Kazira

Once you get your first job, MEETINGS becomes an integral part of your working life. I personally have been in working environment where meetings pretty much took 25% of my working time. Many a folks have to deal with more, they travel 25% of their working time and then attend more meetings to update the team on their travel. No matter how much – meetings are important and can be effective when conducted effetively. Now there are several types of meetings –

• Stand up meeting

• Weekly Status meeting

• Monthly Status Meeting

• Quarterly ‘State of the company’ meeting

• Technical Meetings

• Program Status Meeting

• Proposal Related (Red, blue, orange Team) Meeting

• Other smaller Team Meeting

• Brainstorming Session

• Working Meeting

• ‘Just two guys shooting the breeze’ Meeting

• And so on .. and so on ….

And just like real life, where your popularity is based on your personality and your personal traits – getting an invitation to attend a meeting signifies your social and work stature. There are some meeting that you would like to attend and won’t get invitation and there are some where you’ll be invited to one – and you would rather be in a ‘Tin Chewing Contest’ than to attend those meetings. It’s a fine art of balancing your network to be a part of just the meetings that you would like to attend.

The intent of a meeting is to gather the whole team or a part of the team to either –

a) Keeping your team upto speed on the program/project

b) Setting weekly/monthly priority

c) Update everyone on the progress

d) Check on the status

e) Get some critical activity addressed immediately

f) Show who is in charge

Just to outline one worst case scenario – I have been to some meetings where the meeting was the only place where that particular work got done – When we left the meeting no one followed through their actions and then we were called for another meeting just to force us to finish the task. And then there were other meetings where some of the key members of the team – who were not on the talking terms (Yes this is real not fiction) – and a team meeting was the only place to get them to communicate with each other and the team (Talk about team dysfunction).

On the positive side, I have been to meetings where some of the critical issues were resolved only because right folks were present to discuss and provide their expertise (But these were few and far between).

Here are a few signs of a meeting which may be worth attending –

a) Has a lead identified

b) Has a clear goal/objective

c) Posts a clear agenda

d) Agenda is posted well in advance

e) Post time frame (in chunks) for agenda item discussions

f) Clearly identifies ‘must attendees’

g) Identifies the key discussion points (Meeting minutes) and action item list from previous meeting

            a. If a first meeting – then provides all relevant information

h) Span of less than 2 hour – If more then has plenty of breaks.

Also some of the key ingredients that makes a good meeting –

a) No one is restricted from speaking their mind

b) Someone takes the meeting minutes and action items and follows them though

c) Circulate an attendees list that identifies who were in attendance

d) At the end of the meeting, go through the action items so every one has a clear understanding of them

e) Clearly identify the next date/venue and tentative agenda for the next meeting (if it is a recurring meeting).

I have heard of cases where; to limit time wasted in meetings – the chairs posted notional $/min of the companies money spent at that meeting (based on the attendees of the meeting). This kept folks motivated to finish the meeting on time.

I’m personally in favor of a weekly team meeting to gather information from all and to provide priority for the week to all. In addition to this, a quarterly ‘Company Wide’ meeting to provide status of the company is a useful one. Besides those, most of the other working meeting must be kept at a smaller level and should include only those who need to be involved.

I must make a point here to the new comers, you may have to impose yourself onto some of these meetings – This is perhaps the only way to get invited to some ‘important’ meetings’. There is a good chance that you may be asked to perform minutia during it – But, some of the meetings are great learning experience on company’s character and the dynamics of the folks within the company.

Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making

by David Rothkopf (Author)

You know, when did I first start thinking about the possibility of a small group of individuals pretty much running the whole world? It was during the time when I (along with a lot of my friends) lost a significant chunk of our hard earned earning betting on the hyped up stocks on the Wall Street. We wanted someone to blame for our losses and we, rather than blaming our greed, conveniently blamed it all on the bubble and then subsequently to Allan Greenspan for bursting that bubble. We collectively blamed a single guy for evaporating trillions of dollars from the market, our pockets and the economy – “Could a single guy posses such power?” We wondered. And if this is true – who controls such person and “could the decisions made by such person be modified based on political and personal objectives?” Then came Greenspan’s book and him telling of how the current White House (2004-2008) was the most intrusive when it came to deciding the fed market policies. Wow .. I wondered, so the power is concentrated with a few and the political elites do use or abuse it for furthering their own agendas … I don’t claim to be naive here – I had an inkling – I don’t wear any idealistic glasses when I look at the real world – but this is hard fact, as told by one of “those” (in the know). And then came this book – writing about this phenomenon in black and white. Now, after reading this book, when I think of the past events and read current news, I can now almost find artifacts to substantiate the above theory all over the news articles.

Now lets come to the stock market these days (June 2008) – How could it be? that the stock market keeps doing the roller-coater ride for the past 8 years and all the reporting in the news paper and in the financial magazine is that – its because the “job market lost jobs” or “consumer spending is low” or “consumer sentiments are low” or “the price of oil is a bit higher”. I agree that these factors do play a role on the market but how could the “consumer sentiments” be low one day and a big Markey hurray the next – Something is not right – The market is moving too fact and all the financial reports are left with is the weaker argument of all the quotes above. These can’t be freak accidents, because freak accidents do not happen on a daily basis – like the ones reported lately. There are a group of individuals – not conspiring, but acting in their own interest and using their enormous influence fulfill their goals (The oil companies, or the oil future’s traders). Meanwhile, us, the middle class, is left hanging watching the stock market like a dog following the tennis ball on the court while paying $4 a gallon for gasoline.

Getting back to the book – here is a book that we can all relate with. A book, finally, that dares to expose the big elephant in the room. The emperor REALLY is not wearing any clothes … Long a favorite subject pushed along by conspiracy theorists; here is a well researched book right from the middle of this class that not only does exist but pretty much runs the whole world (The author speculates about 6000 of them around the world) … Reading this book was equivalent of someone giving me a code to see the world differently. And seeing the world, now, decoded, it does look different. Specifically, the book first outlines the fact that this class does exist, they do meet on a regular basis (be at DAVOS, or trilateral commission or other Asian or European Elite clubs) and divide up the pie conveniently between them. The underlying assertion here is that this group pretty much looks after their own need and greed and cares a little for the rest of us (Apparently 10% of the folks on top control 90% of the wealth). The book also mentions that the Superclass is a close community but a dynamic one – You may become a part of it if you control the lives of “many” human beings. The book gives laws for being a part of the superclass – and they are no means politically correct – Some of them include – “You have to be a man”, “You have to me Anglo Saxon” “You should attend Harvard, Stanford or University of Chicago” and “You have to be lucky” among others. A nicely written book and a real eye opener – Verbalizes every aspects of the social structure that you sort of perceive and assume conspiracy theories around it – and at the same time provides a good understanding of the superclass elite; their strengths – their weaknesses – etc.

A DEFINITE MUST READ. The book also asserts that the world has become a different place after the “globalization” phenomenon has reached its peak. As a result of this, the national boundaries do not matter anymore – And the whole world has to comply by the rules set by a few multinationals and a few political elites in the top tear of the countries around the world. These developments, the author mentions has reduced the size of the middle class around the word. As we all know, a larger middle class in the society is good for democracy – The larger the gap between the “haves” and “have wanna be” – the more autocratic society gets and at the end of the day a mass of people suffer which inevitably leads to revolutions. It is Mary Antoinette’s “If you don’t have bread to eat – then eat cake” scenario approaching closer day by day.

As I read this book, I felt like this world has evolved into an equivalent of an Indian CASTE system – If you are born poor or a middle class – there is a high probability that the “system” would try to keep you that way … And vice versa if you are born rich. So, rather than being classified (casted) based on what you do – you are currently being casted based on what you possess. I got a first hand feel of this when I walked in posh clothing shop in Beverly Hills (in my Jeans and T’s) and the looks on the girls behind the counter pretty much gave it away – Now I know how a low caste person entering a higher caste temple in India felt like …

At the end of the day – I drew the same conclusion that I drew on multiple occasions when I pondered similar questions about the fate of our world – It is really up to us, the people, to come together and collectively make the right decision about our lives. Decision made under fear (for example another terrorist attack or gasoline prices) often leads to wrong people in the positions that make the highest impact in the world. This country of ours offers great opportunity for folks to appropriately use their vote and chose the right people in the political office to do the right thing – if we don’t use it wisely, then collectively, we deserve what coming to us … God Bless us all …

Last time when I thought about this topic of ‘knowing thyself’ (a long time ago, I must admit) – the first thought that ran through my head was – “Well, how the heck am I suppose to know myself?” All I know so far has been put into my head by my gurus, my teachers, parents, and preachers. They never told me who I am – They only told me who I should be – Characteristics, virtues, and traits that I should strive to possess – “Picture a person who really inspire you” they said “and then follow their footsteps” …. Well, that exercise really did not work out as planned – since who I am and whom I was striving to be – apparently were two different people. I’m not exactly a very deep thinker; so, after a while, I left pondering this question thinking that such abstract issues are better left for the “philosopher types”. And that was that … Until recently ….

Fairly recently, I got introduced to a phenomenon (outlined in a series of books) that is primarily based on improving your professional life based on exploitation of your dominant personality strengths ( I must thank my Friend Rajiv Roy for introducing me to this complex mess …) . The author of these (series of) books, Marcus Buckingham, is from Gallop organization and has published three books on the subject (a couple with other folks as co-authors).

The first one, published in 1999 was titled - ‘First, break all the rules’ which was a survey and a study of bunch of managers and their issues on finding the right people, retaining them, and keeping them satisfied with respect to the kind of work that they would love to do. The synopsis of that book came out to be – “don't try to put in what was left out; instead draw out what was left in”. You must hire for talent, and hone that talent into outstanding performance. Work your people’s strengths rather than forcing them to improve upon their weaknesses.

Then came his second book – “Now, Discover your strengths”. This was the book where Marcus introduced a concept of Strength Finder – An online tool (NOT FREE – but when you buy a book it lets you take the test once) that asks you a (whole) bunch of questions in rapid succession and records your answers based on your first instinct (it pushes you to answer promptly – the first thing that comes to your mind). The questions have a very short duration and so you don’t have much time to think before answering. These questions vary in terms of “what ifs scenario” and what would your reaction to a particular scenario be … etc. This tool then identifies your top 5 strengths (out of 34 outlined below - Each of these strengths is described in details in the book ).

1. Achiever

2. Activator

3. Adaptability

4. Analytical

5. Arranger

6. Belief

7. Command

8. Communication

9. Competition

10. Connectedness

11. Context

12. Deliberative

13. Developer

14. Discipline

15. Empathy

16. Fairness

17. Focus

18. Futuristic

19. Harmony

20. Ideation

21. Inclusiveness

22. Individualization

23. Input

24. Intellection

25. Learner

26. Maximizer

27. Positivity

28. Relator

29. Responsibility

30. Restorative

31. Self-assurance

32. Significance

33. Strategic

34. Woo

Once I finished taking this test, I was surprised who I really was or what my predominant strengths were – and these were completely different from what I had previously assumed. After this test, I really am looking at the world and my actions very differently.

Now, here comes the third one – Go Put Your Strengths To Work – This is probably the last in this a series of personal development books that, from book to book, have moved from being guidance for managers to guidance for any professional. This is the book that tries to trains you, the individual professionals, in terms of how to manage your strengths, how to manage your weaknesses, and how to put your strengths to work for a more fulfilling personal and professional life. And this book offers 6 steps to do this –

Step 1: Bust The Myths

Step 2: Get Clear

Step 3: Free Your Strengths

Step 4: Stop Your Weaknesses

Step 5: Speak Up

Step 6: Build Strong Habits

The book suggests adopting five regular habits in your life:

• Every day, look over your strength statements and your three weakness statements. This keeps them fresh in your mind.

• Every week, complete a “strong week” plan. Basically, identify two ways you’ll maximize your strengths in the coming week - at the same time, identify two ways to minimize your weaknesses in the coming week.

• Every quarter, close the book on your strengths. Schedule a meeting with your boss and go over ways you maximized your strengths in the previous three months.

• Every six months, go over your strengths in detail. Make sure you understand what they really mean and how you’re applying them.

• Every year, toss out your strengths and start over. You can use your old ones as a starting point, but there will likely be some clarifications as your understanding of your strengths and your weaknesses grow.

Authors also discusses the myths that holds us back and provides the truth as he sees it. The myths that he tries to bust are –

Myth 1: As you grow, your personality changes
Myth 2: You will grow the most in your areas of greatest weakness
Myth 3: A good team member does whatever it takes to help the team

I would definitely RECOMMEND this book to anyone who feels that their professional career has stagnated or is in desperate need of a kick start. The book gets a little preachy time to time and is repetitive at times.

Now getting back to ‘Knowing Thyself’, there are yet another series of (personality or career) tests that you may take which, results in identification of your personality traits. These tests also suggests the most suitable career paths for you. Some of them are free and some will set you back $80 - $100 per person.

Some of the career evaluation tests evaluate you (based on the questions that you answer online) for the following 6 personality categories. Based on the predominance of one over the other, it offers careers that would most suit your personality.

• Realistic—the doers

• Investigative—the thinkers

• Artistic—the creators

• Social—the helpers

• Enterprising—the persuaders

• Conventional—the organizers

And then (last but not least) – there is ‘Myers Briggs personality test’ – You can take a free test at www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm. The result will classify you using four classifications.

• Extroverted ( E ) or Introverted (I)

• Sensing ( S ) or Intuitive (N)

• Thinking ( T ) or Feeling (F)

• Judging ( J ) or Perceiving (P)

So in the end you could be ENTJ or ISFP etc. These can then be used to indentify the most suitable career paths for you.

More details on these in Part II of ‘Knowing Thyself’.

Further Read - http://jobsearch.about.com/od/careertests/a/careertests.htm

Heck, “they” wrote books titled “Tao of Pooh” and “Tao of Steve” – So then why not a foray into “Tao of a company”. All I mean out of it is the inherent structures and classes within a typical company. You get glimpses of it when you enter the work force but no one tells you about it. It is what we, as human beings; eventually settle into; as a structure, as a character; for a company.

I think a new comer to the global work force must understand the soul of a company before defining a career path for himself/herself. So, what is the soul of the company and its corresponding characteristics of different layers of definitions? Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF) – A company can be thought of a living, breathing entity and the people who define it are the people who work for it. It is the collected souls of the individuals and there collective wisdom, weaknesses, and all other human attributes – define a company. And just like the human body, where each part of its physical and psychological constitution define the whole human personality – a company has the same distinguishing attributes that makes it whole.

So lets begin understanding how a companies are laid out these days – how they aught to be laid out and how you can maximize your contribution and your potential while making a mark. Based on your education and capability, the levels described below will be applicable for all parts (departments) of the company – Sales, marketing, purchasing, human resources, design, production, finance, travel, business –development etc. I must make another point that when you join a smaller company, these responsibilities described below will be more apparent and utilized – the bigger corporation loose sight of these and the folks stay locked into one level without much exposure.

GROUND ZERO – Level 1 – YOU ARRIVE AND YOU ARE HERE – Junior Level – At the bottom of this enterprise. A new comer, ready to make your mark in this world. This is where all the grunt work gets done. You want to work and you will be assigned a lot of it. Initially not a whole lot will be expected of you but sooner or later you will be expected to produce. All the knowledge that you have gathered from your teachers and professors from your school are now ready to be used. There is a big disconnect here – what you do and how you do it in the school will not be applicable here. Depending on the company that your join – there will be a lot of learning expected from you – to come up to speed on how the business gets done there – open yourself to learning and embrace all its culture and idiosyncrasies. It is good to realize the importance of ‘practical training’ during your education – because the intent of it is to get you a head-start in learning exactly this ….

Level 2 – Senior Member – This is the second layer that sits on top of the junior folks – Theoretically, their task is to perform detailed work that may require experience to support clients. Some responsibility of this layer includes mentoring of the junior folks and also provide guidance to them – at the same time – use the folks at level 1 and utilize them to the best of their ability. Now to get to this level from level takes time and dedication – and that’s it. Senior associates, senior members, senior engineers are some of the designations that you see at this level.

Level 3 – Senior Management – These is the layer of the company that can be very aptly called “Middle Management” and most of the ambitions find their resting place at this level. Most folks showing up at this level are either long-term company veterans, acquaintances of the levels above or hot shot MBA’s. Product lead, senor financial analyst, Chief Engineer, program managers, Brach chief etc. are the designations that you may see at this level.

Level 4 – Vice Presidents – vice-Chief Executives and other CXX’s. These are the guys and gals that ensure the fact that the policies set by the President and the CEO are properly executed. They are CEO’s most trusted bunch and offer suggestions and recommendations on policies. They are also the ones that run the company while the CEO battles the political crisis or takes the credit for all the success. Chief Financial Officers, Chief Operating Officers, Chief Information Officer etc. are the designations at this level.

Level 5 – The big cheese – The President – and usually the Chief Executive Officer. All the VPs and other COO’s report to this person. Usually the company founders or the choice of the board of directors decides the appointee. Based on the size of the company, these are the ones that see most of the lime light, get to meet the decision makers from other companies and also do the company public relations to the investors (banks and corporate investors). The CEO pretty much sets the tone and the culture for the company. His or her policies are the ones that gets implemented in due course and set the long term vision for any given company. The skill sets required for this job are very succinctly summarized by Lee Iacocca in his latest book on leadership – Please refer to my February book review to see the 9 C’s of leadership that he mentions in this book.

Level 6- The Board of Directors – The board of directors are usually formed by choosing the appropriate . The appointment comes from the investors or the fellow board members themselves. The Board of directors are the final authority on approving the CEO plans and the tone for the company. Depending on the company, the board of directors are the usually the luminaries such as the ex-government officials etc.

Now that you know the layout of a typical company – you, when starting at the bottom, need to know the traits required for each level – Know who you are (Refer to Uday's previous blog on “Knowing Thyself”) and finding the right place where you’ll be most productive at the same time would meet your career ambitions.