When do we change and why?

At the helm of perhaps one of tech industry’s greatest turnaround is an Indian, Satya Nadella of Microsoft. His recipe for reinvigorating the company from a Windows-centric one to that which provides a range of online services to companies and individuals is watched by other industry behemoths like HP, Cisco, and IBM to name a few. Most of these long-standing companies are either undergoing similarly wrenching changes or are attempting to reinvent themselves. Microsoft has untethered itself from the conventional windows only strategy to embracing open-source. They better. The competences and behaviours that revolved around desktops or an array of computers at the basement, which primarily fuelled growth of these companies have suddenly paved way to apps that can be activated with a tap on the mobile. The biggies seem to have been caught in a time warp. 

The thought of these biggies struggling to get a grip on the market they once ruled was a bit unsettling for me. As professionals, what if we have to confront such sudden volatility in our career?  Well, not that Microsoft didn’t know of the imminent market challenges. And, not that as professionals we don’t know about the lurking and potentially career-altering changes. What’s alarming about such a change is that even if we know about it, having firmly entrenched ourselves in a certain comfort zone, we might not be able to embrace it with the agility that it demands. Remember, Microsoft had once considered open source an anathema. Similar to how companies steer investments to initiatives that offer the most tangible and immediate returns, and shortchange investments crucial to their long-term strategies, we also have to channelize our time, talent, and energy. This however needs to be done basis one of the most fundamental requirements – a purpose in life.

While the industry and its long-standing incumbents undergo a tectonic shift, there is one thing that doesn’t change. It is the purpose of these companies. For instance, irrespective of the changes, Microsoft will continue to create technology that is accessible to everyone. And, the company will do it by even cutting deals with rivals. Example – users of online version of Office can save their files on servers of Box, a cloud-storage firm. Who can forget that Office is now available on Android and Apple mobiles? Like the companies, our purpose can be spread or fortified only when we have a humble eagerness to learn something from everybody and when we help others build or promote their purpose.

It is quite a task but as the established companies have found, it is definitely not about building individual prominence but about the manifold individuals that we have helped. 

Personal views

If you want to be a good leader

"Rahul, you don't have to ask, please tell me and it will be done." That was the response from a close friend when I requested for some help. His response kept playing in my mind. How can someone order for help? Soon, my mind was racing back in time. While I was a manager, a senior colleague once told me I cannot be a good leader if I continue to be polite with people. “You have to be very aggressive to be a good leader,” he had said. For the next couple of days, I was trying to transform myself - practicing dialogues and techniques that would change perception of others towards me. It lasted only a few days though. “What’s wrong with you, why are you acting strange?” My wife confronted me and that was the end of my attempt at transformation. Do all good leaders pass orders to get work done? I hit the web for answers. There were many theories and frameworks that helped me put to rest worries, if I can call it so. What was truly motivating was the story of Robert Greenleaf.

He was an obscure sixty-six-year-old former mid-level AT&T executive until he wrote an essay that launched a movement. His work titled “Servant as Leader" turned the reigning philosophies of business and political leadership upside down. Greenleaf argued that the most effective leaders weren’t heroic, take-charge commanders but instead were quieter, humbler types whose animating purpose was to serve those nominally beneath them. Greenleaf called this notion “servant leadership” and explained that the order of those two words held the key to its meaning. “The servant-leader is servant first,” he wrote. “Becoming a servant-leader begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.”

His work might not go well with the managers of today for it is not service to others that is a priority but dominating others in their continuous pursuit for prominence. Well, I am glad there are people and organizations who understand leadership has many facets. I know my way. Do you?