Some 'other' essential skills for managers

I was recently at MES Institute of Management as a special invitee at the college day. The following is what I remember of my talk

Respected Chief Guest, members of the managing committee, Principal Prof Rajaraman, faculty members and all the young women and men who are here, a very good afternoon. I am really grateful to Prof Vijay kumar and Principal Rajaraman for giving me this wonderful opportunity.

When JK Rowling author of the Henry Potter series was addressing a similar function at Harvard, she mentioned that she did not remember even one word from her college annual day speeches.  You can therefore relax and get ready to forget everything I am going to say .

Today I want to talk about  four skills that managers need. All of us are managers because management generally deals with managing oneself, managing teams and managing the business. Apart from skills like communication, handling stress, using excel all of which you must have heard many times, and I see your college has experts to help you with these, there are a few essential skills managers and leaders need to have.

The first one is HELICOPTER THINKING: Have you heard this term? You have seen how a helicopter can move up and down. It can see the forest and then the tree and then the forest again. We need to see the bigger picture, the long term and at the same time look at the smallest details. For example in planning this event one needs to know the objectives of such an event, the calender and then also finer details like how the wick for the Inaugural lamp will be prepared and seating order . Every issue has a broader and a more granular aspect and we need to be able to have both these views. 

Another important skill good managers have is the ability to do some ‘impact analysis” on decisions or choices they are going to make.  It requires practice to develop the skill to imagine the consequences of our decisions or actions. It needs some foresight, some imagination to understand in advance what might happen as a consequence of what we do. When a shopkeeper reduces the price he is able to guess what the competitor might do, how much increase in sales is possible, How customers are going to feel about his shop if price reductions happen often.

 Many times we rush into things without thinking through the issue. Make it a habit to anticipate the consequences and your decisions will be much better. When the faculty gives an assignment, you can do a sincere job of it or you can cut copy and paste from google. Both these have different long term consequences on your learning.

 

 

 The next skill we need to succeed is that of networking. Many large organizations recruit based on references. In this complex world it is not possible to solve all the problems ourselves. Networks can help us solve official problems, career problems and even our personal issues. Network is not only face- book friends who were class mates. The quality of a person’s network is measured by the number of people as well as the variety of people one knows. It is good to know CEO’s, government clerks, the vegetable vendor, and people from a variety of professions and industries. Networking is not difficult. We must be friendly and willing to express opinions and listen. Keeping in touch makes a network alive.

Whether it is building a network, working in an office, at home, college, or in relationships, one skill that we need is active listening. Listening is different from hearing. We must listen to understand. Mostly we listen to respond. Listening takes lot of practice and the desire to understand the other person. One inherent problem about listening is that while I speak at 150 words a minute, your brain can process 500 words per minute. So you have 350 words per minute to devote to Anshuman khurana or Anushka Sharma or noticing how bald this speaker is or some other thoughts which I cannot describe.

Is there any student here who can list the four qualities I was trying to discuss? Anyone?

Another request I have is that you must all try to be on your own. There are many opportunities for entrepreneurship today. Money is available and what we need is business ideas and perseverance. The 9 to 5 job was an invention of the industrial revolution and to get 'economies of scale'. The british rule only buttressed this attitude in us. India is now free in many ways and I urge you to find something to do on your own. Business does not mean big business alone, even a small business has great potential

Thank You for the opportunity. All the best in your careers and have a great cultural event in the afternoon.