A generalists view on management and life in the corporate world.

The Chasm| Constant Activity Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Progress

Get busy! Get going! Do something!

How often have we heard leaders and managers using these exhortations? Perhaps way too many times. While all of the above seem ‘action oriented’ they are as meaningful or as meaningless as baby talk.

Most people or shall we say teams tend to confuse activity with progress. They are wrong!

Progress no doubt, requires action. Action especially in a professional context has purpose embedded in it. Activity or a set of random activities are precisely that. Random! Read More…

Mining for Diamonds | 6 Dimensions of Great Team Players

Great teams are teams that perform…consistently. But are great teams just a matter of chance? Is there a way or a method of selecting these teams? What are the traits good team players display or possess?

While the cliché says there’s no “I” in “TEAM” the fact is that all teams are but a collection of “I”s.

For teams to succeed and succeed time and again it is important to get the “right mix” of people in the team. A good team would consist 7 personality profiles. Read more…

Heart of the Matter: Cracking the Culture Code

We all journey through our professional lives much like nomads in search of water, game, fair weather and green pastures. Choosing to move on or stay put depending upon the very same factors.

So why do we as professionals stick around or leave organisations? Does the answer lie only in the remuneration and recognition that we get or is there something more? Read more…

The Real Elephant in the Room is the HiPPO

Decisions can either be made or arrived at. Semantics?  Not really.  Not everyone in the meeting room is prepared, equipped or at the expense of sounding trite capable of decision making.  Most are happy if someone else does, some perhaps more “responsible” ergo “the boss” or “the Highest Paid Person”.  It doesn’t take too many years of corporate life to figure out that all meeting rooms regardless of industry or country have more or less the same characters sitting in them. Read more…

The Middle of the Road Theory

We’ve all heard about the middle of the road donkey that could not make up its mind. Flip the axis and we are now talking about traffic lanes.  Read on….

Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say!

Cliché? You bet!  Nevertheless an expectation in the corporate world. Also perhaps a forgotten or even the most ignored mantra.  Read More….

No Is An Answer, No Answer Is Not

A majority of the readers of this post would have termed themselves “Professionals” or used the term “Professionalism” to describe one of their traits. Read more….

Moving On…

How many times have we bid farewell to people? Life puts us through these moments in various ways; be it graduating from school, changing houses, breaking up with your girl (or guy as the case maybe) and for most part of adult life changing jobs. Read more….

Playin Hookie

How often have we all cribbed about the fact that we are overworked? I guess despite the fact that we get to hear it ever so often; it’s not a REAL crib. We actually love the fact that we have enough and more to do. In someway being given more work to do seems to be something to be proud of for most (for all you know you might be the docile donkey that doesn’t throw tantrums!). Read more….

Everything at Once

What do the words Vision, Mission, Objective, Goal mean to you?

Well, for most of us from the corporate world this would be the mumbo jumbo that leaders speak of and the wordsmiths of the corporate world spend hours, weeks or even months trying to craft to perfection. Read more….

What (not) to expect when your are expecting

First up, a disclaimer. This note has nothing whatsoever to do with expecting with a pregnancy connotation.

Here’s a poser. How many times have you ended up dejected, dismayed, disgruntled or any of the words that describe any of the emotions that lie in that spectrum? Read more….

Cozy Corners