Help me please. They are sucking the life out of me.

An interesting reaction to my writing, is that people begin to ask for advice. Though this is flattering it can be a bit dangerous both for me and the person seeking my advice. I wish they would realize that, all I have to share with most of them is only my confusion.

Pradeep recently wrote to me, that he felt he was a zombie without a meaningful life. He worked for a very big and famous multinational organization. He was paid very well and had a lot of perks and facilities provided to him.

He felt trapped in a line up of demanding and aggressive bosses, exhausted subordinates and impossible targets. Like most of his colleagues, even 12 hour work days and six days a week of slogging were insufficient to meet the workload demanded from them.

He felt he was unable to satisfy his bosses because of lack of competence and ability. Constant battering by his bosses and unhappiness at home had eroded his confidence. He wanted my advise on ways and means to boost his confidence.
I told him that the problem was not so much with him as it was caused by his associates and employers.
He made some choices and he was getting both the good and the bad from the choices he had made.

I asked him a few questions;

Do you like your job and what you do?
Do you have the opportunity to enjoy the fruit of your labour?
Do others respect you and you respect yourself?
Do you want to live this type of life for the foreseeable future?

The answers to all the questions were a firm no.
He is thinking about his next steps and we are to speak again in a fortnight.

A wise successful and happy man Mr. Dixit who is the CEO of a Rs 500 Cr (US$ 100 Million) company remarked to his stressed out young son; "Our happiness is inversely proportional to our wants. The greater our hunger for material happiness the less happy we feel". He advised his son to stop looking to acquire his third home and spend more time with himself and his loved ones.

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Office Efficiency - Central Social Institution, Prague, 1937

The offices of the Central Social Institution of Prague, Czechoslovakia. April 1937 “The offices of the Central Social Institution of Prague, Czechoslovakia with the largest vertical letter file in the world. Consisting of cabinets arranged from floor to ceiling tiers covering over 4000 square feet containing over 3000 drawers 10 feet long. It has electric operated elevator desks which rise, fall and move left or right at the push of a button. to stop just before drawer desired. The drawers also open and close electronically. Thus work which formerly taxed 400 workers is now done by 20 with a minimum of effort. Ref: B196_095071_3660 Date: 26.04.1937 Compulsory Credit: UPPA/Photoshot”

You have to play the game to win it.

In life its not sufficient to be merely efficient but to also be effective. Someone once asked my father Man Singh ji, 'What is the secret of your success?' He remarked, "I do not always make right decisions. I make decisions, and then almost always make them right" Read more ..........

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F requently requested to assist organisations large and small, I observe a common and recurring theme. The issues revolve around the struggle of owners /managers to manage effectively. This is visible predominantly in companies that have started small and are growing, in family run businesses and families themselves. They are invariably puzzled that management approach, style and methods which worked so well in the past, now just don't work anymore. They resort to even more hard work and effort, yet the situation only worsens. Finding themselves in unfamiliar situations they dart here and there implementing fads, half hearted strategies alien to their thinking and character. They do this because they are getting frustrated and doing something is considered better than doing nothing. They change staff and managers. They churn product mix, vendors and even customers and markets. They try so many things but nothing seems to work. They chang...

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