California Gold Rush

Met up with one of the foremost entrepreneur of Eastern Indian state of Odisha.
It is officially the poorest state in India. And not many enterprises overall apart from mining based PSUs.

25 yrs ago, this gentleman, after having a Electrical Engineering Degree from IIT and an MBA from IIM, did not head to US for a comfortable life.

Went back to the native place to find out, if he can do something on his own.

Around the same time, Odisha was seeing a private boom in Prawn agriculture and processing and was steadily capturing world market of tiger prawns.

This gentleman jumped in to that. Had a exceptionally successful few years. And then a wave of internal jobs and bad fish-deseases wiped it all away for him.

He was struggling to get back on his feet - and then ( he recollects) he saw this program on discovery on "California Gold Rush".

In California Gold Rush, not every one struck gold. The ones who smiled all the way to the bank were the ones who built and supplied shovels instead.

That was it for him ! He went back - knowing all he knew about Prawn industry and the contacts in that industry, to re-building his business around making shipping boats and nets specifically for prawn agriculture.

And 10 yrs on, he is counting his chips and success with a smile. The prawn has seen its cycle. Not the boats and nets so much with a bit of diversification in products.

Quota Systems - for the toughest resource issues !

Finite amount of test beds. Finite amount of runs possible in a month.
Multiple users. Release Ops. Development engineers from multiple teams.
And the 'easy going' quality managers mandating a 'run' for every unrelated development crowds up the testbed.

No real control.

And when, the analysis happens out of 800 odd runs a month, 400 can be policed. But now 'policing' is a 'job' and needs head count. Do not want to 'police' ? Demand to build more such test beds.

Sounds like a familiar problem even your org has ?

When the cacophony reached me 2-3 weeks ago from all the sub-orgs, I looked to traditional Indian political way of fixing (because everyone seemed to have enough justification for their irrational numbers, and even funnier, everyone agreed that the load can come down by 50% at the aggregate level).

Monthly QUOTA of 'runs' for each sub-group and a simple tweak to tool to dis-allow anything more than that from the team. Last couple of weeks, I ve not seen any deliverable of any team slipping because of this test bed.

Stake on the "roof"

Yes.. I am making up this caption !

But not making up this age old tradition narrated below !

In rural parts of Eastern India, during the 80s, every upwardly progressing low middle class, had one dream. To have a shelter / home with a "concrete" roof.

It was looked up as an upgrade from Tile, Asbestos or other forms of roofing.

When people built “Pucca” houses, the toughest thing used to be the roof.

They will put the false ceiling with Bamboo pillars, and wood planks.
Put a layer of soil. Then some leaves, then the iron frame.

Then on one sunny day, the concrete mix will be poured in to the iron frame which has to settle for subsequent 21 days before the take off the false ceiling.

Putting the concrete mix to iron frame is considered last mile and considered tough job. It has to be done in ONE SESSION. Point being, if not finished in one go, and a portion left behind, no matter what you do to blend the cast, there would be a gap and the roof would leak.

And in that last day, invariably the chieftain of the mason’s, in the last moment, will put a 4 inch PIPE / Barrel / Cylinder in the soft concrete cast. If not pulled out quickly and blended in the same session, that would leave behind a permanent hole in the roof, which wont be possible to seal.

This is how the tradition goes after that.

The owner of the property is supposed give him a new dress and praise his masonary skills in front of everybody. After that brief drama is over, he will remove the stick. And the job will be taken to completion.

So how is corporate culture any different ?

This week, a major delivery which has taken an year for 100s of employees to complete is supposed to be released. All of them who are involved, have taken their part seriously. And done the job in a coordinated fashion so far to make this happen. There has been no red flags. Most of the last minute errors are done away with. Most of the people are feeling good and relieved. The smart ones are already blowing their horn, etc. The usual corporate circus !

One employee, who has been responsible of final testing, has not yet found a reason to blow him horn. So, he goes ahead and put the "stake on the roof", latching on to an ignorable thing.

And, the solution, was simple. A public praise of the person's effort and a small corporate borwnie point. The ignorable issue was ignored ! Successfully !

Now, Betaal thinks - may be we should make it a tradition - like the mason's in rural India did 20 yrs ago. Would not that reduce a lot of emotions around the last minute scuffle and make it more fun :)

Balancing ambition and capabilities

I ve seen many leaders talking about this -

"Grow until you are comfortable growing and until you are delivering to the level you are in, handsomely".

But, at least in corporate India, I ve not seen that happening.

People think growing in ranks is a birth right, and a function of doing the job OK, and spending required amount of time in a level.

Then there comes a phase where, ambitions start running high, right around that pre-conceived, peer-defined time period is about to elapse.

That definitely causes a lot of pain.

Over the last few years, India's corporate culture has evolved and now a new variable has been added at senior management level.

That is - beating expectation of your current role and having spent enough time baking in that level are not enough. There has to be a true organizational opportunity to accommodate a person at the next level.

In other words, have you created a position for that next level, where you want to grow in to ?

Valid addition !

With that as a back ground, I was pleasantly surprised today. I went to one of my mid-managers, and offered him and fabulous opportunity, asked him to treat this one as a ticket to grow in to sr. management. And this person is at the top of the stack already in his peer group. So, it was a slam dunk for me to offer him the new opportunity that came along.

To my surprise, the person showed amazing maturity in saying - " I ll do it. I ll do it well, irrespective of it being a ticket. But DO NOT grow me, if I wont fit in there. Do not grow me, if I get in to a level, where expectations out of me are going to be ahead of my capabilities. And that makes me uncomfortable. I would rather be the best mid-manager than the average sr. manager."

Is the next wave of maturity firming up in corporate India now ??

Style vs. Substance ...

Now, we all know "style" without "substance" is not good enough, and sometimes outright ridiculous !

With style, one can get a reception, but not an acceptance. Its pretty much like the Blue Fox !

Substance without style is equally in-sufficient ! At least in today's corporate culture. Its so crowded, that you need to grab attention before they pay attention to your value addition.

Thus goes a story of a mid-level manager in my work place. The guy has been honest with his work, innovative, and smart. However, he never bothered to blow his horns - and the system labelled him as mediocre, year after year.

This year, he spent 25% less time working, and channelled that to some key visibility points based on Betaal's suggestion and guidance.

Wiola ! He is a well known, relied up on, looked up on manager now !!!

So, betaal says, wear your style, now that you have the substance !