SAP S/4HANA Condensed: For CXOs to Consultants

 

Most of the SAP books are written by consultants for consultants talking about a particular module or technology detailing about table structures, configuration or deep-dive coding. 

But there is nothing there for the CXO or the Senior Management, Delivery Leaders, Business Heads and Presales Architects who don’t need to configure a movement type or pricing conditions, but they need to enable a multimillion-dollar digital transformation led by SAP. 

This book (‘SAP S/4HANA Condensed: For CXOs to Consultants’) provides the much-needed ‘500-Foot visibility’ into SAP S/4HANA suite/ecosystem, Migrations, Rise/GROW with SAP methodologies and much more in a 250-page compact guide. It also provides a holistic approach, rather a 360-degree view of SAP S/4HANA Suite along with the essential cross-skilling framework enabling career progression for SAP Consultants and SAP Users.  

It cuts through complexity, offers practical insights, executive clarity and consultant depth.

Call it ‘From Strategy to Execution’ or ‘Your Boardroom-to-project guide’, it would assist you to drive the SAP-led Digital Transformation of your organization.

Also, considering SAP is being used by almost 80%+ of large companies in India (& worldwide) , the book should be useful to Engineering as well as Management students. (Many reputed institutes offer ERP/SAP as an elective/optional subject. This book would be an added advantage there. And even if the subject is not there, this book should give enough exposure and details which should enable a student in becoming more productive at work.) 

With 30 years of deep SAP experience from various top-notch organizations, I’ve tried to nail it down.

(If you’re a CXO/Sr. Leader in an enterprise running on SAP (or planning to go for Rise/Grow with SAP) OR if you’re a Delivery/Practice/Presales leader in a SAP consulting company OR a SAP Project Manager/Consultant/newly entrant OR a SAP User with high aspirations, this book would be immensely useful. (It would be an ideal gift also to your relative/friend working in any of above role) 

For readers in India: - URL  - https://notionpress.com/in/read/sap-s-4hana-r-condensed 

Get the Hardcover copy @ Rs. 595) 

For readers worldwide - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H54N5ZFD#  

- Available in Kindle/paperback/hardcover editions on Amazon) 

The Desert’s Diamond: Deciphering the Success of the Marwari Business Community

From the dusty, arid, wind-swept expanses of the Shekhawati region in Rajasthan to the towering glass-walled boardrooms of Mumbai, Kolkata and London, the Marwari community’s journey is one of the most remarkable stories in global commerce. Accounting for a staggering percentage of India’s GDP and industrial output, this community has produced names like Birla, Bajaj, Goenka, Hinduja, Mittal, Agarwal and Bansal—architects of modern Indian industry.

But what fuels this consistent dominance? Is it an innate ‘business gene’, or a meticulously crafted ecosystem of culture, frugality, and foresight? To understand their success, we must look beyond the balance sheets and into the heart of the Thar Desert.

The Crucible of the Desert:

The Marwari story begins with harsh geography. Hailing from the Marwar region (and neighbouring areas like Bikaner and Jaisalmer), these people were forged in one of the most inhospitable environments on earth. The desert of Rajasthan offered little in the way of agriculture; water was scarce, and the climate was unforgiving. This geological pressure created a unique psychological blueprint, the Migration Instinct!

When the land cannot feed you, you move. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Marwaris migrated in waves to the then trade hubs of the British Raj—Kolkata and Mumbai—and later to the tea gardens of Assam and mineral rich hinterlands of Central India.

Migration is the ultimate gamble. Leaving one’s roots for a distant land requires a high tolerance for uncertainty, it needs a high risk-appetite, a trait that remains a cornerstone of Marwari entrepreneurship today.

The Parta System: Financial Discipline Much Before Software
Long before modern ERP systems or high-frequency trading, Marwaris utilized a sophisticated accounting method known as the Parta System.
The Parta is essentially a daily reporting system that calculates the ‘cost of production’ versus the ‘daily profit’ in real-time. Unlike traditional accounting which looks at the past (quarterly or yearly), Parta focuses on the present.
Radical Accountability: Every evening, the head of a Marwari firm would know exactly how much money was made or lost that day.
Frugality filter: This system fosters an obsession with overheads. In the Marwari world, a rupee saved is a rupee earned. This frugality, often misunderstood as stinginess, is actually a strategic focus on Capital Efficiency.

In short, every transaction is meticulously recorded promoting financial discipline, much-needed transparency within family business and close monitoring of cash flow.

Though digitization has taken over, the philosophy of strict financial oversight remains ingrained.

Strong Family Roots and the Joint Family Model
The Marwari business is rarely a solo endeavour; it is a Family Collective. The community operates on a high-trust, low-transaction-cost model.
Internal Funding: Marwari families traditionally operate as cohesive units, pooling resources and supporting collective ventures. In the early days, if a young Marwari wanted to start a venture, the community—through informal credit networks—would provide the capital. No banks, no collateral, just the word of the family.
Apprenticeship: Children are introduced to the gaddi (the business seat) at a young age. They don't just learn business; they absorb it through osmosis, listening to elders negotiate and manage workers on a day to day basis.
Family Support: During times of crisis, the extended family acts as a safety net. This allows the entrepreneur to take bigger risks, knowing that failure won't mean total destitution. Risk-taking is cushioned by family backing, allowing entrepreneurs to experiment without fear of complete ruin.

Succession planning- Business knowledge is passed down generations, ensuring continuity.

Core values driving success –

• Frugality and respect for money: Marwaris are known for cautious spending and reinvestment of profits in business.
• Hands-on experience: Young members are trained early in business practices.
• Expansive mindset: They diversify across industries—from textiles and trading to steel, cement, and finance.
• Networking: Strong community ties ensure trust-based partnerships and easy access to capital.

No wonder, the list of Marwari icons is essentially a ‘Who's Who’ of Indian wealth:

·       The Birlas: Pioneers of Indian industry who transitioned from trade to heavy manufacturing and financial services.

·       Laxmi Niwas Mittal, the ‘King of Steel’ who took the Marwari ethos of turnaround management to a global scale. Anil Agarwal (Vedanta), Hinduja, Goenka group, Bajaj group, Jindal , Lodha, Oswal are the luminaries helping India becoming 4^th largest economy.

·       The New Guard: Interestingly, the Marwari spirit has successfully pivoted to the digital age. Founders like Sachin and Binny Bansal (Flipkart) and Deepinder Goyal (Zomato/Eternal) carry the same risk-taking DNA into the startup ecosystem. They proved that the Marwari spirit is comfortable with ‘bytes’ as it was with ‘bale’ of cotton.

These names symbolize Marwari dominance in Indian business and their ability to adapt to modern corporate structures.

The Downside: Weaknesses and Modern Challenges

No system is perfect. The very strengths that built the Marwari empire can sometimes become its Achilles' heel.

·       Resistance to Professionalization and innovation: Historically, Marwaris preferred family members in key positions over professional CEOs. This can lead to stagnation or ‘succession wars’ when the third or fourth generation takes over. Overemphasis on money management occasionally overshadows creativity and product innovation needed in the digital economy. Compared to Gujaratis’ global risk-taking and Sindhis’ resilience, Marwaris remain a bit more conservative, sometimes limiting innovation.

·       Social Conservatism: The community has often been slow to embrace gender diversity within the business hierarchy, though this is rapidly shifting as daughters and daughters-in-law take leading roles in many modern firms.

·       Family disputes: Succession battles can fragment empires.

·       Reputation for Opacity: Traditional accounting and a preference for ‘insider’ deals have sometimes led to a perception of a lack of transparency compared to modern ESG standards of corporate governance.

Conclusion: The Enduring Legacy

The success of the Marwari businessman is not a mystery; it is a masterclass in resilience, networking, and fiscal discipline. They turned the disadvantage of a desert home into a global advantage of mobility and hunger. In short, it is a triumph of resilience over environment.
By balancing the traditional Parta mentality with modern technology, and the security of family roots with the boldness of global expansion, the Marwari community remains the heartbeat of the Indian economy.

Marwari businessmen thrive because of migration-driven adaptability, strong family roots, disciplined financial practices, and community trust networks.

Their success stories—from Birla to Bajaj to Bansal—showcase how tradition and modernity can merge. Their blend of financial prudence and long-term sustainability is a case study that belongs in every global Business school!

 

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Prashant Pimpalekar | Founder & CEO

Magnum Primus Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Pune

 

Corporate Governance and the pivotal role of Independent Directors

https://boardstewardship.com/?r3d=vol-3-issue-8-november-2025#44 

(Published by Board Stewardship - Nov’25)

Management conundrum of IT Startup

Albeit forced by the situation, the landmark budget presented by the then finance minister Manmohan Singh in 1991 ushered a new dawn in Indian economy. ‘Liberalization and globalization’ was the magic mantra of the reforms! One particular industry which was in nascent stage at that time got benefitted most and it was Information Technology industry! It won’t be an exaggeration to say Narayan Murthy, Shiv Nadar, Azim Premji, FC Kohli and Narendra Patni were the founding fathers of Indian IT Industry!

IT got one more boost thanks to the Y2K bug and then it never looked back! The subsequent years provided employment to millions of youngsters; lakhs of them made a leap to upper middle-class, stock options saw thousands of them becoming crorepatis. More importantly, it spawned a new wave of entrepreneurs!

India's IT-BPM industry (excluding e-commerce) was expected to reach at USD 254 billion, including exports of around 200 USD Billion in FY2023-24. DPIIT has recognized over 77,000 start-ups across 656 districts in India. In terms of headcount, the Indian tech SME sector is estimated to have closed FY23 with 740,000 employees.

Everyone loves an Indian startup success story. Not too many know that 2,404 failed in 2023.

While India boasts 115 unicorn startups, only 17% of them are profitable – that’s hardly 15%. (The rest are just sucking up resources, drawing in billions of dollars in funding from venture capitalists and investment firms around the world)

91% of startups fail within first 5 years and the most common reason being lack of innovation.

While almost all of the entrepreneurs might be aspiring to be unicorns, hardly 2-3% of them could be realizing that dream. A bulk of the startups (may be, almost 80%) would be having the employee count between 10 to 50 and turnover could be between one to eight crore Rs.

Even after surviving for 7-8 years, a typical startup (small enterprise) doesn’t grow to be a medium-sized enterprise. There could be many reasons why it stagnates over the years or rather fails to leap to the next orbit.  A salient few reasons are described below:

1.     One-customer dependence – Most of such companies rely heavily on handful customers with one or two constituting almost 80% of the revenue.  Knowing this fact, customers start arm-twisting in the billing rates in every contract renewal. So while the start-ups need to provide increased salary to their employees year on year, billing rates don’t increase in that proportion. In fact, they come down in many cases impacting the bottom line adversely 

2.     Absence of second-level management – Right from the inception, the founder director is well aware of the fact that s/he needs to wear multiple hats, at least four of them at one point!  (Sales Head, Delivery Head, Practice/Competency Head & HR Head). Acquiring new customer happens mostly thru’ founder’s contacts. While this is ok in the initial days (or even a year or two), the founder needs to consciously develop the second-tier management, to start with BDMs (Business Development Manager) and project managers who should also be hands-on in the designated skills. Absence of this second layer puts heavy pressure, time constraints on the founder/s. If you cannot hire second tier leadership (mainly due to your financial constraints), you need to groom the youngsters for the positions of project manager, business development manager, HR lead etc. More importantly, you need to instil the sense of responsibility, accountability over months of hand holding. Caution – Don’t give them phony/big titles.

 3.     Dead-parrot syndrome – While it could be a universal tricky situation of ‘who will bell the cat’ (read – take the risk of becoming a bad messenger and share the unpleasant truth with the top boss), this phenomenon is more pronounced in SME segment compared to large organizations run by professional management. So the team refrains from noticing the elephant in the room; communicates everything which owner/founder likes to hear but the obvious (like, say, the product is no more relevant in the market; the parrot is dead and not meditating!)  And the founder, with his own set of worries, and fights almost on 24*7 basis (cash flow being on top of it), has no time (rather peace of mind) to reflect, to introspect, to brainstorm, to set feedback mechanism etc.

To avoid this kind of unpleasant scenario, following measures could be adapted –

o   Drop-box feedback / suggestions by team (It could be anonymous to ensure wider participation by the team)

o   Hire seasoned management professionals as a freelancer for a week or two and get their feedback about the company/operations/team etc.

o   Do some relevant/credible course in management or some specific IT topic. More than anything else, it frees up your mind for fresh thinking.

o   Get feedback from close friends/fellow-entrepreneurs who are not afraid of calling a spade a spade.

 4.     Loving product/technology more than the customer - Many startups come up with products/solutions targeted at micro-niche, ultra-thin market segments.  Many a times the founder/directors are so much sold on their own novel concept/product/technology that they overlook the important parameter of market size or of customer’s actual requirements/expectations. When you’re targeting such a micro-niche, what would be your growth prospects? And what if that micro-niche somehow vanishes thanks to some other technology, you didn’t imagine would surface some day? And when you have invested so much resources over the years in it, you kind of get trapped in that daily grind and fail to notice the cues or the writing on the wall. So go back to basics; re-validate your Go-to-Market plan, re-assess your service offerings/solution/product in terms of 5 P’s of marketing.

5.     Lack of innovation culture – While the very reason your startup would be in the existence could be due to some innovative solution you would have thought of, but subsequently, have you consciously fostered the innovation culture in your team? Due to the highly dynamic nature of IT industry, innovative products/tools get launched almost on a daily basis. You and your team need to be agile enough to explore the relevant tools/trends (e.g. Generative AI) and take proactive steps for your business operations ensuring you are ahead of the curve. If this is not happening, it could be hampering your growth prospects over the years.

6.     Complacency – In many cases, only after toiling for years (at least 3-4 years), startups reach the break-even point, cash-flow becomes more predictable, the business gets some stability but soon that becomes the comfort zone and the risk appetite of founders reduces drastically.  (“Don’t-rock-the-boat!”) 

7.     BCP (Business Continuity Planning) – Very few founders enjoy the luxury of week-long annual vacation! This fact itself demonstrates the one-man-show of the company.  Keep aside vacation, but founders can’t afford to fall sick even for a couple of days..  So while BCP expects you to take care of how the business should go uninterrupted in the wake of a disaster (natural or man-made), founder needs to at least ensure that the business operations would continue seamlessly in case s/he is not reachable for a day or two due to personal/health reasons. The existence of a sound second-tier management is of paramount importance in such cases.

8.     Dilution of equity / on-boarding of new partner/s – This is a tricky trade-off but a necessary one if you want to expand your business operations in lesser time and so need lot of funds. Here the key thing would be the chemistry between the current directors and the new ones.

9.     Succession planning – Founders need to plan very much for succession planning.  If you have toiled for years, rather decades and only now you’re reaping the results, you need to plan for the legacy; induct family member (or even a professional manager in rare cases) early enough and groom him/her for the top role under your tutelage.

While I’m fully aware that there is no ‘one-size-fits-for-all’ and there have to be ‘horses-for-courses’, above mentioned points should nevertheless make entrepreneurs realize of the management conundrum they might be facing (and could be blissfully unaware of) hampering the growth prospects. It should encourage them to reflect on the points relevant for their own startup, facilitate questioning of the status quo, prioritize actions and thereby enable leaping to the next orbit!

Good luck!! 

(Published in ‘Corporate Citizen’ magazine -April’25 issue) 

Think like a CEO

..So you have been working for more than 4-5 years in the corporate world; some of you have been working in the middle management rung, but the common refrain is, feeling stagnated, you feel that there is no action happening, getting bored (or frustrated) of mundane things you have been doing, more are less are de-motivated (& if things don’t change for better, you could be de-moralized too!)

Right??

If that is the case, the good part is, you are not alone. There are millions of professionals feeling the similar pangs, though the remedy is not that difficult!

Allow me to explain.

In the current work, do you ever get the feeling of ownership? Did you, on your own / proactively (without anybody else asking) work late to complete some urgent task / proposal / program or worked for few hours on weekend from home? (and I’m talking of pre-lockdown era! 😊) Do you feel attached to the work? Do you take pride in whatever little team you’re leading?

Mostly, the answers will be in negative. If that is the case, you need to reorient yourself.

Yes, you need to start thinking like a CEO!  (& No, but don’t rush to HR to ask for corner office and or executive assistant! 😊) .

When I say, think like a CEO, try to take a bird’s eye view of your work / your organization from 10,000 ft above the ground. Try to make sense of all the business units/departments. Try to see the big picture. Don’t think of yourself as a mere spoke of a big wheel. Instead of moaning say, ‘what-I-am-doing-in-this-migration-project’, find out how it is important for the customer & for your organization (like in the given example, you’re enabling  customer not only saving money in capital investment of hardware by moving onto Cloud but also in taking advantage of scalability of Cloud) & you will understand the importance of your contribution). Find out how the organization makes money (Order to cash process), see who the vendors are, find out the employee count.  Find out what metrics/KPIs your organization uses. There will be some key words / terms specific to every organization. Find out what those are, find out their meanings & you start getting a new perspective.  (Listed organization do publish financial statements on internet, find out & try to read the balance sheet, P&L statement. It is not that difficult. Even if you find out the operating revenue & operating expenses & the line items underneath, it is a great beginning!).  Observe CEO (or rather, CXOs/Sr. leadership), how they communicate, their body language, the confidence they exude, the energy, positivity they radiate.  (And I’m not asking to follow them blindly or to idolize them but to get inspired, get charged)

Once you start taking above steps, you’re getting into the groove; you are molding yourself to think like a CEO.  Supplementary reading (Eco Times / CNBC etc.) would provide you a lot more info about the verticals, how a particular industry is performing, what are the common pain points of a particular industry & how the industry champions are facing it etc.  You need not understand full 100%; even if you understand 10% of it, it would still help in changing the perspective, changing the thinking.

If you’re working in IT industry, are you aware that labor cost is its biggest cost component? But that is not the case for say, automobile company where material cost is the biggest cost component.  If you’re working in hotel or hospitals, occupancy is the key metrics.  Again, if you’re an IT professional, find out the gross yield per employee (simple formula – Revenue divided by Total No. of employees). Then you will also realize why IT companies want to move away from the linear model.

Once this thinking starts developing, you are bound to work differently, however small your team could be.  You would be more energetic, would be liking to go to office, to accomplish things (& not for the sake of your home loan EMI!) You would be taking genuine interests in your team associates, would be taking the end-to-end ownership of the project/s, talking to client/client’s project manager more frequently,  hearing the feedback/complaints, trying to do the course-correction,  would have a better pulse on the billing / collection, sniffing escalations & mitigating them in the bud!

And believe me, if you start doing above things, within a few months (or maximum, a couple of quarters), you could be the top performer in your team/BU/organization.

Continue delivering a spirited performance for a few years and you are bound to think one day, “Hey, why should I do all this for someone else and that too for so many years? Let me be the boss of my own little organization!”

And voila… an entrepreneur is born!!

Management lessons from Marathon running

I remember, it was one of those annual check-ups that had shown my cholesterol level pretty high. Doctor advised me to walk at least 30 minutes a day, besides suitable changes in diet. After some inertia, I started for morning walk. I was working out of Chennai those days.  30 min. walk in the perennially humid weather was soon viewed as a boring exercise. As a short-cut (rather, to finish the ordeal fast), I thought why not to run for 10 min. instead of 30 min. walk? And I decided for running. On day one, I could have run for hardly 2 minutes before panting profusely. But soon, I could increase running for 10 min. at a stretch. I also realised that I enjoy running.

Around same time, I’d seen a couple of friends’ posts on social media about 10K running.

I googled, found out some information, spoke to a couple of friends, spoke to doctor, got some good suggestions , got the essential running accessories (including Asics shoes and Fitbit watch) and I started running for 15 minutes on every weekday & 20-25 minutes on weekends, in early mornings. Began waking up with 6 am alarm, completing the run much before traffic started and reaching office well in time.

One day I heard the ad. of Chennai marathon on FM radio, googled to find out more details & registered for my maiden 10K run. That time, my objective was simple, I just wanted to complete 10K run (& not retire mid-way).  Started running for longer durations on weekends. I’d made a resolve not to back out and run full 10 km. come what may. Besides the usual running, I also had a couple of long runs (6 km, 8 km) just to see whether I had the stamina for 10K run.

To my surprise, I found myself completing my first 10K run in Wipro-Chennai marathon successfully. (Can’t forget  the cheering from complete strangers and more so from fellow-runners urging not to give up or not to rest for long, asking to get up and continue running, especially in the last leg!)

Years passed on, I persisted with the newly acquired good habit of running and saw myself completing seven 10K races in last 5+ years.

One needs to do quite some spadework (besides building the physical stamina) for running a marathon (42K) or even for that matter a 10K race. ‘Run-walk-run’ helps in lowering the heart rate, sprint run (for 3-4 minutes) helps in increasing overall speed, running against a gradient helps in increasing stamina for long run. The other details include planning for the logistics of reaching the venue/start point of the race and coming home after the end of race. Mostly marathons start pretty early in the morning at 5 pm or 6 pm latest), accordingly you need to get up at 4 am or even earlier.  You should have eaten light dinner (but rich in carbohydrate) on previous night. You need to run light.  I don’t carry water bottle (I drink at water stations arranged by race organizers) or even a wallet.  The only exception is mobile phone and some hard cash. If the end point is different than start point (I have witnessed it in some marathons), you need to plan for call taxi. Race organizers/ city officials close most of the leading roads/arteries to marathon venue for almost half-day, so getting a cab/rikshaw also becomes a challenge and bigger so when you’re exhausted running 10K!  

I see quite some parallels between this preparation, marathon running, having an eye for the minute detail and the art and science of Management!

Here are some observations, rather management lessons one can learn from marathon running.

·         I had scripted my message (of what I would post on social media 😊 immediately after I’d registered myself for the marathon (10k). Only time (taken to finish the race) was kept blank. This writing down in advance was a very powerful stimulant. You have committed to yourself and now don’t want to let yourself down, come what may! I began waking up early in the mornings (4 am) for practice runs of various kinds; started giving more attention to diet, intake of more fluid, fruits etc.  Increased protein intake in the diet (more egg-whites, pulses, sprouts), increased water intake to 3 liters a day.  Citrus fruits not only increase fluid level in the body but also Vit. C enhancing immunity.

 

 

*Begin with end in the mind. Visualize the end result. Write down the goals*

·        I remember Chennai marathon more because of humid weather and steep gradient in the route. Even though the race was flagged off at 5.30 am, the humid weather kicked in within no time making running on the steep flyover (near Adyar, Chennai) quite some task. I had to drink water at least twice in every 10 minutes, sat for a minute or two due to cramp and again got up, determined to run.  Last Pune marathon had some absolute dirt track immediately within 200 meters of start. It was pitch dark at 6 am (no streetlights) and you had to run on uneven ground (ensuring you’re not slipping/spraining ankle). There was also the menace of street dogs for a few kilometers. Somewhere in Balewadi Highstreet I slipped off the road while avoiding street dogs chasing each other. One of the kind-hearted fellow-runners stopped , gave me a helping hand, made me sit at the curb side, offered me water. My ankle was sprained, had a minor bruise but luckily it was minor. I did some stretches and joined runners again (to the surprise of many younger runners!) 

 

*Every year is unique, every quarter is unique with its own challenges, new variables. Be flexible to accept/accommodate/adapt the change*

 

·         For a marathon, every kilometer counts, every lap counts, every step counts. Your consistency, average speed matters. Like a test cricketer paces his innings while scoring a century, you need to pace your run!

 

*You don’t build a great organization overnight. You do it year by year; quarter by quarter, week by week, every day* 

 

·         Yes, just when you are in the last leg of your race for the stupendous finish, you feel those cramps in legs, you feel totally tired, totally exhausted. For a split second you think like ‘why-am-I-doing-this-at-this-age?’. You feel like stopping, rather giving it up! But then you exhort yourself to buck up, to get that last gasp, grit, determination, will-power all put together and you raise your steps again and  ...you touch the finishing line...to glory!!!

 

*You need to conquer the proverbial last mile challenge ensuring thinking of and execution of every little detail tirelessly, giving your 120%*

 

I could be biased here but I think running is one of the best exercises. It is wholesome, the good effects are seen in almost every cell of your body. It is the best cardiovascular exercise for your heart. The profuse sweating you experience after running outdoors could be the best catharsis one can have! You just shed the negative vibes like sweat! When you’re running, you’re brimming with confidence! The perseverance of running the grueling 10K rubs on and you handle challenges in work life with more confidence, more positivity!

The prevalent sedentary and irregular lifestyle of NextGen (which includes binge-watching OTT for whole nights) is inviting troubles pretty early in life. Professionals in 30’s are seen complaining of burnout, are not able to handle even minor bumps in corporate life succumbing to depression. Running could be the best exercise in helping them finding their mojo back!

 

Nevertheless, do consult your doctor/physiotherapist before you start running no matter what your age is. If for any reasons, running is not recommended, find out whether you can walk. Brisk walk could be the right exercise for you.

 

Couldn't resist sharing a quote here. While the figurative meaning is awesome, sharing it here more for its literal meaning.

 

“If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl, but by all means, keep moving” –

Martin Luther King Jr.”  

 

 

 

-Prashant Pimpalekar

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(Published in the business magazine ‘Corporate Citizen’ in its April 16 to 30, 2022 issue)

Management Bytes (2)

I distinctly remember the incidence. I was talking to my senior colleague (say John, to avoid any guesswork) who seemed to be quite agitated. When I asked him the reason, he told me, “Prashant, I’m quite fed up with this ever-ringing mobile phone.  Last Sunday evening, I was about to start my dinner with family & the damn phone rang. It was someone from our office..!”

Being a close friend, I took the liberty to tell him, “But John, look at the positive side.  Someone is having some serious issue at work/project, s/he sincerely believes that you can solve the problem and or guide properly & so is calling you even after office-hours. You're so much needed! Doesn’t this make you feel good instead of thinking it as a nuisance?” John didn’t respond but I could be see he was thinking in a new light.

Yes, most of us with 20+ years of real work (read, grind!) become go-to persons / trouble-shooters / problem-solvers in organizations.  And yes, we do get occasional phone calls after office-hours, on weekends/holidays and even when we’re on vacation.  Right?

But if you’re getting too many phone calls from your team, it also could be because you have not delegated enough, not mentored your team, or they’re not empowered for decision-making.

The other extreme end of this situation is when you’re not getting any calls.  In that case either you’ve built the team so well (with the right delegation/empowerment mix) that nobody senses your absence OR nobody thinks you could solve any problem so they stop calling you!

In either case, start hunting for a new job, mate!

It is tricky, ain’t it?

😊

Management Bytes

Aren’t we all living in the age of super-achievers?

Few weeks ago, Justin Trudeau visited India. Keep aside the success of that trip(that would be another topic), but how many of you know his age? He is only 46!  Now, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, is visiting India. He is only 40 yr old! (By the way, youngest president (head of state) in the world is Vanessa D’Ambrosio. She is 30 & leads San Marino in Europe. Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz (31) is second youngest!)

Looks like heads-of-states are competing with the start-up-founders! Isn’t it?

When it comes to Forbes list, Jeff Bezos is the richest billionaire (& first one to amass $100 Billion Net worth!) & he is only 54! Mark Zuckerberg (yes, the one who came up with Facebook & the world changed forever) is #5 richest individual & he is only 33!

Closer home, we have the founders of PayTM, Flipkart (& many more) vying the Billionaire tag & they’re in early 30’s!

So now let me ask you a question.

How do you feel if your manager is younger than you?? (And to complicate this further, … what if it is she & younger than you???)

I have seen some of my friends (mostly from engineering industry) getting extremely uncomfortable when the immediate manager is younger than them. Some have taken the extreme step.. of resigning!

WHY?

Look at the examples I shared at the start of this article.  What would be the older colleagues (in cabinet / in organizations) could be feeling? And I don’t think there would be any jealousy or rancor! Yes, because the said person had fantastic capabilities, s/he is there in that place & you need to accept it, appreciate it / reconcile with it & work without enmity!  Closer home, many felt that Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha were betrayed but look at how Modi almost single-handedly got the landslide win for BJP in 2014! Look at the Team-Modi’s performance in last four years! Haven’t they delivered? Or, look at Dhoni, the super-successful captain-cool! How sportingly he has accepted Virat as the captain?

Ergo, it’s high time we shed the ego!

Pronto!!

😊

Employability and Staying Ahead of the Curve

Do you know that approx. 18 Lac Engineering students pass out each year in India?

And do you know that a shocking 80% of them are unemployable?? ...

...If this is the plight of engineering graduates, one shudders to think of what arts/commerce/science graduates could be going through..! While there are scores of reasons to explain above anomaly (mass-copy/cheating at exam. centers/fake degree certificates, distracted students to lack of teaching faculty/infrastructure/falling standards of teaching, lesser jobs at entry level so on and so forth), the article is for that average student who is honest, keen to get his first job and aspires to get ahead in life..!

Let’s first be clear on some concepts.

Employability is not simply getting a job; neither is it a list of skills that can be ‘taught’!

Employability is on-going success for now and in future, whatever career a student chooses.

Employability is leveraging a range of skills, abilities and attributes that are developed in a whole range of settings and that vary from individual to individual.

The classic definition of Employability is - “It is a set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy”.

To further expound employability -

·         It is the ability to gain initial employment (For the same, the interest in ensuring that ‘key competencies’, careers advice and an understanding about the world of work should be embedded in the education system)

·         The ability to maintain employment and make ‘transitions’, changes between jobs and roles within the same organization to meet new job requirements or

·         The ability to obtain new employment in another organization if required.

·         An ongoing developmental process that benefits from active reflection

Considering the rising cost of education, Educational Institutes should strive to provide a good return on investment to students. They need to be engaging in the educational process, rather engaging in the whole student experience. Innovative teaching, learning and assessment methods help students engage in the education process and have the added benefit of also helping them to develop attributes which make them attractive to potential employers. Students’ interest is more likely to be maintained if they can see the relevance of their studies to their future careers and life beyond university.

Students who make an effort to fully participate in the total student experience (academic, co-curricular, extra-curricular, including work experience) benefit from a well-rounded education, contribute fully to the life of the University and community and hopefully have fun in the process. Involving employers in the education experience, for example, through case studies, delivery of guest lectures, can help students appreciate the relevance of their course and learn how to apply theory and knowledge in practical ways in the workplace.

Developed by Pool & Sewell and based on a range of employability models and theories, the CareerEDGE model provides a useful summary of five essential elements that aid students' employability:

Career Development Learning – the knowledge, skills and experience to help students manage and develop their careers.

Experience – work and life experiences help students develop a broader range of skills and are attractive for prospective employers. (How seriously have you taken internship? What have you observed/learnt at the work place?)

Degree subject knowledge, understanding & skills –  Do you know the fundamentals of the stream you chose for graduation? Do you love at least one subject passionately out of the 40 subjects you would have studied in 4 years of engineering?

Generic Skills - Communication skills / body-language / etiquettes (Can you speak fluently for at least two minutes on any given topic? Does your body language exude the confidence? Is your attire too casual/too fashionable (due to which the recruiter may think of you as a not-a-serious candidate while hiring)?

Emotional Intelligence – “the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships”  

All five elements are important and missing one can considerably reduce a student's employability.  Each element is important in its own right, but all five overlap and are integral to each other.

Although attitude is a big parameter (& it is briefly covered under Emotional Intelligence, which is also called as ‘Emotional Quotient’), I won’t delve much on it in this article.

The important reason being, the focus of the article is for freshers/engineering graduates/juniors with hardly one-two years of work experience. Assume, there is a requirement of 20 BlockChain professionals & you (as an employer) received 100 profiles/applications for it. You will filter, say 40 applications/profiles purely based on whether the said candidate has done any course/certification/training in BlockChain or has worked in it. You won’t filter the applications going by the great attitude the applicant might have described in his CV. You will try to gauge the attitude only in 2^nd (or 3^rd) round in F2F interaction. So, the hard-skills (read, relevant degree/certificates/training/job-skills) is the primary filter (or, call it a door-opener) to increase the employability. 

A degree is no longer enough –

Due to changing market conditions (in short – glut of supply and very less demand of entry-level jobs), it makes sense to augment the basic degree with a post-graduation or with a training course in the latest technology.

As per one survey conducted by Times of India, following skills and experiences are the most predictive of a graduate’s employability (in the descending order of importance, top-most being most important):

1.       Professional experience

2.       High degree of specialization

3.       Excellent academic record

4.       Extra-curricular activities

5.       Proficiency in at least two foreign languages

6.       Graduation from a top university

To be employed is to be at risk, to be employable is to be secure –

Can anyone disagree with this?

Remember, employability is not restricted to passing out graduates (freshers) alone. The way IT (rather, ICT) has been impacting our daily life through many disruptive innovations, lot of skills are becoming outdated.

The Big-4 IT organizations in India (TCS, Infosys, Wipro & Cognizant) are investing a lot in automation, Artificial Intelligence, which in turn could reduce the in-take of freshers/junior-level hiring drastically. It will also impact thousands of middle-level managers. And then there are many middle-level managers who are either working on some archaic technology (which no other organization is using) or who just fell in love with their big titles and so are working like clipped winged birds (and so are highly prone for lay-offs) .The only way to survive in today’s corporate jungle is to develop a keen eye (to see which are the emerging trends/technologies & which will be obsolete) & to develop an open mind to un-learn, continuously learn new things, re-invent, adapt ourselves, say after every 5 years! (Can’t resist sharing Andy Grove’s quote here, “paranoids survive”)

Rather going one step ahead, the thinking needs to be, not to seek employment but to create it! (And that will be my next blog)

Best luck!

References – Wikipedia, http://www.ed.ac.uk , Times of India

Bad Boss? …Blessing in disguise!

I won’t go defining a bad boss here because each one of you would remember at least one name (rather, face!) once the words ‘bad boss’ are heard! Right :-?

But how many of you would look at the positive side of it?

Well, most of us would agree on one thing for sure. And that is, a bad boss, somehow, would always keep you on your toes, would ensure you’re never in the comfort zone!  Isn’t that a good thing? Your survival instincts (or, your hurt ego) would make you learn new things, shoulder bigger responsibilities, put in long hours, just to prove your mettle. Also keep in mind, you cannot choose your boss! So, if things are really getting worse in spite of you trying earnestly to put your best foot forward, you might want to consider looking out for opportunities. (Yes, it is true. People leave managers, not companies!) 

And in either case, you indeed might have learnt a couple of new things/skills in your current job or might be performing a different/bigger role in a new organization & all this happened because you were not complacent, you were not in the safe/comfort zone in the first place!  Right? Won’t you be thankful to him/her for it:-?

My own personal experience echoes same thing.  It was my first job (after engineering graduation) in a manufacturing company. My manager was a great human-being & I used to like working with him. One fine day, he got transferred and came in another manager, who somehow made my life miserable almost from day one. The ‘well-ensconced’ me was shaken out from my comfort zone & I began thinking of ways, options to tackle this. It led to my aspiration of doing post-graduation & which in the hind-sight seemed to have done wonders to my career!

So guys (& girls), don’t curse your stars for a bad boss.

Think positive; it could be a blessing in disguise!!

Cheers!!!

Email Etiquettes

‘Leadership and communication are inseparable.  You can’t have one without the other.’      

- Claude I. Taylor

Well, in the times of smartphones and amidst all the social media apps, good old email is still alive & is very much relevant (at least in the corporate world)..! And while everybody would have sent/received at least few thousands of emails, there are still some things, some of us might be blissfully unaware of. (We never know what we don’t know…! Right?)

Personally, I’m a big fan of emails.  And why not?

•       It is the unobtrusive way of reaching the recipient (s/he could be in a meeting or on vacation – s/he still will receive the email).

•       More importantly, you have all the time in the world to construct/write the email with all the points you want to bring out without any interruption (unlike in a telephonic or face-to-face discussion, where the other person may interrupt / may not give you any chance to put your views across or you could forget some things in the heat of discussion)

•       It is for the records. (The best documented evidence)

•       I personally have worked on many projects/proposals with team spread all over the world from US to Europe to APAC to Australia. Without meeting even once, we used to complete the work purely using emails and conf. calls. (& of late, video conf. calls / skype)

First things first:

Any email should have following structure.

•       Recipient? (whom to send / whom to CC)

•       Subject line

•       Salutation

•       Body

•       Signature

Recipient – Choose your recipients carefully. No need to copy all the associates/managers all the time. Unless there is a reason (say, escalation or giving visibility to a great performer), avoid marking CC to senior Leadership. Usage of BCC needs to be avoided unless there is some strong reason.

Subject line – It is too important to leave it blank! Put some meaningful subject relevant to what you’re going to write. Use Keywords in Subject line, like -

•       Action: Prepare slides for 'scope' by June 17

•       Info: Update on E-mail Etiquette Presentation

•       Confirmed: Presentation will be ready for review on June 6^th

•       Delivery: Slide deck for  June 17^th Leadership meeting

Salutation – This varies from organization to organization and from countries to countries, so difficult to generalize. Go with the flow (& choose Dear or Hi, whatever the majority is using). But certainly, no salutation is seen as curt or even rude.

Body –

•       Talk about one subject (rather, relevant topics) per email message. (Don’t mix unrelated topics in one email)

•       Format your email, break message into sections (paragraphs), bullet points

•       Action summary – What is the point of the e-mail?

•       Background – Detail, but organize into key points

•       Close – Next steps or actions items / actionable

•       If you include attachments, give explanation of what they are. (Insert attachment before writing the text in body. This way you won’t miss sending attachment)

•       More importantly for business communication –

•       Include facts / figures. Make it crisp, preferably bullet-point list.

•       Avoid emotions / arguments / lengthy sentences / colourful background / jazzy fonts

•       Avoid emoticons

•       If sending excel file, try to include a snapshot/table in the body of email (Very few recipients will bother to open the attachment)

Signature - Include your name & contact details. (Unless you don’t want to disclose them).  And do you really want to include that motivational quote in signature?

Take another look…before you hit the ‘send’ button. 

—  Is this email needed? (Does the recipient need this email to do their job?)

—  Is the content appropriate? (Professional, inoffensive)

—  Targeted (right usage of To/CC/Distribution Lists)

—  Did you insert the attachment you were referring to in the email?

Some Do’s and Don’ts:

·         ALL CAPS IS CONSIDERED SHOUTING

·         So is over punctuating!!!!!!

·         Not using capitalization or punctuation makes e-mail hard to read

·         Text messaging abbreviations r confusing 2 ur co-workers

·         Avoid emoticons (You’re not on Whatsapp chat with friends/family)

·         Explain Acronyms (Don’t assume that client knows RICEF)

·         Check spelling and grammar before sending (Activate spellcheck)

·         No slang

·         Mind the spelling of receiver’s name. Everybody is sensitive about his/her own name & doesn’t like seeing it misspelt.  (e.g. Daniel or Danielle, Srinivas or Sreenivas)

·         Avoid asking acknowledgement of ‘read’.  (Don’t request a Read receipt. You can configure a Delivery receipt though. )

·         Set your system clock (Date, time zone) right. (Make sure you don't send messages from 1980)

Some more wisdom..

•       Don’t mix external & internal email threads. (i.e. don’t use long internal email thread as a base when writing to a client. Similarly, unless required, don’t copy your internal DLs (Distributed Lists) when writing to a client. If you do that, someone, from some DL would inadvertently be sending email like ‘I’m not aware of the issue / nobody is working on it’ etc. without even noticing that the client is also marked on the same email!)

•       3 Volley Rule- If a topic is bounced back and forth more than 3 times with no resolution seen, it is time to pick up the phone or schedule a meeting/conf. call.

•       24 Hour Rule- It is okay to write a heated e-mail, just save the draft, wait 24 hours before you send it. (And chances are, you will edit it OR will not send at all!)   

Happy emailing!