Mohammad of Khandala

When the boundaries between work and fun blur, you are fully immersed 

in a feeling of energized focus,full involvement, and success in the process 

of the activity. What Prof. Mihaly Csikszentmhalyi might call being in flow. 

And some years ago I had the opportunity to witness one such soul 

operating in "flow".

Mohammad Hussein was a dark short and stocky, had grey short hair and a 
clipped ‘Zodiac man’ beard and worked a waiter at the restaurant of a resort 

in Khandala. This resort is where I was conducting a meeting for
one of my client companies. Sharp at six on the first morning of my stay, 

there was a soft knock on my door and on and on opening it, 

I was greeted with a smiling ‘Good Morning’ by Hussein who bustled in with 

his tray of what P.G. Wodehouse would call ‘the cup that cheers’. He then 

proceeded to place the tray smartly on the table with a ‘Yeh lo sir, badhiya, 

garam, garam chai!’ Apart from the tea, his warmth and cheerfulness itself 

was a great start to the day! At breakfast, Hussein welcomed my entry into 

the restaurant with a welcoming smile and my inquiry about the spread for 

the day was heralded by the lifting of the lid of each of the chaffing dishes, 

followed by descriptions like, ‘Yeh lo sir, badhiya corn flakes, aur yeh garma 

garam aloo parathe, aur yahan sir, first class omelet and toast!’  At every 

break for lunch or tea, Hussein would be the first one to greet and welcome 

the group and serve us attentively. 

By now, all these ministrations by Hussein had impressed me so much that 

I called up my family to invite them to join me at the resort after the 

conference was over. Seeing my family with me seemed to send Hussein into 

a service overdrive! Even though the restaurant had enough empty tables at 

meal times, he would put up a hand written sign on a tent saying ‘Reserved 

for V1’ and on being seated at the table, he would first ask my wife,  

’Madam, aaj kya lengi, chai ya coffee?’ next he would enquire with my 

daughter, my son and finally me (the gallant old soul!). The best part was 

when I gave him a tip on the last day of our stay, he thanked me profusely 

and said that he wanted to sing a ‘Mohammad Rafi saab ka gana’ specially 

for me. Then in a mellifluous voice, and a few furtive looks over his shoulders 

to see if the manager was watching, he proceeded to sing ‘Woh jab yaad 

aaye, bahut yaad aaye’ from the film Parasmani! A warm and sentimental 

touch don’t you think?

It's been now more than six years since I witnessed Mohammad Hussein 

in action but I have warm memories of him. That's what being in "flow" does 

to you. You perform at your best, have fun doing it, please the recipient of 

your actions.

And most important - stay in his memory. Forever. 

"I am Anna Hazare" True or False?

A recent survey  of India's youth conducted by by MTV, showed that over 50% of them were OK with paying bribes to succeed in life. Surprisingly, Anna Hazare's recent campaign against corruption had struck a cord with the very same youth, and they had come out on to the streets in large numbers! So what explains this strange contradiction?

Maybe some kind of an answer may be found in yesterday's Economic Times. In the issue's Blinkers off cartoon by Salam, one executive is telling another, "I can't say for sure what is important...self-respect, integrity or being on the right side of the boss...?" The cartoon aptly sums up the dilemmas and the challenges  of  the youth viz., if self-respect and integrity be part of one's values set, to what extent would one be of willing to sacrifice them at the altar of career success?

 These were also the kind of dilemmas expressed by the young participants at my recent workshop on Goal setting. One of the activities required participants to identify their personal values and the importance of  identifying and living our values in our life. After my presentation one of them asked, "If the value of my time to my company is Rs 3000.00 per day, and I have the option to pay a tout Rs 1000.00 and get a ticket (or a form etc.) delivered at home instead of waiting in a queue to buy one, what should I choose to do? And that's the dilemma most of us face - should I forgo my value of not paying a bribe  and settle for the 'efficient' and 'cost-effective' option of saving my time and pay a bribe? Or do I stick by my values and principles no matter what it costs?

In reply to the participant's question, I cited the example of how Narayana Murthy of Infosys handled such a situation.There were several incidents when Infosys was asked to grease palms to get its work done. in 1996, the company refused to pay a bribe of Rs 4 lakh to buy the land where their Bangalore office was built. Instead, it paid Rs 40 lakh extra, about 40% more than the amount other companies had paid to build offices in that locality. Over the years, Infosys' clean image became a benchmark in India Inc.

So if one chooses to strictly  live by one's values then no price would be too high to protect them. The choice of course is a difficult one for most of us. But for those who choose to tread the difficult path - it can be life of fulfillment.

And success?

The Secret to Long-term Personal Success

The most powerful way to achieve long-term personal and business success, is to redefine success as something internal rather than external. It has been my experience time and time again that success begins with defining values, and then consciously creating a life where those values play a central role. And this is true as much of people as it is of organizations.Using this 'inside-out' approach, I have discovered in my experience as a Business coach and consultant, gives gratifying results. Success I have realized, begins with defining values, and then consciously creating a life where those values play a central role. So what exactly do we mean by values, and how can we plan a values-driven life?

What are Values?
Roy Posner, on his highly informative website, describes values as “a belief, a mission, or a philosophy that is meaningful.” Whether we are consciously aware of them or not, every one of us has a core set of personal values. Values can range from the commonplace, such as the belief in hard work and punctuality, to the more psychological, such as self-reliance, concern for others, and harmony of purpose.

When we examine the lives of famous people, we often see how personal values guided them, propelling them to the top of their fields. In the book, Leadership@Infosys (Penguin India), the editor Matthew Barney describes the time the company had imported its first computer to the office. A customs official indirectly asked for a bribe. Narayana Murthy pretended he did not understand the request. As pay back, the official refused to recognise the a government certificate that entitled Infosys to a concessionary import duty of Rs. 1 lakh instead of Rs 10 lakh. Murhty did not budge. The company paid the higher duty and went through a long process of six years to reclaim the extra money it had paid.

It is this personal as well as business commitment to his values that has brought Murthy such glory - personally as well as to Infosys, the company he created. On a personal front, his commitment to his values brought respect to businessmen as a class. Kiran Karnik1, the former NASSCOM chief explains the reason thus,”For the first time, the middle class had an icon who came from an ordinary background and yet made money without doing something underhand and being upright.” On the business front Murthy’s commitment powered by his intellect, and driven by his values has brought Infosys to the forefront of a new India Inc. since 1981.

we can “create a life of our own making” and live our life with meaning and peace of mind, rather than “letting our life live us.”  An important learning from Murthy's example is that values drives our behavior and also our commitment.                                                   The most important advantage of identifying our values is that the exercise helps us to align and shape our behaviors in a way consistent with our goals in life.

Call to Action

To begin the unraveling of YOUR secret to long-term personal business success, begin by of identifying your values from the list on Roy Posner's site. Using your identified values as your decision making paradigm, you can now create a life of your own making and live your life with meaning and peace of mind, rather than letting your life live you.

Yew did it. Can you?

The success story that is Singapore is principally credited to its first President Lee Kwan Yew’s strategic vision of economic modernization and internal stability. He sought to bring this about through an ambitious programme of economic and social transformation. In short, he envisioned a radical change in the countries culture and he made it happen!

Culture change in organizations

Every time people come together with a shared purpose, culture is created. This group of people could be a family, neighbourhood, project team, or company. Culture is automatically created out of the combined thoughts, energies, and attitudes of the people in the group. In the case of organizations, culture has a vital and measurable impact on the organisation’s ability to deliver on its strategy. Research as well as practical observation of successful companies has established a direct link between strong corporate cultures and high performance. 

 

Read more...

The Pandit Time Management Strategy

Vikram Pandit, the India-born CEO of Citibank (his father live in Navi Mumbai) has recently been in the news for his spectacular turnaround of the bank. Pandit did the unthinkable by transforming the world within Citi. The bank, which had an umbrella as its logo, sold every financial product under the sky, changed tack and decided to focus purely on banking. The core purpose of banks, Pandit had decided, was to help the real economy. His strategy has proved successful, and he has been hailed as bringing about the biggest financial turnaround in the history of banking. How did he do it?


Few people would have considered Pandit a potential candidate as a future CEO when he joined Citi July 2007....


Read more

How clear are you about your 2011 goals?

 A recent  issue of the Economic Times, had an article, "India Inc Has A Dream For 2011", in which prominent captains of the industry spoke of their personal and business goals.

Having just completed a workshop on "The Effective Manager" for a client, of which effective goal setting was part, I was curious to analyze the goals for their "SMARTness". SMART, as many of you  may know, is an acronym for Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timebound. How well had the captains of industry fared when it came to setting SMART goals for 2011? I decided to analyze the goals of two of them - Vijay Thadani, CEO of NIIT and Venugopal Dhoot, Chairman of the Videocon group of industries. Here is what they had said:

Vijay Thadani: "I sincerely want to reduce the schoolgoer's burden and make their bags lighter by a tenth. Our school solutions division, NIIT eguru, which works with 15,000 schools, could help children carry tablets instead of books, and we can achieve this through customised offerings. My second resolution is to reach 20m more learners this year and take the count to 50m as NIIT turns 30 this year. Cutting across verticals, from corporates schools, colleges individuals and the government, I want to double the target which took the company three decades to cover."

Venugopal Dhoot: "I see 2011 ushering in social well-being  and economic prosperity for the aam Indian. Poised to become the world's fastest growing economy, the coming decade will see the rise and rise of India towards becoming a superpower in its own right. Not through just material power, but through 'soft power', that is, the ability to influence and impact the world through its unique culture, values, policies, and institutions. In such a context my New Year resolution will be to do my bit, both at personal and industry level, to drive this 2020 vision forward."

For the purpose of analysis, I decided to score them on each of the SMART parameters on a scale of 1-10, where 1 was very vague, and 10 very specific. Here is how the fared:

Score             Name	Specific	Measurable	Action oriented	Relevant	Timebound
	Who What Where Why When	How much? How often? How many?		How important is it to your business?	By When?
Vijay Thadani	10/10	10/10	10/10	10/10	10/10
V.N Dhoot	2/10	3/10	3/10	5/10	6/10

Here's my rationale for my scoring:

Specific: Vijay Thadani (VT) 10/10, Venugopal Dhoot (VD) 2/10
VT: We see that VT has covered all the important bases for this parameter - What (reduce the school goers burden, double the target), Why (make their bags lighter), Where (in 15,000 schools and across verticals), When (by the end of the year).
VD: He has resolved to "do his bit" - vague enough to get a score of 2/10.

Measurable: VT 10/10, VD 3/10
VT: VT's resolution answers the How much? question specifically (make school goers bags lighter by a tenth, reach out to 20m more learners, double the target achieved in 3 decades),
VD: VD's resolution to "do his bit" is just a resolution and no more. How can such a subjective target be measured? He therefore scores 3/10 on this parameter.

Action-oriented: VT 10/10, VD 3/10
VT: His resolutions on this parameter are totally action oriented because they are both specific and measurable. He talks about cutting across verticals, from corporates, schools, colleges, individuals and government to double his target.
VD: He wants to drive forward the 2020 vision of making India a superpower in its own right by influencing its ability to influence and impact the world through its unique culture, values, policies, and institutions by doing "his bit both at the personal and industry level".  How action-oriented can that be?

Relevant: VT 10/10, VD 5/10
VT: NIIT is in the business of training and education and his resolutions aimed at the school goer and other verticals are entirely relevant to his business.
VD: Here I have been a little more generous with my scoring by giving VD 5/10 - the only reason being that in the broad sweep of his resolution, he also talks somewhere about doing his bit to help India impact the world through its institutions. One presumes by institutions he means his own group of companies.


Time-bound: VT 10/10, VD 6/10
VT: Clearly all his 2011 goals, except for the doubling of sales, are aimed for achievement by end of 2011 hence a 10/10.
VD: The saving grace is that the resolution is at least time bound - by 2020 (for whatever it is worth), and hence in this parameter VD gets the highest score of 6/10!

All of us make New Year resolutions and many of us make them more as a ritual, only to forget all about them a few days into January. If one is serious about acting on one's resolutions, it helps to set SMART goals. For then we can :

1. focus our attention and action, 
2. mobilize our energies towards their achievement, 
3. increase our persistence, and 
4. encourage development of workable strategies 

towards the successful  attainment of our goals.

And by the way, any guesses about who between Vijay Thadani and Venugopal Dhoot is better placed to achieve his goals for 2011?

Vijay Mallya and Ratan Tata - a Study in Contrast

Part 1 - The Early Years 

Vijay Mallya's first name name means "victory" in Sanskrit. His life revolving around fast cars, fast horses and fast life is the envy of millions. But despite the size of his empire, he has never got the respect from the business community which considers him a "fast talker, who can sell deep freezers to Eskimos - the only problem being that he ends up believing his own bullshit!"

Ratan Tata's  first name means "diamond" and is derived from the Sanskrit word 'ratna' meaning precious stone. Tata is a much admired business leader both in India and abroad - Businessweek, in an article called him "India's shining jewel". And deservedly so - for, though in recent times his image has taken a beating, he has been known for his personal integrity and the Tata name shines out for the respect and trust it commands.

The two are a stunning study in contrast in their lifestyles.While one is  flamboyant, the other is low profile. While one flaunts his wealth (mansions in London, Manhattan, California and Goa, to name few) , the other lives in a flat in Colaba, Mumbai, which he has been occupying for years. While one is married twice and loves to be surrounded by beautiful women, the other lives a lonely bachelor's life surrounded by books and dogs.

Their early years too are a study in contrast. Though a rich man' son, Mallya was never brought up to feel rich. He grew up in upper-middle class comfort with his mother in Bangalore, and would offer to fix people's cars to make extra pocket money. Ratan Tata never had to - he grew up in astonishing luxury at a huge villa in the centre of Bombay.  Mallya is a graduate of Calcutta University while Tata is a trained architect from Cornell University with an Advanced Management Programme from Harvard. 

Mallya's mother separated from his father when he was young and he lived with her in Bangalore, while his father lived with his second wife in Calcutta. Young Vijay longed for approval from his father, and though he never dreamt that he would be as rich one day, at some deep level he envied the Mercedes lifestyle of his father's new family. Could this be at the root of his flamboyant lifestyle and his spending money as if it was going out of style?

Ratan Tata parents too had a troubled marriage and he was brought by a loving grand mother. Though he must have been painfully shy and a loner - just as he is today, he would never have had to envy anyone for their wealth. He went to America for his education and while there, washed dishes, as he had very little money because of Reserve Bank restrictions then in force. He could of course have bought dollars in black, but did not do so, which speaks volumes for his personal values.

However there IS something the two share in common. Both Mallya and Tata never dreamt that they would be named the inheritors of their respective businesses. Both came to head their respective business because of  the lack of a male inheritor. Mallya's father had no son from his second marriage and his untimely death brought Vijay Mallya to the helm of the liquor business his father had created. JRD Tata was issueless and therefore groomed Ratan Tata to succeed him, though the latter never really imagined he would succeed JRD.

Our childhood and growing-up experiences leave a tremendous influence on our personalities. It would be interesting to speculate how the adolescent years of Vijay Mallya and Ratan Tata shaped their individual personalities.

But that of course, is the job of a psychologist.

References: Men of Steel by Vir Sanghvi and Internet sources

The Rewards of Paying Respect

A recent cartoon by Salam in the Economic Times shows a manager telling his boss, " We have arrived at a respectable compromise with the employees...they have given up their demand for a raise...in return for being treated with respect." The cartoonist neatly captures a profound workplace truth - that employees value being treated with respect more than money.

A variety of surveys show that workers want more than just monetary compensation. In their article in the  Journal of Economic Perspectives, Ellingsen and Johannesson  observe that "in particular, workers want a sort of appreciation and recognition from their employers that conveys respect" As a matter of fact, they report that, "workers sometimes respond negatively to  what they perceive as signs of disrespect, including intrusive managerial control and even, in some cases, monetary incentives." However, inspite of a substantial body of evidence to the contrary, employers insist in their belief that monetary compensation out beats any other form of reward. 

Dilip was one such client of mine who, inspite of my efforts to convince him to the contrary, insisted that monetary rewards were the best form of rewards for his employees. To find out just where the truth lay, I decided to conduct a survey of his employees which evaluated their ratings of five workplace factors; Self-fulfillment, Esteem,  Belongingness, Security, Physiological/Basic. To my no great surprise (but to Dilp's great astonishment), the majority of his employees top rated Esteem and Belongingness.

The lesson for employers - those who treat their employees with respect may find themselves in the situation depicted in Salams cartoon. But those who blend it with monetary rewards, are in store for even greater rewards- a highly motivated employee force!

Ref: Tore Ellingsen and Magnus Johannesson, Paying Respect, Journal of Economic Perspectives-Vol 21, Number 4-Fall 2007-pages 135-149

Elementary eh, my dear Holmes?

Lie to Me was a TV show on Star World that I loved to watch! It was about Cal Lightman, a genius psychologist  and founder of the Lightman group, who uses unusual techniques to arrive at the truth. One of the episodes was about a policeman who has been shot and rendered a quadriplegic - he could neither speak nor make any actions. Lightman shows him pictures of likely suspects and detects the answers by observing the cop's irises of the eye - they dilate on his recognizing his shooter's face.

I have personally found the science of Body language fascinating and of great use in my coaching practice, and the program was like a primer on micro expressions and also helped me revise my knowledge of the subject. When I coach (always face-to-face) I look out for different signs which can help me get a better understanding of the coachee's personality. The pitch and tone of voice in his speech, his facial expressions, hand-to-body gestures and body language are one set of signs I look out for. The others are around him and only need an awareness of their significance to add colour to the canvas of his personality. For instance, a cluttered table to me reflects the clutter in his mind.

What does this table suggest about the owner's personality?

This could mean two things - either he is disorganized in his ways or currently navigating through several decision making options. Also, how does he handle interruptions, how does he speak to people on the phone and why, what kind of books does he read? All these observations help me to get clues to his personality and draw up an approach to coach him.

Leaders too can gain from a knowledge of reading people - they can apply the insights gained through observing to improving their performance as leaders and to navigating the ever-present corporate politics. In our corporate lives, says Art Petty in his blogpost we spend a great deal of time struggling and striving to be heard and somewhere along the way, many of us forget how important it is to shut up, listen and importantly, to observe. How true!

He has some useful suggestions to make on how to watch and learn - the 'elementary' lesson Sherlock Holmes always needled his dear Watson on.

The Emotional Investment Finder

You are what your 

deep driving desire is,

As your desire is

so us your will,

As your will is

so is your deed,

As your deed is

so is your destiny

                  - Upanishads

Will stemming from desire, aka commitment, says Michael Neill, is that place inside ourselves, that recognizes the inevitability of creating any result we are willing to put 100% of our mental and physical energy into achieving. Will also calls for a deep driving desire - an emotional investment in the lengths one wishes to go in achieving the goals. A commitment born out of an emotional investment says, "I will get there or I will die trying" - and as much as it is one of the most powerful forces in the universe and one in which any one can tap into at any moment, simply by making the decision to do so.

But for J my client, this decision wasn't simple. Long on planning and short on commitment, at every one of our coaching sessions, he made enthusiastic plans and actions to achieve his goals - even making a careful note of them in his diary. However at the subsequent session, when I asked him about the action taken on his earlier commitments, he would have acted on none. On probing further, I discovered that he never referred to his diary to check on his commitments.

The challenge for me was to make J act on his commitment, but how? Just then I happened to came across a Michael Neill tip, which I thought with a little bit of tweaking, could help me push J across the chasm from interest to commitment. Based on the tip, I designed an exercise to help me evaluate his degree of commitment to achieving his goals, and called it The Emotional Investment Finder Scale  Here's a quick look at it from the bottom up:

Exercise

The Emotional Investment Finder

To achieve my goals, I commit to...

Want them

Choose them

Strive for them

Act on them

Give them priority

Honor them consistently

Find them satisfying/affirming/pleasing

Miss them when they are gone

Adhere to them under pressure

Uphold them when facing resistance or opposition

Sacrifice for them

Fight for them

Suffer for them

Working through the exercise helped J evaluate just how much his goals meant to him and the degree of  commitment he was willing to invest in achieving them. The exercise brought about a significant improvement  in his "actions done" rate.