Competence for Success NS Rajan Our understanding of what leads to successful performance at work has evolved over time. Way back in ancient Athens, eloquence was regarded as measure of success. Psychologist Alfred Binet, when asked by the French Government in early 1900s to identify students most likely to experience difficulty at school, devised […]
Category archives for Human Resources
Organization Design: Bridging Strategy and Execution NS Rajan The imminent need for a new organization structure is usually manifested in statements you may hear across the enterprise, reflecting a morass of current disconnects, for instance: “We seem to have got our strategy worked out, but why are the results not coming?”, “One function doesn’t […]
Nurturing the Vision NS Rajan An organisation without vision and values is like a house built with sand. A vision provides shape and direction to the organisation’s future and its values describe the underlying ethos of how the organisation intends to operate, as it pursues its vision. Setting a vision is indeed at the very […]
Leadership: Institution building NS Rajan “Individuals may form communities, but it is institutions alone that can create a nation” observed Benjamin Disraeli. Institutions are understood and ‘identified with a social purpose and permanence, transcending individual human lives and intentions, and with the making and enforcing of rules governing cooperative human behavior’. What makes an institution […]
Leadership: Shakespeare’s letter to a new-age CEO NS Rajan Dear CEO, Heartiest congratulations to you on being the captain at the helm of affairs. ‘Be not afraid of greatness — some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em’. Let the mantle sit on you lightly. ‘There is a tide […]
Leadership: In Transition NS Rajan Sometime ago, I got a call from a fine professional and friend who was just appointed as the CEO of a large enterprise. Even as I congratulated him, he posed a question that he was grappling with: What should I really be focusing on in the first 100 days? This […]
Understanding the Young NS Rajan When I visited XLRI some months ago, I shared a thought with the batch passing out: ‘the best of me, perhaps, is behind me; the best of you is beckoning you.’ Over the years, it has been a great source of joy and learning to have worked with the younger […]
Leadership: Triumph in Adversity NS Rajan Leading a team is difficult indeed, and leading them in a crisis is exponentially more difficult. How you rally the team when the chips are down and your ability to create positive expectations is the real litmus test of a leader. “Sweet are the uses of adversity”, observed Shakespeare, […]
The Real Hero NS Rajan The quest for the legendary “hero”, a simple panacea to solve all our problems, is often a mirage. Groups do not become teams just because someone calls them so. Nor do teamwork drills alone ensure team performance. The deemed heroes may play a significant role in pursuits that are individualistic […]
Seek Not Our Land NS Rajan How can you buy or sell The sky or warmth of the land? Can you steal the sound of a shell? Or plunder the sea of its sand? What is free, who are we to bequeath? Air shares spirit – supports all life Wind that gives us […]
You Deserve a Great Career NS Rajan We are indeed a miracle of life. Even as billions of species have gone extinct, our ancestors have been the beneficiary of biological good fortune and tenuous existence. Jacob Bronowski, in his “Ascent of Man” highlights the wonder that unlike the other species that survive on genetic […]
Everyone Needs a Devil’s Advocate NS Rajan Opposition could be viewed as a conscience that speaks from outside you, akin to the ‘little voice’ inside you. It has been observed that unlimited power invariably hurtles us towards hubris, and leads to a subsequent downfall. John Locke, philosopher and proponent of the social contract, wrote […]
Towards a Brighter Morrow NS Rajan Intellect, indeed, is the new form of property. Focused intelligence, the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and know-how, is the key differentiator in these times. We have come a long way from the days of Adam Smith, who postulated the ‘new’ world economics in his seminal “ Wealth […]
When Change Beckons NS Rajan Change is indeed the way of life and being able to transcend disruptions must become a way of life for organizations too. Change may be looming on the horizon due to business transitions impacted by strategic mergers, joint ventures, divestitures, expansions, new business solutions, infusion of technology, market changes, […]
Fail, To Succeed! NS Rajan It’s amazing. How often do you see that on the hint of failure, fears take charge of the heart. On the other hand success and even the prospect of it eggs man to stretch that bit more and willingly so. Life is a two- sided coin and as one tosses […]
Why Hug the Shore ? NS Rajan Transformation journeys need a spark to ignite the minds, a decisive action that can galvanize the masses. Leaders in all walks of life find ways to pick that special moment to make a simple, though larger than life, statement that flags off the vision, setting in motion the […]
Mitigate Conflicts, Like a Boss! NS Rajan Conflict is the unfortunate sum of all discord; of needs, expectations, goals, values, means, perceptions, and styles. A life skill, important yet often ignored, that leaders must possess is […]
Dare to Make a Difference NS Rajan Less than a decade ago, the world of business had written off Apple. But the late Steve Jobs scripted a phoenix-like return when he transformed the music, telecom and movie industries with a series of game-changing inventions. He took Apple from a networth of around $5 billion a […]
Leadership : happiness is the key to success NS Rajan A CEO once remarked with surprising candour: ‘I don’t really care if our people are happy or not, as long as they perform.’ This rhetorical statement from a leader stridently […]
Leadership : the power of shared vision NS Rajan An exciting part of my journey is the wonderful opportunity to meet many leaders, and whenever they share their beliefs and experiences, one word dominates and seems to assume universal currency as a vital ingredient of leadership: vision. Over the past few years, I have […]
nsrajanblogs 