I Bought The Monk's Ferrari (16 page)

In today's hectic work schedule, high workload, and competition, it is difficult to put a check on the stress level. With a sedentary lifestyle, poor food habits, excessive travel, and alcohol thrice a week you can hardly blame your body for revolting. The obvious consequences are heart and liver ailments and other stress disorders. Imagine a situation wherein you are out of work for a period of three months on account of a serious illness. Remember, if you are competing for the Ferrari, there will be five other opponents breathing on your shoulder, hoping that you topple, so that they can further their careers. Your prolonged absence from work, gives them an opportunity to wedge their way in. And, you would not want them to do that. Therefore, the higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.

Ever heard of the term 'rat race'? Yes, life is indeed a race. And in this race, you cannot afford to go slow. You either run fast and stay ahead of the pack, or your competitors will overtake you. You can neither take a break, nor reduce steam. If you do slow down, you will be branded incompetent. And, once you are branded incompetent, it lasts forever. It becomes very difficult to enter the race again. So, run you must... and that too, hard ... and to run, you need strength, stamina and speed ... and for that you need to be fit.

COMMANDMENT NINE

Remain fighting fit and be in perfect shape. No one will entrust you
with the Ferrari if you are not fit enough to drive it.

Work hard, exercise harder, build stamina, and keep illness at bay. This is a sure shot way of getting into the driver's seat.

S
uccess is a pedestal resting on two basic pillars— ACHIEVEMENTS and PERCEPTIONS of those achievements by the rest of the world.

If you have earned the Ferrari you would obviously want to drive it proudly along the town's busiest streets. Would you not want to show the world that you are its proud owner? This is what we all struggle and work hard for. Likewise, every successful person desires to be perceived as successful.

Achievement is quantifiable and measurable, perception is not. Achievements are actual deliverables, which to a large extent, are tangible. They are there for everyone to see and measure. You can control your achievements. They are normally in black and white and are often not open to individual interpretations.

Good work not advertised is akin
to kissing a girl in the dark. You
don't know who you kissed,
neither does the one you kissed.

A
NONYMOUS

However, where many individuals falter is in the latter, i.e. in managing the perceptions. They often have achievements to talk about, but fail in managing perceptions where it matters. As a result, their successes, their achievements go unnoticed and unrecognised. Let me explain how.

In any organisation, or even if you are running your own business, it is in your own interest that as many people as possible know about your achievements, even if they are not related directly or indirectly to your field of operation.

I knew a man who joined a foreign bank in Bangalore in 1995 as a relationship manager. In those days, relationship managers were responsible for acquiring new clients for the bank, primarily deposit holders. This gentleman brought in a twenty crores' deposit deal within sixty days of joining the bank—partly luck, partly persistence —but nothing that he did to get the deposit was extraordinary. This was at a time when the entire bank's deposit base in Bangalore was less than hundred crores. The Bangalore branch of this bank suddenly came into the limelight. The twenty-crore deposit deal became the talk of the bank. Victory messages flew thick and fast— there was no intranet in those days, else it would have been on that, too. Over the next few weeks, the deal was discussed again and again, over lunch, over dinner, in the elevator, in the pantry, in the wash room, and in every conceivable corner of the bank. This gentleman was hailed a hero.

A halo was created around him and that helped him get plum positions, quick jumps in his career, as a result, today he is a very successful banker. People who knew him in his twenty-crore days, are all over the banking industry and in very senior controlling positions in most of the foreign banks. They are the ones who have helped him grow in his career. Today, he heads a large business and is way ahead of his contemporaries in the way his career has moved. He is closer to the Ferrari than any of his contemporaries.

I met him some time back and casually asked him about the turning point in his career. As expected, he spoke of the twenty-crore deposit deal and all that followed suit.

'After that success,' he said, 'everyone started viewing me as a hotshot sales person. Today, if any of the seniors who were in the bank at that time, need a business head, they think of me and I owe this to the profile that my supervisor built for me after the twenty-crore deal.' If his boss had not publicised his success, no one would have known and he would have had to work harder to get noticed. It was the 'perception' that his supervisor instigated others to have about him that helped him climb up the career ladder.

Ever wondered why those at head offices, get their promotions faster than those at the branch offices? Why they get international assignments at a rapidity which is hardly seen at the branches? It is all about being noticed and performance getting its deserved recognition. I am not arguing whether this is right or wrong. All I am trying to say is that perception matters most!!!

There was this gentleman who joined a large MNC bank as a marketing head for India in the year 1996. In the last ten years he has risen from this position in India to one of the topmost positions globally. He is among the top-four executives in this global banking giant and is tipped to be one of the contenders for the next global CEO. And, how did this happen?

When a senior team came for visiting India, within eight months of his joining the bank, he was asked to make a presentation to the delegation, in the absence of his immediate boss. He made such a stunning presentation that everyone around was impressed, and within no time he was plucked out of the Indian operations and moved overseas. And, he has never looked back. Had he not got noticed on that day (and had he not made an effort to get noticed) would he have been even remotely close to where he is today. The answer is an obvious 'No', notwithstanding the fact that he was one of the brightest individuals to have worked for the bank in question.

Some people are fortunate enough to have supervisors who work on building profiles for them, exposing their talents to the top management, to the influencers. Some may not be as fortunate so they have to work on it themselves, but work they must to ensure that people talk of their accomplishments.

Whatever may be the case, the greatest benefit of building a good profile for yourself, even among unrelated people is that tomorrow if an opportunity arises, people will remember you. There may be others in the system who have delivered better than you have, but you will triumph because your profile will make you 'top of mind' recall. After a certain level in any organisation, profile and perceptions drive you closer to the Ferrari. That's because, beyond a certain level it is taken for granted that since you have reached this far, you have the capability to deliver. Given this assumption, the only thing which differentiates you from another performer is profile ... perception, i.e. how people see you. Public opinion in your favour definitely helps in your quest of the Ferrari.

At Citibank, for instance, promotions happen through a management committee debate, at specific times of the year. Generally, a list of all eligible candidates is drawn up and circulated among the members of the committee. Then on an agreed date and time, the entire management committee gets onto a conference call and talks through the entire list. The merits and demerits of promoting a particular individual is debated threadbare. The candidate's supervisor, who has observed him from close quarters often takes the lead and tries to push the promotion of his subordinate. In such a situation, just imagine the benefit that accrues to the candidate, if three more members on the management committee say, 'Yes, I know him. He is a wonderful resource and we must promote such a talent.' It makes his promotion air-tight. Often such comments from other uninvolved people make and mar the career prospects of individuals in corporate world. And, how do you ensure that three others in the management committee stand up and fight your cause? BUILD A PROFILE with everyone you think is important in your organisation.

As your depth of work in the company increases, you will know that loose comments about individuals can ring the death-knell for budding careers and casual positive comments from people not particularly completely informed can work wonders for your career.

In order to let others know your achievements, take the help of emails, and intranet (if your company has one), hone your networking skills, hunt down people in your organisation who, you are aware, will spread the word about what you have done. Avoid conflicts with influential people. If you have done something good, something different, something which you feel everyone in the organisation should know, go ahead and tell them. These are the same set of people who will help you on your way up the hill, on your way to the Ferrari.

Surely, building a profile without performance to back it up is not going to get you anywhere. But if you are a performer without the profile-building skills ... well, schedule visits to the nearest temple all seven days of the week ... You will need God Himself to come and help you in your quest for the Ferrari.

COMMANDMENT TEN

If you have followed all the commandments with dedication and determination, it is the time to build up a profile for yourself. Target your audience and announce your achievements. You will own the Ferrari in no time.