Leadership

Leadership is made just too complex. perhaps intentionally, so that successful people can make money out of the common truths. Thats the way of the rich. If you cannot convince them, confuse them. Now since they cannot get a patent over leadership and all that make it so, they unleashed propaganda around how complex and how beyond reach of the mortals leadership really is. It, then, helps them to sell their snake oil.

I had read a study (the source of which is beyond recollection) in anthropology that men, by their very nature, are inclined to work under leaders. Thus, when a diverse group of people, unknown to each other, were left alone on an island, very soon a leader emerged among them. The same methodology is adopted by employers and business schools to figure out leaders from a group.

I have to agree that this works, but there is are questions too which cast a doubt on its efficacy. Can a leader identify a leader? If yes,  does he do that by comparing against a list of attributes? Ain't these attributes the same as those fable tellers write in their books? Humans have another innate quality. They try to look for patterns even where there are none and having found some in a particular set, make generalizations based on that about the whole set. I have heard that the book "black swan" deals with this tendency in a great detail. The fact of nature remains though that any complex enough process is random and no matter what generalizations you come up with there are going to be outliers. I am not going to go further describing the problems with this process because I have learnt in life that seldom produces results.

I am going to approach the question "Who is a leader" as a scientist would. Lets try to define the problem first. We have a group of individuals. We need to pick a person among them who can "lead" them to a non-trivial "objective". It is assumed that the group is not large enough for the emergence of a another leader or sub-leader. The "led" have an option to co-operate with the group. It cannot be enforced (Its slavery otherwise and we are not talking about leader then but a master).

Lets define the "objective". Objective is a non-trivial task which requires co-operation of more than at least half the group.

The "led" have their own diverse objectives which may or may not align with the final objective the group has to achieve. These objectives may change by the time group achieve its objective and therefore they may change their decision to co-operate. There is another variable of the led: Respect. There is a different threshold of respect each person, being led, needs from the leader. In case, a person being led, realizes that his objective is not aligned with that of the group or his respect threshold has been breached, he may leave the group.

Leading a group means that the "led" place their trust in the leader that in the pursuit of the objective of the group, their own diverse objectives will be met and their respect threshold will be met.

Now lets define a leader as a result of the discussion above. A leader is a person who is able to convince at least the number of people required  to achieve the task to co-operate. There is only one way to do this. By making the "led" believe that their objectives will be met. Inspiration, lies, temptation all wear off. The best a leader can do is to make the objective of the "led" to be like him. This is a lasting bond and the "led" then will reach a state of loyalty. Loyalty is a state where the respect threshold of the "led" goes to a minimum. The objective of the led too become aligned to the leader. People talk about "lead by example", inspiration, motivation, "larger than life objective" to let the "led" reach a state of loyalty. This is the state of lowest cost and highest return.

The objectives of the led (or their loyalty) are not under a leader's control, but he needs to make sure that the respect threshold of the led is always met.

Effort is defined as the amount of work the group must do per unit time to achieve the objective. Threshold of the effort required by the group to reach an objective is set by the leader. On an average, the led will work only as hard as they "perceive" the leader works. The perception may or may not be true. Thus, the leader should create a perception of hard work.

The leader should be prepared for the risk that the number of "led" could go below the minimum required, even after observing the above due to change in objectives. He should have reserves to maintain the number. This  is especially true when the leader realizes that the gap between the group's objective and personal objectives is widening.

Did you get the fake here? I am a fable teller myself and the above is my story. A generalization for which there are bound to be outliers. I just hope am rich too some day ;)

Faith and destiny

There comes a day in life of every person, when faith deserts him. A whole new world of disasters begins to loom in front. The gates of the nether side of the world open. The demons in all hues and shapes are ready to gulp you down alive and Cerberus(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerberus) is missing.

The faith is Cerberus, our guardian angel which keeps the door to hell tightly shut. The faith that tomorrow will be better than today even though we walk in the fog today. Depression must really be a lack of faith the faith.

But why do we lose faith all of a sudden? The matrix, a movie, holds so many answers. Its the illusion of choice which makes us lose faith. Really we do not have a choice. We are walking the path predestined for us and if we had it laid down in black and white, we would have revolted against it. Just because its written, it cannot be. With the illusion of choice, we have been given the bitter medicine in a sweet pill. Its going to hurt, if it has to and there is absolutely nothing in present that you can do about it. If it has to hurt, you are going to make that choice, no matter plethora of choices you may have today.

Similarly, if there is pleasure in the future, you are destined to enjoy, no matter how much you think before you step into a choice. Thinking, thus, is such a waste of time. Decision is not yours to make. Coins, cards, or stars cannot help you make a choice, simply because its not yours to make. The choices when presented to us, have a way of already being made. We just convince ourselves of the fallacies of other choices against their perceived advantages. We all know this, deep, internally, like in the gut.

Different people make different choices in similar circumstances. It then really comes down to the kind of person you are. The choice that has been made for you leads you to a system where you can survive better than the systems which other choices lead to. A fighter will make a choice which makes him fight and a  coward will make a choice so that he remains one. A winner makes a winnign choice and loser makes a losing choice.  I wish it was so black and white. Everyone is a fighter at one time, a winner at one time and a coward or loser at another. We all make choices according to the courage we have at that time, at that age, in those circumstances. Its said that we make our choices and our choices make us. I now disagree. I think we make ourselves and choices are nothing but a charade to keep it least painful.

I will take example of my situation here which has really led to this chant. I loved the product I was making. It got shelved because of so many issues. The choices I have now are 1) Stay with my present company and help them chisel my dream bit by bit with the very own hands who shaped her. 2) Go on to do another job which will not come even close to what I was doing so far 3) Go to US where I can find work of my liking, but because of the lack of CS degree and location disadvantage, no company I want to work will take me (also because I am not among the absolute best of the industry) 4) Go to US for MS so that I can get a ticket to enter those coveted campuses and deal with uncertainty of finances, job, stay away from family etc. etc.

The choice has been made, but I am so scared to walk it. I also know, like in the gut, that its going to work out but its the path which scares me. The path is difficult and uncertain but not anything alien which has not been walked before. No matter how hard I try to make other choices, I cannot because, I think, the choice has already been made and I have been offered an illusion. I am still looking for courage to walk the choice. And I am sure I will find it, just enough to walk it. Nothing more and nothing less.

Taste of death

Someone was reading my hand and I remember him telling me that you have a great life ahead of yourself. Your luck line was fragmented until now but from now on there is nothing stopping it. You would do very well in your life, career, health, love, except there is going to be a major accident in your late thirties. You will survive.

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I was talking to my mom once, may be while watching a movie where a major accident takes place. I wondered, how cool would it be to be at the center of an accident. The car about to hit another one. The adrenaline rush one would feel. I felt such a rush when once in US we were driving on old solid snow and car lost control on a turn. The car swirled to crash gently in the footpath. Yeah I did feel the adrenaline rush like that of being in a roller coaster. But it was not the same. Be very scared of what you ask. You just might get it.

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"I was sitting with my hands tight on the rails when he was driving me to the metro station last night."
"I was so scared when he drove past two vehicles from their middle"
"He drives just too fast. I have seen him"
I thought these guys did not understand it even though I was driving fast, I was driving safe.  I pride myself at predicting drivers on Indian roads. I knew all the moves of the autos, cabs, civilized drivers of cars, uncivilized driver of cars (I still cannot predict ricks though!). Almost always I had a back up plan when I was doing heroics on the road. What if the parallel vehicles from the middle of which I would be going, converged towards each other? Is my speed enough to handle that eventuality and yes I could handle it and I have done a it a hundred times. The guy on the perpendicular road is coming too fast to the intersection. He cannot see on his perpendicular side when he is driving so fast. He would need to apply brakes when he reaches the intersection. What if he doesn't? Is my speed low enough that I can stop the vehicle at the intersection?

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No theory can exist without exceptions, except this one. It sounds like "the only thing constant is change". This is so because life is random. You can predict only a part of the randomness. Every theory would fail at a use case not considered or ignored or not known. The above theory was bound to fail too. I knew, when was the question? Was the probability low enough for me to live my life without encountering it?

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It feels like a dream. It's said that you have just ten seconds to remember a dream after you wake, beyond which it just vanishes. If I had dreamt about what I went through yesterday, I would have woken up shocked and soaked in sweat. I thought I would use my ten seconds to put down the nightmare I lived through to tell the tale.

Like any other day, I was driving fast to my office. I was on my favorite road, the one leading to Signature towers from the HUDA City Center Metro station. Favorite because all the speed breakers build on it are at the waning end of their lives and have big gaping holes in them to let the bike swiftly through. I quickly passed unharmed through the only bottleneck, as usual and I increased the speed so that I can coast through to the office for the rest of the run.

I had calculated that to reach Signature towers turn at enough speed, which I calculated to be 30, I would need to be at 50 on the last U-turn available. To reach that U-turn available at 50, I would need to be at 90 at the one before that. In case I was not able to touch 90 on the second last U-turn, I could go on up to 80 till about a third distance between the two U-turns and then release the throttle.

It was one of those days, when I was cruising at 80 until the first third. I had released the throttle. I was in the next lane of this car which was coming fast from my behind and overtook me and I thought, duh! what a crazy driver. It slowed down because the car just ahead of it was travelling slower. Very next second I thought, now this guy will switch to the left lane so that he could get ahead of the car blocking his speed ambitions. I also thought that this would no way harm me because at his speed he could cruise away from me even if he switched lanes. My bike would have touched 70 at this time.

The very next second he did exactly what I had thought. He took a sharp left. Right at that moment my calculations went awry, his speed came down and I was staring at my bike going into the car. I took a sharp left too but my bike touched the car. I lost balance.

This was the adrenaline rush I had thought I would live. This, I hope, was the accident I was to survive. What follows is only a guess to what would have happened because as an anti-climax, as I began to fall, my eyes were shut. Was it a temporary black out or just a reflex I know not. I heard my head bang thrice on the road and even in that state I thanked that I was wearing a helmet.

The bike swayed to the right where the car was touching it. In a bid to keep it stable, I shifted my weight towards left. The bike began to give way and started falling towards the right. My weight on the left pulled be off the falling bike. I landed on my left shoulder and started rolling. To stop myself from rolling, I used my right leg which got bruised as it tried to apply break. My right arm also tried to help my left leg. Thankfully, I kept rolling. I guess I rolled thrice since my head hit the road thrice. The bike too was sliding parallel to me since we had the speed in the same direction. I and my bike stopped at the same time with my left leg just a little inside. There was a small incision on it. We both came to a halt. I was conscious and kicking. I got up to see that my bike was battered. I was fine.

A lot of things worked for me. I did not fell with my bike to the right or I would have been on a  running road. Right of the bike is hot because of the silencer. The whole of the weight of the bike was on the right. I couldn't have rolled and would have been dragged with my bike. I was wearing a jacket with leather arms. They took most of the brunt of the anger of the unforgiving road. Thank god winters are unusually long these days. That's the reason I was wearing that jacket. I was wearing a jeans which did all it could to keep my legs from the brutal charcoal. My helmet again was to my rescue. I hit my chin on the road and then a couple of times my head. I do not think I would be alive without my helmet, no matter what else other clothing would have saved. My palms, the most exposed part of my body, never touched the road.

What followed was a profuse gratitude towards God that all the above held true. A new perspective towards what's important in life. My dreams are important, my family is important and my thrill is probably the least important. My bike is important. I was shattered to see my bike in that state. I also realized now why almost all the RE owners, drive so slow. They probably would have learnt this the hard way too. They too love their bikes as much.

There are some events in life, which pose a question to you: "Why exactly am I alive?"
Everyone falls off the bike. Only a few can 'ride' again.
Pick your battles. You cannot win them all.