Servant in Heaven….King in Hell!!!

There is a song by German Thrash Metal veterans Kreator that goes “Servant in Heaven, King in Hell”. This captures, in essence, the dynamics when people leave big corporate and join small(er) firms.

If you think about it, it is quite ironic – most people look forward to big brands when they start their careers. They want blue-chip companies on their CVs… to “showcase” to friends and family, to “launch their career”, and above all to be proud of themselves – to be part of a great brand name is to have achieved something worthwhile. Those who start with not-so-big-names are almost always eager to get into a big firm…to be part of the so-called-elite club.

Mostly, things start well; a large, blue-chip company (mostly) has robust systems and processes, attracts high quality talent (surprise surprise) and generally manages business well. People start learning how things work; mostly there is an awe and aspiration around the scale and intensity of the business…always sending the message “there is so much more to explore”.

What changes then? Why do people get disenchanted so easily, so soon? Why do people start feeling a charm for the “other side”?

First and foremost, people realize it is a “crowd out there”. They may hate to admit it…but it is a fact; there are loads of equally (if not more) capable people doing pretty much the same thing. And, as part of the crowd, their work, their achievements, and their progress – everything seems to be a miniscule microcosm of the big corporate name. Inability to associate progress and success with one’s own name (ego???) is a huge motivating factor for people to start out on their own.

Secondly, after a point of time, things start moving at snail’s pace in a large firm…be it policy decisions or career progression or response to competitive developments. More often than not, large firms go through tremendous rounds of deliberation, risk vs. reward assessment before taking any decisions; while the reasons may be fully justified, for the “action-hungry” professional, this is as good as committing hara-kiri. There is a strong management theory (with its due number of critics) that it is important to do something than nothing at all.

Lastly, the person is sometime mistreated… one way or the other. While politics in office or being passed over for an important promotion/role may seem immature or illogical to move out of a big name. But such incidents are often the triggers (and not necessarily the whole and sole reason) for people to make the move….to stop “being a servant” and start “reigning” (in hell…elsewhere).

 

Grey

I have read that Warren Buffett has a guideline for his managers to follow, which goes something like this: “When you are in doubt about a decision, think about it this way: Assume that whatever you are going to do is published by an investigative journalist the next day; the whole world – your family, friends, neighbors…your mother get to read it. Will you still do it? Would you be comfortable in defending your action to the whole world?”

I wish there were more like Buffett in today’s corporate world; we certainly need more firm-minded leaders guiding the ethical stands of corporations around the world. I have heard several excuses for “slight deviation from the rule”. Here is my humble attempt at blasting a few of them.

The most popular excuse goes “oh, you know what? This is a bit in the grey area; it is really not very black or white”. My response: go to Buffett’s guideline. Assume people will get to know exactly what you are doing; will you still be comfortable? Chances are that if you are willing to take a bold stand in support of your decision, then it is already clear…it is pretty much white; if not, walk away…you are getting into nasty territories. There is no bloody “grey” there.

The next one on the popularity chart is probably “oh, everyone does a bit of this; it is not murder, man….just a small deviation from the line”. My response: who is “everybody”? Who do you really want to compare yourself to? Sure, chances are that compared to Dawood Ibrahim, or the Italian mafia, or Al Qaeda terrorists, your steps are a wee bit “milder”. But don’t delude yourself into thinking what you are doing is “acceptable” just because many have been doing it. Others (or yourself) have not been caught……yet; that’s it. If you really aspire to be world-class in the ethical side of your business (as well), you need to look at the right set of leaders. Infosys is a prime example in the Indian context. Apart from the stories in business press, I Have heard countless stories from current and ex-employees about their extremely high standards of self-governance, and ethical conduct – be it hiring, arranging office space, client situations, et al…..their grit and firmness in ethical issues is truly recommendable. Now that’s the benchmark organizations need to aspire towards.

Another thing I have seen firms do is “oh I cannot help doing this tiny bit; my business will never survive without this” (e.g. my unreasonable client tells me I should not quote his firm….but how the hell can I generate more sales without boasting about my marquee client list?). My responses: 1) you are risking what you have when hunting for more. Go back to the Buffett guideline – you just have to assume people will eventually know – and then what do you do? 2) What is the message you are giving your employees? The minute you cross the line on one subject, you have to accept that the employees will side-step every damn line which they think is “unreasonable” or “breaking the rule on X, Y and Z is ok”; e.g. “oh my leave policies are a pain; I work hard anyways, how will it matter if I don’t report one day off officially as leave” OR “oh my finance folks are such a pain that they will not reimburse my liquor bills; no problem – I will just inflate my food bill” and so on and so forth.

As odd as it may sound, the only folks who win a wee bit of respect from me are the ones who take the extreme stand “I know I am breaking some rules here; I am confident I can handle the consequences; balls to the folks who differ with my stand”. At least these folks are not delusional; they are not trying to fool anyone; they are clear…”I am stepping from white to black, and I am completely responsible/accountable for what happens next”. They are probably also clear that their employees may try to bend a few rules themselves….but in all probability, those side-stepping-actions-of-employees would be met with the same rigor and self-determination. In other words, the firm would take charge and take remedial action, face consequences – strongly.

My firm belief – every business has a chance of surviving and thriving by being completely ethical. There is no bloody “grey” area out there. If you want to cross the line from “white”, you better have the balls to face the consequences, rather than blame the environment, or others doing it, or the unreasonable nature of the line.

Where have all the children gone ?

There is something disarmingly enchanting about a child’s smile. The guileless glee is a welcome change from the politically charged environment so typical of the corporate world. Their sweet innocence, unbridled passion and energy, as well as the dreams in their expressive eyes, can make anyonego weak in the knees. If you have kids of your own, you’ll definitely know what I’m talking about. Others just need to walk into a children’s park to experience the feeling.

This weekend, I participated in a CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiative organized by KPMG, in collaboration with Junior Achievement India. We went to a government boys’ school in Dev Nagar (near Karol Bagh, New Delhi). Our target audience was the students of 6^th standard. We showed them videos of how things – ice cream, bubble gum, balloons, etc. – are made in real life.  The idea was to pique their curiosity and encourage them to find out more about things they see in everyday life – howthey are made, who makes them, etc. The whole experience of interacting with those kids was in itself a personally enriching experience. I just wish I could do more for them.

While mulling over the experience later, I realized there were actually a lot of things that I (+ colleagues and peers of mine) could learn from those kids. Take their passion and energy for a start. Even though the CSR event was a small one for them – they didn’t expect the visitors to touch their lives ever again; they saw the videos as mere entertainment (at best) –  but the passion they brought forth to see the video, to interact with the volunteers, and above all,to answer questions or demonstrate what they had learned….was unbelievable. I compared their enthusiasm with the glum faces I usually see in an official team meeting when I seek volunteers to take up something new; gosh…it’s almost like “The Big Bang Theory” vs. “Criminal Minds.” We need a lot more passion in our work lives!

The other admirable quality these kids had was the ability to dream. In a sense, they were truly visionary – someone wanted to become a scientist and produce rockets, while another wanted to become an IPS officer. They probably had no clue about how to reach their goals, but that didn’t stop them from dreaming; their innocence was intact. As we grow older, the harsh realities tend to corrupt our minds. Much before defining a goalpost, we list all the possible bottlenecks that could prevent us from reaching there. We tend to over-analyze all the things that could possibly go wrong and not think enough about how much satisfaction and happiness we could achieve on actually reaching that goal. There are countless books, theories and lessons that harp on the importance of setting stretched goals, and then working hard to achieve them. However, a quick reality check on any corporate setting shows that the majority has “realistic” aspirations, are “pragmatic” in approach, “risk-averse” – in essence, boring, run-of-the-mill, do-not-challenge-status-quo people who lack the appetite (and not necessarily the capability) to bring forth transformational change. We need some innocence; we need to look at some so-called impractical/irrational thoughts; we need lofty dreams.

On a related note, let me also touch upon fear – or rather fearlessness. When asked questions, the 6^th standard boys enthusiastically screamed out responses; they were eager to come up to the front of the class and speak out in from of a large audience. None of them knew all (or even parts) of the answers, but that did not stop them. They were enterprising to the core. As we grow up, we are taught to avoid such acts…to rather not say anything than say something wrong (or worse, something dumb).So the fear of being potentially wrong becomes so much more real and lethal that the possibility of being right (and bearing the fruits of that) is slaughtered outright. In a corporate environment, how many of us truly speak out our minds? How often do we see people bring forth innovative (but not necessarily 100% “sorted) ideas? More importantly, how many organizations truly encourage individuals to bring forth their ideas, questions and challenges? Fear (of the boss, of repercussions, of humiliation from being wrong/dumb) kills passion, chokes creativity and encourages mediocrity.

We need some passion; we need fearless attitudes. We must cultivate the ability to dream lofty dreams. We need more children in our board rooms. Where have all the children gone?