Types of managers

Types of managers :

- Don’t say what they expect but expect it done nonetheless
o Works at very senior levels or where the two have worked together for so long so as to be able to read other’s minds
- Tell you what they expect and expect it done
o Works best with senior competent people who know their jobs and can execute them with minimal supervision
- Tell you what they except and how they expect it to be done
o Works best in situation when there is lack of trust and/or competency or at junior levels or on critical projects
- Tell you what they expect, how they expect, when they expect, who they expect to do it and pretty much anything there is to it
o Not sure if this ever works

Great Companies vs Great Managers

So how to decide on a new job -
based on the manager and the comfort level you share or based on the potential of the company?

Re-orgs are a fact of work-life. If you join based on a 'great manager' you end up being stuck with a not-so-great company minus the manager.

First time managers

Easy way to spot first time managers. I am just using the term for all those people who want to show "responsibility" rather than act with "responsibility".

The term "First Time Managers" is just to catch eyeballs. There are some really mature new managers and some really bad experience managers.

Telltale signs include : -
- On email 20 hrs a day with email response time < 2 min
(See how hard I am working)

- Pointing out non-existing or inconsequential issues to show they are on top of things
(See how hard I am looking)

- Hitting the "Reply-all" and copying anybody of "importance"
(See how I keep everyone informed)

- Taking umbrage anytime they are not copied on emails
(See people are not cooperating with me or not respecting me enough)

- Micromanaging everything
(See I well I manage projects)

- Gruff behavior with team and peers, unnecessary need to assert/be aggressive
(Now you see how is the boss! - I am no pushover)

Ambition is over-rated

I think ambition and growth is a trifle over-rated!

Ambition gives you a target to achieve in a certain timeframe.
What happens if someone is more interested in the journey than the destination - that's ok too.

Some trips are well planned. The luggage all neated packed, the luxurient hotels booked, the flights confirmed, iternary put down to the last minute. It is fun!

And yet, who can deny the fun in an unplanned trip, the stopover at the road-side dhaba for a quiet bite, the dipped feet in the un-named stream and the sudden detour. Is this trip any less meaningful! any less fun!

Bosses

I have observed that bosses typically fall into three categories : Dumb, Mediocre and Smart.

These adjectives are meant to describe a bosses' faculties in comparison to you .. dumb actually means is dumber than you, mediocre means about the same as you and Smart would be much brighter than you.

How to deal deal with each of them :

Dumb bosses :
They have their own uses. Provided ofcourse you learn their levers and are able to handle them well. As long as your boss is not threatened by you and you are able to make him/her feel that they are great and all your good ideas are infact coming from them, they will depend heavily upon you and you end up controlling the boss and your destiny. The important thing is to make sure that the people who really matter know your worth and its only a matter of time before they will notice that you are actually doing your boss's job in additional to yours and might even promote you for it. You are entering a danger zone if your boss is feeling threatened by your competency in which case he/she will personally ensure and take pleasure in your fall.

Mediocre bosses :
These bosses would work great only if you share a great personal rapport with them. When the bonding is strong, each of you is able to forgive the other person's mediocrity and focus on their strengths. If the rapport is missing, the professional relationship too is doomed because you end up noticing the lack of competence more; there is nothing to compensate for or forgive for the lack of brilliance on either side.

Smart bosses :
If you willing to work hard and willing to learn, these are the ones who will challenge you to do better. The catch lies in the fact whether or not you are able to deliver to their expectations. If you do, they help you grow and more importantly you can bask in the glory of a job well done and the accompanying sense of achievement. If one the other hand you'd rather live/enjoy your life and don't want to spend those extra long draining hours at work, these bosses are not the ones to forget and forgive - probably its time to move on.

Fights and arguments ..

Have become one too many recently.

Stressful though they maybe I am willing to walk away but not give a walk over.

Something to believe in ..

Everyone needs something to believe in ..
Something that lets them suspend their logic ..
Something that make them think about abilities larger than their own.

Kids have monsters, aliens, ghosts, UFOs, and the like
Believers have one or many Gods

This belief gives us all an escape into dreams and possibilities.

Witness to mundane things

The movie "Shall We Dance" happened to have a dialog that caught my attention ..
(Movie courtesy of rest and recuperation following a bad bout of food poisoning)

The dialog mentions that people marry to have a witness to their lives .. so that their lives don't go unnoticed. The promise that the most minute and mundane bits of the lives will have a witness and a viewer ..

Isn't it also the reason why people "Twitter" or update/read status on "Facebook" or Blog?
To have witnesses to their lives (or be witnesses) ..

Work @ Home

A Mother-in-law/Daughter-in-law relationship is like a employee/boss (though it is hard to say who is what)

Just like a good boss-employee relationship, a happy m-i-l/d-i-l interworking too is a rarity and should be fiercely cherished.

Superstition : The other view

I had observed for some time now that if I don't wear my rings, my workday is more stressful.

When I think of it again:
- probably it has nothing to do with the stones but more to do with the fact that without my rings I have nothing to fiddle around with, vent out and de-stress ..

Optometry in life

Our view of self and world depends on the clarity of our vision and focus.

We can view ourselves to be bigger or smaller than what we actually are .. respectively making us look either too vain or lacking in personality to others.

Friends, family, teachers, mentors or other influences in our lives act as corrective glasses to compensate/fix the defects in our vision (myopia, presbyopia, astigmatism, hyperopia etc.)

The worst things we can do to ourselves in a to wear a wrong set of glasses .. to listen to people which falsify our vision rather than correct it. People who cloud our sights, color our vision or make us lose focus or see stuff which is not the way it is.

Life as a journey

Where I go and reach depends on both my Capability and Will.

Capability : I may be willing to go to some places and yet not have the means to reach there. The capability could limited by my conveyance, physical capacity, monetary capacity, my companions or knowledge/ignorance.

Will : There are places where I could go but just don't feel inclined to go to. It is also possible that I don't feel inclined to go to anywhere and just stay put at home and be content with it.

As in a journey, so also in life.

Where I reach in my life and what I achieve depends on both Capability and Will.

While on this journey the possibilities are many. A person may,

- Enjoy the journey and also the destination
- Love the journey but feel let down by the actual destination
- Enjoy the journey but never reach the destination
- Hate the journey but bear it for the love of the destination
- Hate both the journey and the destination and still undertake take it for various reasons
- Take an alternate path
- Just stay home and do nothing, enjoy the comfort and luxury and a sense of belonging and knowing - basically just chill and reach nowhere and do nothing - and it is OK, not everyone had a need to travel or see places!!

Just because one person is widely travelled does not necessarily imply the person is also happier or more satisfied. Does not even imply that the person in more knowing than others.

Don't crib

Another of my favorite recurring themes that I keep telling everyone (and hopefully following it myself too) ..

Don't crib, do something about it.
If you don't like something or someone or a situation, there are always three choices
- Accept it and live with it
- Change it
- Leave it

As usual I was lecturing someone about their difficult position when I happened to use an analogy that I particularly liked.


Each person is like a TV set which plays out certain channels, if you don't like what is showing you always happen to have the following choices :
- Either try to change the channel and hopefully you will like the new one better
- Shut the TV up completely - if you can't find the remote, switch off the power
- Move to a different room, possibly with and alternate TV set
- Go and read instead and ignore what is playing :-)

On afterthoughts though, it isn't as easy at it seems.

The TV may be priceless (emotional value, heritage value etc.) and impossible to get rid of but still practically useless.
The TV may be playing stupid soaps and stuff but maybe you are addicted to them and not ready to quit the habit however so you may pretend
The TV may be so loud and distracting that it may follow you to the other room
The TV may be your sole company and maybe you can't afford a new one!

Astrology in life ..

I guess I have become a believer in astrology after all these years!!

Each person is a unique planet revolving around the central theme in their life.
This core purpose of life is both their Sun and life giver.
If they go too far away from it, they become cold and dead. Come too close and it scorches and sears them.

In turn each of us has our neighboring planets, planets that due to their own gravitational forces help us maintain our orbits, lest we collapse into or get sucked up into another planet or drift too far away into the emptiness of space.

Evolution and religion

Continuing with the theme of evolution in the context of religion.

Why do people take up to religion?
Why do people give up religion and become atheists?
Why do people change their religion? or prefer one over the other?
Could be that different religions in this world cater to different needs to a different extent?

Could it be that all the rituals, all the “puja”, all the offerings, the chanting, the abstinence (or lack of it in Tantra), all the posturing, bowing appease an inherent need for all things “physical and biological”

Could be it be that all the religions gathering, the sermons and the “satsangs”, the mass prayers, charity satiate our “Social needs”

Religion answers some of the questions, mostly it triggers more questions that is answers, encourages some to find answers to the riddles of life, could it be that this triggers our “Intellectual needs”

Do we choose religion based on our individual needs and the religion/sect that satisfies it best?
Does the extent of how religious we are match with how complementary our personal religion is to our needs ..

Addendum to the previous post

There seems to be a similar reason behind dividing the life between the four ashrams or period..
Bramacharya ashram
This is how one starts, leading a disciplined life with the mastery and control of instincts (biology)
Grihastashram
Once the instincts are conquered, one learns to live in accordance to family and people (society)
Vanprastashram
After family, next comes the pursuit of intellect (mind)
Sanyasashram
The final step in evolution is to reach above all three and renounce everything!

An evolution of a person

More thoughts on evolution :

In the early years of ones life, a person is struggling with survival. Life is based on basic needs and their instinctive responses.
(A struggle of biology over inorganic)

As the years progress, a child becomes a social creature and acceptance becomes as important as physical needs.
(Society taking over biology)

With time, the young adult/adult becomes curious and starts questioning. The intellect gets stimulated, starts questioning norms, often at the cost of going against the society and losing acceptance!
(Intellect conquering society)

Different people are stuck up in different states of evolution. Some dissipate their minds and bodies and lead an inorganic life, others are instinct based, yet others believe in working for the common good and lastly some lead a lonely life of thought and questioning!

Neither of these states is absolute and people struggle all their lives with each of these forces winning at different times.

On a side note, is there a reason people get into a committed relationship/marry around their 20-30s?? Has it something to do with evolution and meeting point of biological, societal and intellectual needs? Too early and biology/instincts win (crush/infatuation), to late and intellect takes over (not enough passion)
…

Evolution

Layered heirarchy of evolution is : (Lila : An Enquiry in Morals)

Inorganic -> Biology -> Society -> Intellect

In the heirarch of human needs is : (Maslows heirarch)

Physiological -> Safety -> Love -> Esteem -> Self Actualization

Both are almost identical, seems like the society and individuals evolve together/in a similar way!

Smartness

Some people are smart, they don't need others' help.
Some people are smarter, they take others' help.

Freudian slip?

When Hillary Clinton says this race is not over yet, it is a freudian slip or a (un)intended pun?