Parent Leadership Archives

Neil Miller February 1, 2016 Filed Under: On the Job, Parent Leadership, Team Management

What Kind of Leader Are You Developing?

If you are a foreign worker in India, one of your primary responsibilities is likely leadership development. It could be identifying leaders at the top level who can carry on countrywide operations, or it might be building up team and division level leaders capable of handling issues without much foreign involvement.

Indians are more than willing and able to take on these roles, and more often than not they succeed without any problems. However, it is also very common to see foreigners struggling to identify and develop quality leaders from within their organizations. Two-year assignments for foreigners balloon into four or five years because the ‘leadership pipeline’ seems to produce nothing more than a drip.

If you find yourself struggling with leadership development in India, it might be a case of misplaced cultural assumptions. [Read more…]

Neil Miller August 5, 2015 Filed Under: #ChaosBeatsLogic, On the Job, Parent Leadership

Why is it so important to have something today that you didn’t have yesterday?

There are times when someone says something so perfectly that you can’t get it out of your head.

I was chatting over email with a French friend who had lived in India for a few years about his experiences. His insights hit me so much that I asked him if I could share his thoughts with everyone. He asked to remain anonymous, but I think you will get a lot from reading his thoughts here. I’ve put in bold some of the things that jumped out at me.

What are some of the frequent challenges you faced while working in India?

Working with India was both very challenging and very rewarding. I sometimes felt that I wasn’t on the same planet while in India; so many things are different culturally, socially and even intellectually.

A frequent challenge was to explain a point of view to people who have a different benchmark in their mind. For instance, my parent company was always trying to look forward. Whatever is done is done, and we must look ahead, plan, forecast and build what will be done tomorrow and there after.

In India, my colleagues were always looking backwards, checking what had been done, correcting it, checking again after some time, and perhaps correcting it again. Planning was really difficult for them; they argued that reality can be so different from your expectations that it is useless to plan anything. [Read more…]

Neil Miller January 5, 2015 Filed Under: #ChaosBeatsLogic, #GreyIsWhite, #PowerPlays, #ThinSkinned, Parent Leadership, Podcast, Team Management

Episode 4: Arjun Buxi

You have identified an ideal partner for your business in India: strong financials, common interests, and experience in the field. The company is an older family-run business. You soon realize that the key to sealing an agreement is a meeting with the patriarch, an older man who doesn’t come to the office much anymore. His blessing is essential, but you are having a lot of trouble getting his attention. What do you do?

In this episode of Working With India, I talk with Arjun Buxi. Arjun is a native Indian who grew up in a Punjabi family business, and is now a Communication Consultant and Educator in the San Francisco area. Arjun is a true expert in the field of Indian business culture, especially when it comes to how family dynamics affect things. His knowledge is both experiential and scholarly.

Here are a few of my favorite moments in this show:

What an HUF is and why it’s central to understanding Indian business
How to ‘investigate the hierarchy’ of an Indian family business #PowerPlays
Practical tips on how to correct someone of higher status than you #ThinSkinned
Really insightful rules for gift-giving
Why Jugaad is essential for your ability to navigate Indian businesses #GreyisWhite, #ChaosBeatsLogic

Here are some of the links mentioned in the show: [Read more…]

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Neil Miller December 29, 2014 Filed Under: #PowerPlays, Parent Leadership

The Dark Side of Parent Leadership

The story of a great parent is inspiring. The story of a dysfunctional one is depressing.

In the last article, we looked at the best version of a Parent Leader, or leaders who excel at paternalistic leadership. The key trait of a great Parent Leader is their ability to take a legacy approach. All the other good traits flow from a leader who has good vision and cares for his ‘family’.

But not all those who use a paternalistic leadership style are like Atticus Finch. Some are more like Homer Simpson.

Here are some classic traits of really dysfunctional Parent Leaders.

They never relinquish any authority. Dysfunctional Parent Leaders don’t fully trust anyone to work independently of their wisdom and guidance. Therefore, they never fully give any authority. While they may have several VPs around them, they all much check in with Mom/Dad before they blink an eye. Decisions taken independently are either seen as an act of rebellion or a declaration that you are ‘too good’ for the family. [Read more…]

Neil Miller December 22, 2014 Filed Under: #PowerPlays, #See1See100, Parent Leadership

Is there a Good Side to Having a Parent Leader?

Understanding the idea of Parent Leadership, or paternalistic leadership, is important if you work in India or many other Asian countries, but you might still be on the fence about it. Leading as if you were a father or mother might sound rather sticky or messy, especially when you think about your own family.

However, Parent Leadership is a legitimate leadership style, and instead of judging if the style itself is bad or good, you should look at good and bad examples of people who use it.

In my time in India, I’ve interacted with many leaders who naturally use this style. Some are very inspiring, like the one who made it a point to visit the housewarming ceremony of a junior employee. Others are extremely dysfunctional, like the one who refused to believe anyone else could do a better job than him at any business function.

In the next two articles, I will offer a picture of the best and worst sides of Parent Leadership. First, we’ll look at the best-case scenario to see the enormous potential this style holds. Next, we’ll look at a worst-case scenario to show just how bad things can get. [Read more…]

Neil Miller November 25, 2014 Filed Under: #PowerPlays, #TimeIsEternal, Parent Leadership, Podcast

Episode 3: Rohan and Shannon Prabhakar

I often envy my Indian friends who come from family businesses. Their fathers and grandfathers have put in the hard work to carve out a niche and set up an established company. It’s not that it’s an easy position, but it seems great to have that kind of upbringing, heritage, and opportunity.

But it’s nearly impossible to break into the inner circle of that sort of family business…

Unless you marry into it.

Here is the story of Rohan and Shannon. [Read more…]

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Neil Miller May 22, 2014 Filed Under: #ChaosBeatsLogic, #PowerPlays, #TimeIsEternal, Parent Leadership

The Most Important Quality When Working for a Parent Leader

…is loyalty.

And the most important way your Parent Leader will evaluate your loyalty is…

availability.

You get no awards in India for having great time management. You get no praise for submitting weekly reports on all your tasks. No one will mention you at a celebration if you manage to save an hour a day by not checking email until noon. Time is not something that can be spreadsheeted.

The only truly important question about time in India is:

Were you there in the Moment of Need?

What is the Moment of Need? It’s the moment when your boss or your team members are freaking out because something has gone terribly wrong and the world might end.

The assessment of your loyalty is most dependent on how completely you are available in the Moment of Need.

[Read more…]

Neil Miller February 14, 2014 Filed Under: #PowerPlays, #See1See100, #ThinSkinned, Parent Leadership

Working for a Parent Leader

Now that we’ve identified what a Parent Leader is and looked at some tips on acting like a Parent Leader, what if you are working for a Parent Leader?

In the past, multinational companies (MNCs) based in the US or Europe would open up offices in India and send their own management to begin all the operations. When they came, they needed to learn about how to lead Indians.

But today’s world is different. Huge Indian conglomerates like Tata, Reliance, and Aditya Birla are hiring high-level leaders from around the world to work for them. They are buying up foreign companies that will help them expand their reach. Homegrown Indian technical companies like TCS, Infosys, HCL, and Cognizant are quickly becoming the world leaders in their industries.

In today’s world you are nearly just as likely to have an Indian for a boss as you are to have one working for you. Therefore, it is helpful to know how to behave as a team member if your boss is a Parent Leader.
[Read more…]