performing super normal tasks and producing super normal results. The inspirational leaders are those who like rest of us fight like hell to build a career or enterprise within the system and produce the belief in us to join their journey of fighting like hell to the way up. I found this whole damn thing a big irony. Here I am who always admired super heroes and always wanted to be one of them. But now I am in the field firing from all cylinders taking the cue from leaders whom I never wanted to be. It is then I realised an important lesson on the leadership. Being a leader is not being a super hero. In fact it’s not about you any more. It’s about the people around you. The people around you do not want leaders as some sort of angels whom can be met only in a church. The people around you want their leaders as a person who endure the same environment as theirs, understand them and inspires them to run a journey towards a bigger picture. They want more blood and flesh. They need people, not picture perfection.

I have met such people in real life. I have worked my best under them but never really had my view of a perfect leader towards them until later I realised what clicks for a leader. No one bestowed such change of mindset on me better than Jack Welch. Now I know that you are as damn sure as I am that I have never worked under him. I never have. But I have worked for other Jack Welches elsewhere. Again, not that I have worked for picture perfect leaders. But that their uniqueness comes from their imperfection, their humanity.

There is reason why Welch has made such considerable impact on me. Not because he has lead the world’s largest enterprise successfully for many years. But because of all the dozens of books I have read so far which has created an image of virtual down pouring of thoughts from heaven into me, Jack Welch’s book created an image of someone standing next to me, touching on my shoulders and showing the way as it is. Though sometimes it's hard to swallow. He never gives you step by step protocol to success, nor do it like me to win propaganda. He simply says – damn, there’s awful lot of things to do. Go grab it and do it the way you do it and be real.

His first book, ‘Straight from the gut’ felt like a 100 meters dash. Made me wonder if this guy ever had time to breath. Such an amount of exuberant action packed life. The striking aspect is that he had an opinion on virtually anything under the sky. Nobody in this world have any clue on what is going to happen to this world. Nobody has a clue. So everyone follows the lead of the person who has strong convictions, who knows exactly what to do. It never really matters if that conviction is right or not. All it matters if you have a strong conviction or not.

His second book, ‘Winning’ though a management guide book never gives a step by step formula for managerial success. But it gives amazing insight of looking at things the way it is. Something which gets you out of your comfort zones and urges you to put things under perspective. The template I wish I follow.

In midst of all this, it’s not like Welch is the perfect man to follow. He had survived two divorces in his life, few heart attacks; he has been described in the media as an arrogant corporate despot. He made his share of mistakes in his stint as the CEO of the GE. But despite of all this, the reason which makes him my hero and the prime message he wants to convey to all of us, which perhaps explains his few short comings and the enormous success in his life is, in a nutshell is this.

Be real!

Yes he is sort of guy who I never wanted to be. And yes, the true leader will never make you act like him. The true leader will make you act like you. And that is why he is my hero.

How to lead your peers

Leadership could be a grand success when the team gives the leader the benefit of doubt. There are no clashes of egos, when the leader has the trust over the team on the basis of the undoubted seniority/ skill. Often the best examples for leadership could be derived from watching cricket. Hansie Cronje and Steve Waugh gained enormous respect from their team based on their seniority and the father figure they possess. Sachin might have been young when he was handed over the captaincy and he might not have produced successful results, yet he never suffered the lack of respect purely as the result of his skill. Let us take your own example. Imagine you are going to a new job and you have the choice to select whom you will report to. You have two choices. A blue eyed guy who might barely be a year or two older to you. Or you could choose a middle aged person who is like more of a father figure to you. Now, given that you have no other information, most of you would rather go for the ‘father-figure’ person. This option will never hurt your ego. It may later turn out that the ‘blue-eyed’ guy might be a better leader than the ‘fatherly-figure’ person. But you will most probably give the benefit of doubt to the ‘father-figure’ person on the first impression. Similarly it might hurt you less if the most talented guy in your team leads you. Somehow that talented guy is a geek or an alien who is not a direct competition to you and your mortal competitors. It hurts your ego less. We are more open to report to the person who has the respect based on the seniority/ skill achievement.

Of course that might not be the case always. You might bump into a team with a peer like leader or there might be situations when you are filling the leadership role. Situations will become tight then. You don’t have the trust of the team by default and you have to earn every ounce of it. Peers might underperform when you are their leader, even when you deserve the leadership more than them. Dealing with this opens up a whole new challenge. It requires a whole different mindset. The formula for success is not so evident. The people management skill is the most precious commodity here. There are some options that you can try. In fact I will go ahead and share with you some solutions which I myself gathered from different resources. But before moving on to those pointers, let me reiterate the most obvious yet complex feature of leadership: striking the right balance between leading from the front and leading from behind.

Here are the few suggestion on how to successfully lead your peers. (Eloborated from source: http://stacistringer.wordpress.com/2008/02/18/how-to-successfully-lead-your-peers/).

1. Gain Trust- you must show your team members that you are there to work with them. Any peer will detest the very idea of them working for you. You must create the encironment where everyone works towards a common goal. Put the team ahead of you. You must be thier buddy. (as against the mentoring for younger subordinates).
2. Listen & Collaborate- Let your team members know their voice is important. That their ideas are valuable and you can work together to improve the path to your goal by working together. More heads are always better than one!
3. Avoid Micromanaging -As a leader, when you begin to micromanage you lose the trust of your team. You begin to take over their task and it becomes a one man show. This defeats the purpose of the team. Encourage your peers to share your responsibility of a leader. Do this not as an instruction but as a common consensus based leadership. A good leader must make thier peer subordinates feel more powerful.
4.Direct constructive criticism toward your goal - If team members are off task or moving in a different direction come together as a group and define your common goal again. Never put down a team member but build off what they’ve done and find a way to move on from there.
5. Express Each member is vital to group success- Without the team you as a leader will be alone to accomplish this goal. Every person brings ideas, personality, and passion to your team. Without certain members you may not be able to move forward. Be a cheerleader. Let them know without them this project would not be happening
6. Communicate -Without communication your team will go nowhere. Your team must trust that they can come to you for help if they are stuck. Without communication the team doesn’t know if they are moving forward or standing still. Communicate the good and the bad. Each member must be knowledgeable about all aspects of your project
There are some of my own suggestions. Let us come to that later. (If you had noticed in this article, I presented my opinion in a way of a suggestion/ information rather than as an instruction/ advise. One of the ways to lead a peer)