Recently, a video of Vijay Shekar Sharma addressing his team in "Wolf of the wall-street fashion". . The whole world has been divided, one side,he has been condemned for his emotional burst and the other-side has rallied behind him strongly.
I think that's the coolest thing a founder could do. Often, people who are higher up the food-chain are often perceived as Androids or Hitlers. They tend to give the image of being dispassionate and nearly Vulcan. But, is that what is needed? Does your team actually needs this image for them to do their work ? for them to build a great company.
What really drives a human being to give out every ounce of energy for his leader/for his company? This has been a question that I have had countless debates with myself, my peers and my friends, and I am yet to get an answer that is firm and fair. Maybe I never will, only time will tell.
In one of my previous roles as a project engineer, I was extensively involved in the automation of the various manufacturing lines, whose end goal was reduction of manpower and increase in throughput. Having spent some-time studying concepts in lean manufacturing, time and motion study,I really was convinced that automation was the way to go and always felt there is a limit to a human-being's potential. But, then came a sweet-surprise to me in the form of one of my colleagues who became a dear friend in the days to come. He was thin and a highly-energetic maintenance engineer, spearheading the maintenance efforts. A calm and an affable bloke, a few years elder to me.
We had a unionised work-force in the factory and getting work from them was a skill. Of all the engineers in the maintenance department, this light-hearted engineer had a reputation of being the magic man with a midas touch. Any problem in the plant, pick up the phone and call this dude and he would get work done in no time. Whenever, I got a chance to work with him, I would grab that opportunity with both hands, Observe him closely and understand how he would get work done from a workmen who were not only much older than him but also carried with them a big bag of ego. For starters, I thought he was lucky that his team of workmen were all affable and easy-going folks, it seemed as though only nice guys were in his team. Always listening to him and always supporting him through the good and bad times. But then again, I found other engineers who would struggle to get the same work done through the same set of guys. What was the magic formula that this guy had that the others lacked. This question haunted me for a long time.
One fine day, I mustered all my courage and pulled him to a side and asked him, "Dude, what's your magic formula? it's as though the world dances to your tunes!". Perplexed by my illogical question, he jokingly asked me if I was drunk. That's when, I threw everything there was in my mind and he looked a bit taken aback at the weird observation which could have been perceived as borderline stalking. He brushed me aside and told me to stop giving him the star-status, but I wasn't going to let him go without getting an answer. Inspite of the pile of work I had to complete, I decide the answers to these questions were important than anything else that day. He began by giving me his philosophy of life, I was like a curious child sitting with my ears wide open and he started off like seasoned story teller.
Rome wasn't built in a day my friend and like Rome, this so called magic took time. Initially, when I was a newbie in the company, I struggled like everyone else to deal with the workmen. But, thanks to my earlier bosses who had told me that life is all about relationship building, I began to employ techniques and tools that my earlier bosses had drilled in me. Whenever, I was called from any of the plants, I would hold the tools in my hand and take the workmen along with me, I would be the first one to get my hands dirty. Instead of directing them, I would jump in and solve this issue myself. I would lead by example. I spent a lot of time on the shop-floor and won their hearts. Along the way, if one of the workmen in my team would give me a solution/get the problem solved, I would appreciate their efforts and genuinely call them out during the team meetings. This motivated them, made them to work hard, win my appreciation and get the spotlight. Slowly and steadily, my visits to the plants reduced, my team would tell me to not come and assure me they would get the job done. This was an old-school trick, but it had a guaranteed result. I stuck to it and it paid off. This was not all, whenever, they needed a personal favor, I would go out of my way to help them. I would make sure they had what they wanted and that strengthened the camaraderie that was already there. Lastly, I will give you an icing on the cake. whenever, they asked me leave, I would give them without a second's thought, however difficult it was for me. With that, I had tied all ends of the relationship knot. Thanks to that, my off-days were never interrupted with calls. He concluded with a line saying, " "Relationship is everything", just when I got a call from my boss and had to leave.
Walking back alone, I took it all and said Aha!
For me some, this was one of the best pieces of advice I could get on leadership of people. I have tried to follow this since then.
To sum it up, "Relationship is everything".
I think that's the coolest thing a founder could do. Often, people who are higher up the food-chain are often perceived as Androids or Hitlers. They tend to give the image of being dispassionate and nearly Vulcan. But, is that what is needed? Does your team actually needs this image for them to do their work ? for them to build a great company.
What really drives a human being to give out every ounce of energy for his leader/for his company? This has been a question that I have had countless debates with myself, my peers and my friends, and I am yet to get an answer that is firm and fair. Maybe I never will, only time will tell.
In one of my previous roles as a project engineer, I was extensively involved in the automation of the various manufacturing lines, whose end goal was reduction of manpower and increase in throughput. Having spent some-time studying concepts in lean manufacturing, time and motion study,I really was convinced that automation was the way to go and always felt there is a limit to a human-being's potential. But, then came a sweet-surprise to me in the form of one of my colleagues who became a dear friend in the days to come. He was thin and a highly-energetic maintenance engineer, spearheading the maintenance efforts. A calm and an affable bloke, a few years elder to me.
We had a unionised work-force in the factory and getting work from them was a skill. Of all the engineers in the maintenance department, this light-hearted engineer had a reputation of being the magic man with a midas touch. Any problem in the plant, pick up the phone and call this dude and he would get work done in no time. Whenever, I got a chance to work with him, I would grab that opportunity with both hands, Observe him closely and understand how he would get work done from a workmen who were not only much older than him but also carried with them a big bag of ego. For starters, I thought he was lucky that his team of workmen were all affable and easy-going folks, it seemed as though only nice guys were in his team. Always listening to him and always supporting him through the good and bad times. But then again, I found other engineers who would struggle to get the same work done through the same set of guys. What was the magic formula that this guy had that the others lacked. This question haunted me for a long time.
One fine day, I mustered all my courage and pulled him to a side and asked him, "Dude, what's your magic formula? it's as though the world dances to your tunes!". Perplexed by my illogical question, he jokingly asked me if I was drunk. That's when, I threw everything there was in my mind and he looked a bit taken aback at the weird observation which could have been perceived as borderline stalking. He brushed me aside and told me to stop giving him the star-status, but I wasn't going to let him go without getting an answer. Inspite of the pile of work I had to complete, I decide the answers to these questions were important than anything else that day. He began by giving me his philosophy of life, I was like a curious child sitting with my ears wide open and he started off like seasoned story teller.
Rome wasn't built in a day my friend and like Rome, this so called magic took time. Initially, when I was a newbie in the company, I struggled like everyone else to deal with the workmen. But, thanks to my earlier bosses who had told me that life is all about relationship building, I began to employ techniques and tools that my earlier bosses had drilled in me. Whenever, I was called from any of the plants, I would hold the tools in my hand and take the workmen along with me, I would be the first one to get my hands dirty. Instead of directing them, I would jump in and solve this issue myself. I would lead by example. I spent a lot of time on the shop-floor and won their hearts. Along the way, if one of the workmen in my team would give me a solution/get the problem solved, I would appreciate their efforts and genuinely call them out during the team meetings. This motivated them, made them to work hard, win my appreciation and get the spotlight. Slowly and steadily, my visits to the plants reduced, my team would tell me to not come and assure me they would get the job done. This was an old-school trick, but it had a guaranteed result. I stuck to it and it paid off. This was not all, whenever, they needed a personal favor, I would go out of my way to help them. I would make sure they had what they wanted and that strengthened the camaraderie that was already there. Lastly, I will give you an icing on the cake. whenever, they asked me leave, I would give them without a second's thought, however difficult it was for me. With that, I had tied all ends of the relationship knot. Thanks to that, my off-days were never interrupted with calls. He concluded with a line saying, " "Relationship is everything", just when I got a call from my boss and had to leave.
Walking back alone, I took it all and said Aha!
For me some, this was one of the best pieces of advice I could get on leadership of people. I have tried to follow this since then.
To sum it up, "Relationship is everything".
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