Need for coaching

Loved this article by Dr Atul Gawande on the need for coaching even for experts. The article touches upon some salient questions like What is coaching? Why do expert sportsmen need coaching? Why would a surgeon with an experience of over 2000 surgeries need coaching?  What about musicians? And naturally the case gets established through these answers..

Worth a read for sure

Interview on working with Steve Jobs

Wonderful interview of Sculley on working with Steve Jobs

Leave Analysis

I feel HR professionals in organizations should try to do leave analysis. I mean what do people take leave from work for and try to link it to their performance, it may provide interesting insights on how individuals balance their lives and also what matters to them beyond work. Be it health, recreation, ailing parents, kids, open house in schools that their kids attend etc etc.

May be it would serve to understand employees better. To know the deeper motivations of the person. I don't know if any organization actually does it.

 The underlying essential should be: employees should be fearless and transparent in expressing the reason for leave.

Interview

Nice interview of MasterCard CEO.

Google's view on Openness

This post on Google's belief in openness by Senior VP from Google is special as you get to understand the philosophical base of the organization, his understanding of historical trends and capacity to envision the future, understanding of technology and as a result of it all, most importantly a clear understanding of the future of their business.

These special people make this organization so unique.

Steve Job's letter on his health to Apple employees

Lately Steve Jobs has been in news on account of his ailing health.

He wrote a letter to his employees in Apple to allay their apprehensions.

When a leader is a center of gravity in any organization, to the extent where people join the organization because of his/her leadership, rumours about life threatening diseases can have serious implications in terms of people getting disturbed and at times even taking important career decisions on that basis.

Its a nice example of how transparency of communication from the top can matter to the morale of the organization. Of course, for this to work, people must be used to transparency in other important times as well.

Contextual nature of Leadership

Leadership is always contextual. Some of examples that I noticed from the Indian context which help me understand this concept better. Giving publicly known examples helps as these are instances when the entire nation or perhaps the world witnessed the events.

Situation 1.0 : When the terrorists attacked Mumbaikars on 26/11
Leadership: Commissioners of Police took charge under the direction of CM
Leadership traits called for: Experience of head on fights with armed criminals, strategic minds, very quick decision making, courageous, dare devils

Situation 1.1: When the terrorists overpowered the police leaders,
Leadership: The next rung of security experts were called upon- That was leadership from NSG commando troop
Qualities sought: Expertise in heavy armed warfare on lines of military attacks, fearless dare devils, tireless, people who work under complete command and control structures

Situation 1.2: When the nation started raising alarm over the abysmal performance of the then Home Minister- Shivraj Patil
Leadership: Replaced by P Chidambaram
Qualities sought: Past experience, proven track record, good public image, always a Man of Action under crisis and very high responsibility on a sustained level.

Situation 2.0: Satyam debacle
Leadership: Board replaced by new leadership comprising of Kiran Karnik, Deepak Parekh, C Achutanand
Qualities: Impeccable track record, great public image, experience of leading under crisis, Solid Finance knowhow

In each of the above cases, leadership of a certain nature was expected from the context. We can't substitute any of the above leaders with a situation different from what they were assigned to. All these individuals stand for certain qualities and these qualities are demands of the situation at hand.

Yet interestingly certain qualities run through all of them:

• Courage
• People of action
• Sharp thinking minds
• Positive attitude
• Great work ethics
• Past track record
• Karmayogis- people whose lives revolve around their work or who are identified by the work they do

Can you see what best your subordinate can do?

Felt really proud to read about A R Rehman's commendable musical performance for the movie " Slumdog Millionaire" and the acknowledgement of the same by Wall Street Journal. He states at one point--

It's very difficult to get a director who understands what you're capable of," said Mr. Rahman. "Danny Boyle was definitely good luck for me. He could get what I was trying to do, and in my own little way I could get what he wanted. So if I can get another director like that I would definitely love to work in Hollywood."

I feel that this trait to understand what one's subordinate is capable of is central not just to the management concept of employee satisfaction but also to the overall capacity of organizations. If it matters for a music composer of the phenomenal calibre of Rehman, it should surely matter for any employee, student, bureaucrats or simply anyone who is working under the directions of someone. Its a supreme quality that people should acquire as they are made to be responsible for the growth of people working them. Thats one of the important litmus tests of them deserving to be in that position of authority.

Why was Einstein considered to be a laggard during his college days? Why do really capable bureaucrats end up in becoming victimized by the corrupt setup?

Probably the answer lies in that statement by Rehman

Hail Google!

I love the way Google keeps on looking at its own services in terms of improving them constantly. There is always something new to surprise us . I can't recollect any organization which comes up with creative ideas at such a pace that too in the realm of services.

Sometimes its the new browser or mail services with additional features, picassa with added benefits, search facility with new options and so on and on. I don't know how these features would look like in say 2010 but I am sure I would be using them and would continue to love them since they will be better then what they are today. :)

We all love creativity when it comes to us. This is one of the most visible organizations which has made it a part of its culture. And its just amazing to see how we feel like grabbing whatever new it has to offer simply because there is some incremental benefit, some advantage to the way we work or may be simply something different.

This ability to break habits of people and to make them acceptable to new features or functions is a great attainment, which I guess has a lot of lessons for how work or life in general can be made more exciting and productive.

Hail Google!!! Hail Creativity!!!