The Journey! (River, clouds and the Bird!)

Exhausted with the thoughts of the day, for more, evening made the way! Sitting in my RDX (office) I penned down a few words. These words, in the form of a poem,  describe Life as a journey of the river, clouds and the bird and draw comparison to the human Life. The Journey will always have the ups and downs but the purpose of a journey is evolution, exploration, learning and bliss. Lets try and stick to it! Here it goes:

Over the pebbles and the sand

Droplets of water, progressing hand in hand

The origins forgotten, left far behind

Future hurdles awaited, of whatever kind

Making way through the terrains unforeseen

Gushing through the gorges, forever keen!

Floating, roaming around the mounts high

Colliding without fear, submitting with a sigh

Rising and falling, serving the alienated souls

Diminishing own being, forgetting own goals

Reasons, positive or the dark, destiny the same

Flowing with the process, oblivious to fame

Chirping in the mornings, waking others

When on a trip to the sky, nothing bothers

Raising the next, fighting the foes

Land and the sky, far away or close

Symbol of the free, unbound and the fanatic

Flowing, floating, flying and never static!

The beginnings and the ends, forgotten or unseen

Gliding in the present, they just have been

Greeting the smiles, and the sorrows on the way

Be it the obscure nights or the sunny day

The reasons, the blessed and the victims

Vading through the journey despite their own whims!

Entangled through needs; clouds, bird and the river

Swapping roles, of the needy and the giver

Embarked different journeys so alike

Achieving, failing, but strong as a dike

Humans are so similar, then why this divergence

Life is our Journey, Nature, our convergence!

                                               ....Saurabh (written on 23.11.11) 

(Excuse me for some errors, will need some time for refinement)

Ignorant! (The child in us)

                                                "Ignorant"

In the unreal warmth and the winter wild

Ignorant about the real, born is the child.

And beside mama, safe he is lyin',

Shining twinkling eyes, seeing her smile benign.

In this fallacious world,enters a pure blood,

Innocent,soft , unaware of upcoming flood;

Everyone is fond of him, kissing his red cheek,

As if he replies, but has no word to speak.

In this garden, born is a new flower,

Unworried like a vagabond, sitting in the bower;

For him, no upheavals, just a simple thought,

about the pleasant rains, not of the drought!

His popularity speaks, he'll be the future king,

moving his limbs here n there, he has the zing;

But on the roads of life, he might dissapear in the world crowded,

Who shall value his simple thinking amongst others' mystery shrouded.

With all betrayals and lies he'll recieve,

What will he do, will he be able to decieve?

How will he survive amidst false smiles n real tears,

How will he cope up with worries and with fears.

One day he might have to run to catch hope's last ray,

And sun might set ending the ugly day...

Giving way to a darker and fearsome night,

When all mounts will be of ungettable height.

Imagine if we're a child today,

Good all days, moments all gay;

our knowledge is the reason for the endless run,

His ignorance is much better to live under the sun.

                                                                           -Saurabh(on 23.11.2002)

Work Culture-2 (Ruthlessness and Consistent Excellence!)

Work Culture-2 (Ruthlessness and Consistent Excellence!)

The statement: "I am Ruthless…don't mess around with me!" fills our heart with some sort of fear. A fear of committing a mistake, a fear of being casual and being looked down upon by the people who matter the most in our environment. But this word can acquire different meanings, when understood in short term or a longer term. In short term, yes, it can be a tough one to handle but just imagine a long term implication of an attitude which represents Ruthlessness when it comes to the following parameters:

1. Attainment of Vision of a company

2. Abiding by the mission of the company

3. No compromise on the Quality parameters set by the founding team

4. Strive for Excellence

Sometimes, in building an environment which keeps everyone happy, we change the environment of the organization so much that it may become unrecognizable from the past image and deviated from its path to glory. Lets ask ourselves, as an individual, have we been able to keep everyone happy around us? Even if we have tried, we have deviated from our natural instincts, haven't we? The forces that work in an organization are even more complex and follow entirely different laws. Is it possible to keep everyone happy and still be on track of attainment of vision? Well, lets just keep questioning, lets see if we can boil down to an answer. 

An organization begins with a goal which should be profound and the founders should have immense belief in themselves and in the vision statement. The first phase, the duration of which can vary, depends on the founders' unfailing aggression and dedication. Then it enters the second phase, when the thoughts of scaling up get embryonic and new people, the future leaders start joining the wonderful environment. Now, there comes a huge challenge. The founders were already united by a vision, can the same be said about the people who follow? I guess, not. If the recruitments have been well executed, then the best that can be said about people who join is that they have aligned some of their goals with this organization. These goals may vary and these variations are the agents of chaos!

Well, the organization has grown after being joint by the future stakeholders. Now, with the elements of change already being inducted into the environment there are two ways of going ahead. Lets take an example. Imagine a strong magnetic environment which was stable. Now we introduce small magnets in this environment. What will happen? If these magnets were just magnets, the environment will force the smaller magnets to align themselves to enhance the stability of the ecosystem. Now introduce the human factor to these magnets and we will observe that the alignment process will become tougher to execute. This misalignment will lead to internal strain and the stability factor will go for a toss. The first obvious step that the leaders will take is to try and align everyone to the organization's objectives and culture. The irony of the situation is, in doing so, they will initiate a possibility of change in the objectives and culture. A culture which consisted of well aligned minds suddenly transforms into these minds tying too hard to align others. But we cannot escape these trials, can we? Everyone won't be able to understand the organization on day one, they will need time. A better argument may be, how much time do the leaders think they have? If they have well defined targets then they have a well defined time as well. 

In this process of inducting the youngsters of the organization, the leaders will always be confronted with a question. Should they keep everyone happy? Ask any leader, and show me one who would say he doesn't want his people to be happy. Some people who will align themselves with the Organization will take the path to happiness and growth and one day will come to a position where they can re-define the culture if need be. But there will be others who may not take this path, refuse an alignment and transform into rebels. Being right or wrong is always relative and will depend on the environment we are a part off so these rebels being wrong is not a conclusion. 

A company is an economic ecosystem where the consistency of quality output and excellence at whatever we do will define the growth and sustenance. If the leaders start investing too much in trying to make everyone happy they might miss a trick. Let us see, how:

Possible case scenario:

1. Company is founded with well defined vision and objectives

2. A beautiful culture of hard work, aggression and happiness is woven by the founders and some close allies

3. Company grows and the phase-1 ends

4. Phase-2 begins with induction of new generation of people

5. The alignment process begins

6. There are hurdles in the process due to some people turning into rebels due to different objectives

7. Leaders start investing too much time in trying to stabilize the environment

8. Output quality and excellence at work compromised

9. Consumer satisfaction comes down

10. Company's growth affected

11. The happier lot of people also turns dissatisfied and the culture changes even further. 

Majority of people of a company will always be happy when the company grows and stabilizes economically as only then everyone will grow and some time can be invested happily in repairing small damages if any. In the above scenario small damages are leading to larger ones because the growth is being compromised in wake of spreading happiness. Lets think differently here and analyze another case scenario:

1-6: The same growth story as above.

7. Leaders invest some stipulated time in alignment process giving limited freedom to the new ones and then move back to business

8. The rebels either get aligned with time or they are requested to leave the environment

9. Output quality and excellence goes up.

10. Consumer satisfaction goes up

11. Company grows further and we have a larger company, better profits and happier people!

The leaders should define the objectives well and should ruthlessly stick to them. I am not saying happiness shouldn't be an objective, but it should be a consequence of attainment of collective targets! Any organization which will compromise excellence at work will go down someday, because thats what it should have stood for in any situation. And everything should be linked to this excellence. Be it individual growth, appraisals, benefits and thus happiness. In the process, learning shouldn't stop and should only be used to enhance the culture of excellence. When I say Ruthlessness, the perception shouldn't be of becoming uncaring and harsh to everyone, lets be ruthless when it come to the key objectives of the company. Lets care for the people who associate themselves with the philosophy and lets be good to everyone else whether they stay or leave the company. Lets also not suppress the questioning and reasoning tendency, but avid counter productiveness. So, Ruthlessness has a different meaning in this context. 

So lets define a culture for our organization wherever we are at whatever position. A culture of excellence at work and consistent innovation leading to amazing results, immense growth and everlasting happiness. An open democracy will never lead to a successful organization. Limited and well balanced democracy with pre-planned outputs abode well for a system. Once these pillars are established, lets keep them stable at any cost or else the entire structure may falter anytime. 

"A company slowly transforms into a cult, belongingness gets binary, either you do or you don't"

Lets be excellent and positively ruthless in Life and lets be a part of a happy organization forever! 

Lets be the foundation or extend respect

Lets trust, believe and not suspect

Lets propel an idea or give it a miss

Lets take our company to an everlasting bliss!

                                                                                    ...Saurabh (9.11.11)

                                                                             

                                 (penned down while flying from Mumbai to Bangalore)

Work Culture-1 (Let us belong to the idea and let us be!)

"I will never go to an interview dressed up formally."

"But why…?"

"Because I don't like this system of being formal, why can't I be natural in front of these people, just express myself, if they like me, and if I like the company and the concept, we can strike a deal!"

"Dude, may be you should at least wear a tie or something."

"No. No chance, I am going in jeans and T-shirt."

That is the kind of mentality and attitude that our modern education cultivates inside us. We just want to be natural everywhere, wherever we go, whomsoever we speak with, whichever audience we address, howsoever important the occasion is. At least that was the case with me and some of my close buddies in IIT. And when after establishing my own company and working on various projects after that for almost 6 years, I re-question this temperament, I fail to find arguments against it. I love being natural and I really like people who express themselves completely at the respective work places. Yes, there might be some restrictions based on the kind of business we are in, for example, we don't expect a teacher to come in shorts in front of a 10th grade kids when they are not ready to understand the casual environment. But why at these so called "Corporate Hubs" we follow such a formal culture. People are bound to so many things. Since the time they sit for the first interview, they are made to feel that the people across the cursed table are Gods of the industry and you better watch out. And so begins a journey of pretention which really becomes hard to end. 

Why can't we just accept a person as he is and discuss the idea of working together with him? Why can't we be very frank about certain things that really do matter right from the word go? Why can't two people, whatsoever hierarchy they belong to, enjoy working on an idea together and share a very critical part of Life? Sounds idealistic in today's world of hidden treasures and pseudo cultures, isn't it? But just think about it, a team bound by an idea and no other restrictions. The people in the team spend the majority of their Lives with each other, if they can really live it, if they can breath an idea, give it words, shape and execute it on ground together, why can't they grow together? 

Why do we have to create a culture where there is a forced hierarchy? Are we afraid that the young generation will take over and we will be left crawling behind if we open up too much? If we are, then w were never good enough for the idea. If we have faith in the idea that we are working on and if we have given it profound thought, no one can disrespect us come what may, they would love to collaborate and own the idea with us and that really is the foundation of a joyful team and conducive work environment. 

Whenever I ask people in Interviews or general interaction: "What kind of work environment do you like?" The answers are like a playlist which is put on repeat and contains only one song. But a song which is good to listen to, tough to sing yourself. Youngsters of today entering professional lives are a lot different from the older generations. They give weightage to the words like freedom, flexibility, flatness, growth, ownership and transparency and when they do, they mean it. So for the people who are creating a company or those who are joining a young company, its a moral responsibility to create a environment which facilitates the application of these words. These words are close to everyone's heart. For a test, ask yourself, which of these words you hate? Whats the answer? When we talk idealistically we utter all kinds of falls promises, when it comes to the real execution we are rendered impotent due to lack of faith. 

Coming back to the core of discussion, if anyone wants to build a company where work does't feel like "work", rather its a way of Life, then we will have to break shackles and go against the established norms. Even just for the heck of it, we can do it from very basic things like dress codes, cubicles, eatables and drinkables, why not? But yes, even after doing all this, if our people get alienated from the core idea of why we are together, everything will come crashing down. It has to be an amalgamation of the two. 

For the people who are entangled in the typical corporate lives, just ask yourself these questions:

1. Do you buy the idea of working in the company?

2. Do you feel you can breath fresh air while sitting in your cubicles?

3. Do you feel like: "this is life, I want to live it?"

4. Do you feel like you own the idea and you are allowed to work freely?

5. Do you feel like you can just be and be accepted whole heartedly?

6. Do you feel like work is not work, its something I enjoy?

7. Do you try and respect other people for what they are?

8. Do you try and spread love and happiness all around?

9. Do you convey the faults of the system to people who may rectify them?

If the answers are yes mostly, Good. If No, do something my friend, life is short, at least try and live it. 

And for the people who have initiated an idea which they expect to bloom into an awesome product or service, here are a few questions:

1. Do you have profound faith in your own idea?

2. Do you feel you are able to express yourself completely through the idea?

3. Do you believe in a working environment driven by output, not hours?

4. Do you believe in giving freedom to youngsters at work place?

5. Do you try and transfer the importance of idea regularly into the young minds around you?

6. Do you feel that you belong to the idea and your people?

7. Do you trust people with work?

8. Do you motivate them to lead well balanced lives and stay happy?

9. Are you happy and at peace with yourself?

If Yes, then go on and build a beautiful company and an environment to cherish. If No, question yourself again, you need more maturity and belief! Because only an amalgamation of the above two categories who say Yes to these questions will lead to creation of beautiful concepts and worlds! And yes, don't blame anyone else, either stay satisfied in an environment, if not, try and change it, if you fail in doing so, leave the environment. 

Lets try and change the way things are. People are like prisoners in companies, they wait for the weekends like its a break from the jail. They talk about the seniors as if they are speaking about the jailers. If this continues then I am afraid, we are heading towards hell and not heaven. Its in our hands what we create, whether we have initiated an idea or we are following one. Life is one, and work is an inherent part of it. If we are not at peace with it, we will lose whatever peace we have elsewhere. 

Lets try and build a strong and balanced working environment wherever we are. Let us belong to the idea and let us be!

[Will continue this topic with more specific experiences and thoughts]