When was the last time you did a SWOT?

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A Step A Day, career development, SWOT analysis

Ramesh was expecting a promotion to the next higher job on the basis of his experience. He felt pretty confident that this would come through as a matter of course. After all, hadn’t he worked in that area for the last few years? Wasn’t he the acknowledged expert in his area? He knew that his talents were appreciated by his organization. His boss was shortly moving to another assignment within the organization and Ramesh felt any day now he would be asked to take his place.

When the organizational changes were announced, Ramesh was shocked to find that he had been superseded by a younger colleague. It was clear that the organization was placing a premium on expertise in new areas of technology for future growth and experience in cross- functional teams, both of which Ramesh lacked. As his manager told him, when Ramesh went to him in a huff and asked indignantly about his promotion : “We are looking for the future, Ramesh. You are really good at your current job. We value you but you just don’t meet the requirements of the higher job.”

Put him down as yet one more victim of complacency. Ramesh had not bothered to understand what he needed to do to grow in his organization.

A good start point for career and personal development is to do a SWOT analysis. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, and Opportunities & Threats) originated from military strategy and came to personal development via business strategy. Organizations do SWOT analysis to take stock of where they are and where they want to be. It gives them considerable insight, critical for drawing up their business strategies.

Likewise, SWOT for an individual helps you take stock of where you stand. Remember that while Strengths & Weaknesses are internal to you as an individual, Opportunities and Threats are external. You need to scan your environment to spot both opportunities and threats.

Doing well in your current job does not automatically make you the right choice for the next job. Take the trouble to understand what the crucial for success factors are for your next assignment. What do you need to acquire by way of knowledge, skills and attitude to fulfill those requirements? Do you know what is happening in your business, your industry which could affect your organization and you as well?

It is useful to do a SWOT when you are taking up a new assignment or prior to taking up higher responsibilities. However, doing a SWOT is serious stuff. You need the right data and must invest time to do a proper analysis. You can’t finish a SWOT at 12 noon and say the next one is due after lunch.

Our suggestion to Ramesh: Learn from this experience. Figure out where you stand. Don’t lose too much time moping over what has happened. Get cracking and do a serious SWOT as soon as you can. Draw up specific actions which follow

As I told him: If you don’t know yourself and your job well, who else will?

By the way, when was the last time you did a SWOT?

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“It Happened in India” Kishore Biyani’s Story

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Entrepreneurs, India retail, Kishore Biyani

Just completed ” It Happened in India” written by Kishore Biyani (the man who revolutionised retailing in India) with Dipayan Baishya, a business writer.  A very well-written story which gives tremendous insights into what makes an entrepreneur successful.

Kishore Biyani re-wrote the retail script in India. From a position when he was almost looked down upon as a trader who wouldn’t amount to much to his current position as the Group CEO of the rapidly growing Futures Group, he and his companies have come a long way.

“It Happened in India” is interspersed with comments made by various people associated with Biyani from both within and outside his organisation. The book is written in a simple yet effective style and grips the reader. It is described as “the story of Pantaloon, Big Bazaar, Central and the great Indian consumer”.

Right from the time he first started, Biyani showed amazingly accurate perception of the Indian consumer -especially in the retail space. He perhaps understands the psyche of his typical customers more than anybody else. Therein lies the secret of his success.

The Pantaloon chain , headquartered in Mumbai, has grown to operate over 5 million square feet of retail space. It has over 450 stores across 40 cities  in India and employs over 18,000 people.

At the heart of the organisation is what Biyani calls the Pantaloon Genes. These precepts are :

• We like being simple
• Speed is the essence of everything
• We like to learn while we execute
• We like thrift
• We believe that customers are always right
• We like to think in terms of the majority of people
• We take pride in our core value of Indian-ness
• We believe in ourselves
• We do not like to blame others or external factors
• We like to think positively in every situation
• We like building and nurturing relationships
• We love to rewirte rules even as we retain our values

As is said in the book, what we become is a result of the way we think. “Sometimes we a nation of billion people, think like a nation of million people” said former President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Kishore Biyani dared to think big. His story is worthwhile reading not only for entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs but also for those who want to understand the Indian consumer.

Indians at Harvard Business School

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Careers, Harvard Business School, Indian Economy, MBA admission

For many a bright professional, the world over, a dream is to be admitted to the Harvard Business School. The venerable school celebrates 100 years in 2008. It’s mission: “We educate leaders who make a difference in the world”.

Guess which country sends most candidates (after the US of A of course) for the Harvard regular MBA program? That honour goes to India which sent as many as 38 students for the batch of 2009 made up of 900 students. HBS assistant director in MBA career services, Kurt Piemonte said, “Increasingly, we find Indian students want to head back to the country to pursue their careers. There is a real interest in India and the trend of returning to India to work is catching up. The number of students who have not been in the US before and want to return to India to work is rising.”

India already has a strong presence in the teaching side with 15 % of the HBS Faculty being Indians or of Indian origin.

Also, as part of its plan to globalise its curriculum, in 2005, HBS opened the India Research Center (IRC) in Mumbai, one of the six research units across the world. The research centre will help build HBS’s knowledge about the Indian economy and the corporate sector through case studies and original research work.

These are clearly positive by-products of the greater interest evinced in the Indian economy by almost everyone-including the Harvard Business School.

To Help People Grow

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A Step A Day, personal development

Our meeting was over with a client team. Some of us were waiting for our car to take us back to Bangalore from the resort on the outskirts of the city.

“There are so many things for us to know. Why don’t you tell us how we can be successful in our careers?” asked a young manager.

This was today’s premium on speed, I thought to myself. I have always maintained that people development is not like the Nestlé’s Maggi 2 minutes noodles, which the young manager and his wife probably made 3 days a week at home, like many young couples do.

We had 5 minutes before the car drove up. He wanted everything there is to know in 5 minutes. There could be many like him, I reasoned on the drive back, eager to learn and learn, fast. Here was someone who wanted everything in a jiffy. He was a product of today’s instant world.

Personal and professional growth, I am afraid, does not work that way. However, enthusiastic you might be, you cannot master skills overnight. Skills have to be mastered one step at a time. The best way to start is to incorporate improvements in yourself a step a day, every day.

It is with this backdrop that I plan to initiate a series of posts categorized “A Step A Day”. The objective: provide perspective and provoke thought to facilitate self-development across a wide spectrum of issues – big and small- crucial for executive success.

I hope this will be useful to many at my client companies . At this stage of my life and career, my personal goal is: To Help People Grow.

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