6 mins

When Passion Beats Speculation. It’s All About Coffee!

6 mins read . by Sandeep Mahagaonkar . July 21, 2018

It’s late at night and Howard cannot sleep. How could he? He has a big meeting the next day, one that is going to decide the outcome of a proposal that he has meticulously planned and painstakingly worked to go in his favour. It’s taken Howard nearly a year to convince Jerry Baldwin to hire him in his company as the head of marketing to oversee all the retail stores. Jerry, the president of the company seems receptive to the idea, but needs to consult his partners Gordon Bowker and Steve Donovan before a decision is made.

It seems like an easy win, given all the discussions Howard has had with Jerry in the past – understanding the vision of the company and then sharing his list of ideas to expand the business that is aligned with the vision – it has to work. It was a sound plan, atleast on paper.  Howard tries to sleep, but his thoughts don’t subside keeping him awake. The meeting is planned the next day and a final decision is to be made that will seal the fate of a long standing judgement.

The year is 1982 and place is San Francisco. The company in question – Starbucks!

Morning arrives what seems to have taken an eternity. The meeting however is scheduled over dinner. Another lifetime, Howard thinks.

Howard arrives at the venue, an Italian restaurant, uphill from the financial district. He circles the block once to pump up his confidence and be at his impressive best. He has to impress Gordon and Steve. A lot is at stake. Howard has decided to quit his $75,000 a year job with superior benefits and join Starbucks at a much lower pay. A cloud of uncertainly prevails on this new career choice as coffee is not popular in America, yet! Also, he has to move from New York to the west coast. Stay back in your current job, his mother has offered. Howard has ignored this well intended advice, for his heart now belongs to Starbucks. The romance has been brewing for a year and two gentlemen are to decide the fate of this marriage. A heartbreak is likely, but Howard doesn’t consider that as a potential outcome.

Passion is a great thing. It adds to the sweetness of life. However add more sugar than what is necessary, the dish no longer appeals to the palate. Was Howard soon to realise this fact?

The meeting goes well. Howard charms the Starbucks team with his youthful energy and enthusiasm. He argues that Starbucks has the potential to become a national phenomenon and expand beyond the 4 stores that it currently has. You’ve got a real jewel, he tells them. He sells stories of how he’s served Starbucks coffee to his friends and how enthused they’ve been by its dark, rick taste. If New Yorkers love Starbucks coffee, so would people in Chicago, Boston, Washington, everywhere, he contends.

Steve and Gordan seem to nod in approval and appear inspired by Howard’s vision for the company. Jerry’s eye twinkle with a glimmer of hope. Howard senses he’s nailed it. Coffee is served and Howard drinks it with relish. The aroma of Italian coffee fills the air. The aroma of victory, Howard thinks. The meeting concludes with handshakes and Howard congratulates himself on a job well done. He calls his girlfriend Sheri and informs her everything is on track as planned.

Howard returns to New York and awaits Jerry to telephone him the next day. Howard cannot wait to hear the Starbucks team has considered his candidature. Those words have been ringing in his ears all night long. He has visualised how his new home would be, how he and Sheri would get married when he is in Starbucks, everything in picturesque detail. Starbucks has him in its spell. The two lovers are virtually inseparable and no force could potentially separate them. At least Howard thinks so, if not for the partners at Starbucks.

Jerry calls as promised. Howard raises from his seat in anticipation. I have bad news, Jerry informs. The Starbucks team believes it’s too risky to change too much. Howard is told that his plans are great, but the vision for Starbucks is different. Howard sinks back into his seat.

Passion has turned poison. Instead of charming them, Howard had alarmed them. Disruption appears to challenge the slow pace of growth that the partners have planned for Starbucks and decide to back off from the offer. Howard is devastated. He cannot believe what Jerry just said and is not willing to take ‘no’ for an answer.

What does one do when said no? What does one do when his/her ideas are rejected? What do most of us do? Resign to fate perhaps, and say it was not meant to be! Accept the higher order and look for an alternative route to a new, unplanned destination? It seems logical and practical to give up and embark on something new as luck was not on our side. But strong willed people like Howard challenge the decision. They summon every ounce of persuasion and perseverance to make things happen.

“When you really believe – in yourself, in your dream – you just have to do everything you possibly can to take control and make your vision a reality”

-Howard Schultz

The next day Howard calls Jerry. He informs him that he is making a terrible mistake. He speaks his heart out about the passion he has for Starbucks, for coffee, and about the opportunity to serve. Jerry confides that the partners were worried that committing to Howard was committing a new direction for the company, to the culture, to the style of entrepreneurship. Bringing in Howard was to grant a license to change that could potentially shake the very foundation of the company.  And this the partners were not prepared.

Howard silently listens. He still can give up. Many would. There is nothing he can do to change this perception. Or can he? Howard then decides to use the last of his ammunition to win the battle. The battle is not against an enemy. It is against a belief that needs to be annihilated before it becomes a pervasive truth.

This is not about me, Jerry, but about the fate of Starbucks, Howard protests. It’s your company. It’s your vision. Someone needs to be courageous here, and it’s you. Don’t let anyone talk you out of something that you believe in your heart.

Jerry promises that he will rethink and sleep on it. Howard cannot. He is awake for third night in a row. With every passing hour his hope seems to diminish slightly. Can I pull this through, he asks Sheri. She doesn’t say anything. Silence sometimes can mean anything and Howard recognises it. Another night, he thinks. Another long night!     

Jerry calls up the next morning and informs that Starbucks is going ahead with him for the job and that he has his commitment on the matter. When can you join us, Howard?

This was the beginning of what Starbucks was to become. Howard Schultz would go on to buy Starbucks in the next few years and become the CEO of the company – thereby scripting one of the dramatic stories on self-belief, passion and perseverance.

P.S: This blog was written by Sandeep in Starbucks as a tribute to a legend.

P.P.S: This story is reconstructed by Sandeep and is taken from the autobiography by Howard Schultz – Pour your heart into it. (a must read!)

 

5 mins

What Inspires Me About Steve Lucas

5 mins read . by Sandeep Mahagaonkar . January 14, 2017

“People who manifest the qualities of MASTERY – these models of excellence will inspire you and guide you toward the fulfilment of your highest potential.”

-Tony Buzan

I have always had role models. It is through them I have learnt (and continue to learn) many of the positive aspects of work and leadership. These people are not particularly from specific domain or field of work. Some are from today’s day and age and some perhaps lived generations or centuries before us. It has always fascinated me how we get inspired by certain people, particularly the ones whom we may have not met or spoken to, but have discovered them through various sources. This could range from fictional characters in novels to real life heroes of whom we have read, heard or listened to. In today’s age of internet and proliferation of digitized media, interviews, talks and published articles from experts from all walks of life are very easily accessible.

Social media powerfully presents this opportunity to gain visibility to many such experts. If an article or keynote talk by an expert catches our attention, it’s relatively easy to get more information of this person and invariably Google does the job for us. Finding new role models and inspirational figures has never been so easy. I have been fortunate to have worked with many inspirational leaders in my professional career. I have also met and played alongside exceptional leaders in the world of sports.

My observations of leadership traits of every individual that I have had the opportunity to work (and play) with has made me grow very interested in the exploration of the characteristics these people possess.  What fascinates me the most is the different leadership traits we could pick from each individual as each of them is interestingly unique in their approach and style. I have not been able to place two leaders side by side and say their leadership styles match. This presents great opportunity to observe, learn and model the positive aspects in our own leadership roles. Imagine creating a fictional character with inspiring leadership characteristics of various leaders and bringing this person to life. What if this person is you?

When I started this website, I created a section named “Inspirations” and wanted to publish the interviews and conversations I had with people who have inspired me. Although that remains the prime goal, I intend to extend this section to also include my writings on inspirational figures. The idea is to write about people who could inspire us through what they have personally or professionally achieved. Someone who could make us realise the value of being exceptional and help bring our dormant potential alive. Certain actions, certain gestures, certain speeches, a certain something that makes us take notice and our subconscious murmurs – this is what I aspire to become.

This first writing on Inspirations is about Steve Lucas.  

Steve Lucas currently is the CEO of Marketo – a leading digital marketing software and solutions provider. He also serves on the board of two organizations and prior to Marketo he was the President of Enterprise Platform & Analytics at SAP – a market leader in enterprise software. When Steve decided to leave SAP late last year, I was greatly disappointed. I really saw him as the future CEO of SAP and when I enquired him of this decision to move out of SAP on a Linkedin message, he was graceful to respond “It was just time!” 

Although I was with SAP for nearly a decade, I have not had the opportunity to meet Steve in person (he’s on my list of must meet’s for 2017). My inspiration is through the various keynote presentations that he has delivered and most of which are available on YouTube and SAP TechEd sites (links are provided at the end of this article).

The first video that I saw of him was shared on Linkedin in which he talked about SAP HANA Platform. It was a short video with a strong message – powerful enough to draw attention and take serious notice. As I explored more of his presentations, certain aspects became very clear. Here was a man who genuinely believes in what he does.  Here was a man who could tell us what it means to be a leader – with Passion mixed with incredible understanding of the subject; Energy that could make the audience and teams come alive; Humor eloquently accommodated in talks that are generally presented with grave seriousness; Authenticity to embody a style that resonates his core-beliefs and enthusiasm; and the Courage to talk his mind.

What was really compelling to know about Steve was that he is a type 1 Diabetic, which is a rare form of Diabetes – a condition he developed nearly 20 years ago. In one of his presentations he mentions of his medical condition and tells the audience that he initially practised injecting insulin on oranges before he started injecting himself. He takes as many as 3000-4000 shots of insulin each year to treat his medical condition. This both appalled and inspired me. Looking at Steve you cannot say he could have any such medical condition as he looks supremely fit. His ability to challenge a life’s challenge and to have maintained supremacy over it is an exceptional trait – especially when it is so easy to give in, question why-me and play a sub-par game and get dominated.

I have personally drawn a lot of inspiration from Steve. I have felt energised watching his keynotes and other presentations. I am sure he has inspired many other people and would surely continue to do so. If you want an adrenaline rush either watch Usain Bolt run or watch Steve Lucas speak.

Couple of my favourite talks:

Steve Lucas at Red Hat Summit 2015 

Steve Lucas at SAP TechEd: Executive Keynote 

And this interview which I love to the core (this one is meant to be light hearted):

Between Two Schnitzels feat. SAP’s Steve Lucas

 

8 mins

Conversation with Founder & CEO of a Software Company

8 mins read . by Sandeep Mahagaonkar . October 25, 2016

I recently had the privilege to have an in-person conversation with the founder and CEO of a mid-size software company. The company has been in operation since the last 10 years and have been doing extremely well in their chosen industry domain. I was requested not to publish any names in this article, so I will use the name Rahul Verma for this CEO as an alias for this article. 

In this conversation, Rahul talks about various aspects of leadership at a granular level, what one needs to know before starting on their own,  what a CEO expects from his people, and much more. Excerpts from the conversation:

SM: You worked many years in company that developed software products before you founded this company which offers software services. How easy was this transition?

RV: Moving from R&D to services was a major challenge.  The budget scenario is a whole new connotation in service segment. In R&D one is accountable for a budget, and if managed well and not burnt unnecessarily, then great. In services segment however, there is a higher degree of accountability and the client expects transparency on how the money is spent vis-à-vis the service offered.

Despite being several years in an R&D set-up, I have a new perception now that everyone should work in a service industry. I believe it makes individuals well-rounded.

SM: What makes you think so?

RV: It is primarily to do with understanding the customer expectations better. In product companies, not many are exposed to the customer. There are a few who do all the customer interactions and then pass the message across to back-office teams. This needs to improve. Also, how many can manage customer support? Can individuals handle 10 phone calls from irate customers and still stay focused on the job? It’s tough and that is the reason I believe one should, during the lifetime of their career, have genuine on the ground service experience.

SM: How can product and license based companies address customer engagement at various levels?

RV: It’s difficult, but small things like having engineering teams on certain customer calls helps. They may be passive participants, but get to appreciate who the customer is and what they do. The customer needs to be made aware of the people who are on the call. It’s the responsibility of the leaders and management to facilitate this actively. 

I know of a product team from my earlier company that had 20 people on a customer call and only one person spoke. The customer was oblivious who the other 19 were and what their roles were. And also for these 19 blokes, as they were not required to contribute they remained reclusive. We need to have better engagement models.

SM: One of the challenges organisations have these days is to find and retain a high-performing individuals. How do you address this aspect?

RV: If you look at the dynamics of the job market now, it is relatively easy for graduates to find a job. The degree of difficulty in getting hired 10-15 years ago is not the same now. Also there is a large pool of graduates to hire from. The challenge for organisations now is to find talented and well-groomed young graduates.

People do leave organisations and you can’t really stop that. Having said that, if you look at attrition from an experience bracket, the 2-6 years’ experience folks make the most leaps. This is more to do with the availability of jobs in this experience bracket. Also, my experience suggests that people are more sensitive and complacent in this category. If there is high pressure to deliver, the exit route to another organization is always lurking around the corner. This is not always the best of strategy. If one can learn to handle pressure and disagreement better, it makes them more competent.

SM: In a world that emphasises highly on IQ of an individual, what skills do you value the most in the candidates you hire? 

RV: The person should have a strong EQ (Emotional Quotient). Finding people with high EQ (affinity, loyalty, long term thinking, empathy, grit, patience etc.) is the key. Every company goes through highs and lows and people who can understand this and sustain are the people with high EQ. So any company that can find such people can build great teams. 

SM: What attributes according to you should individuals focus more on and tighten their game?

RV: One, is about accountability. They should not come with preconceived notions about work. If we are talking of a developer, they shouldn’t believe their job is to just write code without thinking much about the functionality. If they fail to realise what they are doing today has a business value, the team/organisation can face consequences in the future. They also need to understand that they are building something today that will be used by a business someday in the future – this aspect is very critical. 

Two, is about mindset. One should never think whatever happens, happens. There needs to be a purpose in everything we do. There cannot be boundaries drawn when it comes to customer delight. Developers need to realise that compiling code and checking it in is just 25% of the job done. They need to visualise the production environment and ensure all the gaps are sealed. One cannot just handover the baton to the next person and throw-up his hands. It is a collective process.

SM: Do organisations need to invest on training people to perform their jobs better?

RV: Absolutely!  Training and mentoring should be in the DNA of the organisation. It plays a big role in finding people for the right jobs. People need to know what would be expected of them when they take on bigger roles.

SM: In this world of intense competition, how do organisations ensure they keep their customer base intact?

RV: Organisations need to really think on the short term and long term strategies. Many times we hear customers saying they were great last year, but something is not right this year.  Why does that happen?  Why an incumbent company gets dropped by customer and a new vendor is brought in?

It could be a cost issue, but to me, it’s also an issue of scale. Was the scale from, let’s say, 100 – 200 people done appropriately? If a person managing 5 people suddenly has 20 people to manage, how will he review, mentor, manage etc.? It can be a problem if organisations scale too much at the lower levels of the pyramid.

Another aspect is quality. Unless the basics are done right with little or zero management oversight, organisations cant keep customers satisfied.

SM: What’s your advice to people who want to start on their own?

RV: It firstly depends on where in your life you are – if one is a 25 year old bachelor, there are not many risks associated. In the later stages of life it gets difficult – hardest is to get your kids used to a lifestyle and then trying to alter it. Having said that, if the person if financially stable and can manage their family for the next 6 -12 months, then they are good to go.

One needs to figure out the opportunity v/s cost and be clear on the market and segment that they want to play. Once these things are settled, have the following in mind:

Have a clear goal: E.g.: whether to build products and licenses and why this is better than a service model or vice versa.

Be Realistic: Don’t over-theorise and don’t be over-zealous. E.g.: we have to make $10K in second year of operation. The metric of measurement should not be only money. Instead do things right and the money will eventually follow.

Be ambitious of making money: Its fine to dream of money as long as you have decided it’s not a charity organisation.

Don’t give up: There will be discomfort and prepare yourself mentally for that. Sometimes people give up when success is just a minute away. One needs to have the grit to sustain all the highs and lows.

SM: As a Founder and CEO, what drives you?

RV: I have always been inspired by building great teams. To me it’s about building leaders of the future. Also I would be happy to leave a legacy behind by my contributions.

SM: As a CEO, what is the message you normally give to your teams?

RV: I occasionally observe people walking across the floor and should I notice them without a purpose in their walk I tell them so. To me a person walking with drooped shoulders is a sign of lack of energy, purpose and not being in control of things. If a fresher sees a senior manager walking with poor body language, imagine the impression is he/she getting. Every moment of the day we are being judged (or judging others). Even if you are not doing great someday, but can display energy and purpose, it has the potential to make the other person think – Oh well! I should bring some energy here. To me, Visual Leadership is very important.

The other thing that is important to me is respect for the job.  When I was doing my Masters in U.S., my part time job for first 3 months was transferring meat from freezer to cafeteria. Although I am a vegetarian, this job made me realise that it’s a service that I am doing and I need to respect it. The job took care of some of my financial needs. So whether you are a rocket scientist or service guy in cafeteria – respect your job. 

I tell my managers they need to be a consummate salesman. If they are suggesting an architecture on a large initiative they need to sell their idea keeping in mind the decision they are making can have an impact on the $100-1000 million project in the future.  Basically, at the end of the day, people need to be well rounded personalities.

SM: I am sure this will benefit a lot of people. Thanks a lot Rahul for your time and for sharing your wisdom.

RV: It is my pleasure to be of service, Sandeep.

13 mins

Visual Leadership – What Does Your UPC Barcode Read?

13 mins read . by Sandeep Mahagaonkar . October 28, 2015

Body Language

As I stood in the queue to checkout from the grocery store, I fiddled with a product in my hand and my eyes fell on the UPC barcode. It was not that I was seeing the barcode (those black vertical lines that virtually every product has these days) for the first time, but strangely, I paid closer attention to it than ever before. I tried to study and decipher the code, but it eluded my intelligence. The barcode scanner, however, at the distant counter, seemed to do its job effortlessly. As the barcode of the product was swiped against the scanner, the beep sound was followed by some intelligent data extraction and inventory updates.

On a closer look, the barcode scanner read the name of the product, the serial number, the price, and once the order was completed, the inventory was updated accordingly.

A few days back, when speaking to a CEO of a software firm, he mentioned to me about Visual Leadership. He talked about how he believes it’s critical for his people to have a purpose in their walk, irrespective of the situation. His contention was everyone around us pick visual cues and interpret body language on the job and try mapping it to what’s going on in our minds.

In essence, what he was trying to say is that our body language serves as our individual UPC bar code and is scanned, read and interpreted by the many eyes – the bar code scanners – that are all around us. Many critical aspects are interpreted by these eyes – the emotional state of the person, confidence or the lack of it, whether he is in control of the situation or the situation is controlling him, whether she intends to take the challenges head on or wishes the earth gobble her up, and so on. If the person is in a leadership position, the more important it is for him/her to display a positive body language, irrespective of the situation.

If the body language is positive – head held high, shoulders upright, strong eye contact, purpose in the strides – the subordinates know that their leader means business, no matter what the odds. However, if the body language is negative – eyes staring the floor, dropped shoulders, lack of intensity in the walk – the team can be made to believe they can take it easy as the leader seems to have gone in the shell.

The importance of body language can be clearly exemplified in sports. I remember of a cricket match that we playing and the game was evenly poised. Either sides could have won, but what mattered was which team holds on to their nerve better. Just then, we dismissed a batsman and waited for a new batsman to arrive at the crease. In cricket (and sports in general), you get to read non-verbal cues clearly – particularly when a batsman has to walk from outside the field to the crease, a good 70-75 meters, before he faces the first delivery. During the course of the walk, opposition can pick many aspects about this player, especially the neurotic aspects (see Figure: The Big Five below). This player had thrust his bat under his arms, walked slowly as he adjusted his gloves and pads, his face bearing an expression of nervousness. As he arrived at the crease, one of our players shouted to the bowler – “Get him mate. He’s already out; it’s for you to just send him back.” The field was set aggressively, with couple of guys blaring right across his face. The bloke expected a bouncer, but the bowler smartly slid a full length delivery (something the batsman never anticipated) and the wickets were rattled. The negative body language of this batsman had made more sound than the sound of ball crashing into the wood.

Steve Waugh, in his book Out of my Comfort Zone says:

“Bad body language is a bit like smelly underarms in that you don’t really sense it, but those around you pick up on it in an instant.”

Sir Vivian Richards, the West Indian batting legend is an example of extremely positive body language. His chewing of the gum accompanied the swagger, and the bat that appeared more like a sword, made him look like a warrior on the field that the opposition dreaded. Without uttering a word, his style said “C’on you boys, I’ll show you who the man is out here!”

From the latest research in neuroscience and psychology it is demonstrated that body language is crucial to leadership effectiveness. Body language is an outward reflection of a person’s emotional condition. Each gesture can be a valuable key to an emotion a person may be feeling at the time.

To drive home this point, let’s look at a research conducted (by researchers at University of Trento, Italy) to figure out the physiological responses induced by certain emotional states experienced by the participants.  As described in this research paper, emotions are psychological phenomena, but they also have physiological concomitants that can be measured and analyzed. The researchers chose a set of movie clips intended to evoke certain emotions – fear, sympathy, joy etc – and the participants were plugged portable sensors measuring heart rate, skin conductance, and facial expression. Sure enough, depending on the emotion in the movie clip, there was a clear change observed physiologically (e.g.:  fear inducing increased heart rate).

This study makes it quite evident that the emotions we experience – from playground to the board room to literally anywhere – reflect outwardly through our body language. These emotions could be a result of the situation we experience – an irate customer or delighted one, manager demanding more effort or showering lavish praise, a team member not owning responsibility or going beyond the call of duty to complete a task, participants in a meeting showing displeasure or engaged positively, meeting a stranger,  a rumor of a possible downsizing, lack of interest or the excess of it – just to name a few. People around can make quick judgments on how we react to these situations (via nonverbal cues/body language) through any of these five dimensions of human personality:

The Big Five Personality Traits
Figure: The Big Five

 

Albert Mehrabian, a pioneer researcher of body language in the 1950s discovered the impact associated with a message in the 3 areas:

Verbal (spoken word) – 7%

Vocal (tone of voice, modulation, other sounds) – 38%

Non-Verbal (facial expression, body postures) – 55%

Studies show that we form opinions of one another within seven seconds of meeting and as Mehrabian indicated 93 percent of the messages people receive from us has nothing to do with what we actually say. Therefore, good nonverbal communication skills are a huge professional advantage.

A Human Resources VP of a large corporation mentioned in a seminar that the leadership team chose to promote a person over the other just because of the dressing sense. Competency wise, both were equals with consistent performances over the years, but the deciding factor came to how they dressed. While the person chosen for promotion was impeccably dressed, the other wore sandals to work most of the time. The contention was he was not setting a right example for his team in specific and the organization in general – and hence overlooked for a higher post.

Usain Bolt, in his autobiography Faster than Lightning, mentions of his experience in reading visual cues in the 100M finals in Beijing Olympics. Slated to race against his Jamaican compatriot Asafa Powell, Usain could sense all was not well with Asafa. He could read his nervousness before the big race – a race that Asafa wanted to win so desperately and possibly break the world record he had earlier set. Usain, who usually chilled himself minutes before the race – by taking some jibes at the camera or cracking jokes with other athletes whom he got along well with – normally felt at ease before the high pressure contest. He says he wanted to help Asafa before the race because he knew stress is an athletes’ biggest enemy. The race was to start in a few seconds, but Asafa couldn’t manage to relax himself.  The runners set themselves on the starting blocks and another glance at Asafa, Usain says he could make out he was sabotaging his chances of a win. Bang! The race was underway and Usain finished a clear first – a 9.69s run and a new world record. Asafa, who was one of the favorites to win the race finished 5th. Asafa’s emotional state (nervousness) showed in his physiology (slow start and lost momentum). If stress can rob an athlete of an Olympic medal, would we at workplace not face a similar fate – that of a lost sales pitch, an interview gone wrong, a demo improperly done, or colleagues sensing your lost motivation?

What can we do to project a positive body language? Here are my 8 suggestions that I’m documenting based on the the thorough research I’ve done on the subject:

1. DRESS WELL. I just can’t emphasize how critical this aspect is. If you know you are impeccably dressed, it adds a virtual 2 inches to your height. You feel taller than what you actually are and helps exude more confidence. I see many people at work who ignore this aspect. Leadership is not about how manage your troops, but how you manage yourself.

“If you can’t play like a cricketer, at least dress like one.”

-Anonymous.

A phenomenon that scientists call embodied cognition: the effects of clothing on cognitive processes, indicates that your ability to pay attention (to a task) increases sharply depending on the attire you wear. The term, given by Adam D. Galinsky, a professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, who found that when people don a white lab coat they believe belongs to a doctor, they become more focused and careful — effectively a little smarter when performing cognitive tasks.

For the study, Galinsky assigned 58 under grads to either wear a doctor’s white lab coat, or simply the street clothes already on their backs. He then used incongruent trials that tested the participants focus and attention. It was observed that those who wore the lab coat made about half as many errors as those who wore street clothes. Clothes invade the body and brain, putting the wearer into a different psychological state.

2. WALK LIKE A PERSON WITH ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY AND MAINTAIN POSITIVE BODY POSTURES: Research indicates not many people know how they look face down. In an experiment conducted, many people couldn’t recognize themselves in the mirror as they walked. Your strides clearly indicate whether you believe you can control any situation or feel drowned by the relentless pressure. A research conducted demonstrates that you can change the pattern of your thoughts just by the changing the way you walk. It has a simple message – Do you feel bad? Change the way you walk and you’ll be happy.

In regards to the postures, whether you are attending a boring conference, waiting for your friend to show to show up, or waiting for a batsman to get out, your posture – how you sit or stand – can affect the way you think and react. Observe whether you crouch or sloth on that chair or sit upright. According to this experiment, sitting up straight conjures up positive thoughts and memories. This study also observed that skipping during breaks can significantly increase our energy levels. A slow, slumped walk, however, can do the exact opposite and drain us of our energy.

3. YOUR TONE IS THE TONIC: It’s not what you say, but how you say it. Your facial expressions and tonality of voice give the words a completely different dimension. As a leader if you are trying to motivate your team, but if your tone (voice modulation, intonation etc.), facial expressions, and body postures are not in sync with the words you are saying, your message may not be taken seriously. Give your words a dash of intonation and relevant expression – it makes a great concoction.

4. SMILE MORE: Realize that it’s not always going to be a walk in the park. At times, life is going to grind your through the rigors of extreme pressure. But the comforting fact, as you might have discovered from your experiences is that good times shall invariably return. It’s therefore important to display a positive outlook even during turbulent times. What better place to start from than your face? In tough situations or in the aftermath, I have tried to follow the adage “What doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger” and this instantly makes the situation feel better and manageable.

“Professor Ruth Campbell, from University College London, believes there is a ‘mirror neuron’ in the brain that triggers the part responsible for the recognition of faces and expressions and causes and instant mirroring reaction. In other words, whether we realize it or not, we automatically copy the facial expressions we see. This is why regular smiling is important to have as a part of your body language repertoire, even when you don’t feel like it, because smiling directly influences other people’s attitudes and how they respond to you” 

-Allan and Barbara Pease in their book The Definitive Book of Body Language

5. BE PHYSICALLY FIT: You can exude energy if you have the energy to exude. Being physically fit gives you a spring in the foot and more energy in daily routines. Studies indicate any physical activity lasting for 30 minutes a day can bring about a marked difference in the mind-body aspects.

6. USE POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS: Using positive words and affirmations can have a significant change in your body language. Often when I greet people and ask them how they are doing, I get an answer like “going on”, “just another day”, “not bad”, “no different than yesterday” to name a few. These people normally display poor body language and appear to have lesser control on their tasks. On the other hand, people who say “Doing great”, “absolutely fine” and the vice, appear to be more positive in their outlook and in higher control of their tasks.

7. WATCH VIDEOS OF RUNNING ATHLETES: Watching videos of athletes always gives me a high and makes almost any dull moment come alive. The energy and intensity that the athlete’s exhibit can be contagious and has the potential to pump energy in to our systems in case they are drained of it.

8. COLLECT FEEDBACK FROM OTHERS: Ask the scanners around for an honest feedback. Ask your colleagues what they think of you when they see you at work. Ask your friends what they comprehend of you when they meet you. Do they see a person who’s committed and passionate about his work and life or they see someone who’s trying to see through to the end of the day. This can be a real eye opener. At times our perception and reality are two different things. I know of people who have not taken constructive feedback from team members for years. They perceive themselves to be perfect, but the reality would be that they are seen as ordinary by others. If you get a feedback that is not too positive, resolve to change the behavior. Take action. For instance, resolve to walk with intensity; to speak to colleagues more assertively and passionately; to be more jovial when with family and friends.

Try incorporating all or few of the points above in your daily routines and see the scanners around picking visual cues that are nothing short of spectacular.

5 mins

The Old Man, His Dog and Their God

5 mins read . by Sandeep Mahagaonkar . September 21, 2015

Dog

It was a cloudy morning and the weather forecast said it’d probably rain most of the day. As I stepped out of my house for a morning walk, I directed my gaze at the skies. It appeared gloomy, but my inner weather predictor challenged the scientific evidence that it could rain during that hour. I dashed out, turning a deaf ear to my wife’s suggestion to carry an umbrella. Sure enough, a few minutes in to the spirited walk, the downpour started. It lashed so heavily that I had to run for cover.

The closest place of refuge was a small hut that had a protruded roof – long enough to provide shelter from the relentless rain and some respite from the muddied street. I tried to wrap myself with my arms for protection, but the rain was too strong for my exercise to keep myself dry. I realized that a few more minutes of motionless standing would drench me completely. I gently moved across the wall to find a door that was slightly open on the other side. I stealthily peeked inside to see if I could get some shelter. I saw a dog and it perhaps got a whiff of a strangers smell. It started to bark, sensing a possible intrusion on a rain affected day. I stood still. I didn’t have the courage to either face the rain or to confront the dog. Just then, a man from the inside of the hut ordered the dog to go quiet. The dog stopped barking and my heart recovered from its erratic beat. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Who’s there at the door?” the man’s voice emerged from the hut.

I drew some hidden reserves of courage and showed up prominently at the door and saw an old man and a dog. The dog raised its head and prepared for an attack. I was in its territory – partially drenched and helpless, my body language so defensive that a rabbit wouldn’t have hesitated to attack me. The dog made cautious movements towards me growling all along.

“Moti!” said the old man – his tone bearing a stamp of authority. “Sit down!”  he ordered again.

The dog whined and took its place in a corner as the old man asked me to step in.

I cautiously treaded inside, keeping my eye on the dog that lay at a close proximity – staring at me like an enemy.

“Don’t worry. It won’t harm you,” the old man said reassuringly, sensing my fear.

“It’s raining too heavily outside,” I said, offering an explanation for my presence in that hut.

  “I know. You can be here till the rain calms down,” the old man said.

We sat there for a few minutes before I broke the silence. “What do you do?” I asked.

“I take care of the property that is being constructed on the other side of the road.”

I looked around the hut and there were very limited supplies – of groceries, of utensils, of clothing, of everything.

“You stay alone?” I asked.

“Not really,” the old man said, “Moti is my companion.”

I looked at the dog and it was still ferociously staring at me.

“What about your family? Do they stay elsewhere?”

“Well, my wife passed away a few years ago and I have no clue where my two sons are. They deserted me last year,” the old man said with a forlorn face.

Silence befell for a few minutes and the old man spoke again. “Children don’t want to own responsibility of aging parents. We are a burden. They are not bothered if I am alive or decaying in some garbage.” He then pointed to the dog and said, “Look at him. He doesn’t care if I have money in my pocket or if I wear clean clothes. He’s with me for four years and is happy with me – with whatever I have, with however I am. He doesn’t judge me like humans do.”

I nodded in agreement. I felt pity at the old man’s state and didn’t know what to say.

“I know you are feeling bad for me,” the old man said. “But you know what, I am a content man. I get enough money for my needs and I cook for myself and this dog. God has been kind. I have never starved or slept hungry at nights. I have this place to stay for the next 8-9 months till this building is completely constructed, and if I am alive till then, I’m pretty certain God will take care of me.”

The old man looked at a photo of his God that hung on the wall and closed his eyes. He seemed to get spiritual and started to sing a song in the praise of the Lord. He sang in total surrender. I looked at the dog and was pleased to see it had closed its eyes and lowered its head to the ground – as if swayed by the melody of the song. I heard a few wrong verses of the song, but ignored them. When the Lord doesn’t care of the mistakes, who am I? I thought.

The old man finished his song and the rain too disappeared. I thanked the old man for his courtesy and handed him some money to take care of the dog, but the old man politely refused it.

“I don’t need it,” he said. “I don’t want to get a feeling of having taken money from you for offering you to step into this hut.”

I insisted he keep the money, but the old man said, “Had it not rained, I wouldn’t have been any richer from the money that you are offering me – you wouldn’t have come inside in the first place. Life is not always about the business of give and take. Sometimes it’s better to leave it one-sided and feel happy about it.”

I was floored by the old man’s wisdom. Not accepting something that one is in dearth of is a virtue that a few blessed souls possess. We live in a world where greed in the new need, but there are few mortals who don’t belong to the world that we live in. I smiled and transferred the money back into my pocket.

“Have a good day, sir!” I said and prepared to leave.

“One last thing,” the old man said. “You seem to be a good man. I am sure you may be doing it, but take care of your parents. No business is more important than the business of relationship – and your parents are in the top rungs of your relationships. Never disappoint them.”

I nodded and bid goodbye to the old man and his dog.

~~0~~

12 mins

Interview With Bharat Chipli – IPL and Karnataka Ranji Player

12 mins read . by Sandeep Mahagaonkar . August 21, 2015

Bharat Chipli

It was a lazy afternoon and a small portion of the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore was abuzz with activity. The restaurant and the adjoining lounge saw the players and members make beeline entries and exits. This is where I wait for Bharat Chipli – IPL and Ranji player – to arrive for a scheduled interview. I receive a call from him and he informs me that he’ll be delayed by 10 minutes.

I sit back and observe the players at their jovial best – taking a dig at each other or talking about an incident from a concluded game. Just then, I notice Stuart Binny arriving at the lounge. He has been recently asked to join the Indian side touring the neighboring Sri Lanka for an ongoing test series. As he awaits his wife to join him, I walk to him and congratulate him on his selection in the Indian test team. He’s polite and thanks me for the wishes. We speak for about five minutes as Bharat arrives and joins us. Both the players have a casual banter – more as friends than colleagues – shortly before Bharat and I take Stuart’s leave to settle down for a conversation.

Bharat, like Stuart, is polite and enquires if he should order some food for both of us. I realize its lunch time and provide my consent. He asks the waiter to get a few boiled eggs and some juice – the first to give him a dose of protein and the second to hydrate his body. Food was to follow next. There is a practice session scheduled for the upcoming Karnataka Premier League in the next 90 minutes and the man seems to be preparing his body for that. The food and fluids arrive and we decide to finish that first before we get started with the interview.

Excerpts from the interview:

Sandeep Mahagaonkar (SM): Firstly, thanks for your time and appreciate your support.

Bharat Chipli (BC): My pleasure and sorry to keep you waiting.

SM: How did your cricketing career start?

BC: My family stayed in BTM layout in Bangalore and since the time I was a kid, I had keen interest in cricket. Like most kids I played cricket at grounds near my home. I was probably 13 years old when I joined a camp run by a person named Anantram. This is where I got good exposure to playing cricket with the leather ball. Then, a year later, I joined Diamond Cricket Club. This club represented cricket in the fourth division conducted by KSCA.

SM: Representing fourth division cricket at the age of 14 might have been a challenge.

BC: It was challenging, but it gave me good exposure playing with senior cricketers. I had to deal with the pace and bounce that tall bowlers can generate and this put me in a good stead to bat at the top order – something that I have done for the most of my career.

SM: How extensive and intense were the coaching/training sessions?

BC: I learnt most of the batting techniques in the camp that I participated. It was not very intense back then, but most of what we learnt was on trial and error method.

We carried the failures from the matches to the nets. If we got out trying to play a particular shot, we would practice more on that aspect. We learnt the nuances of batting and stroke play in each game. Most of it was self-learning – a discovery in itself. We didn’t have any sophisticated equipment or coaching methods back then. It was up to us how we picked our skills and how we thought through the entire process.

SM: Many of the child prodigies emerge from school cricket. Was it any different for you?

BC: The school that I studied, unfortunately, didn’t have a cricket team of its own. That’s when I had to reach out to camps and play a bit of cricket there. I then joined a summer camp and was coached by a person named Jaswanth who later put me to Swastik Union club.

SM: Was becoming a batsman a deliberate choice?

BC: I used to do both – bat and bowl. But in the summer camp, my batting was spotted and I was told to focus more on it.

SM: How critical is it to know your strengths and continue to build on it?

BC: It’s very important. As kids we needed guidance and there were people around to provide that. It made a lot of difference. It’s important to do one thing particularly well than doing multiple things and not being good at any of those.

SM: How did this focus on your batting help you?

BC: It helped me in many ways. I started scoring a lot of runs and the club I later represented (Jawans) got promoted from 4th to 3rd division. I played in 3rd division for nearly two years and was picked for 1st division directly. I by-passed 2nd division as I did particularly well in the 3rd divison.

SM: How old were you when you made it to the 1st division (a level below Ranji Trophy)?

BC: I was 17 at that time. I was then picked for the under-19 zonal level and scored heavily – I got 3 hundreds in 5 games (2-day matches).

SM: I am sure your performances would have been noticed.

BC: Yes, it was. I was able to make it to the under-19 state team. Unfortunately I had tough time in the state under-19 tournament and didn’t score many runs. I was later dropped from the side.

SM: What went wrong? Was it to do with self-belief or any other factor?

BC: Self-belief was always there. One thing in professional sport is that you need to back yourself and believe in your abilities. Without that you are a goner.

I feel my inability to score runs at the state level was to do with my lack of strength.

SM: Was strength training not a part of your fitness regime?

BC: I would say it wasn’t as much those days as it is now. We used to bat for long hours in the nets and practiced on the areas that we were vulnerable. We were mentored technically, but not extensively. We practiced, toiled hard and that’s how we honed our skills.

What are the defining attributes of a professional sportsperson?

BC: Skills development is the primary attribute. You may be talented, but without relentless beating on your craft, one cannot improve much. It takes discipline and hard work. One also needs to have the passion for their chosen field.

SM: Is there pressure to learn quickly and start performing?

BC: There is no pressure as such (I’m not sure if other lads felt pressure, but not me. It’s more of an individual thing), but the fact is, if you can learn techniques quickly, you get to play the games earlier.

If you are slow in the learning curve, then it takes you longer to get drafted in to the side –and who would want to just practice and not play matches? It’s important to keep the focus; learn and practice the techniques with an open mind.

SM: Does it get easy once you’ve honed the required skills?

BC: I would say learning is a continuous process. The day you stop learning, you tend to cease. Like I earlier mentioned, when I represented the state under-19 team in Vishakapatanam, I could not just score runs. Prior to this tournament, I scored runs in plenty – getting a hundred every alternate game.

This was one of the first games I played on a turf wicket with a lush green outfield. When I hit the ball, it would not travel 30 yards. As I said, I didn’t have the required strength. Then, when I tried to hit harder, I ended up getting out. I failed in a few games and I was put back to division cricket. Then the whole process of re-learning started again – how to score runs on slow outfields, how to stay poised in difficult times etc. I practiced hitting the ball harder in the nets and that eventually helped overcome the challenge.

SM: It’s said one should play to his strengths. Do you follow this advice?

BC: I do. When I got selected for under-22 state team, I scored couple of big centuries. This was possible because I exactly knew which ball to hit and which one to let go. It’s all about decision making out in the middle. It took me few years to judge the deliveries and it was possible because I kept working on that aspect. Things don’t happen overnight. One needs to be patient and be disciplined to get better.

SM: Many batsmen perish playing a loose shot. Why does that happen?

BC: There are some deliveries that can get any batsman out. One can only appreciate the beauty of that delivery and take the long walk back. However, like you said, batsmen occasionally tend to play a loose shot and get out. This happens when the batsman gets in to two minds – whether to go for a shot or not to – and in this indecision, the bowler invariably gets rewarded with your wicket.

SM: How does a player settle this indecision?

BC: It’s simple. If you’ve made your mind to go after the bowler and whack him for a six – just go for it. The mind says and the body follows. If there is an element of self-doubt, don’t do anything foolish – just defend the ball. You’ll get an opportunity later. It’s important to survive and be where the action is. You can’t score runs sitting in the dressing room. Again, this is not easy. It takes practice and consistent mental focus.

SM: Did you ever feel like giving up playing professional cricket?

BC: There was a period when I was 21 years old that I moved away from cricket and joined a corporate. The cricket season had just ended and there were no immediate matches in sight. Anxious about the future, I joined a company named AXA and worked there for 8 months.

I was getting settled with this new found lifestyle, away from the grind of practice and physical strain. It was just then that I got a job offer from Canara Bank and to represent their cricket team.  I was reluctant to join, but my father and Vijay Bharadwaj (former India player) talked me into accepting the offer. (My father has backed my cricketing aspirations since my childhood. He used to drive me to the nets and back most of the time during my younger days). Their contention was that I had laid the foundation of my cricketing career with some solid performances, why throw it away? Then in 2004, I joined Canara Bank and was back in the cricketing circuit.

SM: You made your Ranji trophy debut in 2005. Were you in contention much earlier?

BC: I was in contention for the Ranji team in 2004, but I had typhoid just before the selections. I lost that season and that was devastating. I realized that regretting the past can do no good to my future and so I started doing what I did best – enjoy playing cricket and forgetting about other aspects that was not in my control.  I finally made my Ranji debut in 2005 against Railways in which I opened for Karnataka.

SM: Were you dropped from the Ranji team, and if so, was it a bitter experience?

BC: I was dropped in 2008-2009, but again made a comeback two years later. I wouldn’t say it was a bitter experience, but a lesson that there are always others knocking on the doors. One needs to either perform or perish. So when the time comes for you to make way for others, acknowledge the fact that the training needs to get more intense and the focus needs to get sharper. In the end, the effort that goes in to get into the team for the first time, the same (or perhaps higher) effort is required when you get dropped – a cyclic thing of Practice – Perform – Promote.

SM: A team that stays together wins together. How true is this?

BC: Every individual in a team needs to have a sense of belonging. Some teams manage to create that culture and a few teams don’t. In teams where there is a strong culture of team bonding and team work, they typically do well. This happens because every individual knows each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, the cause of the team is larger than that of any individual – and teams that follow this philosophy do better than others.

SM: How do you handle criticism?

BC: It’s disappointing. But if you look at it, every player knows what their weaknesses or flaws are. Critics just help in bringing that open in public. I put myself back into the practice zone and prepare for the upcoming game. There is no point harping on being criticized. The more you fuel fire, the more it grows. However, it’s important to learn from mistakes and not repeat them.

SM: Do you ask for and give advice?

BC: I ask for advice whenever I need it. It’s important to be proactive and seek advice from seniors and coaches. Unless one is inquisitive, no one is going to push advice down anyone’s throat.

During matches, if I am batting with a junior batsman and if he is making mistakes, I walk up to him and give him certain pointers. Off the field, I would expect him to seek for advice. This shows interest to learn and improve. It’s contextual in a way.

SM: What advice would you give to the youngsters?

BC: Keep things simple and don’t try too many things at once.  Pick up an aspect and get better at that first, before moving to the next. Have the self-belief that you’ll prevail any situation and that will keep you in good stead.

SM: Any plans on the second innings – i.e., what next after you stop playing cricket?

BC: Coaching, perhaps. I’m still thinking through it and should have some concrete decisions made sometime shortly. I wish to give back something to the game that has made me the person that I am today.

SM: Thank you Bharat. It was a pleasure talking to you.

BC: You are welcome and all the best with Wisdom Growth Unlimited.

11 mins

Customer Delight – Its Importance and Lessons I Learnt From The Owners of Gowri Nivas

11 mins read . by Sandeep Mahagaonkar . August 14, 2015

GowriNivas

One pivotal aspect on which businesses rely on today is the value a service or a product brings to its customers. However, it’s not just the value that delights the customer, but many other aspects that span beyond the value proposition. Certain experiences are shared at every touch point between the business and the customer. These experiences could be related to how the quickly was the product delivered; how efficiently the corporation responded to a complaint; how the service attendant conducted himself or herself while attending to a request; whether the product works as per the specifications…. and many other factors.

Businesses today – big or small – if they are to survive in the present competitive environment need to do more than just satisfy the customer. They should orient themselves towards delighting them. The philosophy that businesses need to adopt is: To attract new customers, delight existing ones – not just merely satisfy them. Once that happens, viral marketing kicks-in and the customer virtually joins the corporations marketing bandwagon (without a salary that too!) to propagate the greatness of the service or the product. This viral marketing, in other words is called word-of-mouth-marketing (WOMM) – and is an extraordinary powerful tool.

“Viral marketing seems like the ultimate free lunch: Pick some small number of people to seed your idea, product, or message; get it to go viral; and then watch while it spreads effortlessly to reach millions.”

– Duncan Watts; Jonah Peretti

It’s rather unfortunate that many businesses lose focus of their customers once the sale is made. It’s always challenging to find new customers; hence corporations aggressively deploy their troops in getting new deals. But what about the existing ones? Are they no longer important? Don’t they deserve the same attention that a prospective customer receives? Of course they do! In fact, they deserve greater attention than a prospective customer for a simple reason:

“It costs 6 – 7 times more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one.”

– Bain & Company

So, when businesses understand that it is critical to keep existing customers happy, why do many corporations struggle with this? Why aren’t strategies devised to ensure customer delight becomes the DNA of everything the corporation does? The simple answer is that it’s not easy. There are many people within a corporation who serve as customer touch points – as representatives who talk or deal with the customer directly (and in certain cases indirectly – as a back office representative supporting customer facing roles). The CEO or the board or any high profile leader of the corporation are not the only people responsible to keep the customer satisfied, happy and delighted. The corporation might internally preach customer delight as a core value and might go great lengths talking about importance of this, but unless people at all levels imbibe this value and reciprocate these thoughts of the leadership team, it’s difficult to create the desired outcome. The simple question for each employee to ask of himself or herself is “If this were to be my company, how would I treat my work and my customers?”

Smile

To demonstrate how customers experience a negative opinion (opposite of customer delight) about a corporation, let’s imagine you buy a new car and you merrily drive it around for a few days. You are delighted about your choice and the machine gives you an adrenaline rush every time you bring its engine to life. A few days later, when you are still in high mental celebration, your car develops a technical snag and refuses to start on cold mornings.

Dejected, you decide to deposit your car at the service center and the technician who’s assigned the job of rectifying the problem is impolite in his talks. Moreover, he doesn’t give you a clear indication of what the problem is and dismisses most of your remarks. You are annoyed of his behavior and decide to escalate the issue to his manager. Unfortunately, the manager too turns a deaf ear to your complaints and quips that he needs to service hundreds of cars daily and that yours will be looked it to at an appropriate time. Frustrated, you take the car back and swear that you’ll never drop the car at this service center and vouch that you’ll never buy a car manufactured by this corporation again!

Hang on! What happened? You just had bad experience with one or two people from a huge corporation. Why be overly critical about the whole thing? Perhaps for 8 such unprofessional employees in the corporation there may be 2 extremely professional folks whom you couldn’t get across to (applying the 80/20 rule). None of this seems to matter or resonate with you – reason being – when a person represents a corporation, he represents the values and culture of the corporation. A loose talk or an irresponsible action can only damage the trust a customer has on the corporation and he or she could potentially bid adieu forever.

“96% of unhappy customers don’t complain, however 91% of those will simply leave and never come back.”

– 1st Financial Training services

If you are like anyone else, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll keep this experience buried inside your gut. You would, in all likelihood, decide to share this bad experience with your contacts. When you do, would you say person A and B from corporation X are unprofessional wolves? It’s unlikely. Instead, you’d blame the service center in particular and then the corporation in general – but rarely the people you dealt with who gave you a bad experience in the first place. You’ll tell your contacts not to even sniff any product from this particular corporation.

“A dissatisfied customer will tell between 9-15 people about their experience. Around 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people.”

-White House Office of Consumer Affairs

After this episode, no matter how much the corporation tries to woo you into their new, improved, reorganized, customer oriented service model, you will, almost certainly, turn a deaf ear to them.

“It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience

– “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner

Be Kind

Gowri Nivas is one of the popular homestays in Coorg – located 250 kms south-west of Bangalore. I had taken a week’s break from work and had decided to spend a few days in solitude before resuming my official duties. I did not have high expectations about the place (I always keep my expectations on the lower side to avoid any disappointment later) and had just hoped for a pleasant stay.

However, I got more than what I had expected. No, there was no pomp or show or any exaggerated customer pleasing antics on the part of the owners of the place, but just a powerful strategy – to keep things simple! This is what Bops (the owner of the place) recounted during one of my discussions with him – that delighting a customer is in keeping things simple and the fundamentals intact.

As I landed at Gowri Nivas, Bopanna (Bops, as he is fondly called) walked out to greet me. He politely enquired if my journey was safe and then led me to the cottage where I was to spend 3 days of my idyllic existence. As I marveled the rustic charm of the place (Gowri Nivas is a century old property that has been slightly reconstructed), Bops asked me if I’d prefer to have some coffee. Perhaps he didn’t know, at least then, that I hardly say no to coffee. I was served coffee in a few minutes and it was lovely!

I’ve captured below seven experiences of my stay that made me feel a valued customer. These conversations and experiences are nothing extraordinary, but what makes them print indelible impressions are the way in which they were handled.

Anything you need, we are a stone throw away!

Many of the hotels or homestays (a private house of a local family that offers accommodation to tourists) that I have been to in the past, make similar statements. As a customer, one can clearly make out whether it is a statement made from the manual or from the heart. My experience is that such statements are made based on the training imparted to individuals and unless the interpersonal aspects are understood, these remain bland statements that don’t carry any emotions. Bops, when he made this statement to me, I could clearly tell, came straight from his heart! He wanted to ensure that I – as his guest – have a comfortable and pleasant stay.

For Bops, it was all about doing the basics right. I was served coffee on arrival and was served more coffee when I asked for it (for free, although the guidelines sheet placed in the room stated I will be charged for additional orders), even when there was a coffee maker in the room. I was never reminded there was one in the room, but every request was obliged.

Lesson learnt: Under promise and over deliver.

Let’s go to our estate. I’m sure you’ll unwind.

When I was taking about my work and the stress it induces at times, Bops mentioned he knew exactly what I would be feeling like (he’s been a corporate guy himself for a few years) and asked me to join him for a trip to his estate where they grow coffee.

When I enquired of the time he wanted me to be ready for the trip, he asked me to have a good night’s sleep first and then have breakfast the next morning leisurely. Then whenever I felt comfortable, he would drive me down to the estate. He told me it will be a great stress buster and the temple in the estate serves delicious food. Sure enough – the drive rid the mind of the stress and the food satiated the stomach of hunger.

Lesson learnt: Customer Empathy – Understanding how the customer feels.

Oops! I’ll get it sorted in 30 minutes.

I was working on the design of the Wisdom Growth Unlimited website in the cottage, when the power suddenly snapped. It appeared to be an electrical trip. The laptop that I had carried drains its batteries fast (so fast that it can put Usain Bolt’s 100m run to shame) and requires a constant source of electrical supply. Anxiously, I informed Bops of the problem and requested for a resolution. I said I’ll be glad if he can fix it in the next hour (so that the batteries won’t be replete of power). Bops told me it’ll take him at least 30 minutes to fix the issue. I was OK with that.

As I returned back to work, the power was restored in just 10 minutes. I checked with Bops how he managed it so quick. He told me he summoned the electrician to drop over immediately as he sensed I was doing something important. I was mighty pleased and thanked him for the kind consideration.

Lesson learnt: Feeling customer pain and addressing it.

Had your dinner? No, we were waiting for you.

When I had arrived, I was told that dinner would be served at 8.30 pm. I was fine with the arrangement and mentioned that I would join them on time. I however ended up joining them an hour late and was surprised to know that Bops and Muthu (Bops’ wife) were waiting for me to arrive and had not had their food. I sincerely apologized on being late and was perplexed to know they were waiting on me.

They expressed that it was absolutely fine and they normally wait for the guest to arrive and have food first before they start.

Lesson learnt: Put the customer first in everything you do.

Wanna pay after your stay – no problem!

It happens very rarely that a guest pays for the stay a day after the checkout. This is exactly what happened at Gowri Nivas. My entire payment was due and my card didn’t seem to respond very well. Bops asked me not to worry and return back safe. He asked me to do a net-banking transfer sitting comfortably at home. I assured him I would do so and checked out.

Lesson learnt: Trust the customer.

Oh God! I hope we were not too loud.

As I sat in the cottage, working on a piece of article that I was writing, I heard a few loud conversations outside. I peeked outside and saw Bops and Muthu taking to a landscape designer about redesigning their garden. They chatted for about 40 minutes and left the place. Later that evening, during dinner, I checked with Muthu what plans they had for the garden. Muthu gave me a shocking stare and asked if I was in the cottage during that time. I acknowledged I was. Muthu apologized for being unmindful of the fact that I might be in the cottage during that hour (typically tourists go out on sight seeing expeditions during the day). She checked with me (very sincerely) if their conversation was no too loud, and if I was disturbed by their chatter.  I mentioned it was absolutely all right and I wasn’t disturbed at all.

Lesson learnt: Acknowledging customer inconvenience caused due to neglect.

Sandeep’s friend? Then you are our friend.

Once I returned from my stay, I mentioned to a friend of mine over phone how delighted I was to have stayed at Gowri Nivas. Impressed, he called up Bops to check for availability on a particular date and happened to mention that I had given him the reference of this place. Bops apparently quipped that he would be more than happy to host him as a friend since an earlier guest (and now a friend, wow!) had referred him. My friend visited the place and came back equally delighted.

Lesson learnt: Extending a relationship beyond the contract.

To a large extent, through this article, I am doing viral marketing of Gowri Nivas. No prizes for guessing the reason – I am their delighted customer.

P.S: All the facts used in this article are referenced from this site.

12 mins

What It Takes To Be An Effective Leader

12 mins read . by Sandeep Mahagaonkar . August 7, 2015

The project deadlines were extremely tight and a commitment was made to the customer that the software would be delivered on time. My team and I had closed on the coding and shared the application to David, the onsite project manager to provide his final go ahead. It was 2 a.m. and we had been spending sleepless nights working on this project to see it off the door.

This perhaps would be the last of the late night slogging on this project and we hoped normalcy would soon return. Then at 2.30 a.m., half an hour after the application was provided to David, we got a frantic call from him and he demanded to speak to Sachin – the development manager to whom we all reported. We politely informed that Sachin was not around and it would be wise to wait a few hours before he arrived at office. David was adamant in his ask and we had to conference Sachin at time when he would perhaps be seeing his umpteenth dream.

Sachin was soon connected and David informed him that was going to call off the project delivery as he discovered issues in the application. We were crest-fallen. We had toiled day and night to make this delivery successful, but we were being told that the project would be scrapped. Sachin enquired what was wrong and then made a stoic assurance that the software will be re-delivered for testing the next day and that he had the utmost confidence in us that we would deliver. David checked what would happen if the issues resurface the subsequent day. Sachin said he would own up the responsibility and was answerable to management.

These words fired us all up. Firstly, Sachin’s confidence on the team that we could deliver and secondly, his belief that the team won’t let him down in the testing of times.  This was enough for us to do whatever it took. It was like a personal battle which we had to win for Sachin – and we did.

I was overwhelmed by what had transpired. The leader showing confidence, the team coming together like never before and working on a common mission and making the nearly impossible task possible and eventually a satisfied customer. All this made me wonder the magic of leadership. Since then I have become a student of leadership and tried to read and analyze almost every person I have worked with and their leadership styles – how they react to crisis, how they stay poised in times of uncertainty, how they communicate transparently and many other aspects.

If you are working in a corporate or serving a community or involved in a team sport, you would know the essence and importance of a role of a leader. Most of us would have seen executives elevated to leadership roles either flourish or flounder. Most of us would have seen executives who are visionaries with extraordinary technical skills, but have failed to impress at leadership roles. On the contrary, someone with solid – but not exceptional – technical and intellectual capabilities having done exceedingly well in leadership positions.

I wondered what it really takes to be a leader of men (and women of course!). I have spoken to more than 30 leaders, read and researched elaborately on leadership styles and applied my own experience on what it takes to be an effective leader.  Based on these discussions and research, I believe the following characteristics contribute in making great leaders. There might be many more – there still are many researches going on in this area – but I’m documenting what I feel important at this point in time.

Is Internally Driven

This perhaps is one virtue that all effective leaders possess. An internally driven leader seldom cares about external rewards that includes, but not limited to – money or flashy titles that come with promotions. Such people are extremely passionate about the work they do and seek out for tasks that challenge them; tasks that bring out the creative best in them; tasks that make them challenge the status quo and make them undertake a journey of finding something better. They don’t wait for things to happen, but rather make things happen. In other words, they are opportunity oriented.

A leader that I know of from my previous organization called all his team members into a meeting room to announce a major restructuring that the board had decided to implement. This restructuring exercise affected his work more than anyone else – as he was asked to undertake responsibility of a project which was in dire straits. The existing project was doing well, and such a change would come as a major setback to anyone, but not for this man.

As he gathered all his troops into the room he mentioned of the restructuring and said “I’m sure we all will figure out how we can exploit this change as a way to express our work better and contribute to the organizations overall goals.” We all were perplexed. There was no hint of remorse on this leader’s part but only a positive affirmation that this change can only be an opportunity to learn, grow and take the game to the next level.

Two years down the line, we were not surprised to see that he had completely reversed the situation of the team and it had become a profitable unit – replete with a pipeline of new leads and sales opportunities.

“If you set the performance bar high for yourself, you will do the same for the organization when you are in a position to do so. And of course, optimism and organizational commitment are fundamental to leadership— just try to imagine running a company without them.”

-Daniel Goleman.

Realizes That The Team Is Playing To Win As Opposed To Playing Not To Lose

Harsha Bhogle, in his book The Winning Way, captures this point sensationally. Cricket dislikers – spare me! But you’ll love this – so please read on.

Back in April 2006, Australia had toured Bangladesh at the end of a long and a very tiring season. The Australian players were exhausted and Brett Lee had apparently commented there was no fuel in the tank, but only fumes. Aussies were not as intense as they normally were and at the end of first day’s game, Bangladesh were 355 for 5, a situation that they had rarely expected and perhaps had hardly found themselves in before. At the press conference later that evening, Habibul Bashar the captain of the Bangladesh team astonishingly said that if they added another 100 to their score, they would be safe. People gathered at the press conference were astounded by these remarks as the score was already a winning one, but the captain chose to believe they were not safe yet.

At the end of second day, Australia were in a spot of bother at 145 for 6 and the vice-captain of the Australian team Adam Gilchrist addressing the press conference said ‘We’re in a bit of a hole, and need to figure out how to win from here.’ The statements from two individuals exposed the state of their minds – and of their teams – very clearly.

“If, all your life, you have aspired not to lose, being ‘safe’ is an accomplishment. Bangladesh, through years of defeat, were unaware that they were in a winning position. The champions, Australia, on the other hand were always moving ahead, they were focusing on victory.”

-Harsha Bhogle.

Bonus point for reading through: You don’t have to have the title of a leader (or manager, or director, or VP… substitute the title that you are chasing) to exhibit leadership. Gilchrist was not the captain of the side, but felt responsible for the fortunes of his team. In team sports and at work, glory is achieved when the whole team does their bit exceptionally well. Yes there will be sparks of brilliance from an individual at times – learn from them and be willing to support them as well, for we all know, they shall also face turbulent times.

So what’s your approach on your projects? Do you and your team believe that any challenges are surmountable or are rendered helpless by self-doubt? Think about it.

Empowers People And Trusts Them

I’ve captured this point in detail at the start of this article. In the situation outlined, the trust that Sachin demonstrated in the team when the chips were down not only helped in successful delivery of the project, but also helped build a long term relationship with the team. We all knew we would get any support from him should the need arise. The team sometimes was routinely lost in innovation – trying different stuff – that helped build new features or come up with optimized code that drastically improved performance. All this was possible because the team felt empowered.

Give people the power or authority to experiment, to suggest new ideas, to be brutally honest in their opinions without fearing any bureaucracy that may exist. This may turn out to be the keystone habit that can set many other things right in your team and in your leadership.

Is Self-Aware And Empathetic

These are two powerful but highly underrated characteristics in today’s world.

“Self-awareness means having a deep understanding of one’s emotions, strengths, weaknesses, needs, and drives. People with strong self-awareness are neither overly critical nor unrealistically hopeful. Rather, they are honest— with themselves and with others.”

-Daniel Goleman

Being a visionary and strategic thinker are exceptional qualities to have, but minus the ability to realistically assess one’s own abilities – one’s strengths and weaknesses and positive effect on others, you, as a leader, won’t have a strong following.

This is demonstrated by one of the studies conducted on leadership. In this study, self-awareness was one of the criteria that topped the list of most desired characteristics in leaders. It also indicates that high self-awareness score was the strongest predictor of overall success. This is an interesting find. Self-aware leaders realize that the magnanimity of knowledge doesn’t rest with a single individual and that different people in the team can contribute significantly well on different ideas and tasks.

Empathy on the other hand means, as rightfully put by Daniel Goleman

“Thoughtfully considering employees’ (or other individuals) feelings—along with other factors— in the process of making intelligent decisions.”

To empathize is to see the world from another person’s perspective. Thinking in today’s world is dominant with “My way highway” approach. Although this approach might work in certain circumstances (e.g., when there is no solution in sight or the team has tried and exhausted all potential options to tackle a problem), it can fail miserably in most cases. In my interview with Venkatesh DK, the topic of empathy is elaborately discussed.

To me, I have practiced over the years to be more attentive to what others say and reciprocate to their thoughts. I had the habit of subconsciously thinking what I am going to say next as the other person spoke. To me, earlier, it was not important what the other person spoke, but when he would end speaking so that I could pour forth my brilliant ideas (or so I thought!) I was so keen on getting my words right, that I would have missed the primary essence of the other persons suggestions or thoughts.

Being more attentive is a very simple and powerful practice. It not only helps you be high on people’s likeability quotient, it also helps finding solutions to problems faster.

Has a Today-For-Today And Today-For-Tomorrow Strategy

I borrow these phrases today-for-today and today-for-tomorrow strategies from a paper published by Derek Abell. A modern day leader needs to balance the demands of the current business context (today-for-today) and also have a vision and mission towards the dynamics of changing business (today-for-tomorrow).

“Many companies are overmanaged and underled.”

-John Kotter

The operational execution of daily tasks is as pivotal as foreseeing the disruptive transformations that are occurring at breakneck speed. A balanced leader understands these nuances well and aligns his or her work accordingly. When the leader understands what is required to what is expected, he or she is helping the business thrive.

Praises In Public And Criticizes In Public

Let’s face it – We are all grown up adults. As much as we take pride in being appreciated, we should also take responsibility when suggested to correct. At times, when criticized in public, the ego hurts – no doubting that, but committed team players don’t take such matters to the heart. Instead they apply themselves on the job so that the mistake doesn’t repeat again.

The criticism, if not personal by nature, should be taken constructively, irrespective of the environment in which it’s given – in public or in private.

“If you’re like most leaders, you believe in the adage ‘praise in public and criticize in private.’ So when a team member does something that negatively affects the team, you usually talk to the team member in private. But this can be a dangerous adage to follow because it significantly reduces accountability, the quality of team decisions, and your team’s ability to manage itself.”

-Roger Schwarz

One of the early experiences that I have of being criticized in public was on my first job. The culture of the company was to address bosses as “Sir!” I might have been either too naïve (being just out of college) or vainglorious (being the only engineer in the group) to acknowledge the fact that I too should address my bosses the same way. I deviated from the culture and called bosses by their names. This went on for a few weeks and during one of the meetings, my boss interrupted the status update that I was giving and questioned me (I had used his name before I started with my updates) – Sandeep, tell me one thing… Am I your friend or your boss?

I was at loss of words. The whole team around me stood in silence. I wanted the earth to gobble me up. I mustered the required will and muttered – you are my boss. He then told me to address him the same way everyone else does. I sheepishly agreed. I felt he could have perhaps told this to me one-on-one, but later realized he was trying to send a message to the entire team that deviations to existing norms would not be entertained. It was uncomfortable in the beginning, but I managed to get along fine as time passed.

As long as the leader ensures the feedback or remarks are not scathing and it does not border on personal integrity (and that it’s kept at a professional level), the leader is doing just fine. The team needs to acknowledge this fact and ensure they all move along in the right earnest.

Acts Willfully In Times Of Crisis

This is easier said than done. Crisis is not an everyday matter for people to get experienced in that – but when it does occur the best of leaders handle it with a strong degree of conviction and flair.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

8 mins

The Boy Who Led

8 mins read . by Sandeep Mahagaonkar . August 7, 2015

The school building was dilapidated and there were weeds sprouting from the cracked walls. There was an immediate need to resurrect the structure, but the management was least bothered. The children sat on the benches and waited for the mathematics teacher to turn up, but it appeared he was not going to – like he had not done for the last 3 days. The children were fighting, screaming and swearing at each other. No teacher in the class meant freedom and there was no one to stop them from behaving erratically.

In the last bench, at a corner sat Nitin who was not participating in any of the nonsense that was happening, and was oblivious to the paper balls landing on his head fired by his classmates. Few of them provoked him to join the “fun”, but he turned a deaf ear to them. He was thinking of something else. He was thinking of his family – particularly of his mother. He was feeling sorry for all the violence she tolerated of her husband. Not a night passed when his father didn’t abuse his mother in an inebriated state. He had been drinking for years and it was now a habit.

He was thinking of how his father yelled at his mother the previous night for not serving hot food and how he cursed her for the misery she had brought in his life. He painfully recollected how his mother silently listened to all the flurry of abuses and when they subsided (as the man collapsed to the floor and went to slumber), turned to him and told him not to be disturbed by what had happened. She wanted him to study well and get educated. She told him not to be like his father and be good to his wife and children in the future. There were tears in her eyes that Nitin could see, but she had mastered the skill not to cry. He remembered eating the food that his mother gave him without uttering a single word.

He loved his mother and the food that she prepared. He knew it was the same dish that was served the previous night and that it was slightly modified to give a different appearance and taste. It tasted the same nevertheless. He ate all that was there in the plate only to realize his mother had nothing to eat. He was livid at her that she hadn’t told him there was limited food. They could have shared of whatever was available. She consoled and told him she has eaten plenty in madam’s place (where she worked as a maid and used the money she earned to send Nitin to school) in the afternoon, and that she was not hungry. He knew she was lying, but pretended to believe her.

He wanted to grow up faster and support his mother financially and emotionally. He wanted to give her a good life and take care of all her needs. A book landed on his face and he was brought back to reality. The kids were still fighting and the classroom had become a war zone. He was furious on the management at the apathy of infrastructure and lack of professional teachers. He wanted to study, but there was no one to teach. His mother’s earnings were going a waste he thought, just as he stood up and shouted “SILENCE!!” He repeated that word three more times more out of frustration than intent. The entire class of 40 students fell silent. They all were stunned and clueless at the same time.

Nitin walked up to the front and shouted “Can’t you all be silent and solve problems by yourself if sir is not around?” He looked around and continued, “Show me who all have completed their earlier homework.”

None of them had done their homework. Nitin shook his head and pulled out a chalk from the drawer and wrote “Algebra” on the board. He prodded the class to open their books and solve the problem that he was going to write on the board. The children obediently followed him. There was leadership on display and there were followers. Nitin helped them solve few problems and this repeated almost every day for the next couple of weeks. One day, as Nitin was conducting his class, there was a surprise visit by the invigilation squad to check the attendance of teachers. There were reports of teachers being absent for extended periods of time and this had not gone well with the management. As they walked in the corridors of the school, they noticed a young boy teaching mathematics to his class.

They were wonderstruck and observed the proceedings from a distance. The boy – barely 13 years of age – had the required skills to teach and manage a group of students who were his age. After watching for a while, they decided to walk in to the class. The children rose from their benches as the elders walked in to class. It was a custom that they stand-up should any elderly walk in to class. The children didn’t know who these people were but they unanimously chanted “Good morning sir!”

One of the persons from the group waved the kids to settle down. The kids murmured among themselves and took their seats as the man turned to the make-shift teacher. Nitin went back a couple of steps and tried to hide the chalk that he was holding his hands.

“So..” said the man, “what’s happening here young man?”

“I..I..” Nitin fumbled a bit, but mustered courage to speak. “I’m trying to teach them what I know.”

“Did you hear that friends,” the man mockingly said as he turned to the rest of the group, “if all such kids start teaching, we don’t have to rely on the experience of our faculty.”

“Who authorized you to do this?” asked another man from the group.

Nitin stared the floor and spoke as gathered his thoughts. “The whole class was a mess. They all were shouting and screaming, I felt I had to control.”

“Good lord! Since when do we have ring masters in school!”

Nitin fell silent. A boy somewhere from the middle benches said “Since about 15 days, sir!”

“And you all have been silently listening to what he’s teaching?” the man asked critically.

“He teaches better than our maths sir, sir!”

The gentlemen looked at each other, their expressions marveling the audacity and capability of the kid handling mathematics better than a qualified teacher!

“We would like to meet your parents!” said Murthy, the senior most from the group. “Can you bring them here to meet us?”

“I am sorry, sir!” Nitin said with despair, “I assure this won’t happen again.”

“His house is just two blocks away, sir!” said another boy from the class.

“Can you go get his parents to school?” Murthy said to the boy.

The boy rushed out of the door to carry out the instructions as the men grouped together and discussed among themselves. The boy arrived 10 minutes later with Nitin’s mother – her face bearing an expression of cluelessness. This was the first time she was summoned to school and was looking for someone to break the suspense. She saw her son standing at one corner and a few middle aged sitting beside him. She couldn’t comprehend whether they were teachers or other authorities. But what was the matter, she thought.

“Are you the mother of this boy?” Murthy asked as he pointed his finger towards Nitin.

“Yes, sir! He’s my son. But what’s the matter?”

“I would assume you know what’s your son up to in the classroom of late. I am sure he would have told you!”

She looked at Nitin, but he had set his gaze to the floor. “No sir! I’m not appraised of anything.”

“Well, your son has been substituting the mathematics teacher and teaching the class for the last two weeks!” Murthy said.

She looked at Nitin again to receive some acknowledgement from him, but she received none.

“This has never happened before in any of the school that we have been to.” Murthy continued, realizing her dilemma on the matter. “This is an extraordinary feat!”

“I am sorry.” Nitin’s mother said unsure of how she should react. “I’ll tell him to refrain from acting smart in class. Please give us a chance.”

Murthy smiled and asked “Can you give us a chance?”

Nitin’s mother was clueless what Murthy was asking. “What do you mean, sir?” she asked inquisitively.

“Look! Your boy is no ordinary. My team and I believe that leadership qualities displayed by Nitin should be adequately rewarded. Teaching mathematics to a class better than a qualified teacher and exercising control over the class at the same time are exceptional qualities to have.” Murthy said with a twinkle in this eye and pride in his tone. “As you were making your way to school, we spoke to the technical director and made a unanimous decision that Nitin should study in the top school of this state. The institution will bear all the expenses.”

Nitin, who standing with his head lowered to the ground, suddenly looked up, as his bright eyes stared at Murthy. Murthy smiled at Nitin and asked “What do you think young man? Are you game for this opportunity?”

Nitin looked at his mother. She stood there motionless with tears flooded in her eyes. Although she spoke nothing, her silence managed to convey all the emotions. There was ecstasy of her son getting high quality education coupled with anxiety of him having to get along with children from affluent families in the city. She closed her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks and she offered a silent prayer to the almighty. Faith was her only hope now. She sunk to the ground on her knees and Nitin came running to hug her. The whole class stood up and clapped in appreciation.

The boy had led and was adequately rewarded!

~~o~~

–My writings in Just Like That are a work of fiction and bear no connection to any real situation.–

13 mins

Interview With Venkatesh DK

13 mins read . by Sandeep Mahagaonkar . August 7, 2015

I caught up with Venkatesh DK last week to talk about various aspects of professional development. Venky – as he is popularly known, discussed topics of Heart-Brain synchronization and Empathy. He also touched up on the importance of skill development and strategies about making the right career decisions.

Venky has held various leadership positions in SAP Labs and Zensar – the last one heading the Global SAP Practice at Zensar Technologies.

Below is a lightly edited transcript of the conversation.

Sandeep (SM): You’ve held various leadership roles in SAP Labs (before moving over to Zensar). You started as a developer and transitioned towards product management and product strategy – how did this transformation happen and why? 

Venkatesh DK (VD): I would be lying if I told you that all of these moves were planned and orchestrated. Firstly, I would like to recognize and thank SAP for the opportunities that were given to me to try several roles and make me the person I am today.

There were several reasons behind me taking up different roles – the important ones are, firstly, the Heart and Brain Synchronization, secondly, the curiosity to understand the big picture, and lastly (but equally important attribute), the addiction to learn new things.

SM: Can you help us understand the Heart and Brain synchronization slightly more?

VD: I strongly believe that one must love his job (the heart side which brings in passion, commitment and attitude) and must also have the requisite skills (the brain side which helps harness and build knowledge to excel in a chosen role). In hindsight, me playing several roles in IT Services and R&D over the last 18 years could be seen as an earnest attempt to understand myself, my heart and my brain better.

SM: Could this lack of balance between the heart and brain then be the reason for job dissatisfaction that is so prevalent in today’s world?

VD: Absolutely! People might be very skilled at what they do, but if their heart is not in sync with the job they are doing, they will be invariably dissatisfied. The other thing is also true. You may have lot of passion and commitment, but not the necessary skills required for the job.

Having said that, skills can be developed if there is required passion and commitment that an in individual can demonstrate on the job (for e.g., reading, subscribing to magazines, attending training’s and conferences).

SM: What other factors, according to you, influence an individual’s performance on the job?

VD:The team and the people that you work with also matter. You might be in a team in which you are not challenged enough or the manager or lead doesn’t cooperate. The reasons could be plenty and hard to summarize. However, one must do a deep retrospect on what’s causing the dissatisfaction and take necessary steps to overcome the problem.

SM: You also mentioned of two other attributes – curiosity and addiction. Can you walk us through these as well?

VD: Curiosity to understand the big picture and connect the dots in terms of contributions required from several groups. We mostly operate in a silo’d fashion – focusing only on “my” line of work. We need to break this mentality.

Every person in an organization (for e.g., in an IT industry – technical development to business development) needs to understand the nuances other team undergoes to make a product/service globally successful. This curiosity drove me to play several roles in SAP for the same product (SAP CRM Mobile Solutions.)

When I say addiction it is to do with giving different things a try, experimenting a bit, and learn a few new things in the process. This particular facet made me sign up for undertaking abstract assignments like driving innovation and strategic programs across SAP Labs Network.

SM: This effectively means a person’s role doesn’t end with what he/she is supposed to do. A person in today’s corporate world needs to stretch beyond the boundaries of their role. What does it take of individuals to be well-rounded personalities?

VD: READING, LEARNING and NETWORKING is my simple mantra to become a well-rounded individual. I always encourage people to spend 15 minutes every day (1 coffee break) to learn something new – it could be anything – your company’s new product, competitor’s similar product offering, an analyst report, what thought-leaders in your space are saying or something not even connected to your area of work. It could be via books, magazines, newsletters, coffee corner chat or plain googling.

Do this every single day for the next one year. You’ll see the positive change this brings on our day-to-day work and helps us grow in our present roles.

SM: During one of the many discussions that I have had with you in terms of my career choices, you had once asked me “if I’m moving away from something or moving towards something.” To me this was a fantastic revelation that helped me make a thoughtful choice – can you please elaborate your view on why you think it’s an important question to ask the self?

VD: Clarity in decision making is very important. You would have often come across the term “sleep over it” which is made so that we don’t take decisions in a highly emotional state. Career decisions needs to be taken objectively and not subjectively.

Most of the times, our decisions are impacted and influenced by what we are currently undergoing and hearing. We would like to leave a company because of a bad manager or work on Big Data just because it the buzzword that everyone is talking about and in reality you may not have a clue about it.

Moving towards something that excites you should always be the priority instead of moving away from something that’s not working well for you. So this self-questioning is aimed to understand how deep we have thought through this change and how sure are we to do this.

SM: How should a person figure out what role suits him/her better? A person might start as a developer or test engineer, but might have a flair and passion in UX, let’s say. How do such individuals transition into areas that motivate/challenge them?

VD: If we know where our flair and passion lies, half of the challenge is already solved (This is the moving towards something aspect that we just spoke of). I have come across a few people who get this clarity early in their college days and for a few (including me) this takes time – and this in itself is a journey.

Once we know the space we want to operate in, my recommendation to such individuals would be to invest in themselves by attending training programs and conferences – self-sponsor if organization isn’t, and build network outside of office.

Within the organization, an individual can network with different teams working on similar or different technologies, leverage organization assets (internal trainings, e-libraries etc.) to understand the market and the offerings. Individuals need to have discussions with their manager on taking up additional responsibilities, or contributing on another project/role.

SM: What can organizations do make such transitions easy and seamless?

VD: Most of the organizations encourage this move and have several programs in place to facilitate this like – job rotation, internal job transfers etc. The important part for organizations is not to lose their talented employees and have a system that encourages internal movements without impacting the individual’s career progress.

 SM: “Build your resume every year – add new skills that you have learnt – make your resume a living document” you had said this to me. Can you tell me why you believe in this and why is this important?

VD: It’s really freshening to see you taking my advice to heart. This is what I tell to everyone and I have been following this myself for the last 18 years. I did this although I worked with SAP for 14 years straight. The reason is very simple – every year, an organization accumulates value, the product/service we work on accumulates value and so do we as employees. This could be through new skills learnt, contributions we make and achievements at an individual and team level. Organization, product, service has brochures to capture this and CV is our brochure to capture self-progress.

SM: And does this require it to be a living document – meaning, adding details as and when you can as opposed to doing it once at the end of the year?

VD: You are right. Capturing details while it’s fresh in our memory serves few purposes

(a) Helps us make a brutally honest self-assessment on the progress we have during the course of the year – the highs, the lows, the average performances etc. (Performance appraisal does not do this for obvious reasons) and

(b) Serves as a confidence booster for the market value we carry because of new skills/project experience gained and motivates us to plan and do better on the upcoming projects or for the subsequent year. You do this regardless of years of experience you have.

SM: It’s interesting you say this activity motivates us to plan for the future. In essence you are talking of setting goals. Do you set goals for yourself and chase them?

VD: My eventual goal is to be in a management role that has overarching responsibly for multiple verticals. I now want to experience the role of a service or product consumer. I have played roles of a service provider, product vendor earlier and now want close that loop by understanding what it is to be a consumer of services and products (how the service is consumed and value derived out of that). Once I gain that experience, I’ll take my next step from there.

SM: What does experiencing multiple roles eventually lead to?

I am glad you asked that. All this, according to me, leads to empathy. This basically helps understand the pain points of different teams and different stake-holders – both at a micro and macro level. Empathy is required from a developer to a sales person to a service provider and eventually as a consumer.

SM: Empathy can be practiced by anyone in an organization and not necessarily a person in a leadership role, right?

VD: Absolutely! Empathy is a must at every role. If done diligently, teams can come up with better solutions. And yes, empathy is a learned skill. You don’t have to born with it. You can learn about it and implement it.

Design thinking talks about empathy. At a micro-level, assume living the role of others to understand their standpoint better. As a product manager one needs to empathize with the development manager and with the test manager. The reverse is also true. Without this there will be only complaining and finger pointing.

SM: There exist many differences within teams in an organization. Are you indicating all this can be set right by the act of empathizing with people? Can you walk us through an example?

VD: Let’s say there is a developer with two years of experience and is working on a requirement provided by a product manager. Now the product manager comes with a changed requirement and communicates it to the development team. The developer is low on empathy and complains to everyone that he can’t work in such an unorganized environment where requirement changes every now and then.

Part of the product manager’s job (and the development lead or head) is to make this person understand why the requirement changed and what dependencies the product manager has in his or her role (customer management in this case). This helps people understand the product manager is not changing the requirement on his or her whims and fancies. They need to understand and realize that change comes from an external stimulus.

SM: If empathy is such an important aspect, why don’t individuals, teams and organizations do more of this?

VD: We get caught with the busy-ness of the job. We all work in fast paced work environments, often multitasking more often than necessary. It is not that people deliberately ignore this, but our nature of job has made us lose sight of this critical aspect. It’s easy to say people should practice empathy, but it’s easier said than done. With practice, however, it can be achieved.

SM: How can organizations contribute and what initiatives can they take to educate employees in this regard?

VD: Leadership can do various things to drive this point. Job-rotation for example can help individuals play and experience different roles. Another initiative could be coffee-corner sessions where a leader can present the sales opportunities and challenges faced. There could be mentoring or training programs that help understand different roles and challenges faced better.

SM: There are certain policies, certain processes and a certain culture that every organization tends to have – the organizational DNA. Should individuals try to change something in a positive way that they perceive requires a change?

VD: One should, but with a realization that things won’t change overnight. The faster you try to change something, the faster will be your journey to frustration. There are ways to change things – by speaking to management on the pros and cons of the thing in question, by taking small initiatives to drive change. But then again, it’s not easy to change established practices in a short period of time. If the practices are not in conflict with individuals personal values – hope for the change to happen and persevere.

Having said that, organizations need to be wary of their leadership culture and actively engage to check how leaders are performing on their roles and what their styles are – inspiring or uninspiring; positive or negative; replete with ideas or lack of them etc. Most of us tend to emulate our leads and managers and this can have a big impact on the long term performance of the organization.

SM: Many individuals feel stuck in roles but still continue doing what they are doing as change can be uncomfortable. A few, however, explore and move on. What’s your suggestion on when should one decide to leave an organization?

VD: Once we are in the system, we know a lot about the system. We don’t value what we already have. We tend to draw comparisons to other companies – particularly on the things that the other company has and the present one doesn’t. One thing to realize is that all companies have problems.

First thing is to look for opportunities within and look for a role that can be more fulfilling in terms of career aspirations. I say this because if you’ve spent time in the organization and try to contribute within. If nothing comes your way, and no other options exist, look outside.

Also to add, less ambitious people stay back in less fulfilling jobs. The reasons could be various – the job gives them stability, they are not willing to change for personal reasons etc. This mix of people (ambitious and content) helps an organizational structure.

SM: You have currently taken a break from work. Tell us more about that.

VD: I intended to build on my knowledge and have been reading a lot of late. On an average I read one book in two days – that’s the pace I’m currently going at. At the end of it I believe we build knowledge in various ways (on the job, reading, mentoring etc.) At present, for me it’s about reading more and it’s exciting to have extra-time on my hands to read what I have desired to for a long time.