Book Review: The Secret Life of Organizations

The secret life of organizations is all about discovering the organizational iceberg. When students join their first job they often struggle with the transition. There is often no map that teaches you how to navigate this jungle. This book attempts to build that map and help the person navigate.

Secret Life

As a student everything is structured. The classes are held according to the time table. The only unpredictability comes from the odd professor who schedules a surprise quiz that catches most people unprepared.

If life as a student is all about predictability, life as an employee is all about dealing with constant change and unpredictability. Plans are made and dropped. The promise of meritocracy turns out to be very different. Peers are jockeying for power. What do people mean when they say, learn the business? While there are posters everywhere that celebrate new ideas, you have a boss who loves routine and hates experimentation. Should you take the written word on the poster seriously or should you stay put.

It is is this secret life that has derailed and disillusioned so many people. There are so many things that organizations claim but the unspoken rules that govern behavior are very different. The first experience of work can be a difficult transition for many. This then is the book to read.The Secret Life of Organizationswritten by Shalini Lal and Pradnya Parasher is that map that tells the young Indian professional how to make sense of the chaos in organizations. The authors use their own experience of working across a variety of organizations and their expertise in Organizational Psychology to tell the novice how to decode what they see. They do so with short cases and examples. Some of these examples are taken from their own dilemmas and choices. Some of them are from clients they have worked with. The result is a delightful read that is interesting and useful. Not too many books hit that sweet spot.

Understand, Navigate, Manage & Look Beyond

The book is divided into four sections. The section on how to understand the business tells you what you should understand and in what sequence you should go about doing so. I loved the section on "Navigating" the organization. It tells you what very few books do - what is politics and how to make sense of it. Being able to decode the myths that all organizations have is a great way that the reader can use to separate fact from fiction as they walk around the corridors of different organizations.In the segment on Manage, they tell us how critical it is to know oneself. Without that we can never feel comfortable with our choices. The final section on Look Beyond deals with career dilemmas. How does one know that it is the right time to change jobs. How does one manage demands of a young family and a demanding career.

How should you decide?

Should one get international experience at some stage? Is it hard to move back? Does having kids mean putting one's career on hold? What is better to be - a generalist or a specialist? To answer that the authors share their own career transitions and the choices they made. Their candor in acknowledging their own less than perfect choices and lapses in judgment make the tone and voice of the book very unique. The authors come across as friends who are advising you how to navigate. It is not the know-it-all wagging a finger at your lack of judgement. The book assumes that the person has made a choice of the organization to join. I wish they had a questionnaire that one could use to understand what kind of roles and organizational cultures suits whom better.That was the only unanswered question.

Having read the book I wish someone had told me all what the book does. Even though the book is aimed at the "young Indian professional", the book would be great for people with more experience.

The first job that we do is special. We go in with high expectations. But then we also get disillusioned at times and wish we could talk to someone who would...

loved the book and have no hesitation in saying, it would Rs399/- well spent if you buy the book.

Buy it here <click this>

======Have a question? Email me at abhijitbhaduri@live.com or follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram @AbhijitBhaduri