How to Handle Re-organizing, Re-structuring, or Strategic Decision???

Sitting in Lord Venkateswara feet, in the Temple town was browsing thru the FB posts today morning and came across a couple of articles that made me put my thoughts on one topic: online Start-ups bubble.

The words Re- organization, Re-structuring, Strategic Decisions- these used to be scary words while in US, working with a start-up. They meant only one thing - I may be laid off due to one or all of the above. I survived 6 such changes in 7 years to move into IBM when the start-up was acquired by the BIG Blue. On the last day when the decision was made to announce the acquisition and let 50% of the employees go, I was called by our Vice President. I called my wife and told her I will hand over the company phone, pick up kids, go home and call her.  The good news was my VP retained me for I was having a strength that was lacking in the team that was moving to IBM, and hence I went to IBM. I will stop here with a positive ending as this is not this write up is about.

Why I remembered this incident is that I see the start-ups that are popping up in food delivery and on-line retail space like mushrooms are withering away quite fast, laying off people. These are companies that are made of people IP than any other product IP. However the expectations of the employees (people) working either in start-ups or MNCs, is completely wrong that they are permanent employees of the company. They are just full time employees as long as the company wish they are useful for them. What any employee working must do is sharpen your skills, enhance your resume to reflect your contributions, and keep an updated resume as you don’t know when the train of re-org is coming your way.

A couple of my experiences in this regard are; the first one on how the employee must be prepared for any eventuality and the second one is how a company can handle it better.

One of my colleague and a good friend in US – used to tell me, every time there is changes coming thru and we are discussing with our theories of what will happen (we were never right in predicting) “think you are a consultant that will be let go one day- keep your desk clean and laptop without personal stuff so that you can walk away”. In my mind this is a better way to be prepared than going thru a shock.

I saw many that were let go for the first time in the company history of an MNC in May 2009. The company prepared well all of us the manager of managers, and leadership. The way employees took the news is very welcome as the prep work was well done. Second day of the layoffs one of the skip level employee made a comment that “the way it was handled was very bad” I asked her to go check with the people and then come back to me. After a week she came back and said “wish I was there”. A few I know were already looking or had offers in hand and when laid-off they have a gift for them to put a down payment for apartment or buy a car.

India is experiencing what western world has gone thru already. We learn from them or we reinvent the wheel for both employees and the companies. I believe the employees in first place must know a job is not permanent for so many reasons:

1. As an employee is your stay in same company you become useless after a few years. Embrace change and look for adventurous new opportunities that will provide an opportunity to learn 
2. Be always prepared as companies don’t love you when you stop being effective. When the company pays you a salary they expect at least 4-5 times more in terms of business. Simple math- makes sense J. Always check if you are helping the bottom line of the company. 
3. Career making is a snakes and ladders game: you have to side step, step down to eventually be at top. As long as you know that you are never in shock. 
4. Companies must encourage in India to use Individual Contributors more so the social stigma associated with IC roles in India is gone; meaning keeping the salary the IC is making, providing an indirect influencer to work across teams, and use them in right way to show case the value they bring to table. As an employee be prepared to embrace this IC role without hesitation.   
5. One major word of caution – don’t live EMI life- busying everything with EMIs. India is still evolving in finance sector to create credit checks and holding one accountable for the EMI payments. Stay frugal like our parents taught us and save than being a spend thrift. 
6. Don’t succumb to peer pressure of unwanted spending on cars, vacations, and anything that you cannot afford as others have these

I strongly recommend every employee working in any IT and Product companies that are susceptible to market place effects – upgrade, upgrade and upgrade your talent but not your phones, cars, and TVs. You will be successful in your career and will be happy person so you can enjoy the life with family.

Innovation Thy Name

Facebook used right way is next best thing of loads of information. I saw a small video on “Breakthrough Innovations of 2015” on FB. I went to check authenticity and found the list is from MIT (http://www.technologyreview.com/lists/technologies/2015/). If you read the top 10 list: Magic Leap, Nano-Architecture, Car to car Communication, Project Loon, Liquid Biopsy, Mega scale Desalination, Apple Pay, Brain Organoids, Supercharged Photosynthesis, and internet of DNA. I saw a small video of these and also read about them. This is true innovation as I feel the word innovation is a misused and abused word that I can think of.

I will share a couple of examples why I think Innovation is a misused and abused word by people. When cloud computing was just around the corner and a couple of players like Amazon and VMWare were ahead of the game, there was a US leadership team visit to our company. One Development Manager put up a cloud web page as Innovation. Every one is the room were going gaga over that while fresh from US, I was thinking to myself what is innovation in this. Of course the guy got promotion and moved to US in same company, but the point is Innovation is abused in this case, as per my standard.

Day today I see a lot of start-ups in last one year when I attend any event in Hyderabad. Most of them are in retail on line or food delivery and some what IT related. I heard many that have no clear idea of what they are trying to solve and I feel many are wantrepreneurs (wanna be entrepreneurs- very happy to see a word coined by a friend long time back in t-Hub). I wish and hope at least some of these 10 key areas of breakthrough and related come to t-Hub soon. Then we can expect a next whatsapp or anything coming out of Hyderabad or India. With NALSAR, ISB, IITH and IITH as main backers of t-Hub, the CEO and COO will decide to bring right people into t-hub to bring value to the catalyst t-Hub will decide to bring right people into t-hub to bring value to the catalyst t-Hub that are working in real breakthrough technologies from various industries: Bio, Agri, manufacturing, hardware etc than simple IT based.

My request to all the so called “eco-system builders” in any city is:

• Don’t abuse word Innovation else Einstein might come back crying. Don’t encourage start-up people that come with bad ideas that are copycat types or not really an innovation – tell them openly without hesitation that their idea has no innovation. You are doing them a favour.  You don’t need a cult to be an eco-system  builder but you need to foster growth.
• Send anyone thinking of innovative ways to right places to look for information or examples. We have great research institutes and talent pool, guide them right. Don’t stop them as you do not understand what they are building but accept you do not understand that and send them to right people or ask for help where you can point them. 
• True innovators are amongst us; some were there at Innofest that happened recently in t-Hub. Encourage them. Support them to get into global markets and lead them to reach top of the world. 
• Finally foster and grow open thinking in your own kids; listen to their thoughts as we could get our next big thing from youngsters.

Forty Plus in Indian IT Sector

One day I got a call from a good friend who is in a very senior position in a bank heading one division in their IT services. He asked me question" Suresh how we can help people after 40s in IT". I was stumped as by then I left my job with Microsoft and started looking for another one after some soul searching and dabbling in diagnostic centres, small medical clinics, a food place, and a few others. Ezsentially, I was one of the people he was referring to. It made me to think a lot.

Suddenly I remembered my time when I was in US and working for IBM, everyone around me was going for PMP exam. I went and asked another IBMer "Is It important to have PMP Certification in IBM?"  Pat came the reply "Yes.. not only for survival to get in to Band 10 you need that". Obviously by then I decided to return to India. I also learnt that if you want to work for Government in US or IBM you MUST be a PMP certified person. I decided I am not going to do anything as I was returning to India and it did work for me to survive without PMP. Can it work for everyone? Probably not.
Thinking back about the question from my Bank friend, what I realized is in India we have a taboo, at 40 plus (not a plus size) you MUST be a people manager or Technology team manager. You don't like to be an Individual Contributor (IC) as people in your social circle look down upon you. So I started to think how the 40 plus can survive in Indian Landscape. I have a few thoughts not in the same order of preference but to evaluate and see what fits best for you. These are only suggestions based on what I saw in US and India, that will work

·        Start a 40 plus club where only people above 40 years age are allowed. Play music from 80s etc. Seriously.. check the patrons IDs J

·        If you made enough money by then, do what your passion is: Travel, reading, writing, painting, sculpture, coaching, mentoring, and anything you love to do including teaching Yoga

·        I personally think an MBA or PMP is not really good idea as it burns hole in pocket when you need the money the most. However if you think it will give you happiness be my guest and go spend money in a good MBA college 

·        On a serious note, I do suggest to think to be an employer by thinking of a start up business - anything you like. This must fill your passion and make you money. The employee turns an Employer

·        One other suggestion is go and explore the world, if you can afford. Meeting people gives you ideas and changes your perspective a lot. In my case I left a note for a GM of a famous diagnostic centre in Banjara Hills saying I want to meet him. To my surprise, he called me and over a cup of coffee, discussed 30-45 min.  good, bad and ugly of the business. Having an open mind opens doors. Go try it.

·        If you are pressed for another job, don't wait till you leave, start tapping into your network at least one year to 3 years before your dead line. You  might need that time to land something you like

So my dear Mid-Career Crisis people, first there is a lot of hope, so don't lose heart. Work on your next best strength. Get over the hill and do something you love to do. If you are in market - happy job hunting.

This is not a political post:

Yesterday sitting at home I was thinking of the day the younger one was born. Its a cold afternoon in Southern California, still in the operation theatre for C Section, I was probably sweating. The young one is out and did not cry. The doctor gave a slap on the back and she started crying. Me and my MIL who were in the room looked at each other with both faces lit up. The joy of someone born that we looked forward to is very tough to describe on words.

Reading a post by CBN after the foundation stone laying, I connected with his expressions. The pain that went into the whole process is commendable. The people who made all this possible including R&B who are responsible for roads,venue etc every one might have felt the pride.

I am a positive person. I was also pained when the cutting of the banana plantation in the rich agriculture land were shown on TV. I read a whole lot about food shortages etc. However, after watching everything for last three months, I felt for every act there will be a positive outcome.

I draw another comparison here with our younger one. I might have felt sweat in the cold Dec afternoon on my neck but when I see the young lady in our house, who hugs me and shows unconditional love, I dont remember anything that I felt sometime back. Same way, I am sure after 15 years or so when we have a proud Amaravathi, we also may not remember anything that we are talking today, but for good things. We might find alternate land to grow food.

In conclusion any birth brings joy after the pain, so is this new capitol, called Amaravathi, this also will bring joy later for sure. Lets hope and wish there is definitely a silver lining in new Sunrise State of Andhra Pradesh.

Failing Fast is the new Success Mantra

One of my friend visiting us from US was sharing that in Silicon Valley (where everything is about start-ups and many made it) if you fail faster you are considered a better start up and your stock goes up while people running companies with money from their own pocket or VCs are called living dead as they do not know when to exit the game.

Michael Jordan of the famous Chicago Bulls who won the NBA cup three times in a row against New York Nicks  is my all favourite athlete; not as he gambled off his money; not that he left the team a couple of times and came back but he always learnt from the mistakes.  You need to be really BOLD and GUTSY to admit your failure so my word to all start-up folks, if you think you are failing please fail fast and move on.

You need a mentor,  go find who failed a lot as they would give you best advice on what landmines you need to side step and what you should not do. They may need time to open up, but they are your best bet to get top class advice in my opinion. How many of them do we have in your city? You will never know as they don't have directories, they are not listed in Internet. So my friends it is hard to find these folks than finding the Start-up gurus who conduct conferences, run sessions lecturing, and project themselves as next best thing to sliced bread. Still I suggest you go after finding these unlisted folks who failed and ask them for their time to help you.

If you think 9000 shots and 300 games is a small number better re-think again. Every day we fail in one or other thing, but beauty is have we learnt anything out of that is the question you should be asking yourself. Have you misplaced the trust people put on you in those 26 shots that might have won the game? Don’t worry to admit that you missed and move on. You need Scottie Pippen likes to be on your side to bring a winning company.

So my dear start-up friends, get wet behind ears, see some bad things in life, the earlier you see them the faster you grow. Following the yellow brick road may lead to a fantasy that cannot be fulfilled but creating the road you want to travel will be definitely get you to be on top of the world. 

My Thoughts on startups in Hyderabad

Wednesday Morning turned up to be very nice one. Some time back when there is a lot of activity happening around startups in Hyderabad, a few people asked me why I am not seen in many of them. At that time I told them in private that still Hyderabad start up ecosystem is struggling with many only talking while these must be people with action orientation. One such action oriented person I see is Ravi Gururaj from Bangalore. Do we have our own Hyderabad Ravi? In my opinion the answer is NO.

I see a bunch of events with out any tangible results. Yesterday morning in a one hour phone conversation with a moderately successful entrepreneur from Bangalore we were discussing why still Bangalore address is prefered address to Hyderabad in VCs mind. It is for obvious reasons. We need mentors, we need people who can spare time with out ego and available. If some one postpones a meeting to talk to you would you call him Mentor? My friend in Bangalore approached a Boston based person to be mentor. The gentleman told him politely "you need to have some one close by so you can run to him at midnight when you need help". Do we have such mentors in Hyderabad? I know a few who are doing fabulous job from TiE. Still we need more such individuals.

Location Location Location is key for any good start ups. A product company that sells solutions to Automobile industry that is well placed in Madras outskirts having a office in Delhi wont help. This is so true when you create solutions, services and products for manufacturing. Are people thinking that way in Hyderabad? I have not seen any such folks. All I see is a lot of copy cat ideas. One of the incubator/accelerator head (call him Mr. X) I was talking to was sharing this. He came across a person with an idea (Mr. E) When Mr X asked Mr E how it is different from snap deal or flipkart Mr E said they both don't have what he was doing. Obviously the next question by Mr X is how much time do these giants need t add that function? Think your self: is that a viable business?

All these thoughts I was sharing came to light now as when I was talking to a friend about Hyderabad. This lead to a conversation with Sadhana Chathurvedula. She wrote a nice article about some of the thoughts at a very high level. Proud to present the article that I am quoted along with great people (Srinivas Kollipara)

http://www.livemint.com/Companies/jo8U9TiKFpISL7xnRqTj9K/So-what-is-THub-anyway.html

Thank you my teacher

Many were celebrating Guru Poornima while I was thinking why people are so much into that as for me September 5th is Teachers day. We all play a role of teachers at some point in life. We also are students most of the time; be it parents, friends, mentors, our kids, people you observe and learn, people that cross your life and leave a lesson, and even the nature around you.

On this Teachers day, I will start from present to past in thanking all the people that helped me to be who I am today.

After leaving my last corporate job, while wanting to do many things, there are many people who gave their time to educate me on what the finer details are about what I was researching. I met young and old alike and learned from every one of them. I also made a lot of connections in the process who even today share with me new lessons that I learn.

Many of managers that I worked in IBM and Microsoft, taught me adding human perspective to the job, goes a long way to be a successful leader. If an employee is not in office as someone in his family is sick or unwell, when they come back, check with them how the family is? I followed it and Still feel happy when people call me for advice or direction.

My professors from masters in IIT Roorkee, who always taught me to explore research opportunities in Canada or US than in India so I will have a great exposure. This pat on the back lead to live in US for 15 years where I learnt a lot in research, working in start-ups and also working for great BIG BLUE

My Professors from SVU College of Engineering, Tirupati where I survived in English medium coming from Telugu medium. Had most fun. Made lifelong friends, started developing my network that only started expanding. This is the place where I learnt spirituality while college taught analytics, logic and rationalisation.

Plus two in a small town called Venkatagiri in Visvodaya College; the lecturers taught me basics in Maths, and physical sciences. I am happy I still can remember some of these concepts and the words in Telugu Medium. A temple where we used to spend long hours chatting about everything and anything which taught me to appreciate the culture in a small town

The three years I spent in my HOME called AP Residential School Kodigenahalli, are the best formative years I went thru; values, ethics, helping each other, working hard, can do nature and being a social person with everyone. I owe so much to these three years and the school and its first principal and the staff, anything I can do will not complete the giving back.

My schooling in early life in Small village Zilla Parishad Elementary and high schools, under the trees where we co-existed with snakes and birds, taught me how to respect each other’s space. The teachers that taught me here are selfless people and one of them is the reason for me to join the AP Residential School.

Finally my parents and siblings who taught me sharing, living happily with what means we have and how to be dependent on each other’s.

Now both my lovely daughters teach me a lot to be more humble and not to harm others every day. They are the kindest humans that I know. Of course my 25 years of partner in crime after marriage is something that taught me patience and looking things in a very different perspective.

When I have so many people that are my teachers, how can I forget them on Sep 5^th. Thanking all these people in my life including many good friends for being there always..