From IIM Ahmedabad To Happiness

Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp Printers

Page 21

WORKING UP THE CORPORATE LADDER
Since his first placement after graduation, he has switched a couple of jobs, each switch-over meaning more responsibilities, status and compensation. As management gurus have taught us, he has always worked with extreme 'sense of ownership’ toward each organization he has worked for. He truly believed in what Tom Peters and Nancy Austin had to say in their introduction to A Passion for Excellence:
What are the basics of managerial success? Two of the most important are pride in one's organization and enthusiasm for its works. A quick check of the twenty-five leading textbooks on management find neither in any index. Nor does one find much about such concepts as “naive customer listening,” customer perception of service/quality, employee commitment and ownership, internal corporate entrepreneurship (sometimes called intrapreneurship), championing of innovation, trust, vision and "leadership." That last, the concept of leadership, is crucial to the revolution now under way - so crucial that we believe the words “managing" and “management” should be discarded. “Management,” with its attendant images - cop, referee, devil's advocate, dispassionate analyst, naysayer, pronouncer - connotes controlling and arranging and demeaning and reducing. “Leadership” connotes unleashing energy, building, freeing and growing.
Our man epitomizes managerial success. He takes extreme pride in his organization and doesn't mind working, if it comes to that, twenty-four hours a day. He has been responsible for working out several innovative strategies for its growth and consolidation in the market. His own values, family, and interests always took a backseat when it came to advancing the core values of his organization. He has been a leader by example, ready to unleash all his energies in favour of his organization.
And the routine has continued for many years now. If at all, it