Build trust and respect at work, it stays a long way !

A: Much feared and revered he had iconic status in the industry; a hermit who was rarely seen in any public forum, stories were abound on his persona. Everyone knew he was a workaholic for who spending 12-14 hours at workplace was normal; he was famously notorious for midnight meetings and negotiations in the wee hours. Stories spread on his passionate work style and commitment to the enterprise, he was not a role model but inspired a generation of workers; he was synonymous with the company he worked in.

He made few friends with his ruthless style, it was difficult to find people who could say that they knew him as a person. Little was known of his antecedents or when he would give way to the next level of leadership. Commanding respect he was enigma that the industry had not been able to solve. 80 hour work weeks can be punishing even to the fittest, it finally did take its toll leaving him incapacitated for a while; understanding mortality, he hired a trusted lieutenant who modelled himself in his shadow.

Providence or coincidence, the teammate fell to pressure faster with serious medical condition which was rare for someone that young; but by this time the superman was back in full force thus taking up the slack. Over time their collective success elevated them into role models with many attempting to emulate their success little realizing the price they had paid to rise to the summit. They had sacrificed their personal lives in favor of their careers – families that were well provided for but emotionally disconnected.

B: Envied by many his steady climb did not go unnoticed; well read, articulate and opinionated in a good way, he was always ready to help his peers. He was a prominent speaker across conferences and events – people loved his views and thoughts which were at times audacious but pragmatic enough to be followed. Rarely one to put in long hours excluding exigencies, he did not expect his team to burn the midnight oil, but work to a plan with efficiency which he demonstrated and expected of his vendors too.

His team revered him and trusted him to keep the flag flying high and pass on credit where due; he coached them and encouraged them to take calculated risks – ready to take the brunt of failed experiments. Vendors loved him for shooting straight, his candid talk and fair approach to value realization on a sale while negotiating to build relationships with shared success. Always open to case studies and references it made him a beacon for every company that he worked in and industry that he adopted.

His family could be seen beaming at his success openly in family gatherings as well as industry events which added to his persona. He dissuaded people from imitating him, his mannerisms or style; but he created many leaders from within his team who grew to prominence in the industry – some also acknowledging the role their mentor played in their success. Shortcomings if any stayed hidden or overpowered by his professional success and the fact that he was always available to Management Trainee or CEO alike.

The contrast between A and B appears to be extreme and exaggerated; their approach to work and life are quite divergent. Professionally both created success that set benchmark in their respective industries, both were sought after by the industry, both loved and thrived in the attention showered by big and small. Their paths crossed many times with each acknowledging the other; they knew about the differences between their approaches, neither commented on them and the industry took them for what they represented.

While A continued to stay invested in his professional life beyond the normal retirement age, B got off the corporate treadmill early to enjoy the fruits of labor and started his entrepreneurial journey. Many years passed by with A now taking a backseat and B fading away from the scene; providence arranged their meeting which brought them face to face again. His reputation had stayed firm even when A had taken a backseat in most matters; the meeting never took formal overtones with mutual respect demanding a different setting.

The transaction happened quickly, the relationship built on a strong foundation stood the test of time. For B it was a validation of the seeds he had sown carefully over the years – of treating people with respect irrespective of rank and position, of helping without expecting anything in return, of being the spokesperson when none ventured, of being a good human being. Life goes round in circles; invest in people and relationships, the returns over the long run are worth a lot more than you can imagine.

Cost is also a 4 letter word in the corporate world !

My first tryst with cost happened a little more than a decade back when the company reins were taken over by the CFO; he replaced a young charismatic CEO who found greener grass elsewhere. The first review meeting conducted by the CFO with score of year of experience announced an initiative to control costs – something he had harped about in the past but was overruled. His predecessor always worked on the numerator (revenue) and not the denominator (cost) when looking at profits and ratios.

Many years later I was facing a sense of déjà vu in another company when the new management which had initially created high costs now under pressure from shareholders started an initiative to cut costs. Fast forward to current business environment when everyone is uncertain of global trends and policies that potentially impact parts of business and resultant revenue and profits – quite a few are preparing to cut costs to sustain impact if any to short-term and long-term operations and business strategies.

Why not cut the flab or get rid of deadwood that the organization may have collected on the way. In almost all such cases of cost containment, it is typically a new set of Managers who initiate the exercise wanting to sculpt the company in a specific way getting rid of legacy. The other interesting fact is that almost all such cases a big name super expensive consulting company – coincidentally the same one in all cases that I have seen – is hired to suggest ways and means to reduce cost. So what’s new in cost cutting ?

Predictably it starts with hiring freeze, HR makes a list of low performers (exception Finance team) travel freeze for everyone except the Management; the inner circle gets discretionary approvals, everyone else is expected to use Audio/Videoconferencing. Cookies and biscuits disappear from meetings, packaged bottled water is replaced by refilled water bottles, control on printing with introduction of network printers, deferred training and development budgets, and last but not the least a cut in IT operating budgets and new projects.

Frugality in times of plenty is a virtue practiced by a few and they stay immune to variability in the market conditions. Working for one such company we celebrated our most profitable year when everyone was struggling with costs in the year of black swans. If that is not part of the organizational DNA, operating expenses should ideally be reviewed periodically and not necessarily wait for a formal cost control exercise. The challenge lies with some types of costs which do not lend themselves to reduction without an impact.

So when as a CIO I was asked to cut cost by 20%, it created an interesting predicament; can I cut manpower supporting business as usual ? Should I get rid of my Project Managers who have delivered successfully in the past ? Shall I ask the support partner to reduce onsite manpower without impacting SLA ? Can I cut network bandwidth across and hope that the business will not notice the resultant impact ? Annual Maintenance Costs are locked in with COTS and hardware vendors, no not much scope there.

Can hardware refresh be deferred ? For desktops and laptops potentially by few quarters, the server upgrades cannot if the transaction volume continues organic growth. New projects can be deferred or pushed into functional P&L, after all if they want the new solutions, they will find a way to justify. In both cases IT took a similar approach to cost cuts with partial success; reduction in operating expenses was marginal since the contracts were already optimized by Purchase and Finance, the deferred capital investment made up for the shortfall.

Decades apart the rest of the company dithered and murmurs of unrest were heard across the companies. The big consultant bill horrified the employees who had seen their friends depart and morale go south across functions. The net resultant saving was something they could have achieved by involving the staff across levels invoking their emotional connect towards their adopted company. The leadership team declared success gloating in the derived glory to gift themselves an exotic international offsite as a reward.

So much for cost savings which were believed to be necessary for survival of the company (read the management team). Mature leaders do not take conventional wisdom at face value, they internalize the opportunity and seek collaboration across layers for sure shot success. E.g. the frugal company that beat profits in a lean year by calling upon all employees to contribute; it enrolled every CXO to the cause not by setting targets, but appealing to help the company and how they did ? It remains a benchmark for the company !

Cost does not need to be a 4 letter word !