Challenges at work place – Managers Dilemma

“ I can't work with that Swine. X is Swine.” These words were forwarded to  Rachael who had recently joined an organization which had crazy boss and the team was highly demotivated.  For a minute she was awestruck because not only she was shocked to read those lines but was surprised that how someone can write such lines for a colleague. She thought “from” must be junior or a fresher  and doesn’t know much about business communication but she was amazed to find out that “from” was part of the senior management and a very close friend of COO. The fact that he was writing this mail to one of his juniors and by mistake he sent to x person ( sometimes it does happen that we send to the wrong person about whom we are writing instead of the right recipient). Now x person  reported to Rachael and complained to her that he has raised this issue many times with Rachael’s boss but he has not yet taken any action. Hence he was asking for her help.  Rachael decided to discuss with her boss but got the same old reply that “from” is senior person and it's already been highlighted to MD but MD has decided not to take any action on same. Since its sensitive issue and Rachael's boss is handling it she should be out of this. So for Rachael it was a tough decision as Boss is saying to stay away and here is a colleague who is looking at her with hope that she will help him getting justice.  So it was an ethical question for Rachael… She did which she always do when she is stuck in such dilemma’s. She asked herself what is right… and she got the answer that “from” is wrong and he has to apologize…. Rachael raised the issue in a forum and “from” had to apologize but that apology was not from the heart but for the sake of it….. So here the question is  -

When business leaders make mistakes , should they apologize ?

 Traditional thinking says they  can’t afford to, because by doing so is an admission of guilt that can go against them in the future. However an emerging school of thought says that apologizing isn’t as risky as previously believed. It's better to apologize and set up an example that apologizing doesn’t make one small and create culture in the organization that anyone who makes the mistake will have to apologize… No matter which position the person holds. Ethics are the accepted principles of conduct that govern behavior within the society. Put another way ethical principles define the boundary between right and wrong. For me its knowing the difference between what you have “right” to do and what is right thing to do. To make the right choices as a business communicator you have responsibility to think through not only what you say but also the consequences of saying it. Ethical behavior is a companywide concern, of course but because communication efforts are the public face of a company, they are subjected to rigorous scrutiny from regulators, legislators, investors, consumer groups, environmental groups, labour organizations and anyone else effected by business activities.

Lets come back to Rachael… The other problem she faced was that team was highly demotivated so she decided to figure out the issue by simple method .. by doing “Root cause analysis”. She knew the symptoms of demotivation in the team were – Negativity, Dislike of each other, No team bonding, Keeping to oneself, ego, arrogance, immaturity. She could have easily erased these symptoms by doing small activities like team outing, appreciating the team, asking HR help and getting the training organized for the team members but she chose not to do so because simply by removing the symptoms the chances of reappearing the symptoms are much higher. (Its like fixing the bug temporarily and bug reappearing every financial year. Therefore its very important to fix the bug from the root. )

Hence she decided to get into the root cause of the issue.   She asked 3 questions to herself

1.       Factors- What had led to this situation

2.       Reason - Why it happened

3.       Solution - What to do so that it doesn’t arise again

Hmm…  It was a tough task. She decided to make problem chart. Problem with higher management ( including her boss), Problem with group as whole ( colleagues of different department), Problem with oneself.

Well she could figure out that all the 3 areas defined above were the root cause of the problem and being in the position she was in, she decided to let it go or leave it to the way it is as there is an intelligent saying “ Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you're in control, they're in control. “ And Rachael didn’t have any control. She didn’t wish to take control but wished that her seniors could take control of the situation. Even if she would have tried to control she was sure that she would have failed because strategy is successful only when executed from top to bottom not the other way round. When we suffer from myopia its better to get it operated rather than putting eye solution, as short term solution will lead to blurred vision and eventually will lead to blindness.

* Image credit = Creative commons

The Consulting Business

Hi friends… Yes I am back after a long gap. This gap was needed as was setting up my own start up hence was very tied up but I always missed writing and interacting with you all.

Few months back when I took the decision to move out of comfort zone of VAS to consulting, people/friends in the industry were surprised and I was flooded with calls and smses. Well Well, I always wanted to get into consulting business as hearing others problem and solving them was something I learned from my grandmother, hence I can say that consulting is in blood even grand ma consulting is different from the consulting which I am trying to do.  I also get to hear that you need domain experts  for consulting, however I have different view.

Few days back as part of HR consultancy to a group I was talking to young gentleman and he after spending 1.5 yrs in the industry wants a change as he wants to learn something new. Now I don’t need to be domain expert of that industry to solve his problem. We all have faced this issue in our professional life and still face it. After spending sometime in the industry we feel we have learned all and want to move to other industry as other industry looks very promising but one thing we forget that whichever industry we join we will always face some issue. No industry is perfect. Everything has its own merit and demerit. Change is definitely spice of life but you cant have spicy food at all levels and at all the time. Somewhere you have to stop and think what exactly you want to do in life.

Now since we are discussing consulting business here let us also discuss strategy as strategy is the core of consulting. Lets take live example -  Chadha brothers killing each other was conspiracy or strategy by the rivals to bring their market value down. Whatever the facts are, strategy can change the future of the organization . It can change for better as well as for worse. It’s the strategy & its implementation defines the future of group. Now at what level you can strategize ( Not by planning to kill someone) but yes definitely help organization grow to next level by killing the rival product not brain. Because if you kill the brain you will have many brains standing to kill you and your business. Rivalry should be confined to business only. Killing the brain behind the strategy is not the solution but to hire the brain is definitely a good strategy to grow your business to next level. So how do you create strategic plan ? Strategic plan is a puzzle and whoever creates should ensure to solve it as well. And before you lay down the strategy you should ask yourself 3 magical questions ;-

1.       Where are we in terms of business now ?

2.       Which direction we are going ?

3.       How we will get there ?

Where are we in terms of business now :-

To answer this question we need to look at the foundational elements ( Mission and Value) of the organization. Mission and Value is for long term and is usually not revised on regular basis and that lay the foundation of the organization. Then you would like to look at your current strategic position by evaluating the internal and external environment. After evaluating you can conclude whether you need to shift and change or not. One should review the strategic position regularly through the use of SWOT/PEST

Which direction we are going?

Once you answer this question then you can be sure of answer of a question “What will my organization look like in the future” ? It’s the same question when you go for nursery admission for your child the teacher asks you “ Where do you see your child in next 10 yrs?” because teacher wants to understand which direction your thinking goes ? Where is your child headed in future ? Future is hard to predict but you definitely will enjoy predicting the future of your organization as you are the creator of that future. Following elements can help you determining the future for your organization

1.       Does your organization have sustainable competitive advantage ?

2.       Does your Vision statement is aligned with the Mission of the organization and does all the stake holders are aligned with the mission of the organization? Do all of them speak the same mission statement?

How we will get there ?

Once you achieve “where” and “which” you definitely will know “How”

Reaching your vision is the most important element of the strategy and its also the most time consuming. The reason it takes so much time to develop because there are number of ways to look at your current position and how to achieve vision. Picking the right one determines how quickly you can reach your destination. The road-map is the future of the company and must include the following points:-

1.       Strategic Objectives

2.       Strategy to achieve the objective

3.       Short term goals

4.       Action points

5.       Scorecard

6.       Execution

As per my understanding from all the above points the last point is the most difficult if the stakeholders are not properly aligned with the formation of the strategy.

A successful organization will also depend on the person driving the entire organization. As I mentioned earlier that brain behind any organization success is the key but as part of strategy you should not think of killing that brain because an intelligent brain always think ahead and would have mentored someone to replace him/her at anytime.

Ciao !

How important is the role of Middle managers in shaping up organization’s future

I was taught since childhood that the GODS were thought to have complete vision into the future. They saw everything to come, right down to the intricate details. Human beings on the other hand were seen as victims of fate, trapped in the moment and their emotions, unable to see beyond immediate dangers. Those heroes such as Odysseus  who were able to look beyond the present  and plan several steps ahead seems to defy fate, to approximate GODS in their ability to determine the future. The comparison is still valid.  Those among us who think farther ahead and patiently bring their plans to fruition seems to have GODLIKE power. Because most people are too imprisoned in the moment to plan with this kind of foresight, the ability to ignore immediate dangers and pleasures translates into power. It is power of being able to able to overcome the natural human tendency to react to things as they happen and instead to train oneself to step back, imagining the larger things taking shape beyond ones immediate vision.  The most ordinary cause of peoples mistake is their being too much frightened at the present danger, and not enough thought process which would have avoided this danger. The dangers that are remote, that looms in the distance – if we can see them as they take shape, how many mistakes we avoid. How many plans we would instantly abort if we realized we were avoiding small dangers only to step into larger one. So much of power is not what you do but what you do not do- the rash and foolish action that you refrain from before they get you into trouble. Will this have unintended consequences ? Will I stir up new enemies ? Will someone take advantage of my labors ? unhappy endings are much more common than happy endings – Do not be swayed by the happy endings in your mind. When you see several steps ahead and plan your moves all the way to the end you no longer will be tempted by emotion or by desire to improvise. Your clarity will rid you of the anxiety and vagueness that are the primary reasons  why so many fail to conclude their actions successfully. You see the ending and you tolerate no deviation.  So what we conclude….. We conclude that “ The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give glory to hard work to someone else. By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by the circumstances and you will know when to stop. Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead…….

The reason I have given the small description of thinking ahead as it is one of the most important characteristics of successful leader. Successful leaders not only think ahead but all their strategies are laid on planning and accordingly they give direction to the organization.  A top down approach to managing strategy and strategic changes sees middle managers as implementers of strategy. Their role is to put into effect  the directions established by top management by making sure that resources are allocated and controlled appropriately, monitoring performance and behavior of staff and if necessary explaining strategy to those reporting to them. Those who take such approach often tend to view middle managers not so much as the facilitators of the strategy but as blockages to its success. Indeed, this is sometimes seen as one reason for reducing the numbers and layers of management, so as to speed up communication between top management and organizational members and to reduce potential blockages and filters. In context of managing strategic change it is important to emphasize five important roles they play ;-

1.       The first is the systematic role of implementation and control.

2.       The second is the “translators” of strategy when it is established by senior management. Top management may set down a strategic direction but how it is made sense of in specific contexts may intentionally or not be left to middle managers. If misinterpretation of that intended strategy is to be avoided, it is therefore vital that middle managers understand and feel an ownership to it.

3.       Similarly, middle managers are likely to be involved in the reinterpretation and adjustment of strategic responses as events unfold.

4.       They are therefore crucial bridge between top management and member of the organization at lower levels.

5.       They are also in the position to be advisors to more senior management on what are likely to be the organizational blockages and requirements for change.

Middle managers may therefore contribute substantially either to galvanizing commitment to strategy and the change process or to blocking it. Such involvement could help to achieve positive role of commitment. The involvement of middle management in strategy development, the planning of and implementation of strategic change programmes and feedback on strategic change can therefore be very important. Also one of the most important aspects in all this is this hiring of middle managers. Since they are the backbone of the company it is very crucial and critical to hire the best of brains because if you hire best of brains you are definitely progressing towards right path and rest other things will automatically fall in place. Hence we can conclude that role of middle managers is very vital in the growth of an organization

Ciao !!

BCG - HR Matrix

BCG – HR Matrix

“He is very faithful to his boss” commented a colleague…  Now that’s called corridor gossiping. I said “ Is he a dog ?” because whenever one says faithful only one word comes to my mind i.e. “dog” and I personally believe that one should be faithful to the organisation not to the boss and trust me both are not same..I mean being faithful to the boss and being faithful to the organisation are 2 different perspective…… oops !! I think I am digressing from the topic.

I am sure we all have seen the below matrix called “ BCG matrix”. Boston Consulting Group analysis, portfolio diagram is a chart that had been created by Bruce Henderson for the Boston Consulting Group in 1968 to help corporations with analyzing their business units or product lines. This helps the company allocate resources and is used as an analytical tool in brand marketing, product management, strategic management, and portfolio analysis. Well Well Well !! what’s new in this ?? we all have studied and sometimes used as well in professional life but what we have not yet done is drawing the below matrix with respect to employees !!

Sudarshan Banerjee ex COO Hutchison Essar says “Most CEOs busy meeting shareholder expectations, tend to neglect People Excellence and end up creating a "we they" organization instead of working towards a " we " type, in today's knowledge economy, people are the biggest assets.”

Many world leaders agree that people are the biggest assets. So what we do in terms of asset management of our respective organizations ?. I am sure most of the people in HR would answer “ we compensate people well, Some will say we train them and let them choose their bosses ( LOL !!)

Have we ever tried mapping the people on above matrix……There will be few employees who contribute to higher growth of the company and contribute the most in the overall profit of the organization and they can be termed as “stars” of the company.  How do these people become “stars” ?

How do people lend competitive advantage ? There are several ways. First , people offer skills capabilities, systems, practices, speed, language, bonding and behaviors, which help execute firms strategy. There also will be “Cash Cows” in the organization, whose compensation would be highest in the organization and contribute highest in company’s profit. In my view stars are any day more effective than cash cows. Dogs are the ones who are being paid highest but contribution is nil. They are also called “bosses puppies”.  “Question Marks” are the ones whose compensations are low anf they contribute lowest to company’s profit. They can also be termed as “ Laggards”

Once we have defined or mapped each employee on the above matrix, it will become easy for us to move and train people to move from one quadrant to another. Dogs to be moved to cash cows and then to stars…..

Appraisal is the medium through which one can measure employees and fit them in the above matrix and then start working along with employees to move them from one quadrant to another. Objective of HR personnel to be able to make employees reach to the highest quadrant “ Star”.

How we can shift employees from one quadrant to another….Lets take example of one organization. Google promotes innovation in an unique way. It makes its work force adhere to 70/20/10 rule. An employee in Google is expected to spend 70 percent his or her time on own job, 20 percent on “continuous innovation” and 10 percent on “discontinuous innovation” in any area he or she deems productive.

HR function seeks to convert an adverse situation into an opportunity. HR often gets trapped in a policy role, mediating employee grievances, monitoring compliance with employment laws and enforcing code of conduct. What is more, the function often has seen its mission as one of helping workers overcome deficiencies and obstacles that hinder their performances. Without ignoring these tasks the new HR concentrates on the positive. How can firm enhance its revenue by doing more for its employees? Instead of trying to fix chronic employee weakness, how can firm tailor a role that matches and capitalizes on strengths? For instance after performance review rather than dwell on a talented marketing executives lack of knowledge in finance, a firm can seek to leverage executives creative talents   in broader marketing role – one that helps company expand in key overseas market.

The organisation designs do not remain static over a period of time. Environmental changes compel organisations redesign their structures. Along with changes in designs, organizations adopt uncertainty avoidance mechanisms, differentiation mechanisms and integrating mechanisms to cope with the compensation of environmental changes. These changes in the organisation designs need to be reinforced by innovative HRM strategies.

Finally HR executive role is not limited to distributing salary slips or structuring salary, its more than that and hence we can say that HR executive is becoming an effective change agent. Change management is very critical for any organisation and differentiates between the winning and losing organisation. While winning organisation adopts and prepare themselves to adapt and assimilate the change, losing organisations are overtaken by events, ruminate over the events and are left behind.     

Its entirely on the organisation and the important stakeholders of the organisation to make their babies ( employees) winning or losing one. Its time to smell the coffee and react to the situation rather than waiting for “boiling frog” syndrome.  It is important to remember that linking strategy and HRM effectively requires more than selection from series of practice choices. The challenge is to develop a configuration of HR practice choices that help implement the organisations strategy and enhance its competitiveness. A well designed strategy can fail if sufficient attention is not paid to the HR dimension. Hence we can conclude that in today’s environment HRM is strategically managed unit rather than supporting unit.

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Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships

Few Years back when I joined a MNC, my first day was something to remember for life. My boss an EXPAT called me and said let me introduce to your team. I was thinking .. my “team” Gosh… spare me.. I don’t want to handle any team, I don’t want to take any responsibility.. then came another voice from inside “ Stay focused. Remember your long term goal of professional life..”leader”.. to be leader you should know how to handle followers… Hmmm interesting so 3 female & 2 male was my team strength. That day I realized handling woman is much difficult than handling man :) So what was the purpose of my team and what values I was looking in my team ? was the first question came in my mind & I drafted the purpose and values for my team 1. The team should have clear commitment to common purpose. Team member should know what the team’s work is and why it is important? 2. Collaboration, quality & integrity should be common values among team members. 3. Team goals should be clear, challenging, agreed on and relevant to the purpose. 4. Strategies for achieving goals are clear and agreed on. 5. Individual roles should be clear and & their relationship to the team purpose and goals is understood. It looks interesting on paper but hard to execute. It took 60 days to make team a team… Next stage to team building was empowerment to team members. While talking to some of the members I realized that they are looking for freedom to work. So to encourage empowerment I took the following steps :- 1. Made the team realize that values, norms & policies encourage initiative, involvement and creativity. 2. Ensures that all relevant organization and business information is available to the team. 3. The team has the authority, within understood boundaries, to take action and make decisions. 4. Direction, structure & training is available to individual team members based on their professional needs. 5. Team is committed to the continuing growth and development of all team members. Well empowering definitely made my team members confident about themselves and work. To boost their motivation and to bring synergy in team I introduced the concept of “Building relationship through continuous communication” 1. Different ideas, opinions, feelings and perspectives from all team members were encouraged and considered. 2. Team members listen actively to each other for understanding, not judgment. 3. Method of managing conflict and finding common ground are understood. 4. Cultural differences including race, gender, nationality, age etc are valued and respected. Flexibility was the next step I introduced in team. By flexibility I mean team members share responsibility for team development and leadership. The team is able to meet challenges using the unique talents and strengths of all team members. Calculated risks are supported. Mistakes are seen as opportunities for learning. Apart from optimal performance, recognition and appreciation was next step to motivate team. Individual and team accomplishment were often acknowledged by team leaders and team members. Team members have sense of personal accomplishment in relation to task contributions. The team celebrates successes and milestones together. Team members are confident and enthusiastic about the team efforts and are committed to success. The team encourages hard work as well as having fun. There is strong sense of pride in and satisfaction with the teams work. There is strong sense of trust and team spirit among team members. Team members develop supportive and caring relationships and help each other. One of the best compliment I got from one of my ex team member. On his last working day he hugged me and said “ Thanks Kams for defining clear purpose. We felt empowered, our relationships and communication were good, we were flexible, our quality and performance were high, we felt appreciated and recognized and our morale was strong. … U r rocking” I said “ thanks man” u were rocking too… nd we said goodbye for the day. After that I have got team to handle (which includes some bunch of jokers as well) but like your first love, first child first team also becomes special. Special for life…… and I miss my first team and do meet them in conferences/meets….. and feel happy to see them growing professionally and personally in life. 3 cheers to my first team… Bravo…..

Understand the importance of "You"

It seems to me that the first thing to understand in this chaotic and rather mad world is “how to listen to the conclusions, descriptions, and analysis that people offer with regards to the problems that we all have. We have so many problems. Not only in India but also throughout the world, human beings are faced with extra ordinarily complex problems. The experts, the guru’s, the theologians, the priests, offer explanations, each according to their particular conditioning, their particular belief and so on.

Let’s evaluate the problem that organization face in today’s dynamic environment. Ideally they need you and you need them. Its like “mutual need” is being fulfilled. The typical company early twenty first century is moving in fast paced business world with globalization, outsourcing, streamlining, broadband and Stock exchange is breathing down its neck, etc. – therefore with all these inputs from an organization it must be asking for an output – “increasing demands” on your life. And you have only two solutions “Keep swimming or die” which directly suggests longer hours for you, less time for your family and yourself. It means holding meeting during lunch, or before or after proper workday which essentially kills your chance to exercise and stay in shape( And let’s just order in any food that’s fast during meetings to maximize efficiency). Oh right!! While all this is going on, the company continually stressing it’s imperative to move forward if it is to survive at all- also demands that you frequently change directions, reinvent the very way you operate, completely alter how you conduct business.

Older workers, in particular – those who’ve “seen it all before” – are likely to undermine the story for such a company. So, too, anyone else who fears that he or she may be relatively easy to eliminate or may have a diminished role in the transformed company -To these employees, the reason their company is telling may be exciting in the abstract or exciting to stock exchange, but its potentially humiliating for them. Among these workers, suspicion, cynicism, and distrust run uncontrolled. While the defiant worker publicly may appear vested in the change process, privately he tells himself : New thinking be damned. He works subversively to undermine new directive. He knows that for the new initiatives to take, everyone embrace them. Not him. He will go through the motions but he is not going to make any real corrections. And so like dinosaur he moves closer and closer to extinction.

The employee loses and the company loses as well. Entire organizations have been undermined by story telling that excludes significant portion of their workforce. Failure to align the evolving corporate story /strategy with the aspirations of the individual employees, up and down the workforce – the very ones who have been enjoined to help write that new, improved story – has systemic implications. Problem is in implementing those board room stories/strategies. Athletes routinely give up playing hard for coaches they deem excessively punitive or inconsistent; the bond of their mutually aligned stories – to win a championship is undermined because coach’s story does not seem to allow for the inevitable particularities of any individual athletes story - Which means there is no synchronization between coach & athlete’s strategy. Mutiny does not happen when ship captains indefensibly change or robotically stick to the rules but also when kings, CEO’s and school teacher’s do it. Organizations have been undermined by refusing to alter their story when it clearly was not working. In the mid 1980’s IBM despite growing evidence to the contrary, thought major course corrections were un necessary. For a time they seem to forget that customer was part of the strategy too. When there is no alignment among the company, its workers, and whatever the other force’s need to be considered for the company to be profitable, the company eventually fails; its story fails. Revenue and market share had to dwindle sufficiently before IBM finally had the painful evidence that the strategy/ plan were an unrealistic one. Eventually it recovered, and recovers well, but only after long overhaul.

If alignment of stories, yours and your company’s , is to be achieved – and I believe its neither as lofty nor as complicated a task as it may sound – then its ideally generated both from top down ( the company side) and bottom up (the worker’s side). But let’s not get carried away. For our purposes we’ll presume zero input from the company. It is after all corporate culture.

This means that burden to change stories/strategy is on you because you make/break the organization….

References : "Your job may be killing you" a Q& A with James K Harter, Gallup management journal, April 13 2006.

"Breakthrough ideas for 2006" Harvard business review February 2006

How Life is game of chess?

“Life at court is serious melancholy game of chess, which requires us to draw up our pieces and batteries, form a plan, pursue it, and parry that of our adversary. Sometimes however, it is better to take risks and play the most capricious unpredictable move”. JEAN DE LA BRUYERE 1645-1696.Nothing is more terrifying than the sudden and unpredictable. That is why we are so frightened by sudden Earthquakes and Tsunami. We do not know when they will strike. After one has occurred we wait in terror for the next one. We do not know when they will strike again. To a lesser degree, that is the effect of an unpredictable human behavior has on us.

We are able to kill and hunt animals because animals behave in a set pattern and that is why we are able to hunt them. Of course we do use our brain to hunt them. Only man has capability to alter his behavior, improvise and overcome weight of routine and habit. Humans prefer the comforts of routine and behave like animal repeating same compulsive actions again and again.

Unpredictability is not only weapon of terror ;Scrambling your patterns on day to day basis will cause stir around you and stimulate interest. People will talk about you, ascribe motives and explanations that have nothing to do with the truth, but that keep you constantly in their minds. An example is illustrated below :-

Maria Banerjee consciously did the opposite of what everyone expected of her. For instance she might suddenly shower a courtier with attention and then when subordinate will expect promotion, would suddenly start treating him with utmost disdain. Confused sub ordinate will forward the resignation to Maria. Looking at the resignation, Maria would suddenly recall him and start treating him well again. Doubly confused subordinate would wonder whether his assumption that he would be promoted had become obvious and offensive to Maria and would start to behave as if he no longer expected such honor. Maria would rebuke him for his lack of ambition and send him away.

The secret of handling Maria is simple : Do not presume to know what she wants. Do not try to guess what will please her. Never inject your will. Just surrender to her will then wait to see what happens. Amidst the confusion and uncertainty she created, Maria ruled supreme, unchallenged and at peace.

People are always trying to read motives behind your actions and to use your unpredictability against you. Behave in a completely inexplicable move and you put them on defensive.

Let’s look at another example :- For a while Subramanyam worked with art dealer Ganeshaswamy then one day for no reason he told the man that he no longer will give him his work to sell. When Subramanyam was asked for this behavior he said “ Ganeshaswamy would spend next 48 hrs thinking and trying to figure out why ? Was I reserving paintings for some other dealer? I would go on working whereas Ganeshaswamy would spend his time figuring out the reason. In two days he would come back saying “ After all dear friend you would not turn me down if I offered you for those painting in less price rather than the price which I have been paying you. Would you ??

“Always mystify, mislead and surprise the enemy if possible…. Such tactics will win every time and small army may thus destroy the large one” says General Jackson. 

A wind that cannot be foreseen. Sudden shifts in the barometer, inexplicable changes in direction and velocity. There is no defense. A cyclone sows terror and confusion. “ The enlightened ruler is so mysterious that he seems to dwell nowhere, so inexplicable that no one can seek him. He reposes in non action above and his ministers tremble below” JEAN DE LA BRUYERE 1645-1696.