What my kids have taught me!

Patience – When you have two kids, both vying for your attention, not to mention that work you been putting off for such a long time and to top it all you are feeling sleepy; it takes all your strength not to pull out your hair or shriek at the top of your lung. Best bet is to take a deep breath and prioritize actions. Losing your cool at that moment will only add the task of soothing the kids and answering the scathing looks that your parents and/or spouse must be giving you by now.

Putting yourself second – When you have kids, your own requirements do tend to become a second priority; at least at times. Imagine having to go to bathroom on an urgent note, when your younger one also acknowledges a natures call – You have got to let them go first!

Whatever you do, it will always fall short – However fancy toy you may buy for them, they will still want to play with the Amazon box. So, don’t compensate with fancy toys. Take a scrap box and help them make something out of it; even if it’s a pen stand. Trust me, it will be a much more satisfying experience for all of you.

Kids will fall sick – However best you try, those little buggers will fall ill. Take them out too much, they will fall ill from over exposure. Take them out less, they will fall ill due to lack of sufficient immune system. Play with them a lot, they will get tired too much and get fever from over exertion. Don’t play with at all, they will watch TV and phones and get thick spectacles.

As an addendum to the point above, Don’t Google – Further to above point, don’t begin to search their symptoms on google. According to Google, a mild rash on the back will quickly turn out to be LymphoCircomaoftheIntestine. Trust your gut and take a deep, calming breath.

Ability to adapt – Would you have believed in March 2020 had I told you that in a few days your life is going to change. You will have to work from home, have classes online and not go out at all? I know I wouldn’t have. But both my boys took to their online classes. Yes, there were initial hiccups, but the proficiency with which they adapted to the change was phenomenal. Not to mention the IT enablement which has grown leaps and bounds.

What you sow is what you reap – When you and family are spending “quality time” with your family, make no mistake you are also under sever scrutiny from your kids. They are watching you like hawks. Dare you take a mis-step and they begin to load their ammunition. Any deviance from a standardized behavior is like an addition to their already bulging arsenal. You step out of the proverbial "Laxman Rekha" and be prepared for that example being cited in a totally relevant, but inappropriate, context; in a way that is bound to leave you red - faced.

Unending quest for knowledge – Have you ever wondered who will win in a fight between “Pokemon Dr. Strange” and “Ben 10 – Alien X”? Me neither. And my kids provided me with a step by step logical analysis of who would win and why? Do you know the dwarf planets of our solar system? I do! Not because I wanted to. But because I was a willing audience for them. In exchange, they now have their views on political parties and while they address a politician with honorific “ji”; another politician is called by his bare surname.

Learn to enjoy the little moments – All that time away from the malls and the vacation culture, and you realize that it’s not that the kids really want an expensive vacation. In fact, mine didn’t even talk about any. Then, why do we have that incessant need to have a social media friendly vacation? Why can’t we just have a lazy weekend? Why can’t we embrace our inner child and do something stupid with them? Have a cooking activity. Read stories. Watch their cartoons. Binge watch MCU.

All in all. They can make you borderline crazy (Don't let my wife hear that).

And then bring you back from the brink of insanity with those puppy eyes!

Dilemma of a CEO!!!

I have been meaning to write this for so long.

A new CEO was appointed for a 70 years old company. The company had always been a very profitable venture. 

However, off late, several troubles had been brewing. The year on year growth in the revenue has been below the estimated numbers. Management decisions have been questionable at best. Different employee unions were always at war with each other. Several departments have started to operate as an independent entity with no concern whatsoever to the well being of the parent company. Some employees have also been rumored to sell confidential internal information to competitive companies for various incentives. One particular manager even had the audacity to have his wife fill in for him, while he was incarcerated on a scam.

The past three CEOs have been from the same family. Hence, a lot of key management personnel were from within their family. In fact, a lot of subsidiaries were being held by various persons loyal to the previous CEOs. Various key decision-making persons from different departments were appointed by, and hence loyal to them. Several loss-making companies were inorganically absorbed, and the corrupt officers taken in good position or offered a hefty severance package!

The stakeholders, several lakhs, were ill-informed about the internal politics but displeased with the general state of the affairs of the company.

Furthermore, the structure of the company was indecipherable with no accounting for who is responsible for whom. In addition to the direct reporting structure, because of different loyalties, there were several indirect reporting structures as well.

And the best part? Nothing properly documented. Blatant scams going on in different subsidiaries, in different departments, across various levels of management. Several fake employee IDs withdrawing salaries for several decades. Some fake IDs even collected their retirements benefits as well. :)

Now the task facing the new CEO was:

A) How to put a new structure in place?

B) How to get everyone to accept the proposed new changes?

C) How to trim the un-necessary manpower placed by the previous CEOs without creating a mass hysteria? How to let go of Non-Performing Assets?

D) How to reduce the dependence on the majority of components being outsourced and how to inculcate internal problem-solving abilities?

E) How to combat the internal friction between the different departments and unions and to impress on them the need to follow a similar set of rules and regulations?

The major challenge being, how to do all of that when the internal structure has become so corrupt. Any new change introduced is met with a vehement disapproval from the employee unions, even if it were a change for their benefit. All because, the loyalists to previous CEOs were so deeply interspersed within the ranks.

The choices with the new CEO are simple:

A) Brave all the odds and the shouts from the unions. Be prepared to get hated but take the moral high road and think of the benefits to the company masses and shareholders.

B) Let the things continue as before, and accept own kickbacks.

If you were in the shoes of the new CEO, what would you have done?