An “i-becomer” sees the world differently –
An i-becomer…
…views “i-becoming” as the primary mode of expression
… views his/her own identity as “work in progress”
… views life as an evolutionary road map
…views his/her career as a space of contribution
(original version, 2008)
Why should I work hard? Why should I struggle? Why should I put myself into any difficulty for the sake of any other person?
These questions, and our answers to them, are the basis for our entire approach (motivation level) to work.
Prajnasya murkhasya ca karye-yoge
Samatvam-abhyeti tanur na buddhih“When any work is done by an enlightened man or by and unenlightened man,
there is similarity with respect to the body (only) but not with respect to buddhi (reason and will)”
A sick child is nursed by the mother. Another sick child is nursed by a maid. The two actions are similar, but the mind behind those two actions are dissimilar.
The quality of an action is determined by the quality of the mind behind the action. If the mind is inattentive, the the job is not done well. On the other hand, if the mind is attentive then the job is done well. If the mind seeks only the end result – i.e., marks, then a student’s quality of study will be restricted to doing well in the exam. On the other hand if the mind seeks knowledge, with a short term goal of doing well in the exam then the student’s quality of study will accordingly be such that he/she has mastered the subject at hand.
Clearly, what the mind seeks determines the energy and efforts that goes beyond any action.
“What the mind seeks” can be put in management language as “compensation” or “pay off”.
What compensation we seek determines how we will work – the quality of our involvement, the depth of our struggle, our willingness to go beyond the call of duty, our capacity to act with integrity and boldness, our ability to set aside our ego and personal pride in favor of the purpose at hand.
In short, the “compensation” we seek determines the “depth of our involvement and commitment” to the work at hand.
- V. Srinivas
(The author is a knowledge practitioner based in Mumbai).
To bring about contribution thinking, the first and most important thing is to bring about visibility.
Visibility is a more contexted version of vision sharing. Vision sharing is strategy level work, but in the day to day warp and weft of one’s action what one needs is not vision but visibility – i.e. the link between who one is and what that vision is – how does one get to the vision. Therefore, one of the critical drivers for contribution thinking is that one must have visibility into what one has to contribute into.
Complete visibility will come from visibility into one’s roles, visibility into the roles of one’s team members and visibility into the role of the organization in the lives of its clients. All these have to be ‘locked up’ together and the straight line between one and one’s customer has to be seen.
If one can see this straight line, the work becomes meaningful and valuable, and one moves into the contribution thinking mode. If the straight line is not there, it is of no use. That is why it is often easy to motivate and incentivize sales people – but the deeper you go into the system it becomes harder because you cannot see the straight line between you and the customer.
So one simple definition of visibility is – draw the straight line between you and the customer, and get everything aligned into that.
There are fundamental changes that can take place in the way people think of their careers.
A simple example – In most systems people take a “skill” and at the most an “attitude” view of things. This is what the current notion of competence is. The most common model in use is K-S-A (Knowledge-Skill-Attitude).
However, this is not how human systems really succeed. Actually what is needed is outstanding “practitioners”. That is, someone who has learnt a “practice” and is working on that practice.
For example a great lawyer is a practitioner of law; some of the good engineers are practitioners of engineering. This need not necessarily be because of a degree. However our educational system is way out of real “engineering practitioners”. We are actually producing either skills or some knowledge, and sometimes only knowledge (not even skills). There is a big difference between this and practitioners.
These practitioners become the real “experts”. Not experts in the narrow sense of having a high position, but experts who really solve problems and do things.
Even in the educational system teachers are not in this category of being genuine practitioners (rather than just teaching). They don’t talk at the level of practice.
So, the big challenge is to scale “practitioner” thinking in society.
(original version – 28th August, 2007)
One of the key factors that affects motivation of people for work is visibility.
Visibility is not equal to knowledge.
“Knowledge of “and ” visibility into” are two different things.
Visibility means, one has to have a perception into the kind of issues one is solving, see into the kinds of struggles (both intellectual and non-intellectual) that one would have to go through; etc.
Visibility is a very cognitive phenomenon; for every individual it represents the visibility “I have”. So, visibility is a unique “discovery” process for each individual.
“if I don’t believe, if I don’t have visibility myself, I will never get deeply excited and involved. Regardless of who is telling me about the value and importance of a role and the possibilities in it, I have to ‘see’ it”.
So, this “visibility” is central to the “energization” of people; it is central to motivation.
Great leaders are uniquely capable of invoking this visibility in people; they don’t just tell you things. This is what distinguishes a great leader from normal people.
Self Transformation represents man’s capacity to “evolve” through experiences, reflection, feedback and guidance.
To evolve means to change one’s mind set, deep rooted habits, deeply held opinion/belief, style of engagement, identity description in a positive and conscious manner.
(Original Version – June 2009)
One of the most popular career choices for many graduates (management and non-management) is marketing. The glamour of brands and consumer marketing invariably attract the crowd. The feeling of being in the market place, interacting with consumers and designing campaigns to engage with them is an adrenalin stimulant for many.
However, when the going gets tough, marketing budgets are the first to get slashed. The logic here is : The market is down, consumers are not buying, so why spend on marketing?
Beth Comstock, a senior marketing professional at GE, says “A Marketer is a terrible thing to waste.” In crunch times, it is the marketer who stands up for the organization, turning crises into opportunities. In this article in Businessworld, Beth writes,
Marketers are for all seasons. We heed a crisis as a cue to leverage the moment while at the same time transcending it. We’re ambidextrous, with one hand optimizing today and the other hand building tomorrow. As Paul Romer, the Stanford economist, has said: “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”
Marketers by nature are people who look beyond the immediate sales. They look to developing rich relationships that will remain evergreen even as the environment changes. For this, a marketer must have three basic capabilities, which Beth describes as follows:
Understanding the needs of the customer: What is the environment that eggs consumers to buy? Can we redesign ourselves to facilitate that? In a way, this is called “responding to the market”. Instead of just throwing your hands up and saying the market is dead, look out and say, hey this market is alive! For example, for a travel company, if flights are too expensive, so should a tie-up with railways be made? Will it give more options to the consumer?
Do you have wheels that can be redesigned?
Gaining share: If customers find you valuable during the downturn, they will find you even more valuable during the boom. By understanding customers and redesigning your offerings, you are in a position to gain market share over your competition.
Clearly, you can gain short-term success and long-term loyalty during a downturn simply by being engaged with your customers and partners.
Redefining value and success measures: Needs change with time and situation. So what was considered valuable in one age may be redundant in another. It is therefore important to recalibrate and redesign the notion of value.
In a crisis, needs change for both you and your customers. Understanding these changes early allows better targeting and differentiating of what you have to offer.
After having had an insight into marketing, do you think this is a possible contribution space for you? Would you like to build a showcase of yourself and position yourself as a marketer? Write to us.
A career blog is a great way to present oneself. It is much much bigger than your resume. It is a live stream of yourself and provides immense visibility into your personality giving potential employers a clear idea of your strengths and capacities.
@guykawasaki tweeted this link on using career blogs. The full article is by Pete Kistler. He lists five main tips for running a career blog
i-become Showcase is, in spirit, a career blog. Integrated with a lot of self-introspection tools, narrative writing aids, etc. it aims to enable career professionals to truly showcase themselves. Write in for more details.