Chic!

There is a rather interesting advertisement on TV, where this rotund youngster is waiting for a job interview at an office. From his demeanour you might say that he has beaten the street, in search of gainful employment. A few minutes later, in walks a graceful lady,stylish and chic, superbly proportioned and a great personality to boot. Our young friend, takes one sideways glance at her, packs his stuff and departs. He knows he does not stand, one heck of a chance, with that kind of competition!

What does that tell us? The truth is that first impressions do matter, at interviews and unless, the interviewer is skilled and trained, and the interview process has adequate rigor an organization is going to land itself with folk who may not be the right fit for a job. A tragedy!

Strangely, interviewers thought that, interviews carried out on telephone would preclude this bias............and one would have a fairer selection.Data indicates that this is not true and the better lookers, continue to do well on telephonic interviews!!!!!!!

Why? I think I can guess the answer. Can you? Do write in.

The boss!

Yesterday my friend and colleague, Dr.Gopinath, invited me to his lecture on Leadership. He spoke about Field Marshal Montgomery ( Monty ), a Brit, who was a brilliant strategist and turned the tide of WW 2, in favor of the Allies, by defeating Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps. Rommel himself was no spring chicken.
Monty was a man who was loved by his troops and the quintessential leader. You want to talk leadership, and then you head for Monty, no questions asked. Montgomery showed an ability to stay on top of the details under pressure that suggested he was suitable for high command.

Winston Churchill was convinced that the battle of El Alamein marked the turning point in the war and ordered the ringing of church bells all over Britain. As he said later: "Before Alamein we never had a victory, after Alamein we never had a defeat."

Monty was a dandy and much admired man. Just to ingest a little interest, I spoke a little about General Patton, the American tank commander. Abrasive, tough and rigid Patton was generally disliked by everybody. However without exception, soldiers wanted to serve under his command, because the causalities that he took in war were the least. He trained his troops very well, indeed!
The question is, 'Do you want to work with a tough, hard driving boss, who will guide you well and protect you or a boss who will be soft upon you?'Not to suggest that Monty was soft!

I left the class on that note.............a tough question to answer!

There is this constant self debate that I have regarding the merits of academic knowledge vs practical experience. Is it worth our while to push kids to do increasingly well in school tests and exams at the exclusion of all else?

In this connection I came across this rather interesting story............

Two friends, one a scientist and the other an executive were making their way, on a trek, through a heavily wooded portion of a forest, when with much rustling of leaves and heaving of thickets a dark and furry bear appeared. The friends and the bear froze, each paralyzed, with the appearance of the other. The two men, overcome with fright and rightly so, recovered first and scooted for their lives, with the bear rumbling along in their wake. After a while, the scientist panting heavily told his friend that, there is no point in running, because as per his calculation the bear will eventually overtake them. The executive, a man of some experience, does not break a stride and keeps running, even as he said that he does not have to outrun the bear, he just has to outrun, his friend to survive.

You can guess how this episode would have ended.

The point is, much of success, in life comes from being alert to our environment or in terms of OB, being 'Open to Experience'.I'm afraid, with our over emphasis on class room learning, we are destroying that 'openness' and placing kids at a disadvantage.

While academic knowledge is important, is it the only knowledge that we need to have to navigate complex jobs and an even more complex world? It is probably the reason why you have mediocre students doing very well in jobs and vice versa...

Men of Action!

It amazes me as to why folk get into jobs that that the do not want to be in? An example that comes readily to mind is Mamata Bannerjee aka 'Didi'.Recent stats state that Didi, attends less than 50% of cabinet meets in her capacity as Railways Minister and spends diminishing quantities of time in the Capital, where her office is located.Me thinks it is like the 'Law of Diminshing Returns'.Diminshing returns for the common man, like you and me. ( I wanted to use 'mango man' from ' aam aadmi' here but desisted!)

But then what does Didi do ? Apparently she is crafting strategy in Bengal to facilitate her moving to the 'Writers Building' as Chief Minister of the Eastern state, come the next assembly elections.( I actually spent half a day many years ago to go see this sad looking building. But then I was young )This is something that she has attempted over the last couple of decades, with incremental success......

While Didi's passion for the top job in Bengal is appreciated, is it fair to the hundreds who have perished in railway accidents that have occurred over the last couple of years, when Bannerjee has been on watch!Being a cabinet minister is a full time job and telecommuting in this area may not be a viable option.

When I sailed, any issue on board, or off, was dealt with by getting to the spot and trying to be there long enough to have it sorted out. We did not operate by remote control. Most managers in the manufacturing industry swear by this. The want to be where the action is, not tucked away in, dreary cubicles! It puzzles, me as to why, so many folk want to be cooped up in a 6ft x 8 ft wood cubicle, peering into a screen even when they have an opportunity to go out to be where the action is. My younger colleagues say that I always talk about my generation and theirs and they are right. I do, because their love for office cubicles is perplexing.They do not seem to like fresh air!!!!!!!!!!!

Returning to Didi, I hope she makes it as head honcho of Bengal for two reasons:

1. It would rid the state of varying shades of Communists.
2. The railways would hopefully get a minister who is a 'Man of Action'.

We can only wait & watch!

Buttermilk Man!

These days lunch and dinner are a bit excruciating.South Indians are fond of ending their meal with curd ( cultured yogurt ) and I'm no exception. I love the stuff, but can only watch as my son laps it up with gusto( cream and all ), while I do with buttermilk or majige ( Kannada ). This due to my wife's latest health diktat.

This is not a health spiel, so don't run away. This is not so much about Karnataka's Upa Lokayukta, Justice Majjige, who understandably on cloud nine, after having taken up the onerous post, a day ago.The poor man, unfortunately suffered a massive cardiac arrest & is now being treated, in of Bengaluru's many hospitals.
The point I'm trying to make, is about a full career. A career where your health does not give way, midway, leaving you gasping for breath and broken before you get to the finish line and breast the proverbial tape.These days people work their careers as if there is no tomorrow, frenetic and in the fast lane. The buzz word- work hard, party harder. I wish all of us were James Bond. Away from reel life, realities are different. The Human body & mind need the time and space to recover, and needs to be pampered, not inundated with stress, smoke and spirits.
A career is a marathon. A race that needs to be spaced out. You cannot do the thing in ten seconds. That's for the glorious few who run the 100 meters. That's for the shooting stars.

You need to be a career athlete, not a flash in the pan!
As for the Upa Lokayukta, I guess the post is up for grabs!As for majige, I'm getting to like the damn stuff........It's cheaper you see and that helps in these days of rising inflation!

Problems!

The Wimbledon tennis final of 1975, saw an aging Arthur Ashe taking on a young Jimmy Connors. The year before Connors had 'trashed' an over the hill Ken Rosewall.
1975 too was expected to be wash out in favor of the brilliant Connors. As, the match progressed it became evident that, Ashe had other ideas and Connor's swagger soon disappeared and he was beaten in four sets.Ashe played brilliant tennis, returning the ball to Connor's feet, all the time, a strategy Connors could not unravel or deal with.As they left the Centre Court the young 'buck' Connors had a dazed look on his sweat stained face.
I recently, gave my first year management students, a case where they are on a sinking ship, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and have fifteen items for survival. They have all the details and are just to rank these items in the right order. The ranking that they got was all wrong!Should it have been real life, none would have survived!
Are the two issues detailed above linked in any way? I think they are. All problems are generally of two types, either they are puzzles, where we do not have full information or they are mysteries, where we have full information, but do not have the experience to assimilate, understand and act on this information. Looking back, in both cases, the problems were mysteries, where there was a lack of experience in dealing with situation.
Towards the end of World War 2, the Americans, threw in their latest heavy bombers to precision bomb, ball bearing factories in Germany. Why? The Americans figured that without ball bearings much of German machinery and aircraft would go kaput......Did the Americans, level these factories ? They did, with horrendous losses, in Aircraft and men. Did it hinder the German war effort? No, because the German's had BB's stashed away elsewhere & when they felt a shortage simply changed design and went along.This was a puzzle, where the Americans acted in haste without garnering full information.
It is the reason, why good organizations, want a diverse crowd, who crack puzzles & mysteries, as they surface without choking or making serious errors!

On the wall!

A student walked into my rather cosy office, late evening, yesterday enquiring whether he could get admission to our Executive Management Program. Since the bloke was an engineer and had a work experience of two years, I told him that, it should not be an issue.

However, what he told me next was a bit strange. He said that he had enrolled for a full time MBA but had to leave & return to his home town, as an astrologer had told him that his infant son, would not survive, if his father ( the student ) was in Bangalore!

I've not heard anything this bizarre in the recent past & was a tad shaken. I tried to dissuade the young man from giving up his full time MBA but the attempt was futile & I reluctantly passed him on to my admission team.

To cut to the chase, I was disappointed. I do not like quitters. They make the world seem a lesser place.A class fellow of mine had a similar issue. He would be full of zip, leading up to our examinations, but as we got closer to the D- Day, he would cook up some reason, why he could not take the exam and head home, much to their chagrin of all concerned.He simply chose to quit. Fast forwarding twenty years and the guy is an alcoholic wreck, floating in a sea of deep self disillusionment. He has quit life.When we started, our cadet ship, he came across as the most balanced and intelligent student of our lot.........so the way things turned out is a tragedy.

To make a commitment and stand by it is not everybody cup of tea, in today's world of instant gratification and make believe.The thrill of hanging in there and riding the wave, is no longer appreciated or wanted.Persistence is a forgotten virtue in a world where life is led with a foot on the accelerator.To attribute our actions to external causes seems to be the panacea for short term solutions.
To sit on the wall, is the call of the day!I would be reluctant to have such guys on my team.