360 Degree

360 degree With this small article or insight into the other half of professional lifes of Managers, I would like to share my experience plus the changes we are seeing in the market as well as in the lives of the people who drive & rule, this unseen market from our eyes. I might not be able to cover entire topic to its fullest, excuse me for that. It is surely one of the easiest done works in the world, but taking you through these lines is to give the other side of the coin to understand the big picture in detail, Maybe I can be of little help with my inputs through these paragraphs. SWAT analysis, 7 P’s, PLC, Six Sigma, are just some of the words or entire vocabulary that we management scholars deal with our entire life after getting ourselves the best degree of our career…MBA... Being a management scholar myself, I entirely feel the proud, courage, the x factor, leadership, USP, of being at this platform. Few of the above qualities are vested in us prior to taking any management classes, and some of them we derive from our inner selves, to become either a professional or an entrepreneur. With all the above qualities & unknown X factor, when people from other fields of life see any professional, they see a man nicely dressed, smile on face, confidence in heart & mind, focus on what he is doing. & above all a vision to be on the top of this materialistic world. If I can put it down in correct words, there’s an old saying, everyone gets chances to make or break himself/herself, but for management people, it can be very wisely said, we make or break every day of ours. We (management people) don’t wait for opportunities to come & knock at our door, it’s us who at walk up to opportunities door & knock, knock, and knock. With this phrase inducted like jihad warriors into the mind of students coming out of business school, having a total misconcepts of having a job which would give them a salary in 5 figures, a car, a seperate cabin & a workforce that would be taking their command to execute all the given orders, students start their lifes biggest struggle, JOB INTERVIEW. Scratching every possible job tutorials, reference, job sites, we look for above attributes to start our career.finding a job after completing MBA is as hard as finding a suitable life partner. Its like you know what you want but you are not sure what you will get, so you keep looking for the perfect one for you. Studying & completing MBA from a B-Grade business school is like taking sail into ocean with just life jacket on, never know when you will drown.with much struggle from consultants, job sites, references comes the time for interview. Excited, Confident, Full of enthusiasm, ready to hit the world with ideas we go for

interview. Sitting in the lobby room, waiting for our turn, among 15 or 20 odd other epople came to be interviewed for the same job, our dream takes a step back there for the first time. We realise its not us who are the best but there is a lot of spendable assets thrown by business schools in market.Than & there we also realise that we have been a product for our Business school, which has not been taught the realities but rather they have given us a world of illusions & made money for themselves(business schools), Siting there we realise that we have to start selling ourselves like toothpates or we will be thrown out of the shelves even before we are tasted. Also than we come to know the data that there are more than a thousand B & c grade business schools producing students not in quality but in such numbers that even the companies existing in the indian subcontinent would find hard to hire for even a year.Its not the requirements of the market or the companies which would be hiring the future candidates for which colleges are educating a huge number of students, aspiring, inspiring, motivating them to be a leader, but its the colleges who need to make profit in just 3 yrs timeline.some even have a shorter period. Sitting there we realise have we really utilised our parents hard earned money or we have become another victim of packaging, that we were shown at the time of giving enterance tests for our dream business school. REALISATION, ACCEPTANCE. COMPROMISE, are the few words that you will find a lot in here what i am writing because its not the education which will be put to test rather it will be these three words that will make or break our career.Coming back to the lobby room, waiting for our turn, we see all the faces, not full of confidence but with a fear. Fear of not been selected, fear of the money spent by our parents, fear of whether we will get even the 10% of what we have dreamed of. One by one candidates ( word candidates comes in because we are yet to selected , & prior to selection we cannot even name ourselves as professional) go in, it takes just 3 minutes for the interviewer to evaluate , judge, & compile a business students strength, potential & his 2 years of study. Every candidate coming out with a face that shows he has tasted its first failure or for some it can be 3rd or 7th. Now its our turn , we move on to the monster room(interview room), with completely engulfed in the feeling of fear, with very little confidence, we greet the interviewer. starts the interview. Questions come like cloud burst, most of which we have never in our dreams have thought of, & more so was we were never been prepeared by our respected business school to which we paid a huge sum of money to make us the best. like everyone else , 3 minutes are enough time to evaluate a candidate who have spent 2 yeras of his/he life in excelling this field only. I would not be complaining that companies are entirely responsible, some of the resposibility for this chaos can be given to our respected business schools, which evey year hire atleast 500 students on an average, which is far beyond the

requirements of existing vacancies. Interviewer also knows he has 15 or 20 odd candidates waiting to be professionals, so even if he misses the right candidate, theres no one to question his/her crdibility. By far luck works & the interviewer sees some potential in us & we are selected. Than comes the much awaited greeting & the golden words " YOU ARE ONE OF THE SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES, WE WILL LOVE TO HAVE YOU ON BOARD, KEEP THE DOCUMENTS READY, YOU WILL HEAR FROM US." Happy, full of life, with completely regainged confidence, we move out of the interview room, looking at the deflated faces of still sitting candidates. At that point comes a pity feeling for them & for us. Now its time to let the news spread to parents, relatives, friends & everyone we know of the accomplishments that we have made. Completely unaware of the things that were slowly closing in on us to change us in a way not even our business gurus at college would have thought of.This feeling of making our first mark in the world of corporate & now we can call ourselves as professionals. Shouting out loud with cheer, pleasure, confidence, we wait for the day when we would be filling the papers & would be joining the company on the very first day, neatly dressed, smile on the face, commitments in heart to make everyone wonder what we are capable of. Parties become a everyday affair, picking every call, making everyone heard about what we have accomplished in last few days is what we do with greatest pleasure. Everyone greeting, everyone seems happy, congratulating on what we have cracked for ourselves. Everyday seems to be the best till we join the company. Day comes when the call comes to come prepeared with the documents to join & start a new life, which we waited so eagerly so long. We wake up so early in the morning , even god would be happy to see us doing things which even he would not have imagined. we dress ourselves best for the first so that everyone gets to know that they have selected the best out of the best. not knowing, best is not the selection but the work that will prove who is best & who is the mistake of interviewer.Entirely motiivated & confident, we enter the premises of the company, which we feel , now we own. every brick, every colour on the wall, every table, seems to be ours, excited & confident we move & meet the person who would be giving us the very first touch of corporate( HR ) .We meet the Human resource people(people who select, train, do the paerwork of the new employees). Every one is mild , to the point, focussed & work oriented, we feel this is what we wanted, this is what we have been looking for. This is where we are going to change everything. This is the place where all these people will one day say "YOU ARE THE BEST". Sitting all day in the companies air-conditioned room, we fill all the documents, we have never ever seen, or even heard of, but we are more excited about just having those fill in the blanks. We are excited to meet the real team, the real boss, we want them to show what we are, what we are capable of. Enitre day passes by in just filling those forms & hearing all the worlds good things about the company. "

ITS THE BEST COMPANY YOU HAVE BEEN INDUCTED IN, YOUR CAREER IS NOW GOING TO BE ON MOON, YOU ARE PART OF THE BEST TEAM SELECTED FROM EVERYWHERE, YOU ARE THE BEST BECAUSE YOU ARE SITTING HERE OUT OF THOSE GROUPS WHICH CAME TO FIGHT AGAINST YOU IN THE INTERVIEW." We are more than happy, excited, confident about the decision we have taken , Everything seems to be like a dream come true. Salary, office, brand, job, we feel like there cann't be anything much better & fufilling than this. Entire day passes by we come home with completely drowned in the feeling of happiness, wanting the night to end soon so that we can start our day with a BANG. BEGINNING:- first day on job, day starts with the same feeling as day before. we go out to a specified place to meet our new boss, our mentor, our guide. Having preconversation on phone with a very polite & focussed, we move to meet this guy( boss ), realising today is the day . we are going to remember for lifetime. we reach the destined place, to see a very normal, slightly on its middle age, talking on phone, smiling cruely but very confident about what is he talking & with whom he is talking to. We wait for him to end his call, when he puts down the phone, we move forward with a little anxiety, happiness. We greet him with all the manners & ettiquetes. He is more than pleased to see us, thats a little surprise, but feeling is good. He introduces himself, the mount of his experience in number of years, makes us meet the rest of the team, wo sets their eyes like we a newly born lamb sent in the middle of butchers, ready to slaughte with whatever & whenever they get opportunnity, reason being they have met their new competitor. After a nice round of handshakes & compliments, our boss, our mentor, our guide hears our side of the story. Than like a good father he starts to explain us what the work is, what the company is all about, what our customers are, where he stands in the company, where we stand in the company, than most importantly, with whom to talk & with whom to be scared of, with whom not to talk, with whom you need to be beware of...........& lots & lots of gossip in the meanwhile First day is much relaxed so as to make new comer (that’s us ) to be comfortable with all the team members, so as we open ourselves because in coming future or days to come we are not going to get this much of ample time in knowing each other as persons but we will be knowing each other as competitors. As Hannibal’s. As vultures, ready to eat each other out with every given opportunity. Day passes by with laughs & gags, we are pleased, happy, now more confident that if this is how work is done, we are going to rock, we are going to be experts. Sun sets down but we are on all time high in terms of feeling, amount of time spent in new environment, confidence, enthusiasm, not ready to go back to home but to live this day more & more. But the time comes when the day comes to a close, & we say goodbye to all the colleagues we have met with a smile, but not knowing that all through the day we were being watched, evaluated , ready to be eaten by our boss

& colleagues. Everyone says goodbye to each other with a smile that says more than smile, thats when we realise things are not what they seem to be, real story is what is not being told, not being said but it has to be seen by every one us in the way we can conceieve it to be. we than start our journey back to our rooms, remembering the entire day as one of the best days of our life. Coming back to room we share the entire feeling with our roommates & friends about how good the company is, how caring & guiding the boss is, how co-operating the guys at the workplace are, how comfortable they made us at the work o the first day. Not letting us feel that we are new & know nothing about what they are expert in. Every friend listens , parents are happy to see that their son have finally got his share of happiness, he is now what they thought he would be after taking so much years in studies. Coming back to room, happiness is the only feeling engulfing us in it all the time till........ next day comes, day starts withe the same enthusiasm & confidence. We are more eager to be on the job rather than anywhere else, everything seems to be small in front of our accomplishment & the achievements that we were to make in coming future(our perception). Reaching office before anyone, we greet all the late comers with a smile & that feel they are late. This is the day people can say & understand is the day when we are about to start (our achievements) boss arrives, not giving much of the notice he goes & starts his own day, assigning everyone his share of work for the day. After everyone its our turn, boss keeps us the last as he would be giving us the start, with a small chat about the job he told last day, he gives us the work for the day. To go in the market, shop by shop, & meet the owner of the shop, make him understand what our company stands for, what we are selling. This can be taken as a big blow ( visit shop by shop). well, comes the much awaited reason for doing so, boss says, this is to be done as for you to understand what really market is, what people are like in the market, what kind of problems you would face while you are all alone. This is enough reasoning for us to start lke a rocket, we vsit every shop, most of which throw us out of their shop like we are not even humans, you must have seen a small quote outside many offices in last few years, it goes something like this " DOGS & SALESMAN NOT ALLOWED". All in the world this was or is the worst defamation passed down by various people to us & our prestigious degree which we got after 2 years of hardwork & patience. Now comes the good part, we have to visit these places even if we being abused in very humilating way, when asked to boss what is this all about, answer from him seems to be our first learning as babies of the new found world of corporate, answer goes like this " SO WHAT MORE THESE PEOPLE CAN DO OR SAY BUT YOU KEEP VISITING HIM, ONE DAY HE WILL GIVE YOU THE BUSINESS." Thia means we are not selling or marketing things as we have studied in our respected colleges, that first know your customer, know his/her need, fix an appointment, meet him/her, convey what you & your companies product is & how it will be useful to him/her, rather leaving all this we got the brighest idea to sell, that is keep

knocking at the doors again & again, coz we won't break even after hearing & doing anything & everything but the person who is saying all this, will one day break down on his own self & will become your customer. Days passes by , this day when we leave we have the same kind of smile that we had seen on the faces of our colleagues, smile of becoming a professional, but this is not everything you would know or expect, things are going to get lot more complex in coming future as more & more responsibilities start to come your way , & as more & more you become adaptable to things like this. For sales people it can be said, we are like smugglers, if the goods are smuggled, you are rich & happy, but if you are caught you are out of the business. Same applies to us, if we are able to make the customer fool, we are in the system & are qualified to be called as professional otherwise, its better to pack the bags. Days starts to pass by, feeling of enthusiasm, feeling of being a part of one of the greatest firms in the world slowly starts to fade away. What creeps in is the feeling, is this what is called a job, is this what is the real face of the company, exploiting its own people & growing the funds for, don’t know whom. After we have tasted & are tasting the real pleasure of being a professional, who hears all kinds of abuses in every language, we move accepting it as part of life, part of life, part in present & our future. We move on, unaware that troubles last longer than happiness. Days keep passing by , these passing days become a entire month, our first month on our job is complete, its time for salary, its time to get rewarded with what we are priced. Salary is one of those things in the lives of professionals like us that bring the real joy & happiness. Seeing our first, its a feeling i can with full confidence & without any doubt will be remebered by everyone of us whether we are 25 or 65 yrs old. for this day, there are no complaints, no sorrows, every abuse is being taken care of by this feeling of our first salary. We give a call to our parents first to share the happiness with them too, they seem to be the most satisfied people in the entire world without any expectations. This one feeling is also one of the beautiful moments that we can cherish all our lives. Now let me tell you the funny side of it, most of the salary which we waited for entire month to come, is spend in very few days. Salary for people who are management professionals acts as a painkiller to all the pain & sorrow that we have seen in the every day, & every hour of entire month. Now you will feel that everyone is similarly happy after getting salary , no doubt about that. Everyone from every possible sector so whats the difference, there is a difference or I would put it this way there are strings of difference, Let me tell you this way, put yourself in our place, wake up every morning, get dressed, put a smile on you face without knowing the reason for the smile, go to office & start running behind the targets like a dog running behind a car, the dog never cathches

the car but he is happy in running behind it, he doesn’t knows what he will do when the car stops, will he climb it or will he just stand there to be appreciated that he has chased the car so far & with full commitment. Than you start you day, meet people , keep meeting till you find the one who is fool or stupid enough to understand what you want to convey & make fool out of him. In the mean while you would have got atleast a 5 to 10 calls from you immediate boss telling you that this is what you are supposed to do, this is what which will take you places, this is what you do to stay in the firm, this is what you are being paid for, this is what you do or get lot of abuses, words of de-motivation, & that too in places where you would have never ever imagined. This also will make you think what am I, a brush that is scrubbed on any surface without even considering that brush will not be able to last long. Well than you know it hardly matters whether you last or not because of growing literacy & business model of the business schools there are ample students who can take your place, its only you who know that you are only one of your kind. After putting you 110% & getting the required from the day for the firm, you will be hearing not the words of appreciation but words like, No big deal its what you are getting paid for, its what you were taken for, its what you studied management, its what you dreamed of, now at this point you will think what this whole talk meant, I know this is what I am supposed to do, this is what I am getting paid for, but did not these people above you have a sense of understanding, what I have gone through to get all this in a day. My labour, pain, sweat is nothing. But than let me clear you, its not the fault of your boss also, that guy has gone fron the same or maybe even worse scenario, so he is giving you the same situation so you become tough & rouge. This will keep happening for the rest of your life. So I was saying it’s the salary which relieves us because it is what we laboured for, she is silent no matter what we do to it & she shows us that we are still being demanded . Now joining you back with the topic, after spending a few years in the firm like this we are no more a dog, or just surviving with the complexities of the corporate culture, now we have become a part of it. Now we are players , now we are sharks, ready to eat anyone, anyhow who comes in our way of our dreams & goal, now we are far from attachments, feelings, comfort, warmth, now we are not afraid of colleagues rather they are afraid of us, of what we have become in so little time, but as far as boss goes, nothing of this is required, our targets, our commitment, our dedication is of no use until n unless we are a good loyal humble, order obedient person. Like I said before what is worth in todays scenario is not the