10 Signs you have a good boss
Posted by: Padma. S. Pandidurai on: February 3, 2012
- In: Career
- 2 Comments
1. He does not ask “What are you doing ? ” every now and then. As a boss, he mostly knows what you are doing. He does not looks over your shoulder or ping you every now and then, to check what you are doing.
I once had a manager who called people at their mobile, when they are not at their desk for more than 5 minutes. “What are you doing ?” He asked over the phone, when I was in the restroom. I had to tell him “I’m sitting on the potty”. Wait! I said “SIT” without H.
2. He does not test you on your skills often. He just assumes you know (because that’s why you are hired). He pitches in only when he obviously sees that you are in trouble.
The same manager which I had mentioned above, once was sitting with a girl in the name of helping her at 8.00 PM, asking her questions about the project which were not relevant to the issue at hand. She was not with the company for more than 6 months.
In another instance, I had an opportunity to interview a young candidate along with my current boss. While I had prepared list of questions to test her subject knowledge, my boss effortlessly brought out the best in her by just discussing about her current profile and issues in her current role as if he was going to help her with the issues. I could see that the candidate was at ease and was at her best in the interview.
3. He treats employees like colleagues / professionals. He gives you the professional space and respect. He assumes when you don’t go to him, you don’t have problem. He comes to your meeting on time. He does not take you for granted. He does not assume, you are readily available to talk or work on something whenever he needs. He is sensitive to what you are already working on and asks for your time when needed. He understands that when you say you are busy, you are really busy. He does not expect you to respond to his pings immediately. He gives respect and takes respect.
My current boss who handles telecommuting team, asks for the status only once on a daily regular call. He does not disturb every now and then in the name of status update. This gives us the feel, he trusts us and we are being matured professionals who know how to handle their work load.
I had another boss, who used to ping me at 7.00 PM on Friday evening for apparently discussing a solution approach.
4. His focus is always on the issues and solutions and not on people. There is never blame on people. He does not gossip or discuss people with one another. This factor looks less important than it actually is. There are lot more relevant real life situations than we can imagine with this statement.
One of my friend Sandy once made a mistake in his enhancements which went to quality system and this resulted in lot of defects to the team. His manager immediately assigned someone else to solve the issue. Here if the focus had been on issue, his manager would have known that it was just a mistake and Sandy would have very well solved it on his own.
5. He does not feel insecure. His ego is not hurt every-time you disagree neither it comes in the way of your performance appraisal. Though its necessary that manager should know the overall picture of the details of the project, he need not be expert at every single topic that project touches upon and he knows this fact. He can agree you can be smarter than him.
6. You would like to follow at-least some of her managerial qualities when you become a leader i.e. she inspires you. She is the person you look up to and she is the first person you go to when you are in trouble and you are not afraid of communicating to her that you are in trouble.
I once made a terrible blunder with my development, when most of the systems in the landscape bombed. I was terrified as to how my manager would react to it. Worst part, I had appraisal meeting the next day. But he just called and discussed for few minutes on steps to resolve the issue and I did the corrections in couple of hours. He did not even mention this in my appraisal. There were couple of qualities in him which inspired me. First, he was experienced and knowledgeable at the project that he had seen so many blunders like this and he did not panic and make things worse. He knew that a person cannot be judged based on one single mistake. People were not afraid to make mistakes or to try new things in his team.
7. Ofcourse, he appreciates more and criticizes effectively. I read this article recently in HBR “There’s No Such Thing as Constructive Criticism” , which talks about intricacies of giving feedback. We are all know that appreciation matters a lot. But criticism matters too and there is no easy way to communicate criticism. But there are bosses who could do this effectively in their own ways. Well, the sign is you do not feel bad when he criticizes. He sincerely wants the change in you for your good.
One of my earlier manager gave at-least 5 plus points before he gave one negative point about you. He would make it sound as if it just small easy change that you need to incorporate.
8. He knows strengths of every individuals. He does not assign tasks to anyone available. Actually this saves lot of time.
My current boss that every effectively. He knows that my expertise is specific to certain area and he assigns issues / requirements related to that to me whereas when the requirements demands overall brief knowledge than a detailed specific skills, he assigns to different team. This allows me gain more in-depth knowledge in the area plus it saves me and him lot of time as I do not have to search for things which I do not know.
9. She has an overall good understanding of the project. Though it is difficult for a manager to know the detailed knowledge of the individual components of the project, it is important she has an overall understanding of the components. This would help her to visualize things when some one comes to her with issues or suggestions.
One of my friend worked on a project where integration of multiple systems was involved and her expertise was in one of the system. Her manager came from other system’s background and had good knowledge in that. When my friend came up with performance improvement suggestion in the system where she was skilled at, her manager was not able to visualize or appreciate the suggestion. So he did not give importance to that topic. But eventually when there were performance issues in the production, they had to agree with her recommendation. So when he does not have overall knowledge of the components, he cannot function effectively with the issues.
10. He does not demand respect just because he is a boss i.e. he is not bossy. He will be respected for his personal and professional values, knowledge and his skills not because he is a boss. Its just the title which gets hidden behind his responsibilities.
Last but not the least he/she has a great personality and attitude. I used to admire lady manager who had a sleek dressing sense and spoke flawless, uninterrupted English. Though the language is not an important criteria, I felt it added a lot to her personality. Well, I was lucky to have one other manager who looked like Daniel Craig but little shorted one. You bet I admired him. Come on, he was good boss!
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Author’s note: After spending considerable years in corporate world, I think I’m fortunate to have met good professionals, some with great technical skills, some with good professional values, some who were born leaders, some with acute business and client facing skills, some with all of the above and some with none of the above.
Life’s best lessons are learnt from people whom you meet and who fascinate you.
Hello Sujatha and Sivasankari
Posted by: Padma. S. Pandidurai on: April 5, 2011
- In: Books
- 3 Comments
I’m not sure when I paused reading Tamil fictions. When I was going through my old book print outs I found a copy of ‘Kanaiyazhiyin kadaisi pakkangal’ which is blog collection from Writer Sujatha for the old tamil magazine ‘Kanaiyazhi’.
Initially my reading started only with Tamil fictions because my parents introduced me to lot of tamil novels. As a not so matured reader, I especially liked Sujatha, Sivasankari, Anuradha ramanan and Jayakanthan. I could not interpret Kalki. Balakumaran was not my favourite as I felt his stories are little disrespecting women.
Since I’m little worried that I’m loosing track of notable Tamil works, I’m planning to alternate my reading between Tamil and English books. I have composed the below list for my reading for next few months.
1. Nine stories (J.D Salinger) and 1984 (George Orwell) (I’m currently reading these two).
2. Soodiya poo soodarka (Nanjil nadan) – Sahitya academy winner.
3. Midnight’s children (Salman Rushdie)
4. Kanaiyazhiyin kadaisipakkangal (Sujatha) (I was half-way)
5. Catch 22 (Joseph Heller)
6. Ilai Uthir Kaalam (Neela Padmanabhan)
7. To kill a mocking bird (Harper lee)
8. Arthamulla indu madam (Kanna dasan ) (I have an audio book)
9. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
10. Enge bramanan (Cho. Ramaswamy)
Suggestions are welcome of-course for good Tamil fictions. Does anyone know how to bring tamil fonts in blog ?
>What is pie ?
Posted by: Padma. S. Pandidurai on: February 26, 2011
>I was enjoying my drink with my dear hubby that evening when he was reading me some facts from Reader’s Digest like, ‘how to be happy at work’. Now don’t ask, what did I drink. I have some couple of wicked cousins who would report to my mom / dad, ‘Athimber, unga ponnu americala ennallam panra theriyumo ?’ (Uncle do you know what all your daughter does in America ?). Then I will get a life-time ban from entering US, not from USCIS but from my Mom. Anyway, I was drinking something that would provoke some enlightened questioning like ‘What is pie in physical objects ?’ (yeah.. that 3.14 thing.. )
‘Can you show me pie in this glass? ‘ I asked DH showing my cylindrical glass. ‘How that stupid number is used to calculate the volume of my drink ?’
‘Podee, shut up and drink! Otherwise I’m going to watch cricket match’, he said.
‘No, seriously! I have never related this pie to any physical objects’, I said again like a broken record.
‘Do you know this pizza pie, apple pie and all ? This pie represents any small portion of a circle’ He tried.
‘So why is the size of the pie same across all the circles ? ‘ I asked a 4th std. question. If only I had thought of the same thing with coffee tumbler 20 years ago.
Somehow he managed to convince me drawing some circle, cutting a pie on it and the explaining how this pie is small portion with same size in all the circles which differs by radius/diameter. He tries real hard, until you at-least pretend that you understood. I was not sure if I understood. My full perfect score in Mathematics in public exams did not help here. (Alright, I managed to brag about my marks here).
This is the problem in the way we learn certain important subjects. For example, I always wondered where the ‘integration’, ‘differentiation’ , ‘limits’ are all applied in the real world. Don’t even ask about Trigonometry! I’m sure they are used effectively by scientists and mathematicians, but I was never taught that way which is beyond black board and public exams.
So, I googled the next day ‘What is pie ?’
This is all I could find:
“π (sometimes written pi) is a mathematical constant whose value is the ratio of any Euclidean plane circle’s circumference to its diameter; this is the same value as the ratio of a circle’s area to the square of its radius. It is approximately equal to 3.14159265 in the usual decimal notation.”
Some cool facts about π : (Courtesy: Wikipedia)
- Pi day is observed on Mar 14, because of 3.14 ( 3 for March 14th day)
- There is poem on pi by ‘Wisława Szymborska’
The caravan of digits that is pi
does not stop at the edge of the page,
but runs off the table and into the air,
over the wall, a leaf, a bird’s nest, the clouds, straight into the sky,
through all the bloatedness and bottomlessness.
Oh how short, all but mouse-like is the comet’s tail!
- In Carl Sagan’s novel Contact, π played a key role in the story. The novel suggested that there was a message buried deep within the digits of π placed there by the creator of the universe.[107] This part of the story was omitted from the film adaptation of the novel.
Alright, if anyone has a better layman explanation for this pi, you know where to put in.
>Grow up Once again
Posted by: Padma. S. Pandidurai on: January 3, 2011
- In: Personal
- 4 Comments
>”Come on dear … Please have at-least 2 idlies and go. Otherwise, You will not be able to do well in the exams” , Mother said. “Mom, please don’t compel. I know what to do. This is why I want to stay in hostel for my college”, I yelled at my mom. This was me as an annoying teenager ten years ago.
Now after ten years, in my late twenties, and having not seen my parents for more than a year, I long for food from my mom’s hand. I want to make sure she does not sleep hungry after an argument with me. I’m afraid to pick up a fight with my mom because it would hurt her. This is the change that twenties bring in you. Twenties are the most important part of anyone’s life. The decade brings in a lot of changes in a person. Our decisions in this decade almost determines the path of life. End of 2010 leaves me just 2 more years in twenties and I’m not sure if these changes are sufficient.
“You have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen” He said.
“Oh yea” She smiled coyly.
“I can keep looking into those for my entire life” He said.
“oh come on” She blushed.
This was our conversation in our early dating days almost 8 years ago. I thought this is how we are going to live happily ever after. I did not realize we were going to be in love even after not having an eye contact for more than a year. We learn to love a person in his absence along with his/her mistakes.
I almost lost my friend to a fatal accident to realize the importance of friendship in life, to acknowledge the fact that nothing is important before a true soulful relationship as you do not get a great friend just around the corner.
I entered the huge campus of Guindy Engineering college exactly 10 years ago holing my mom’s hands, wondering how I was going to spend the rest of 4 years. I met people way smarter than me. This is the place where I learned ranks are just the numbers and the top rank does not mean you will have an appointment letter at the end of 4 years. This campus had a special magic beyond the class room education. This place made a small town girl in me to dream big, the dream which is still unfulfilled. I got transformed from non-adjusting hostel loner to be a part of the most notorious gang in ladies hostel. I almost got thrown out of the college to realize the importance of the degree from a prestigious institution.
It took me more than 3 years to realize that software industry is not all about outsourcing and onsite when I performed terribly in outsourcing IT company and joined a product development company, where I met some of the best colleagues in profession and learned what professionalism really means in IT industry.
This decade surely changed a person who does not know to read/write emails to someone whose whole career revolves around computers.
Well, I’m not sure if these changes were common across people of my generation. I’m not sure if I was ahead or behind everyone in bringing up these changes. But a small girl inside me keeps shouting: “Give me another chance, I wanna grow up once again”.
>Bold and Stupid
Posted by: Padma. S. Pandidurai on: October 26, 2010
- In: Politics
- 3 Comments
I watched these videos of Dr. Jayalalitha’s Interview sometime during the last US elections. I was also watching some of Obama and McCain’s interviews where they took difficult questions from the press as part of election campaigns.
As any other normal literate citizen of India, I do not favor any politician or a political party. But when I watched tons of people thronging to stadiums to listen Obama’s speeches and millions watching Obama’s first presidential oath, I could not help but wonder “Do we ever look at our leaders like that? Can we first of all trust any of our leaders to solve our problems? Do we have a leader who can be looked upon as a hero and savior?”
Well, we know the answers. But what I see as a difference here, they trust their leader because, the leaders build the trust by facing them boldly, by facing the most difficult questions put in front of them, by attending tough interviews for people. All our leaders do is just brag about themselves in the campaigns and plan their vendetta.
When leaders face the people and ensure that they have means and methodologies to solve the issues, they gain the trust. On this interview, unfortunately Dr. J seems to regret that she agreed to give such an interview. From a Chief Minister of a state, I would expect more composed answers when she faces the questions. At one point she says “If you insist to give such interpretation I cant help”. This is where we loose our leaders. “Run away from questions”.
Have we seen our leaders coming together to face the people during Crisis. We did not see our Prime Minsiter and opposition leader Advani come face to face even during 26/11, for discussions. Dr. J and Dr. Karunanidhi don’t even see eye to eye. Their personal vengeance seems to be bigger than the other problems of the state.
During Crisis, politicians need to assure people that they have solution. They should show they know how to resolve the issues. They can do this only when they face the grilling questions without getting over the top of the interviewer.
Yes, our leaders do give speeches and address press conferences. But does the help? Noted journalist Karan thapar (Interviewer in the above videos) feels “It does not”. According to him, “In a speech, you set your own agenda. You speak about what you want to. You avoid what doesn’t suit you. And although at a press conference a politician answers journalists’ questions, he or she has multiple interlocutors, each with his own subject, and because the issue changes with each person there is little follow-up and even less intensity or persistence.”
We cannot agree more.
Dr. J very often says, she has been misunderstood by the media. But all the interviewer here does is put all those doubtful questions, so that she can be understood properly when she answers right. But blasting the interviewer here does not help but damages her reputation further.
I read somewhere that a young electrician asked Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, one of the greatest Prime Ministers, how she decided whether to give an interview or refuse. Thatcher replied, “When I’m in trouble, when I need to show I have the answers and I have the determination to put things right, I agree to every interview. After all, it’s only when people know that I can remove their doubts that they will have confidence in me. But when things are going right I stay silent. At such times, there’s a danger that if I speak I might put my foot in my mouth and create a problem that doesn’t exist!“.
In summary, what concerns me is people think this is one of Dr. J’s greatest interviews. There were so many “WOW” for Dr.J by the educated masses like us. There were so many Like’s in facebook for these videos. The interviewer is trying to pull the answers for the people, for us. We do not appreciate that but give kudos to arrogant attitude of the leader. This worries me. Are we clear what to expect from our politicians? Rude answers in good english does not make someone a good leader. We would be supporting dictatorship indirectly if that is what we expect.
>Raavan – Where is Maniratnam?
Posted by: Padma. S. Pandidurai on: June 20, 2010
- In: Movies
- 4 Comments
>
Disclaimer: This is NOT the review of the movie ‘Raavan’. This is just my personal thought process after watching the movie.
Today I convinced Pandi to watch Raavan in hindi because Raavanan (Tamil Version) was screened only in Big Cinemas in Oak tree road. I did not want to insult Maniratnam by watching his movie in THAT movie hall. People in Edison know what I mean here. A movie theatre in remote village of Tamilnadu will be much better (and cheaper) than the above said hall.
I was waiting for ‘Raavan’ to release ever since the news of the movie started appearing in magazines and Internet sites for couple of reasons. First Maniratnam! I’m great fan of his movies. I sometimes boast to my north indian friends for how poorly the hindi movie “Saathiya” was made, compared to “Alaipayuthe” in Tamil. Both have same story but Maniratnam did not direct hindi version. ”Alaipayuthe” is my all-time favourite romantic movie till date and my personal opinion is even none of the hollywood romantic movie can beat this movie for its realistic depiction of modern day romance between married couples.
Second Reason is Aishwarya Rai! I like to watch her on movies not for her acting though but for her stunning screen presence. You cannot just look at anyone or anything, when she is on-screen.
But for Raavan, though Aishwarya did not disappoint me so much, I was wondering at the end, “Did I watch a Maniratnam movie now?” Somehow I’m forced to compare “Raavan” with some of his earlier movies. Unfortunately just because it is the Maniratnam movie, I ended up searching for good things in it.
I like his movies for couple of reasons. Generally his heroes are smart, witty, intelligent, romantic, sarcastic and handsome of-course. I can still watch Karthik in “Mounaraagam” for his romantic chase of his girl Revathi. Arvindsamy was cool when he calls his wife “Pattikaadu” in Roja. Who can forget Madhavan for the way he proposes Shalini in ‘Alaipayuthe’. Even Abhishek Bachan was funny in ‘Guru’ and even not-so romantic Rajinikanth was good in “Thalapathi”. Now I do not expect an ill-fated terrorist Beera to be funny and romantic but what happened to Vikram who is a handsome police officer and who loves his wife. He does nothing other staring and shouting in the movie. I felt he was a a bit annoying too. There are not any scenes(other than a single song) to show the love of cop Vikram and his wife Aishwarya. Even in the original Ramayana Serial, I have seen scenes where Sita used to think about how happy she was with Rama. And some ‘divine’ romantic scenes are shown as flashback.
Another reason why I like Maniratnam movies is the way he brings out the chemistry between his protagonists. There is chemistry neither between off-screen couples AB jr and Aishwarya nor between on-screen couples Vikram and Aishwarya. Again some of the couples of his other movies came to my mind naturally. Even in the movies which did not have ‘Love’ as a main subject like Bombay, Roja, Yuva (aithaezhuthu in Tamil) and Guru, Maniratnam could bring out an amazing chemistry between his lead actors.
And most of his movies send out a clear message be it for love or for terrorism or patriotism. Atleast for me, most of his movies made an impact in such a way, the movie runs in my mind even after I’m done watching the movie. I’m again forced to think of the climax of Bombay movie, where all the people drop the weapon and hold each other’s hands with amazing AR Rehman song ‘Malarodu malaratha’ at the background. I could not find any such messages in ‘Raavan’.
Finally, somethings I liked about Raavan: AR Rehman Music, the way climax fight was shot at the hanging bridge, location and cinematography, Aishwarya Rai (she looked old indeed).
But if there was something that was running loud and clear in my mind, it is “Where is Maniratnam in this movie?”
