Let me explain this topic using an example. What business is Shah Rukh Khan in?
Hmm, Acting - he is a good actor (at least a highly successful one)
Wrong. If SRK is in acting business he would loose 50% of his earning capability.
That is what happened with Kodak. Kodak was numero uno in camera. They defined their business as photographs. So they were everywhere with Kodak camera and roll. Then disaster happened. Digital cameras came in and no longer did we need to develop photos and use a film. Kodak was 5 years behind when they finally caught up with competition. They will unlikely be numero uno again.
So what business was Kodak in - it was not photographs, it was creating memories. It should not have mattered to them how the memories are created. They missed the bus completely.
So what is SRK business - let us look at the benefit he provides to us instead of the medium he chooses. He entertains us. SRK is in the business of entairtainment and not acting. Acting is only a medium he chooses.
So now that he is in entairtainment business - the world has no limits. He can do KBC, smarter than fifth grader, dance at parties for a price - as long as he entertains us. And he has understood this better than anyone else in the film industry. no wonder he is king khan.
So what business are you as a services officer in?
And we are not in business of providing defense.
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8 comments:
Too many words come to the mind like spine, morals, competence and trust. However our USP should be 'Lead' in my perception. Comments?
Mohit
If I compare ourselves with US Defence, I get the answer to what business am I in.
How?
Most of US presidents have been in uniform. Most of their top CEOs were in uniform. So that is the clue? What business we are in?
Come on I need the answer. Discuss with your juniors, colleagues, but please give me the answer.
And if I tell you, you will say you knew it all the time.
Gautama Buddha says the answers are within us.
Vedas say "Aham Brahmasmi"
Take a shot.
Cool you are almost there, but not exactly.
Think again - why do most of the US presidents have a defence background. why are many of the CEOs ex-forces. what sets them apart from the rest?
what does army teach them to be?
so what business is the defence services actually in?
defence is only one manifestation of the activity, like acting is for SRK.
Hi Sandesh,
I am happy on that thought provoking idea. I would stick my neck out and make a statement
" We are in the business of Creating Leader, who lead from the front".
I we achieve it, all other anamolies will get sorted out. We will excel among leaders whether it is Business, Politics, Social Work, MT fleet maint, games, agriculture, power generation, cottage industries or you name a thing. AND WE WILL ALSO BE GOOD IN DEFENCE AS TATA's Call it " WE ALSO MAKE STEEL". Leaders are required everywhere and they excel. If we excel as leaders, we will be the one's who decide on the protocols, pay, status of the services etc.
So lets Practice to be leaders.
Vijay Tiwari
gr8
Army (Defence services) is in business of making men leaders. It does imbibe in us the qualities that make us leaders.
Two issues
1. Has the defence services identified that is in this business and preserved its core competency?
2. Whether we choose to leverage our traits is a different story.
Now the follow up question: Who is a leader? What does one mean by a leader, how different it is from a manager.
Dear All,
Yes, thats what we all have been taught and believe in that we need to be good leaders.... thats the business we are in..... But is it actually true....???
In todays changing army (changes in socio-economic-education level-exposure- et al.......and i am not talking of the troops, but officers) i feel it is more if not equally imp to be managers. Give it a thought ...what % of our carreers are we actually in comd of tps where we need to be leaders... except for the first 4 odd yrs... it comes in breaks... your instr/ grade 3 outing....followed by courses, esp carreer long courses, staff college, followed by g1/ AQ..... Col adm / Col GS....., etc, etc. Even within the unit dont discount your adjt / QM stints.
We spent nearly 75% of our carreers, if u go through the whole hogwash, on appts where you are being not a leader, but managers....and believe u me, try being too much of a tiger while in staff is the fastest way to get sacked. And conversely, while being in comd of tps, it is this over stress on being "LEADERS" which makes us forget that to be one we need to be better managers.... it is this thought process which keeps us entrapped in the ldrship style which is more of a hand - us - down from the brits of the Raj .... (that they have changed theselves is another thing)......
I feel it is equally imp to be managers.... to manage our seniors, juniors as well as our peers......
Come to think of it 75 % of gyaan being shared with us by Sandesh, atleast uptil now, is pertaining to matters relating to Management.... resources/ HR/ others.....
So are we really in the business of creating leaders...??? or are we in the business of making good managers..... lets not forget that managemant started as a study of techs being followed by armed forces.....
So what business are we in, again...???
Thought I should add a "Gundhy" in this rather strightforward agreement of what we have traditionally been made to believe.....
A rather confused coursemate,
Vikram
Valid points.
I stated earlier that defence is in the business of making leaders and once we forget this then we get into the rut. Any country that recognizes this business of army, respects the troops in the true sense. One thing common among all super powers is the respect for defence forces and the fact that they make leaders.
And that is the malaise which ails us. Decades ago, we got the equation wrong and now we are on the down curve. Someone thought that army is for defence and let us do that in vacuum, without realising that defence cannot exist without the techno- politico-social-economic synergy.
There are two observations
1. We are certainly not practising leaders though we have the traits to be. No where else at the age of 21 are you leading troops to life and death situation and that too leading from the front. I have seen corporates respect the ability of faujis to get work done. And most of the faujis I know in the corporate world are amazing. Or is it that the smart faujis prefer to leave services and slog it out in the coroporate world.
2. We are not good managers either. Not one of us is exposed to Six Sigma techniques, Lean Sigma thinking, JIT, Deming PDCA, or exposed to frameworks like COBIT, OCTAVE, ESCM etc which are used by corporates and defence forces especially the Super Powers. How many of us have actually created case studies that can be used by the Business schools for teaching the students on supply chain management, vendor management, etc.
We think we are doing a good job based on what we know, but have we ever benchmarked ourselves in terms of
* teeth to tail ratio
* productivity per employee
* number of strategic analysis papers presented by our officers
I still am waiting for the answer - what differentiates a manager from a leader?
A leader can achieve transformations even while as a QM, Adjutant or G1 ops. A leader is not one who leads people only - I hope that gives you a clue as to where to start thinking.
These are some people who I consider as leaders and all of them were without teams. I have read almost every book that they have written or sermonised. I have tried to pick up leaders across domains - religion, politcal astuteness, management, quality, economics, movies. Your list could be different.
1. Sant Ramdas - guru of Chatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj or Chanakya for Chandragupta
2. Peter Drucker - father of modern management
3. Paul Deming - father of quality
4. Mohammed Yunus - father of micro banking
5. Satyajit Ray
6. Gautama Buddha
And none of them had teams per se. It was not that they had a team and they were given a role and they became leaders. In most of the cases they were leaders who revolutionised the situtation they were in and the teams came later on.
It does not matter if you are a G1, a QM, a adjustant or a CO - a leader has no boundaries that stops him from being a leader.
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