Brand Ego

Brand ego: What employees often are afflicted with when they cannot distinguish between themselves as the people they are and the brand they represent.
It is interesting to note how this disease comes with people who feel an extreme, often bloated sense of importance especially when dealing with people outside the company. Its usual symptoms are talking down to the person across the table, coming ill-prepared for a meeting, being callous about remembering names and details of earlier interactions among others. This leads to a spread of an epidemic. These behavioural aberrations are contagious and lead to a reciprocal callousness from the other side. So the meeting leads to discussion of data that was anyway earlier exchanged on mail. In an advanced case, it leads to the afflicted talking and asking for services very different from what was earlier communicated. The outside, service provider by now is pretty clueless about where the meeting is leading to. He obviously wants the business and cannot afford to offend this critical loop in the business chain so he continues to agree with whatever is being said, irrespective of whether it makes sense or not. The meeting rambles on and on. Then it ends when the afflicted has to head for another similar meeting. The deliverer of services promises to put all the thoughts down on a mail and send it "ASAP". He will now step out of the office, curse a bit and then start to wonder what to say so that some business comes his way because he has invested half a day to get through this meeting. But he knows deep inside his heart: this sort of a meeting never leads to anywhere. It is merely a downward spiral that will finally disappear. He will send a mail, he will receive one back after a week that says nothing that is a continuation of the previous one and it will go on till either he tires or the afflicted leaves the company and proceeds to greener pastures (or better known brands) after a "very successful stint".

Boss vs. the rest of the world!

Who is the most important person in your work life? I ask myself this question as I wait in a corporate office lobby, it has been over ten minutes and the person I had to meet- with a fixed and re-confirmed appointment- continues to be busy. Another ten minutes pass and things are pretty much the same. By now I am beginning to get restless. And definitely my annoyance is starting to show because the receptionist sheepishly gives me another weak smile in apology. She then volunteers that unchallengeable reason: He is with the Boss. If the Boss has called you and you have a fixed appointment a few minutes what is the fairest thing to do? You can tell the Boss that someone is waiting for you? You can step outside and tell the person waiting for you that you are sorry but you may need a few minutes? Or can you just keep someone waiting because he has come to you for business? Sadly, basic courtesy has no place in the iron-clad hierarchy of the Indian corporate space: Client- Me- Vendor. It is not apparently taught at any management college. If it is a client you drop everything thing and comply with every wish. Ditto with Boss. You don't say anything to him as if a word could cost you your job and entire career. But you can keep a vendor waiting without any consideration. And when you go to the clients' you are also ready to face this ignominy because you actually believe it is OK. I personally think civil behaviour and politeness cannot be argued away and everyone feels good when someone behaves well with them. And if we give it a try we may be surprised that the Boss appreciates this decency and does not see it as a slight against his superiority!

Life balance vs. achievement and failure

In the past two days, top-seed tennis star, Venus Williams, comeback princess, Kim Clijsters and six-time title holder, Roger Federer were ousted in the earliest rounds of the Wimbledon. That's how fast it can go. There's going to be endless debate in open and closed forums on it for probably a lot of money rested on their able shoulders. On this side of life, I think we can easily draw a parallel to the corporate scene: yesterday's success is no surety for even a fair performance, forget winning, today. You are only as good as your last sale or last seminar or last whatever-you-do. In an increasingly competitive scenario competition can come from unexpected quarters. All these three stars were beaten by people who are almost 100 ranks below. It can happen to you and me. So what can be done to reduce the chances of such shocks? I suppose there aren't any new ideas- only new ways to look at old, time-tested ones. To be prepared, to keep in good physical and mental shape, to train and upgrade skills continuously even when the market is low and there's no real pressing demand for it. I do a bit of stock checking every night and see where in my skill set or life did I make an improvement in the previous 24-hours. But above all, I think the most important thing to be the winner even when you lose is to get your life's philosophy in shape. I face the challenge all the time of balancing desire and ambition with a fair dose of nonchalance and equanimity. I don't want to hang myself because I did not achieve my target. But I don't want to regret not reaching anywhere close to it. So how do you balance your ambition with common sense? Share your ideas for all of us to learn.