Why Are Army Recruiters Killing Themselves?

This Time magazine article talks about the dark side of recruiting. Persuading young people to join the army when a war is on is always challenging. But the pressures on recruiters in this Texas battalion has caused 4 recruiters to commit suicide.

Pushing people to work 15 hour days for the long term is a sure fire way to create a highly demoralized environment. And that is what appears to have happened here. Add to this a culture that focuses more on the stick than on the carrot (decorated soldiers were being berated openly in monthly meetings if they did not make numbers) and you have all the ingredients required for a tragedy.

While very tragic, this extreme story gives us a glimpse into what not to do when setting up an organizational culture. Definitely worth a read for somebody interested in leadership and performance management.

An Interesting Book

A Dream Testimonial for Ascendus

We received this email yesterday (from a client servicing a large automobile manufacturer.) Rishabh (from our Ascendus team) was the lead on this project and was supported by other members of Ascendus (the client details have been obfuscated due to NDA requirements.)

"Thanks a ton rishabh for all your effort…
It has always been a pleasure to work with a professional and dedicated team like ascendus...
Thanks once again for a wonderful experience… really appreciate the extra hard work and effort put in by all of you to meet our demands.
Look forward to work with you again...
Regards…
(P.S – Please let me know incase there are any delays on the payment front… )"

As the head of a company, there are several elements in this email that are pleasing to me:

1. Rishabh who worked on the project has been with us for about a year now. During this short period, he's been able to understand the Ascendus culture of satisfying the client - whatever the effort required (thanks Rishabh!)

2. The client testimonial came to us without us asking for it. In other words, it's a genuine outpouring of customer satisfaction!

3. The last line by the client offering to help out if there are any delays on the payment front is particularly gratifying! We've always believed that if a client is satisfied, they are eager to pay for the services rendered. If they are not fully satisfied, they still make payment but more as a matter of obligation. We prefer it if the client makes payment with a smile on their lips and joy in their hearts :)

So the Ascendus way works. And it works everytime!

Inspired Versus Required Action

I saw this great article a few days ago by Admiral Thad Allen. It's filled with nuggets of leadership wisdom. Thad suggests that inspired action by employees happen when people know why they are doing something and how their work fits into the larger mission. When people are simply asked to do something because the boss says so, it becomes required action. Inspiring people is hard work and Thad also offers a few pointers here including the importance of writing down your organization's mission, working harder on the mission than your people, knowing more than (or at least trying to know more than) your people and recognizing (and rewarding) positive actions from team-members. A highly worthwhile and short read!

Why Your Boss is Programmed to Be a Dictator

I'd written earlier about this book by Chetan Dhruve. Thought I'd also add the manifesto of the book for the convenience of readers:

19.05.BossDictator

Get your own at Scribd or explore others: Business

Ask The Right Question

A few days ago, we were grappling with a technical issue that had been unresolved for a few weeks. Several of our developers researched and experimented with various possible solutions. Nothing worked. Several hours were spent searching on Google and sifting through various forums.

And then, one of the developers ran a search on Google in the form of a simple and direct question. And found a solution. The way he framed the question was so obvious and simple that we all wondered as to why that particular question had not been asked by any of us before.

This set me thinking and reminded me of a speech I once attended by noted VC Vinod Khosla where he urged the audience to "ask the right questions"

In the age of Google, all of the answers are there at our finger tips. Billions of pages of information, facts, ideas and figures. And therein lies the problem. It's easy to get lost in details. To get distracted. Or to complicate our ideas.

The few people who are able to get to the right answers quickly have the uncanny knack of asking the right questions.

At Ascendus, in all our years of helping organizations run 360-degree feedback surveys, I have rarely seen this skill being measured and benchmarked. Asking the right question is not about good listening. It's not about just paying attention. It's about pro-actively getting to the root of the matter. And about delving into the details while keeping the big picture in mind. In Six Sigma, you have the notion of "5 Why's" for doing root cause analysis. "Five Whys" is the Japanese philosophy of repeatedly asking why to find not only the direct sources of your problems, but also the root of those sources. Asking the question "Why" at least a few times has helped me gain greater understanding and clarity in a number of situations.

I hope that some bright industrial and organizational psychologists design survey instruments that measure and benchmark this important skill of "asking the right question."

Why Your Boss is Programmed to Be a Dictator

I recently met a very interesting book author - Chetan Dhruve. He's written a book with a rather provocative title called "Why Your Boss is Programmed to Be a Dictator."


You can read a manifesto of the book on Change This.

In the book, Chetan proposes that corporations be structured like democratic nations with employees having the right to elect (yes ... elect!) their leaders. As a company-founder and owner, I had major issues with the concept. Three major problems are:

1. Adverse Selection: When you elect your leader as your boss, the most popular person will tend to get elected (the pretty office secretary may land up becoming the company president :).

2. Moral Hazard: Elected bosses will tend to avoid taking unpopular decisions and focus on actions that are popular (3-day workweeks and all-day body massages while you work :)

3. Speed: Democracies, while being efficient in the long-run, tend to be full of inefficiencies in the short-run. But we're all dead in the long run. Companies need to deliver results fast and be willing to change directions quickly.

The idea definitely has some potential and may even work in some industries and situations. One example that comes to mind is Ricardo Semler's Semco. For the foreseeable future though, the best way to avoid working for a dictator will be to start your own business.