Friday, September 24, 2010

This (also) happens in India – part 4

The country of paradoxes …. where Mercs and bullock-carts co-exist on the road …. the feet of elders are still touched at home while calling your seniors by first names in the office ….. a country with a throbbing heart ….. a beautiful place that’s never short of surprises …. Here are a few that touched my heart….. this is my India …. The picture may not be representative …. But then who cares??

As we drove along happily towards Salem, my Bolero started knocking suddenly. When I tried pressing the peddle, engine began to die down. I immediately shifted gears. Once I got the vehicle in second gear, engine started showing signs of life again. I heaved a sigh of relief. Then it happened again as I tried to shift into higher gear …. I almost panicked! It was getting dark and we were just three of us – me, my wife and our four year old daughter - on a relatively quiet highway to Salem. We were on that road for the first time and had no clue how safe the road was after the dark. I wiped my forehead and started driving the vehicle in 2nd gear at a speed of 20. “Damn” – I knew the problem theoretically but it was as good as knowing only the theory of swimming in deep waters. This is the time when many “ifs” start troubling you …… if only I had put my foot down for getting the fuel filter changed rather than going by the assurance of the maintenance manager at the workshop ….. if I had started earlier in the day than spending half a day in office to start only at 4.30 ….. and so on ….. “What do we do now?” – asked my wife who thankfully can stay pretty calm in such situations …. “Nothing much, we’ll keep going like this and as soon as we reach Salem, we’ll check in the first hotel in sight and figure out about the vehicle tomorrow morning” …. Thankfully this ordeal ended in an hour and we saw the lights of Salem …… Don’t know how many people have felt happier than me and my wife at the sight of Salem …. I just drove in the first hotel that came our way ….. I think it was something called Cenney’s Gateway ….. “Let me first check whether the rooms are available” …. I told my wife as I left for the reception with the engine of the vehicle still running (just didn’t dare to shut it off). Mercifully the rooms were available …. “Is there any Mahindra service center nearby?” I asked casually and briefly told the counter-clerk about my situation ….. “Oh – there is one just right behind the hotel …. May be closing time now …. Why don’t you check there first, I’ll keep the room for you – don’t worry”. I ran to the vehicle with a big “thank you” to him …… As we drove to the service center, I saw a man in his blue uniform walking out of the service center. “Is this Mahindra Service Center?” “Yes, but we are closed now. You can come tomorrow”. “Please can you do something? I have to reach Munnar tomorrow morning, if I don’t get this fixed tonight, half my vacation will be spoied….. pleeeaseeeee!” “OK, lets check – we’ll go for the test drive – let madam and the kid be comfortable in the reception out there” “Thank you… but they will come with us” There is no way I was going to let my wife and child be alone in an unknown place in the unknown city!! As he drove the vehicle “Fuel filter problem sir” “ I know, please do something” “This is an authorized service station – I cannot fix it just like that” I pleaded again and he agreed to help. Next 45 minutes he and his assistant worked sincerely and did the necessary work of cleaning …. I sighed a relief as I drove the vehicle again …… he beamed “now no problem sir …. Go to Munnar and get it fixed when you are back in Bangalore – I guarantee” …… now came the difficult part …. How much should I pay this man ….. now that I was out of the stress, I started worrying whether I will be fleeced financially for this act of kindness! Ready to bargain for much higher amount, I decided to start with ` 200/- “Whats this sir …I don’t want any money” I thought he was being sarcastic. “No you helped me going out of your way so take it” “I told you sir - I can’t take any money – this is an authorized service station” “I’ll really feel good if you take the money” …. I never expected the bargain to go this way! As I almost thrust the money in his hand, he looked at it “Why ` 200 sir …. It was simple cleaning job” He kept one hundred rupee note back in my pocket before I realized it, gave a friendly salute and walked away ….. I was stunned as Raghavan walked away (yes … this story is 10 years old and I still remember his name clearly) ….. The money I offered could have been his day’s salary ….. I was in need and he easily could have gone for the kill ….. I saluted the man as he walked away quickly and thanked him from the bottom of my heart as it just reconfirmed my belief that “This (also) happens in India”.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

This (also) happens in India – part 3

The country of paradoxes …. where Mercs and bullock-carts co-exist on the road …. the feet of elders are still touched at home while calling your seniors by first names in the office ….. a country with a throbbing heart ….. a beautiful place that’s never short of surprises …. Here are a few that touched my heart….. this is my India …. The picture may not be representative …. But then who cares??

City of Nasik in state of Maharashtra is known for religious reasons and of course scores of temples are found all over the district. However, there is one particular temple that is different than the rest. There is a temple called “Temple of Dev Mamledar” – temple dedicated to a Mamledar (Revenue officer at a Taluka). His name was Yashwantrao Mahadeo Bhosekar – popularly known as Dev (meaning god) mamledar. The story does not stop at the temple – even today the chair that was used by Dev-mamledar in office is maintained as a sacred relic. The presiding revenue officer even today does not occupy the chair meant for Mamledar but operates from a chair kept next to Dev-mamledar’s chair …… so who was Dev-mamledar and what’s his story?

…… It is a true story of a revenue officer in 19th Century India. Dev-mamledar was the revenue officer of Satna around 1867 to 1873 …. In 1870 Satna faced one of its worst famines ….. it was during this famine that the mamledar decided to act rather than being a mute, helpless spectator ….. he distributed all his personal wealth including food-grains to the needy. Once done with his house, he opened the government coffers at his disposal and distributed the money to the poor and needy making sure that nobody died in Satna due to hunger …… the action obviously was not taken kindly by the British Government and an investigation was initiated ….. the folklore says that when the Government investigation officer came for the visit, he found the coffers were full and not a single penny was missing ……

I really don’t want to get into the miracle part of the story ….. not that I doubt it, but miracles is a matter of faith and I think faith should never be questioned. Irrespective of miracle , dev-mamledar still deserves the honour bestowed upon him. It takes an outstanding courage and conviction to save human life ….. Many can think about it but question is how many can act on it …. At a time when we hear the stories about government coffers being emptied for not so noble reasons and about government’s “logical (??)” inability to distribute millions of tons of food to the poor instead of wasting it, story of Dev-mamledar is an eye-opener. How many in the power today think that power is bestowed upon them by millions of needy people of this country who would not mind building their shrines, if they just discharge their duties honourably …. Interpreting rules and breaking them if required is need of the hour rather than destructing the precious commodity Mr Yashwantrao Mahadev Bhosekar saved over a century ago ….. Human Life!!!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

This (also) happens in India – part 2

The country of paradoxes …. where Mercs and bullock-carts co-exist on the road …. the feet of elders are still touched at home while calling your seniors by first names in the office ….. a country with a throbbing heart ….. a beautiful place that’s never short of surprises …. Here are a few that touched my heart….. this is my India …. The picture may not be representative …. But then who cares??

As we sat down for dinner, I saw my wife little bit in a pensive mood. Being a cheerful person that she is, I was curious. When asked about the reason, the situation she told me was one of the most fascinating that I heard around me for some time……

The maid servant who works at our place has a story of her own. She works to support the family of husband + 3 kids (One son and two daughters). She is very keen that the kids take up studies very seriously. The story so far is nothing special ….. the real stuff is in the details of the story …. Elder son is average in studies so he works daytime to support his mother’s income and studies at night college …. The daughter – middle one of the siblings is very passionate about the studies and studied against all difficulties (family of 5 staying in one room). Based on her 12th standard performance she secured an admission in one of the Pune-based Engineering college for Computer Engineering! This is where the problem started staring at them – how to manage the expenses? How to pay the fees? …. especially when deadline for payment was just two days away. In this context she narrated the whole problem to my wife. I now understood why my wife was lost in her thoughts. “We should pay the fees for her first year to begin with” she said on an impulse. I couldn’t agree more “Whats the amount” When she told me the amount, the irony of the situation hit me – the amount was not more than if you treat a group of 8-10 friends for a few drinks and food in a good restaurant! Thankfully she had got an admission in reserved quota so there was a concession in fees. “Give her the cheque tomorrow in the name of the college but how are they going to manage the other expenses?”I asked. “Lets see, first lets at least help them to secure admission”. My wife told me that the joy on the lady’s face was an instant returns of the investment! …… Two days later the lady came beaming – The amount required for hostel and other yearly expenses was arranged partly through some bank loan by intervention of some kind-hearted banker (generally banks give more money to people who have it in the first place!). The rest of it was organized partly through some personal financial help and partly through some financial aid from a local MLA……..

The incident was overwhelming for me as number of stories emerge …..

1. More often than not I have seen the reserved quota system in education is misused by many who actually may not need it….. so it was nice to see a LIVE case of the benefit reaching the worthy.

2. We started the help in our humble way and we were not alone! Without worrying about overall feasibility if some help comes forward, there is a hope for the person to seek help …. Whenever you help someone, you are not unique – there are many others like you …. The amount raised for meeting annual expenses was quite impressive

3. Whatever criticism our education system draws, it still helps worthy students with burning desire to acquire education …. Time and again this has been proved by innumerable cases of studying in hardship

4. LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST – We have a serious issue of bias against the female child starting right from female infanticide – here was a case of a family with lower income group and uneducated parents working hard to get their daughter educated more than a son based on meritocracy! Just like candle in the stormy night, these stories always light my heart! There is HOPE ……
JAI HO!

Monday, September 6, 2010

This (also) happens in India – part 1

The country of paradoxes …. where Mercs and bullock-carts co-exist on the road …. the feet of elders are still touched at home while calling your seniors by first names in the office ….. a country with a throbbing heart ….. a beautiful place that’s never short of surprises …. Here are a few that touched my heart….. this is my India …. The picture may not be representative …. But then who cares??

August 2009 …… 25the August 2009 to be precise, I read an interesting article that was published in the local newspaper. This was a real life story of one Mr V. V. Venkataraman who taught Tamil language at school for 41 years and retired in 1985. Throughout his life he stayed in a rented accommodation and as the years passed by even that was unaffordable on a schoolteachers’ pension….. It came to a situation where he had even leave that house ….. one of his students who had retired as a municipal commissioner heard this and was really upset …. He connected with around 500 students whom Mr Venkataraman had taught … together they bought a 1200 sq. ft of land and built a two-storied house to be handed over to him on 5th September 2009 – the day India celebrates as Teachers’ day in memory of Dr Radhakrishnan …

The story can be viewed from two viewpoints …. It’s a disturbing state of affairs for the builders of our nation – the teachers as they spend lifetime molding generations …. But there is also a story of the enormous goodwill that the profession evokes in today’s age of break-neck speed …..
Closer home I have seen my in-laws getting the respect from the most unexpected quarters and in the most unexpected places as they come across some student or other wherever they go …. More than happiness, there is a visible pride written on their faces about the success of their student (A pride due to someone else’s success – a feeling I guess that might remain alien to me!)
Generations today may not exactly behave in the same manner with their teachers as generations did a few decades before, but even today the good honest teachers invariably draw the same respect ….

While something has been done on the pay front (I believe) and a lot needs to be done on the capability building front for teachers, there is one obvious matchmaking that may change the world … The problem is that apart from some isolated incidents, even today there is no concrete platform where students can reach out to their retired teachers who may need help …. Remember I am talking about an era where there was no internet “to keep in touch” and possibly talking about the teachers who even today may not have an access. I am sure this will be a powerhouse of an initiative which will give platform to the students to offer “gurudakshina” (A concept where student pays for the knowledge offered by a teacher and the payment is always considered as token in proportion to the knowledge received!) – many will come forward to reach out and honour their teachers rather than making the teachers waiting for the “favours” from the government!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

“Are you the PRINCIPAL here?”.....

As I walked in the office with my daughter on a lazy Saturday morning, the security at the gate greeted with a smart salute…..my daughter was suitably impressed ….. I’ll be nothing but a hypocrite if I don’t admit being pleased at my own importance in front of my daughter. I guess I had a little swagger as I walked to my cabin…… We were there just to pick up some stuff that I had left there…. As we walked back, she asked me, “Is this your place?” looking at my puzzled expression she asked, “Are you the PRINCIPAL of this whole place?” and in a flash I suddenly realized what she meant…”Hmmm, not exactly sweetheart”…. I only wished…. “Then how come the security saluted you? Our security salutes only the PRINCIPAL of the school”…… I did not know how to explain her and did not have the heart to tell the kid that amidst all the crisis I get into every day, I generally don’t have the swagger as I walk to my cabin!

For some strange reason, my mind went back a few years back while I was still in my first job…… one of our peons, Dattu, one day came to me and said,” I need a little favour”…. I suddenly became alert – what would it be…job for someone, money, extended leave….as if reading my mind he clarified “I don’t need anything for myself but we run a school in our community. There is a batch of 10th standard students that is passing out. It will be nice if you can address them”. Honestly, I felt a little overwhelmed……. Being in my twenties myself, I hardly had an exposure to such an honour. When I reached the venue, I saw Dattu beaming as the head of reception committee…… all decked up, wearing spotless white like a local politician and of course with the mandatory “Gandhi Cap”. We shook hands and proceeded to the venue…it went off ok (honestly don’t remember much of it!) … at the end, I had tea at Dattu’s place…. We discussed everything including politics……usual stuff when two colleagues meet on a social occasion… Indeed I had a nice time…… As I walked away I remember having a few thoughts ringing in my head…. Dattu and I hit off really well ….. I could very clearly see that he was a community leader – a fact I hardly knew ….. for Dattu’s kids who were introduced to me, I was a colleague from their father’s office and I must confess that I had graciously responded to a peon’s invitation…. My idea of my social responsibility blah….blah…..

As a man (or of course the woman for that matter) walks to the office from home, he walks out as the boss of the house….. runs the family. As he leaves for the office he is easily the most important person in the house …. There is an image of the parent that the kids build up in their mind …. Irrespective of what happens at the office….. As we take decisions that impact people or for matter as we speak to them would it not be great if we just graciously accept the fact that we are talking to someone’s HERO…… I guess conflict management experts soon will go out of the jobs!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Some Stuff about Ideas....

The man who had given me an appointment obviously relished his food more than talking to me….Of course he had asked me about food albeit with a clear expectation that I should say no! ….. After all these years, I somehow vividly remember the menu of his lunchbox but do not remember a single word that we talked….. a few friends in the college told me that I draw great caricatures (which was a fact) and had liked the way I sometimes sketched on my T-shirts…… “Why don’t you approach some agency who can market your offerings if you make the T-shirts”…… Without a thought, I went to meet someone in South Mumbai behind Sterling Cinema…… when I look back, I realize that the appointment given to me was more out of respect for my father than anything to do with the idea of 19-year old…. I have no grudges for the man who loved his food better than my idea……

After a few years in the job, when I was still in my twenties, I almost became obsessed with a desire to be an entrepreneur …… As I decided to take a plunge into entrepreneurship, I decided to stick to something closer to my background and started a recruitment consultancy predominantly focused on overseas placements …….. I can still smell my first new letterhead…… first small office…. I was on a high and back then in nineties earned my first million rupees …… not bad for a boy in late twenties in the year 1998 with just one PC as an investment…. I remember spending year and half happily only to get stuck completely on way ahead…… not because lack of work or capabilities but it was clearly a stage where I had to invest to expand…… was it worth was the question….. Having started business to earn more money….. I just felt limitations on my own knowledge and exposure – not so much of a problem by itself but I myself lacked clarity on big picture…… I took one of the most emotionally difficult decisions of my career….. to close down what I had started with so much of pride… It was a decision that baffled a few as I by then had started earning some decent money (I could buy a brand new car out of the money made from my enterprise – an ultimate middle class test of success!)…. The year was 1999 …. Demand for my sort of business was at peak …… I was fed up with it and decided to move on……

Life has been generous….. my career has always given me a diverse exposure….. I have always been associated with great people…… When I look back I guess I learnt a few things about ideas…..

1. Idea is not an impulse which you casually walk into ….. my heart really goes for the man who listened to me patiently over his lunch
2. It is good to dream higher money and the good things that come along with it but that perhaps is not adequate to be an idea…… An idea itself should be strong enough to be a guiding force ….. strong enough to keep the desire burning
3. An idea can be big only if it can be built upon by many …. Only if there are multitudes of stakeholder who see something in it for them …. All the big stories are built this way!
4. The beauty about an idea is you can understand all the theory about an idea but that doesn’t help to create one…..it has to strike your heart!

As I go along thankful to my exposures and learning that life has to offer, deep somewhere in my mind, I hope and pray that my big idea is somewhere out there and waiting to strike my heart! …………..



Thursday, August 12, 2010

Information can be liability

I had just moved into Sales from my HR profession and we were discussing one of the possible deals. As we sat around to discuss our proposed solution, my enthusiastic sales person poured out information on competition…. Who is our competitor, who is the person involved from their side, his background, competitor’s strategy, solution…. Being novice to the sales function I was impressed! Next few hours we dissected the information received and finally shut our mouths and laptops to go home quite late into night…… As I drove back in the quiet of the night, something was troubling me……While trying to catch up sleep on reaching home, I realized what was it….. Yes, we had a great in-depth discussion on competitor solution and strategy, but we were no nearer to our own solution…. Next day as we met and resumed our discussion I had a simple question, “What’s our game?” As we slugged it out, we repeatedly came back to competitor’s strengths and our relative problems ….. We took a long time and in the end I still felt something missing…… not a very great feeling when you go out to win a deal…..

…. A few months down the line we were on another one… this time I was little more confident to lead the sales effort from the front…. As we sat around looking at the Request For Proposal (RFQ), we realized that we did not even have a clue about 3 of the 8 services required. This time I had declared –Lets first get together what we have and what we know….. I’ll do something about the 3 service lines that we don’t know…… I remember we had a great time and when we were ready with what we knew, the effort looked pretty good …. Almost a feeling an artist striking a right symphony…… “so what’s the plan for the other 3 service lines?” Someone asked me..... “I’ll present something on that”….. knowing my technical competency, everyone was bewildered! “What do you mean?” “Have we tied up with some partners?”…. “No” ….. “then what?” “We’ll tell them that we do not know” …. “Are you mad??” “No, look at it this way, you guys have almost created an artwork in your areas, I don’t want to stick some patchwork on that”….. One good part about that team was we trusted each other completely ….. As we stood for the presentation, I told our future prospects “Gentlemen, We are going to present only 5 service lines because even the spelling of other 3 service lines we know from your Request For Proposal document” they chuckled and said “Go ahead guys” …… Our guys did a fantastic job as they came into their elements in their respective areas for the balance of the presentation….. As the long drawn process concluded, we finally bagged one of the biggest deals for the region …. Later on as I talked to that CIO at his office, he told me “Look, I know perhaps you guys are not biggest or the best but you were the only ones who were candid right from the word go. We were doing Offshore work for the first time and the most important parameter was we wanted to work with someone we could trust. After all we are not asking to develop rocket science!” I confess …. That it was not a planned strategy or something ….. neither did we win only because of honesty …. Our technical guys did an outstanding job in presenting the solution but what I guessed worked in the retrospect was follows:
1. We focused on what we knew and came with our own solution based on our own strength ….. most importantly we believed in what we said
2. Other competitors were so big in size that the gap was just scary …. Even if we had stood on our heads we wouldn’t have come even close to their areas of strengths
3. We trusted each other and had a secret pact of flying under the radar lest someone from within organization should get alarmed at the stupid things we were doing on a big deal…. Rather than attracting all help and information, we picked and chose what we wanted or rather what we could process!

I am neither an expert on Sales or Strategy (or actually on anything for that matter!!) but I strongly feel that there is merit in taking a look at the philosophy that equates information with power. I don’t claim to have all right answers but sometimes focusing too much on information available like a competitor’s information makes you more reactive. I have always preferred to take stock of my resources and play by my strengths …. Information can be intoxicating …. Overdose of it can be quite confusing if you cannot process it all or influence any change based on it.

It is better to stay focused on your objective and seek relevant information rather than being led by information. Information is key to all decisions but overdose of information can be a liability……..

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Mirrors don’t lie...

“The mirror of this new dressing table has some fault. It gives a little distorted image – a little horizontal distortion”. My wife chuckled ,”Mirrors don’t lie my dear – you have put on weight” Well, I hated hearing this but I guess she was right! Sometimes it is really difficult to accept what you see in the mirror –it contradicts the image that you have in your mind. If you think you have a great voice as you merrily sing – just record your singing next time you sing and try listening to the recording – you will exactly know what I mean!

The mirror took me to an incident long back when I was studying in final year graduation. Though I studied in one of the best schools that time, I studied in vernacular medium. Conversing fluently in English had almost become an ambition that looked more like a mirage. I was literally wrestling with English language – I had aborted reading about 25-30 novels after struggling with first twenty pages, I had developed a strong nausea for news-reading as I struggled with the pages of Times. Otherwise life was pretty alright, I had great friends and couldn’t have asked for a better quality of student life. I was also the elected secretary of my college which had given me rights to strut around like a proud rooster. Even when I sat in the library, it was not without the group of friends. It was one of those lazy afternoons in the library. My friends and me were sitting around in library with books in front. I guess no-one would have turned more than 2 pages in an hour. We just loved to idle away in the library discussing life! “Hmm, I don’t know – I am still not happy with my English speaking” I almost said to myself. A friend sitting next to me looked at me and started laughing. I asked her “what’s funny?” “Your problem is you think in Marathi (my mother tongue), then translate it in English by checking grammar and all. By the time you are ready to speak its too late.” As she said this in front of so many, my pride was hurt. When you are 19-20 years, what hurts you is not only the content but also the fact that a girl speaks to you like that in public, especially when I had a reputation to defend!! I was almost stunned – but something in me stopped me from reacting back – I just kept quiet. She was a very dear friend and couldn’t have meant bad! What happened in a few months that followed is really hard to describe. Around six months later as I appeared for one of my MBA admission interviews, a lady on the interview panel asked me “Are you really from vernacular medium?” I was so pleased that I was not even bothered about the result of the interview!!

..... I have thought about this incident many a times in my mind over past few years but I am yet to reach any definite cause-effect relationship between the incident in college library and my progress in spoken English...... I have speculated but no clear answer yet......

.....May be more often than not I was always surrounded by friends whom I completely trusted...... we never bothered about being politically correct to each other....we just used to speak out our heart....

Many a times an awareness about a problem solves more than half of it.... the trick is you need someone to tell you the problem bluntly....As the years pass by sometimes our ability take feedback diminishes ..... its our success, growing pride.... insecurity whatever it may be.....but more often than not we surround ourselves with people who are politically correct with no sharp edges...... I think this is where we start losing the game. Actually you always need people around you whom you can trust and who can call spade a spade..... simply because mirrors don’t lie!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Growing with your child

“My friends are going to stay over with us for the week-end” she told me third time almost in a span of an hour. “Ya sure, I am not travelling this weekend so I can take you people around”, I offered to be a good host ..... she was somehow irritated. I was thoroughly confused now. “What happened?” I asked out of sheer frustration. “Are you going to be like this?” she asked looking at me from head to toe. “What do you mean?” “Are you going to move around in the house wearing shorts like this when my friends are around?” “Oh!”

Next day morning as I dressed up at 7’o clock in the morning, my wife asked me “where are you going so early on a Saturday?” “Nowhere”...... “Then why are you dressed up?” I was trying to avoid the answer but finally blurted out, ”Because Janhavi’s friends are going to stay with us today and tomorrow”...... my wife burst out laughing and rushed to tell this to my mother ...... I feel like a guest in my own house if I have to be fully clad! And next two days I exactly felt like that.....
Of late I am being groomed day in day out ..... “why are you wearing this shirt?” “why not?” “It does not go well with that trouser” ..... “Its ok I’m going to the office not for a ramp walk” “Thats right but you don’t have to be funny” .... I give up!

Even when I had just started dating my wife (I mean my girlfriend whom I married later) I don’t remember paying particular attention to my looks and throughout my life I have maintained a fairly mediocre dress sense. With this background it is little gruesome for me to be under observation of my daughter all the time ....
“What’s her problem? Off late why is she doing this to me?” I asked my wife “Am I so embarrassing to her or something?”. “No, on the contrary, you are her hero, thats why she is so particular about you”......... I was quite relieved when she said “Shah Rukh Khan has started looking older after he developed six pack Abs. You should never do that”......

Now-a-days my daughter has an opinion on everything “I think congress will win the Lok sabha elections this time around” .....”Why don’t they just shoot the fools who shoot the tigers” ..... “I don’t think Kites will do well on Box Office” ..... I have no issues with all this......... The problem is very simple ... I desperately try to hold her childhood as tightly as I can and it is slowly but surely slipping away.......... I cannot resist the temptation of pulling her cheeks ...while she is busy admiring her own looks in the mirror ....... I can get very sentimental when she walks away to school and can’t resist calling her by her pet name ..... fully knowing the consequences of this blunder!!

I don’t think you feel childhood is a gift when you are a child! It is only when you grow up you realize what a gift it was. You then almost wait for your child’s childhood and try to hold it as tightly as you can while the child is desperate to escape from it ..... the conflict is never really between a parent and a child ..... it is between a parent and an adult who is often misunderstood as a child!
As my daughter falls asleep every night, I slowly walk over to her, pull her cheeks, ruffle her hair ...... the only problem seems to be with my eyesight now-a-days – somehow sometimes- my eyes get moist – I think I need to be careful!!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

A prank called career

I just finished discussion with my first ever customer...I was one month old in my business and this was the first instance of revenue .... I tried to be remain as composed as possible when he finally told me the figure which would have been almost my half year’s salary in my job......”You send me an invoice and I’ll send you a cheque”..... Once the initial euphoria settled down I was sheepishly standing in front of my father with a simple question.... how to raise an invoice (they don’t teach this in management school even today I guess).....

...I was presenting in a Gartner outsourcing event in Capetown, South Africa in front of about 70 odd CIOs / technology folks. I was presenting a new software delivery model........ something I was simply not qualified for (it is the mildest statement I can make about the situation!)..... my technology knowledge and awareness is butt of innumerable jokes amongst friends (few made up but mostly true!).....

Several times I have asked myself a question .... why am I so happy when I do things I am not meant to do ... I am not trained or qualified to do ... is it just a rebel in me? But no – I am not so much of an anti-establishment guy ..... rebel to me has always had a negative connotation ..... rebel is against something .... with an aim to defeat someone .... my feelings are far more positive .... more of indulging ..... so much focused on my own joy that there is hardly any space for anyone else! The more I think of it, there is only one word which comes closest to describe what I do..... a prank .... yes a prank!
Prank by its very nature is intended to have some fun in a short run without much of a thought for long term repercussions ( I dread this word) ... it requires an alacrity of mind .... a great sense of humour.... an ability to laugh at yourself if it goes wrong.

When I look back at my career I think the single most effective tool I have used to manage my career is ... yes ... a prank...

I have made up my mind regarding certain facts about career:
• Whatever looks exciting starts getting dull beyond a point
• If you take yourself too seriously there is only one title you are heading towards - a Moron!
• The world is changing so fast that it is meaningless to plot far ahead .... if you decide to plot every step you are either arrogant or plain stupid (in my dictionary these are synonyms)
• If you start getting praised for something ... it is best to drop it like hot potato ... if you continue with your ‘expertise’, you are as intelligent as a well-trained monkey in a circus...
• If you get bored, the most honest thing to do is to accept that you are bored rather than marinating your mind with thoughts of ‘maturity’ and ‘stability’ (these are two more words that I dread!!)
• Between career and family, it is always family that is more important ..... simple litmus test – you may change your career but may not like to change your family (here we are talking about normal people!)

The key to managing a career is so obvious that it is invariably missed out – the only way to manage a career is - "Have Fun":

Fun is situational so you are always responding to your surroundings with an alert mind (I have never heard anything like 3 year fun strategy!) .... it invariably beats the boredom ...... fun by its definition is short-lived so you never get ‘stuck’ with fun ..... you can continue having fun only if you find something new ..... it brings out the strengths unknown to you or others
My pranks of playing entrepreneur , salesman, software delivery head (this is the funniest) have kept me alive ......and I have not done too badly for myself (let me clarify – for me the only unit of success is how much fun I had!)
If you want to have a great career .... its a beautiful world out there ..... ready for your pranks ..... have fun!!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Letting Someone go... (Management Lessons from Vasudeo - Part 3)

Vasudeo is my father’s name. In a normal middle class Indian family of 70’s and 80’s me and my siblings grew up enjoying the freedom of calling him by first name within the four walls of our house. While we enjoy his friendship - his status for us is nothing less than that of a god…. This in fact is a first lesson… you need not follow any rituals to get your natural respect….. He being a man of few words, I learnt innumerable lessons through his simple actions…though the meaning of many I was to understand much later…..these are the few moments that have always stayed with me …..management lessons learnt from Vasudeo

Doorbell rang and when I opened the door, my father went up to the door to receive the guest. When they greeted each other I realized that I should not hang around…. The man looked distraught…. As I served him some water, my father quietly told me not to disturb them for next half an hour…..

As soon as the guest left, I asked my father about the man “He was from my bank and had come to see me as he needed some personal guidance” “Oh, but why did he come home then?”, little surprised knowing well that my father never mixed his workplace and home. “There was a problem with him and we had to let him go (even in a casual conversation at home he never used the word like sacked etc!!)” Suddenly I understood the reason behind the distraught expression on his face. “But if you sacked him, why did he come home?” I must admit I was little anxious as I asked (I guess this must be the hangover of Bollywood where the sacked man comes to boss’s house and shoots everyone!). “He needed some personal guidance”. “But you sacked him!” “We let him go because there was a problem with his work. That does not make him criminal! He knew that there was nothing personal about my action. He also has a family and he has to live his life!”…….. Hardly did I know that this small incident would serve as a guiding principle as I got in the situations where I had to take some decisions…..

Much later in life I got into a situation where I had to carry out an operation to let go quite a few people. It was a slow-down post dotcom bust and the phenomenon of workforce rationalization was quite common…. Media had a field day publishing stories about how lives were ruined, proposed marriages were called off due to people losing jobs. When I had to execute my job all this was weighing on my mind apart from the sheer burden of the task itself.

When it was decided whom to let go we also decided how would we do it. We just followed simple guiding principles:
• The people we were letting go were our colleagues and not some hardened criminals
• Losing jobs itself was enough burden to handle and we need not burden them with extra load of clearing our conscience.
• Our objective was separation from jobs that they were doing and we were not in the judgement seat to decide their lives!

As we set out to do the unpleasant task, we actually structured Do’s and Don’t of the communication. Another important decision that we took was - we will not do any mass communication but we’ll spend time with each individual losing job even if it means our speed was slow! (Its good to do away with process efficiency parameters sometimes….sensitivity could be more valuable than efficiency!)

When we started talking to people we communicated few points clearly:
• This is the decision which has been taken (If you are breaking a bad news it is good to sometimes to come straight to the point rather than beating around the bush)
• This is a decision for separation from the current assignment and we are not passing any judgement on them. As this is a human decision we acknowledge the fact that there is a chance that we could be wrong (yes… we actually used to say that)
• We spent significant time on discussing the life after….. we allowed them to resign than a termination…… Though they had to disengage immediately we let them be on the payroll for a month so that the chances of finding other jobs are better (In any case we owed them one month salary)… In many cases we extended this period as leave without pay till they got alternate assignments….. We offered drafting resumes

Make no mistake…. In spite of all this life was hell! It was sheer trauma! We just held our nerves and their hands….. In the end almost everyone got a job ….. most of them called back to thank for the support during that difficult phase.

If nothing else the experience made me wiser. More often than not it is our anxiety to clear our conscience that makes us lose our sensitivity. If you are letting someone go, why should you heap further insults by justifying your decision. Most important of all, can you look at the person you are letting go as a flesh and blood human being like yourself than a piece of trash being thrown in a dustbin!!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Faces Beyond Facebook

My mother called me excitedly, “Why don’t we all gather this Saturday? Vinaya (my elder sister) has come back from Mauritius and says the photographs are amazing – Lets see the photographs together – will be fun” “Yes, but we have already seen the pictures”, I almost regretted my response as soon as I uttered those words. I could almost sense her disappointment on the other side of the phone. “Siddharth (my nephew) had uploaded them on Facebook but yes watching it together will be lot of fun”, while I desperately tried to salvage the situation, I knew that I had already spoiled her party!

This small incident set me thinking.... Personally I am a great fan of facebook... I have been able to reconnect with so many people whom I thought I have lost forever. In the era when you spend most of your waking hours at office it almost saves you from getting alienated from the rest of the world..... Its just kind of nice to stay connected with your friends and know what they are upto... whenever you see anything interesting, funny you share it instantly with the world for it to appreciate......

I must admit – I am relatively new to all social media........ I am a sort of fellow who always craves for feedback, reinforcements so whenever I upload anything on facebook, I am almost eager to know the comments on it.... it always amused me how your basic nature does not change even in the virtual world!

There is a tremendous information that explodes right in your face electronically....be it your mails – official and personal, your orkut, facebook, linked-in, Twitter and what not.... it is not very uncommon to have multiple windows open on anyone’s desktop. There is an interesting study published by Stanford University (I hope I remember it right) on multitasking – it says that the information explosion today also causes lot of distraction. Multitasking is not the best way to respond as your brain almost works in a fragmented manner. It also remains that way even if you are not multitasking – basically it narrows down your span of concentration. Your mail and your electronic communication is a stimulus which is always easy to react and you are almost looking forward to your next one to guide your life.

I think the process has not really started with Social media or internet.... Television channel surfing is the predecessor for most of us when it comes to surfing....

The beauty of it all is that though options are plenty, that most precious resource – time has remained constant...... it means the timeshare occupied by the new options will take toll on something else and couple of incidents come readily to my mind....

I was talking to one of the Ph.D. guides of Mumbai University who has been a Guide for years and quite contemporary in her outlook. I asked her how has the field of research changed due to availability of information at fingertips. “Its good that you don’t have to lose precious hours and days searching for the information. But somehow the cut-paste regime is really going out of hand.... rather than spending some quality time on thinking followed by looking for relevant references, today they almost feel handicapped without google. Reading habits and span of concentration definitely has taken a heavy toll”.....

I believe that best conversations always happen when you finish your meals and just continue on the table chatting. Once, all of us were sitting around the dining table on a Sunday post lunch.... we heard an alarm on my sister-in-law’s phone....she just got up saying “Its harvest time on my Farmville”.... I had a tough time explaining the elders on table that she is ok...this is normal....... only to have them worrying about my sanity at the end of 15 minutes!!............

All the social media is great .. in fact I dare say that this is even a necessity of today’s life.....provided................
you still catch up with old friends for a no-agenda talk.....
you still appreciate fresh air and farms in real life........
you still get lost in a book over a steaming cup of coffee......
you still lose the track of time playing with your toddler........
you still sneak out those 15 minutes to gossip with your mother.....
..... and..... never forget that there are faces beyond facebook for whom you mean the world!

Friday, April 2, 2010

Management Lessons learnt from Vasudeo – Part 2

Vasudeo is my father’s name. In a normal middle class Indian family of 70’s and 80’s me and my siblings grew up enjoying the freedom of calling him by first name within the four walls of our house. While we enjoy his friendship - his status for us is nothing less than that of a god…. This in fact is a first lesson… you need not follow any rituals to get your natural respect….. He being a man of few words, I learnt innumerable lessons through his simple actions…though the meaning of many I was to understand much later…..these are the few moments that have always stayed with me …..management lessons learnt from Vasudeo

“People spend their lifetime earnings in gold or something, we spent it on wood!” I remember my mother saying as my father chuckled. For no reason some statements stay with you…this one definitely did.

The story behind this statement was again a story of a simple middle-class family with its hero Vasudeo behaving a little off-beat – a story that guides me to date!

My father decided long back that he would not take his official quarters but go for acquiring his own house. In mid-seventies when he decided to go for his own house that was way beyond his means – it was a story of struggle which he and my mother were to live for next few years. His philosophy was simple – it was the house he was buying for his family and that could not be defined by any constraints – he would make the decision work.

I and my sibling would always remember our childhood as a happy one. There was neither a semblance of any furniture nor any electronic items in the house. When I look back I am amazed at the simplicity with which my parents kept us happy. I and my brother happily played cricket in the living room as there was no fear of breaking anything! Our finest memories are about our everyday family dinner – I think ours remained one of the few houses that did not have television but we had an entertainment of our own – we could see couple of flats in the far off building as we dined and my father would weave an amazing story about the characters in those houses whom we had named – in today’s sensibilities it may seem little odd but it was one of the most innocent entertainments I would always cherish!

As my father turned fifty he decided to take a voluntary retirement from his government job where he was doing well and join an “unstable” private sector (remember this was around 1983). When he received his entire lifetimes retirement funds, he first paid off his debts and then blew up every single penny to fully furnish the house in one go! Now that I have worked for a few years, the enormity of what he did strikes me – In the era where job opportunities were not as abundant as today he not only left his government job but also blew up every penny to start a new life…..all this he did without great expression of any sort of bravado. Later on, when I asked him about this decision, he had a very simple explanation – “I was due for a promotion but wouldn’t have earned much. Though I enjoyed what I was doing I decided that we all deserve a better life. I had told your mother not to worry and I’ll work for another 15 odd years to see us through safely”….something that he actually did. Now looking back I think it was a decision that had far better impact on our lives than staying in a furnished house…simplicity has its own charm but as you grow in the real world - a forced simplicity also may leave deep scars on your mind!!

I was to learn a few lessons as I grew up with this story……..

“Keep risk in its own rightful place in life – don’t let that be an overriding principle. Risk can’t be a guiding force in your future planning – it just indicates to you what fall-back you need to have in place (my father would often mention that if living where we were, became non-viable, we would have shifted to a cheaper place and would have actually ended in cash surplus!). You can’t really get ahead if you are too pre-occupied ‘avoiding’ the risk – no decision is ever risk-free”

“You need to assess your capabilities and leverage them wisely – the choice is really between living within your means and creating means to live your dream”

“Austerity is great but it is just a means to implement basic discipline….austerity by itself never ensures growth….. never use austerity as a façade to glorify your under performance or hide from ‘risks’ that you perceive”

“Feelings are good when they empower your passion to pursue dreams but sentiments have no place in decision making…”

As I thought I have learnt a lot from this story, there is a new beginning…. When I visited him last time he was quite excited with new developments….he told me there is a redevelopment proposal for our building….all of us have lots of sentiments for the house where we grew up when the least affected man is the one who bought that place!.... – “this building is old now and we’ll get a new bigger flat” he beamed betraying his 78 years!!

“Never confuse means with an end itself…do not get attached to milestones….they are just to be crossed and move forward!”

I guess I have still a lot to learn and of course miles to cross……..

Friday, March 12, 2010

Management Lessons learnt from Vasudeo – Part 1

Vasudeo is my father’s name. In a normal middle class Indian family of 70’s and 80’s me and my siblings grew up enjoying the freedom of calling him by first name within the four walls of our house. While we enjoy his friendship - his status for us is nothing less than that of a god…. This in fact is a first lesson… you need not follow any rituals to get your natural respect….. He being a man of few words, I learnt innumerable lessons through his simple actions…though the meaning of many I was to understand much later…..these are the few moments that have always stayed with me …..management lessons learnt from Vasudeo

Dusshera is a festival where we follow a tradition of giving gold to each other…well not the real gold, but the leaves of a particular tree that is accepted as symbol of gold in this part of the country. As a part of this tradition, younger ones visit the elders and give them gold while touching their feet.

On one occasion on a Dusshera day, my father and I went to Dadar (a central suburb of Mumbai) near the famous Shivaji Park. One of my father’s colleagues – Mr Bapat used to stay there so we stopped by. My father was a senior government officer with central government and worked long years with BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Center). Mr Bapat worked under him….in today’s parlance may be my father was equivalent to his two-up manager. If I remember it right, Mr Bapat was a Sanskrit scholar. He was also elder to my father in age.

As Mr Bapat and my father sat chatting, the tea and refreshments were served. My father got up, took out the gold (the leaves of course!) from his bag, offered it to Mr Bapat and touched his feet…. The most natural Dusshera ritual ,which no one ,except me, felt odd. Well, I knew my father’s rank and I was not sure I exactly agreed with what I saw. As we walked out, I couldn’t resist asking, “you are his boss, right?” “Yes” he smiled, “that’s in office”….nothing more was said or discussed but this incident stayed with me since then for some reason (I was just a High school kid then)

Later on when I witnessed a lot of debate around the stuff like protocols, whether to call your boss by his name, how friendly you can be as a boss and still be effective in the results…. I could somewhat understand the significance of what I witnessed as a schoolboy

You have a position in an organization for a specific goal…your designation is not really your identity that is meant to separate you from the rest… can we ever keep it aside when we are not interacting for a task?....do we really have to carry our corporate identity all the time….

Though these things sound idealistic, they are actually more pragmatic….

My father was known to be an absolute no-nonsense manager, but whenever as an individual he took any risks, people working under him could go and tell him exactly what they felt….please remember this was Government environment in 70’s and early 80’s….even at home as kids we could always speak up if we thought he made a mistake…

Segregating you from your designation is meritorious in more than one ways:
you always know who is interacting with you as a person and who is interacting with your designation
You are not slave of any pattern that your designation can beautifully weave around you
You can enjoy simple pleasures of life

Some of these lessons helped me a great deal, when for a part of my life I was an entrepreneur – I neither had a corporate logo, nor a designation on my visiting card….after a few initial nervous days I must say it was a very powerful experience!

Well, can I do what my father did on that Dusshera day? I’m not very sure… But then I am not Vasudeo… hopefully I’m learning!!!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Rewards of Failure

I was watching the promos of a film that was launched recently with lot of fanfare. The film talks about the ill-effects of current education system, with the director boldly displaying his educational exploits below his name – “12th STD Fail”. The director being one of the well-known successful directors, it was a great marketing tactic.
I wondered – Was he always so proud of his educational exploits – especially at the time when he failed. How much time and how much pain he must have suffered before boldly displaying that failure?
Its interesting what a failure does to you. When I look back – one bold failure that quickly comes to my mind is my own 12th standard. I completed by bachelor’s degree in science. However, in my time rarely anyone went to B.Sc. out of choice – one was either a failure in securing engineering admission or medicine admission. In my case it was medicine. Life suddenly looked bleak….. out of the bunch of guys that used to hang around with me till 12th Standard, I was the only one left behind with everyone else gone either for an engineering college or a medical college..... its little difficult to imagine now, that I actually behaved the way I behaved that time…. For six months in my graduation, this was the pattern I followed:
1. I genuinely believed that I do not belong to my B.Sc. degree but its just a sheer mistake that has got me there – almost always behaved like a martyr however weird it may sound.
2. I did not bother to make a single friend ( I also remember what helped was a long teachers’ strike where colleges were closed down for more than a month)
3. Anyone who cared to listen, I would make it a point to impress that I missed my medicine admission only by 3 marks (big deal!)

As the time passed, I started realizing that I was going to be in that place. I also developed a faint suspicion that people were avoiding me….. I think people generally do not hang around a failure not because the person is a failure but actually avoid him/her because of the way a person behaves in failure…. Who would hang around someone who is perpetually mourning?..... Of course, I must confess that this learning did not touch me that time and came much later after I almost mastered the art of failing.

That time I had no enlightenment that changed me…. It was just boredom with my state of being at that point of time. I reluctantly started looking around… and life around was quite interesting (pun intended!) …. Library suddenly became the most interesting place to hang around, apart from canteen (could you believe – we actually had separate canteens for boys and girls!!!) …. Rose-days and valentine days came and went by… not that I had any luck but taught me to be an eternal optimist!! Not that I became careless about my career but it just did not consume me…. I made some great friends…. My own patterns got shattered – Till my 12th standard, friends would generally come from similar background and with similar aspirations…. Talking to girls was earlier avoidable (how stupid we could get!!) – then I landed in Microbiology class as the only boy with 25 girls!

Life had its own way of holding my hand and taking me on a great journey that was not marked with any great achievement in conventional sense, but strangely I was on a high!!

Strange was the effect of that phase on me – I remained as competitive and ambitious as I ever was – I just could take string of failures in my stride better…. Ability to bounce back after every failure became better….. these shorter cycles post-failure always allowed me to experiment more….. even today there is no great success but I have realized the journey of struggles and experiments itself is lot of fun….. life has its finite beginning and a defined end…what you do in between is entirely up to you!!

Every time I achieve something…. I chuckle… as my first educational qualification flashes some where at the back of my mind….. a failed doctor!!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

A memorable DATE!

“What’s a DATE?” – I almost dropped my mug when my daughter asked me this question! “Well…mmm… date is like today is 28th August” I just tried to evade the question...honestly just had no clue how to explain this to a 7 year old! “NO..not that date….whats a DATE?” she asked me with a body language that suggested she was in no mood to tolerate any nonsense…how kids pick up stuff from their mothers, I always wonder..!!

“Hmm…well… generally a DATE is an occasion when two people who like each other decide to have great time together… so they go out to a restaurant, watch a movie…generally have lot of fun together, you know!” “Wow!! is that so? .. so lets go for a DATE today … you and me” …. Honestly I did not know how to react to this sweetest proposal of a DATE I could ever imagine! ‘Not a bad idea’, I thought. It was a lovely Saturday morning in Pune and Saturday mornings used to be time for me and my daughter, as my wife would be away at work. “Ok! Lets go out for a DATE” “Where are we going?” “Hmm… lets go to Meridian…they have a nice buffet lunch…you will like it” “Do they have ice-creams?” “I think so” …… “Ok, you wear your Jeans and that blue shirt, I’ll wear my new blue dress”….I was just beginning to realize the seriousness of my DATE!

As we drove to Meridian, she was quite well-behaved…almost dignified, I would say and I had to remind myself that it would not be polite to laugh. As we entered the Meridian and settled with our plates, she returnd to her normal cheerful self…. As we enjoyed our meals, her eyes lit up…. She looked around the Meridian Lobby from where we sat and exclaimed “shall we play hide & seek here?” …. I almost swallowed my fork!!! “HERE??” “Ya, its kind of nice…we are on a DATE no?”… “Yes of course!” I had to think quickly on my feet… “Well, we will just play it quietly but will not run around” “Why?” “Hmm.. no generally you don’t run around like that on a DATE” “OK, your den first” “sure”

If you have not tried out Hide & Seek at Meridian lobby in Pune…try it out. Its actually an awesome place to play Hide & Seek. We had a great time for next half an hour! Easily it was THE DATE of my life!

Six years down the line, my daughter is 13 now, standing 5 Ft 7” tall… she seriously thinks she is grown up … I’m little amused to see her getting little conscious about herself… spending little more time in front of mirror everyday!

Of late, a thought has started gnawing my mind – I am sure it has troubled million fathers before me….. a few year down the line she may not ask me meaning of DATE and more importantly, may not ask me for a DATE!