The dialogue between Anirbaan Chowdary and Raghav Kashyap is a classic conflict between the head and the heart, leave alone between two separate individuals. Although Raghav comes across as a happy-go-lucky guy, in reality, he is pretty down to earth in his view of the world. Anirbaan's script about how a life should be lived becomes very pronounced when he responds sarcastically to Raghav's words of encouragement to enjoy the life as it comes and make the most of it, saying, "That is a fairy tale, please!" And Anirbaan is not alone.In my experience of coaching and mentoring, I come across many ‘successful' managers with notions of success and arrival as seen by the external world — titles, perquisites, possessions and visibility in ‘success circuits'. A single slip from the desired trajectory is regarded as dashed dreams. Look at the animal kingdom — there are all kinds of creatures. If animals start to wonder what made their creator discriminate, they cannot be as joyful as they are. I wonder if it is sometimes helpful if we do not think too much and too deep. Anirbaan's perspectives are coloured by his deep sense of emotional drain caused by what happened to him when he exposed his corrupt boss. For someone who is so well-qualified and had a successful run for a few decades, sudden turn of events and loss of job can bring down the heavens. The IT industry with its frequent ups and downs in recent decades has meant a roller coaster-ride for many otherwise accomplished professionals. Adding insult to injury was when some CEOs of the companies claimed that they were only letting go of non-performers. Do we realise that corporations are full of rat races and the problem with participating in them is that "even if you win the race, you are still a rat"! Those who never looked back have become entrepreneurs themselves!That Anirbaan is fixated with his definition of success is evident when he said to Raghav: "So I must tell my children the same thing, isn't it? Take what comes; do what is possible, hanh?" In reality, Raghav was not advocating this mindset of resignation; he was more pragmatic than philosophical; more realistic than rhetorical; calmer than confused; and more passionate than pretentious. Engulfed by emotions and stereotypical views of career and success, Anirbaan kept playing his ‘violin' of what success means and constitutes! Anirbaan also said: "Yet you studied economics! It can't even cut hair!" The objective at a subconscious level seems to be, "Look how I am cornering you with your own admission of why your theory does not work." But Raghav takes it in his stride when he responds with poise: "I came to peace with the idea I would not be an economist." This reminds me of a conversation Semco Corporation's Ricardo Semler (the maverick company run very well in Brazil) is said to have had with the students of Stanford Business School. He reportedly posed an innocent question: "How far can we go into the forest?" After all the smart answers that came from his audience, he let the cat out of the bag saying, "All your answers are right, but not accurate." He went on to explain that one can only go into the forest up to the middle of it, for beyond the midpoint, one is actually beginning to leave the forest, not going deeper!" Loaded with wisdom, this is true of most careers: there comes a time that no matter how talented we are and how ambitious we tend to be, it is important to accept reality as it is and come to terms with it.Anirbaan finds it difficult to understand the profound observation that Raghav makes when he says, "I studied one thing, didn't know what to do with it, found myself working at something totally out of the box… I was a victim of luck. Pure luck." Instead of appreciating the message that success follows those who chase their passion, Anirbaan undermines it by asking sarcastically, "Is that how you summarise your work, your success?" One can clearly see the limitations of the mindset that Anirbaan comes to characterise and the mindset of opportunities that Raghav comes to epitomise. Anirbaan is a classic example of what executive coaches call ‘victim syndrome'. What would help him is to reflect on the equation between success and happiness, and pursue ‘his second career' — be it in finance or anything else, where he may discover his ‘hungry spirit'. But even for those with a stereotypical understanding and interpretation of success, what Peter Drucker remarked may help: "Success is not scoring 100 in every match you play, but is more a constant effort to improve your batting average." Anirbaan needs help from a coach to get in touch with his unexamined assumptions and how they hurt him; more importantly to get in touch with his resources and build a successful career all over again. C. Mahalingam is executive vicepresident and chief people officer with Symphony Services(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 05-12-2011)
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The Drona syndrome that captures the mindset and behaviour of Drona as vividly captured in this case is widely prevalent in corporates today. While management science is full of motivation theories, a closer look at the circus that goes on in corporates reveals that only two things seem to be the ultimate motivators: greed and fear! Blake & Mouton's Managerial Grid as it focuses on ‘concern for people' and ‘concern for production' as a framework to explain leadership behaviours seems quite incomplete in modern management. The Drona Syndrome calls for an addition of ‘concern for self' to the framework to explain the leaders' behaviours in organisations today. Let us count Drona's blessings as recounted by Vineetji: "Drona is beyond description and praise. No words can express his valiance, his greatness, his power." And as for his curses: greed and vengeance. When greed is not met, oversized ego, dishonesty, attachment and abandoning his svadharma. This is pure concern for self at a high with low or zero concern for any common good. Did we not witness this big time in the collapse of financial system in 2009 — managed by bright smart managers?Nothing brings this out more eloquently than by a 1983 Harvard Business Review classic titled ‘The Parable Of The Sadhu'. This was a real story of how a whole lot of mountain climbers chose to do as little as they can get away doing with for a dying sadhu they encountered so that they can press ahead with their expedition. This was an issue of where our responsibility begins and ends with respect to a fellow human being in dire need of help. This case also raises issues that all of us as managers and employees confront each day at work. To quote the author, "We cannot quit our jobs over every ethical dilemma, but if we continually ignore our sense of values, who do we become?" Vineetji remarks, "Drona of perfect pedigree, great lineage, best opportunity and education, had lost his mind throbbing with anger. Not a good quality for productive work." Cleary evident from this are two things: a complete lack of conscientiousness and totally possessed by ego that runs wild. The modern day version of Drona syndrome includes mindless acquisitions by power-hungry and self-serving CEOs for whom swelling on the job is more important that growing up! And, as it happened with Drona in this case, you do not complain when rewarded for ‘accomplishing' such feats! Corporate Dronas are on the increase globally perhaps because they are rewarded with pots of gold for leaving the company after wrecking them — call them separation package!Jim Collins narrates the story of the corporate icon, Lee Iacocca who saved Chrysler from the brink of catastrophe. However, many of us may not remember what happened with this ‘role-model' leader post this signature accomplishment! His ego took control, he starred in over 80 commercials, entertained the idea of running for President of the US, and even as Chrysler's stock plummeted by over 30 per cent during the second half of his tenure, he would not bow out! He postponed his retirement several times such that insiders at Chrysler began to joke that Iacocca stood for "I Am Chairman of Chrysler Corporation Always!"And when he finally retired, he also demanded a private jet and stock options!" He even reportedly joined the forces to launch a hostile takeover bid for Chrysler! This is not an isolated case in corporate history.True that there are no peaks without valleys. When the student brings this wisdom up in conversation, Vineetji observes: "...underlying these personas is fundamental Drona-mind… Look at the reason or cause behind abandoning his svadharma!" In most cases of organisational illnesses, we see what Vineetji attributes to Drona, ‘the bull-headed chase of Drupad' — i.e. chasing greed and power! A larger purpose can be thought through and embraced reviving our svadharma as well in the process. Vineetji also says: "Simply, he was not happy with the choices he was having to make! Finally, it is your guna (mindset) that determines your personality, not your birth or lineage! Drona was the epitome of a conflicted mind." For corporate Dronas, the situation is no different, but there is a way out in what Jim Collins calls "Stockdale Paradox". Stockdale paradox is the ability to retain faith that you will prevail in the end regardless of the difficulties and at the same time you need to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. This is exactly what leaders have done in good-to-great companies.To the question "Does Drona realise his errors at all?" by Amrita, Vineetji makes an emphatic observation: "I guess he did. It must have revealed in various ways. Began with Duryodhan piling pressure on him for more conquests — and Drona was easy to manipulate." Remember the Chinese proverb? If the student is ready, the teacher will appear! And hopefully, the teacher is not Drona!C. Mahalingam is executive vice-president & chief people officer with Symphony Services Corporation(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 16-01-2012)
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Acharya Vineet was back after lunch to continue discussing India's knowledge tradition and ancient laws with the students at the B-school, TABS (see ‘Lessons Of A Forgotten War', BW, 19 December).Acharya Vineet had the unique distinction of having studied at XLRI before he shifted gears to study Advaita. Pre-lunch, the class had examined an organisation where the line management had changed the appraisal ratings of their teams force, rating them through a bell curve.When the discussion veered to values that drove leadership, it led to the students asking what was that one resource for which ancient India was willing to work unconditionally, even if power or wealth could not be theirs.To that Acharya Vineet had said, "The satisfaction of knowing that one had done one's duty..." And now, post-lunch, student Vallabh asked on behalf of the class, "What is duty? And where did Parmeet's management fail?"Vineetji: Let us look at duty and its components. You have heard of the word ‘yagna'. A yagna is a collective effort to make an offering to the Gods, either to just give or to also get. So we can understand a yagna as a team of contributors who put into the activity fire their skills, knowledge, abilities and their integrity. There are different gods heading rain, wind, food, health etc., all of which together make up life. Sometimes one may propitiate a given department head, sometimes, the chairman himself. Student: Why would you propitiate them? Does that not mean ‘pleasing them'?Vineetji: It does. Pleasing here means, doing according to their command. So if the CFO has defined a budget, then the marketing team by adhering, please the CFO. Or, when marketing wants more budgets, it will appeal to the CFO, pray to him for more. If the CFO sees greater good of the organisation, he will grant.Coming back to duty. In any activity that is undertaken, there is a potential all-round gain. This has to be reaped, right? So let's say 50 people come together to till this ground and reap the potential gains. The outcome, says the Gita, is directly proportional to the sincerity of the inputs from participants to the activity. The Gita says when the participants act in an attitude of dedication, for greater good than their own, it creates the conditions necessary for the onward success of the activity. Flipside, if even a few people shortchange, the yagna will be impacted.Student: Sir, can we apply this just to Parmeet's organisation and validate, please?Vineetji: For that we must look at all aspects of duty. Because inputs to a yagna also include attitude towards other team players, towards the activity, attitude to peers, subordinates, service staff — everyone. The yagna respects every contributor, however small. But it has been seen that the human alone has the ability to not do, or do less than what the yagna requires. This is because only man has the ability to make choices. Animals, birds, plants do as they are programmed. But man will negotiate with rules.Often choices are between what I can get (greed) and what I can let you get (selfishness), and then I become the yagna, not the organisation! In some cases, man chooses neither, but ‘what organisation can get' (lokaagraha). But this path is chosen by the brave only. We know Parmeet's organisation did not fall in this box as top and line management were caught between greed and selfishness. For a yagna to bring forth its fruit, the ego has to be quietened....And when this is done, conditions for perfect results are created. This is duty. We will bear in mind: duty is also enabling perfection through our inner attitude and integrity. This includes motivation and morale building. But acts done to feed and nurture oneself and not the yagna, result in suboptimal outcomes (aka, failure) resulting in dissatisfaction for those who get less than they gave (Parmeet), and sin for those who thus took away. This word sin is what we call adharma, or acts not in line with duty.Student: Vineetji, clearly then, what comes in the way of perfection is the ego that claims for itself and retracts from giving to the yagna!Amrita: Perfect! Look at the rain. It makes no choice. It falls according to the density of cloud formation. It rains because that is its dharma. Vineetji, this concept of organisation as a yagna... can you elaborate please?Vineetji: The whole organisation is a collection of teams, so every department is a yagna, every line manager is a purohit and marketing, sales, etc. are all yagnas in the total organisation yagna. These smaller yagnas become inputs to the total yagna whose success is dependent on each of these smaller yagnas. That means, every department and within it each team member has to perform his or her dharma.Amrita: So, is dharma equal to duty? Vineetji: English is an inadequate, imprecise language in the face of Sanskrit. Just as buddhi is not intellect, dharma is not just duty.To understand dharma, we look at the macro picture. There is a defined natural order, and all things and beings are subscribers of this order. In Sanskrit, it is called Rta. Likewise an organisation has its Rta to attain its goals and employees must do what is expected of them. Student: Who decides what is expected of you? And expectation from whose standpoint?Vineetji: From your standpoint, naturally. If you are in the right place and you are there consciously, actively, having chosen to be there, and you know why you are there, then there is a certain expectation that devolves upon you by virtue of your being in that spot, in that coordinate of time and space. That expectation is dharma. Therefore, where you are is a choice you make.Amrita: A little while ago you mentioned other aspects of dharma. Vineetji: That's right, there is varna dharma, stage-in-life dharma and svadharma.For example, are you studying for an MBA because you want to or because someone asked you to, whereas you wish to be a musician? Conviction to do your svadharma also comes with courage to deal with resistance and rejection — and that conviction comes when there is clarity...Student: What do you mean by clarity, acharyaji? I think we are all clear!Vineetji: Clarity is when there is only the eye of the fish; not the fish. Clarity is absence of clutter. That is where the scriptures play a role. The scriptural methods like pranayam, meditation and yoga are aimed at mental fitness and emotional integration. Such a mind delivers clarity. Clutter comes when there are too many things to choose from and the mind vacillates. Or you don't know what you want. Or, you want everything. Then you have clutter. You don't know what you want because you are unable to stay committed to one thing. This happens because you are distracted by a variety of must-haves, desires of the ego! break-page-breakConsequently, the mind starts getting attracted more to the glory of a designation and its perquisites, less to the function or job content. The mind starts getting attracted more to what it can get than what it can contribute. Student: So the management at Parmeet's company lacked clarity? Clarity over what it needs to give versus what it wants to take home?Vineetji: They lacked the yagna spirit. Their egos and not wisdom governed their actions, so that greed and selfishness led them. Then the mind gets cluttered. Because the senses then are actively pursuing egocentric gains. This is the perennial battle of ego versus duty.Student: Why are you emphasising the ego such a lot? Ego is not bad...Vineetji: Ego is destructive, it takes away clarity. When you are part of a yagna, you are there to ensure the glory of the yagna. Not the glory of the ego. Ego impairs discrimination and urges you to take the path of pleasure, preyas, than good, shreyas. In management jargon, short-term gains versus long-term good.Duryodhan was a highly accomplished warrior, but short term in thinking. Desired quick satisfaction. Every battle he initiated was to appease the short term — his ego led need to take revenge, destroy... not build — right from the ‘wax house' episode up to the big war, the sigma of these gains actually netted total loss! Yudhishthir, on the other hand, thought of shreyas, higher values, longer term and greater good. At every stage that he seemed to have lost, it was adding up to a long-term gain. We want a mind that can naturally choose shreyas.Student: If that were possible, wouldn't people have started using it?Vineetji: You will be surprised it's actually possible. Because the mind is as easy to train and control as it is to let it run amuck. But unfortunately, we train the mind to trod the path of clutter than that of clarity. Reflect upon this. Let us now examine... adharma, the antonym of dharma or anything that is not in accordance with the natural order.For example, just as the battle of Kurukshetra was about to begin, Arjuna declared he cannot fight, that he was renouncing everything. What we see here is this: here's a warrior by birth, responsible for society and the state, the best student of his batch, and now he wants to give it up to be what he is not wired for. Cowardice is a function of adharma!Student: How does that become cowardice? It's a choice he is making. He does not want to hold on to that job, he is umm... resigning?Vineetji: He is now also deviating from his stage-of-life dharma! Take a factory process. Every stage of production can take only certain inputs, and can deliver only certain stages of production. You cannot invoke Stage 7 when Stage 2 is going on. You get my drift? Likewise, the natural order defines stages of life in which an individual is expected to do only some things and not other things. This is stage-of-life dharma — where life is seen as a long process spanning, student stage, householder stage, senior citizen stage and renunciation stage. Each stage has a role to play and duties to perform. Amrita: How are you linking this to Parmeet's top management?Vineetji: Essentially, if there has been a breakdown of dharma at any stage in the life process without an effort to restore it, then it will translate into suboptimalities exponentially. Here, the top management is seeking short-term joy through budget gains via curving the rewards, unethically, repeat, unethically, which is a sign of desire for preyas. A leader —we saw in the morning — has a responsibility towards people who depend on him.Student: Call me dumb, but how is a management to know which path is shreyas? Vineetji: Unique, isn't it? Shreyas becomes a habit if you have been taught to choose the higher road since childhood. When you do that, then as a student you will follow student dharma, that is pure study, obedience of law and perfection of skills. Society also structured itself around these dharmas, so that those who had to protect had to protect and not teach or do business. In this manner, society took care of itself and its constituents.Students were left undisturbed to study as a part of building society's future talent pool, but if you instead choose to work, you would be damaging that effort! The grihastas looked after society and the elders in it. As a student, you were supposed to simply focus on gaining knowledge in academics, sports, music and martial arts, singlemindedly. Today students are distracted by things outside their stage-of-life. Like premarital sex, intoxicants…Anything that you do contrary to student life is adharma. Sex was allowed only to a grihasta. Not even to a vanaprastha! When these systems are contravened, we have a lack of clarity. These were designed so that we got the most out of studentship. That was why Arjuna was chided for seeking sanyas when his dharma was serving family and nation. If the top and line management had this kind of attention to developing a robust mind / intellect, clarity would have been theirs. If not, it will be like having a beautiful shiny car whose carburettor is filled with garbage. Students: So how did they breach dharma? Vineetji: The line manager's dharma was to appraise employees' performance in the context of his department, develop them and make them fit for delivering department dharma. That department is his yagnashala, his field of operation. Developing his team for excellence had to be his area of focus.How did that Parmeet get a shock? Isn't it because he did not know how the rules operated? Who's responsible for Parmeet's confusion?Student: Ah! Suppose it is not a professionally managed company and applied the appraisal tool without knowing how to, is that ignorance adharma?Vineetji: Haha… okay... it's like this. The nature of fire is to burn. It will burn regardless of whether you are a child, a sick person, an ignorant person or a fool. Once you occupy a position of leadership, teacherhood, parenthood, you assume responsibility for your actions and ignorance does not operate to cover your faults; no matter how small your team, you owe a duty to your team to provide right direction.break-page-break To work with our metaphor of yagna. You get appointed as purohit (leader of a yagna). It is a responsible position. Therefore, preparedness is paramount. The line manager's task is to appraise each employee and establish who has fallen short and also why. He needs to communicate to them that their contribution has lowered the team's accomplishments, because he takes responsibility for the suboptimal offerings of his department. Because of this, other departments get affected. He needs to communicate to the team this disparity and his job is to pull that quotient up to the right level for the next cycle. Then it will be correct to say that I am following my dharma and I am doing what is expected of me. But say I am tempted by personal gains or have an axe to grind and I misuse this moment, that would be adharma.Student: How does anybody do his duty, in that case? This line manager, what can he do if his boss is saying this is the way I want you to conduct the appraisal? If I am being forced to do something wrong and I do it, is that dharma or adharma?Vineetji: See, at every stage you only need to audit against the need of the yagna. If while a yagna or effort is in process, one of the constituents, without having regard to the other players, steps aside to ensure his personal interest, that is thievery, adharma. Remember the fire principle. Fire will burn whether you touch it accidentally or deliberately. Never mind that you were ‘forced'; adharma is a choice you make, just as to be value-based is also a choice! If I am working towards greater good, then I am working for the benefit of my team. If my boss wants me to do something that is suboptimal, wrong, which I know will jeopardise the interest of my yagna, I must protest.But when I act to get more for myself, then I am working for myself. If that is so, then I am not working for the yagna. For example, Rama went to the forest for his father, for his people, as a commitment to obedience and to uphold the Kshatriya dharma, because his father's promise as king made to the queen, had to be fulfilled. And he, Rama, was germane to that promise. As the crown prince, he cared about Ayodhya's image. He believed that the prince should be respectful of dharma, only then the praja would too. Not just Rama, the whole kingdom believed in value-based living. And Rama had been taught his duties as a child.Student: But here even the MD is not doing his duty, as you say. Now is the company doomed? Who minds the MD? Because you also say the employees should not rebel or fight.Vineetji: The MD is hedged in by the board. Olden Indian kingdoms had sages attached to the king' family. The Rajguru, like a board, guided the king and his court in values. There is a grand example of King Ven, whose criminal conduct was destroying the kingdom, and the sages sat him down and talked sense into him, but to no avail. The sages then finally ousted the King and appointed a new leader.The net takeaway is this: every activity has a productive potential (profits). That has to be reaped. To do that we need to revere this potential, not desire it. When we revere it, we do for it what is due to be done (duty). Every creature has a role to play in the wheel of life, and if he is not given his due from the yagna, there will be unhappiness and suffering — for the one deprived and the one depriving.In short, just know your duty and do it. As Miyagi san would say, ‘I promise teach karate. I say, you do, no questions. That your part (duty)!' Problem is, we don't assume our duties, our greed is far too huge!Student: So, if leaders and teachers must do their duty, how does Drona get away? When Ekalavya approached Drona and asked for his tutorship, why did Drona refuse? Wasn't it his duty to accept a student who came to him? Vineetji: Drona? Hmm... Drona-a-a-h! Very good. Drona exists in all of us. We are all Dronas! Why did Drona do that can be answered if we can answer why we fail in our duty! Classroom DiscussionWhen the CEO does his duty, the people get their rights. When people do theirs, the nation gets its rightscasestudymeera(at)gmail(dot)com(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 02-01-2012)
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Excellence in work comes from doing one's dharma, a path not easy to follow. The primary reason attributed to this is a "cluttered" mind, distracted by desire for rewards, greed or selfishness; and not working with the complete self, which is adharma. It is suggested practice of pranayama, meditation and yoga integrates mind so that it obtains clarity of dharma and can remain focused on its execution. It is posited when people follow dharma there is yagna that benefits all. Anything less, according to Vedas, leads to negative outcomes.Is the Vedic prescription easy to follow? Prima facie, it is not. Present day Indian youth have experienced their parents' struggle while bringing them up in resource-scarce India of past. The proverbial limited pie syndrome inculcates values of competitiveness emanating from deep insecurity, which the young would have implicitly imbibed while growing up. It is but natural for them to desire material, position and power rewards "very soon" now that modern India has the miraculous capability of offering these opportunities to the educated youth. Is it wrong to desire? Why is it a barrier to execution of dharma? What is the metaphysics of desire? For answers, we can turn to Vedic cosmogony.According to Prashnopanishad, creation (universe) is the result of cosmic desire. The absolute-conscious Brahman (subsistence) becomes source and originator of creation when stirred with awareness of its fullness and not wishing to possess its fullness, loses itself to second, third and many more, giving rise to creation. As is the macro, so is the micro, and we see in nature, the willingness to not possess its perfection for itself, and give away as bounties (food, warmth, shade, etc.) which others enjoy. According to Sri Aurobindo, nature of cosmic desire is not an economic activity of satisfaction of "wants", but is an aesthetic activity, which cannot be what it is without self manifestation. The law behind creation is complete self-giving called yajna and creation works like gigantic cosmic yajna (Rig Veda 10:90).Human beings are capable of experiencing fullness and doing their dharma in the spirit of yajna. But for most individuals, the drag of past and pull of future leaves the self sundered, and actions performed in the present are from an incomplete state of being. The reason: the unique human endowment called mind (manas) — the cognitive capacity that acts like a double-edged sword because it is both the cause of bondage and also the cause of freedom from bondage. Manas creates desire. Also the motivation to develop is to acquire objects of desire and is quick to present another image (vikalpa) to chase in a never-ending cycle. Vedas consider this as natural human condition and prescribe the fourfold human values purusartha: kama, artha, dharma and moksa for satisfaction of "complete human being". Kama is conscious satisfaction of sensual desires, artha is acquiring economic and other means to fulfil kama, while dharma regulates the two so that fulfilment is complete and liberates (moksa). Adi Sankara says that while enjoying pleasures, we ought to also protect ourselves against them through dharma. Even a hedonist will not abandon dharma even though he uses it to fulfil kama; because dharma saves from excess in indulgence that reduces enjoyment and leads to dissipation. Dharma does not detract from enjoyment, rather allows for holistic fulfilment.Modern human beings have stopped fulfilling purusartha and thereby remain eternally dissatisfied. Possessions, position and power cannot be equated with satisfaction. The complete trajectory that desire unfolds involves not just subjective wanting, but also objects of desire, right efforts and means (artha and dharma) for acquiring, and finally conscious enjoyment (bhoga). As a rule, we neither enjoy the work we have, our possessions, nor relationships, not even food. We are perpetually chasing increasingly-alluring images of self — always unhappy with the present and in hope of better future. This is the dark side of "perpetual progress", which drives us like a hamster on rat wheel.WHO projections on world health say that by 2020, depression will be the number one killer in women; and violence will rank third as risk factor for mortality in males. Both are forms of mental instability and these forebodings pose a serious challenge to organisations, which depend on human capital for sustenance. Purusartha is a concept culled from India's knowledge traditions — the Vedas and HR can creatively design suitable strategies for its employees around it. Organisations will have to create space for employees for "conscious enjoyment "of work and reward. Find out if people are holistically fulfilled and not consumed entirely by organisations to stretch targets. Organisations may have to slow their growth, only to sustain high performance brought about by fulfilled individuals who give themselves freely to the organisation.Dr Mala Sinha is associate professor, Asian Perspectives in Power and Leadership; Business Ethics at the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 02-01-2012)
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Fascinated by the Socratic dialogue between Acharya Vineetji and the class of curious students, I could not help coining a term, ‘hearticulating', for Acharya's drawing parellels from Vedic management goes beyond articulating! The scene at Parmeet's company is a classic case of Dilbert's comedy at work — the roles of CEO, Parmeet's manager and HR well representing the Dilberts, Dogberts and the Catberts! Thankfully, Vedic scriptures offer solace and solutions, if only modern managers care to seek wisdom from them.That the dharma at work is neither well understood, nor aptly practised is evident from the discussions on performance management. Vineetji simplifies the dharma by breaking it into simple components when he says, "a yagna is a collective effort to make an offering to the Gods, either to just give or to also get". This brings home two key lessons for those in management — (a) synergy is possible when all of us bring our knowledge and skills into doing our duty; and (b) we can accomplish a lot more when we do not worry too much about "who gets the credit". Vedic management as explained by Vineetji also clarifies the need to understand the goal, the role and the contribution from time to time. Unfortunately, modern organisations have veered away for various reasons from building performance on these foundations!First, appraisal ratings are not curved at the organisational level, but usually at the departmental level which then shapes the organisation's curve. Second, line managers are not expected to share the ratings with their direct reports until normalisation is completed. Foremost, employees should be helped to understand the difference between absolute and relative performance towards the larger goal of the team. And finally, the annual pay raises are not always a function of ratings, but several other factors including the criticality of employee, current penetration into the salary band, etc. Finally, what caps it all is Parmeet choosing to sue the company, which is rarely ever the case even in today's litigant society and mercenary employer-employee relationships that we witness everywhere. Good organisations provide an escalation procedure for employees to air their dissatisfaction and flexibility is often built in to accommodate an extra outstanding rating. What is evident from the discussion is that as Vineetji points out, there seems to be "perfect clutter" and not an "iota of clarity" on how the performance management system is administered in the company. We see no Vedic management, but wasteful mismanagement!When Vineetji expands the horizons of our understanding saying, "duty is also enabling perfection through our inner attitude and integrity", we appreciate the need for creating the engaging organisations through right HR systems and managerial mindsets. When leaders own the accountability for creating the right climate, employees move from ‘willing compliance' to ‘cheerful cooperation' and finally to the pinnacle of performance characterised by ‘creative excitement'. This needs beyond systems that measure performance (what people can't do or don't do), to systems that measure contribution (what people can do and are capable of doing). As Vineetji points out, ancient kings had the benefit of wisdom of the rishis. In modern organisations, HR leaders have this responsibility to design safeguards just in case the systems are circumvented to the disadvantage of the conscientious contributors by either the uninformed or malicious managers. In either case, the impact is on the employee, whose motivation gets substantially sabotaged. In the corporate world, the punishment follows right away in the form of a talented employee choosing to leave the manager and the organisation, and invest his efforts elsewhere.It is also interesting to watch the dialogue where a student asks "who decides what is expected of you" and another quips, "from whose standpoint is expectation measured". Vineetji's response is equally philosophical when he says: "If you are in the right place and you are there consciously, actively, having chosen to be there, and you know why you are there, then there is a certain expectation that devolves upon you by virtue of your being in that spot, in that coordinate of time and space." This has enormous implication for people in organisations as this puts the onus on each of us to choose where we want to be and once we have chosen and found our place, to do our best as our dharma. The message is loud and clear — be aware and be responsible. Dharma is to be fully engaged and delivering our very best, not stay on when we recognise we are actively disengaged.C. Mahalingam is executive vice-president & chief people officer with Symphony Services Corporation(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 02-01-2012)
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Anirbaan Chowdary looked around him at the people in the train. Between mobile phones and laptops, they stayed engaged; everyone was busy. Anirbaan looked towards the man sitting in front of him, hidden by the newspaper he was reading. He saw the front page, which faced him, and presently engaged with some front-page political condition. Just then the train lurched, and Anirbaan lost the sentence he was reading; he leaned forward and held the newspaper erect to catch the words. Raghav Kashyap, the man behind the newspaper, folded the paper down to see Anirbaan lost in deciphering the folded sentence, his eyebrows raised as he mouthed the little he could read. Kashyap smiled and said, "Here, would you like to read it? I am done anyway."Anirbaan: Arre, nahi nahi... it's fine. What is there to read anyway! All graft and corruption and pointless arguing and posturing! Everyday same thing! Just see, no news about value-added governance. Every news is about condemnation, defence, counter-condemnation... ‘They are corrupt, they have always been corrupt, we are a better party,'... tchah! Everybody is corrupt! By the way, I am Anirbaan...Kashyap: I am Raghav, Raghav Kashyap. Anirbaan: Just see the world, such dishonesty! Nobody can be trusted. Why? Because finally everyone is busy looking out for himself, and finally the good guy gets hit, you understand? (Kashyap nodded, folding the paper and putting it away.) Arre baba, you tell me, is your government looking out for me today? Can you say that? No. They are busy defending while the other side is throwing cow dung at them. Soon, this side will get to throw the dung and the other guy gets to duck. Our television channels will be the ones to laugh all the way to the bank, and we idiots will still be sitting there watching, wondering whose serve it is now! Kashyap: Are you in public administration? I get the feeling your world is full of politicians.Anirbaan: Not at all! But there are politically sly people in my life. I was the CFO of a very large organisation, Gemmet India. One day I cottoned on to the fact that my MD was siphoning out money through some third-party transactions. Like this only (he said tapping at a 2G news report on the first page), big-time money, several crores. I foolishly confronted him. Finished! He framed me, then sacked me and nobody would believe me. Can you imagine? Eighteen years in Gemmet, and they believed that crooked fox! (Tears welled up in Anirbaan's eyes and he hastily wiped them.)"My parents don't know; they will die of shock. I am living between the Company Law Board corridors, the lawyers' office and the Sahyadri... a really bad time for me yaar. How successful I used to be! Sab gaya. I could not find a job. It has been three years now. I found one, but same thing there also! Everybody stealing money... nobody has commitment! I was a rank holder! How do I explain this effect that has no cause to my son? What do I tell him about working hard?"Kashyap: Wait until destiny knocks on your door. (After some silence) I am returning from Pune after a reunion with six of my friends. We meet every two years and have been doing this since 1979. We studied together, dreamt together over shared cups of tea in the college canteen, and built our lives from there. This weekend we shared our failures, lost dreams, new joys, surprises... Let me share some of that; you might find some answers there.break-page-breakCyrus came from a family of stage actors and was throughout his life exposed to theatre life. When he thought of Prithviraj Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor, he didn't think of movies; he thought of Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai. The small stage was all he wanted to be part of — intimate, immediate, challenging. He was determined to become a method actor... went off to study drama at NSD.Cyrus was our hero — he was going to become a thinking star. So when Som, another friend, wanted to take to theatre, Cyrus encouraged him to think about NSD. But Som did not want to be in a classroom. Could theatre be taught in a classroom? he argued. Som would watch and observe life. So Som walked into a Mumbai film studio to see what he could do. At the same time, Cyrus came back with a drama degree and found himself playing roles in plays that had tremendously challenging intellectual content, but did not pay much. He did bit roles in movies, parts in advertising films and taught drama as a module in some private colleges. After 25 years of living in theatre greenrooms, Cyrus realised he would never be a star. Somehow he had not realised this aspect of success. Som, meanwhile, was immersed in variety — one day a street don, another a billionaire. But he worried that he would not be able to make a living from hanging around film studios. Then, one day, the break came, just like that. Som was asked to write the script for a movie! He did. It won an award. Other scripts followed. Bit roles in movies at first, and finally, he wrote his own movie. Not that his own movie was a big hit, but it had India's No. 1 movie star in it. Som was our hero. Today, he plays the lead role in a television serial. But sadly, he did not have the time to join us friends yesterday in Pune.But Cyrus came, dropping some of his badly needed work — it did not make a difference to him if his being away was upsetting some schedules. But Som could not risk what had taken him a lifetime to build. Two professional actors: Som, who rejected structured education in drama, yet ‘success' came to him. But he can't live life anymore. And Cyrus — slaved at drama school, family of actors, yet his dream eluded him. But he has found a connectedness with life and values that above all else!So tell me, Anirbaan, can it be that what you thought is the goal of your life, an accounting career, is, in fact, the means to get you to another point C? How do you know that your travel is not over? Does success lie in becoming a CFO or in being a CFO through all the challenges it brings?The point is this: you may have found people cheating, you may have pointed out the wrong they do and slipped many rungs down as a result. But is it all just about a career? Do we not also need to see what our stretch potential is? Like Som did at the start of his career, as Cyrus did 20 years after his career started.Anirbaan: Achha, see, for these film folks and theatre types, all this is fine. They live between park benches and coffee shops. We guys are family men — children, biwi, etc. We need to have a steady job to save for the kids' education!Kashyap: You mean you assume your kids will want to study? What if they decide not to become an accountant or a doctor but a hair dresser? Will that define your success?Anirbaan (shuddering): My son is intelligent and a ranker... he will make it to IIT for sure. Also, see, where we come from, fathers plan the careers for their sons. Kashyap: Actually, it is odd that you think that hair dressing requires no education. Hair stylists need to learn styling, sanitation, bleaching, hair care, skin care, scalp care, massage... Will you believe it, there are over 5,000 colleges world over, who offer courses for barbers? Another friend, Aparna, who was there yesterday, should have become a hair stylist. She is so good at it. Grooming comes right on top of her list of priorities. No wonder she became an airhostess. And, today, her 20-year-old son Anay, who plays a guitar in a heavy metal band, has long Rastafarian locks! It is a young band. They were finalists for a music contest and could have been playing at an international festival this year. But they lost. Doesn't make the band bad, just that they were not the best!Aparna is really worried. She earns well, travels the world, is a single mother. She is doing exactly what she used to dream of in college — be an air hostess, with a good airline, and see the world. So career-wise, she is successful. She has a gifted and talented son, but she is concerned that Anay does not want to study. He wants to travel the world, meet great people, not have roots or responsibilities. His world is music. One day he wants to do it as a travelling musician. He stopped going to college, hated the system, found it almost bizarre; and began to focus on his music. Anay thinks he is headed north. Aparna thinks he is heading nowhere.But Aparna also thinks that Anay is a sign of her failure. How can her son not want to study, not have a career, not want to have a stable life? She was very worried yesterday, Anirbaan! Anirbaan: I empathise with her. That son is up to no good. She is right in wanting him in college!Kashyap: She sees her other friends; their kids are studying in fancy colleges in the US. One of them even told us that her daughter was a peer ambassador for the Unicef! Now imagine what that can do to someone like Aparna. Anay and his matted locks are sure doom.Aparna tried to send Anay to a college of music in Canada, where her brother lives. But Anay didn't want to leave his band mates — they need to be together to produce music! The odd thing is that Aparna went to college with Sakhi, who also became an airhostess for the same airline. The two were very good friends — they still are. They used to fly together, share rooms when they were stationed abroad, and so on. Then Sakhi got married and stopped 10 years into her career. Sakhi's husband is a very successful banker. He recently bought her a Mercedes. Her kids are studying in the US. One is doing a course in fashion design — seems like another barber career that requires no education, right? And the other is doing an MBA in international trade. How precise and exotic, no? Yesterday, Aparna was saying, ‘Look at Sakhi, wasting her life. But that is because they can afford anything. But it's her husband's money!'"Anirbaan: People's lives are different and looking after family is not wrong...Kashyap: Aparna feels Sakhi neglected her career. Anyway, Anay should have been in the US, doing an MBA too, isn't it? She measures herself against Sakhi. And when the subject of children comes up, Aparna has nothing to talk about. Her son does not even go to college. Anirbaan: Now you see my condition? My friends talk about great achievements they have made. And I don't even have a job! I can understand how Aparna feels. She wants her son to be successful, and he is not. The only thing he was doing right was the band business, and in that also he went and failed the contest. But even if he won the contest, how long do bands last? How can he make a career with that? Raise a family? How long can you cut hair? And how much money? When I was in school, Coolar Hair salon across the street from where I lived, charged Rs 2 for a haircut. Today, it is Rs 200 at Habib's. But why would I go to Habib if Bunty's Cool Cut can do it in Rs 45?Aparna wants her son to be successful, do a post-grad and be relevant!Kashyap: Why would you go to Habib's if Bunty Cool can do it for Rs 45, is a good question. But let's not go down that road now. Aparna's problem is perhaps not her son. It is her growing definition of success. Once it was ‘see the world'; now it is ‘son must be an MBA'. Let's not forget Anay is only 20. One failure doesn't sum up a band. John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy Of The Dunces was rejected by publishers to the point where Toole committed suicide. Eleven years later, the book got published, became a cult classic, and won Toole the Pulitzer for fiction, posthumously. Jonathan Swift was the inspiration for the book's title. Swift said, ‘When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by his sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.' Aparna needs to read Toole, read Swift, and face the irony in her life. She is a student of literature; she should know that literature, music, poetry, drama, art, dance, cinema are the nectar of life. That is what we live for. Do you recollect ever paying Rs 250 to hear an MBA talk for two hours? Was it houseful? Did the MBA get great reviews? Did he win an Oscar? I doubt it. break-page-breakAnother of our friends is Arthur. He studied literature with us, and then left for the US to study educational instruction design — a science that helps develop frameworks for learning for different levels of education. For example, how do you teach a bunch of electronics engineers the theory around Bluetooth networks? Arthur designed such courses. While in Houston, he met his would-be wife, Zahara (Zah), a student of public health at Kent's Clear. When Arthur returned to India, he found it difficult to find anyone who valued what he had studied. Is that failure? You tell me. Meanwhile, he married Zah. He turned to consultancy, but all he got was six assignments in 22 years, and nothing in the last five years. He can't believe he is not fit for a job.Zah, too, became a consultant for a water project in Jharkhand, but she was putting her education to great use. She travelled often, earned a small but reasonable amount managing clean drinking water projects for an NGO, and was able to look after household expenses. Recently, after 20 years with the NGO, she was called by Kent's Clear to manage some of their health projects in India. Now, at last, after two decades, she has begun to earn a fat salary. But Arthur was not sitting quiet, lamenting. He developed skills in personal finance, using an inheritance as seed fund. Over the past five years, using the Internet, he taught himself the skills of market trading. It is a story that ends well: Arthur is happy again; but it took two decades of search. Now he plans to place funds for his friends and neighbours. Zah has found meaning in her education; but it took two decades too!Is there something in the stories of Arthur and Zah for us? About looking for opportunity even in the dark? Life is not only about a degree; it is about an education. Is the purpose of education only to earn money? I guess colleges and B-schools do not teach you how to apply it to yourself. Foolish, but then that is what we asked for, no? Then again, who said it should come through text books, teachers and tutorials? And why should a loss of a job be seen as failure and not as success? Anirbaan: Eh?Raaghav: Indeed! Think... suppose, your office finds out that the MD was a crook after all, and they call you back and everybody commends you for your ethics. Will you continue to think of yourself as a failure? Will you not think that in the matter of upholding ethics and fighting evil, I am successful? That means success is relative to other things and others' beliefs, no? Sakhi thinks her life is successful; that she has contributed to her husband's and hence family's success. But Aparna thinks that is not success! Yet, Arthur says his life has turned out pretty well after all! Hahaha! Anirbaan: What use was that fantastic education? He studies for one thing which was not even relevant 20 years ago, and ends up doing a banker's job! Don't know about ‘failure', but definitely foolish!Raaghav: One led to the other, maybe? But that is in the realm of philosophy. Then what is success, Anirbaan? A little while ago, that man came to sell tea. He offered it to us in extremely thin plastic cups that bent to the touch. Yet we bought. Then came the railway canteen chap, with his thermos and tray and ceramic cups. Suddenly the tea in our plastic cups looked terrible; the ceramic cup tea looked real, better and hygienic tea. What happened? Anirbaan: The thing about philosophy is that it always appeals to the mind. Raaghav: Co-rrect! Isn't that the real customer? Yet all our definitions of success are based on others' definitions! US education or band business? NSD or self-taught? IIT or hair dressing? Where do these come from? I think from our definitions of ourselves — what we would rather be, than what we are; how we would like to be seen by others. Anirbaan: Philosophy is the ploy of the mind to make life palatable. Isn't that the same with your friends? Kashyap: To an extent, yes. Twenty two years down the line, my six friends are still negotiating their successes and fine tuning it. Some won their lotteries early; then they coasted. Some won late; but they remained okay with the late start. Losing can happen in anyway... you may just lose it in a tsunami, or someone may steal it or you may spend it after a drunken night, or you may be waylaid... You lost it to a fraud MD. How does that make you unsuccessful? I thought the MD is unsuccessful because he had to push you down to rise up!When the cracks appear, find a way to re-enter life. A lot like Alice and the little door and the Pick Me Up and the Eat Me... if she had thought of herself as big and the door as small, Lewis Carroll would not have a story to tell. Successes don't make great stories, Anirbaan. Managing a failure does!To be continued...Classroom DiscussionAfter a setback, we plan how to present it to others. Instead, we need to explain it to ourselves first.casestudymeera(at)gmail(dot)com(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 21-11-2011)
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Tricky matter this, success. Before looking at the subject of success, let us look at the people chasing success, and their actions, in this particular case.Let us go with Anirbaan first. He seems to be a bit of a cry baby. He has been in a large corporate set-up for 18 years. He was a CFO. He should have been aware of the process of whistle-blowing. In a corporate set-up, there is usually an internal audit, and the CFO has access to the Board. But he has not followed any process. That, however, does not take away from the purity of his intent. He has done something noble. The consequences have hit him badly. He should get his family together, explain the situation to them and get them to rally behind him. Here is his great chance to be a hero with his son. He should fight, clear his name and start again. Som, I think, is a winner. He has stuck on in the big bad world of movies. He has written an award-winning script; he has made his movie with a top-billing star — big things in the movie business. He now has regular work. Raghav Kashyap's comment — "… Som could not risk what has taken him a lifetime to build' — is quite silly. An actor's schedule is an actor's schedule; it cannot be changed easily.Cyrus is probably a case of bad investment. Coming from a family of actors does not ensure that one will have the talent to make it as an actor and capture the imagination of the audience that you are trying to communicate with. Cyrus, Kashyap says, "… has found a connectedness with life." Could Cyrus be hiding behind it? Has Cyrus ever stepped out of his family talent and examined what his individual capabilities are? Or, like Anirbaan's son, has he willed himself to do what daddy wanted him to be?Aparna has flimsy belief in herself. She keeps shifting the goalposts in her life. Earlier, she was younger and her son more predictable, nay, pliable! Now she is uncomfortable with her son, who is pushing the envelope. Is she missing a point? Should she not encourage her son to pursue a career in music? Anupam Roy is a raging hit singer in Bengal; he is redefining modern Bengali music. He is a gold medal-winning engineer, who gave up engineering and started singing commercially. So do not be wary Aparna, just hang on to your son's dreams and continue to guide him as you have been doing all these 19 years! Anay is young and has not found his calling. Just inspire him to find his calling. He surely will.Sakhi is like a zillion working women who give up their careers when they marry or have children. I have seen women who agonise about losing their financial independence. They lose the shine from their purpose. It seems that Sakhi has not. Then she is happy. And it is her happiness that counts and not what others think of her chucking her career.Arthur cannot be called lucky. He worked hard, without letting failure (in the true sense for him) weigh him down. He had the legitimacy of education, though a change of place affected him. He went outside his skin and developed a new skill. Zah used her education to make a career. These are builders — even out of broken dreams, they were capable of extracting life.All of them are great studies in character. Anirbaan and Aparna are fragile. Som and Arthur (and Zah) are sturdy. Cyrus is compliant. Success, for each group will be a different animal. For the fragile, success is terribly in the eye of the beholder. They will always be complaining. They will always find reasons to think that they are not successful. The sturdy will be the opposite. It is not to say that they will not ever sleep badly. But they will find a way. The compliant are wretched beings, accepting things as they come.I have, in my long career, lost more games than won. My losses have been reported as gloriously as have my wins. I have, however, approached my life and career in a simple way. I have trained hard, gone in to give it my best, and have always been positive.Would you call me successful? I am not as successful as Roger Federer. Then again, today, as an Indian athlete, my success (in terms of my wins) is astounding. Success will always depend on the context and will be put up against external measures especially in today's world where goals, plans and road maps are parts of even school curricula. So what will you worry about? Your own being? The context? The external measures? Things that are in your control? Things that you cannot control?It is best to remember the character types. The fragile. The sturdy. The compliant. Focus on what you want to be. It could be argued that character types are genetic. To an extent, yes. But again, with awareness and training you can mould your character. Do not worry about success. Do not bother about failure. Train hard and give it your best. Remember, if you are successful, handling that will be quite a job too.Leander Paes loves life, soccer and music. He has also won 12 Grand Slams in tennis(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 21-11-2011)
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Truly, one may gain by losing and one may lose by gaining' — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching.Catching up with an old colleague and good friend the other day, we were exchanging news of our other ex-colleagues. "I do not know of too many people," he said, "who have left and done really well." Elaborating, he said he only considered those who had left and moved to a "higher role/assignment" as successful. Those who started another company fell in the twilight zone and those who left to chase other dreams clearly were not in the running. That conversation set me thinking about my own judgement of people's success.What is success or failure? Why is there a standard definition for success that consists of a good education, a good job, getting promoted, managing a large team, having power, being married, having children who then go to good schools, having a house, a car, a few servants, visiting exotic places, being featured in one's trade publications or conferences, being recognised? Is failure the lack of one or more of these ingredients, or is it something non-standard like ‘chasing my dream' or ‘helping others chase theirs'? Why is there no place for inner achievement or contentment in success? Is life's purpose to win all the time and at all costs?Anirbaan Chowdary's definition of success is certainly standard. Yet, twice he has had to face what he defines as failure, but cannot think through either event. How often the universe conspires to give us these pauses in life, to reflect on our own foibles, habits, attitudes and skills. The wise believe that all situations manifest for us to learn to be better human beings. There are no coincidences. We seldom pause when we feel successful. But when failure rears its head, we often soul-search and, therefore, get a chance to gain from the experience. Steve Jobs famously said that the best thing that happened to him was being fired from Apple, a company he co-founded. In my experience, the key issues that need tackling are inside us. Often, a person like Raghav Kashyap comes along to give us a much-needed perspective on what we need to change in a stubborn mindset. Arriving at and concentrating on the actions should be a result of these reflections.Taking responsibility: Blaming the world, the environment, everything else but oneself will not get us far in resolving a crisis. The victim script — "Everyone else is responsible for my being in this situation" — is the obstacle that prevents us from examining our own role in the event, and objectively understanding our contribution. What were my thoughts and actions that led to this? What am I not learning?"In speaking, know how to keep your words. In making a move, know how to choose the right moment." — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching.One has to ask why Anirbaan chose confrontation? Why did he think someone who had so much to lose would, without a murmur, confess and change? What were his thoughts and actions that created the situation? What skills did he lack that prevented a more constructive outcome? What alternate process could he have followed? Did he have the desired EQ to understand when to move forward and when to step back and choose another route?Examining our stance: "Learn to unlearn one's learning." — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching.Sometimes we have to let go and explore the unconventional, as Som did to get to where he wanted. Arthur, too, re-tooled and re-skilled himself, while the more standard formula worked for his wife. Like Aparna did in Anay and Sakhi's context, Anirbaan, too, sees the world through one set of lenses. Unlike Sakhi or Cyrus, he has not made peace with what he wants and what he has.Why does Anirbaan see himself as being successful in only one particular way? And if that is the path he loves, what does he lack to be successful in it? Are there some habits that he needs to change? No matter what the choice — a standard one like Anirbaan's son or an unconventional one like Anay — we have to learn to constantly better our craft. Acknowledging our own gaps, while difficult, is an important step to arriving at remedial actions.Getting the big picture: "In fact, for all things there is a time for going ahead and a time for following behind" — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching.What, ultimately, is the purpose of life? It certainly is not one event. If life is a marathon, everything that helps us grow is valuable. There will be errors of judgement. Putting them in the context of the big picture and learning those lessons can help us dust ourselves and emerge stronger for it. There may be small battles that we win or lose. Ultimately, real success is when we continue to learn and grow from everything we experience. Real failure is only when we stop growing.Suma Subramanian is a strategic advisor with over 19 years of HR exposure through corporate leadership roles and consultancy assignments(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 21-11-2011)
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