Looking up the food chain

 

 

Picture Courtesy: Flickr

In the past 7 years of my professional working career I have worked under some good people, some bad one, some impatient, some calm, some arrogant, some kind, some devoted to the cause, some careless. Most of them says that it is a corporate ladder that we climb over the years. But now I feel its more like a food chain than a ladder. It is more like a mouse evolving into a cat, rather than climbing up the ranks.

I have had the privilege to work with a delivery head who would get involved with each person under them (nearly 200) and also have worked with a person who doesn't even greet or smile when there is eye contact. I have seen a lenient leader who couldn't get any good work done by their team and a strict leader who got the best out of people.

Upon looking back I have a few people who actually made an impression on me. On the deadline day when you have to give a demo, the process which has to reach from point a to b, gets stuck in between. And a young trainee comes up and says that he had seen this error before and has a script to push it to point b. Obviously no one would believe that person at that deadline. And here came an ideal leader, he trusted me and defended me with his superiors. At that time he was not just defending me but also he put his trust on the line. I am not sure whether any other person would have taken that risk, but he did and that was set as an example in my mind.

Another one above me in the food chain was a manager who would go up-to an extent to defend his team from the customer and also sit along side you to help you get food or snacks during extended nights. Not to get things wrong here he was not a easy going when it came to actual office related work. But as person he was more generous, calm and collected. He is one of the managerial figures that I would look upon to. Another one is Sir Alex Ferguson, well yes this one is most obvious as a hardcore Manchester United Fan. Not that he is the only best football Manager in the world, but he still is one the best ever. But I got to know about Sir Alex more when I read his auto biography. Some situations, even though it didn't portray the exact scene, was too intense. When I put myself in his shoes and think, I would not have made many of the decisions that Sir Alex took. I mean those intense decision making skill obviously comes through experience, but some of them are too crazy for me to imagine. 

When I become a manager I surely will be taking the traits of all the above stated people. Not that I would be exactly like them, but will have the most important characteristics. I will still be a man of my own accord with a managerial style of my own.