#Letting Go

I'm sure that you have been following the events of Infosys as they have unraveled over these last 4-5 days with the resignation of Vishal Sikka as CEO and MD, and Narayana Murthy's intervention, and all that has been going on. In fact, a lot of influential people that Narayana Murthy was over reaching.  Omkar Goswami wrote: "When you gotta go, you gotta go, Mr. Murthy!" Another article by G.R. Gopinath, founder of Air Deccan, one of the earliest private airlines poses this question, "Why can't we let go?" Both these articles were on the editorial page of The Economic Times. It seems that Narayana Murthy's shadow has cast a bit of tension and has resulted in so much of upheaval in Infosys and with their clients all around the world.

TRUST AND BE TRUSTED

by Dr. Cecil Clements (1st May 2012)

I was thinking about trust and how often we tell somebody ‘Just trust me’ or we have been told by somebody ‘Trust me, I know that this is right’ or ‘I know that this is good’. That’s a statement that either invites people to place a lot of trust in us or for us to put a lot of trust in the person who is inviting us to trust him or her. In corporate settings, the higher you go, the less you are able to articulate reasons as to why you would invite somebody to trust you. Very rarely are you able to say, “Here’s why I have to do something. I hope you understand because this is the reason I am doing it.” More often than not, the decision is taken and you hope that people will understand that it’s the right decision that was taken.

Contract or Handshake?

I was reading an article by Dan Ariely who is a Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University and author of the book called ‘Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decisions’. He was writing a column in the Harvard Business Review entitled ‘In Praise of the Handshake’ where he paints the scenario for us. He says, “Imagine that you and I meet at a party and I tell you about my research on behavioral economics. You see opportunities to use the principles to improve your business and think we could work together. You have 2 options: you can ask me to collaborate with a handshake promise that if things work out, you’ll make it worth my while. Or you can prepare a contract that details my obligations and compensation, specifying who will own the resulting intellectual property and so on.”

Building Trust in the Workplace

I wonder how many of you have been in situations where you have either told somebody “Just trust me” or have been told by somebody, “Trust me, I know that this is right or I know that this is good.” I thought to myself that it’s a statement that invites people to either place a lot of trust on a person; i.e. to believe in a person, to think that there is sufficient knowledge about that person that they can allow you to make a decision on their behalf sometimes. Or to believe that a decision that you made affecting something that they were doing, was a good decision. I think the more vertical you get in an organization, the higher you get or the more responsibilities you have, the ability to articulate some of your decisions or to explain decisions, gets to be at a premium. Very rarely are we able to say, “Here’s why I had to do something and I hope you understand.” More often than not, a decision is taken and you hope that people will understand that it was the right decision that you took.