Why does a dog wag its tail? Because a dog is smarter than its tail. If the tail was smarter, the tail would wag the dog. That seems to be the gist of the 1997 movie Wag the Dog, where a planned campaign is launched to save the President from losing his position. Something like that is needed and can be used very successfully in today’s corporate world. Information that cannot be otherwise easily given out, not the sensitive kinds but the type that has an overbearing influence on the health of an organization needs to be handled in a subtle – back door – I heard it from somewhere way. Word of mouth works wonders because it becomes believable as your peers tell it to you most of the time. Interesting concept to get change in the organization. There are others ofcourse but this one is worth a try definitely.

I think professionally I have been a born Project Manager. Not so much in an arrogant way in terms of talent but in the kind of work I did from the start of my career. Right from my first job I have been managing projects, officially or unofficially. And I have come to the conclusion that once a project manager always a project manager. There is ofcourse the aspect of risk that one takes on, high stakes that fluctuate wildly on either side, managing schedules, people and client expectations, and finally keeping buffers for an eventuality. I don’t know of any good project manager who even if don’t do all of the above will not keep a buffer for their projects.

I used to do it also, and now fortunately or unfortunately I keep buffers even in my personal life, at the cost of time and money. It sort of becomes engrained in your system, and your thought process begins and ends with project management, whether it is getting the catering done for your wedding, (I for one went and paid the caterer extra money just to prevent an eventuality of less food at the wedding, realised later that my first estimate itself had a big buffer), or it could be getting in that extra grocery for a what if situation. Basically it’s more the merrier, rather a buffer is always welcome.

In situations like these and let me tell you this is everyday, I keep wondering often, is keeping a buffer saving me the trouble i.e. mitigating the risk or is it taking away from me the experience of working through an eventuality. Maybe experience of an earlier eventuality gets us to define the buffer in a way, but I wonder if that is in anyways helping in growth.

Personally I have believed that eventuality brings out the best in the individual, more is learnt and more knowledge is gained. Of course there are brickbats but they all seem worth it. When I go back and look at all the projects I managed, projects that I had good buffers and I got them executed successfully really didn’t help me as an individual or a professional. Ofcourse they gave me the social/professional recognition, but from an experience and fullfillment point of view, naah, nothing much to write home about. So I ponder if it is prudent enough to go in for those buffers always, or maybe the risk of working without buffers once in a while enriches oneself. I’ll give myself sometime to find that out.

Never give free advice. No one needs it. If they want it they will pay for it, monetarily or in any other form that pinches them. This is what I have realised. Free advice goes down freely. A lot of times I have given free advice based on my experiences, analysis, and or foresight, but all I get in return is some excuse for not implementing it. Like a friend of mine keeps telling me, advice is of no use, unless that person experiences it for himself.

So I have decided that no advice will be given unless I have a surety feeling that it’s going to get implemented. I know I am sounding pompous in a ways or selfish to an extent, but that is how the world is. And I plan to do nothing different atleast in this aspect. Actually there is another thought as well, to create circumstances so that your advice (read thoughts) get implemented. That according to me is a better approach. It is self satisfying as well, because it gives you the sense of achievement. Maybe that’s the way to go.

One of my ex bosses whom I still admire a lot once told me “There are many more fish in the ocean, you need not ponder over losing one.” This was at a time when we were going to some tough time on our one and only project. But she was nonchalant as ever, with no botheration to the consequences. I don’t know whether she knew what was happening or going to happen, but she had that quiet confidence that this was not the end of the road for us. And we believed her as her three minute stay in the conference room ended. We rode the storm that had hit us and came out successful.

Wonder how many bosses today can do or say the same things as my ex boss. How many can give their subordinates a sense of direction and purpose, by just those few pearls of wisdom. How many of them can motivate and give confidence to people who work with them.

Now as I look back and I’m in nearly the same place as she was 8 years back and I find that I have been able to emulate some things of what I had learnt from her and loads of others who I had worked with in the past 12 years. There is a lot more to do, some things have gone drastically wrong. Wishful thinking but maybe someone may write a blog that is indirectly dedicated to me – though I may not know about it , it doesn’t matter. The key thing is that I have been able to make that same difference my ex boss did to me years back. That is what showing a path to growth is all about, that is what sense of purpose gives you.