Boom boom.....bust !

Greece's got some company! American controlled Caribbean island of Peurto Rico is deep in the water and is seeking help from Uncle Sam. Same problems, same consequences - un-competitive economy, bloated payroll and retirement benefits backed by investors from mainland seeking juicy returns. In both cases the parent company i.e. Eurozone in case of Greece and US in case of Peurto Rico does not allow the 'subsidiary' to declare bankruptcy. 

Its going to be chaotic and litigious days ahead. I've ordered a truck load of newsprint and a sack of coffee to sit back, relax and watch yet another 'batting' collapse unfold. 

Long live...Peurto Rico ! Long live Greece !  

Reference Links: 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-29/from-puerto-rico-to-greece-credit-traders-put-on-the-defensive

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-29/puerto-rico-will-seek-to-suspend-debt-payments-in-restructuring

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102764396

Sum it up ! : Coming Soon to a market near you – Lehman II

Blogged about #grexit in Feb 2011, things have panned out not very differently....

Sum it up ! : Coming Soon to a market near you – Lehman II:  An alternate view on Greece currency crisis and how Greece should think differently.   Greece should be saying...

'Corridor talk' : Entrepreneurship lessons from the 'corridors' of IIMA

Entrepreneurship one-liners from the corridors of IIMA.... 

Biggest question for a start-up - Will the dogs eat the dog food

Entrepreneurship is the Pursuit of opportunities without being limited by the resources at hand

Bet on the jockey not on the horse

Tame uncertainty – transfer it to others

There are two moments of truth in the life of a start-up– the first order and the reorders

There are vitamins and there are painkillers, choose what you want to use to satisfy an unmet need

Don’t marry assumptions, divorce them as soon as they get old

Don’t ask the taste of iron from the iron-smith, ask it from the horse

Do not hire the chef before you identify the recipe

If you hire a chef to do X, he will only do X

Say it truthfully, say in completely and say it first

The color of money is more important than the money itself

In a hurricane eve the turkeys can fly

If all I have is a hammer, I treat everything as a nail

A team with B idea > B team with A idea

Would you rather be rich or rather be a king

Rather rule in hell than serve in heaven

Passion for the idea and passion for the business are not the same

Fueling desires lead to more desires

Trust = Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy / Self-orientation

Metcalfe’s law states that the value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of 

connected users of the system.

If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near

QSQT – Quarter se quarter tak.

If you want to make someone redundant give them inspection jobs

A crisis is a terrible thing to waste

You need big, hairy and audacious goals (BHAG)

If you can’t innovate, be a fast follower

Components of innovation strategy

The place where you add the most value, is also the place where there is the most uncertainty

URL - Ubiquity first, revenues later

Hire for attitude not for skill

Hard is soft, soft is hard

A cleaning lady in the office can tell more about the company, than anyone else in the company

Start-up – is like having a baby – you can read a lot about it, but you have to experience it to know what it really means and what goes with it

I hate curves....the cacophony of 'bell curves'

   

I hate curves, not the ones on display but the one that most of the HR managers swear by in their year end assessments – the bell curves. If all you’ve got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail; no wonder HR managers eat, drink and sleep bell curves. Recently I was asked to evaluate and suggest the performance appraisal system of a large sized company and what an experience it turned out to be. I realized that most of the HR managers are as possessive about their ‘bell curves’ as Ms. Kardashian is about her B&B (even Microsoft is; – every time I mis-spell her name, it gives me a prompt!)

In the company, I noticed that the actual break up talent literally followed a bell curve:

o   Approx. 20% are A level performers

o   Approx. 70% are B level performers

o   Approx. 10% are C level performers

Although A-level performers were (still are hopefully) adding a lot of value to the company, it was the B level performers who were the heart and soul of the company and are a very interesting bit. The normal hypothesis is that the company is mediocre, because the B level performers are mediocre. However in this case I feel the hypothesis is not true.

A-level performers were small in number and they were relatively new in the company as compared to the B level performers. Also I believed that A-level performers were not likely to be the ones who will stay very long with the company and build up institutional knowledge that is so essential in any business. This makes the B level performers invaluable, as their knowledge base of the company is very deep rooted.  

These B level performers were with the company for long and know the cycles the company has gone through; they understood the company ever better than some of the A level performers. Surprisingly these B-level performers tend to pursue organizational goals over personal ones because they value stability both for themselves and for the company. This fact came out through observation and discussion with a diverse set of people. Irony is that although these B-level performers exhibit such extraordinary patience with career development still because of the compulsions of rating systems we tend to overlook their contribution.  

Besides recognizing and rewarding A-level performers, very few companies have an explicit strategy for recognizing B players, on whom so much of the company’s long-term success depends. Even small gestures go a long way in building the recognition and sense of achievement among B-level employees.

Most of the HODs are themselves A-level players and therefore tend to identify with A-level players in their teams (which is not a bad thing). This is another reason why B-level players are sometimes (in fact most of the times) not given stretch assignments. This also explains the concern of under utilization of employees in certain departments. This under-utilization has a spiraling affect; the employees who are not given stretch assignments grow frustrated that their seniors are not really interested in their career development. Because of mediocre to poor ratings they also don’t believe that HR will represent their best interests.

Possible solution: I suggested to the management a mentor-ship program for B-level employees.  The program can be structured as formal or informal mentor-ship wherein the senior- junior or peer to peer mentor-mentee relationship can be formed to align the aspirations, passions and skills of these B-level employees with the overall objectives of the company. HODs can act as mentors and it can be structured as a voluntary program.

This isn’t just about promotion or increments—it’s much more about developing the potential of the employees who, I definitely feel, form the core in any company’s scheme of long term things.

As for HR managers – their obsession with ‘bells and whistles’ is not likely to fade away anytime soon.