Tag Archives: Management

Actionable advice: do not gold plate or allow scope creep at workplace

Every project manager will undoubtedly know the definition of gold plating and scope creep, also known as requirement creep. For the uninitiated, to gold plate, in project management parlance, is to add any functionality or feature that was not a part of the original project scope plan. This does not mean that new features or… Read More »

Getting “selected” for promotion in the corporate world

Recently, Saurav Ganguly, who retired as India’s most successful captain, had this to say about getting selected for the Indian cricket team, I retired because at some point you’ve had enough. The reason is not because you have had enough of playing the sport but because you’ve had enough of getting selected all the time.… Read More »

Sexual harassment in the workplace: meet weirdo Hans

Recently, New York Times, in an exposé, alleged that a very prominent Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein, has been sexually harassing women for ages. Subsequent to the publication of that exposé, many other women have come forward and accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment. Some have even accused him of rape. According to the article, he… Read More »

Weirdos of the corporate world: meet itchy Ritesh and pocket pool Richard

While meandering your way through the corporate world, your path will invariably cross the paths of a lot of weird characters. Some of them will be your colleagues and some of them will be your superiors/managers/leaders. It is relatively easy to work with weird colleagues, as you can navigate the “potholes” they create with some… Read More »

Leaders vs. Dealers: Who/what are dealers, and what are the key differences between leaders and dealers?

It always surprises me how people casually and flippantly exalt nincompoops to the position of a “leader.” The first time I witnessed such an event take place in the corporate world, it was during a town hall meeting I attended, eons ago. A so-called “transformational leader” was visiting us and there was a town hall meeting with him… Read More »

A few facts about abusive managers/bullying bosses, and how to “deal” with those individuals?

I like many people had the great misfortune of working for abusive managers and bullying bosses very early on in my career. The manager at my second job was a serial tormentor and a bully. She disliked/hated all her team members. I don’t want to go into elaborate details about what that particular manager did… Read More »

The Rube Goldberg machines of the corporate world

Have you worked or do you work in an organization that follows one or many over-engineered process(es), commonly called the Rube Goldberg machines? For those who aren’t aware of the term Rube Goldberg machines, let me refer to Wikipedia to introduce Rube Goldberg and Rube Goldberg machine. Rube Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer,… Read More »

Why does the modern world under-appreciate late bloomers but worship young entrepreneurs and achievers?

This is an era of young entrepreneurs where people rave about the thriving culture of Start-ups. Everybody dreams to be successful at a young age now. However, are you someone who has still not found THE GOAL of life when you compare yourself with successful people of the same age? Are you still struggling to get… Read More »

Faux Leaders, False Prophets and Insouciant Worker Bees

How many leaders—business, political and otherwise—are wearing “masks” to hide their true self? It seems that the world is full of people who claim to be leaders, but are faux leaders or, worse, no leader at all. Throughout history many powerful leaders who wielded absolute authority have used that authority to betray, manipulate, lie to and hoodwink the masses, to further their selfish agendas. It seems there are many sociopaths in leadership roles worldwide. Although, human history is replete with examples of destruction being wrought by faux leaders or false prophets, we the people are none the wiser about their hidden agenda. We remain divided over petty differences and continue to genuflect at the altar of these destructive individuals, and they continue to exploit us all. This cannot continue; a reboot is needed to usher in a new tomorrow, but the question is—How?