Street Smart

As I mentor young MBA students for life after college the question arises as to what it takes to be a great and even successful manager in a world that throws up new challenges at the rate of knots. Many of my young friends feel that one needs to be street smart, another claims that he would like autonomy at work and would like to be micro-managed. I dislike the words. What does street smart mean? It could get you just that far and no more. Street smartness, indeed - balderdash!I always felt that it was a way for the shirker to say that academic excellence was not required and could be replaced by a notion that one could work his way to the upper echelons of an organization by just being smart, whatever that would mean. Micro management is another word that is loosely bandied about by people with little experience at work. Too much of autonomy to those with little work experience and even less cognitive skills can only end in disaster for the manager who empowers those who cannot handle responsibility with understanding. However on reflection I concede that there could be elements that differentiate a great manager from an average one. My laundry list would be: 1. Be culturally sensitive: India is without doubt the most diverse country on earth and it is imperative that one is culturally sensitive as work takes us across different cities.Carlos Ghosn, of Renault Nissan says says that he owes his success in Japan simply because he immersed himself in the Japanese culture and way of life.While it is important to be rooted and proud of one's own culture, being parochial is stupid in today's flat flat world. 2. Network: Network furiously is the mantra for successful managers. Networking and communication are key competencies that cannot be ignored. The use of social media may have destroyed intimacy but has improved reach. Reach out to as many people that you can and stay connected. 3. Multitask: This is surprising. The west thinks sequentially and so getting the brain to do do multiple tasks is a tad difficult. In today's world you just can't stay on one ball at a time but need to juggle many with finesse. The above three would be that X - factor that seperate's the men from the boy's along with the long list of competencies that a person needs to have in terms of hard work, domain skills and the like. If these constitute street smartness, then you have me in your corner.

Sunday School!

The most mundane events can rapidly bring one back to earth. This morning, while on my way back home I stopped over at a shop selling plastic stuff. The intention was to buy plastic pot holders for pots on my balcony.
In the shop was a gent, looking happily uninterested. In my best 'angrazi', I asked the gent if the shop was open, to which he said no. I was surprised and asked him again, to which he again said no. Disappointed & annoyed I trudged off, to a neighbouring electrical shop. Post my purchase, I enquired with the incumbent if there was a plastic shop around, in the immediate neighbourhood. The guy goggled at me and said there was one next door, hadn't I seen it? I said it was not open.....................when the chappie was even more surprised.
To cut to the chase, both of us went next door, to meet our uninterested gent. After a rapid exchange in what sounded like a dialect from Rajasthan, it transpired that the shop was indeed open...............!
The, whole thing was mind boggling & made my head spin. On further enquiry, it transpired that the plastic shop guy thought I was asking for a ' bottle opener', when I asked him if the shop was open! What a mess.
The point is who created the mess. I must take the blame, of trying to be very smart and high context and over communicating, where a simple sentence would have sufficed, in probably Kannada or Hindi.What was I trying to do, communicating to the chap in English? Not only was I overcommunicating but doing so in a not so appropriate language!
Having made my purchase after some spirited haggling, this time alternating between Kannada and Hindi, I departed, not without thinking how stupid I was.This after I teach communication! As a parting shot the shop fellow asked me, why I spoke English, when I could have talked to him in Kannada!!!!
You learn all the time don't you.........................