The Generalist

Very often we come across discussions pertaining to merits and demerits of being a specialist or a generalist. While specialist boast of an in-depth understanding of a specific discipline, generalist bank on their understanding and conceptualization of framework which holds all inter depend modules together. Both spectrum of arguments make it zero sum game where its non-conducive to have either brilliance in isolation or a well-conceived story with weak sub plots. 

If we observe the traits of a specialist what comes out distinctively in their personality is their unrelenting focus. By virtue of definition, specialist does not dabble in various departments which bring superior command and grip on one particular subject of his pursuit. In contrast, generalist is your proverbial jack of all trades who can hold on to conservation pertaining to all subjects to the beginner level or may be to 201 notch. For an organization to succeed, both these cogs need to run in cadence with less friction.  In my short stint in technology services provider, I have been a staunch generalist. I have been working closely with specialists from various streams and while I have gained a decent understanding of the output they produce, in-depth knowledge is clearly missing. However, with due respect to specialist, I have come to recognize that what goes in the making of a successful generalist is tremendous quantum of grit and gumption.  While you are presented polished views of participating silos you need to bring down veil of technology and practice differential to create a unified appearance, consistent with corporate IT policies and standards, establish clear communication channels and implement well defined processes to ensure wheel of workflow runs smoothly without any spoke conflicting with other. This knack is no easy task. In fact, this demands rapid learning and unlearning of process playbook with reference to client’s context.  In our increasing independent global business, way to go about defining and implementing processes might vary across geographies and industry domain. Domain knowledge and cross cultural intelligence play major role in conditioning value proposition.  

Going Slow

Just think about one of the most pronounced traits in a successful salesperson. Will it be suave, loquacious, intelligent, extrovert….it’s a long list. I thought one of the trait that s sharply defines a successful salesperson is impatience...not any more. Recently we closed a strategic deal in Europe and it won’t be an exaggeration to say that yearlong pursuit left us all dreading the prospect of next business in this particular geography. 

That’s what I thought when it looked like a never ending process, client was raising questions on every single line in proposal and we were providing clarifications that shouldn’t have mattered (in our opinion) in a multi-million deal. We thought were they enjoying this delay or were they simply mistrustful of us. Was it our inefficiency that made the process drag or were they being too detail oriented. And given that we had got so tantalizingly close to whiff of victory slightest distraction looked so unfair. But now with all that behind me and in one of the reflecting moment I think – how many times do we get things worth having in a jiffy. Never. And this was a marriage of culture, could it have been solemnized without few hide and seek with the prospective suitor. Client gave us trying times and hard to meet deadlines and gauged our reaction. Yearlong we were driven to prove we were the worthy suitor, right match for their crown jewel. We pushed ourselves, held night long sessions, and challenged the team, all with an eye on proverbial fish’s eye of Draupadi’s swamvyar. Dropping the ball was not an option yet fatigue was inescapable and personally impatience compounded by taxing tactics of some of client’s representative had made me wonder if this chase was worth the object of affection. But now I know, it was. 

And therein lays a correction. Impatience in pursuit is not the hallmark of a successful salesman. All business is people business and if you are willing to take a leap of faith for a strategic partnership don’t think other party will do so as well. In fact, Japanese have a meticulous way of going about any prospect of business alliance. It’s called Nemawashi and it entails employee tabling the proposal taking it through all his peers to record their feedback and concerns. Once it passes the scrutiny of employee’s peer ecosystem it’s taken up for senior management review and there again it has to meet the approval of all stakeholders before crystallizing. Mere description of whole process looks erucitatingly long and might be deemed as stifling agility yet it helps organization stand behind a decision collectively and ensures fool proof due diligence for every important decision pertaining to B2B engagement. Thankfully, we were not dealing with this end of the spectrum yet it holds an important lesson in cross cultural sales cycle. We might nay will have to reiterate our proposition, explanations to their key concerns and why we make the best match. We will have to listen to new concerns creeping in when everything looked so hunky dory. We will have few detractors in client’s entourage  who will be dismissive of whole cross cultural business idea .there will be slip ups from our side, few frowns on client’s side but in the end if you can give attention ( not obeisance) to every request (or demand) of their , howsoever seemingly small you make a statement. I think we did that every single time and even though we might have had our focus dimmed and  patience running dry at fall end of chase, this closure will go a long way to teaching me ‘patience is a great virtue’ in strategic partnerships .

Work life balance..huh

Okay, a post after 12 months. from a guy who thought writing is therapeutic. wow. where did i lose the track.


so without much ado, i'll wrap my thoughts around virtues of being happy. plain, simple happy. not making it a function of possessions, achievements and state of relative being. only happy. and that, doesn’t come easy. very recently, i was interacting with a French customer of Irish origin. his son was working with an NGO in India and had decided to donate his years of earnings to the school setup by NGO. Wearing my sales hat, i tried to fill him with details of Premji's donations to charity and all. Somewhere during the course of conversation, Mr Client made a very interesting remark - ' i am intrigued at how happy people are out here in this part of the world, in spite of not having much money or worldly luxuries'. Obviously, it was an observation borne out of what he would have read, heard from his son or people given to peans in praise of Indian penance culture. it was my turn to reflect. i thought, it was a virtue we lost in mindless race of 24x7 availability and professional demands. fat pay cheque, 2 BHK flat, mid sized sedan and secured pension, promises of future are robbing us of the pleasures of present. Its a sad phenomenon when you see guys my age reeling with stress related ailments. we have made great strides in advancement of medical science and longevity is going northwards. When i look at my father, gleefully gorging on all sweets and mutton curries followed by deep slumber, i long to have the same bliss for myself. there i am, with tingling neck pain, less salt, less sweet and guess what, its 1.30 AM and i am sleepless in Bangalore. not to say, i am on a reckless path, smoking was waved goodbye long back, drinking too got relegated to friends gathering and running is on my daily to do list ( my to do list is a fitting example of execution less strategy).


Few changes i have made to my professional conduct and might be useful for folks caught in whirlwind of demanding work space.

1. urge to respond to mail immediately should be curbed. one, you get more time to process the information. Secondly, many times our response loses objectivity when done at the spur. Rather, let the mail sit in your inbox. read it, let the response cross your mind and settle. Ignore it, do something else, come back to it and the right words jump from your keyboard. a repartee is a virtue in verbal conversation, in business emails its not.

2. Arguments are good. some where i read, good ideas invariably face resistance. Galileo, Socrates, Assange, etc etc. not to take away our right to be downright stupid and at the same time defending your ideas with conviction, that's something.

3. rest later..