Corridor Conversations

One of the biggest cancers that affect many organizations all around the world is the ‘corporate free rider’. The dead beat corporate free riders are these unique breed of individuals that have no qualms of taking credit or been given credit for something they haven’t worked for or participated in. Their sole aim in their corporate careers is to do minimal work and spot the next big wave of success where they can suddenly show up with their surfing board and ride the wave. The sad part is that in many work places managers and HR turns a blind eye to this kind of behavior which in turn propels more of the same. Not only do free riders add to the dead wood in the organization but they also de-motivate other team members who don’t get recognized for their rightful work or have to share credit with non participatory members.  It’s a problem that any organization, manager or team member needs to call out immediately before it affects the team where the real talent soon leaves and the only people left are incompetent people.

Guest Post By Maria Francis

Their numbers grew rapidly ever since free Internet became available in most offices. ‘Free’ being the keyword here.

Well, actually the Ten Minuters existed long before that. We might be able to trace their beginnings right back to the Stone Ages where one caveman sat polishing his saber-tooth weapon longer than the others, possibly to impress a group leader. Anyway it appears to have worked, probably in the form of the seat closest to the fire or a juicier chunk of mammoth meat meted out by the leader.

In our modern day corporate world, this translates itself into good appraisals and promotions. Those ten minutes after office hours (also calculated as 600 seconds to emphasise its significance) has become more of an enjoyable phenomenon thanks to the World Wide Web.

I had an interesting lunch conversation with a couple of my friends who were curious about my recent status update that read ‘Find your talent before your comfort ’. So the conversation revolved around the subject and here is what I told them. Over the last decade I have had the opportunity and privilege to meet a varied set of professionals across the world in various industries. Some of them have been brilliant strategist, some of them great executors and many of them passionate people but there has been one special group of individuals that have always intrigued me, I would like to call them ‘placeholders’.  For those familiar with marketing you will know that we use this term for pictures, objects and text that are temporarily placed instead of the real content.

The history of business has many examples of successful companies that have lost their market leadership position and become an insignificant player in that sector. 50 years back the pace at which these things happened was slow and gradual but with the rapidly changing times we are living in, it makes it a scary scenario for many international businesses. Many organizations who have enjoyed a successful past are getting challenged by more vibrant younger companies. In some cases it’s not other organizations that are challenging these power houses, but it’s their  business models that are no longer relevant.  Many of these organizations have had their own blind spots that have ultimately led to their decline. The important point to note is that on careful analysis you will discover that these failures are more related to people rather than to any technology or business limitation. Here are some signs of impending problem. 

In my enthusiasm to contemplate my next move (I love planning in advance )  I have been evaluating various sales and marketing job roles at my work place and as expected one of the jobs that surfaced on my wish list was back in a direct marketing job but with a focus on Digital Marketing. But as I considered my pitch to reach out to the right people in the organization I realized that there are tons of people lining up for the same. With the buzz and excitement around digital and social media, it’s no surprise that a Digital role in any organization is a much pursued job. So I realized that I needed to do some introspection and ask myself some tough questions before I make a worthy differentiated pitch that makes the cut. Here’s what I have been thinking lately