Enigma Solution

We often take competent, capable, sincere individuals and assign them to do things or take up responsibilities without preparing them for the task? As a consequence we land up harming both the organisation and the confidence of the individual concerned. This is the story of how we accidentally hurt Derek, our number 2 team member without even meaning to when we promoted him to top slot. When Derek's boss the Works Manager resigned, we had to fill up the position fast. So we promoted Derek our no 2 man to replace him. Our World Class mission goals placed high demands on productivity, quality, cost effectiveness and continuous improvement from our team and leadership. We had no doubts about Derek's ability to meet our mutually agreed expectations and targets. Alas it was not to be. Six months after his promotion, a frazzled looking Derek came to see me. He handed me his resignation letter was resigning and requested to be relieved from his job at the earliest. I felt confused, an...

  It is in the human nature for us to seek success, happiness and love. In this endeavour we live, work and play, constantly interacting with our fellow beings and our environment.  Every interaction, triggers within us, some physical, intellectual and emotional reaction. This we commonly term as experience. If we merely register and do not learn, transform or evolve, from the interactions and the reactions, then we can only call them incidents, not experiences. Our reactions represent the lowest level of human intelligence, whereas our responses indicate the level of our intelligence. What then is the difference?  A reaction is immediate and originates from our animal instincts of fight or flight. Whereas a response comes from the measured and timely application of the mind with awareness. This is why the first prayer of a seeker is to develop an awakened mind. Materially speaking if we do not do anything, then there is nothing to be aware of. So the most experienced peo...

Success needs no explanation and failure tolerates no excuse. Yet few people appreciate this point. Many people who fail, dole out excuses one after another, everyone and everything else is to blame except themselves. The situation is most pathetic, when owners, managers and leaders blame their own employees, team members and followers. Their opening statement is "The problem is ........", and this is followed by a long tirade or moan of nonsense. The first step in solving a 'problem' is, to learn what is the problem? Surprisingly most people have no idea what the problem is? A problem is defined as an obstruction 'C' which prevents you from going from  Situation 'A'  to situation 'B'. Unfortunately most people don't know where they are, where they want to get to and what is obstructing them. In that case the person does not have a problem, they just have an excuse for their failure.

During the Wharton India Economic Forum held in Philadelphia on 22 March 2008, former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam ji was asked a question based on his own experience on how leaders should manage failure . Dr. Abdul Kalam responded:  "In 1973, I was appointed project director of India's satellite launch program. Our goal was to put the 'Rohini' satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given all the necessary funds and the talented people I needed." "Several thousand people were involved in this ambitious target and in 1979 we made the launch. Unfortunately the satellite plunged into the Bay of Bengal soon after launch. Professor Satish Dhawan the head of ISRO, (Indian Space Research Organisation) had called a press conference. Through the media he made known to  the world that the failure was his responsibility and by the next year they would have the problems solved." "The following year in July of 1980 the satell...

I remember ever since I was in the ninth grade in school, I started spending holidays and weekends at the factory accompanying our Uncle Manohar Singh ji. It was great fun and many days were spent absorbing so much by just casually observing things. We used to supply a lot of manufactured components to the famous motorcycle manufacturing company 'Ideal Jawa' in Mysore. At that time they produced 1500 motorcycles each month. Produced under license from the Czech manufacturer Jawa, beyond doubt it was India's finest motorcycle, I often accompanied my Dad, Uncle and quality staff whenever they visited the Jawa plant in Mysore for a number of issues. I observed, but did not realise until much later, that the plant had a rather large workforce yet there were very few managers, supervisors and other staff. Ideal Jawa was owned and managed by the dynamic duo Irani brothers Rustom ji (Commercial) and Farouk ji (Technical). Rustom ji & Farouk ji personally worked very hard, driv...

Sincere, competent and reliable and conscientious, Derek D'souza was a good production manager.  One day Derek's boss the works manager opted to take up a job overseas. With a salary hike we promoted Derek our no 2 man to look after all manufacturing. Technically capable the indefatigable and sincere, Mr. D'souza took to his new role like a duck takes to water.  Derek faced many problems in discharging his new responsibilities well. Our organisation's performance on productivity and quality as did the morale of the team remained a concern. Six months after his promotion, a frazzled looking Derek came to see me. After the usual courtesies he placed an envelope in front of me. With apprehension I read the contents of the letter inside. Derek was resigning and wished to be relieved from his job at the earliest. To say I was shocked would be an understatement.   He said he could not handle the pressure.  What? Why? I threw many questions at Derek. I exper...

In 1993, in pursuit of a large and significant business contract, we travelled to Detroit, to meet with a 5 member team at Visteon. It was a division of Ford motor Company.  Discussions concluded favourably. Both parties were in agreement on everything, except the time frame for development and delivery of samples. They demanded that we deliver in 8 weeks, and we insisted on 14 weeks. It looked like the deal was going to fall through. My export manager took me aside, "Sir we can't afford to lose this order. Please, I implore you to agree to whatever they demand and bag the order. We can always make some excuse and come back later and and ask for a time extension." I knew we could do it in 8 weeks, but past experience taught me that developments projects tend to encounter delays and one should always provide for the unexpected, and in India the variables were simply too many. I decided to shave the safety margin from 6 weeks to 3 weeks.  I said, ...