For most people, he is or rather was the man running the wheels of WIPRO. And for many unknown (including my close ones), he was my idol. I've been tracking his stories, his events and news since the end of 2000, when I was getting ready to join B-school. The reason behind that was the most unthinkable - I was always under the impression that he was a mallu who had made it big in the IT sector or more than that the IT management field. Anyways it’s besides the fact that I never found out if he was a mallu. I've always been a fan of strategic management and believed that operations are the key to success of any project (right from shopping for grocery to running a firm). And as I had this argument with Payal, I realized that CEO is not a role I can relate to even though I've always had pride in the fact that my college always made me the CEO to represent at the AIMA Strategic management games. As I look back I realized that even there I was more closely taking over the operations than looking at the whole picture. I'm good in finance and I can handle marketing, but then my strengths never had the ability to excel in both. Even whatever selling I've done have always been based on what can be done not 'selling' in the true sense. Only I can dream of a convincing act of selling a product based on facts!!! So I realize that my ultimate goal will be a COO rather than a CEO as I had always dreamed and still V Paul path is the one I need to tread.
This article is a real eye-opener. I particularly like this part from it -
As Paul says in his interview, Indian managers are "in a cocoon" and don't really understand what it takes to succeed. "In the real world, there is no cocoon."
How very true!!! And mind you change is always top driven!! Here it is a reference to the top management. Sometimes the top management is so content in being "snug'n'fit" in the position they are in that they forget the rest of the team. They are always so number conscious, that they always dream about getting the numbers. Mind you that their dream is single-tracked like a horse, never move out of the track. I'm no expert on operations, but I very well understand the concept of a team. I know that loyalty is something that can get wonders and to get people to be loyal is definitely a good investment. Why would I say this? Because I got a team of three total strangers who were new to technology to deliver on time while I worked only on one thing, getting them to gel-in well together and sat through their pain points during development and assisted them. And now 2 of them are moving from the question mark on BCG towards the star quarter. I'm really proud of them. So getting back to top management, strategy is something that is best understood and implemented when shared with others in the team, atleast the top guys on the team. The reason - for one the top guys in the team are generally more well connected to know the strengths and weakness of the team (more touch with reality) and secondly, they are the people who get into the dirt for implementing the strategy. One fact of V Paul which impressed me is -
Paul was, in many ways, an 'offline' manager. He did not sit with people as they worked. Neither did he follow traditional norms like experience when choosing someone for a job.
You need the right people on the team and being professional to pick guys who have the ability rather than those just experienced is a hidden secret. Anyways I can go on and on giving commentary on what I love.
One sad fact - I've never had the privilege of working with V Paul or being in Wipro. And moreover I believe that I'm in an organization that may go to dogs because of the likes of people higher ups. One truth before I end my blog - never move a sales guy into delivery and the reason - most sales people I believe are professional yet sensitive that hinders the professionalism that they carry over the egos. They are best left alone to work as one man team for targets