The Deconstructionist in Me....

  

I am a Deconstructionist.  By careful textual analysis I dismantle history piece by piece until peeling away layers of misrepresentation, misinterpretation and manipulation – in other words all subjectivism – I come upon the truth !!

History is constantly written by people in the present. Great minds are defined by their ability to interpret the past, reject the lies propounded by the conspiracy of the so called historians and extract the hard truths buried there. After all, what is History but a synthesis of language and text ? But language, by definition, is notoriously unreliable and texts, by large, are ambiguous, open to interpretation and therefore distortion !

And the Moon followed....

The seeds of this poem were sown when we, once in a while, would be travelling in bus from Indore to Khandwa (or vice-versa) on our way to Calcutta (or back to Indore, as the case may be) for our holidays (or back to school after holidays)......

Early in my life I made a discovery

while travelling I would observe

and

feel.....

  that

   in the nights

      the moon followed me.....

While I travelled

the moon

     rode with me,

         first gliding smoothly.....

           then

              bouncing over bumpy stretches,

now on the right,

   then straight ahead

the silver light

    washing over

       dry grasses in open fields,

streaking along through black branches

finally disappearing

   as

      the road

         winds

             its way

                through the hills.

When I crest the hill

There

   it is  again

      suddenly grown

                      immense

                               ripe

flooding the town

    with sprawling light

so magical !

I

  Finally

     Begin to understand

Why

   it is said

      to inspire

            ‘looniness’

It is then

  that

    I realise

     how much we sometimes need

      the magic

        and

           romance

              of moonlight

 - a light

     that is nothing

      like the hard glare

           of the sun that it reflects.

Moonlight

    softens our faults

       all shabbiness

          dissolves

                 into shadow

It

   removes

      the myriad details

leaving

   only

      the sharp outlines

and highlights

and brushstrokes

 – the fundamental shapes of things.

I stare

  transfixed

    in the soothing,

          restorative glow,

bouncing

    my ambitions

            hopes

               and plans

           off this great reflector.

I dream

   my dreams

examine

     the structure of my life

      and make

              considered decisions.

In a hectic confusing world

it helps me

    to step out

           into a quiet,

       clear,

          swath of moonlight

to seek out

     the fundamentals

and eschew

        the incidentals.

Years later,

   one day,

     my little nephew

         burst breathlessly

             through the door

led me out,

   coatless and shivering

the gravel

     crunched underneath our feet,

from somewhere

     beyond the nearby lake,

        the plaintive calls of the birds

                drifted through the air

                       and

                            died away.

Past the row of trees,

that line the road

               to the lake,

the sky

     opened up

with

   the full moon

                    on it,

                   suspended

so

     precariously close

that

  it might be

    hurtling towards us

                    - incandescent,

even larger

  and more breathtaking

           than I had ever seen before

climbing

    its motionless climb

over

    the molten silver

                  of the lake.

Even a five year old could see

this was

    not just the moon

it was

          The Moon !!

When I turned around

he was

        grinning,

               expectant,

studying my face intently

to see

    if he had

       pleased me.

He had.

I knew then

     that

      the Moon was following him too !!!!!

Tears

Am back at what I do best.....write.....

If I were tears in your eyes,

I would trickle down

caress your cheeks

      and

          Die

     on your lips.

If you were tears in my eyes

I

  would never cry

 for

    the fear

    of

      Losing You !!

Five Temptations of a CEO – V : The Fifth Temptation

Am getting there.....the last chapter !

The 5^th Temptation of CEO

The CEOs who resist the temptation to protect their status of being popular with their direct reports, to make correct decisions and to create harmony sometimes fail because even if they are willing to cultivate productive conflict, their people may not be willing to do so. Why not ? Because the CEO gives in to the final temptation : The desire for invulnerability.

Self Analysis

Some questions that will help identify your susceptibility to this temptation. ‘Choosing invulnerability over trust’...ye mighty & despair !!

1.     Do you have a hard time admitting when you are wrong ?

2.   Do you fear that your direct reports want your job ?

3.   Do you try to keep your greatest weaknesses secret from your direct reports?

CEOs are relatively powerful people. Being vulnerable with their peers and reports is not a comfortable idea. No one loves admitting being wrong, but some people hate it. They mistakenly believe that they lose credibility if their people feel too comfortable challenging their ideas.

No matter how much these CEOs encourage productive conflict their people do not feel safe to enter the fray. As a result the reports position themselves around the inferred opinion of the CEO and conflict with one another only when it is politically expedient.

Great CEOs don’t lose face in the slightest when they are wrong and admit it, because they know who they are, they know why they are the CEO, and they realise that the organisation’s results, not the appearance of being smart, are their ultimate measure f success. They know the best way to get results is to put their weaknesses on table and invite people to help them minimise those weaknesses.

CEOs who understand this concept intellectually but cannot behaviouralise it sometimes symbolically admit mistakes and weaknesses. This proves counter-productive as it reinforces the notion that the CEO is unwilling to put real weaknesses on table. Overcoming this temptation requires a degree of fear and pain that many CEOs are unwilling to tolerate.

Simple Advice for the CEOs

As a CEO, the greatest level of trust that you can give – actively encourage your people to challenge your ideas, i.e. trust them with your reputation and ego. They will return it with respect and honesty, and a desire to be vulnerable amongst peers !

CEOs who focus on results more than status, accountability more than popularity, clarity more than certainty, productive conflict more than harmony, and trust more than invulnerability can still fail, but only if they are thwarted by competitive and market pressures that are largely out of their control !!

Five Temptations of a CEO – IV : The Fourth Temptation

Can’t even say that am back to doing what I enjoy....writing....till I become more regular in my endeavours !

The 4^th Temptation of CEO

The CEOs who resist the temptation to protect their status of being popular with their direct reports and to make correct decisions sometimes fail because they do not feel comfortable with decisions they make. Why not ? Because they give in to the next temptation : The desire for harmony.

Self Analysis

Some questions that will help identify your susceptibility to this temptation. ‘Choosing harmony over productive conflict’...the rule of status quo !!

1.     Do you prefer your meetings to be pleasant and enjoyable ?

2.   Are your meeting often boring ?

3.   Do you get uncomfortable at meetings if your direct reports argue ?

4.   Do you often make peace or try to reconcile direct reports who are at odds with one another ?

Most people, including CEOs, have been raised with a philosophy that it is better for people to agree and get along than disagree and have a conflict amongst themselves. Harmony at times restricts ‘productive ideological conflict’, the passionate interchange of opinions around an issue.

This becomes evident when executives bemoan the number of meetings that take up time that is needed for ‘real work’....a sign that those meetings are not productive as they should be. But don’t be deceived. Pleasant meetings or boring ones are indications that there is not proper level of overt, constructive, ideological conflict taking place.

Every meeting has a conflict. CEOs often squelch any potential for passion by making peace....sending a wrong message that pleasant, agreeable meetings are preferred by the CEO. After few pleasant meetings, boredom sets in & executives start lamenting the real work that they could be doing.

Productive meetings should be exhausting inasmuch as they are passionate, critical discussions. Without this kind of conflict, decisions are often suboptimal. All related information, perspective & knowledge ought to be out on the table. Not every person’s perspective and opinion can be agreed with, but they can be considered. The best decisions are made when all available knowledge is considered; the chances of optimal decisions are greater – including the likelihood in those decisions, which is just as important.

Simple Advice for the CEOs

One should encourage direct reports to air their ideological differences, and with passion. Guard against personal attacks but not to the point of stifling important interchanges of ideas. Tumultuous meetings are often signs of progress ensuring issues are not swept under the carpet. One thing to remember, tolerate discord !!

Five Temptations of a CEO – III : The Third Temptation

  

Am back to doing what I enjoy....writing.

We move on to the 3^rd Temptation of CEO

Even CEOs who resist the temptation to protect their status and to be popular with their direct reports sometimes fail. Why ? They choose certainty over clarity. They succumb to a different temptation : The need to make “correct” decisions, to certainty.

Self Analysis

Some questions that will help identify your susceptibility to this temptation of ‘choosing Certainty over Clarity’   

1.     Do you pride yourself on being intellectually precise ?

2.   Do you prefer to wait for more information rather than make a decision without all the facts ?

3.   Do you enjoy debating details with your direct reports during meetings ?

Many CEOs, especially the highly analytical ones, want to ensure that their decisions are correct. In this world of imperfect information & uncertainty, they end up delaying their decisions with the need for precision & correctness, often ending up failing to make their people’s deliverables clear. They end up giving vague and hesitant directions to their direct reports and hope that they would figure out the right answers along the way.

However, intellectual precision alone is not a sign for this temptation. It shows signs of manifestation during staff meetings in terms of unnecessary debates over nitty-gritties. These debates are problematic for two reasons :

1.     They eat up valuable time that can be use to discuss larger issues.

2.   The more important of all – they create a climate of excessive analysis and over-intellectualisation of tactical issues !

One person who cannot afford to be overtly precise – it is the CEO !

Simple Advice for the CEOs

Make Clarity more important than Accuracy. People will learn more if you take decisive action than if you always wait for information. And, if on receiving additional information you realise that the decision you have taken earlier, in the spirit of creating clarity, change the plans & explain why to your team. It is your job to risk being wrong ! The only real cost to you of being wrong is loss of pride. But the greater loss t your company of not taking the risk of being wrong is Paralysis !!