Working for none

After over seven years in the corporate world, I took the plunge in to the murky waters with a confidence to survive and succeed. The analogy of quick sand is well suited to explain the nuances of the journey one takes in discovering the terrain of evolving in to an Entrepreneur.

Why am I writing this? I am hoping this will serve as a confidence booster to all those who are treading on top of the shaky narrow fence of indecision; with “working for someone” on one side and “working for none” on the other.

Working for someone: This side has cushion surface to land on and receives you well when you take the decent towards it, promising you of many goodies and a bright future. Tactically it appears highly tempting; a venture that promises security and comfort. The aegis of a well established brand and business upholding all your weaknesses; feeding you to transform you in to a feed to the vampires who harness the best out of you. And stop feeding you as soon as you are exhausted of ideas and skills and stop being a relish for the mighty and gluttonous vampires.

Working for none: This side of the fence, from far appears to be much greener, thus tempting many to take the anxious gliding decent in to it. But it is when one is about to land, realizes the change in colour, from a bright green to a shade of brown. When one gets closer, the jolt of the realisation of an imminent landing on the quick sand takes its toll on most and a quick termination to one’s adventurous journey is unfolded. The few that survive have to master the audacious art of surviving the trap and have to tenaciously work towards transforming the quick sand in to a marvelous garden. It is the determination one wears as armour and the sword of hard work that stays as a true companion throughout the battle and helps to succeed the war.

Please stay tuned for a sequel to this write up in few years. Whether the end would be termination or a glorious victory would be recorded in it.

Hoping this will not be read by my future employees, I remain.

sampling to tree

a very good metaphor for friendship can be found in the life cycle of trees. individual friends are the branches of a tree (the one that can grow very big and has many branches). now when this tree first came in to existence many years back, it was a tender small (probably less than an inch in height) sapling. at that stage it would have had just a branch or two – barely noticeable. as the sapling grows up it turns out to be a plant with few branches, just like we have few friends as we grow up – let say our school time (around 5th class). but one of the aspects about this plant is though there are branches, they can be bent and can touch each other – even if they are no the opposite sides. that is because they are flexible – literally. same is our friendship during those days, we easily understand (rather i should say don’t think much) each other and remain friends though we have differences.

but as this plant grows in to becoming a small tree, the number of branches it has also increases. let us say it to be our early college days (like +2). we make more friends. but the difference now is that these branches are little more strong and rigid. it requires some strength to bring them together.

as times passes by, the small tree slowly grows in to a big tree, with many more branches pointing in every direction (mostly towards up – after all, friends progress). at this stage if one tries to join the branches it would require greater strength and sometimes the branches themselves might resist so hard that they may break. this is the stage of our friendship when we are in our higher education (like graduation).

as these days i have considerable amount of time to spare, i thought it would be nice to write something in unoamigos@yahoogroups.com and desired that everyone write too. For that i have been speaking to few (chatting of course) and learnt that our tree has grown even big and many branches facing in all direction (still mostly upward) and that I was only trying to be a creeper and can be crushed by the branches if i try too hard.

well, that is all folks. have a great day!

The SAP Program

Many had diligently told me the need for unlearning that would arise once anyone joins the industry after the MBA College and dutifully I had obliged and also learnt that it was the only way to survive in the market place. Therefore have you ever wondered as to what will accelerate your career growth having left behind your academics and after you have received an above average placement from the MBA College and having been in the industry for more than 4 years? Well I have been wondering of that question now and did do some research and the tool used was the not so commonly used method of “positive retrospection”. The need for this came up especially because Mr. Lawrence requested me to pen down an article on this subject for the upcoming issue of the SAP magazine. And I had to comply because I owe him a lot for the wonderful Leader that he has been for me while I was in the SAP during 2002 – 2004 and all the invaluable lessons that were imbibed in me through him during that time.

I changed 3 jobs after my MBA and handled close to 6 different bosses in those jobs. I should admit that the best boss that I had till date were none of this but it was Mr. Lawrence. His unique style of leadership is so special especially with his down to earth character, spectacular memory, personal involvement, wide knowledge base and with a gift of bringing in a feel of warmth whenever you are with him.

Close to 30% of my MBA fee was taken care by the earnings from SAP program and also from the waiver I got by maintaining a CGPA above 8. Though if we consider that in 2002 to 2004 the fee structure was different from what it is now, that amount was substantial and very helpful for me and the best thing, it came to me by doing something that I liked to do – studying and working in SAP. Though working in SAP is in a similar style to what exists in the professional world, it is better in terms of being a perfect blend between work and fun. Never even once during the program I felt that I was working, instead it was as though I was just performing my daily chores.

Most of you by now would agree (if you have been in ICFAI Business School for more than a trimester) that it is time that you will find least while you are at the School. So many classes to attend, so many assignments to complete, so many groups to work in, so many events to conduct and to participate in (hope you all are doing all this – IBS opens all doors for you to achieve this) and of course the exams. While all these were cramped in the 20 hours of the day (giving at least 4 hours for the poor sleep), finding time for SAP was easy as it was never a stressful activity and it taught well how to manage ones time and handle every activity with the best that you can give for it.

After we had served in SAP for sometime for the first time then, the concept of Team Leaders was introduced in the program. It was the best thing to have happened. Each of the performers (by the way, by this time I had received the Platinum performer award) were given a team to handle all by themselves and to lead them in to performing better. This gave me a peak view in to handling teams in a manner which was similar to what happens in the corporate world.

Now to answer the question that was raised earlier, it must be obvious that it is the above four skills and much more, that would accelerate your growth in the professional careers. And does the MBA program course material at ICFAI Business School offer you that? Yes, through the SAP Program.

The Vizag Trip

Following write up is one of my first works. It is in its crude form without any modification. It was written during my Engineering days (year 2000-2001).

Before getting into the bus from house I was very eager but was frightened when I got to the station. I had a feeling that after we return some one would be crying and some sad while some annoyed (I would be thinking – I expected).

After the train started moving, for around 30 min nothing happened. Swathi was the first to tell the fact, “You guys are boring” and I thought – I expected.

But things changed, we played dumb shards for an hour. Than we had a party for Shanti – it was nice. Next we played anthyakshari for an hour. After that we had dinner (I had every one’s share). Now I felt very relaxed and resumed completely to my usual self. That is until now I was skeptical about the success of the trip. Now I am starting to have high hopes and I am eagerly looking forward to the coming days.

20^th: We reached Vizag by 6:45 am. I had to wake each one at 5:00 am. I enjoyed waking them up, as no one liked though they had to – I was being a sadist. We went to YMCA and did nothing till 10:15 am (of course few bathed and had breakfast & few vice versa).

We went to the harbour first, then to Daspalla hotel for lunch, then went to browse. By the time we returned it was 12:00 am and I literally fell on the bed – tired – and slept.

A knock on the door woke me up in the morning at 5:20 am. We had to reach the station (to leave to Araku) atleast by 6:15 am. At this moment I was Skeptical not about the mood of the guys but about our times.

Train towards Araku was at 7:45 am; the 6:15 am story was only to boot us up. The train journey was amazing. I have seen hills from the bottom but now traveling on top of them gave a different thrill in me. There were more than 20 tunnels on the way. All the girls were shouting, screaming and yelling while passing through the tunnels. It was nothing but fun.

We reached Borra caves at 11:00 am. We hired two Jeeps and went to the caves from the station. Few of the girls decided to have some adventure while their parents were not around. So they climbed an elevation, from where it was difficult to get down – unless of course they would use the same path downwards but that wouldn’t be adventure, right? It took more than 30 min for 5 girls to descend a height less than 6 mts.

We had lunch at the Jeep driver’s place. It was very nice – a hut with wooden tables and chairs and spicy food.

Driving towards Araku was harsh and rough (Jeep) – I was scared. Rooms were cheap in an uncompleted hotel (construction – rooms were neat though). We put our luggage there and went to see Padmapuram garden. I was interested in the Camphor tree (long like Christmas tree) and Silver Oak tree (similar and also found in Hyderabad).

In movies, ordinary places are shown as heaven. We went to Chaparayi Konda, where a movie was shot and it was shown as heaven. It is not, in reality, instead it was an ordinary place with a river flowing between rocks – that’s it.

Experience at Araku pushed me one step closer to nature (especially in the train journey). After that having dinner we all enjoyed around a Bonfire for an hour by playing Thambola.

Though we decided to sleep atleast till 10:00 am the next morning, every one woke up and got ready by 9:00 am. For break fast we had bread, jam and omelet. Half an hour passed as we waited for a RTC bus to Vizag. Bus journey was much better than Jeep as it was much comfortable and safer. It was around 3:30 pm when we reached Vizag and immediately we went to Dhwaraka inn – Uday Kiran, the movie actor was in the same hotel – to have lunch.

So until now did people cry and become sad? Yes, they did but things revived very soon.

As it was Rajgopal’s birthday the next day, we all wanted to give him a surprise party. Each one of us was being very meticulous (especially few) and made the party a grand success.

4:45 am was the scheduled time for waking up but it was 1:30 am by the time we slept.

Unusual things happen rarely in our lives. A man whom we met a few days ago came to YMCA (were we stayed – throughout) in the morning by 6:00 am. He helped us decide the day’s schedule. We booked 2 taxis and decided to travel in 7s and 8s. The stranger (I should say so because no one knew him though we did meet him for 30 min, 2 days ago) booked another taxi and agreed to accompany us for the first two sites. This made us travel comfortably (atleast for some time).

It was “Thrikoti Ekadasi” day. Thus the temple – Simhachalam, where we went to see first – was jam packed with people. It could have easily taken more than 4 hrs for us to come out through usual channels but took less than an hour with the help of this stranger (whom by this time few of us had called an Angel).

Though this man was doing all good, we all were (especially the girls) skeptical at his magnanimity. Our doubts on this person grew stronger when he refused to pose for a photograph. He left us in the afternoon and appeared again in the evening at YMCA. By this time all of us (especially the boys) were furious to let loose our wrath on him, but nothing happened as he left when we ignored him. Rajgopal was lucky though, as he vomited all his loath onto the angel (or lunatic – the name that we gave him by now) through phone when he called to enquire our plans for the coming days.

All this did not suppress anyone’s moods. We had gone to Rishikonda beach – where we played a lot – and to Kailash Giri and saw the entire city from an eagle’s view. The city lights (it was dark by now) were glowing like stars in the sky.

24^th was the final day of the trip – in Vizag. Though our plan was to leave early (by 6:00 am) for site seeing, we all strolled our way out of rooms by 10:00 am (train was by 4:10 pm). Though we had planned many things, we ended up playing few games in the beach (our’s was the only beach YMCA in India). We had lunch in Dolphins – a 5 star hotel – and reached station by 3:40 pm.

After boarding the train we all were very happy – though we should have been sad, as our tour was ending – because the trip was a grand success.

Now at this moment we are still looking forward to make the journey even more memorable by doing something nice in the train. {You will notice that there is a shift in the style of narration – I was using more “Is” but now I am using “Wes”. This is what the trip gave us: as “we”, an “oneness”.

Most of us were awake up to 2:00 am. We played many games and laughed like hell on the jokes cracked. Some of us were awake up to 3:30 am. We spoke a lot about each other and understood each other better.

I woke up at 5:20 am and could not sleep again. By 6:45 am every one had waken up and few of us wanted to play again but we were too tired. We reached Secunderabad at 7:10 am. Every one was happy until this moment but became sad that it all has come to an end.

We all departed promising ourselves that we would continue our 4-2 semester in the similar mood of joy and happiness.

I joined this trip expecting something out of it and it did turn out to be successful one as it has given me (in fact everyone) more than what I had expected

Quotable Quote: Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened.

I would like to thank AMK Raju for creating a motive in me to write this piece of memory the details of which would have gone forgotten if not preserved like this. I also want all the reader to forgive me for all the misplacement of the words and for creating a major fault in the tenses.

Change

After all, it would not do any justice, if I did not justify as to why I had chosen it as the title of my Blog. Frankly though it was an impulsive decision, over the past months it made complete sense and felt most appropriate to have selected it as the title. Well, it was said to be the most constant thing in ones’ lives.

ICICI Lombard has come my way and I am brought to ease by choosing it as a frame of reference while writing about the topic. ICICI Lombard is a large organisation, but at the same time it behaves as though it is just one person. It can be said without any doubt that it is an epitome for “Change” and it is definitely “Ever Changing”.

Reminiscing the past of over one year at ICICI Lombard, it some times surprises me that I had considered various aspects as priority at different points of time. Out of the blue one day I get a call in the morning from my superior asking how much of the new product I would sell that month. Now keep in mind that this new product is totally new and was never sold by my team before. We have to be so ready and alert to accept change and to cope with it that we would again get a call in the evening of the same day asking how many numbers we have already sold of this new products!

PCV, Motor Secure, Cross Sell, Health, Retention are the five line of products which were introduced during the past one year (in that order), while the man power to handle these products still remains the same (in fact it just got smaller). The other day one of my dealers gave me a call and asked me if there was any problem with the “Administration” at ICICI Lombard. He got to hear from the market that there is a huge churn going on at ICICI Lombard – he kind of sounded as though it was a negative thing. Little did he know that churnings such as these is so common in the organisation that we hardly know when it came and became the natural course of actions.

While that was about the line of products that came by, let me also tell about new processes that get implemented every now and then. There is on an average at least one mail ever day that finds its way to my inbox, informing us the change in the way we do business from that moment on. I wonder how my friend at the Dealer would feel if came to hear of this in the market.

I wonder which of those mails is waiting dormant for me in the inbox when I reach office tomorrow morning, to open, accept and to change!

Isabel Vs Jezebel

While trying to cope up with the added responsibilities of taking care of a newly born baby, comes up another daunting task of naming the baby. Keeping various rules of naming the child in mind one sets off on a journey of a kind. Rules such as: to avoid names which could sound funny in certain languages; names that could have negative connotations while you refer to their origin; names that your spouse might not like; names that your close relatives might not agree to and so on and so forth.

A similar journey we took after our daughter was born. I downloaded close to a thousand names from the internet and shared it with my wife to short list few of them. Among the ones that she short listed was the beautiful name, “Isabel”. It means “God’s Promise”. We both loved the name and were happy that we had finalised on a good name so soon. Even the internet ratings agreed with us that Isabel was a popular days over the past few decades.

In history while most of us were unaware, there lived a woman by name Jezebel. This lady after almost 3000 years influenced us in naming our baby as Isabel.

Jezebel was a crafty, malicious, revengeful, and cruel; a queen who is branded as being the first great instigator of persecution against the saints of God. She is also mentioned in the chapter of Revelation and is meant to be synonymous for a wicked woman.

At the same time Isabel as such is not mentioned in the Bible. But the name Elizabeth, of which Isabel is a variant, is mentioned in the Bible.

What does all this has to do with us naming our daughter Isabel? Everything! Unfortunately for my daughter, she was born to south Indian parents, with Malayalam as the mother tongue. In Malayalam, Jezebel is pronounced as “Yesabel”.

Both of us fought with all our relatives to sell the point that Yesabel mentioned in the Malayalam Bible is not Isabel but Jezebel. Confused? Well that is how first our relatives felt and in due course of time they confused us and convinced us in changing my daughter’s name.

Not aware of any of this chaos, all along Laura Thomas was relaxing on her monther’s arms. Yes eventually after evaluating few names with settled down with “Laura,” a non-biblical name. Meaning of which very few of my relatives would know, therefore fewer the problems that would arise.

Laura is from the word “Laurel”. It means Honour or Victory.

With prayers, I remain. Have a great day!

See you at the top ! . ?

How many are we in India? 110 crore?

Let us say around 5% live in urban cities and therefore at least one tenth of them are working in Professional fields. So that is close to 55 lakh professionals working in various organizations. Let us not have any disputes with that; if the actual figure is different – please relate that to this.

Isn’t it the aim of each living creature to succeed? It isn’t. At least 10% among them are just working for the sake of working and are so lazy that even while they retire, they would have just grown one post higher or may be at the same post or probably retired early (through voluntary retirements).

So that leaves us with around 49.5 lakh professionals. Let us not further bifurcate this lot else it will just come down to one person who is the most successful one – then there would be no need for me to spend all this time typing this.

If, after reading this far, you are wondering why I considered only the urban lot and whether there would not be any one from the rural population in professional field, I pity you.

Do only few among these 49.5 lakh professionals get to the top because each one of them is different? Yes. They are different. But in what ways are they different? Well that is precisely why I have been writing all this.

Can one who spends just 8 hours at work and work for only 5 days a week, be better, than one who works close to 16 hours or more every day and also might drive down to the office on a week end? May be.

Can one who has just passed +2 be better than one who has many PhDs? May be.

Can one who is not planning his daily work schedule and following it with discipline be better than one does plan his work and follow it with complete discipline? May be.

Can one who is not planning his daily work schedule in line with his goal of being successful and follow it with discipline, be better, than one who does plan his work according to his goal of being successful and follow it with complete discipline? Never!!