Career

Experiences, learnings from my career. Future plans, current situation and much more

There are 35 posts filed in Career (this is page 7 of 7).

What I learned when Neha kept quiet for 3 days?

This post is about an incident which happened when I was leading the 99acres team while working with InfoEdge in Noida. This experience shook me and I still remember it very vividly. It made me realize the extra responsibilities and sensitivity which a leader must accept. I am a very fun loving and jovial person and some fun / jokes / mockery is a part of my daily life. But sometimes, you need to balance those keeping in mind the position you are in.

Among the 14 members in my team, Neha was one of the best resources I had. Always the go-to person in case I want something done urgently and efficiently. Having worked with her for quite some time and sitting right next to her, she was also a very good friend and we shared a very good working relationship. Maybe thats why I still remember this incident. One day when I came to office I realized that Neha was surprisingly quite. She was talking only formally, and her mischievous look was also missing from her face. I thought it might be some personal issue and let the day pass. But when she was the same quite person the next day. I pondered that could it be because of something I did or said, but I dismissed that thought as soon as it came in my head. I even asked her what happened but she said she was fine.

When she was uncharacteristically quite even on the third day, I started thinking of something I might have done to upset her. On the evening of the third day, I finally asked her whether her behavior for the last few days was because of something I did or said. And to my utter surprise, she said “YES“!! I could not believe that she was upset at something I said and did not mention it to me for the last three days. On further probing, she told me she has talked to her sister, and she advised her to talk to me directly about the issue. And the “issue” was that there was some incident which required urgent attention and I went to Neha with another person (from another team) to debug it. After Neha and myself figured out the issue and what would be required to sort it out, I made a comment “Tumhara response time bada slow hai“. It was just a casual remark to tease her and nothing related to that incident or her performance. It was a part of the “mocking” nature that is very much a part of me.

As I said earlier, I often make sarcastic and mocking about people and situations for humor and this was one such incident. But coming from her Team Leader just after she had finished an urgent task, it was very unfair of me to having made that comment at “exactly the inappropriate moment“. No doubt she misinterpreted it as a comment on her performance and took it to heart. I know how anyone will feel if a work well done is criticized instead of the appreciation which one expects out of such a task. And the fact that she was upset for three days and never told me despite sitting next to me totally hit me like anything. And how unfair of me to even think about something that I might have done to upset her and then dismissing that thought in a blink? When she opened up to me, I cleared up with her soon after and we were back to normal terms and she was her mischievous self.

I learned two things from this incident. Firstly, as a leader, it should be my responsibility to make sure what comes out of my mouth does not hurt others (or is misinterpreted). And given the very casual and informal culture we had in the team, I should have realised that situation (with Neha) was not the right moment for a sarcastic remark, and that too in front of a third person. I learned to be more careful in future and keeping the right balance between fun and serious talk. It is very important that when I joke around, people should not take it a serious remark by their Team Leader, and similarly, when saying something serious, that should also never be regarded as a joke.

The second thing I learned from this incident was following up and making sure your point is clearly understood by the other party or not. I had the thought a few times that Neha might be upset of something I said or did but I never gave it a serious thought. Had I cleared up with her earlier, she might have opened up to me and would not have stayed upset for so long. It is very natural for us as human beings to misinterpret something said to us as something else. Since then, I always try to make sure to get my point across so that there are no wrong interpretations. The same holds true if I am the hearing party. Instead of assuming that “this means that“, I often restate the statement to clarify to the other side what I understood from his / her communication. This way, when I leave the table, I am sure we both are on the same page and no doubts and misinterpretations remain.

I would not say that I am not doing similar mistakes now, but I am more careful and cautious now when faced with similar situations. Keeping this balance between fun and serious stuff is very important. And I am getting better at it with time. Certainly from those times at InfoEdge.

Book Review – Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni

Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni

Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni

I have traditionally been a meeting hater, and I picked up this book hoping it would give a solution to the problem of “too many meetings”. Instead, it came as a surprise when Patrick advocated having more meetings in this book. He points out that meetings are not bad, but badly organised. He correlates meetings with movies (yes, really) to show how meetings should be more fun than movies…

The book is cleverly divided into two parts – The Fable and The Model. The first part is in the form of a novel with normal characters like we encounter everyday in our professional lives. The author illustrates his point of what is lacking in our meetings, how to make them more effective and a productive experience. The second part summarizes his concepts on how to make meetings better by having four different types of meetings –
• The Daily Check In (5 minutes, happens daily)
• Weekly Tactical (45-90 minutes, happens weekly)
• Monthly Strategic or Ad Hoc Strategies (2-3 hours, happens monthly or ad-hoc)
• Quarterly off-site review (2 days, happens quarterly)
It is a tough pill to swallow when the author compares movies with meetings. Lencioni argues that meetings should be more interesting than movies because meetings are interactive instead of movies which are passive, and the outcome of meetings affect our day to day lives unlike movies. His suggestion of different types of meetings is also based on TV programs of different lengths like News Headlines, Sitcoms, Movies, and Mini Series. He also suggests conflict to be an important part of every meeting for making better decisions.
Death by Meeting (buy from Flipkart or Amazon) is like a blueprint for leaders who want to eliminate waste and frustration among their teams, and create environments of engagement and passion. This book shows us that what is needed is a paradigm shift on how we think about and attend meetings. Meetings are where business leaders spend most of their time, and rather than avoiding them, this book shows how to see them as an opportunity. So go ahead and grab this book, and you will finish it in a couple of days…
You can see a list of all my favorite books here

A Nightout at Office – The midnight of 30-31 May 08

Out of the few night-outs I have had in office, this one was special. Well, technically it was not a night out as we left back around 2 am, but the experience was unforgettable and as I have videos to back it up, so I decided to write about it.

It was 30th May 2008 and posting forms work was in full-swing. The 3 of them (Neha, Poorva and Gunjan) decided to work late. I was not in any mood to stay the whole night in office so we decided that we will complete our work and leave by 12 midnight. So, they all started work and I started watching a movie so that it would be over by 12.

Toy Story is a good movie, and it is fun to watch when people around you are working hard and trying to concentrate. The movie got over at 12 and as expected their work as not over yet and they decided to burn the whole night coding. That was too much for me and I decided that its time for some fun now… 🙂

But I didn’t knew what was in store for me that day (or night). I was attacked, I had to attack back (only in self-defence) and there were people who did the job of “Aag me Ghee Daalne Ka“. The below video clearly demonstrate how 2 people are talked up to actually start up a fight.

Now, before you watch the videos, some points to note. Firstly, the commentary might make me look like the biggest culprit because it is done by the “Aag me Ghee Daalne Wali“. Secondly, we will come back to this point later.

So here goes the first video, the Fire Igniter

Some people just need a reason to attack, verbally or physically, and she is one of that kind. The below video will demonstrate how was I attacked and I had to run all over the office for my survival to stay dry. Not all are lucky though, and I was drenched.

So the second video goes below!! Holi Hai!!!

People who know me knows that I am the seedha saadha saint guy but when troubled, you are asking for trouble, big trouble 🙂 So I acted, only in self-defence, and this was the second point to note which I left for later above. The below video captures some part of it where I attacked but fails to capture when 3 dangerous gals attacked me back and the whole cafeteria was flooded. So here goes my small attack :-

By this time, it was around 1 am and we realised it was the office (not some playground) and there were CCTV s installed (god knows whether they were working or not, hopefully not!!). So we thought what might be in store for us the next day as the security guard has taken a couple of rounds around the area and we pretended as if nothing has happened. But the wet floor and carpets were testimony to what we had done.

So the cleanup act started. Me, Poorva and Gunjan started the cleanup act, using newspapers and tissue papers to soak the waters from wherever possible. Neha, as usually lazy, was only filming the whole process rather than helping us out. Well, that was also necessary and I am really grateful she took these videos that day!! So here goes the Cleanup Act :

As people say, strange situations can lead to unknown capabilities being discovered in human beings. And that night we got the proof. Poorva had a tremendous ability to clean things up, even use a pocha (sweeping cloth) in the process. As her coding, her ability to finish any task to perfection was clearly evident here. Here goes the video as a proof. Don’t go at everybody laughing at her, because every wise and great man was once laughed at!! I hope the same goes true for ladies as well!!

To know what happened to those Posting Forms for which they have worked so hard, they finally went live on 20th August, the below image is one from that day showing the tremendous multi-tasking abilities of the Ghee Specialist.

Your comments are welcome!! And I am missing those days… There are many other stories but there are no videos to support me, and my scars have also healed, so lets end here.

Friends as Business Partners

The 3 of us in school in 2001

The 3 of us during school in 2001

I am a big fan of quotes and one liners, but it took me experience to believe in the truth of this quote by John D. Rockefeller – “A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship“. Now I can verify that. I started SaleRaja with 2 of my closest buddies from school whom I have known for over 10 years. It looked like a perfect match then, but I was to realize later that while it is important to have somebody trustworthy as your partner, friendships often carry other baggage which can create problems, particularly when the business is in trouble or growing well.

We ended up parting ways soon, as our vision for our personal future and the future for SaleRaja did not align. It was a perfect case of both sides being right but the situation being wrong. We were the right people in the wrong place. We did not share the same vision for the business. We always thought that since we were so good friends, we would always find a mutually agreeable path in case of conflicts.

We could not have been more wrong. There were times we ended up accepting what the other said as a “friendship compromise“, and not as a “business decision“. And then there were the tough times, when we decided to part ways. We are still friends, but it is, and will never be, the same. Now if I see friends who want to start a business together, I say to them that they have to be prepared for the fact that their friendship might not be the same in a couple of years time.

I think you need to friends with your partners to run a successful business. It is a necessary condition in my opinion, but not sufficient in itself. Having said that, there are always examples of friends running successful businesses. It is important to emphasize on the balance between business and friendship. Friends should always communicate in all matters, even if they feel that as friends, there can’t be a conflict between them. They should decide specific roles for themselves, see whether they compliment each other in the skills needed to run the business, and most importantly they should know when to switch on and off being friends and business partners.

What about me? Will I again start a business? Certainly YES 🙂 But will I start a business again with friends. I am not saying a complete NO here, but I will evaluate a lot more before jumping in this time. Some of the points where founding partners of any business needs to be aligned are –
• Do they share the same values and how do you expect them to play in day-to-day business activities?
• Do they share the same vision for the business?
• Are your work habits and work ethics in line to co-exist?
• How much money will you put into the business and how much do you expect to get out of it?
• What Roles will each of you play in the company? Who will be the CEO/Leader?
• What if one of you gets married and decide to move away?
• How will you treat your employees, customers, investors, etc?

There are certainly other question you need to ask apart from those listed above. But the most important question I would ask myself would be – Am I ready to accept the fact that this person might not be my friend in another couple of years? If the answer is NO, I will know what to do. In his book “The Greatness Guide”, Robin Sharma has rightly pointed out that at your funeral, you don’t see you business partners crying, it is your friends and family who will cry over your grave. A Point Well Made!!

5 Tips to Keep yourself motivated

Want to wake up early for a jog, want to write on your blog more frequently, want to change a job, or want to learn something new. Motivation is one thing you will need the most to get you started and then to keep you going. So how to keep yourself motivated, day after day, and week after week.

There are some rules which have worked for me over the years to keep yourself motivated. I am going to mention them below :

1. One Liners – Motivational Quotes have worked wonders for me. You can find them around me everywhere. I have a quotations booklet at home, there is a one liner as my status message on chat networks and social networking sites, I have registered to many RSS feeds of motivational quotes and one liners. One Liners are great to say and make a great example to follow. Just read a book of motivational quotes when you are down and you are pumping again… This has worked for me for the last 5 years now and continues to work wonders..

2. Goals – Set yourself goals, then break them down into smaller goals and go after them one by one. When you finish your mini-goals, you get the motivation and belief to go for the bigger goals. Take these goals as a challenge, and go after them.

3. Don’t Quit – Once you start a task, don’t quit. Winners don’t quit and quitters don’t win. Another one-liner but conveying something very important. Keep trying your goal until you complete it.

4. Find a supporting friend – Find a supporting friend who understand you and keeps you motivated. When you feel down and out, you discuss with your friend and he/she will motivate you back to track. This friend should be someone who knows you well. It could be a sibling, your spouse or a colleague. The point is: surround yourself with positive people who won’t let you get demotivated.

5. Take Risks – Take risks, learn something new everyday. Understand that there will be failures along the way. No one succeeds without encountering some failures. Treat every setback as an opportunity to learn and strike at the problem again, but better prepared this time.