Years ago, when I was a rookie with HPCL, I used to prepare meticulously for our Sales Review Meetings held 3-4 times a year. At least one of the meetings will be chaired by GM South Zone. You need to understand that computers had not become popular, and one had to painstakingly type the Sales Presentation document in a rickety Remington Typewriter oneself. I was known for my immaculate groundwork.
There were 8 of us, Sales Officers. The meeting will start at 9 am, and the Regional Manager would decide who goes in first. I was never given the first slot, nor was Shaji, my Trichur Colleague. The first presenter will normally have a presentation lasting 90 minutes, during which most of the general issues will be discussed threadbare. But no one had any doubts that he was the target for the management (any review meeting the management will come prepared to rip one of the Sales Officer apart). The second presenter will be given 45 minutes. At around 12.50 pm, they will ask me to present with a caveat "Rajan, you have 10 minutes! Just highlight your major problems. We are hungry and need to break for lunch at 1 pm". Or alternatively, I will be given the last slot at 4.45pm, or immediately after lunch when no one is interested.
Intrigued, and disappointed that all my preparations had gone to waste, I, once, complained about this perceived injustice to my GM when he was on a private visit to my Sales Area in Coimbatore. A very soft spoken paternal gentleman, he smiled, patted me on the back and said,
"Rajan. we look at only a few things. Are you in control of the situation? Are you aware of the problems? Have you applied your mind to find workable solutions to the problems? Have you identified those problems which need decision making at a higher level, and if so, are you approaching us in time?. In your case, you score high on all of the above. And so does Shaji. That is why we leave you to your job, give you limited time during which you normally clear up the 2-3 issues that need decision making at my level"
That is one lesson I have never forgotten in my life. I have applied that rigorously in my professional life, and in my teaching life. I worry (and some say behind my back, reveal the Darth Vader side of my personality) only when my subordinates/students appear to be unaware of the pitfalls or when they don't think it through or when they are reluctant to approach me when they are stuck or when they approach me to solve things that they can solve on their own.
