I have been lazy !! I can blame it on the recession so am hopefully back to write about what laziness has costed me.
In my state of laziness I have managed to emulate the six-pack wonder Aamir Khan, only difference being he has six-pack muscles, I have six packets of fat on my tummy :-). So big lecture from wife and a quest begins to lose the extra weight. Now gaining it was so easy, but losing it has been a painful experience, without any gains.
I did what any sensible(one can always debate what this means) person would do, looked for the quick-fix solutions, surgery, some sauna belt, medicines so on and so forth and armed with huge amount of data and research sat down to evaluate the best option for me. My doctor friend walks in and tells me that all these methods will not help, I will be gaining back the weight back in no time unless I made fundamental changes to my lifestyle, which included change in food habits, exercise, regular sleep, regular hours etc etc. Sounded very difficult to do.
Applying my new gained knowledge to the world of business, I realised that most organisations seem to be in the same state as me.
Suddenly there is a realisation everywhere that there is extra flab which needs to be shed and everybody seems to running for the most 'sensible' thing to do, shed the extra weight and fast, so organisations are going for quick fix solutions, firing the bench, firing non-performers, going for VRS and so on.
What they are not realising is that as soon as the markets turn around, all this flab will come back more quickly than how much time it takes to shed it. In the business context, also, there needs to be a systemic change to ensure that the organisation changes the way it manages people, performance, skills etc to ensure that they have the right people at any point in time and do not have extra weight. All the people are skilled and re-skilled (just like I am trying to exercise my right muscles) in the right manner to ensure there is no provision for extra weight. And ofcourse good planning is a key to managing your weight, including your manpower numbers.
My simple thought hence is that while you are trying to shed your extra weight, make sure you are making those fundamental changes to ensure that you stay trim in the long term.
Wishing everyone and myself all the very best in this weight losing quest !! Cheers !!
4 comments:
Sanjay sir,
The parallel between body fat (and the painful process of loosing it) and org flab is very aptly put.
During the times of fast top line growth no one really bothers about these supposedly soft issues. However, when the ugly downturn arrives in its full glory (or fury) this becomes a pain point.
Extending your example a bit further, these quick fixes act only as pain killers, they remove the effect but don't really work on the root cause. And the top management as well as HR thinks they have solved the issue when it only re-appears in an even bigger form.
Ashutosh
and btw... best of luck for the flab cutting... hope that u go for a permanent fix and not a temp solution :)
Very good analogy, sir!
Thank you Apoorva. Happy you liked it. Sanjay
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