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.

How to Judge a person

One day my neighbour( 60 yr old lady) asked me “ Dear how come you understand people so well ? “ I have been watching you for last 3 years and most of the time your prediction about people are correct. I am more experienced than you, but still I make mistake in judging a person, but probably you have mastered this art.” I said “ Thanks Aunty”. But it is very simple and I told her a story……. In the story there is Mr. Raj Khosla, who joins as vertical head in an organization. This organization has to launch a new product in next 30 days & there is huge pressure both inside ( employees) and outside ( Vendors). Now whenever a new person joins, he has to bring his army. In corporate it is never one man army, it has to be one man with 5,10, 20, 100 followers…. Depending on what position he is in. So this gentleman hires a person Mr. Rakesh Nath in a senior position. Mr. RaJ Khosla & Mr. Rakesh Nath both are new to the organization; they take some time to settle in new atmosphere. After some days Raj plans to leave the organization as he feels he should start something of its own. After leaving the organization he tries to poach Rakesh to join him in his new venture. Mr. Rakesh doesn’t join him and on the top bitches about him with his colleagues. He tries to create negative impression of the person who recruited him ( because Raj is no more with the organization & he is under the illusion that Raj will never come to know). Also he is very rude to his mom because in one of the conversation his colleagues cum friends heard him talking to his mom in rude way. So I told Aunty even if this gentleman ( Rakesh) is nice to me I know he is not good person because of two simple facts – A person who cannot be nice to his parents in old age can never be good human being and secondly if a person can bitch about his mentor can never be loyal to anyone. So its very simple to figure out the nature of the person and I have my own rules to judge a person. I have created the rules with my experience and that’s the reason judging a person for me is so easy. So Aunty asks what are these rules of judging a person ? I said very simple • If a man is always surrounded by many people, he has to be leader. I mean even if goes to loo there are some people who will follow him ( Gosh !! at least leave him alone in loo. Poor guy ) & that’s the height of ……. ( no words to explain) • If an unmarried woman is crying in the office loo, it means that she had fight with her boyfriend. • If a married woman is crying in the office loo, it means that she had fight with her boss. • If person leaves office only after his boss leaves ( if it’s daily routine) means that he has mastered the art of buttering/ego massaging ( This rule does not imply to secy’s). • If a person ( same department) looks at you & winks, it means that he is joking. If the same gesture is copied by a person from other department, it means that he is flirting with you. • If a person does not mix up with the people around, it means that he is most dangerous. • If a person talks unnecessary, he is genuine guy but need training on etiquette’s. • If a person pokes or provokes you it means that he is informer to senior management. • If a person keeps pointing issues in your product whereas the other person says it working fine & if it continues for all new products (only launched by you) then the person is interested in drawing your attention towards him. He wants you to notice him and I am still clueless finding the purpose behind this behavior. Sometimes even I fail to understand few behaviors. Aunty said these are rules for people whom you know, but what about those people whom you meet first time ? How do you judge them ? I said • If a person is well dressed for the meeting, it means he is thorough professional. • If he waits for you to sit before he takes his chair, it means that he has good manners as well. • If he is clear and to the point it means that he is clear in his thought process. • If he praises your efforts/work style it means that he is buttering. ( because how does he know as he has never worked with you) • If he asks you for lunch, it means that he is interested in closing the deal in first meeting • If he asks for dinner/drink it means that he want to get friendly with you. • If he comes alone to negotiate costing with you, it means that he is biggest fool. If he comes with his boss then there will always be drama inside meeting room as boss will say “we are not interested let’s leave” where as the other person will try to pacify. • If he is on time for meeting, it means that he is punctual ( In India you rarely get to see such people). • If he keeps looking at your face continuously, it means that he is awe of your beauty or there is something on your face which is drawing his attention so either you go to loo & check your face or think that you are born beautiful. Aunty was happy to get glimpse into the character of people we deal with day and night. She thanked me and I was glad that she liked my logic of judging a person. Hope you guys like it too ??

My Life My Rules

My rules of life

Rule No. 1 : Never Outperform your boss : Everyone has insecurities. When you show yourself in the world and display your talent, you naturally stir up all kinds of resentment, envy, and other manifestations of insecurity. This is to be expected. You cannot spend your life worrying about petty feelings of others. With those above you, however you must take a different approach. When it comes to power, outperforming the boss is perhaps the worst mistake of all.
Those who attain high standing in life are kings and queens: they want to feel secure in their positions and superior to those around them in intelligence, wit and charm. It is deadly but common misperception to believe that by displaying and showing your talent, you are winning the boss’s affection. He may appreciate you in public but at his first opportunity he will replace you with someone less intelligent, less attractive and less threatening. Your boss is like sun. There can be many stars but can only be one sun at time. Never obscure the sunlight or rival the sun’s brilliance, but rather fade into the sky and find ways to heighten the master star’s intensity. If you are naturally more sociable and generous than your master, be careful not to be cloud that blocks his radiance from others. He must appear as the sun around which everyone revolves, radiating power and brilliance, the centre of attention. If you are more intelligent than your boss, for example seem the opposite: Make him appear more intelligent than you. Act Naive. Make it seem that you need his expertise. By letting others outshine you, you remain in control instead of being victim of their insecurity. Ego massage is must in today’s environment. However most of companies deny the fact that promotions happen due to ego massage but in reality things are different and it’s high time that we accept the truth rather than running away from truth.

Rule No.2 : Do not trust your office friends, learn how to use enemies : Be wary of friends – they will betray you more quickly for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. Its better to hire a enemy because he will be more loyal than your friend because he has more to prove. Infact you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them. It is natural to employ your friends when you find yourself in times of need. The world is harsh place and your friends soften the harshness. Besides you know them. Why depend on a stranger when you have friend at hand. The problem is that you often do not know your friends as well as you imagine. Friends often agree in order to avoid an argument. They cover up their unpleasant qualities so as to not offend each other. They laugh extra hard at each other’s jokes. Since honesty rarely strengthens friendship, you may never know how a friend truly feels. Friends at office will say that they love your poetry, adore your music, envy your taste in clothes – may be they mean it often they do not. There was another colleague of mine who use to act as my best friend but the game he used to play at my back was unimaginable. All working place require a kind of distance between two people. You are in office to work not make friends. Friendliness ( real or false) only obscures the fact. Your enemies on the other hand are an untapped goldmine that you must learn to exploit. You would never put a finger in a lions mouth, because you know what will happen if you put a finger. With friends you have no such fear and if you hire them they will eat you alive with ingratitude. I have experienced this and I mean it.

The wise man profits more from his enemies then a fool from his friends ( Balstar Gracian 1601- 1658).
Rule No. 3 : Mask your real intentions : Keep people off balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what are you up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelop them in the wrong smoke, act as duffer….. and by the time they realize your intentions it will be too late………. You will be out of their life. Most people are open books ( people think that I am open book but unfortunately I am not). They say what they feel, they blurt out their opinion at every opportunity and constantly reveal their plan and intentions. They do this for several reasons. First it is easy and natural to always want to talk about one’s feelings and plans for the future. It takes effort to control your tongue and monitor what you reveal. Secondly many people believe that by being honest and open they are winning people’s heart and showing their good nature. They are greatly deluded. Honesty is actually a blunt knife which bloodies more than it cuts. Your honesty is likely to offend people, it is much more prudent to tailor your words, telling people what they want to hear rather than telling them hard, ugly truth of what you feel or think. I have experienced this so if you want to survive in this world ,do not tell the truth, hide your real intentions. Talk endlessly your desires and goals ( not real goals). Remember: It takes patience and humility to dull your brilliant colors , to put on mask of inconspicuous. Do not be scared of wearing such bland mask – it is often your un readability that draws people to you and makes you appear a person of power.

Rule No. 4 : Guard your reputation : So when I asked my dad after his retirement that “what have you earned in service to the nation?”. He says “ I have earned reputation”.
Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips however you are vulnerable and will be attacked from all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. They stand aside and let public opinion hang them. A solid reputation increases your presence and exaggerates your strengths without your having to spend much energy. It can also create an aura around you that will instill respect, even fear. Reputation is a mine of diamonds and rubies. You dug for it, you found it, and your wealth is now assured. Guard it with your life. Robbers and thieves will appear from all sides. Never take your wealth for granted and constantly renew it – time will diminish the jewel luster and bury them from sight.
Rule No. 5 : Use absence to increase respect and honor : Too much circulation makes the price go down. The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group temporary withdraw from it will make you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity.
Everything in the world depends on absence and presence. There is saying “Out of the sight is out of mind” but it is not true. A strong presence will draw power and attention to you. You shine more brightly than those around you. But there is time where too much pressure creates opposite effect. The more you are seen and heard from, the more your value degrades, and you become a habit. No matter how hard you try to be different, subtly, not knowing why, people respect you less and less. At the right moment you must learn to withdraw yourself, before they unconsciously push you away. It is game of hide and seek. Master this game. Imagine yourself as “ SUN” It can only be appreciated by its absence. The longer the days of rain, the more the sun is craved. But too many hot days and the sun overwhelms. Learn to keep yourself obscure and make people demand your return.

Please note that all the above rules are interpretation of my experience. Please do not take it personally and it is not aimed to hurt anyone.