Bad Management is Easy!

Recently I came across a manager who gave her entire team a negative feedback. Strangely, the feedbacks for the same people for jobs done for other managers before and after this particular job were fairly positive. This got me thinking: did the people drop dead for two weeks or was there something else going on. I was surprised that this did not get any alarm bells ringing anywhere else. Even worse, the blame and negative consequences got apportioned to the team rather than the manager. I think this is a very good example of bad management compounded by poor organisation response.

I think a good manager lies at the heart of a vibrant organisation and needs three crucial skills to succeed: project management, communication, and team building.

Project management can be learned by studying and adapting project management techniques and frameworks like Scrum/Agile, PRINCE2, etc. Alternatively, it can simply mean being organised and keeping on top of the project and actively managing its risks. 

Good and effective communication is an integral part of project management. I write it as a separate skill as I have now seen too many poorly worded emails and negative communication as one used by the manager above. For example, in the above case the manager did not effectively communicate with her team during the project, holding on to a grudge and giving a negative feedback two months after the job to a surprised team. Not to let the team off the hook, it can be argued that they could have tried to communicate with the Manager as well. However, if the Manager is deemed more senior, paid more, and given more responsibility, I think it is fair to say that bad team communication is primarily a managerial failing.

Team building is a skill that I would look out in manager who I expect to take on a leadership role in the company at any time in the future. If you are operating in a super-competitive knowledge based industry, success will be defined by being able to hire and retain top-quality talent. And, managers can be pivotal to this: most of the times when people leave a company, more often than not they leave their managers.

In the above case, I would definitely try to dig a bit before readily blaming the team (especially if they seem to be doing a good job otherwise). I would pull them up for taking an initiative on communication if the manager was doing a poor job of it. However, my main target would be the manager from whom I would expect more than trying to escape blame for a badly run project by blaming the team.  

All the skills above are not rocket science and can be taught. Really, these are the basics, and better organisations stick to them.

The Absolute

Days will pass, nights will go
Years will pass, years shall show
Love will fade, friends will vanish
Doubt will creep, trust shall tarnish
Eternity and I are friends, I know
Beyond this prison there is nowhere to go
Generalizations are easy and too cheap
Petty wisdom that I don't keep
Convenience and profit is what world knows
The one with courage and strength grows
On the branch of relativity I perch
As for the absolute I vainly search.

AAP and Communism

Communism is a destructive, all-consuming ideology that invariably degenerates into autocracy or dictatorship. Despite its damaging and chaotic effect, it has not only managed to survive to date but there are people who are ready to live and die by it. For example, India risks losing more than 30% of its land to the red forces today. Without an effective command and conquer structure, and a unifying military ideology this would be impossible to achieve. To extend it a bit further, I would argue that what is true for communism is true for any other kind of cult, extremism, or dogma (like theocracy and fascism).

These cancerous ideas need the right kind of environment to flourish. Unfortunately, that is not hard to find or create. At minimum, you need is a perception of injustice and inequality. This can be made worse by corruption, poverty, lack of education, absence of an effective law and order machinery, and high handedness of the officials & the well connected. When people feel that everything is hopeless and there is nothing to lose, a demagogue can easily lead them down the path of a revolution that ultimately benefits nobody except the leader. The fact that such leaders are able to manipulate a large number of people is an indictment on the governance system that lets it happen in the first place.

In our recent history this pattern can be clearly seen in at least two instances.

First, in India a charismatic left leaning leader came to power in the 70s by promising to remove poverty within no time, and then went on to destroy and degrade the standard of politics & business, nearly turning India into a Communist dictatorship. Second, the mass poverty in Nepal enabled Prachanda to come to power, but it has not really made things better for the common people.

Presently, I strongly feel that this pattern is being duplicated by Arvind Kejriwal (AK) to engineer the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), based on the promise to eliminate corruption. His tactics (freebies, simplistic solutions, revolutionary mind set, conspiracy theories, romanticization of poverty, and misinformation) would make Hugo Chavez proud. For all we know, Lokpal may be an attempt to introduce dictatorship from the backdoor. Who knows? What is remarkable about AK’s rise is that he has been able to rise despite of having no money power, no dynastic background, and no military background. His meteoric rise indicates a well-thought strategy, overwhelming frustration of Indian public with corruption, luck, and sheer determination/ will power/ charisma of AK. Whether he is successful or not, this is for sure that he is going to be an influential force in Indian politics for time to come unless he makes a major strategic blunder.

AAP and AK are a product of the broken Indian governance system that has let it people down with a dysfunctional justice system and rampant rights without responsibility/ accountability. The weaknesses of the system are now being used against it. It is a wake-up call for the law makers to wake up and make changes, or risk losing it all. Whatever their intentions, AAP has made corruption centre-stage. This should lead to at least some improvement in the quality of legislators and reduce visible corruption. That is already a big step forward. However, this was not by design. In terms of actual intent AAP has offered only simplistic, nonsensical solutions and shown a strong left bent. Its strategy is of a party who wants to win at any cost rather than of a party which is serious about reforming the system. India desperately needs economic development, judicial reforms and government services reforms to both go ahead and contain corruption. Judging by its actions to date, it doesn’t look like AAP is going to deliver it any time soon.

Thinking AK

Arvind Kejriwal (AK) has come up as an important force in Indian politics. Only time will tell whether he will indeed be a force for good. For now, we should give him an opportunity to prove himself. My take on key issues concerning AK:

Water and Electricity Subsidies: Unfortunately, subsidies have become an integral part of Indian politics. Every political party indulges in this game to win votes. AAP has just followed the game and it has paid dividends. However, it doesn’t make it a right, well-thought decision. As a commentator said, if Narendra Modi (NaMo) did this, he would first focus on getting the pipelines and setting up power plants before making such promises. As seen in Gujrat, people are willing to pay if they can get 24x7 access to basic amenities. Instead of trying to solve the problem, AAP simply cashed on it like any other opportunistic political party. This can be condoned if they change course and address the actual problem now when they are in power. We will have to wait and watch.

Corruption: In the next few months AAP should follow-on its promise of making life difficult for the corrupt, irrespective of their status. It should not appear that they are giving Congress any leeway or it will damage their reputation. Targeting big-shots will go a long way in establishing their credibility. This is their true advantage over any political party and they would do well to not let it slip away. Again, we will have to wait and watch.

Economics: Given that it was market liberalization that has given India its current level of prosperity, left leaning instincts of AAP do worry me. If they can find a balance between populism and effective economic policy, only then can they provide India with a long-term solution. Again, here NaMo’s development model and willingness to put development first gives comfort. NaMo is the only politician who seriously talks about development and economic reforms as priority one. AK may as well learn from it and display it during his term as the CM.

AK for PM: AK has made a brilliant debut and only a fool will question his skills in mobilizing people and oration. However, it may be prudent to first let him prove his mettle as the CM before saying that he will be a good PM. He is an unknown quantity. Even though I am sure he will be better than Congress or Third-Front, I am not convinced as of now that he will be better than NaMo. Talk is cheap and we can argue endlessly, but the fact of the matter is that he does not have a track record as far as administration and economics is concerned. Let him show what he can do in Delhi and only then it would make sense to consider him capable enough to handle the responsibility of the PM.

सुबह

मुझ से यह न पूछ कि सुबह कब है,

मेरे तो हाथों पे दाग हैं जलते हुए दियों के .. 

Can't Buy Me Growth

What can £100bn buy? Economic growth, if we are to believe in Mr. Osborne’s £100bn plan for UK economy. If previous quantitative easing programmes have not done that, I wonder what will make this round succeed.

To be fair, quantitative easing can help liquidity and encourage consumption, which would buy us some time. But will that be enough? I think it can do little to revive the economy if not backed by comprehensive changes in government policy. The government will have to make more changes to attract business investors, encourage entrepreneurs, foster innovation, and improve industrial productivity. If not, the government will soon find out that love is not the only thing that money cannot buy.

Roar

I believe that to grow is to live. The effort to achieve growth, however, often demands hard work and sacrifice, and there are no guarantees for success. So, I have been asked, if there is a possibility to be happy without doing anything in the present moment, why should anybody work for growth. People argue that life is short and uncertain, and no matter what we do, ultimately most of us will die to be forgotten. They ask that even if we are remembered, does it make any difference. So, going by this logic, it seems that postponing today's happiness to tomorrow in hope of getting more does not look like the best bet. Indeed, if there are no guarantees and there is no happiness to be had either now or tomorrow, what is the point of working? Not much, from this point of view.

So I have learned that it is natural for any human being under the influence of this twisted logic to despair and not desire growth. The basic problem, however, with the argument presented above is that it assumes that the pursuit of growth is working for happiness in some abstract, flimsy moment in the future (this life, after life or other life: whatever one believes). That is not true.

I think growth takes place when one does what makes him happy and aligns it with personal learning. The day to day actions need to align themselves with happiness while keeping growth in perspective. But that can happen only when one is working towards what he thinks he would love doing.

This brings us to a fundamental question: what do we really want? Do we even want anything? Finding the answer would need self-introspection, experience, maturity and self-awareness. Over time, one learns to leave behind what one’s parents/society/siblings/wife/children/friends expect him to have, what one would like to show off to people so as he can feel successful, or even what one thinks is the "right" thing to do. Then, what one finds is what one would love to do.

This process of self-discovery, unfortunately, is seldom easy. It is not in the nature of human beings to generally seek answers to these questions unless they have had the good luck of having a realized spiritual Master in their lives or the bad luck of facing back-breaking adversities. A good place to start is to try to understand what one does NOT want and what one is NOT. Ultimately, self-awareness can be a powerful guiding force and can bring a lot of stability in life. Otherwise one is condemned to a lingering dissatisfaction with what one possesses AND with what does not possess, keeping one firmly attached to misery with a teasing promise of impending everlasting happiness (and they lived happily ever after?) that never really materializes.

If one despairs, it may help to remember that the essence of life is cyclic. A good event cannot exist without a bad one, and vice-versa. It is extremely hard, if not downright impossible, to control events. One cannot change the hand that nature deals, but one can decide how to play it. Cribbing and crying won't make things better: it will only waste time (the cribber’s and that of anybody who has to hear his cribbing) and will hinder progress in life. Strength is life, weakness is death. As a great saint said once, arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached. Don't beg, don't crib. Demand for the highest! Don't bleat like a helpless sheep, stand up and roar...