Smoke & Drink your way up to Corporate ladder.

If you are an ambitious person who wants to achieve a lot in the corporate career as an executive and run up, mind you not walk up or hurry up but run up, the corporate ladder fast then I would advice you stop being a good guy and start smoking, drinking, partying, and on top of that remain single until you achieve what you want. Else you are never gonna be what you have always desperately wanted to be. Why I say so..? Do not agree with me? Then read on .....to end up agreeing with me!

If you are a good guy, you would not smoke, you would not drink or party as you would want to give as much time as possible to your family. So after office you would rush to be with your family to share the diner, over weekends you would want to spend precious little time with the family and family friends, so you would hardly have time to network. The ways of networking are to share a smoke in office with colleagues, call colleagues for a drink after office, party with influential people over weekend.

Since you are a good guy and you do not smoke so you would not go to smoking areas in the office. And that's the best area for networking. Over the time smokers in offices, not only from the same but from various other departments, forge great networks as they get to see each other at common area, get to ask for match box daily and very often each day. So they have great networks. But if you are a good guy you would want to finish your work in as less time as possible as you have to rush to home for diner daily. So you would avoid wasting time for smoking, in fact you would have your tea at your desk only. So NO networking during office hours. Then drinkers create opportunities for networking after office hours also by getting together with same interest guys at pubs/drinks. So over time they forge great networks there also. They may not give much time to family. Similarly weekend partying can be used for networking. As this networking is investment into the future which would ripe and grow many fold over the years and you can redeem this investment whenever you want or need it.

As a family man or mamma's boy you would not get all these opportunies for networking i.e. investing into future.

At the end it's all about networking. Honey!

Who said drinking or smoking is injurious to health. It's NOT!

Hope now you agree with me now....

Missing Spark: Am I reading it correct?

I have been working in IT service industry for quite a few years now and have worked in quite a few different IT companies in India, with lot of and a variety of animals (called software/IT professionals), coming from different backgrounds and different social setup and even from different economic strata of the society. In my view, many of IT professional come to the office to surf Internet, chat with online friends and do some gossip in cafeteria and in between do a little work, if time permits, for which they are paid at the end of month, that too handsomely (I bet if you find even a single software professional who would say that he or she is happy with the salary he/she is getting). Everyone would proudly flaunt their respective companies' (employer's) access card around their necks, like domesticated dogs carry belt around necks, on the streets but would jump onto next company if the pay packet is bigger there. They would not even consider once if because of this action of theirs, the client's work could be impacted and employer's image would be impacted or what would happen to company'bucks spent on their training.

These guys work daily without fail but they do not seem to work for a longer future. A long-term vision is not there which they seem to be trying to achieve. I do not find much in them a spark which says that these guys are inspired in their life to achieve something great. Neither are the so-called IT team managers are smart enough who seems to be inspiring individuals who can inspire the guys under him. All I see in these guys, including in managers, is that they are worried about the work they have to do, not because they want to do but because it is given to them or thrust upon them, then they are worried about next appraisal whether or not they deserve it. Everyone wants bigger and fancier title, bigger and bigger pay-packet without thinking even once if they really deserve what they are asking for and above all the want all this with less and less responsibilities.

And yet another reason of worry among IT professionals in getting fast onto the housing ladder. This is the biggest worry among most as today it has become a huge status symbol and a sort of competition is there among all to get a bigger and costlier house and more number of houses in one's name. This cause them to fight their reporting manger to grant them an ONSITE trip.

Onsite trip grants some guys huge status boost, Huge bank balance and proves that this guy has truly arrived.

The life of an IT professional seems like a fairy tale to an outsider. And as an insider I can say yes, indeed it is like a fairy tell. But all these above perks are, I would say, relatively easier to get because you do not have to do much of an effort to get these. Hard work is hardly required to get all these.

I would say the guys are talented, no doubt about that, if given a challenge they would face it bravely and succeed on it. But that sharpness is not there anymore in most of the guys, all have become blunt. I hardly see these guys talking about doing something greater in life or in next few years, or creating some vision and discussing some ideas. No, this never happens or to be politically correct, it rarely happens. But since these are knowledge workers and so-called brightest engineers from our academic institutions, so it's their responsibility to think on those lines, to imagine a better future not for them but for others in society. This is a real pity. We can not blame govt. at the centre for this because I don't remember if it has imposed any tax for imagining a better future for our society. Still they do not do this.

And just imagine the price we are paying for all this inactivity. We may me missing on some visions or some opportunities which would have become realities and would given something to the society at large.

I would have to blame someone for this huge problem. Two roles come to my mind who could be squarely blamed for this nation-shaming problem. One is the teacher who never taught us to think or imagine and this was his/her responsibility. Teacher never went beyond giving us some rote lessons and checking our homeworks.

Second role to be blamed for this is IT professionals reporting manager. As a manger RM is responsible to mould a rookie engineer into a thinker. But I feel these RMs always feel why should he spend his time in improving an engineer anyway she/he will leave company as soon as he gets a better job or he would go to another project under another RM. So there is hardly any culture in industry where employees are made to think. They are not taught or guided as to how and what to think.

Here I am also part of the above herd.

Resurgent India: Our time is coming!

Two news stories of last couple of days have made me proud. For anyone outside India (especially westerners) these news stories would have been nothing short of shocking or even disgusting but for me they were pleasant pieces of news. You would wonder if Iam insane or even call me a sadist if I say I was pleased to know that a union minister sought to influence the justice or an MP slapped a bank employee on duty.

No, you are seeing glass as half empty, whereas I am looking at the glass half full. I am happy that the High Court judge made the incidence of calling by union minister public instead of following minister's advice( or threat) and happy because the bank employee filed a police complaint against the errant MP instead of toying with him. These sides of stories make me happy or joyous.

I am not surprised by the actions of minister and MP because we in India take these things as usual and they happen regularly so nothing to be shocked about. But the reactions of the two public employees are exemplary and I salute them for having taken their respective stands. They deserve all the praise and adulation from public in India. I am sure these two reactions would set the precedence now and more of such misuses of privileges by politicians would become public. These are course-changer events in Indian public life. They are true leaders.

These positive developments make me proud of my country and fellow citizens. Long Live Great India.

Leadership lesson: Doing what is correct and just without thinking of the consequences is what we called a true leadership.

Being Responsible at every time: How aware are we?

Today I was on my way to office (in Hyderabad India), I was driving on a stretch of the road which is very wide road (6 lanes) and is normally never congested (surprise! isn't it?). You always get smooth drive through here but today there was a huge unbelievable pile-up of the traffic and traffic was moving very slow, at snail's pace. I was stunned (yes, I really was!) by seeing traffic-jam at this road. I went on and on and finally at one point road became clear as it always was. When I looked for the reason for this traffic pile-up I could not help shake my head in disgust.

The reason for the jam was that people were moving slow even though there was clear way. And why there were moving slow? The reason was that there was a minor accident on the other side of the road divider and people were slowing deliberately to see the accident site. This caused accumulation of slow moving vehicles and ultimate traffic congestion.

So what can we learn here from this incidence. People who wanted to know or understand the accident scene were (un)knowingly causing others problem by blocking their way. People may be in hurry to make it to an urgent customer meeting, or to attend an interview, both of which are very critical in current situations and are life-or-death situations. So some were being irresponsible unknowingly which could cost someone else very dearly.

So we should always be aware of our actions, be it in traffic or at anywhere in public or private place. Sometimes unintentionally, a trifle act or ours could prove very serious for others. If we try to learn be responsible in such small ways and become aware of the consequences of our little actions or gestures, over time we could become compassionate which is one of very essential quality of a leader.

Choosing a career: Based on strength?

I was recently reading a book on Strength Finder2.0 by Gallop. This says that you have to first find your correct and exact strengths and then choose a career or profession accordingly. If you do not do so and choose any career, you may not achieve true success in life and cannot do justice to your chosed profession. I do not agree with this (at all). The Gallop findings may be true for western countries, but not in Indian context.
What I observed in Indian context is that normally a person follows his parental profession. Be it business, profession (medical, law or anything ) or anything else. And the second generation make it good in their parental profession, sometimes even better. Take examples of Ambani brothers, so many generations of politicians, innumerable small businessmen, people in Bollywood, just to give a few examples. I have also observed some families where there is good environment in home about education or spirituality or religion, the kids of such households grow up to be stronger in those area. This confirms that what kind of environment kids get at home and how serious they take their chosen area,they would become successful in that area.
In Indian middle class, students almost always choose their career options based on either family members suggestions/insistence or influences by peer group's choices. Hardly anyone has any idea as to what he or she really likes, barring a few exceptions. And even in such situations people turn out to be quite successful in their career. I feel except for few areas like art (painting, music, etc), or research when you really have to be passionate all other areas could be mastered by interest and hard work (obviously smart work).
I do not claim to be a researcher but I can claim to be a good observer in the above area. Please leave your comments and views on the topic.

Keeping promise: At the cost of other’s life!

Infosys has been telling (or boasting) all along that it will honour all its promises of job offers made out to the campus recruits (close to some 16000). Infosys has also got a huge bench of over 25000 staffs. So if Infosys is to be believed they will have 41000 free people to be employed in this financial year on various project (this figure may be little less if attrition is to be factored in). This tells that the company must have so much work coming its way (pipeline in industry jargon) in near future which can absorb all new and existing bench employees. There is also news that more staff would come off project this year.
But in contrast, Infosys itself has been telling that there will be almost no growth (projected 1.5% in rupee terms) in current financial year. Now we hear that company has asked its employees who are on the bench to work for its BPO arm. I understand that if company do not have enough work then it should ask employees to work for associate companies. This way jobs are saved, employees get to learn new skills and associate companies get resources when required without recruiting from outside. But what’s point in sending your existing employees to associate companies against their wishes and recruiting new (which Infy is doing by honouring its campus promises). If company does not have enough work why should it hire more which impacts job securities of its existing employee, severely impacts company financial affecting shareholders.
There is a famous saying in Ramayan “Jaan Jaaye par wachan na jaaye” (Keep your promise even at cost of your own life). Infosys seems to be following this saying, but with a little twist. Twist is that if life has to go it will not be its own but that of its employees. How unethical!

How a leader change the course of an organisation.

The role of an able leader in the development of any organisation is as important as the oxizen to our body. It's just one leader who can make or mar an organisation. There are plenty of examples scattered around us to support this.
When India was born and Nehru became the first prime minister, his aim was to make India a country worthy for her people. He along with others created a democratic and secular government, created public institutions with broader purpose of serving the people of nation, gave people of the country equal opportunity, created equality among people of various religions and social strata among other things. He set out in creating a modern India by building dams, core-industries, higher education institute, etc. which were clearly meant to take India into league of leading nations of the world. Nehru had long term vision with which he acted for india. That is where the foundation for today's vibrant India was laid. Had he went the otherway of fulfilling his own short term gains, India would not be in position where it's now. Here the leadership of a single person Nehru was very important for india to follow either the path of peace and prosperity or the path of chaos like many other countries.
Similarly Tata group was just languishing and stumbling along in early nineties when Ratan Tata took over it. At that time hardly anyone would have thought that Tata group would be so globalised that it'll take over companies around the world. But it was sheer leadership and the vision of Ratan Tata that Tata group is where it is today. It's one of the most globally diversified and most ambitious diversified group from India. This success is again simply due to the vision of a single leader Ratan Tata.
Obviously, in all this we can not deny the fact that every leader needs to have an able and supporting team which can turn the vision of a leader into reallity. But here again it's the leader who selects his team.

Leaders are made. Full Stop.

People say that the leaders are born and not made but I disagree with this to a great extent. I strongly believe that most leader are made and not born. It they are just born then every such person would just be declared at the time of birth that this is a leader. And by now scientists would have found out a way or a detective device to identify whether a person born is a leader or not. Then if she is leader then she would not be sent for formal education and simply given responsibilities of leadership instead of wasting time in getting formal education and taking small and hard steps to go up the laddar in any organisation, be it corporate or political or of any other kind .

Why a person go for formal education and then join an organisation at very low level and reach to the top after very gruelling learning journey of life, is to learn leadership. Look around in any walk to life and we find leaders, in business, in politics, in society, in sport, or any fields. And the people we find there whom we call leaders are those who have learnt leadership hardway, toiled hard to reach where they are today. Some learnt in business schools, some learnt on job but every one learnt in this world only. A successful sportsman can not become one just like this she has put a great amount to work to be what she is. Gandhi was never a born leader. By the time he started pactising law in South Africa he was just a normal person. But then circumstances taught him and he became a leader. Take any successfule businessman or executive, she would have gone to some school to learn a few lessons and then work hard to be what she is today.

Now the question arise then why not every person who takes formal education or joins an organisation becomes a leader. The reason is those who becomes leader very early decides that they have to become leader, they know where they have to reach and accordingly they start aquiring those skills on the way. They keep learning lessons of leadership at every small step and those learnings finally make them leaders. Some just languish here and there are those who have never decided to be a leader.
So every born person is a potential leader. The only thing is she has to learn to be leader.