A Leadership Primer: General Colin Powell (Chairman (Retd), Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Army)

This must be one the greatest presentations on leadership I have read. 18 lessons, one slide each. The power of brevity & insight illustrated. Access the presentation by clicking on the link below.


http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0ATWUIgebefnGZDV2cDJqbl8xOGhjNno4a2N6&hl=en

Review: Faujnet & XISF

Two websites I have come across lately which attempt to bring together the armed forces community on one platform are Faujnet (http://www.faujnet.com/) and XISF - which is an acronym for eX Indian Security Forces (http://xisf.org/en/). Having had the opportunity to interact with the founders of both I consider these ventures admirable. Register with them to reap the rewards (both are still very new but are seriously committed to constantly upgrading and improving. As is true for all such ventures, value addition will emerge and multiply based on the membership numbers and interactivity. So you will need to be patient with them for a start). They have similar models:

1. A web based interface which has elements of interest to members in it. In this case career transition advice, job posts, articles, networking, forums, etc. (let me not do injustice by clubbing all the other utilities with an 'etc', the sites actually have a lot more to offer and it will be well worth your time to explore each in detail).
2. Creation of a large membership base.
3. A revenue model revolving around the above elements.
   

Critical aspects required for them are:

1. The utilities / resources being provided to members need to be relevant, effective, scalable and engaging on the long term. As an illustration, an officer seeking transition advice must find it on the site and this should help him in his endeavour for a second career (relevant & effective). This and similar transitional advice must reach all officers who need it. Tailor-made and customized advice could be available, however, resources should aim at providing solutions to the maximum majority possible (scalable). The officer who sought and received transition advice should have a reason to continue to be engaged over the long term with the site (engaging). This could imply continuously innovating with new resources / solutions on the site, tweaking existing utilities to keep them relevant & interesting, creating second, third and so on levels of engagement. Thus, if the officer was seeking information on which transition course he should choose and received this information, the site should further tell him how he should evaluate multiple job options at the time of his placement. At the third level, he could be provided with information on how he needs to set his medium and long term career goals and the steps he needs to accomplish them. Thus at every stage of his career he gets the solution / answers he needs and identifies the site as a source for this information referring back to it on frequent occasion. This level of engagement however is infrequent. The sites should further aim at creating frequent levels of engagement (daily, weekly, etc.).
2. Visibility and branding to propagate the sites to as many relevant users as possible and further ensure they register with the site.
3. High quality content (including user generated) and resources. A user coming across low quality content or a resource which was supposed to work but doesn't could put him off completely and he might never return to the site (I have seen content on both the sites with numerous grammatical & spelling errors and well as some which was outright bad). The Indian Armed forces community has a very strong element of networking and communication inherent in it. A happy user will tell 10 others about the site. The opposite is true as well. Creation of self appointed brand ambassadors is important to create a successful brand.
   

XISF seems to have adopted the Barista model where it evaluates each step independently, refines and goes ahead with it. Whereas Faujnet seems to have adopted the Starbucks model (also adopted by Cafe Coffee Day) where it goes all out in expansion / visibility and refines / consolidates along the way.

There are pros and cons of both approaches. As with Barista, they have a far lesser number of stores but loyalists admire the ambience and personal touch of their outlets. Whereas in Cafe Coffe Day, their large numbers ensure huge footfall (consequently revenue as well) and branding / visibility, but people sometimes complain of an outlet being like an assembly line.

The bottom-line of any such venture is its ability to attract and retain users over the medium to long term. A site can be monetized and thus be successful only if it is able to achieve that aim.

My best wishes to both!

You Have Received an Offer from a Company: Taking Things Ahead

You have received one or more job offers. What next?

1. Evaluate the profile(s): This includes several factors. These factors have been listed in an earlier post (click on the link to open): Factors to be Considered While Taking up a Job/Profile.
   
2. Check the CTC being offered (read my post on the difference between CTC & 'take-home'). Insist on a break-up of the same giving details of its constituents. Negotiate on it - never accept the first offer. There is always scope for improvement. Besides salary, check other perks you will get like a transport allowance, mobile phone allowance, etc. (as components of your CTC and not as profile related facility). The amount will vary depending on the profile. Check if you can change the break-up of the proposed CTC to save taxes.
   
3. Check the designation you are being given and negotiate on it, if required.
4. Read the offer letter carefully to understand the implication of each point in it. Try to read between the lines.
5. Take into consideration the distance of your home to the office and the time and cost implications it has.
6. Check the joining date expected of you and see if you are comfortable with it.
   
7. Check whether the company works 5 days a week or 6.
8. Inquire if the company has a formal 'employee rewards and recognition' program. Good professionally run companies have one.
   
9. Inquire about the dress code.
10. Request for a copy of the internal rules and regulations of the company including its leave policy, medical policy and other details.

Decide on the one which seems the best after considering each profile against the points mentioned in the post above.

1. On acceptance of the offer letter and on joining, the company must give you an appointment letter which confirms the appointment as well as mentions other important points in detail.
2. Ensure you fill up the Providend Fund Form which is a mandatory requirement (only for individuals earning basic pay Rs. 6,500 and below. PF is not mandatory for individuals earning earning basic pay above that amount). The employer has to match your contribution presently fixed at 12% of your basic salary (this point must as it is be mentioned in your offer letter/CTC break-up).
   

Which Transition / Resettlement Course is the Best Option for You?

Upgrading one’s qualification is one of the critical considerations an officer evaluates on release / retirement from the armed forces. Deciding which one is the best option for you is a matter of personal choice since each officer is unique by way of his/her qualifications, experience, service profile, years of service experience, preference of a profile, etc.

A few inputs on the options available:

1. 6 month GMP (General Management Program) at Management Institutes (IIMs, XLRI, MDI, etc.): Helps you learn practices and theory of the corporate world. You get up to date with market news. Campus placements, when successful, can get you higher packages. However, these have not been successful for many courses for past year+. This might change now since the economy is on the way to recovery and corporates have begun hiring again.

2. 1 year executive MBA/2 year full-time MBA (ISB-Hyderabad, IIMs, and other management institutes): In any higher education program a lot of learning happens through interaction with fellow students and professors as well as through case studies where practical knowledge and learning play a big role. Thus one should be able to meaningfully give and take learning. With a purely armed forces background this ability is limited. Also, without corporate experience, one may even be unsure of which profile to specialize in. This option is advisable only to officers with minimum 3-5 years of corporate experience.

3. 2/3 year part time MBA: These are specially designed for working executives. Classes are conducted in the evenings or during the weekends. Classes can be real or virtual. This makes sense for executives who cannot afford to take time off from work to upgrade their qualifications. Some courses like the one conducted at the IIM-L campus at Noida and FMS are reputed and can add value to your profile while you continue to earn.

4. Correspondence Courses: These add value to your resume only by way of the tag. Besides basic management theory should you decide to seriously study the course material there isn’t much value in these courses.

Recommendation

1. 6 month GMP (Ser. No. 1): In spite of the poor campus placement record lately of the six month management courses, I recommend this option. However, for placement, ensure that all options are explored (especially networking as this option has worked wonderfully well for officers in the past) and do not depend purely on campus placement. Smart officers have been known to get reasonable placements even during the recession. Officers in the higher age bracket are at a disadvantage for placements, especially if they do not have any technical qualifications.

2. A part time MBA (Ser. No. 3) from a reputed institute is also a good option to take up.

Additional inputs on officers planning to take up Ser. No. 2 as an option immediately on release / retirement

While it is certainly beneficial to be able to absorb knowledge and information from fellow students, however, you might not be able to derive maximum benefit from a full time course right now. There are several factors for this:

1. If you only take and not give, you might be viewed as a cling-on thus changing individual/group dynamics against you.

2. At the present stage you would be like a sponge taking in everything. However, very important is the fact that there are two kinds of information / knowledge to be taken - basic and advanced. You will get so engrossed in taking in the basic that you might either not be able to take in the advanced or might not identify the knowledge as such. Consider yourself as a YO in the corporate world with the difference that given a few years your learning/growth curve will be very steep. Visualize sending a YO for Junior Command as against the basic YO course.

3. Since you lack corporate exposure, the information that you now seek will not be relevant to the level you are entering. Your peers will either be individuals with hard core corporate experience ranging from 15-20 years or young executives at the top of the heap. Interactions with both will be of an advanced nature. Business strategy, advanced management concepts, globally relevant subjects, advanced domain/sector/profile related discussions, etc.

In a nutshell and to put it very bluntly, your investment to return ratio will be much higher in the 6 month MDP / part-time MBA as compared to a full time course. Yes, you must do a full time course, but after at least 3-5 years of corporate experience.

Young Officers: An HR Goldmine for Indian Corporates

I came across a website through LinkedIn a little while ago. There is a US based company (Alliance International) which specializes in the recruitment of US JMOs (Junior Military Officers) for American companies.

US JMOs have recently been judged as one of the best leaders America has in a Nov 2008 selection with names like Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo), Lance Armstrong (Cyclist & Advocate), Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com), Robert Gates (US Secy of Defence), et al. Check out the links below:

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/best-leaders/2008/11/19/how-americas-best-leaders-were-picked.html
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/best-leaders/2008/11/19/americas-best-leaders-us-junior-officers-military.html

Young officers leaving the Armed Forces and taking up corporate employment are a potentially huge HR goldmine who are not being given adequate attention by large Indian corporates. American corporations realized the potential of this group a very long time ago and former military personnel have done exceedingly well in the US government and corporate positions. Indian armed forces officers are judged as amongst the best globally... then why is corporate India lagging?

Another point to be made here is that while Indian Army YOs make great junior leaders and managers, they should be given adequate training / orientation before their complete induction into a profile in a company. The GMPs run in management institutes are not achieving this objective fully. They reinforce general management education / skills into officers who are already generalists not leading to adequate knowledge / skills to prepare them for the task ahead. These 6 month courses need to be specialized ones in functions like HR, Operations, Logistics, Marketing, Sales, etc. Further, on getting placed in a company, the company should have a 30-90 day orientation/training/induction capsule to prepare them fully for the role. Given a medium to long term view, these managers can contribute immensely to an organization.

I had also asked this question in LinkedIn to serving and retired/released (working in companies) armed forces personnel, HR managers and recruitment consultants. All the answers I received were in glowing reference to this group.

Where do Indian Army Officers stand if they were compared globally against officers of other armies on key parameters like leadership experience, communication and interpersonal skills, problem-solving abilities and the ability to perform under pressure.


The question is in reference to an article in US News. If JMOs of the US Army can be judged as such and suitably absorbed & rewarded by corporate America, why hasn't corporate India discovered/recognized this HR goldmine?