Swimming the Corporate Ocean -3 : Sleeping with a Moron

Hi to all my corporate friends !!! Hope you are all enjoying your existence in this corporate domain. I was at peace over the past few months and due to my work, could not concentrate on what others are doing around. But over the past month, I have had enough content to write. I was thinking whether disclosing those would be professionally correct as it might hurt the sentiments of many like it did hurt mine, but then decided not disclosing and warning each one of you would be well, ethically wrong.

In the run for power and money, there is one aspect of life that we almost shred together. We have almost forgot the word Compassion. Just think through this, you are hurrying in your vehicle to an all important meeting with a big client. Just along the road, you see someone tripping over their bike and falling right before your eyes. How many of you can say from your heart that you will go and lift that guy up even if it means missing/delaying your all important meet? I was thinking about this and one thing that did came into my mind was, I did it once already. I was late for a office training and I did not help some one who fell just 10 feet ahead of me. Shame. I could not sleep for 2 days. The accident was not too serious. It was just minor bruises. But still...I found it really hard that I had turned so heartless and its my work that made me this way. Is all this money,recognition more worth than a life? Think again...But its just not this that I wanted to write in this blog.

More than becoming heartless, we have become men who feel getting things done though a shortcut is what many term as “SMARTWORK” in the industry. I should say that it is an utterly absurd assumption and what many do is termed as cheating in the real world. Yes, it is cheating and even I have done it.

Let me take you through few scenarios and let you yourself decide what we should term them.

1. There are 2 developers X and Y who have just been assigned to a project. And they both are given an equal task of completing a module. Both the developers took 2 days, searched all over the Internet (of course Internet has become a synonym for Google) and then X manages to complete the code all by himself. The Team Lead appreciates him and asks him not to divulge this information to Y so as to let him try and may be find out a new solution out of the block. So when Y asks X whether he has completed the code, he replies in the negative. Somehow all of a sudden the very next day Y also completes the code. The Team Lead becomes too happy that Y managed to complete it by himself. But upon scrutiny of the code, he finds that Y used the same code as X. How did that happen? This Y guessing fully that X has completed the code, went through the project management tool that they use in common and took the code which X had sent to the Team Lead. Would you pat a back on Y and say “What a brilliance?” or think “How Embarrassing?”.

2. Developers X and Y are assigned to do a common task. X completes some section of the code. When the team lead comes up and asks for the status, Y informs they both combined and did the items. X is little skeptical,but leaves it because it’s a team’s work. Then after a couple of days, Y completes a task. When updating the status, Y informs that “I” completed this set of code and I did all this research, etc...In essence, Y managed to screw up one week’s work of X. Is this your so called, “smartwork” ?

The New year is looming and I think its a nice time to reflect on such things and make sure you do not do this further. And I am sure you are wondering what the title “Sleeping with a Moron” has any effect with the post. Well, YOU ARE THE MORON. You can cheat the world, colleagues, anyone, but at the end of the day, your conscience is going to prick you for making it “Sleep with a Moron”.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012... WISHING YOU ALL HAPPINESS AND PEACE IN THE YEAR AHEAD...

“To uncover your true potential you must first find your own limits and then you have to have the courage to blow past them.” – Picabo Street

If you are a cricket follower, the recently concluded India Australia test series should/will be in your top cricketing moments of all time. It's certainly on my list. I don't think even movies have such perfect scripts these days. There was humility, imbalance, anger, hard work, and then eventual success. Just like the well-built machinery that BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) is, businesses can take out a lot from this series. Let's take a look at the top 5 business lessons from the India Australia test series.

1. Team culture is more important than cult leaders

With all the pundits writing off India once Virat Kohli departed after the 1st test, the onus was on Ajinkya Rahane to take the team forward. He has done so in flying colors and deserves all the accolades. Now after listening to all the support staff interviews, it's pretty clear that this series was not won by Rahane or Kohli alone. There was a conscious decision to groom the team culture in such a way for them to eventually reach here. If the key values of your company are imbibed into the team, there is no need for cult leaders to lead the team all the time. Showing the right direction should be enough for the team themselves to reach success.

2. Unstable leader is worse than no leader

Though there is no need for micro-managing leaders, the leader should be able to direct the team on course. For India, Rahane did it perfectly, handling injuries after injuries aplomb, whereas Tim Paine, the Australian captain, let the pressure get the better of him. I had been a fan of Paine much before his eye injury and then eventual return and the ascend to the Australian captaincy. Having seen him navigate the tough Ashes series and the last Indian series as well, it was uncharacteristic to see him under so much pressure. Thinking about it, the reason seems to be that Australia was expected to win this series handsomely. Especially after the 36 all our debacle of the first test. With each passing test and each passing day, the more India fought, the more the pressure of winning got to Paine. The ghosts of Headingley and Ben Stokes must have haunted him hard. And when the captain loses his cool, the team follows suit and it was his drop catches and the missed stumping that eventually decided the fate of the series.

3. Stick to your own strength and back it 100%

With Pant, Gill, and other young batting talents showing the bright future of Indian cricket, it was of course the old guard Pujara who according to me decided the series. After the 1st and 2nd tests, there were talks about how Pujara's low strike rate was pulling the team down. But, boy in the 3rd and 4th test, wasn't each dot ball played by him, worth more than sixers and fours. On the final day of the 4th test, with more than 13 different bruises in the body, still not playing any rash shot, Pujara was the monk who became a warrior. It was the unwavering faith in himself and conviction that this is how he is going to play that separated the boys from the men. Here is where the team culture is again important. Once the end goal is clear, the culture should allow each individual to thrive in his/her own way playing to their strengths. That’s when you will discover your own swashbuckling Pant and ever reliable Pujaras.

4. Too much work is never good

India rotated close to 10 different bowlers in this series. Most of that was due to Injuries to key players. But it indeed turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The Indian bowlers were fresh in each test match and that resulted in India picking up 20 wickets in all but one innings. On the contrary, though the quartet of Starc, Hazelwood, Cummins and Lyon are world beaters, playing all 4 test matches, took a toll on their abilities. It specially affected Starc who was their tail enders destroyer and Lyon who was unfortunately had his worst series of all time. No matter how good you are, you and your time should certainly not over cook and burn. A half baked dish is always easier to adjust than a burnt dish.

5. Resilience and patience

On the finally day of the 3rd test, when Hanuma Vihari, pulled up his hamstring, the entire series was in balance. One wicket there and there was injured Ashwin, Jadeja and then two tailenders who are probably faster in returning to Pavillion by the time you keep your noodles in the stove. Right next over, Pujara is out. I myself was convinced that the match is a foregone conclusion. But probably again, the Injury that made both Vihari and Ashwin less nimble made them focus on the basics. And focus they did.They played 256 deliveries in total. That's 42 overs, almost the length of an ODI. They did not achieve that by just mindlessly wanting to play 50 overs. As Ashwin was heard on the mic, they breaked down the time and planned mini goals like playing 10 balls at a time, Ash facing lyon all the time and Vihari facing fast bowlers and by the end of the game, they were so deep that they did not even celebrate the draw. This is where we should learn Resilience and patience as one of the important virtues that is needed in our current environment. In the social media era where people are looking for instant fame and instant success, it’s so romantic to see people with old school values succeed as well.

That's it for this blog, hopefully I will have a few blogs for the English series as well. Can't wait for it to start. Happy reading...

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