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Who Killed John Kramer?

Business World Aug 20, 2015

“Various factors like loss of sleep, disturbed biological clock, etc., make both men and women more prone to cardiovascular diseases” —  Dr  Nirmal Kumar, Senior Interventional Cardiologist, Care Hospital, Hyderabad By Meera Seth JAFFER NENZEE HELD HIS Audience of seven with his interpretation of health management. It was 3 a.m. and the Indian R&D team was chatting online. John Kramer’s sudden demise had made life surreal for them all. John was one of them even if their senior. People like them did not just crumble and die. Now they were all very ‘suspicious’ of his death. ‘...carelessness, neglect, competitive aggression, greed’ — they ascribed these suspects to the Luxetta management. The story of John had been unfolding a bit every day as those in the US who attended his funeral and then the prayer services each came back with a bit of John. Although John had announced his move to Asia as head of Asian R&D as early as a month ago, it now transpired that his move had been in discussion since as much as a year ago. But there had been so much internal politicking, as Graham (from the European team) called it. It had all begun with the previous head of Asian R&D, Ken William, resigning and John getting deputed to Asia Pacific to take charge as Asia had a number of products in research and diagnostics. This was a deputation to begin with. But Graham detailed the political mess: “It was the first of a series of experiments by Luxetta Europe, (the R&D HQ) in leadership development and training for potential high-performance directors in the group. So, Europe decided John should ‘train’ in Asia overseen by Europe. However, John had his own responsibilities in the US, where he worked under David Fraser, Global Brand Management Team, work that he did not want to give up. And, of course, his young family too. “And so, he got Europe to agree to allow him to position a chap based in Singapore as the leader of the Asian group. That would give him time to tie up loose ends in the US to help David.” It was rumoured that David was on his way out — having nice-guy John with him would help him leave without losing his superannuation. Luxetta, at first, decided that Ken will not be directly replaced. Europe wanted to retain control on APac and tried bringing APac under Europe, “This I have from Harry (global R&D head) directly after two pegs,” said Graham. “But that did not work too well as no one from Europe wished to go to Asia.” Then, Herman Frescher (heading Europe R&D) decided he would appoint an APac team and jointly they would manage Asia — that also failed. Then they added APac to John Kramer’s portfolio and told him to manage it. But John was unable to give up his US portfolio because his CEO had not been able to replace him.... So, John placed a subordinate (Martin Slavski) in Singapore to mind the APac team while he could straddle US more comfortably. So, John was also a victim of the competition and ambition and the pressure to stay on top, a condition that organisations unleash on people.   This was Graham’s verdict. “This whole experiment, however, ended up with a team that was dispirited and extremely critical of both Frescher and John,” said Graham. Between John the de jure boss and Martin Slavski the de facto boss who tried very hard to be a friend, the team was very frustrated. India cribbed occasionally when Martin put them on hold to check with John. But for the most part India was ok as John was also in e-mail touch with many of the product teams. Subeer Bhattacharya (R&D India) could now see how John had been moved around and around and around. How John had been finally sent to Singapore, with direct full-time responsibility for the region. As a strong member of the leadership team at the corporate office, and with several key relationships, John was influential and high on innovation, thanks to his product experience. <img alt="" src="http://bw-image.s3.amazonaws.com/shutterstock_195164858-[Converted]-lrg.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 600px;"> As for John, he was greatly relieved when his appointment was finally announced, for he would no more need to rush between regions and bosses and teams. The last three months of the experiment had taken him very far away from his children and made his life very difficult, to say the least. He was sitting in the US, managing Asia with a strategic responsibility for Europe. Most of the time John did not know whether he was coming or going. After the usual initial few months of conflict, John had settled in, but he was having to run back to Dallas to wrap up and clean up.... add to which he also had to go pay homage to Frescher (Europe) to update him on how well he was salvaging APac... In this midst, he fell sick repeatedly, apparently some regional flu. He delayed his move to Singapore, citing work that still needed to be completed from his previous role. Finally, his move was announced and John started running around chasing school admissions mid term which was tough in Asia that looked down upon such things. Every few weeks, John would find he was back in the US for meetings, etc. India meanwhile was going through the planning cycle and needed John. But he was unable to give them continuous attention. Twice, his visit was cancelled. And now Nalpat said, “With John gone, there is no one who understands the complexity of the markets in this region, all the new direction is extremely US- centric or focused on the developed countries in Europe.” Graham: Why did Ken resign? Anyone knows? Nalpat: Ken left very, very suddenly. No, there is no known story. There was no succession for Ken in place; apparently, John was the fastest solution. But now he too is not available… this is depressing. I heard today that priority areas for APac highlighted by John have been shut down, mostly because the new team of leaders refuse to continue initiatives that John had started. John was clearly under a lot of stress they all saw. The Indian team pontificated opening up the law of  karma… tied themselves into knots as fear took over… then rationality prevailed and that is the point when they began to ask, “Didn’t John see it coming? Didn’t Harry see it coming?” The Indian team went into a silent introspection. Had they added to John’s stress? Subeer was very devastated by the very idea that he may have pushed a bit more… The discussion now moved to the lunch room of Luxetta India. Nalpat: Being in three different regions must be so disorienting! Working out of Europe, working out of the US, was supposed to move to Asia, everyone has been in touch with him constantly… didn’t something show up? Some kind of breakdown? Didn’t HR do his medicals? Subeer: What about us? How regular are we about our medical check-ups…? Then they went down that path. HR had annual medical check-ups tied up with five-star hospitals and it was up to the employees to avail of them. Some did; some did not. The latter said they were travelling so much that keeping appointments was the biggest challenge. They talked about how despite knowing everything we do not take our health seriously. Arundhati: Late night working is a daily habit, not an exception. That means going out for a drink, smoking, eating trash from convenient places… We say let’s have a mild snack, and then eat fried kachoris, samosas, pav bhaji. You forget your system cannot deal well with all this. You are leading a bad lifestyle anyway working 20 hours, no exercises, the least you can do is eat healthy! This kind of talk gathered girth. Bhamini Vaidya: Health discipline. That is the key. This body is not a dustbin! There is a lot more to be done by the individual. Even I am a victim of this corporate lethargy. I used to be regular. The entire stress of a project you are working on grips you…. when a project is on you think of nothing else…   Subeer: I enrolled for yoga, paid my fees, but I barely go for class once a week. But I fool myself thinking that I am into a fitness discipline. Even the gym, you go once and after that you have a late evening at work, or the IPL and boom. It’s over. If someone asks do you gym? You say, ‘Yeah, I gym…!’ looking so holier than thou, even if you are going only once a month. Food too, you will buy all that is needed like an air fryer, sprouts… but you are not eating anything right. You think you have started eating healthy but you are never home to eat it. So, what is discipline? HR Head Jaggan Mittha came down on them heavily. Jaggan: Laziness is also an addiction. Is there a cure for laziness? So then it is an attitude and if you are attitudinally indisciplined, you will readily blame anyone for your failures. A large part of this is health discipline at school level. Schools that serve chana bhatura for lunch are criminals killing the health attitudes. Those who got their health disciplines at schools are most likely those who continue it at 40. For them there is no battle with the mind. Their body is already in cooperation. Nalpat: You need to have a fitness regime. How healthy are the choices you make? People feel gym is for body building, for developing biceps and six packs.  Gym is meant to oil your system into a fitness that everyday life does not bring about. Arundhati: True. One of the things I tell my mom is that given the manner in which we Indians overcook and kill our food, and that osteoporosis is high among Asian-Indian women, she must lift light weights. She says I don’t want muscles, and I tell her no, here you are actually activating the osteosynthesis of your bones which in general will not be activated unless you put some mechanical pressure. There is scientific reason but mom is unbelieving. So, I think it goes beyond discipline — to understanding your body. And so on, each employee gave release to his and her anxiety over John’s absurd demise, talking about his and her correct approach to fitness and health. But back with John Kramer, they asked, given he swam regularly, played squash every morning… his heart should have been strong, so what went wrong? So they said, much to Jaggan’s chagrin, ‘Is HR paying enough attention to health?’. More arguments flew at him – after all, humans are assets, they have to be maintained as well as you maintain your machines. You have an AMC for all of them, we do have an AMC for human assets, but is HR auditing to see what the feedback is or the test results are? I go for a check-up and come back with xyz on my blood, my pathology is showing a pattern in many ways, but are you looking at the trend to see over my last three reports if there is a deterioration? Shouldn’t you be doing that? Jaggan: HR cannot do this. There is a regulatory aspect to it. In the US patient privacy... HR has no right to ask anyone about his medical reports. HR can provide health care. But it cannot enquire into the test results. Divya: Ah, so, who did John belong to? Asia or US? John had a condition which HR could not know because of this privacy nonsense. Then why pay? If you are not going to use the results to keep employees fit, and goad them to fall into a health pattern then why pay at all? I don’t know why we have to follow everything the Americans do? Eating pasta and pizza is harmless, but to imbibe behaviours like this is very bothersome. Jaggan: I don’t understand. Why can’t you take action on your own health report? Your health is owned by you, not the organisation. Why do you want Luxetta to be responsible? There are fat deposits on your liver, or cholesterol build up, the physician at the clinic is analysing your test results for you, he is telling you what to eat, then that is what you have to eat! Who is to be blamed? HR is an enabler, not mom! Jaffer: I buy your argument Jaggan, but I also see merit in Divya’s argument. What happened to Madhav? Did HR analyse? I do think you need to. What led to Madhav’s brain haemorrhage and subsequent paralysis? Cardiac and stress build up is one thing that organisation must take responsibility for. John was being moved around like a pawn on the chess board, because there were two regions that were wanting to hold on to him. This was adding to his stress. He didn’t want to deal with so much, but he was dealing with so much. He internalised a lot. Is that what happened to Madhav? Jaggan: We do not know John’s personal life. To attribute work stress and work load as being the driver of cardiac health is speculative. Need not always be work related, it could be personal in nature. When you come to work, you have to leave your emotions outside. Divya: Now, we are in the realms of the absurd, Jaggan. Man is not a robot. He pushes personal below and brings work to the surface when he gets off the office lift. Both reside in the same mind. Where do you get this nonsense about leave your emotions outside? Subeer: Isn’t goodness an emotion you carry as an underlying substratum of your work persona as well? The organisation wants success and the individual ends up paying for it. What happened to Madhav? What caused his stroke? Jaggan: The individual too has a need for achievement. He has the option to go to HR and saying to them that things are going beyond control, that people are treating me badly…I am being overworked.… Divya: Don’t be silly. Nobody does that! Jaggan: This is exaggeration and pretty primitive. In reality, the whole logic of work-life balance is misunderstood as all play and no work. And let me clarify Madhav’s health. He was hit by Carotid Artery disease. He had plaque build-up that resulted in a stroke. Madhav’s health check had revealed plaque in his carotid artery and he was asked to cut his weight. Overweight and high blood pressure together needed lifestyle changes in diet and exercising. So, yes, Madhav could have prevented the stroke. Divya: And Madhav’s high BP was not a function of stress? You forget that sometimes your boss can be without focus – groping in the dark for an absent black cat… wasting time. Jaggan: And why is that? I will establish my point. You may have heard that women deliver higher productivity. The reason is that women have a greater sense of purpose to get back home at a certain time for a variety of reasons: obligations at home, kids, but I have seen that more than obligations at home it is to do with the safety on the streets, so get back by 7 p.m. Because these are forced upon women; if not, it is a child, or an ailing in-law… or family will wait for dinner… whatever it be, but because of these social barriers, the available time for work is so valued and so well organised that they actually end up being greatly productive, because they do not want to give a social excuse for failure (that my child is unwell or my mother-in-law will freak out). In contrast, men have the greatest need for a coffee break, smoking break, or chatting breaks, want-to-stretch-my legs break… Durgesh: Nice, but it still holds good that if my boss is stretching his legs I pay for it. My boss likes to work till 11 p.m. I don’t. I like getting home in time to play with my kids. Or pray with them. But my boss is usually at a loss for focus. If he wants to sit late and smoke, I have to sit too... and very often we don’t even know what he is searching for. One of the problems here has been the competition we have been facing from China and it almost seems to us that China is getting ahead of us so we have to get ahead of them, spy versus spy. So any product development we do is incompletely done and when the product is launched some small gaffe shows up. Subeer: Your work lifestyle is responsible often, Jaggan, we cannot pretend it is all about individual efficiency. And work lifestyle is set by the organisation. John travelled 70 per cent of a month. Even 80 per cent. It disrupted his life style, his life cycle and whether he knew that or not, is not critical. But HR has to know that people who travel 25 days a month are high risk. Your job is very, very taxing on two counts: being time demanding and two, being very taxing to the mind, where there is a higher level of intellectual complexity involved in your job. This could be interpersonally taxing, or even intellectually taxing. Madhav had a weight problem, no doubt. But a lot of his lifestyle was motivated by his work. Jaggan: It is not nice to discuss an unwell person, but I do feel Madhav needed to have taken his last health check up seriously and changed his diet. We all need a peg to hang our woes. HR is handy. But isn’t one of the serious drawbacks of man his inability to take responsibility? Why do you need to be told to ‘take care’, ‘be good’, ‘don’t overeat’…? Arundhati: Jaggan, we cannot be in denial. HR often drives people to perform at a manic pace in the name of competitive pressures, but it is the human machine that burns out. Very simply, why was John serving 3 masters —Harry the global R&D, Frescher in Europe and Fraser in the US? Didn’t it strike someone that this is unpleasant? The cost of health care of a company lies in its ability to maintain its human assets emotionally and physically. Organisations have a duty to be alert to this. So, then, we come to assuming responsibility. How do we make this audit a core part of organisation habits? To be continued... casestudymeera@gmail.com (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 07-09-2015)