A new idea is a delicate thing.

A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man's brow.

~ Ovid

My amiable brother Parvinder and I managed all the technical matters of our large and successful manufacturing business. We were hardworking, innovative and are still pretty good engineers.

My aggressive and cocky nature made me believe I was the smartest guy around. This is what success does, it fooled me into believing my own perceived greatness.
Like a small child that unashamedly makes it clear that does not want to share his or her toys, I refused to listen to my other brothers and my father on technical matters.

They too were owners and part of the management team and and extremely smart and sharp individuals. They had a right to express views and ideas and rightly felt disturbed by my arrogance and rebuked me often. Eventually things came to a head and we almost broke up as a family.

My sensible and observant wife, Mohini offered me some advice. "You may agree or not, but you have to give their opinions a hearing"

Grudgingly I agreed. Yet things did not work out for the better.
Now what was the problem? Was I not listening? But was I?

Bare Arms Crossed ~
Pablo Picasso (1960)

Our friend Nana Shahney provided the services of a very intelligent man, Mr. Anil Chaturvedi who helped me understood my folly after making important observations after he attended some of our meetings.

I was keeping quiet and listening, but my body language spoke otherwise, I would lean back, yawn often and keep my arms crossed and gaze out of the window when they presented ideas or criticism in my domain. My behaviour still conveyed the message that I was not interested in listening. As Anil pointed out, I learnt that our words represents only 20% of our communication, 20% was the tone and the remaining 60% was our unspoken body language.

Realising my folly, I changed for the better and our bonds grew stronger and team productivity soared.

Are you listening? What are you conveying?

_________________

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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 ..........

The neck of the bottle is always at the top.

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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