Is Hiring A Peanut Job, or Something Much Beyond?

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'What's your degree of involvement in talent acquisition for your organization?' Before I could prepare myself for a reply, he, the CEO of a 1000 crore company, shot back, 'deeply, while recruiting for all senior level and critical middle level openings!'

Yes, what he said reflects an increasing awareness among top management: The importance of hiring the right candidates for leadership positions -- both macro and Micro.

Some of these trend setters are successfully breaking away from a century old mindset: Oh, hiring, that's HR's job, and the HR head, seconding boss's idea, pushes it down the hierarchy, finally to a freshers -- with no idea about either its importance, or the right methodology for a successful execution!

Gradually, without realizing the impacts of this negligence, top management continues with recruiting the candidates: Who're either good for nothing, or bad for everything, eventually laying down the foundation of a spacious organizational graveyard big enough to accommodate both the entire top management and also the stake-holders..

When I asked this CEO, 'any specific reason for such a deep involvement in hiring?' He answered, "Abhijit, I'm working hard to grow in my career which is possible only if the organization grows, and that would happen only if I've a team consisting of the right professionals supporting me achieve what I intend to." He added further, "hiring one wrong candidate for a critical position may sabotage my entire effort.Why should I let it happen?" What an explanation, and such a truthful analysis of prevailing business environment.

Let's not live in a fool's paradise: There is a huge talent crunch and sooner the leaders realize better it is, for them. Nothing, but the right talents would dictate the organizations' future in prevailing business environment, and our beloved CEOs, MDs and Lalas ( in India, the owner of a family run company is lovingly called as 'Lala' ) must realize this fact as soon as possible, and act accordingly.

So, the leaders who're of the opinion that hiring is a peanut job and nothing beyond, are not likely to survive, professionally, for long!

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Faith And Leadership !!!

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In current competitive business environment , faith plays a major role in shaping up leadership qualities through spiritual interventions.

Classical definition of Faith is the affirmation of belief, without any practical or logical evidence. The realm of Faith starts, when we venture into the space beyond evidence or logic.

Now ,if you look at religious interpretations:

In Christianity, Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

In Hinduism, Faith means unshaken belief and purity of thought and it is recognized as a virtue.

In chapter 17 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna mentions the three types of faith:

1.Faith rooted in Sattva
Those with sattvic faith are said to worship the GOD.

2.Faith rooted in Rajas
Those with Rajasic faith are said to worship Demons.

3.Faith rooted in Tamas
Those with tamasic faith are said to worship Ghosts and Spirits.

Faith in Buddhism refers to a sense of conviction, regarding setting a goal and the determination to accomplish it, while drawing a sense of joy and also live by what is learnt and accepted, rather than believing something outright.

Faith in Islam is called Iman and it signifies an instinct of the human soul, refined through upbringing into specific religious or spiritual paths.

Even Scientific discovery begins with a scientist's faith that an unknown discovery is possible requiring a passionate commitment. However , this faith is based on a set of assumptions and extrapolation of the fundamental truth towards a predictable conclusion but without any idea about the nature of final outcome.

All these above interpretations are strickingly similar, clearly confirming a decisive role of spirituality in defining the degree conviction and the extent of determination of the Leadership to achieve the ultimate business objective.


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Written a year and half ago

9 Best Inspirational Quotes -- Never Give Up!

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These are the 9 best ‘Never Give Up’ quotes – in my opinion – I have collected over a period of time and sharing with you now.

1. God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless. # Chester W. Nimitz

2. Nothing could be worse than the fear that one had given up too soon, and left one unexpended effort that might have saved the world. # Jane Addams

3. The man who wins may have been counted out several times, but he didn’t hear the referee. Never quit or give up….never…..never give up. # H.E. Janson

4. Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. # Satchel Paige

5. Never give up, never give in, and when the upper hand is ours, may we have the ability to handle the win with the dignity that we absorbed the loss. # Doug Williams

6.Never, never, never, never give up. # Winston Churchill

7. Think of the long view of life, not just what’s going to happen today or tomorrow. Don’t give up what you most want in life for something you think you want now. # Elder Richard G. Scot

8. Never give in! Never give in! Never, never, never, never – in nothing great or small, large or petty. Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. # Winston Churchill

9. When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. # Harriet Beecher Stowe

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Time Management - Lesson Learned , Decades Ago

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During my eventful tenure with one of the largest Indian corporate "Bajaj Auto Ltd", I learned one of the most rewarding lessons of my life: Utilization of Time , and such a huge concept was explained in few minutes by  the Boss of my immediate Boss: DVP.

It dates back to late eighties when  ISO 9000 was a new but promising concept. Obviously, it invaded  most of the growing and reputed companies of that time. 

So, a huge "System Awareness" program was initiated  by the Management across the rank and file, and I was selected as coordinator of my dept with the responsibility to formulate the policies and document all activities pertaining to our working.

I was very much Excited, initially , as any it happens with a new venture , but a disproportionate allocation of time  triggered an alarm in the existing system and after an initial round of
discussion my boss recommended a review meeting with his boss, the Divisional Head, to resolve this issue.

The purpose of the meeting was to find out: How I could do justice to my regular job as well as the developmental one like ISO 9000 with proper utilization of available time.

Well, let me share with you what exactly transpired between me and the super boss -- The conversation, that I remember to the best of my memory:

DVP : Hi Abhijit , how are you?

AK   : Fine.Thanks. How are you sir ?

DVP : Excellent, but I have a serious problem!

Anticipating a huge firing, the reputation he enjoyed , I slightly raised my eyebrows with a question mark and he delivered the statement of my life 

"Abhijit, I am really excited to notice that you are running short of time with some additional  assignments in hand. May be you are the right person to suggest me what do I do with so much of free time available. Look at my incoming Tray, its empty. Does it mean , my job is in danger?"

Perplexed, and before I could answer,  his Boss, the Plant Head entered the cabin with a big smile  and started thanking Mr DVP profusely, "how could you complete this project so quickly ? "

"Nothing special sir. I just delegated it to the right persons I have recruited and groomed for these type of assignments. I did nothing sir, they actually did it." Answered DVP.

Well, the Plant Head left after a minutes and our meeting ended with his comment that I shall never forget in my life:

"Abhijit, if you are running short of time, please try to understand there's something terribly wrong with your overall system. Pl, review it asap, and reduce the clutters.

Believe me, I took it as a challenge and with no modern Time Management Tools like GTD etc at my disposal, successfully reduced the clutter with:

1.Making regular notes on priorities and re-evaluating daily schedule periodically. 

I think, maintaining an hourly schedule is too ambitious an objective, and I will simply conclude that it's exaggerated by people suffering from Too Busy Syndrome.  Hence, a daily schedule is more than sufficient.

2.Taking immediate action on every tasks and re-entering incomplete tasks at the bottom of the next schedule, I mean the list of task for the following day. That's it. Doing the same even today, but instead of a dairy  its my blackberry now.

After a month I happened to meet him in a planning meeting. With a confident smile he asked me, ' So Abhijit, hope you have switched over to my party:  Guys with disposable time.

I just smiled back.