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Thursday 22 December 2011

Reflective Listening & Collaborating...

How many times have you heard yourself and people say, "Please listen to me" or just "Listen to me" or "Please, let me complete"?  Today, in our daily lives, we have very little time for many things. In a conversation, typically, few people tend to hog the limelight and either continue to speak or just don't let the other person/s to speak.

I have been down with a very bad throat for the last few days and have almost lost my voice. So, in all the meetings, I had to sit in and listen more than speak...it was such a relief and I learnt a lot.  I also believe it was a boon to all those who had a meeting with me these last few days as they could get to say what they had to without me interrupting them.

A leader needs listening skills and this is probably one of the virtues that is least understood in today's world. The world we live in rewards those who are able to speak up and chime in every now and then rather than those who tend to be deep thinkers and speak less.  I believe that there must be a balance. Neither should we keep on talking nor should we be someone who is reticent to voice an opinion.  A good balance is needed between listening and expressing your views.

A skill that is really useful is both listening and reflective listening.  Once we move to reflective listening, then, we move in to the realm of collaboration.  I read an excellent definition of Collaboration that I would like to share with all of you...comes from the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg - Collaboration is "The act of working together through reflective listening and genuine articulation of ideas, in a partnership of mutual respect and diversity."

In my experience, those who are willing to listen carefully during conversations usually make for very good collaborators.  They are genuinely interested in the views of others and anyone speaking to them feel that genuine interest coming through. This encourages people to actively seek out listeners and work with them.

The Global Organization of today needs not just good doers but people who are able to seek out others in the organization and work with them across boundaries to make things happen.  This is the measure of leading with a global mindset.  So, more and more organizations today are willing to pay a premium for collaborative skill sets.

While individual brilliance and hard work definitely matter, collaborative work styles actually get you farther and that is why a premium is placed on this.  It is very difficult to assess this skill in individuals while interviewing and that is why we struggle when we choose people who are either great thinkers or doers but really not good listeners or collaborators.

Apart from reflective listening, I have seen some of the best collaborators actually reach out to others to actively seek out best practice and learning from experiences.  I have seen that they are typically inquisitive and ask a lot of questions. They are willing to discuss issues without being dogmatic.  They are practical people and focus on action oriented, experiential learning. They typically avoid office politics.

So, the next time someone is telling you, "LISTEN TO ME" and in capitals, it is worth the while pausing and carefully listening to what others have to say and reflecting on what they have said....it helps build the much needed emotional intelligence in us.

Sunday 11 December 2011

Taking Accountability

I was reading an email which was on a presentation that was made to me when I worked in an earlier organization.  This was a longish presentation and I had told the person that he needs to keep presentations short and not come with 40+ slides.  When his manager heard that I had made this comment, the immediate reaction on email to me was, "Ravi, did you want shorter presentations? Apologies, xx (name removed by me) has this habit of putting in x number of slides typically. Looks like I have to go through his presentations before it comes to you." 

With this mail, the manager just fell in my eyes.  This was a person who was willing to give up his team member in front of me. One of the most complex parts of leadership is taking accountability.  If you are to be a successful and respected leader, one of the most important aspects that your team will look up on you for is to lead from the front.  You will have to take accountability for the actions of your team.

So, you will wonder, "Gosh, if I have a team of 1500 people, am I accountable for the actions of each of them? Maybe, I do not even know their names". The answer is, "YES..you are accountable for the action of every person in your team, even if you don't know his/her name and have not even seen the person."

This accountability brings in complexities because you now need to be able to influence every one in your team to do things that you have set as goals or objectives and each one should have understood what you have committed upwards to the management team of the company.  How do you do this?

This is where communication comes in.  If you are wondering why people think that communicating clearly, promptly and across the different levels of the organization is important, it is because of this.  Communication is always how a person receives it and not just how you communicate it.  Each person receives your communication in a different way and unless you make yourself crystal clear, it becomes difficult to understand.  This is why face to face communication is always considered the best form so that the audience can actually ask as many questions and get clarifications.  Even after this, there will be people who will understand what was communicated differently.  If you decide to only send out your communication by email, it would be very difficult to get a common understanding within your organization.

Another aspect of accountability is personal courage.  Do you have the courage to accept the issues in your organization, work through those issues and fix them? Or are you a person who would like to point fingers on to others?  True leaders do not have time and respect for those who do not take accountability.  Each one of us needs to own our actions.  I am reminded of an incident where an email from me was sent by my communications team from their mailbox and there was an inadvertent error in that.  I had asked for an apology to be sent to the entire team and said that the apology email will be signed off by me.  The communications team manager walked up to me to say that she did not agree with me signing off the email because she felt that as her team had made the mistake, she should apologize.  While I respected her courage to take accountability for the error, I told her that in the eyes of those who received the mail, the buck actually stopped with me. So, the apology mail will go out but will be signed off by me and it went that way.

In every role that we play in our lives, there will be difficult situations...as a leader in your company, as a husband, as a dad, as a son, as a brother, as a friend...which ever hat you wear, you will be faced with tricky and difficult situations when you have committed errors. It is best to accept the error, apologize, endeavour not to repeat the mistake and move on in life.  The person who is capable of getting up each time he/she falls, dusts himself/herself and continues on the journey, typically wins.  The person who freezes each time he/she falls and is unable to get up and run again, finds it very difficult to get on with life.  Just watch a baby trying to walk.  Each time the baby falls, he/she will just get up again and try...that is the essence of life.  We will never get it right always. If we recognize that we will have to keep trying, then taking accountability for our actions will come automatically.

Sunday 20 November 2011

Sustainable Growth and Quarterly Behaviours

As companies draw to a Quarter Close, there is palapable pressure and tension.  Many corporate leaders stop smiling.  You will notice many of them come out to various business TV channels and speak on what is happening in their companies.  The results may be good but they are still very tense.  There is lot of behind-the-scene activities to ensure that what was committed to the Street is delivered.  The whole world may be falling apart around us, the Industry in which our companies operate may be having a poor business cycle, our customers may not be buying in the market from any company but the Street expects us to perform.  If this is what the Street calls growth, we are barking up the wrong pole.


I heard the Managing Director of one of the top Indian Groups talk on what he understood of sustainable growth. He talked of his conversations with few unlisted, family managed companies that had survived for the last 120+ years.  He said that they managed their businesses based on 4 key principles:

  1. Never look at "Maximizing Profits" but rather work towards "Fair Profits";
  2. Recognize that your company cannot grow every quarter when the economy it is operating in is going through a down turn - so, do not expect to grow every quarter;
  3. Never exploit resources - use only what is needed - the example I could think of was why should companies trawl for fish instead of just fishing to the extent that they can sell. That way, fish can survive and we can get more fish in the long run - we end up killing the Golden Goose in the name of Productivity;
  4. Never manipulate the system - i.e. do not bribe the government or do anything that will make money but corrupt the society.
There is so much truth to these 4 timeless principles.  If only we can get companies and the Streets around the world to get out of this short term approach to business, we would have a different world.  Why do we want our companies to share profits better with us (read as higher bonus and more salary) when we are their employees but want them to keep on growing and giving us maximum profits when we are their shareholders?  I can think of greed as an answer...I have written on greed many times but the more I think of it, the more I am convinced that this one attribute of mankind will take it towards destruction.  Budhha mentioned this over 3000 years ago and we are struggling to find a solution to this. We live off this earth and we exploit her. We live at the cost of all other living beings on this earth.  We need to find a solution. Every leader owes it to this planet. Can we start by treating Corporate Social Responsibility not as an activity? We could push our companies to start looking at themselves as part of the society in which they  do business and, therefore, work towards the collective good of the society.

Saturday 1 October 2011

Killing your mother...

I was watching the movie 'Avatar' and in that the hero is talking to the God of his newly found clan.  It is a large Tree and he is linking himself to the tree.  As he talks, he says, "These human beings are invading this planet. They are terrible people. They killed their own mother and now are trying to kill this planet.  I need some help here."  His partner comes to him and tells him, "God will not take sides. He will maintain the balance of nature."

An American Environmentalist visiting India to talk to the Indian Government on how to preserve the Envrionment wrote that she was pleasantly surprised with what she witnessed in the Government Bungalow that she stayed in...she saw sweepers with broomsticks sweeping the garden and she compared that with someone in the US walking around with a petrol powered blower that makes noise and pollutes the air and all that it does is to blow the dead leaves back in to the garden.  When she walked in for breakfast, she was served in a stainless steel plate and tea came in a ceramic cup. She compared that to the paper plates and paper cups used in many countries.  The more she saw the more she was convinced that India has some very traditional practices that actually preserve the nature. She ended up asking the Indians not to adopt practices from other parts of the world but to go back to their old ways which were completely environment friendly.

Reading this account from the American Environmentalist took me back in time...when I was 5 years old. I used to visit my great grand-dad's house every year.  The house was large, very well ventilated and would let the sunlight in from the top.  The place where one took a bath had an opening in the wall and the water would flow through the opening in to the garden. It watered the plants.  We never used a soap those days. It was a lentil that was ground coarse. This coarse powder was mixed with another powder made of a vegetable that smelled nice. We could apply this mixture of powder to the skin.  I can now relate to that...it was friendly to the garden because the water flowed back to the garden from the bathroom and since it did not contain any chemicals, it did not pollute the soil.  It was also a nice way of conserving water.  The lentil powder that we applied to our body was like a face scrub that is now available in the markets. It helped clean the skin pores but did not remove all the oil content/moisture in the skin. So, the skin felt soft even after the scrub. 

We did not use paper plates for eating...instead, it was banana leaves. These leaves were then given to the cows that were in the house.  Disposal of waste was not a concern!!!

We have progressed but this progress has come at a tremendous cost.  It is time we woke up and started using some of our old practices in our homes. We can change the world we live in by each of us contributing in a small way.  I am sure that if each of us goes back to our past, to our childhood, we will find a practice that is more environment friendly than what we have now.  If we can adopt that practice, we will go a long way in leaving behind a better earth for our children.

Our ancestors really cared for the environment.  They treated this earth as they would their mother - with utmost respect and love.  The mother willingly gave back in abundance.  Today, if we really want to get the best out of our "mother", we really need to respect her.  Instead we are going down a path where we will ultimately kill her. Our children and the generations to come will look at this generation of ours as the start point for the destruction of this wonderful ecosystem that can give us all that we want. 

The relentless drilling, the cutting down of trees, the insatiable need for fossil fuels, the encroachment of lakes, river beds and the seas to create more land space, the relentless pollution of every aspect of the world around us are all coming back to haunt us.  The changing weather patterns, the storms, the tsunamis, the flooding of large parts of countries, the landslides, the new urban diseases...all these are the ways that the mother is hitting back at us. Instead of spending millions of dollars to protect ourselves, it would be best to treat our mother earth with respect and love and she will give back to us, in abundance, all that we actually really need - clean water, clean air and clean food. 



Monday 29 August 2011

Sabarimalai and Lessons of Life

The pilgrimage to Sabarimalai continues to fascinate me. For those of you who may not know what Sabarimalai is...it is a pilgrimage that thousands of people take every year. They reach a river front in the South Indian State of Kerala called Pampa and then start a trek up a mountain - around 5 to 6 kilometers.  At the top of the mountain is the temple of the Lord Aiyappa.  Typically, people fast for 45 days before the journey, walk around bare footed and wear only black clothing.  They do not shave during these 45 days and wake up early in the morning, take a cold water bath and start their day.  All these practices get them prepared for the difficult climb which, in earlier days, was through thick jungle.  Now, the government has cut through the mountain and created a path. The path is rocky in parts and has steps in some parts.  Overall, it is an amazing experience of bringing you back to basics of living.  Many do not go through the 45 days of fasting.

As I reflected on the Sabarimalai pilgrimage that I completed the previous weekend, many thoughts filled me and I thought the lessons that one learns in life are just amazing.  The climb can be equated to the journey of your life. I summarized the learnings as:
  • The rigour that you put in by waking up early and taking a cold water bath (someone told me that when we take a cold water bath, the body releases a steroid that helps keep the skin moist and helps cure us from dry skin problems) can become a healthy life long habit. It teaches us that there is no substitute for discipline and hard work;
  • The dip in the river Pampa is like washing away the sins of the past and starting off all over again;
  • The climb is amazing - it strains you physically, you sweat and even a sour pineapple tastes very sweet as it is the source of sugar (energy) during your climb.  You carry only one pair of change clothes because the more you carry the more difficult it is to climb.  Likewise, in our lives, the more baggage you carry in your head, the more problems you face.  I also noticed many elderly people climbing, people without legs climbing....it showed me that, as in this climb, most battles in life are won or lost in the head.  Those who think and decide to win, will win;
  • One of the best learnings was the idea of setting short term goals without sacrificing the long term objective.  There is a part called the Apachemedu.  This has an incline of 70-75 degrees and is very tiring.  As you look up, the slope is so steep that it can dishearten you.  Once you reach the top, you are happy...for few seconds only.  The path actually curves to the left and you suddenly see another slope but this time it is steeper than the one that you just climbed!!!
  • The climb down was as strenuous as the climb up.  The incline is so steep that you need to take each step carefully and cannot run. Teaches you to take the ups and the downs in life with the same equanimity.  All of us will have our ups and downs in life. We need to manage these gracefully putting full trust in the superpower that we call "God" to balance out the different aspects of nature for us.
The faith that people put in this superpower is great to experience. As the climb happens, people keep chanting, "Swaamiye Sharanam Aiyappo" or "Swamy Sharanam, Aiyappa Sharanam"....this somehow gives energy and keeps the focus away from the tiring legs and hurting feet.

As we got in to the train to head back to Bangalore, another surprise was waiting for us.  Few with confirmed tickets were already occupying our seats.  We were surprised but decided to wait for the ticket checker to tell us what had happened. The ticket checker said that our tickets could have been cancelled but he would have to check.  All our minds raced off to figure out what to do next. We all thought of different options.  The problem suddenly got resolved when the ticket checker came and told us that we had been allotted different seats and the system did not reflect that.  One of us said, "Swaamiye Sharanam Aiyappo" and as we sat, he said, "We all thought of different ways of getting out of the situation that we had faced few minutes ago.  But, none of us put trust in Lord Aiyappa and thought that He would take care of us.  Is this the faith we have in God?" 

This was a great question to ponder on....But, personally, I was happy that each of us had not left it to God to resolve our issues but had taken the trouble to think through what to do next...those who win are those who think that they will win - someone taught me that God helps those who help themselves!!!


Friday 12 August 2011

All for a cause that has emotion attached...

As we drove through the streets of Bucharest, the young guide kept telling us of the history of Bucharest and some famous spots of Romania, including Transylvania, the home for Count Dracula.   I asked him as to  why he became a guide and he told me something that will remain with me for the rest of my life. He said, "I am a guide for over the last 2 years and I am a guide because I love my country Romania."

I have talked to people who have passion for their teams, their jobs, their companies, etc. There are not many who have love for what they are marketing.  I was stunned how the love for what he was marketing came through in his words, his tone, his body language and everything that he did.

Emotion ran high in this young man and no money could buy it.  I was reminded of the song that the Beatles had sung many years ago "Can't buy me love...".  I was also reminded of the cry for Independence (Vande Mataram) in India in the 1900s when Mahatma Gandhi took centre stage.  Thousands of people went to jail for the independence of the country.  Thousands were moved by Gandhi's call for a peaceful way towards independence.  Thousands believed in one objective.  It galvanized the whole of India.

A cause and an emotion attached to it can galvanize a team.  I have seen this in the past.  The cause becomes an objective for the team. The reason for the team to exist.  And an emotion attached to it will bring out the passion at work and the reason for coming in to office daily.  I was setting up a new division within an organization that I worked with.  We were to offer back office services to customers who were reputed global companies.  The pressure was on.  No one wanted to join our division as it was new and the risks seemed high.  I managed to get one manager and a a team under him.  The strategy was to bring pride in to the workplace through out-performance.  We created a workplace and branded it and showed that there was no room for politics in the division.  Only meritocracy prevailed. We rewarded and recognized.  We never forgot to say "Please" and "Thank You".  We said that this division should be the best place to work in.  The branding and the fact that leaders walked the talk worked very well.  The people saw the cause - we needed to be the best.  It became the best. The division got talked about globally and was showcased as one of the best delivery teams.

What has worked for me has been to set clear objectives, bringing in clarity around these objectives, setting expectations and then motivating the team to achieve the objectives by giving them ample freedom to make choices.  If the objectives are centred around a cause that has an emotion attached, nothing like it - it is sheer magic!!!


Saturday 23 July 2011

The Devil is in the Detail

Someone once told me that a leader should be able to operate at 40,000 feet and at ground level.  I have held on to this very dearly and when I look for leaders I push to see the eye for detail.  It is not necessary to get stuck in the details. However, it is essential to have a good feel for the business that you are handling and, therefore, the details that go with it.  In my experience, I have always found the devil in the detail.  I have always, therefore, tried to operate both at the 40,000 feet and at the Ground Level and  build a thought process that has the ability to switch between levels in seconds.

Recently, I was talking to a very senior leader in a multinational corporation.  We were discussing a point on risk mitigation.  While we were discussing a strategic model on risk, she suddenly asked a question that was absolutely at the Ground Level and completely took me by surprise. For such a senior leader, she was asking a question that was what we would call "totally tactical".  But, that told me clearly as to why she is such a senior, respected leader.

As we go up the ladder in an organization, there are so many things to manage.  We are also getting things done by others and managing them.  Over a period of time, we forget the details as we start focusing on other aspects.  As we get farther away from the details, our decisions are more driven by our gut feel and experiences of the past and, of course, some facts.  However, if we push to get the details before getting in to a point of decision making, it helps us make better decisions.

I was walking the floor of an Operation that had lot of data entry work.  I saw the floor was dimly lit.  I asked the staff as to why they were closing out lights and working.  They told me that light was bouncing off the keyboard and that was causing them to make mistakes as they keyed in data.  They were also suffering from headache because of this.  This got me thinking.  I was thinking whether it was worth putting in light dampers, reflectors, etc.  Then I asked the question as to why the staff should be looking at the keyboard while keying in data?  Personally, I look at the screen while typing. However, these people were looking at the keyboard while typing...meaning, they did not know typewriting.  The cause of the problem was not the light or the angle at which they were placed.  It was actually the fact that the staff keying in data did not know typewriting.  The solution was to change the test that we administered to our staff before joining.  We started including a typewriting test and this changed the situation completely in few months.

One more example that I would like to share is where a friend came to meet me because she had an inner conflict. She could not spend enough time with her 2 year child. This was because of a greater than 12 hour work day at office and working odd hours.  This had made both the child and her cranky and it impacted others in the family.  When I heard her out for half an hour I thought that she could be facing a prioritization issue.  So, I told her that she should look at her current circumstances and prioritize what she wanted out of life…is it family, child and domestic harmony or a job that pays well.  Her first reaction was that she did not need the job because money was not important and that the child and family were. I dug deeper and asked her to imagine what would happen if she sat at home taking care of the child over the next year and she told me that she could not see herself doing that for more than a month.  I asked her why but she struggled with an answer.  I asked her if money was important to which she said that it was not.  So, this prompted me to use a Six Sigma technique called the “5 Why Technique” where we ask the question “why” 5 times to the answers that we get with each “why” till we get to the root cause. Normally, we end up with the root cause with 5 levels of why.  When we did this, she realized that for her financial independence was critical. The reason for that was a very deep hurt that she had experienced in life when she was a teenager.  She had grown up, got married, had a child and her circumstances had changed but she had not shifted from that bad experience in life that had made her resolve that she would be always financially independent.  When she realized this, she was no more ashamed that money did matter to her.  But to manage both family and keep her financial independence (both of which were her key priorities) she got mentally prepared to take up a job that meant a better work-life balance but with a lower compensation.  She has been more at peace with herself since then. The 3 hours that we spent together resolved a very long standing conflict in herself.

So many times we go through life without understanding key issues that we face because we do not spend time getting in to the details.  If we do that, we get better clarity and resolution to long standing problems. 

As in the example above, the person was able to rationalize as to why money was important and that it had as much priority for her as her child.  And that there was nothing wrong with that....to her, and to me, the devil was in the detail.

Sunday 3 July 2011

When it is straight from the heart, it touches people

As I was leaving for the day and got in to the car, the person who serves tea at the office walked up to me and thanked me. I looked up with a question on my face. He said, "Sir, I was stunned when you thanked me and mentioned my name in the meeting in the morning.  I felt very happy."  I felt a huge tug in the heart as this young man smiled and walked away from the car. There was a spring in this feet.  All I had done was recognize him in front of a team.  It had left an indelible mark on him.

Few days later I received a mail from someone who had attended the same meeting that day.  It said (and I quote), "It would be amiss if I did not write about an event I witnessed recently. During XXX's (name removed by me) coffee talk, what impressed me most was not what XXX said. It was not any of the questions or XXX's answers. What stands out most vividly in my memory was the part where you thanked the team and included YYY (again, the name has been removed by me) in that group. Your words had a ring of genuineness. How a person at the top treats people under him, tells us a lot about the leadership qualities of that person. This event was the catalyst that made me write the mail you are reading."

I have always believed that communication must be honest, straight, brief, timely and straight from the heart.  What has worked best for me has been when communication is from the heart...because it is genuine and is seen and heard as genuine.  The mail above and the spring in the feet that I had seen earlier re-inforce this to me.

Communication is like a weapon and needs to be used appropriately.  The general trend is to ignore it.  Somehow, I feel otherwise.  As leaders, we need to reach out to the teams that we lead.  And when we reach out, we need to be and be seen as genuine and honest.  If we show that we are genuine, our teams will reach out to us. And trust builds only when communication becomes a two way street.

The best of leaders start faltering when there are blocks or degradation in the channels of communication. That is the reason why I pay lot of attention to communication and being able to reach out in many possible ways.  While communication is very important, following through with action is equally important.  Your teams should see that whatever you have communicated is always followed through with appropriate action. That shows that you hold yourself accountable and the teams start recognizing that what you say will definitely mean something.

One of the biggest impediments to communication is the fact that what is communicated is dependant on the person receiving it.  So, the same communication can mean different things to different people. That is why leaders are very careful when they communicate. They measure their words and tend not to give away too much.  This means most of what they say is well thought through...tends to be more from the head than from the heart.

If we understand that it would be best to judge something that has been said by trying to find out the intent rather than the content, leaders will find it easier to talk impromptu and be more natural.  This will bring out what is in their hearts...and when it comes from the heart, it will definitely touch people.

Saturday 2 July 2011

Taking a Punt

I have done different roles in my career - finance, accounting, audit, risk, sales, marketing, relationship management, back office and general management.  I noticed that when I tried to shift from banking front line to a back office, it was not very easy.  A German decided to hire me in to a global back office.  While hiring me he said something that really struck me and I will never forget it. He said that he was hiring me because I have no clue of back office operations and hence will bring a fresh perspective and because I play the guitar.  Many years later I asked him why playing the guitar was a reason for him to hire me.  He told me that if I had a passion outside of my job, it helps to rejuvenate.

As leaders we spend a lot of time meeting new people for hiring them in to various positions in our organizations.  We tend to look for people who can hit the ground running so that we need not spend too much time trying to explain the role and job to the person when he/she joins.  However, what has worked for me is to try to look for a person with the right skill sets, the right attitude, a smile on the face and is very well prepared for the interview.  So, when I needed someone who could bring a customer centric approach to the back office operations, I hired someone who had done Sales in the Media Industry. Similarly, I have hired many people who bring diversity of thought and the skill sets needed for the job, not necessarily experience in the particular industry or vertical.

Human beings adapt and we need to give them the time to do so.  If we provide that opportunity, we end up getting the best of talent when there is seemingly none.  I do not believe that I would have been in this position today if leaders who gave me the opportunities did not want to take the risk.

Typically, I look for a huge smile on the face, an attitude that is easy going, skills that match the job that is on hand, a sharp mind and capacity to work hard.  I also look for hobbies and prefer someone who comes well prepared for the job discussion.  What has worked for me always has been when I have prepared well for an interview.  I do a lot of ground work on the role, what is needed for that role, what is my fitment in terms of skill sets and where I would need improvement.  As a person being interviewed, you need to show that you are keen on the job and have prepared well.  

Hiring is not an easy task and it takes years before one starts making lesser hiring mistakes.  It is difficult to make judgement calls on a person who you have never known in a short interview.  Yet we make such decisions.  The biggest mistake we make is that we do not use the same approach to someone who works for you and wants the same job.  Since we know all the improvement areas of the person working with you, we tend to be biased while making a choice.  That is why many a time, senior positions are filled from outside of an organization than from within.  As leaders, we must have the courage to take the punt.

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Productivity and The Golden Goose

As I watched a TV program on livelihood of people in the mangrove areas of the Sundarbans in the Eastern Region of India, it made me realise how close they live with nature and how much they respect nature.  This is quite unlike in many other parts of the world where we do not respect nature.

The episode telecast was on a group of people who make a living by harvesting honey from large honeycombs in the area.  I was pleasantly surprised when they showed how these people pick up dead foliage, make few bundles of these dry foliage and then light up each one of them. They, then,  drive away the bees from the bee hive with the help of the smoke.  Then one person takes over the bee hive and cuts of portions that has most of the honey. He is always careful to leave behind a portion of the hive (typically close to 40%-50% of the hive) where there is lesser honey.  This is done so that the bees come back and can start re-building their hive instead of having to go elsewhere.  Once the person cuts part of the hive, the team offers a prayer thanking God and the Bees for the honey harvest which is providing them with a livelihood.  They then chant a prayer to the Bees to come back to their hive i.e. the part of the hive that has been left intact.

I have seen similar behaviour with the Indian fishermen in all the coastal regions. They go in small boats, fish using nets and then as they draw in their nets, they put the tiny and small fish back in to the sea/oceans.  When asked why, they say that the ocean is like the Golden Goose. "If we take out every tiny and small fish, it is like killing the goose.  We will be the losers in the long run."  They also offer prayers to the Goddess of the Oceans.

Compare this to the latest trawlers that companies use to fish. Yes, the catch per expedition is much more than what these fishermen get.  Yes, the yield per person is much more than what the fishermen get.  However, it is leaving the oceans barren.  The productivity is higher but the golden goose is getting killed.  These companies and businesses must pause and ensure that they make a living from nature but do not destroy it.

Coming closer to productivity from man, Fredrick Winslow Taylor did experiments in Industrial Engineering by trying to create the optimal shovel. He studied as to what should be the optimum size of a shovel so that we get the best productivity from a human shovelling coal.  In this study, he was clear to point out that beyond a certain size, it is always counterproductive.  I guess this principle applies to everything in life.  Beyond a particular point, economies of scale or productivity works counter productive.

Over the years, I have found that productivity in the back office business process industry is more about taking work out of the process and reducing headcount rather than just asking people to work harder.  Even here, beyond a certain point, if we do not re-engineer the process, take waste out and automate, we will not end up with productivity that is sustainable.

As the world goes through difficult times, leaders will be asked to give more productivity.  This is not only in companies but also in countries.  Leadership must pause and ensure that policies and decisions that are taken need to be done keeping in mind the long term sustenance of these decisions.  If they are driven by the quarterly results or the elections round the corner, there will be trade offs between the short term and the long term and this could end up with the killing of the Golden Goose.

Sunday 22 May 2011

Living down mistakes

I saw one of the headlines on a leading Indian TV News Channel - it stated that a politician's new home address was a cell (room) number in a jail as she was sentenced to jail in a corruption case.  As a society, we take people who have done acts that impact our society adversely and depending on the severity of impact, the punishment varies.  A jail sentence is less of a punishment but more of time given to the offender to reflect, reform and then come back to mainstream society.

What I have noticed is that we are not great at forgiving someone who has committed a crime and gone to jail.  In India (and I am not sure as to what the situation is in other parts of the world), a jail bird finds it very difficult to get a job if he says he has served a jail sentence. We, somehow, do not believe that the person has reflected or reformed. We do not believe that the person has lived down his/her mistake.

My manager once told me that leaders who show that they are people with no vices, infallible and nothing can be wrong about them are generally leaders with whom no one can relate to.  He said that leaders are only humans.  Every human is flawed and we try our best to hide these flaws.  The more we hide, the farther away we go from our teams.  I have observed and tested this for few years now and find this to be very true.

Everyone of us has done something that we would not like to share with anyone else.  By carrying such secrets, we are serving out jail sentences beyond what we would have got from our society.  It impacts us in ways that we do not know and hence, we tend to live with these secrets.

I would like to share a story of the impact of carrying secrets in our heads.  A professor was talking to his student.  He asked him to imagine that he has a glass of wine in his hand and that he has to hold up the hand for a minute. Nothing would happen if it is for a minute.  He said that if it was for 15 minutes, then the hand starts paining.  And, if it is for few hours, the hand would definitely freeze over.  He then said that we carry our thoughts and secrets for years.  What should be happening to the brain? Frightening to even imagine.

Why do we struggle to forgive?  We tend to judge ourselves by our intent and others by their deeds and words.  So, while we would like others to let us live down our mistakes, we are not all that forgiving.  Someone, once told me, "To err is human and to forgive is raising to the level of God."  I believe that to err and to forgive is human.  If we honestly internalize that we are all flawed, we will automatically forgive too.

Saturday 23 April 2011

Money and Career Decisions

I have seen many societies in the world that talk of money not being important in many of the decisions they make in life.  Yet, most of the decisions taken revolve around money in most societies.  Till the turn of the 20th Century, money was seen as a need but values such as honesty, integrity, generosity, etc. took precedence.  Not that we do not have these values now but we need to recognize that society has changed. What were luxuries are now necessities.  And to ensure that these necessities can be afforded, one needs money.

I see many people struggling when they talk of making job changes where compensation is their driver for a change in career.  This is more in the Baby Boomers Generation and to a large extent in Gen X.  Gen Y and the latest Web 2.0 generation also struggle but to a much lesser extent. 

I see leaders struggle because they have been talking of making career decisions based on role and not on money.  To me, it is a combination of factors.  Career decisions get taken mainly on the circumstances of one's personal life and many factors go in to this decision.  Factors could include a poor role, lack of clarity in the role, poor manager or leader, family circumstances not conducive, need for more money, etc.  Usually, these career decisions are not taken because of only one factor. There will be many and if you draw a common thread, money will figure in almost all of them.

I have seen staff working with me struggle to explain to me the money factor.  To make things easy, I normally get the money factor in to the conversation and tell them how important compensation is while making a decision and that people should not feel ashamed if that is the driving reason.  Once I make this premise clear, I have seen many people change their discussion and tell me how much their personal circumstances have changed and how the extra money is essential given their new and changed circumstances.  They are more willing to share as to how this new role in another company is able to meet their role aspirations and the increased monetary needs.

Why do I do this?  The mental stress that one goes through while planning to leave a job is enormous.  It is  not understood well at all.  This stress causes health issues, results in loss of focus at work, causes break down in communication and brings with it irritability and anger.  You always get the best out of a person when he/she is relaxed.  I bring in the money factor early in to the conversation so that the person does not have to struggle while talking to me. 

I would like to share an example of a very senior person who decided to move out of my team.  He had an excellent offer and had been making few trips out of town to finalise the offer.  He had been lying to me for weeks as to why he was applying for leave few times in short succession.  He hated himself for lying to me.  He was under stress. When I met him one day, I saw that his face was drawn, he was not looking me in the eye and he seemed very pre-occupied.  I walked up to him and asked him what happened. He told me how his personal circumstances at home were not great and he was under stress.  After few days he walked up to me and said that he wanted to resign. That he had a nice job.  He even pulled out his offer letter and showed it to me.  He explained at length as to how the role was just amazing and that he could not hope to get such a role if he stayed with me.  I quickly interjected and told him that the compensation was also great and that I could never match that.  When he started telling me it was not the driver, I told him that it is very important in the course of decision making. That there is nothing to feel ashamed about it.  Immediately, things changed. The pressure on his face just disappeared.  He talked at length and was much more relaxed.  We decided that it was best to part ways and happily so.

To me money is a commodity that is necessary to live today.  All questions such as "Does money buy happiness?", etc. while being relevant, need to be weighed carefully in the world that we live in today.  Money is a necessity and it is good to ensure that we earn enough of it so that we can meet our daily needs as well as save something for the rainy days and retirement.  Let us not treat it with disrespect or feel ashamed to talk of the need for money in our lives.  Again, our forefathers were smart in this. They created Goddess Lakshmi - The Goddess of Wealth. I believe that Goddess Lakshmi was created so that people respect wealth.  Let us treat money with respect.  If we can do this Goddess Lakshmi will visit us and stay with us at home. 

Sunday 10 April 2011

Leadership - Making a Positive Difference

There are many leaders who think they are different and indeed they are. Many of them do things differently.  Some of them do different things.  A true leader tries his best to make a positive difference in the lives of people who are around him/her and to those in his/her teams. There will be success sometimes and at times things will not work out exactly the way he/she wanted.  But, definitely, he/she would have tried his/her best.

I remember a story of a farmer who had bought a large corn field measuring hundreds of acres.  He had a problem. His field was filled with insects and so the yield was low.  He was rich and so he got in an aircraft to spray the field.  He quickly realised that while he could get rid of insects in his field, more insects were coming in from the neighbouring fields.  His neighbours were poor and could not afford this aerial spraying. So, they were struggling.  He quickly assessed the situation and decided to spray their fields too.  He did this for 3 years and during the 4th year, his neighbours came up to him and said that they he did not have to spray their fields as they could afford to do it themselves.  The farmer had made a huge difference to his neighbours. By helping them out of poverty, he had improved the yield in his fields significantly.

Every time we make a difference to some one in our lives, we end up enriching ourselves through the experience.  These experiences make us a true leader and these are the experiences that I call as "life experiences".

The recent uprising against corruption in India is an excellent example.  A leader, Anna Hazare, was supported by millions of people across India and because of that he forced the Government of the day to accept his demand to pass an Anti-Corruption Bill in the Parliament this year.  He started a fast unto death and little would he have realised that the support would be so overwhelming.  When it came, it consumed the country, the media and everything around it.  People realised that Anna Hazare was trying to make a positive difference for them and their future generations.  The support was immediate and immense.

The positive difference that a leader tries to bring about is something that the people he leads should not only see but also experience.  Unless they feel the difference, they will not accept the person as a leader.  I remember a very old Tamil Song in which the great leader MG Ramachandran sings (and I am translating this in to English), "The path that you visioned will vapourise as dreams, the words that you said will be forgotten.  Only the truth that people see and experience about you will live forever...."  So true.

Can you and I be an Anna Hazare and make a difference to millions?  It is necessary to make a true difference to just one more person in your lives.  If each of us can do that, we are leaders.  Try it, experience it and you will definitely understand what it is to make that difference to someone in their lives.  You will also see that Leadership has as much, if not more, of the heart than of the brain.

As I watched the two bees happily buzz by in my garden from one flower to another, I smiled and thought, "I am making a difference to these bees by having a lovely garden at home with so many flowers.  Does this too count in making that difference?"  The only answer that came to me was a resounding YES!!! 




Sunday 3 April 2011

Lessons from the Cricket World Cup Finals

It was great to see India win the Cricket World Cup 2011...after 28 years!!!  I really liked the match as it was very keenly competed and the game was played in its spirit.  Sri Lanka lost the match but the Sri Lankans won the hearts of millions because of their never say die attitude.

Personally, after watching the match and also hearing the comments from the young players, I culled out few lessons that will suit the Corporate World.  The comments I heard from Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli, "We played this match for Sachin and the Country", was an amazing learning.  Once there was an objective to win this game for the country and for someone who has played for this country for 21 years and was playing what could probably be his last World Cup Tournament, the whole team rallied around this objective.  So, a clear objective and one that is well articulated and understood can get a team to focus and go beyond the calling.  However, an objective alone is not enough. There must be a reason for each player to rally around that objective. There was pride here.  There was love for a team mate and the country.  All these made a huge difference.

The Captain, MS Dhoni, led from the front.  He played an innings that will be remembered in history as one of the best because it was under the most trying of circumstances.  With the top two batsmen gone when the score was 31, he watched two young players stabilise the innings. When one of them got out, he promoted himself in the batting order to come to the field. This would have been one of the most complex calls to take as the stakes were very high.  There were at least 2 other better batsmen but he decided that it was best that he walk out to steady the innings further and score at a brisk pace.  He spoke to the coach and to the team and walked out.  Clearly shows that he was leading from the front. He was not afraid to push for a change in the plan when the situation on the ground had changed.  He showed he was constantly reading the situation, looking for best alternatives and discussing with his team and the coach on the alternatives before changing course.  A leader needs to do this continuously.  Change, as everyone says, is the only constant.  A leader will not be able to anticipate all changes. He/she must continuously monitor changes and be fearless in taking suitable actions and decisions.  In this he must be collaborative enough to involve others in the decision but take accountability for the decisions.

Dhoni said something else during his interview which I thought was really interesting.  He said that since the team had won this match, many things get overlooked.  There were questions relating to why he played few players in the side and rested some.  All these would have been points for discussion, post mortem and criticism if India had lost the game.  As in this game, a leader takes decisions in the best interest of the company. He/she may not have all the data when he/she takes this decision.  Many of these will work and some will fail.  The leader must be willing to stand up and face the consequences of his wrong decisions.  He must have the courage to accept that some of his decisions went wrong.  Most importantly, those reviewing these decisions should look at the circumstance under which these decisions were taken before making their call/statements about the leader.  It must be understood by all that it is human to err and the leader is also only a human.  Only the person occupying the seat really understands the "heat" in that seat.

I saw something else that was pleasantly surprising. Usually, we see players wilting under pressure, losing their cool, not playing to the game plan and playing the game in their normal style without considering the situation they have walked in to.  This Indian side did not do that.  I saw youngsters keep their cool, not losing heart when two veterans fell cheaply in the game, change their game plan effectively when circumstances changed, played to the situation on the ground and won the game.  I also saw some phenomenal flexibility in the coach to help the captain take decisions based on the reading of the situation.  This team work was amazing to see and the team got the results that it sought.

Lastly, I must mention how graceful the losing Sri Lankan captain Sangakarra was.  He was proud of his teams' efforts and praised them for an amazing match. He said how well fought the match was.  He said he was disappointed with the result because his team lost but he praised India as the better team that day.  He was honest, open, showed his vulnerability and did not let his team down.  The mark of a true sportsman, captain and Leader!!!

Saturday 12 March 2011

The Human Vulture - The Impatient Bird

At 2.46 pm on 11th March, mother earth stretched out lazily, triggering off the worst deep sea earth quake that Japan has experienced in the last 100 years.  Measuring 8.9 on the Richter Scale she triggered off a tsunami with waves measuring 33 feet in height and traveling at a speed of 500 miles per hour.  She smashed in to the port city Sendai and shut down Japan's largest nuclear power stations' cooling systems.  This forced Japan to shut down 7 nuclear power reactors and release nuclear vapour in to the atmosphere. These vapours are causing radiation levels to be 1000 times the normal levels.   US Jets are bringing in chemicals to Japan to handle the heightened radiation levels. People living within a radius of 10 kilometers of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant are being evacuated.  Japan's Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, was pleading to his people to calm down and was personally visiting the Fukushima Nuclear Plant. Thousands of houses have collapsed, cars, boats and farm equipment have been thrown miles away by these giant waves.  Hundreds of fires have been set off.  Thousands are dead and 80,000 people are missing. The whole country is in a state of emergency.  Clearly, the scale of the disaster was sinking in and only a massive international effort can help Japan now. 

Amidst all this chaos, a business television news channel was interviewing a trader as to why the Japanese Yen had gained against the dollar. Clearly, there is a disaster in Japan and its currency is gaining strength instead of weakening.  This was not making sense. The trader said that Japanese Insurance Companies were unwinding their assets in the US and purchasing yen so that they could keep money ready to handle the claims that will hit them.  A tsunami was being set off in the financial markets of the world. 

The trader then said something that made me feel absolutely sick in the stomach (despite being a seasoned banker myself).  He said that this strengthening of the yen was a temporary phenomenon and that in the short and medium terms, the yen would weaken dramatically.  So, he was going to "short the yen" i.e. short sell the yen.  As the trader spoke of shorting the yen, the visuals that were being shown were those of the giant waves swallowing up the port city of Sendai, thousands of cars and boats being tossed around, firemen fighting the fires, chaos all around... lives being lost...and all that this trader could think off was how he could make money out of this disaster.

James Hadley Chase wrote a lovely book called "The Vulture is a Patient Bird".  The duty of the vulture is to help clean up the earth off carrion.  It is a very patient bird.  It preys on the dead.  Here, I was watching this trader prey on a country that was reeling under one of the worst natural disasters.  And worse, he had a smile..and as they continued to speak, I couldn't help but think, this human vulture preys on the living. It is not patient. To it, the lives of these millions of people on the other side of the earth did not mean anything so long as it got what it wanted.  Degeneration of the worst kind?

Gautam Buddha called this Greed. He said greed is one of the reasons for unhappiness in our world.  He said this almost 3000 years ago and his words hold true till date.  Greed for power, greed for wealth, greed for position, greed for dominance has today resulted in unhappiness right across the world. Look at what is happening in the middle east, in Europe, in many parts of Asia and the US.  People are unable to manage their wants and needs. This has triggered off different issues across the world causing untold misery.

I read an interesting article on the 2008 Global Financial Crisis being triggered off because of greed.  We don't seem to learn. Somehow this comes through as "who cares?".

Naoto san and the millions of Japanese impacted by this disaster are not worried as to where the Japanese Yen is in the currency market today.  As the hearts of millions of others across the world reach out to the families that are in the midst of this disaster, the human vultures continue to prey.  I only hope the television channels decide to report from the "heart" rather than from the "head".

Saturday 5 March 2011

Time out

In most of the games that we play, we have a concept of time out.  This is a time that is called out by the coach or the captain and the team takes few minutes out of the game they are playing, re-assesses the situation, thinks through what is happening to them at that point in time and decides what is their next course of action.  Have you been timed out in your work life? If you are beyond 35 years of age, most likely you would have been.  Most of us go through life without recognizing this and the question, "What am I doing with my life?" keeps coming up and we struggle to find answers.

While most of us get timed out in life, few of us understand it as such.  This is more prevalent when you are a high performer.  Till you are 35, you are managing smaller teams or an individual contributor. Your performance is driven purely by your actions. You either make it or don't.  And if you are a high performer, then, you have made it.  The organization is happy, your manager is very happy and so are you.  You are a manager or a senior manager and aspiring to become that executive - what they call as Director or Vice President.  A year goes by and your manager tells you that you need to wait a bit longer before you can become an executive like him/her.  Another year goes by and nothing happens and you are wondering, what this is all about.  Your manager is giving you the same excuse on having to wait.  Suddenly, you are wondering...is this all about merit or do they just want grey hair to appear all of a sudden.  Few more years go by and nothing really happens. You are frustrated, you have changed jobs few times, your salary has increased but that elusive Executive position just isn't turning up.  Life has timed you out!!!

The move up from being an individual contributor to a first time manager is probably one of the most complex and, most of the time, the most under-estimated step up.  From just managing your own outcomes, you are now managing the outcomes of few others.  If you are leading a team of 20, you are managing 20 different mindsets.  You must first assess if you have life experiences to manage different mindsets.  It has been one of the most difficult challenges for leaders to understand the readiness of such first time managers and set them up for success.

The move up from being a manager to an executive or a leader is again one of the most difficult jumps to make.  All of a sudden you are managing senior managers like yourself and so, while all the technical skill sets are needed, the ability to manage senior people needs a completely different mindset and a lot of maturity that comes with age and the life experiences.  Further, if you are working for a global organization, the complexity goes up multi fold because you are dealing with global teams, different points of views coming in from different countries and cultures, having to run at different speeds, having to operate at the 40,000 feet in one moment and come down to Ground Zero the next, having to accommodate the conflicting priorities of different teams and people, ability to manage effectively upwards, downwards and sidewards.  And the list goes on...

The organization, in all its wisdom, looks at a high performer like you and decides whether you have stepped up to become that executive or not and in majority of the cases, this step up happens only after you cross the magical age of 40 unless you are in a specialist function.  So, what do you do then? If life has timed you out, how should you react?

Organizations expect that people should have worked across regions, owned a P&L, done roles in functions like Finance/Risk/Operations/HR, led large cross-functional teams, worked in global teams,  worked across different customer segments and across different industries before considering the person for very senior general management roles or executive roles.  All this takes time and effort and each one of us should be willing to put in that effort over a sustained period of time.  Life experiences are so complicated that there will never be enough of them.  Every one of them is a learning experience and so senior leaders, being humans that they are, will make those mistakes even after years of experience.  However, the chances of these mistakes being really very expensive are lower than if they were asked to take these decisions when they were much younger.

Ask yourself the question - Do you deal with a given situation different now than how you would have dealt with it 5 or 10 years before?  In most cases, the answer will be yes.  The decision may be the same but the way we dealt with the situation will be different in most cases.  This is what life experience is and is probably the best teacher.

So, the next time you are feeling frustrated that you have stagnated, understand that this could be a timeout situation.  Pull yourself together, talk to your mentor and others in your organization, sketch out a plan for yourself, rotate around in different roles within the organization, be ready to travel and work in other regions, be ready to move out of your comfort zone and work in other functions - be that sales or a support function like Finance or HR.  Keep on re-skilling yourself.  Organizations are looking for well-rounded leaders - not in shape, but in mindset!!!

Monday 28 February 2011

Passion and Honesty

This weekend was dedicated to interviewing.  My wife manages a school and she was recruiting teachers or as she calls them, Montessori Adults.  She wanted me to meet a person, who she said will change the way I look at life.  This was a person who went through a "special school" because, by birth, her mental faculties are slower than most others.  She got through 12th grade in the school and then has completed a rigorous 1 year Montessori Programme.

I met the person and as she recounted some of her experiences in life, it just hit me like a locomotive.  I asked her as to why she had wanted to become a Montessori Adult (read Teacher) and she said that she wanted to teach children with difficulty in learning better than how she had been taught. She recounted that she had studied in a traditional school and, though she did not want to say that the way she was taught mathematics was not the best, she felt that this Montessori Method would have done her a lot more good.  She grew averse to maths at that early age because, as she put it, "The teacher asked me to count 2+3 mentally and tell her the answer when I could not and had to use my fingers."  The sheer force of honesty and the innocence that came with it in her discussions was the locomotive that hit me first.  I was dumbfounded. I just wanted to continue listening to what this young lady was telling. 

She said, "I want to do so much for children.  I love them and can talk to them without any fear because they are honest to me.  Any child I deal with likes me."  The burning passion that I could see in her eyes was something I have experienced very few times while interviewing.

She had given me a resume and in that I had noticed that she loved dance, painting, music..different forms of art.  So, I asked her as to what art meant to her.  Her reply was, "Just as we all need air to live, I need air and art to live."  For someone to whom mathematics, money, inflated egos, position, desire to conquer the world, etc. meant nothing, art was a life giver...it was a form that she could relate to and express herself.  It created a meaning in her life.

Then I asked her as to what her strengths were.  After thinking for a minute or more, she replied, "I don't know,"  When I asked her, "Can I give you some hints?", she gladly accepted with a huge smile.  I told her, that her disarming honesty was her biggest strength.  The burning passion in the eyes was her strength.  Her love for art and the different forms of it was her strength.  I saw the raw excitement in her eyes when I spelt these out as probably no one had told her that she had tremendous strengths.  She had only heard her inability to comprehend subjects like maths or science.  Her abilities to absorb art, music and dance were not understood by our traditional schools.  This was the first time in my life, I had met a person who could not articulate her strengths...such a shame that, we as a society, refuse to accept people for what they are and boost their confidence by focusing on their strengths.

When I started de-briefing with my wife, she asked me with a mischievous smile, "So, what do you think?  Should we consider her for our School and can you tell me why we should do that, if at all?"  She had already guessed my answer but wanted to hear it from me.  I told her that she is a definite hire. The reason was not because we needed to give a chance to a differently abled person but because of the burning passion and the disarming honesty that she brought along.  She was someone that any organization should consider hiring and we were lucky to chance up on her. 

To me, the chance that life gave me to meet few people, Passion, Truth and Honesty, face to face, was one of the best experiences that I have ever had in my life!!!

Sunday 13 February 2011

Gender Diversity

I wrote on Diversity of Thought earlier. Given that we are closing in on Women's Day, I thought it may be good to write on Gender Diversity and why it is so important to have it at all levels in an organization.  The observations I make in this article are more relevant to India. 

60% of women in India give up their jobs after marriage to focus on the family.  This results in Women being in the workforce at lower levels when they are young but since many of them move out of the workforce after marriage, there are fewer as we go higher.  It hurts me that we need to fight in the Parliament in India to set aside 33% of seats for Women. I believe they will get there even without these reservations.
 
The Hoysala Temple in Halibedu, Karnataka, India, was built in the 12 Century.  If we examine the carvings on the temple, it shows women in all walks of life - riding a horse, fighting a battle, at home, at school, in dance, in other art forms, etc.  The carvings also shows women wearing 64 different hairstyles and high heeled shoes!!!  This was India before the invasions started.  Post all the invasions, we seem to have lost our traditional practices and women were pushed lower down. The equality was lost.
 
Economic experts say that this is the century for Asia, in general, and, India and China, in particular.  If that is the case, let us make 21st Century truly memorable.  As proud Indians, let us go back to the 12th Century. Let us revive the glory of the past when the real India existed.  Let us let the women in our lives blossom.

I have always found that with women leaders in my team, the team dynamics change. There is a balance in aggression. There is more collaboration and sharing. The team members are more willing to share their fears and prejudices.  And, of course, there is more fun and laughter (or should I say, giggling...)
 
While, a healthy gender mix is essential, there are few points that I would like working women in India to ponder:
 
  • How many times do we consciously take our male colleague or manager (our boss) out for a coffee?
  • How many times do we network outside of work?  We all know that many decisions are taken outside of office.
  • How conscious are we of our gender while at work? Do we differentiate (knowingly or unknowingly) between genders in our attitude or the way we speak or react to a situation?

I have seen the following in Women Managers (read - as on an average and not in every instance) - these are only the top few and there would be many more:

  • Ability to multiplex - Women Managers are capable of handling various activities at the same time and they are better at this than men;
  • More empathy - women managers are more empathetic to day to day problems of life;
  • Emotional Resilience - I notice more emotional resilience in women than in men.

Where I see Women Managers lag behind their male counterparts:

  • Willingness to make compromises in business dealings to get on with life;
  • The search for perfection and trying to prove a point takes a toll on women managers and they lose the woods for the trees;
  • Empathy taken to a level that sometimes takes a toll on the fact that at times managers need to also be task oriented;
  • Unwilling to a larger extent to network outside of office.
 These are more relevant to Indian Women managers and not necessarily true in other countries.  Again, these have been my experiences and, as I said earlier, these are statements in general and will not fit all women managers.

Everyone comes with a bundle of strengths and improvement areas. So, with men and women managers.  What is needed is our ability to notice the talent and groom it.  Each leader can make a difference to Women Managers by communicating more and talking them through their dilemnas.  Most women go through pangs of guilt when they are unable to focus on the family (be it their parents, their husbands, their siblings, their children).  They want the freedom of choice, the financial stability and independence and the family.  They struggle to balance work and home.  This is where males should step in effectively - as managers, as husbands, as fathers, as brothers, as friends - males should take a bold step forward in doing things that are seen as work to be done only by women eg. cooking, cleaning up the house, taking care of the child, etc.  They must be able to share the workload to the extent that the woman feels confident to balance work and home effectively.  This is the only way to lessen and finally remove the pangs of guilt that a woman goes through in her life.

There are deep rooted issues in our biases and these arise due to societal issues that we see in India.  We hear of societies killing new born female children, abortions because the child in the womb is a female, discussions that daughters need not go through formal education because they are going to get married and stay back and manage their homes.  Not that managing homes is easy..but the disdain with which women are treated leaves a lot to be desired in our society.  There is a lot of change happening in our country now but we need to do more.

I will sign off with a good version of the Story of a Man's Life:

  • I was born and a woman was there to hold me - my Mother
  • I grew as a child and a woman was there to care for me and play with me - my Sister;
  • I went to school and a woman was there to help me learn - my Teacher;
  • I became depressed and whenever I lost, a woman was there to offer a shoulder - my Girl Friend;
  • I needed company, compatability and love and a great woman was there for me - my Wife;
  • As I grew tough, a woman was there to melt me - my Daughter;
  • When I die, a woman is there to absorb me - my Motherland.