Leading on the Edge !

Some thoughts about the way the world is evolving and the emergence of the new professional and learning organisation, learning to lead on the cutting edge of success.....


Management gurus and their disciples, thinkers, strategists and business process re-engineers have been busy propelling the corporate world and the corporate mind into not only coping with, but also keeping in step with the rapid changes of an ever shrinking, increasingly competitive and exhaustingly demanding global market.

Undoubtedly the 21st Century is playing host to the greatest revolution in communication the world has ever seen, and consequently, the businesses of today will have to constantly re-engineer and restructure their approach, ever so keenly, to first survive and then ride the crest of this tidal wave of change.

Today, the ability to mass communicate instantly, has drilled right down to the level of any individual choosing to use the Net, and is no longer the sole domain of large corporate houses with inflated advertising budgets. Information and yes, dis-information can be broadcast for over a billion to view, in the mere blink of an eye. Business transactions on the Web, or e-commerce as we know it, is only part of the almost immeasurable progress the world has achieved in less than a decade, decidedly overshadowing the undeniably tremendous evolution of the world over the preceding half century.

The changing times and tools....


As times change, so have the tools of the trade. Today anybody in the business without a certain savvyness on the internet or for that matter without a personalized email address or a Home Page on the World Wide Web, may as well close shop and go home. A dinosaur.

From the beginning of time, as the world and life itself evolved, Mankind has constantly striven to push the pace of progress, leaving the weak to die, and the strong to live and thrive. We called it the process of Natural Selection. And as I reflect on the changing world, so it seems today too, with even greater ferocity and ruthlessness.

The arithmetic is very simple. The size of the pie being constant, to eat more of it, somebody else has to go hungry. That is, unless somebody has the wisdom and the ability to make another pie and another. Business strategy is increasingly pointed in this direction. How to make another pie!

Reconstructing the ladder ......


For a business of the new millennium to succeed, organizational structure and operations have to be focused towards the Sun — that is, the entire organization and its various subsystems have to be energized to support each other, in one common direction. Organizational structure has to be redesigned or reconstructed to support operational efficiency and effectiveness. Knowledge based competences have to be ushered to positions of leadership.

Whether product or people, success will lie with those at the cutting edge of technology and a finger firmly on the market pulse. An explosive combination, such as this is, will always keep the business Leading on the Edge!

The Kaizen of Learning....


To arrive here, would necessarily involve continuous learning — structured training and exposure to the market needs, constant communication with the market place and the ability to discern, decide and function independently at critical operational levels of the organization, especially those interfacing with the market.

In the emerging market order, the factory will no longer produce what it simply can produce, of original capability or capacity, but will bend every resource it has or has to procure , to supply what the market demands of it — be this product or service. Because the customer ( read you and me too ! ) now has literally, a world at his or her fingertips, and the decision making process has crashed down to almost a heartbeat.

Marketplaces have already begun to shed their parochial boundaries, and with the world increasingly becoming one giant market, any business, which seeks to dictate terms to the market, is perilously close to the edge of survival.

Protection to local industry has been slowly and painfully recognized as insulating them from the real world. Enhancing their growing incompetence in the false bliss of restricted competition, leaves them totally unprepared for the awaiting onslaught, when the curtain on competition is raised.

The new reality : wake up or die ....


Needless to say, horrible deaths await such placid and in the most liberal sense, merely "reactive" organizations. It would therefore be a matter of plain common sense that at the micro level, should you ever as an individual, feel protected and comfortable, this is to be feared most. Because this means, that you have already lost touch with reality.

It seems to me that , anybody within reach of reality, must always recognize the compelling need –of discomfort, of constant change, of threat to survival, of creating and fostering change, of continually learning, of challenging the established norm and only when you can catalyze change continuously, can you truly consider yourself to be Leading on the Edge.

The organization that must carry this task through will demand man-management skills of a dimension far superior than ever before. Even today, empowerment of manpower has become the watchword of progress in Human Resource Development efforts across the globe. Every man, must view the business as the CEO regardless of his position in the organization, says one management guru, for the view is best at the top.


The organizational pyramid : shaken and stirred....


In order to do this, unshackling the operating executive from the traditional organizational bonds forms part of the key objectives of an enlightened management. It is a known fact that, any business entity is as good as the people who represent it. Tapping and cultivating individual potential has reached Critical Mass point in context of the business environment today.

The pyramidal Boss-Subordinate structure has to give way to flatter organizational structures, with teams of people spearheading identified tasks towards a larger common goal, interlinked with each other-, cross functionally too, providing a freer and wider berth of operation, with authority and responsibility extending beyond localized short term goals and targets, to encompass the overall aims and objectives of the organization.

The role of the traditional Boss, or the CEO of the firm – this may even be the Head of a Department or Division - has to mature into one of being a Facilitator and Motivator. At the cutting edge of business competence, the strenuous demands on individual performance and achievement need to be complemented and supported with the Boss providing a highly positively charged work environment, along with the necessary tools of the trade, continuous training in the techniques to perform and produce results, counseling at regular intervals and most importantly, leading from the front.


Frontline leadership ....

No better performance and achievement can be demanded, than by the sheer example of the leader. This has been one of the most major transformation in management thinking in recent times, and more often than not, organizational performance can be judged not just by that of the team, but more so, that of the team leader, Leading on the Edge, himself!

The new order of world business today demands performance right from the Top of the Pyramid, which provides the platform on which organizational vision , goals and targets to achieve this vision are laid in clear view of every element in the organizational network. Skilled man-managers should easily recognize that High Performers and achievers have to be recognized and allowed to perform with the complete support of the system.

The power of knowledge, the might of technology : staying relevant to the business....


Typically a high performer will also be high on knowledge and techniques of the trade, which have to be continually updated to keep abreast with the times. They will also often be subject to self imposed high level stress, as a result of demanding more of themselves than even the organization does of them. Their paranoia of complacency and stagnation, driven by a very high order of ambition, is the very force that powers the organization forward.

And they no longer need to fear for their jobs, for they are always in demand. They must have the freedom to choose the environment in which they can perform best, to their own lofty expectations of themselves. They exercise the choice to stay or go. And more often than not, they choose to go. Not always because they are dissatisfied , but because they have better options at each level of success.


The price of success....

The price usually paid by an organization on a victorious battle pitch, is the poaching of its top lieutenants. Organizations will have to recognize the inevitability of this and plan for it, with what is now being called the perpetuation of, or at least restricting the flight of, Intellectual Capital. In addition to the tangible ingredient "knowledge" which can be data based , intangibles form the other vital ingredients which cover Capital Resources involving the Company Management , the Employees, the Customer and indeed the Processes built into the system.

Almost any company on the Edge of Competitiveness and Growth would realize that their business is not just a result of well oiled systems working in unison, but instead, the cutting edge is indeed provided by the people who operate these systems. People involvement will always mean un-catalogued information and personalized knowledge, that affects the company and its business, often not shared with the system.

The Twain shall meet : the knowledge and information expressway to success


Managing the flow of information within the company and the smooth transfer of knowledge, where stagnant knowledge repositories are transformed into dynamic vehicles of growth, is one of the special skills that will daunt the abilities of corporate leaders.

While top human resources of a company can turn out to be, a critical casualty of success, in this New Millennium, more than ever before, any organization that can attract, nurture, retain, continually motivate and empower such people, and can at the very same time, conserve and build on its intellectual capital, will find itself invariably Leading On the Edge of Success.

Whither the Quality of Life

How’s Life ? All of us have been posed this question, at some time in our lives, if not almost every day by everyone we meet. And we usually shrug off the question with flippant dismissal. Very few of us are ecstatic or gush about how swell life is. Many of us reply with a weary sigh while some of us grimace with ill concealed pain. What we are really describing of-course is not life as in being alive and breathing, but instead, the Quality of Life we live.

I have often asked myself, what is the quality of life we seek, and could not help comparing life, to food, which is the easiest way to see whether we have or do not have, the recipe to make life tick. But lets talk about that later.


Childhood, the cradle of happiness...... seizing every moment !


Among the majority of us fortunates, childhood is when life is most enjoyable, as bereft of responsibility, all we have to do is savour every wonderful moment in time, to the fullest. We are taken care of, sheltered, fed, clothed, educated and kept in good health. Whenever we take ill, all we have to do is lie back and recover. Nothing clutters the brain beyond the events of the day. It is often said that a child is happiest because he or she lives in the present with both mind and body as one unit.

On our journey through life we begin transferring the state of mind to the past and the future, in opposition to the body, thus causing what is commonly called Stress. As young adults, life begins to bloom, as the mind and body are nourished with knowledge and metabolism, peaking to produce perhaps the finest co-ordination between the mental and physical states. Life is one great colourful flourish on the canvass of time. But what happens thereafter ?


The perilous path of maturity and focus....


Youth moves on to maturity and we begin to gain “focus” on our lives and what direction we wish our lives to take. Ambitions and achievements take the place of adventure. Dedication and devotion to purpose replaces dare devilry. Deliberate professionalism prevails over impulsive intuition, while Career quests overshadow the carefree spirit, forging character and mettle of leaders and entrepreneurs .

Coping with stress, chaos, work-life imbalances, pressures of the daily grind, people relationships, demanding targets, conflicting goals, aspirations and professional paradigms of an ever changing world can be not only a daunting and challenging task but also a mentally and physically sapping ordeal !

And the Quality of Life ?

Executive stress, burnout , suicide, divorce are some of the answers, unless life resembles a balanced meal. Aha ! you say, and how is that so ? Well, consider this . Sometimes we assume life to be , only that part which takes up most of our time. For the career chasers it is their vertical growth rate in the organisation or in their own business and for the homemaker , it is housework. All this reflects Quantity and not Quality. But not so with food !

The Quantity of Life ?


Almost anybody I know has dined out at a restaurant . When choosing where to eat , we invariably look for , not just good cuisine , but also the location of the restaurant, the parking service, the air conditioning, the music, the décor, the ambience , the nature of its current clientele and so on.. While all we really do is eat there. But the packaging and the surrounding benefits are so necessary and all so important to us. If so, then why do we judge life by just the food, or sometimes by just the main course ?

Why not package life such that even the most miserable meal or career glows in the ambience of the surrounding hobbies or career off-shoots? Whenever I’ve sat down to order a meal , I invariably look for the accompaniments, and often enough, it is these that decide the success of the meal. I cannot get into my steak , no matter how delicious it looks, without my baked potatoes, spinach and boiled veggies and that pat of golden butter oozing goodness. I know of a fellow who went berserk when he did not receive his pickles with the food. It simply shows that not always is the quality of food or for that matter, life, defined by just the main serving , but often enough, it is the tiny add-ons that really decide the lip smacking goodness of life.


Packaging the Zing !

What are these add-ons that put the zing into life ? This is for each one of us to determine and can often be an absorbing hobby or sport or music or any parallel line of activity that brings in tangible fulfillment. Sometimes physical evidence of effort ploughed in, does not reflect as much as we desire, in our basic square meal in life. So we choose to bring in activities of our own , which meet this need.

I often offset my reverses or lack of results at work by creating my own successes, unto myself, if not to anybody else, through penning my thoughts and experiences into tangible form , either in prose or poetry. Energizing yourself becomes necessary to sustain the quality of living in the main life zones, usually career and family life. Somehow , if we were as fussy about the add-ons to our lives as we are in choosing the toppings for our pizza, life could become one big delight.

Life is a choice, like it or love it !


Not all of us are fortunate enough to choose a line of work or career that dovetails comfortably with our skills or education or choice. Ideally , this is what we need to do, but haven’t we often been told at the restaurant, that the very item we wished to savour, is not on the menu of the day ? So do we leave the restaurant and seek another one where we find what we want, even if it takes all night ? The chances are , we don’t , and instead settle for next best ,or whatever else is available.

To reconcile to the misfiring of our carefully constructed plans, we can either open our minds to the new experience of what gets served in our plate, or disguise what we have with a whole lot of sauces and condiments , hoping to reconstruct something totally new , although with insufficient means to do so. Isn’t life often frighteningly like that?

When we approach the Quality of Life, we more often than not, consider the Quantity of Life as the Quality of Life , and here is where we source our judgements on what our lives are all about.

If we could only pause to listen to the winds of fresh thought whispering through our minds, we would certainly have cause for celebrating the true Quality of Life !

Ten Tips for a Productive Life

1. Believe in Yourself – You Count !
2. Put Your Entire Energy into What You Do- It’s Your Signature !
3. Value and Respect Others, No Matter Who They Are or What They Do – You Can Learn From Anyone !
4. Experiment and Experience Life – Move Out of Your Shell !
5. Learn to Forgive Yourself and Others – But Do Not Encourage Incompetence !
6. Keep an Open Mind, Learn to Coexist with Differences- In People and their Opinions and Views
7. Take Charge of Your Life – Be Alert at the Wheel, Learn to Accelerate, Chart Your Course, Follow the Signs, Decide Your Breaks, Fill Your Tank and Turn On the Music too !
8. Make Sure You Have Passengers in Your Car too- Carry Others along with you, Create Wealth for Others too !
9. Be Humble Not Arrogant, but Market Yourself Vigourously and Honestly !
10. Keep revisiting Your Goals ( roadmap ) and Keep a Clear Eye on the Road too- Stay Focused on the Present while Working out the Future !

At the Steering Wheel of Life

Life is a mixed bag.....

Yes indeed, life is a mixed bag. What we package
it with is what appears to the outside world as our lifestyle. Within the package, is what it really is. However, not always is the packaging distinctly different from the contents of life. The best wrapping is a transparent one which reveals the contents for what it is and the blend it forms as one contrasting colour or layer merges with another.

When we join our lives with another, as we do in marriage or at work in teams or professional partnerships, what we seek is a blend of lifestyles : of competences, of outlooks and approaches, where often one lifestyle leads another at different points of time, very much like rotating leadership. There are times when the blend is so good that it is hard to differentiate one from the other.

Yet the individuality of each lifestyle is what counts in differentiating key operational arenas to increase or maximize the probability of success.

Today we are faced with certain challenges and tomorrow perhaps with others. We have to look at each challenge separately and at how we handle them and which partner can handle it best. Once this is clear, then all that has to be done is to support the front line, in other words, actively support as one body , the person taking on the challenge directly.

Goals and dreams.....

All of us have our own goals and ambitions, dreams and desires, methods and means by which we want to go about achieving them. Some of them are in sharp contrast to the other. However the common thread in all we do, has to embody, the essentials of life – which are – a clear sense of self worth, courage of conviction, determination to succeed, honesty of approach, strength of purpose, responsibility for results and a sense of practicality to guide and harness these to achieve our objectives.

Yes, it is important to manage all these qualities such that no single quality exists at the expense of the others. Especially true, where the sense of practicality often overpowers the rest and seeks relief in manipulating the means, to achieve a rationalized practical end. Also true that courage of conviction should not bestow a blindfold on reality.

The balancing of life's imbalances........

As you can see, this is a balancing act. The Scales of Libra if you may ! Equilibrium is achieved only after the balancing beam has tipped on either side.

Each side is you and somebody else- in your personal life it could be your spouse or your parents or your children or in your professional life it may be your boss or your team; and the balancing beam of the scale of our life is poised on the fulcrum of matured sensibility that holds us on even keel.

And to keep this even keel, each of us have to put in the correct measure of weights against values , means for ends, efforts for results, in each pan.

Values and purpose .....

Values across life so far, for most of us, are attached to a very strong sense of purpose and strength of resolve to succeed against all odds. Many among us would have faced some of the worst nightmares, which have taken our entire reserve of courage in our convictions and determination to pursue our beliefs.

The task is to ensure that we do not abandon the struggle, but instead stare it in the face at frighteningly close quarters. We have had to ask ourselves very difficult questions and verify the “bonafides” of our own values. At the end, you would have found that the greatest comfort is in doing what you know is right even when this makes the terrain treacherous.

Winning with the right values ......

Winning is the right result, but, the means is very important too. And ever so often, you may find yourself at the non-preferred end of a rather discomforting duel to maintain Life’s precious balance. In a world that rushes you through life like white-water rapids, the struggle is to first keep afloat and somehow manage to steer your war clear of the dangers that present themselves at each churning twist and turn. Life is in today’s competitive world, an unsettling yet exciting experience ! The sheer thrill of being on board your own life is hard to be matched. Staying at the helm and steering your way through unchartered waters is a task that separates the strivers from the strugglers.

No successful ship laden with precious cargo is far from the radar of pirates ! Life has its share of buccaneers and pirates. Many successful lives have run aground for reasons ranging from being asleep at the wheel to the comforting swell of mediocrity in deep waters to arrogant navigation flying in the face of Life’s tempests to mutiny to hostile takeovers. Of all these, the worst would probably be the handing over of your wheel mid-stream success, at the sharp end of a sword !

Defending your rights against those who want to snatch them away, calls for but one answer. Active defense, and not meek conciliation.

Especially when a sense of practicality tells us that we are capable of mounting not just a defense but an offensive. Negotiation is the route of least defense, when there is no other avenue open.

Happiness and success are NOT NEGOTIATED.

They are fought for. They are worked for. They are earned and then they are DEFENDED and PROTECTED with all one’s might. This calls for an active engagement with one’s life, not a casual enquiry. Investigate, Illuminate, Initiate, Innovate, Integrate your skills, competences, resources, align every thought and feeling and put every fiber and sinew of your body into the task of retaining and rejoicing in your right to a vibrant life.

I do not sketch Life as one big battlefield, but it certainly is no rose garden.

The Big Question is : Are you WILLING to negotiate your happiness, your right to life, your future, your family, your marriage and your children and their future, with circumstance or worse, those who feed off the average man’s hopes, dreams and aspirations.

Shall you SUCCUMB to a path of least resistance and offer your hard earned present and your well deserved future , on a platter to circumstance or those who have the effrontery to malign it ??

Would you BE JUDGED by circumstance or those who have no right to judge you and will you rather CLOAK YOUR COURAGE with the mantle of meekness ??

Then you shall surely HAND OVER THE KEYS OF YOUR LIFE to such thieves of this treasury.
Success and the cup of life ....

But you must succeed as who you are and cannot succeed as who you are not. But first, you need to believe in yourself . And get a special someone else to believe in you. Happiness can be yours. Success shall fill your cup of life. Only when you are proud of who you are , what you have done, and to whom.

Phil Mc Graw puts it succinctly in his book “Life Strategies” in which he enunciates “The Ten Laws of Life” which makes a great deal of sense and acts as a great guide on steering your way to success. Take a look at these Ten Laws of Life and the accompanying strategies:

The Ten Laws of Life
From the book “ Life Strategies” by Phillip C McGraw Ph.D.

Law # 1 : You either Get it, or you don’t.
Strategy : Become one of those who gets it.

Law # 2 : You Create your own Experience.
Strategy : Acknowledge and Accept Accountability for your life.

Law # 3 : People do what Works.
Strategy : Identify Payoffs driving your behaviour and others

Law # 4 : You cannot change what you do not acknowledge.
Strategy : Get real with your life & everybody in it.

Law # 5 : Life Rewards Action
Strategy : Make careful decisions, then Pull the Trigger !

Law # 6 : There is no Reality; only Perception
Strategy : Identify the filters through which you view the world.

Law # 7 : Life is Managed; it is not Cured
Strategy : Learn to take charge of your life

Law # 8 : We Teach people how to treat us.
Strategy : Own, rather than complain how people treat you.

Law # 9 : There is Power in Forgiveness
Strategy : Awaken to what anger and resentment do to you.

Law # 10 : You have to name it before you can claim it.
Strategy : Get clear about what you want and take your turn


You owe yourself this. You owe this to your future. And to all those who are counting on it.

Decide today to take charge of your ship by being awake and alert …………..
At the Steering Wheel of Your Life !