Abhijit Bhaduri’s Blog
I write about careers, skills and the world of work. The cartoons and sketches are mine.
Younger boss less experience
Reporting to someone younger is hurting your ego. Get over that mindset. It is archaic. You may had team members who had more experience or better qualifications than you. The work output is what matters. The years of experience and qualifications has limited value in the job market after a few years. The same goes for credentials. When a song becomes a hit, we do not care how old the singer is and if the singer holds a degree in music. Employers are no different.
Print media needs a new talent strategy
As a talent scout, when I went to various educational institutions, I got a great view of which sector attracted the best people. That changed every year. If Consulting got the prime slot in one year, the next year it could be Banking or Retail walked away with the brightest people. People with the same qualification chose different sectors every year depending on a number of factors. Print Media has to discover that element which will encourage them to compete head to head with everyone else for talent. They must, in turn, take a unified view of talent. When it comes to hiring engineers or designers or journalists, the print media has to compete with other employers. The fine balance between work, workers and workplaces is a great place to start.
From stakeholder interest to societal interest
At the start of 2019, Oxfam released a report at the World Economic Forum that said, “Billionaire fortunes increased by 12 per cent last year — or $2.5 billion a day — while the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity saw their wealth decline by 11 per cent.” That is the Power Curve for you. To put it more starkly — the 26 richest people in the world now have as much wealth as the poorest 3.8 billion people. That may well be the difference between the capitalist system and a system that attempts to minimise the disparities. What tilted our world view to say the Power Curve is the way things are going to be?
The Digital Mindset: Aquarium to Ocean
The organization is no longer like an aquarium that has a solid defined boundary wall. The organization is part of an ecosystem. Leading the fish in an aquarium is different from navigating the ocean. The digital organizations are as different from the legacy organizations as the butterfly is to the caterpillar. Leading these organizations needs not just new set of skills and competencies but also a different mindset. The hyperconnected customer is more aware and makes decisions and choices differently. The power balance has tilted in favor of the employees and consumers. They own the brand. The leaders role is now about helping the organization go from the aquarium to become part of ocean.
Genpact: Reskilling at Scale
Very often organizations launch an initiative with great fanfare. When the dust settles, people move on to their desk and carry on doing their work as usual. Genpact seems to have found a way to sustain this massive exercise. The leadership team has taken it upon themselves to celebrate learning and the people driving the agenda - the employees.The CEO of Genpact recognizes the gurus and experts in every town hall. He celebrates the guru who has done the maximum amount of skill building. The clients are told about this. The CHRO and the Chief Innovation Officer talk about Genome to the clients and the employees at every possible opportunity. The result is that skill building is not a metric tracked by the L&D team, the agenda is part of the business conversation every day.
Collaboration changes the experience of work
echnology has changed the way we experience work. Technology has made so many things accessible to everyone. Think about how photography has changed. The smartphone camera is getting better with each passing year. It has turned an average photographer into a shutterbug. The amateur photographers have access to different lenses in their phones. The phone uses computational photography to create images that are stunning. We all feel comfortable posting photos on Instagram thanks to the range of filters we can choose from to enhance the look of the photograph. Expertise has been commoditised. Amateurs are using technology to force experts in every field to move up the value-chain.
My boss does not have time to mentor me
Mentoring someone needs someone to have the skills as well as the desire to invest time and commit towards your success. Else many mentors simply use the time to tell the mentee about their own achievements. Being a good listener and having empathy makes someone a good mentor.Create a Board of Mentors from your own organization. Build a set of 4-5 people you will seek advice from. I have always had a group of mentors to learn from. I find it wonderful to get a variety of ideas and perspectives on the same problem.
Your L&D strategy is missing one key element
To help employees build the habit of learning, providing them some slack time to learn and reflect plus the opportunity to try it out at work and get feedback.
Outplacement is a new ship, not a lifeboat
The outplacement firm acts as a bridge between the last employer and the potential employer. More often than not, the discharged employee tries to land a role in a firm within the industry. However, that is not always the case. In fact, post-layoff is a great opportunity for individuals to use this event as an opportunity to change to a different industry or to stay within the same industry but change roles. Finally, the most liberating option may be to use the career coach to explore a transition to a completely different career altogether.
Dreamers and Unicorns are the new role models
We have seen three phases of working. Phase 1 was all about getting a job. As employers and employment became more fluid, it gave rise to entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship was the second phase after employment. In the more recent times, gig work has started to grow especially in India. Millennials and GenZ prefer the flexibility that freelancing allows. That is where Dreamers and Unicorns come in.
Talent Acquisition in the Gig Economy
Working with open-talent system of gig workers will need specialized talent acquisition teams. New processes in every department from legal contracts to accounts payable will be needed. New technology that makes it possible for the gig worker to give his or her best need to be created. Experts already find that they make more money through gig work while having the flexibility of hours and the freedom to choose the projects they wish to work on.
The clueless and the charismatic
Narcissists focus on looking good themselves. They often do not grow the second line of leaders, so that there is no one who has the “stature to challenge their decisions”. Many start-ups are as guilty of not investing in building a second rung of empowered and capable leaders.There could well be a better choice than choosing between the two extreme leadership models that we have seen. The price is paid by the employees and common investors. This must change.
HR decisions by AI will be hard to implement
In hiring someone, the algorithm needs a human to define what the "correct answer" to look for. What should the ideal candidate be? What criteria should the machine look for, while comparing two candidates? While the machine may recommend a candidate who has a higher degree (eg a candidate with a Masters degree is preferred to a candidate with a Bachelors), it may eliminate a candidate who is a better team player because that is hard to define.
Workplace Advice: When the boss is having an affair with a team member
Q: My boss is having an affair with a junior staff in the firm. She has been given special status and she dominates the office. He offers her special privileges which others don't get, such as being present in interactions with the top management from the headoffice. Taking advantage of the situation, the lady in question is also talking negatively about us behind our backs. Please suggest how one can handle such a tricky situation?
Chandrayaan was our Moonshot that failed, so what?
The first world was unhappy when India became a nuclear power. Feed the starving and clothe the naked we were told. The same voices can be heard again when we speak of our space mission. Space activity is a wealth generator. India wants to enter the multi-billion-dollar market for space products and services. We are dreamers. Dreamers are irrational. They will pick themselves up, dust themselves and run towards the next moon or moonshot whichever comes first.
Colleagues speak in a language I don't understand
Using a “pull method” is always better than throwing the rule-book at your colleagues. Besides, it is not illegal to speak in a different language. You may not be able to control how your colleagues behave, but you can control your response to the situation.
Online presence - an opportunity creator
In a crowded job market, it is hard to explain what makes you different from every other qualified candidate. That is where building a personal brand matters. A potential employer must view you as different from the thousands of other job-seekers. The differentiation is easiest to create through one's online presence.
Generalists vs specialists - who has a greater chance of success?
The world often hands us what are called "wicked problems". These are settings where the rules of the game are unclear or incomplete. The patterns do not repeat and feedback is often delayed or misleading. The world is increasingly beginning to sound close to that description. Who will be more successful - the generalist or the specialist?