IPL3 - Mumbai Indians cruising...

Mumbai Indians (MI) were no where in picture in last two IPLs. This time they seem to have all energy & enthusiasm to make it to Top-4. Compared to CSK & others, MI batting line up is pretty modest. Apart from Sachin & Jaysurya on top, rest are not-so-famous batsmen. Yet, they are continuously proving their mettle. And remember, Jaysurya so far has been completely out of form. Tiwary, Dhawan & Rayadu have played key roles in steering MI's victory along with Sachin. Sachin on the other hand, has been playing out-of-the-world & exceptional game of cricket. He just hit his first six yesterday against CSK(in his 5th match). Yet he has been the MOM thrice in 5 games where they have won 4. He has changed his approach from an attacking cricketeer to an intelligent cricketeer. He is using the pace of bowlers. He is reading the mind of bowlers so well. And all these tactics helping him to pace his innings well & keep his Strike Rate close to 150 in each game without taking big risks. Really amazing cricketer he is!!!

I think, if they continue the tempo, Sachin continues to play the sheet-anchor role & Jaysurya comes back to his form, then they might end up winning IPL-3. Good luck to Sachin & his team MI.

In Search of a Great Leader

How often do you see people getting inspired by their leaders? How often do you see people praising their leaders for their qualities? Well, in current setup of the IT Industry, it's a difficult proposition. You got to be lucky enough to get such people. If there are 100 managers, you would get to see only 2-3 really amazing leaders among them. Coffee Table Manager Gossips are more common these days. Well, the subordinates must not be blamed completely. I think it's the managers (who fail to become good leaders) are to be blamed equally.

Let's assume, more or less everybody is fair in this world. If a manager does good work, everybody likes him. He would still have some enemies. But at some corner of their heart, they carry some respect for whatever he is. It's more of jealousy that drives them to talk nasty about him. However, this population is often very less. In a team, if 90% of the people don't agree to the actions of a manager, then the manager needs to rethink. Well, 20% of the team can be wrong, but not 90%.

I want to see more leaders who can really inspire the average individuals to achieve impossible things. I feel, in our industry, leadership development has not yet matured. People get promoted to leadership positions just to fill in a vacancy or satisfy a business need or retain the talent, often untrained ones. I want to see a change in this space. I want the organizations to give a little more serious thought about leadership development programs. Otherwise, we all will be in a down-ward spiral.

I feel very strongly: "Inspiring leaders are like doctors, if you are ill they treat you, if you are healthy they make sure you stay healthy..." The goal of a great leader should be: "make the team win, not just individuals..."

Adding Value or Time to Act!!!

Is there a way to measure the contribution of every employee towards the revenue of a company? I know it's a very ideal thing & not really easy to achieve. At the same time, I feel if it can be done, it will be the best motivator for every employee. Imagine, at the end of every month, you get a report stating - "Company earned $1000 this month & your contribution is $10". I know, it's not as simple as I put here. If a company is relatively small, such things can be feasible. When companies grow, it really is a challenge to do such calculation. Moreover, in product companies, where the fruit is often realized few years after the actual work put in, it is in fact just next to impossible.

The reason why I am feeling the importance of this is as follows. Large companies add lots of fat over a period of time without realizing that those fats are actually making it difficult to move ahead. In large companies, you often find lot of teams who actually add very limited value to organization, yet they exist for ages. I am sure, if we can have a quantitaive measurement of employee's contribution, it will be easy to recognize the fat over a period of time & take necessary actions on time to keep the company lean & agile!!!

One piece of advice - Wherever you may be working, ask yourself this simple question - "How is your work adding value to the organization?". If you are not satisfied with the answer, it's probably !!!Time to ACT!!!

Sachin's dominance continues!!!

"Sachin Tendulkar" - It's a 2 letter word which is synonymous to "Celebration" in my life. I am quite thankful to God that, I get the opportunity to see him playing since he has joined Indian Cricket Team till date (a 20+ years of  continuous celebration). It's a privilege, that the new born babies will miss during their prime time. I am least hopeful that we are going to see another Sachin in next couple of decades or so.

24th February, 2010 will probably remain as one of the best days of my life. It's not something which you get to see very often. Thanks to cricketnirvana.com, I got to see a glimpse of his last shot which took him to 200. I felt quite ecstatic when Ravi Shastri said proudly "1st man in planet to reach 200 in the history of one-day cricket". For past 20 years, whenever Sachin comes to middle, I somehow forget other things in life & at least make an effort to know "how he fared in the game". So much so, during meetings/classes, I keep sending SMS hoping to see a * against his name. I know the end is nearing & nearing very fast. Irrespective of that, I am quite amazed by the determination of this genius. Who knows, that elusive Test - 300 may be somewhere round the corner!!!