The Deadly Bouncer

If there is a complicated or a trap question then this is the one. We know the basis of your selection for a job is your strengths not your weaknesses then why should the interviewer even bother to ask a question like, “What are your greatest weaknesses?” The fact is this too is a question which is asked quite frequently. There is a 50:50 chance you will be asked this question and more often than not it will be lobbed at you in an ever so lighthearted, easygoing manner. If you are not prepared for it you will be hit by this bouncer. Like they say you will not be knocked out by a a hard knock but by the one you did not see coming. Chances are this is the one which will catch you unawares.

This is normally an eliminator question and the purpose it serves is to shorten the list of candidates for the final round of selection. The psychology behind the elimination seems to be why should you even talk about your weaknesses? Why be negative? Some people (usually psychologists) even suggest if you are aware of your weaknesses why have you not worked on them already and got rid of them. So the best strategy to deal with such a question is not to talk about your weaknesses. If you do the interviewer will probably give you credit for honesty but assess you negatively for your being aware of your weakness for sometime and not taking effective steps to improve. Don't even ask me why they do that. I am not a psychologist. All I can tell you is that they do.
One very old, tested and quite acceptable strategy to deal with the question is to disguise one of your strengths as a weakness. Though it has been extensively used by trainers to train candidates for interviews it works most of the time simply because it insures you do not talk about any weaknesses. Of course it occasionally produces hilarious results especially in campus recruitment as sometimes the entire batch of say twenty or even thirty candidates are asked the question and each one invariably talks of the same strength 'disguised as a weakness'. For example they would say something like, "I am so focused and determined to get the job done on time that I drive my people too hard. I am this A type personality and I work with such a sense of urgency that I sometimes forget that not everyone is at the same wavelength."
Interviewers also have fun with this and the moment they realize the batch is prepared with it they twist the question and sometimes ask," OK is your weakness also the fact that you drive them too hard?" The experienced interviewer will obviously know that you will not talk about your weakness and that is how it should be.
The best way to deal with this question in an interview again focuses you on finding out what exactly are your interviewer's needs because you can state them in answer to this question and assure him that you can think of nothing that would stand in the way of your performing the functions that need to be performed in the job you are being interviewed for. Remind them of what they are looking for and show them you have those skills and traits. For example you could say, " Well, I am sure there will be shortcomings in me but based on what I know what qualities are required for this job, I believe, I will be the best choice. I know when you hire people for a job at this level; you are looking for the right qualification and the right kind of motivation to do well. You can see from my records I have both the qualification and a willingness to pursue excellence in whatever I do. So I feel I there should be nothing that could come in the way of my performing well if given the opportunity."
And of course don't end up repeating this passage verbatim. Try and understand what you are doing and convey it in your own language. This will require practice and practice sometimes is boring. Remember, spectacular success is always preceded by a lot of not-so-spectacular practice. If you still do not feel up to it for any reason or you are still not very sure about the qualities the interviewer is specifically looking for, you could confess to a small weakness which is not really a weakness. If you can match it with the requirements of the job so much the better. For example if the position you are being interviewed for is in the PR department, you could say I like people and one of my weaknesses is that I like to party. If it is a teacher's job you are applying for, you could say that one of your weaknesses is that you do not seem to be able to finish off your work in the class room. Students tend to trust you so much that they continue their contact with you even after the class and keep coming to me for advise and guidance. That takes a lot of my time and my family sometimes has a problem with it. Sometimes you could just say with a touch of humor that your biggest weakness is coffee or perhaps chocolates.
The idea is not to focus on weaknesses and be prepared to talk about he interviewer's need and your strengths and how they make a perfect match.

Grades, Knowledge Character and Success

One dilemma that continues to persist in the minds of the students is whether to focus on grades or on knowledge. What is more important getting better grades or acquiring more knowledge? Normally it should not be an either or questions as better knowledge should lead to better grades but the evaluation system in most business schools is so subjective and convoluted despite all efforts to make it more objective and simple that the students focused on higher grades do not hesitate cutting corners and go to extremes to make their grade sheet look better. The fault lies with our entire education system which encourages students to score higher marks which enables them to get into coveted institutions for higher education which in turn leads to better jobs; Even the parents pressurize their children to focus on grades instead of learning, on higher marks rather than on knowledge, ability, character, value, skills and personality.
Once Students join a professional school they must realize they are no longer preparing just for exams but for life. They will not be carrying their mark sheets and certificates with them wherever they go all the time but their knowledge, character and values go with them every where. There is no getting away from them. Every time they interact with people and talk to them their character shows through. To be successful as a manager or in any other sphere in life you have to focus on yourself and become the kind of person people will like to deal with. In business as in every other sphere in life people deal with people. If you have not learnt the art of dealing with people you will not succeed despite your high grade. You have to learn to be a caring person and care for everyone who comes in contact with you socially or for business. People don’t care how much you know till they know how much you care. Your success in life and business will depend on how well you can get along with people and how caring you are. It is the business world’s best kept secret. In fact it is not even a secret. It is so obvious that no one notices it till failure is staring them in the face.

Price of Success is Not Negotiable

No one ever found himself on top of the Mount Everest taking a morning walk. It requires a dream, a goal, a strategy, training, practice, determination, commitment and execution of the plan to reach the summit. All these things are equally important. You can’t leave out anything or ignore even one of these. The price of success is not negotiable. You can add a few more things like focus, teamwork and good communication and interpersonal skills to the list depending on what field you are working in. As the Olympian's motto goes 'No pain no gain.

It is easy to admire a Sachin Tendulkar bat like a champion because he makes it look so simple. But people who know Sachin will tell you how disciplined he is and how long he practices in the nets. I have seen Jeeve Milkha Singh practice at the Golf Course in Chandigarh for hours on end when he was a teenager. One look at him and you knew here is a champion in the making. Navjot Sidhu’s rise to stardom as one of India’s best opening batsmen along with Sunil Gavaskar was a through the same route called hard work. I watched him practice in the Gymkhana Club in Patiala and would be amazed by his commitment and focus. Abhinav Bindra’s single-minded pursuit of his goal should be an inspiration for everyone and encourage us to set big goals and reach them.

All these sportsmen know that spectacular success is always preceded by not so spectacular preparation. There are times along the way when you could feel lonely and disheartened. What keeps you going at such times is if you visualize yourself at the victory stand and everyone in the stadium applauding you. So it is important for you to visualize your self as a successful person even before you are successful. I remember when I had set myself a goal to lose twenty kilos of extra weight that I had put on I visualized myself as having Mohammad Ali’s body. I even pasted a picture with his body and my face in my dream book. It took me a year to lose the twenty kilos and though I did not acquire the same muscles as Mohammad Ali I have never looked fitter in my life. To be able to say that at 57 is some achievement. Every time I wanted to give up my workout I would look at my goal and the visual and would be encouraged to spend those minutes on the treadmill. Age is no barrier to achieve what you set out to achieve as long as the goal is reasonable. We will talk about reasonable goals another day.

OWNERSHIP

You are responsible for being where you are in your life today. Congratulations if you are successful and living your dream life; you get the credit for creating your dream life. But if you are living a mediocre life and consider yourself to be a failure or are anything less than successful, you and only you have to be blamed for it; no one else shares the blame with you. Maybe you are too young and have just joined a professional course and are pretty happy with what you have achieved in life up to now but are not very sure how life will pan out and are perhaps a bit apprehensive about it too. Let me tell you that the most important thing for you is to brace up to reality and take ownership of your life and take responsibility for the consequences of all your actions. You have to tell yourself that if you are successful in life you will create that success and if you end up on the monumental pile of mediocrity no one else is to be blamed except you.

So first thing you got to do is to take ownership of your life. You will, from now onwards design the life you want to live and not just drift with the wind. Where you will be in life five or ten years from now will depend on the decisions you take, the company you keep and the books you read. But most important of them is being capable of taking decisions for your self. You cannot begin to take decisions for yourself till you own your life and say to yourself that I am responsible for my actions, my success and my failure. You will have to grow up and it takes a decision, a conscious decision, to grow up. Maybe you can take that decision right away. Maybe this is your first independent decision and you want to mull over it. But do not read further till you take this decision. I don’t care if you are fifteen years of age or fifty ; till you take this decision you are still a little boy or a girl. I am writing this for men and women; for ladies and gentlemen; not boys and girls.

Congratulations if you are still reading because it means you have taken the all important decision and crossed the first hurdle to success. Taking ownership of your life is both scary and liberating. Scary because now you know you are on your own and responsible for whatever you do in life. It is very liberating because you have now empowered yourself to achieve whatever you set out to achieve. There is a very illustrative saying: “ To the person you give responsibility, you give power.” Now you are in a position to script your success. Nothing can hold you back. Neither your negative friends or relatives nor any adverse circumstances can stop you from achieving every goal you set yourself because you know you cannot blame them. You have to find a way in spite of them. You cannot make excuses, you cannot blame, you cannot complain. Your attitude will change because you took ownership of your life. You still will not be able to control what happens to you but you will certainly be able to respond the way you want to, to what happens to you. You will become more proactive because you have your own agenda and goal in life. You will create your own circumstances rather than be a product of the circumstances. You will consciously and deliberately inculcate success habits. You will pay attention to details. You will get the results because you own your life. You have now starting to live out your story and it is your responsibility to insure that, at the end of it, you have a great story to tell

Training Future Leaders

When we were setting up Punjab Micro Circuits and Research Laboratories (PMCRL) one thing that was uppermost in my mind was that we could not afford to fail. Failure was not an option not only because no one sets out to achieve that goal but also because I had already messed up two earlier projects. It was, I felt, my last chance. All three promoters of the Company were FGEs (First generation entrepreneurs) and not one was a management graduate. This was a good thing and a bad thing but mostly a good thing. It was a good thing because we were not bound by any academic constraints or restricting management principles, and bad because we spent too much time in unstructured discussions and lost vital time. Many a time I wondered if our great effort will one day be likened to the exploits of the three musketeers tilting at wind mills. So I can understand exactly what Google co-founder Larry Page meant when he said in a recent 'Fortune' interview, "You have this fear of failing and of doing something new, which is very natural. In order to do stuff that matters, you need to overcome that."

There are so many areas to work on when you are building an organization from a scratch. There were a dozen government and financial Organisations to liaise with, a deadline to be met, and fifteen odd employees- who will grow to over a hundred by the time the project is implemented- to be coordinated into a cohesive team when all you have by way of an office is the boot of your car. The car, more often than not, also doubled as the conference room, office and even bedroom. You need to be creative at such times not only when it comes to creating new ways of getting work done but also to find solutions to day to day challenges and improve performance both at work and at home. Our experience proved that creativity suffers when people are shackled with fear while the only way to overcome fear is action.

The lessons we learnt while setting up the company laid the foundation of our organizational policy designed to support integration of work and personal life. Executing the project we were all very stressed and excited at the same time but no one was scared of doing new things because no one, feared being reprimanded. Absence of fear was the result of trust that was slowly built in that motley team. Every one knew that all of us were focused on successful implementation of the project and whatever decision anyone took was with the intention of achieving our goal. We all made our share of mistakes but no one doubted anyone's intentions or commitment to the project. We followed the epithet, 'do what ever it takes to insure success as long as it is ethical.'
When I look back and think I feel we were able to maintain a better work-life balance back then, when we had no systematic organizational policy designed to support integration of work and personal life, than now- twenty eight years later- despite a persistent well meaning HR team to inspire employees to take advantage of it. The reason in all likelihood was that we were all absolutely clear about what we had to achieve and there was deadline to meet. The team was not only aware of the collective goal which was to start commercial production by a set deadline but everyone was aware of the responsibilities of other team members. Communication was the key. Everyone was 'Listening' to everyone else and information flew up, down and laterally and more often than not more than once. Each one was willing to help the other. No one took a chance or assumed anything. There were, in the beginning, no rules about reporting at a given time or spot. There was no starting time no closing time and no office building. If we did not see someone for a week we knew he was as busy as a beaver trying to meet a deadline or is taking time off with his family having finished his allotted work for that period. We beat the final deadline for starting trial run by two weeks and partied like Rockstars.
Over time I noticed we slowly relapsed in a more structured less productive phase where most people were more conscious about the right amount of time spent at office than showing results despite a very liberal HR policy in place promoting work life balance and self regulation. I am certainly not suggesting that enhanced structuring always leads to less productivity. But it is intriguing and worth an enquiring why don't more employees use the resources offered by their companies, as we did, to enjoy a better more joyous time with their families or friends? What stops them from playing a more active role in their communities and organise their own social do's despite encouragement from policies? One reason I found was the lack of trust between the team leaders and their team, between managers and other employees. The other was sheer laziness on part of managers in trying more liberal attitudes in allowing employees to take decisions on matters that concern their work life balance. It was easier to be strict.

Don't throw the baby out with the water
Whenever I have run a company- and I have run a few and some successfully too- I have experimented with flexible work arrangement because of the fruitful experience I had while setting up PMCRL. People were free to leave after finishing their work for the day and work after hours if there was work unfinished. Yet people would finish their work and keep sitting idle in office but refused to go back home, perhaps because they were afraid they will be identified as not committed to the company if they did not dedicate the requisite "face time" that tradition demands; Some simply feared their boss would say "no" to their going despite clear company policy not to retain anyone after their work for the day was finished. Of course there were cases where some employees misused the facility and would leave despite pending work. But such people were few and such cases far between. They were normally not tough to discipline. Yet there were instances when our managers took too harsh a view too quickly and withdrew the facility from everyone in their department. This created confusion between departments following the rule and others that did not. Confusion is one of the toughest things to work with. The problem was that such managers followed a whim rather than the principle. A desirable long term goal was given up for short term convenience. It was easier to be strict and conventional.
Mostly department heads withdrew the concession rather than take on the onerous task of effectively communicating to their departments the responsibility that went along with the facility. Managers and leaders in the organisation must not grudge the facility employees are allowed. Once the facility is allowed it is their right not a privilege as long as they earn it- every day. This means they understand the responsibility every privilege or right entails. The act of the Managers who take the easier way out and withdraw the facility is akin to throwing the baby out with the water. Change takes time. It takes patience and it takes a big heart on the part of the leader.

Helping employees overcome suspicion
On the other end of the spectrum the un-policed employees suddenly treated with a lot of respect feel suspicious and sometimes even guilty. They think why are they being treated so well? What have they done to be treated with so much respect and trust? In the absence of similar experience of being treated with dignity and trust at work, school or college, they are a bit bewildered and could ask themselves, ' Is there a trap here? Why do we deserve this increased flexibility and discretion?'. The impatient managers who ideally should be the agents of change, feeling the policy is too quixotic give up before trust is built and before giving change a chance. The result is that nothing changes. We need to give change a chance. Trust building is a process and can sometimes take a bit longer to build . We need to be patient and give it time.

Relevance in Business Schools - Helping students overcome fear
Relevance of helping students overcome the fear of trying something new cannot be overemphasized. Years of cognitive study and spoon feeding at schools colleges and other cram shops has numbed their curiosity and dampened their appetite for initiative. They seem all set to become programmed answering machines. Any attempt to treat them as responsible adults and thinking young men and women confuses them. Sadly, there is unbelievable disbelief in their response when treated with respect and dignity. Their body language suggests they do not expect that treatment. They seem to ask, "Are we really being encouraged to be completely responsible for our actions and behaviour? Does this teacher really want us to be independent and fearless and own our own lives? You mean I can actually take my own decisions on my strengths and weaknesses and design my own strategy to improve myself? I don't believe this. Is there a trap here?” That is the bad news. The good news is they do begin to come around after an year or so of trust and confidence building. Slowly they begin to realise that they have to take responsibility and be independent and proactive to succeed not only while at the business school but also in life. The main job of the faculty is to help these youngsters make the transition from being dependent to becoming independent. Only an independent proactive person can contribute positively and fit into an interdependent flat world.
We need to begin to treat management students like responsible and independent adults for them to have a chance to become efficient managers who are capable of managing change and achieving significant goals. Management school faculty has a special responsibility in achieving this desirable goal. Their responsibility is not restricted to delivering lectures, marking papers and generating reports. Their involvement will have to extends much beyond that if we have to turn out managers and leaders who can play a decisive role in bringing about the intrinsic socioeconomic change which is essential if India has to play a dominant role in the future world order. That will requires a long term vision, a well thought out strategy and patient execution of a dynamic plan. It is also essential that the faculty and administrative staff share and communicate the vision with all stake holders. The faculty has to take the lead and the efforts of the administrative staff have to be synergistic. All effort of the administrative staff has to be to assist the faculty to achieve desired results. Yet in most business schools and professional colleges the faculty is seen to take the backseat. Is it because it is easy to take the back seat and easier to be strict?