Interesting Management Lessons

I rarely relish Hindi movies. This is partly because of the fact that I find the story lines highly unbelievable. It’s great entertainment, but mainly unbelievable at any level. Unrealistic story lines, accentuated by actors exaggerating the persona’s; add to the overall um-believability element. It is common to see, military or police characters being portrayed caricaturishly; lack of attention to details (like ranks and insignias on uniforms; settings; unrealistic action sequences) etc.; all these factors over the years have kept me away from Hindi movies.   I’ve liked a few Bollywood movies; sometimes for the sheer entertainment factor and iconic dialogs; some for the individual acting talent in them; some have wonderful song sequences; but somehow I have rarely managed to enjoy Bollywood films as a whole package. However, Farhan Akhtar managed to convert me. With ‘Bhag Milkha Bhag’, he told an inspirational story, and portrayed the character in the most realistic way. ...

It was time for Bapus Prayer. He told people not to fuss over him as he got up and moved ahead thru the crowed of his followers. Nathuram was waiting to shoot but he froze as the sight of so many people surrounding Gandhiji. He simply folded his hands meekly; looked at Gandhiji, turned and walked away. What our nation would be like, I wonder; had this sequence of events played out on 30 th Jan 1948. What sort of collective conscious, we as a people, would have achieved, had Gandhiji lived on. While the mahatma was known to have the steadfastness to fast & repent till masses saw the right way; would this have continued to hold good. Or we would have learned to squabble over petty gains of land, wealth irrespective of his presence & guidance for many more years. Would our political masters still be clamoring for houses in prime locations, red beacons satisfying their sense of egos, while the people they govern continue to suffer without clothes, shelter, food? Wou...

We Indians in general are known to be soft people. We are very unlike the Israelis (who obviously do not take kindly to being attacked and don’t mind bombing a country to oblivion ) , or the Americans (who don’t mind starting a full-fledged global war just because some building got bombed in their country). Despite of having the second largest standing army in the world we have never left our shores to attack another country and the only wars we’ve fought were the ones that were brought to our doorstep. We are known to be indecisive and soft when it comes to our own security and country! This may partially stem from the fact that India as a land always attracted varied people and races who started of by attacking us and then decided to settle down here when they realized that this was the Shangri-la they were searching for. We simply got used to being attacked in our own land and learned to live with the invaders as fellow countrymen. It may also have been perpetuated by the fact...

For those of us who were born in the 70’s, the choice of programs on television was quite limited to say the least. I remember as a young boy, growing up in remote cantonments cities, eagerly looking forward to Sundays mornings as that was the only time in the week where we would get a bunch of English serials to watch on our black & white television set. To me, the most memorable of these was the Star Trek series; and I of course, like a lot of boys of my age then, was enamored with the strange alien characters that would appear on each episode and watch as the crew of star ship enterprise would tackle their mission with great aplomb and felicity. Though, that was probably one of the most exciting TV series for me (a distant second was Knight Rider), I never consciously thought about the lessons we learned from the adventures of USS Enterprise as Captain Kirk and his crew went where “no man had ever gone before”. As an adult I’ve come to understand the cult like fan fo...

Leaders come in many hues and one of the most sensational of them was General George S Patton (aka Old Blood, Guts & Glory). I recently happened to watch an autobiographical movie on him and couldn’t help myself from admiring his unique personality & leadership style. This brilliant movie revolves around the life & experiences of Gen Patton during the peak of Second World War and went on to win seven academy awards including one for best picture. Gen. Patton was an impetuous army commander and self-admitted Prima Dona. He was loud in more than one way. His flashy uniforms (he made the standard issue, otherwise drab uniform , into a desirable piece of clothing), inscribed ivory handle sidearm , his jeep with loud sirens was indicative of his larger than life portrayal of himself as a field commander. While he was certainly impulsive (on one occasion he famously pipped himself with a 3rd star, without waiting for the formal announcement, saying that he has his own...

The best weekends for me are generally the ones that allow me to indulge in my passion; watching movies. This weekend I was truly refreshed to see a great movie that I would recommend to all those who manage people, are in situations where they have to think “out of the box” or have to make tough decisions with a lot of constraints. The movie 'moneyball' is a sports drama based on a real life event and takes place when Beane (played by Brad Pitt) who is the GM of Oakland’s Athletics seems to be running out of options on wanting to run a successful baseball team. He starts losing his star players Damon, Giambi & Isringhausen to competition and the owner of his team ( Stephen Schott) is not willing to lend additional funds to him to pick up fresh start talent from the market. As Beane is struggling to overcome this hopeless situation and work within the constraints he meets & decides to bring on board Peter Brand (played by Jonah Hill) who comes up with a statistic...

Having spent a short while in the army and also by the virtue of managing people as a line manager for over 15 years now, I do pride myself in understanding the concept of leading from the front. Leading from the front has often been described as 'to show the way or to guide or direct the course'. It also means never asking someone to do any thing that you cannot do better (or yourself) and also willingness to being in the thick of things and leading the team by example. Recently , my father, who was a 3 star general (Lieutenant General) in the army, and held many command & staff positions in the army as well as went on to join the board of multi-billion dollar companies during his service &   post his retirement , explained a very interesting concept to me. Since he is one of those rare personalities who have proved his prowess, in both the fields that need high leadership skills to rise to the top (military & business), I found his concept extremely thought ...

Anna Hazare’s campaign against corruption has caught the country’s imagination. For a generation that never had a chance to see how Gandhi managed to single handedly bring down the British government, this is a live history lesson. Though I personally have my own opinions around how our society can become more honest & forthright, I certainly admire the raw guts of Anna to take on the proverbial Goliath for bringing in the Jan Lokpal. While as a citizen I feel a sense of pride through this movement; for the manager in me, this brings a huge inspiration on many levels. The first and the most important lesson for me is the fact that this movement is all about Cause & Inspiration. The fact that People know they are fighting for a cause that is much greater than themselves brings them together. Ordinary citizens know & realize that what they are fighting for will probably determine what kind of society their children inherit and will significantly improve the daily experien...

The most memorable films that I have seen are almost always set against the backdrop of great historical events and/or have great story lines which showcase the human spirit under demanding circumstances. The Oscar winners (and this is my personal theory) are the ones that combine both of the above (Gone with the Wind, Dr Zhivago, Titanic, Enemy at the Gates; the list is endless). However, there is a certain genre of movies that do not have great story lines, nor do they showcase the triumph of the human spirit. They are not set against backdrop of any memorable events and yet are classics because they have one key character that holds the entire story line (however absurd it may be). This character makes the story believable, compelling and most of all it is this central character’s presence & performance that makes this movie a super hit or a classic. While these men & women do not have any superpowers, they however possess a certain trait that attracts us to them…they are ...

Movies thorough the years have echoed the realities, thoughts, fashions, fears & histories of our times. While the movies have always had a lot of lessons to offer about leadership, humanity, friendship, love and even hatred, very seldom does one come across a motion picture that has something in it about salesmanship. The movie I saw recently is a take-off on Osama bin laden look alike and a small town reporter, Ali, who crafts a fake interview to meet his aim of going abroad. In his endeavor, Ali is faced with the difficult task of getting different personalities needed to make this interview a reality, see the goal as one. However, realizing that, he does not possess all the capabilities himself; he works on getting their buy-in and in the end creates a sell-able tape of the interview. He learns early on, that to succeed in his goals; he needs to lean on his colleagues & his client (Osama look alike poultry farmer). In reality a lot of, sales professionals, try to run oppor...

The first thing that strikes you about any Indiana Jones movies is the adventure sequences and the clever story lines. Being a big Jones fan and having watched all his movies (multiple times), I always wondered what drives Indy into such crazy adventures. He is obviously not a very materialistic man. The only real possessions that he seems to have are his hat, his whip, his jackets, a revolver & his collection of books. In most of the movies he ends up taking the assignments to return the recovered artifacts to either a museum or the government. So what really makes him put his life & limb in danger while fighting off the tribes, the bandits, the communists, and the Nazi’s, and sometimes all of them together in a single movie (imagine the odds of that happening in real life!). Recently I came across the definition of the word Passion. Pash-uhn is defined as an emotion that traces its origins to the bible which uses it to define the suffering on the cross. It is defined as an ...

The four key lessons that I learnt from a movie I saw recently are, I believe, the most important in anyone’s work life. This film is based on a true event that took place during World War II. It was drawn from failed attempt on the life of Adolf Hitler. The movie revolves around the main protagonist (Colonel Claus Von Sauffenberg) and the plot he masterminded to carry out the assassination. This officer, despite being part of a rigid system or an organization, takes a stand for what he believes is right & for the good of the country. The opinion’s & belief of the majority of his peers & superiors doesn’t stop him from taking the stand that was eventually proved right and he was recognized as a hero in his country post the end of World War. While we know of many heroes in the annals of history who stood for what was right, but seldom do we come across someone who fought the system from within. He, against overwhelming opposition and at the risk of damage to his brillian...

Selling has existed from time immemorial for trading and barter of goods & services is as old as history itself. The concept of sales as we know it can trace its origins to per-industrialization era. The proprietor of the business was focused on producing and meeting orders; selling, marketing, and accounting were regarded as secondary. Often these orders were already in hand before the production even started and the objective was simply to meeting the burgeoning demand. The advent of Industrial Revolution brought with it, major organizational changes to the DNA of various businesses. Organizations now shifted focus to mass production & diversification of assembly. Since the local communities (which were the traditional consumers of the produce) could not consume all that was manufactured, a need for increasing the sales coverage was felt to find newer markets for the excess products. Thus, was born the sales function & modern day salesman. To begin with the primary role...

An interesting movie that I saw recently was also one of the most captivating films on interpersonal conflict ma nagement. The movie is about two submarine officers in the US Navy who are faced with the task of making a critical decision (launch of a missile) with the lack of critical  intelligence. the key challenges that they face are their varied backgrounds & thought process and therefore their different approaches to decision making. While the captain of the submarine has worked his way up in the Navy, believes that he is the master of the vessel and therefore has the right of having the final say in everything (whether others believe it's right or wrong), his XO ( executive officer) is an ivy league pass out who believes that the opinion of crew members are important and decisions should be made by the book. The underlying age difference & individual philosophies are also something that plays a crucial part in the story line as some of the crew members believe th...