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Words. Wisdom. Winners.
Pick one
Here are my favorite interviews questions
1. Speed or perfection?
2. Spontaneous or calculative?
3. Money or power?
4. Starting things or finishing things?
5. Institute or course?
Neither of them have a right or wrong answer. But here is the worst response – “both”
Life doesn’t always give you both. Most of life is about picking one option, one path. Even if you don’t want to.
Only on 3 occasions have people come back and said – neither. I have a third one for me.
All 3 of them are top performers at Groupon today.
They didn’t accept the choices life gave. Chose to create their own path in some way!
Pick one
Better still, create one!
Are you solving the problem, or so you think?
Admit, rectify and never repeat mistakes
Commandment 8 of the Groupon India Bible
If I had to make one for managers, the same would read
Identify the cause and solve, to ensure no repeat problems.
The biggest mistake that managers make which they are unaware of, is that they don’t solve problems. They only address them tactically – at a individual level, circumstantial level, momentary level. They don’t solve the problem. They solve the situation.
Ask yourself – will this problem occur again within the same set of individuals? If yes, you haven’t solved the problem.
It takes a lot more will. A lot more time. Definitely a lot more attention. Imagine the returns, though.
A course on people management?
A conversation with Ankur Singla this weekend set me thinking.
The hardest part about running a company are not the technical issues. Most of those are binary. Capability and perseverance will get you there. If something doesn’t work, you find the solution and fix it. And it mostly works the way you expect.
People don’t work like that.
We are unpredictable. We have varying emotions based on what we had in the morning. We have varying reactions to the same situations. And we expect different things at different times.
Handling people should then be the hardest role of a manager. And it is.
But nothing is codified. There is no Bible. No course. When Singla asked me a few questions, I couldn’t articulate the response despite living those problems everyday (and successfully handling most of them).
And it’s obvious why. Because I am a person myself. The way I handle the same situation is also not standard. It varies.
Crazy!
I wouldn’t pay as much to hear how founders came up with their idea and made it successful
As much as I will pay to hear how they handle people
Excuses
One task – One goal
Imagine designing a customer survey.
You want to know what your customers think of your product.
And while you are at it, you might as well ask them their age, gender, email.
Perhaps get them to even upload a selfie, so that the best one gets a prize. Gamification, as they say it.
Imagine inviting applications for an open role.
You want people to submit their resume.
And while you are at it, you might as well ask for their current compensation, expected compensation, references.
Perhaps get them to upload their marksheets, so that your database can be complete.
As I look back, I see most of my unsuccessful endeavors lying in the bracket of “One Task – Multiple Goals”
Rarely works
Instead – optimize your task for one and one goal alone. Recognize that everything else you add is most likely adding friction to the process. Lowering your chances of getting to the objective.
The survey is only to gather responses
The application is only to gather resumes
The campaign is only to gather traffic
The product is listed only to drive sales
The merchant is acquired only to generate trust
The task is meant to accomplish only one goal!
I have to defeat defeat!
Brilliant!
Who designed the rules around you?
Show me a successful person who has been a conformist in his life
And I will show you an unsuccessful person who calls himself successful
Look around you
The rules have been laid out by people who are no smarter than you
Challenge then
Change them
Look in the mirror
They are not understanding what I want to say
I can’t get this done because the process sucks
Employees are leaving because competitors are throwing money at them
I came late to office because of traffic
I don’t earn much because I don’t have a good degree
I am not confident because my parents couldn’t afford a good school
I want this but the world is conspiring against me
Each time you feel you deserve something or you have worked hard for something
And it’s not working out because someone outside of you has the controls
Look in the mirror
The strength is you
The competition is you
The enemy is you
Buying respect
If you are a business or P&L owner, here is a piece of advice you will thank me for
When speaking to your vendors, employees, ex-employees, agencies and everyone else who you will owe money – you should be the worst negotiator on earth. Squeeze them off the last penny they can afford to give you
But once agreed upon, always pay an hour earlier than you promised.
When you pay people their money on time, every single time, you buy respect that this money can never buy.
Ready to die
The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be out-worked, period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there’s two things: You’re getting off first, or I’m going to die. It’s really that simple, right?
– Will Smith, in an absolutely absorbing interview
Replace treadmill with working hard
Replace Will Smith with my name
I cannot be out-worked.
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