How To Turn Executives Into Wizards

  “Hi, Krishna! How come you are at home gardening on a working day? Hope all’s well?” asked Ram Krishna’s friend.  “All’s well except for the pain in the neck, the monstrous boss.” “The same one you complained about? The one who, last year, robbed you of your legitimate claim for a promotion?” “Yes, the same devil has now transferred me from the Manufacturing Division with 2000 workers to Production Planning with 25 engineers, half of them dumped by other departments. It’s an exile island.” “You are really upset and so must be everyone in your family. Do you want to talk about it?” Krishna nodded and they sat on a nearby bench. Both were quiet for a while, waiting for the other to start the conversation. “Krishna, you need to sort this out. Let’s have a serious discussion,” said Ram. “ Yes, Mr. manager-cum professor, thriving and happy on both fronts, tell me which management guru’s sermon are you going to off-load on me now?” “I want to discuss work ethics with you. And I kn...

Wrong Hires Can Lead to Dire Quagmires: “One Third of People Decisions Turn out Right” --- Peter Drucker         The current situation is worse than it was in Peter Ducker’s time. ‘A bad apple spoils the barrel’ goes a saying. The implication is obvious - that most companies often select bad apples and then complain that lower morale and unsatisfactory financial results are due to other reasons. Though they blame the external environment, the bad apples are the real reason leading to such a quagmire.   Recruiters do their best, but the faults lie in the methods, processes and tools that they use. The widely used series of interview methods are mainly responsible for bad apples getting in. Interviewers at all levels have biases and prejudices as well as pet theories and formulas. If you think this is an overgeneralization, think again in the light of this story with a moral. A priest with an immaculate dress, poise and demeanour was in a train comp...