In the shadow of the Taj

The tree had a great significance. It was the center of gravity for all romantic activity. The damsel and the dude draped in motley colors went round and round, sometimes across, sometimes in creative new patterns.  After all that beating around the bush, literally, when it came to the much anticipated kiss, the camera just panned upwards, through the branches to the clouds. This left the audience gasping, completely out of breadth after the sensual experience of a romantic Bollywood near-miss, kiss.

The burly buffalos were living examples of the existence of parallel quantum realities. They carved out their own quantum space in the middle of what politicians referred to as roads. Munching away to glory, oblivious to the mass of humanity around them and at peace with the vehicles flowing past in either direction, creating a cacophonic symphony with their horns. The buffalos did not care; they did not lose their temper, did not take stress and maintained a sense of calm and composure. They just enjoyed their siesta time with friends and family. Commuters craftily maneuvered around the buffalos, on what they fondly referred to as a sea of pot holes. Tar was used in dribs and dabs to embellish around the craters, a special form of art perfected by all Government contractors. 

Believe it or not communities existed much before Zuckerberg, frustrated with his inability to join up-market university clubs, created his own on Facebook!  They were particularly rampant in the middle class diaspora. The entire neighborhood was one big family. Love, affection and care flowed freely across and beyond. People lived physically apart but were closely connected through the many peaks and troughs of life.  This social network was unique. It gave all participants a strong base on which to anchor their lives, extended a sense of belonging, wove a safety net around all members and it was a network wholly in flesh, not over wires intertwined through a world wide web.

Calorie was a proper noun. Perhaps the name of a beautiful mademoiselle from the French countryside. No one knew its relationship to food. Three sumptuous meals a day with a disdain for the heart and a carefree delight for the tummy. Oil, butter and ghee flowing through an aromatic kaleidoscope of curries. Exotic spices galore, from all parts of a vast country intermingled with the simplicity of rice and wheat.  Each region, each state, each city, each family using the same ingredients but creating unique culinary experiences. A food connoisseur’s delight.

The snowcapped ranges of the Himalayas reaching out to the skies, paying homage to the myriad Hindu Gods which reside in the heavens above. The pristine and chill waters of the Ganges, hurrying through the planes, greening everything on their way.  In the dimming light of dusk, the flowing waters so often adorned by pretty petite lamps lighted in hope, in prayer, in gratitude. An annual calendar embellished with festivals and festivities. To celebrate relationships, to celebrate love, to celebrate life, with color, with lights, with family, friends, neighbors and utter strangers. A culture of inclusivity in the joys of life, sharing the burdens of pain, a lot of pride and very little prejudice. A deep historic and cultural base built on centuries of human endeavor, tolerance, creativity, music and art.  

This was my India in the 80s. This is where I grew up. This is where I discovered my value system. This is where I nurtured my emotions and my innocence. This is where I discovered my die-hard fetish for curries. This is where I learnt to tolerate, to respect, to include, to honor.

This is where I dreamt about running around that coveted tree!

In the soothing, comforting and romantic shadow of the incredible Taj.

The Leadership Chronicle

I think a leader is someone whom people follow J

How about that!

A simple and effective gauge of a trait which many a management guru has defined using many more esoteric and exotic criteria.

But think about it. You are the leader in your organization. You have charted a clear way forward for where you want to take your enterprise. You are driving ahead with a passion to meet that vision. But when you look behind in enthusiastic anticipation, you find barren and deserted sand dunes. There is no one behind following your lead. Or maybe there are a few tormented souls, driven more by the chains of hierarchy as opposed to the call of their hearts.  If indeed that is the case my friend, then I would conjecture that the arc of your honeymoon period might be long but it will definitely and steadily bend towards failure.

So what does it take for a leader to be followed? Below are some of my favorite mantras on the art of leadership.

A bold vision is paramount. A pessimistic Leader perpetually content with the status quo, with a run of the mill mindset fits like a square in a circle of spiraling change, which underpins business today. Leaders need to carve out visions which catapult their enterprises far ahead of competition. They need to dovetail vision with the ability to take courageous, bold decisions in operations. Don’t just sit there and bask in the success of the status quo, dream big, embrace and drive change and strive for relentless continuous improvement.

The hero stories of the dominant, snooty, ‘I know it all and I will tell you what to do’ leader are ready to be confined to the annals of history. The information age demands a more inclusive and approachable style. I call this ‘benevolent leadership’. Not to be confused with being soft or being uninterested in driving profits for the stakeholders. That is not what I mean by benevolent. The keywords which come to mind in description are ‘genuine, humility, passionate, transparent, inclusive, relaxed persona’. Genuine deserves a special mention. Very often leaders give lip service to open door policies. Their doors are definitely open but minds firmly shut to feedback from the grass roots. And closed minds are openly visible to an increasingly savvy workforce. The days of the dominant boss are numbered if not already extinct. A relaxed and inclusive persona which promotes unhindered expression, open critique and contribution at all levels is the new mantra of the information age.  An age in which contribution more than credentials defines who you are and the fellowship you command.

Perhaps the most important mantra for the leader of this age is the ability to connect with and inspire people. Ability to command loyalty and respect. Ability to delegate and then hold accountable. Ability to create an environment where people bring their heart and souls to work and not just their minds. Some people naively translate all this into being nice and being weak! A leader in this age needs to be simultaneously tough and demanding as well as loved and respected. Today’s workforce is fully plugged in and switched on to reality. They understand that making profit on a sustainable basis requires a leader to act sharply on mediocrity and continuously strive for high performance from the workforce. However leaders get carried away with the demanding part of the equation and conveniently forget the loved and respected bit. A healthy balance in a Leader’s character is critical to take people along on a journey towards the vision. People is the glass ball that a leader is holding. If dropped it won’t bounce back and instead shatter into a thousand pieces, wrecking along with it any dreams of delivering the vision. Inspiring and engaging people is the prime role of the Leader, this is where the rubber hits the road. Add a multicultural workforce to the mix and this task becomes even more daunting. But then, anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. Surmounting an agitated ocean of people challenges is what distinguishes the men from the boys, the true leaders from the ‘also rans’.

So are you looking to lead in the information age?

Where news and information in the social world moves much faster than you can click send on your corporate email. Where individuals feel fully empowered. Where power has firmly transcended from the masses to the individual. Where the world is truly everyone’s oyster. Where talent can vote with their feet to almost any part of the world. Where the landscape is competitive in real time. Where new business models are getting ready to threaten your vision even as you read this blog.

Well, if this is what you want to do then…

Look over your shoulder and make sure you are being followed by an enthusiastic bunch of inspired, passionate, multi-cultural and capable people, fully in tune with your melody.

THE Valley

I am sure there are a number of nature adorned valleys out there in the world.  However for the quintessential Geek, the one that counts is Silicon Valley, California.

I had an opportunity recently to visit the Valley and explore it up, close and personal.

A couple things that struck a deeper chord…...

And The Oscar goes to

The ecosystem.  

A humming, vibrant, well-oiled ecosystem is at play in the Valley. That’s what makes it tick. That’s what has made it the nerve center for IT innovation. At the heart of the ecosystem are top notch knowledge powerhouses such as Stanford, Berkley, Carnegie Mellon et al.  Their focus – to work at the grass roots level and provide a breeding ground for learning, experimentation and research.

Then there is the funding tributary next to the Bay. A high density cluster of Venture Capitalists and Angel investors whose bread and butter business model is to connect funds with innovations, to breathe life into ‘workable’ ideas and convert Joe Blokes like you and me into serial entrepreneurs.

This network’s nodes are also embellished with some of the top companies in the world who either grew up there from startup or have been born somewhere else but have setup their innovation labs in the Valley. All this attracts the world’s best geek talent and media celebrates each success of every new startup and/or entrepreneur publicly. This creates an atmosphere of excitement and happening in the Valley. Even the almighty contributes by adorning the region with a nippy and sunny climate throughout the year.

The ‘ecosystem pattern’ is a winning business model. Each node feeds the other and the network effect creates a virtuous cycle of continuous and sustainable innovation. Fascinating, to say the least.

A free and empowered human spirit

Quite often individual passion for unhindered expression, the inherent human need to contribute, to accomplish, to fail, to get up and run again, the sharpness of individual intellect, the carefree human spirit, is stymied by an undertone of racial, cultural and all other exotic forms of discrimination.

However in the Valley I sensed that history had broken its shackles and leaped into the 21^st century. The human spirit is free. To explore, to express, to challenge, to learn, to share, to contribute, to accomplish, to cherish, to celebrate. Nobody seemed to give a two hoots where you came from. No one asked, no one told, no one bothered. All that mattered was what you knew, what inventions you were cooking, what value you could contribute. I met professionals, youngsters, academics, fund raisers - people from all walks of life all glowing in the bright sunshine of true human empowerment.  A diversity in form tightly bound by an aptitude for software engineering, a love for IT and a passion for disrupting existing paradigms. It is no wonder that this free human spirit is able to unleash its potential time and again and drive a continuous flow of innovations along the pristine and blue waters of the adjoining Bay.

The Valley more than lived up to its expectations.

It is humming with excitement.

In abated anticipation for the next wave of innovations that it is fondly nurturing in its cradle.