Interviews - Shucking a lot of oysters to find the pearl?

It was my first start up experience, The fifth person to join. I was working for this company called NetQuest (Now called Aditi) founded by an ex Micro-softie.. Being part of Senior leadership, I was coached by him extensively that we needed to hire for potential and not for skills. We had an elaborate interview process and at any round in the process, if somebody objects, the  person is dropped. No exceptions ! Also, we had a list of the Microsoft questions (for example Why are manholes round ?) to identify the folks with "Out of the box" thinking. My mentor, instilled into me this approach deeply so that it became my default interview process. This helped me immensely  in my career as my success is mainly based on finding the right folks to work for me !

Read on to see how this simple technique can help you find and built sustainable productive teams....

Hire Employees for their potential and consultants for their skills !

Slow and steady does win the race in business afterall !

When I heard the story of the The Tortoise and the Hare for the first time, I was filled with questions. Why did the hare stop to take rest? Tortoise are so slow that even if the Hare slept for hours, it still could not win the race etc. All very logical questions and concerns in my kids mind. My father used to have a tough time trying to explain the concepts and convince my "scientific" mind to see the message behind the story and understand what it truly means.

Growing up and struggling to survive in the business world, I always felt that the hares won all the time. The person who can talk smoother, Dress better and network quicker won. The only thing I could do was to work twice as hard to make up for the lack of proficiencies in these departments ! Wallowing in self pity, I was slow to notice that folks who went up too quickly sometime crashed and burned even more quickly. There seems to be some natural force which balanced the inequality. Not all the time I admit (I have seen too many people in leadership roles with absolutely no skills) but enough to make me believe. Also, I noticed that some of the so called "hares" where really smart tortoise who were slow and steady - But too quick by my standards !! It was my short sighted views that labelled them as flighty hares !!

Super Nanny Tips for Managing your team

One of the shows I watch on TV is the Super Nanny and I cannot compliment it enough for the information and tips the shows provides. More importantly, it is a two in one – Tips for managing your children which can also be applied to managing your team – After all to maximize your team productivity and to minimize the Tylenol you take for your headaches, treating your team like you children does make logical sense !

So let us examine some of the key concepts of the show and see how it applies to your team

The Curse of Knowledge

Have you been presenting to folks and getting not so good reviews? Do the stories you tell your friends some time falls flat ? Read on to find out the cure for that malady...

 

Here is the secret of how I overcame the same problem. "Made to Stick" by Chip & Dan Heath is an excellent book on how to make ideas stick in peoples mind. One of the aspects they talk about is the Curse of Knowledge where a "Tapper" has to tap out the rhythm of very popular songs on a table so as to get a "Listener" to identify it. The crux of the matter is that the tapper playing the song in his mind, tapped the table with the full confidence that the listener would understand it and identify the song. Meanwhile the listener without that knowledge has no clue what the song is and is unable to identify them !!

That story stuck to me ! Let me explain why and how it helped me with my issues ...

One of the problems I face when I make presentation to teams, is that sometimes I get the "glazed eye" look- Sheer boredom or folks fervently praying that I would not ask them questions and embarrass them in front of their peers.  Very frustrating right? Here I am putting my heart and soul into the presentation and I get this? In my mind I was explaining some basic concepts which everybody should get. Finally one of my mentors pulled me aside and had "The talk". He asked me pause and understand the audience - Take time to look at my presentation from the audience's level of knowledge. Some of the folks were business users and did not understand the techno speak. Or other did not understand that particular techno speak! So they did not have the context and they did not have the foundation to build on. Not their fault and here I was making a leap of faith that they are at a certain level of knowledge. The song was playing clearly in my mind. But the tapping did not make any sense to the audience ! 

Being me, It of course took multiple attempts to overcome my ego and make me get it. But when I did get it, I found that I was being understood better and was able to get a better agreement from the audience. Suddenly I was in demand as a presenter as well as a facilitator !

Makes sense does it not? So stop playing to the music in the mind. 

Try it out and let me know if you experience the same empowerment as I did 

Raghavan (Raj) Rajendran

Elephant thinking–Unlock your potential

If you have read my book, “Why Do Elephant's Have Big Ears”, you would know that I use two elephant stories to help you understand how we limit ourselves and fail to realize our full potential.

Over the weekend, I had been to the library (In spite of the fact that I had TWO kindles !! sometimes going to the library and reading a non digital book has its own charm!)and picked up a few books to read. I was very surprised to read a similar story in the book “Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager.


Here is the extract –“When they begin to train an elephant for the circus, they chain the baby elephants‘s leg to a pole in the ground. The baby elephants wants to get away. He pulls and tugs. but he can’t escape – the chain is too big and the pole too deep in the ground. So he stops trying. As he grows up, he just assumes he can’t get away. Today he’s a six ton elephant.he could sneeze and pull that chain – but he doesn't even try. Circus trainers say that they can put a piece of sting around the six – ton elephants' leg and he won’t break away”


Coming from a traditional Indian background, the Indian society is more interested in telling you what you CANNOT do rather than inspire you to try  out new things. I call it the the “society's train track”. They create one for you, lay it and expect you to follow it !


Coming to the USA has been an eye opener. No constraints and the fact that you could work hard in whatever you want to do and make money/be happy or just live. It is very liberating ! 
So friend, whether you have Elephant thinking or Large Elephant ears, it is time you unlock your potential !

Raghavan (Raj) Rajendran

Good is the new average !

There is an interesting article in Business Insider  which is based on Seth Godin's view "If You're An Average Worker, You're going straight to the bottom". Interesting read. This one of the lessons I have learnt during my years of working and one I keep preaching to my team members all the time


Right from the school days, I always put in the extra effort to differentiate myself from rest of the students. While working, I spent a lot of time creating my own brand - Hard Work, Good Grasp  of  the problem, Structured thought process, Innovative solutions and successful delivery. In fact, in my first start up I worked in, I was the Mr. Fix It. If there is problem, they would call me to fix. 

So the two takeaways I try to give my team is 

Good is the new Average
Being average is no longer an option. You have to be good. You need to put in the extra effort to make sure you exceed expectations and deliver. Working out the details, Making sure the documents are formatted properly (I hate it when people are too lazy to do a spell check- Takes two minutes !), preparing for the presentations more thoroughly. Small things, which add to separating you from the rest of the team members and helps you leave a very positive impression in the minds of your stakeholders. Try it and see the difference !


Create your own brand
In my view, we sell all the time. Whether it is in our personal life or in the professional work environment. So why not sell ourselves so that our talents are properly understood by the others. If you set you standards higher, you have won half the battle. But if you can "market" your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) - create you own personal brand - you have the magic mix to make sure you are recognized and rewarded for what you do. More on this in a later post...


Read the article and start your journey to being Great. Average is for losers ! 

Raghavan (Raj) Rajendran