Ramalinga Raju, Indira Gandhi and the metaphor of “Riding a tiger”

Mr. Ramalinga Raju, Chairman of Satyam, has written a letter about the sequence of events that led him to create and maintain inflated account books for his company for several years. What I found most surprising was the metaphor he used to describe the state of his mind. He writes:

What started as a marginal gap between actual operating profit and the one reflected in the books of accounts continued to grow over the years… Every attempt made to fill the gap failed. As the promoters hold a small percentage of equity, the concern was that poor performance would result in a take-over, thereby exposing the gap. It was like riding tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten.

When I read this I was reminded of the description of a meeting between ex-Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi and a spiritual leader Jiddu Krishnamurti day before Indira Gandhi took off the emergency. The meeting is described in a biography: Indira Gandhi: A biography by Pupul Jaykar where Indira Gandhi describes the state of her mind:

I am riding on the back of a tiger…I do not mind the tiger killing me, but I do not know how to get off its back

Perhaps it starts with what Peter Senge calls a learning disability in Fifth Discipline: Illusion of taking charge in facing difficult problems. As Peter describes, what is typically meant by this is that we feel we should face to the difficult issues, stop waiting for someone else to do something, and solve problems before they grow into crises. All too often, proactiveness is reactiveness in disguise. True proactiveness comes from seeing how we contribute to our own problems.

Story of “Plan B”

I have a friend whose favorite past-time is to talk about “Plan B”s. We used to work together and every time we went for a walk after lunch, he would talk about what he would do if he were not doing the current job. Sometimes it was about “writing a book”, other times it was about “designing new tools”. Recently he actually changed his job. And guess what he is doing in the new job? Pretty much the same thing he was doing in the old job.

I am not a great believer in “Plan B”s. May be because I am not very good at creating them. The last time I went for a job interview was more than 10 years ago when I was returning back from the US. I stuck with one company I joined till the time I felt that I am completely satisfied with “employee” phase of life and the phase is now over. The feeling was similar to feeling in 10th standard that school was a fun place but we need to move on to the next phase. At that time (2 years ago) I started my new career as an independent consultant.

During the initial days of consulting career people used to ask me what I am going to consult on. I am sure whatever I used to say wasn’t convincing. Because immediately the next remark would be: You can always go back to a job if this doesn’t work out. Isn’t it? Frankly, that is not how I looked at the situation. You don’t say that if you don’t like a college, you will go back to school, do you? The idea is to enjoy college while being there.

Perhaps you have a much better experience with Plan Bs. In that case it will be good to exchange our notes some day.

Thin line between passion and obsession

Most useful lesson from the world camp: Vishwanathan Anand talked about his life in the past few years when the number 1 title was eluding him in an interview with Times of India. Vishy said, “Before Mexico (last September), I came close to the number one spot or the world title in 2005 and 2006 too. It didn’t happen. That is when I got my most useful lesson: If you obsess over something, you won’t get it. I went back to my play-chess-enjoy-it philosophy then. By 2007, I had more or less stopped thinking about goals. But then, almost miraculously, I won Linares after 10 years. I became a 2800 player again and also climbed to number one spot.”

If you obsess over something you won’t get it: As an entrepreneur, having chosen to follow my passion, it has been an enjoyable journey. However, a few months back, I seemed to be overly worried about the impending recession and how much the business will be affected in the coming months. My wife said, “You seem to be tense.” Even a friend made a similar remark looking at my face. And suddenly there was a realization that I had (unnecessarily) become obsessive about the business (and how much it should progress etc.) And that is when Vishy’s lesson came handy.

Identifying your alarm bells: It is only human to cross lines. But then wouldn’t it help if we have our own alarm bells which will go off when the line is crossed between passion and obsession? So I asked myself, “What are the signs that I have become obsessive?” I few things came to mind:

1. Did I jog in the last week?
2. Did I go for a walk with my wife?
3. Did I listen to Hindustani classical music in the past 2 weeks?
4. Did I practice flute in the last 2 weeks?
5. Did I go cycling with my son in the last 2-3 weeks?
6. Did I get out of the city in the last 2-3 months?
7. Did I read any fiction, especially a Marathi book in the past 2-3 months?

It has been only a few months since the last obsession-period. Let’s see when the next round comes. And let me see if this list helps.

“Creating a Desired Future” workshop: A satisfying experience

Hala, Raja and I facilitated a 2.5 day workshop titled “Creating a desired future” in the first week of May. The objective of the workshop was to enable mid-career assessment and action planning. It was a long weekend and school holiday season. With all these odds stacked against it, we had 10 enthusiastic delegates eager to explore their vision, mental blocks, strengths & action planning to achieve their desired future. Moreover, when you have representatives from areas as diverse as Film direction, HR, retail operations, insurance, IT you could not have asked for more. As Hala says, “When vision is powerful, it finds its own ways to put things together”

It has been nearly six months since we three started discussing this idea. Primary trigger came from our observation that most people go through an intense phase of introspection somewhere during their career. This was based on our personal experience as well as our interactions with our friends / colleagues. This observation was further supported by seminal work done by MIT Professor Edgar Schein on career dynamics. According to Prof. Schein, Although it is not clear whether this is a crisis or even a stage, there is mounting evidence that most people go though some kind of reassessment of themselves when they are well into their careers, asking themselves questions about their initial choices (“Have I entered the right career?”), about their levels of attainment (“Have I accomplished all I hoped to accomplish?” or “What have I accomplished and was it worth the sacrifices?”), and about their futures (“Should I continue or make a change?” or “What do I want to do with the rest of my life, and how does work fit into it?”). And we asked, “Can we assist people in this phase in a structured way?”

As each of us started to explore into different areas we began to see synergies. We realized that we can combine work done by Peter Senge (“Personal Mastery” from "Fifth Discipline"), Robert Fritz (“Path of least resistance”), Otto Scharmer (“Theory U”), Edgar Schein (“Career Dynamics”), and Marcus Buckingham (“Now, discover your strengths”). The challenge was to see how the gap between “current reality (CR)” and “desired future (DF)” can be bridged through an action plan that is anchored in one’s strengths. Raja and Hala have seen many visioning exercises in their consulting career where people find this gap between CR and DF far too intimidating.

As Ludi Goganovic, my friend who grew up in Germany and later worked in the US, observes, “In India, we have a lot more people doing a job for various reasons other than they being passionate about it.” Imagine the kind of place this will be if instead of say, 1% people following their passion, 5% start doing it. That is the grand vision.

Seven-Day Weekend

I along with my friends Hala and Raja will be facilitating a workshop on “Creating a desired future” on 2^nd to 4^th May. So I will be working on a weekend (a long weekend actually, May 1^st is a holiday). But then I might go for movie on Wednesday like the last one I saw (Taare Zameen Par) along with my wife and son on a Wednesday morning.

Ever since I started independent consulting business the difference between weekday and weekend has grown increasingly blurry. My official workplace is my bedroom. Sometimes I practice flute in the morning and go to gym at 4:30pm. Sometimes I cook a few lunch items (like chapatti or rice or daal) and whenever I get a chance enjoy my post-lunch siesta. And there are times when I am doing something (like writing this blog) on a Saturday at 10:30pm. And if you feel this guy looks like a jobless joker who has given up in life, look at how Catalign , my business is doing.

I guess this is what Ricardo Semler calls Seven-Day Weekend in his book with the same title. In this book, Ricardo compares the metaphor of a weekend – which is supposed to be fun time, to that of weekday – which is supposed to be work time. Then he asks, “Why is it that the opposite of work is leisure, while in fact it is idleness?”

Why I like Ricardo is not because he raises this kind of questions. You and I can do the same and perhaps do it over umpteen tea, coffee or beer sessions. But then Ricardo actually “walks the talk”. He gives numerous examples in his own life and that of Semco, the company he has run successfully for past few decades that it is actually possible to do it. Ricardo advocates that it is as important & fulfilling to learn to go to movies on a Monday afternoon as you learn to answer emails on Sunday evenings.

When I read Ricardo Semler’s Seven-Day Weekend in 2005, I would have hardly believed if someone had predicted that I would actually experience this kind of life in a few years. Looking back now, I definitely feel that the book influenced me in creating a “desired future” over the next few years. If this idea of “creating your own desired future” tickles you, then join us at Pipal Tree on 2^nd May. We still have a couple of seats.

What’s wrong in “Becoming successful”?

Thanks to Ramprasad for raising such a fundamental question to an earlier post on “Success vs. flowering”. He has given a very apt example, that of Rahul Dravid, in bringing out the point that “becoming” and “being” are not mutually exclusive as the post suggests. Ramprasad feels that it doesn’t matter as long as you are enjoying. And I agree with him.

Many times we get so busy with “becoming” that “joy” part is forgotten. Or at least put on hold for the time being. The reasoning is “Let me get to this point, and then I will really do what I love doing”. “This point” sometimes is about reaching a position like vice president or CEO, sometimes is about accumulating sufficient net worth to be able to continue current standard of living for the rest of the life, at other times it will be linked to being debt free or kids getting married etc. All these are practical considerations and have their own merit. In short, there is nothing wrong with these approaches. But the unfortunate part is, many times “This point” never comes. Or when it comes, either there is no energy left “to enjoy” or “how to enjoy” is completely forgotten.

Ramprasad has summarized some of the sentences from Geet Sethi’s “Success vs Joy” in his blog. To pick one I liked: I have learnt that when I wanted success and was willing to sacrifice joy for it, eventually got neither.

Success vs flowering

“Success” is a powerful word. So many lives revolve around it, chase it & sometimes embrace it only to discover later that it was temporary. I re-discovered the strength of this s-word recently. It was little over a year ago that that I started offering a workshop on technical leadership. Initially I had titled it “Understanding the facets of technology leadership” The response was lukewarm. Participants would say (not in so many words) “This understanding part is ok. But, where do we go from here?” After suggestions from my friends I changed the title to “Becoming a successful technical leader”. And then suddenly the interest level jumped. While the core content may not have changed much, it gave a purpose to the participant: “To be successful”

“Success” clearly belongs to the world of “becoming”. It is no surprise that so many books get written just by analyzing so-called “successful” personalities. “Success” is always a projection in the future. When it becomes “past”, the experience can be quite unsettling. Gary Kasparov narrates one such experience in his interview in Harvard Business Review (April 2005).

The greatest challenge for all successful people is to get past their own successes. It is especially hard when the success is extraordinary. In 1985, after winning game 24 against Anatoly Karpov, I became the youngest world champion in the history of chess. There was a huge celebration. I was feeling on top of the world. Then, in a quiet moment, Rona Petrosian, the widow of Tigran Petrosian, the ninth world champion and one of my great predecessors, came to me and said, “I am sorry for you”. I was incredulous. “I’m sorry for you,” she said, “because the happiest and best day of your life is over.” I was too young at the time to recognize the profundity of her words, but today I understand how wise she was.

“Flowering” on the other hand belongs to the world of “being”. Have you watched a flower? Do you think it is competing with the neighboring flower? Unlike “success”, you don’t ask a question, “How do I flower?” Flowering happens when you just “be”. It is no surprise that this f-word is not so popular. Human mind is so obsessed with “becoming” that it has no time for “just being”.

Where do you see “being” in action? I see it every day when kids are playing in the sandpit in front of our gallery. But then they don’t have to take care of family, they don’t have EMI and they don’t have to worry about looming downturn. And so life goes on… After all, don’t you want to become somebody?