Autobiographies! - a novice's perspective.
Yes autobiographies! And the novice is none but me, who started reading few months back.
I've been reading this 'Jack Welch - Straight from the Gut' book since more than a week now, and I've just managed to complete it half, with over two parts still remaining. This book is an autobiography of Jack Welch, former CEO of GE (General Electric).
For a novice reader like me who's just graduated from fiction to non-fiction and is reading an autobiography for the first time, it’s something that has affected the reading speed. Most of the books on fiction don't let you keep them aside, sometimes not even for a while. Once you're involved, you just can't leave the book before finishing it off. But unlike fiction, autobiographies are a slow read (at least in my case) and at times uninteresting for many.
Meanwhile the book I'm reading isn't such a case. Since it’s more on business aspect, at time the issues seem uninteresting. But when you look out, research, and think about the problem on your own - like what you would have done if you were in that position, you get a real feel of what would have been the difference. The GE story described in the same is so inspiring. And it kind of helped me learn something, about an environment that can build up in any company. That environment, when the company shocks employees by kicking them off. Reading the book, it feels, a process like this is what is really required, if you want to turn the profits on to a big scale, like GE did by removing those people who weren't close to the benchmark they chose for being an ideal GE employee.
It kind of helped me relate everything with my future. Everyone doubts TCS, on why's TCS recruiting so much in numbers. It’s increasing its man-power. Like GE of 1980s, when it had enormous manpower, it had to either fix, sell or end a particular business in which they weren’t No. 1 or No. 2, and kick out those employees who didn't bring much to the corporation, it could be the case later in any such company who's recruiting large in numbers. The GE story has a moral, if you want to stay alive, you need to work hard, bring and contribute to the organization. Hard work that does no good to the organization is of no use. Those who can't work as a team, those who can't dissolve themselves in the environment they and their colleagues are, are better expelled then having them stay. This is one of the many things except the deals, which the book discusses. The appraisal systems and the methods of recognizing talents within an organization are some things that every new entrant needs to know before he turns into an employee from a student.
Disclaimer: I'm still a novice when it comes to reading, my views, ideas may be different, at times wrong. And the TCS' relation with the book, well that's something my mind forced me to imagine, which again could be wrong. TCS' role of being a mass recruiter must be having a strategy hidden that lets the IT giant achieve their vision of being in Global top 10. And I'd love to see TCS achieve their vision, which after an year I can call as 'our' vision. For those uninitiated, GE is TCS' one of the biggest, and favorite clients.
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Word of the day:
hagiography
Pronunciation: (hag"ē-og'ru-fē, hā"jē-)
—n., —pl. -phies.
the writing and critical study of the lives of the saints; hagiology.
Synonyms: hagiography, biography, life, life story, life history
Usage: a biography that idealizes or idolizes the person (especially a person who is a saint)
I've been reading this 'Jack Welch - Straight from the Gut' book since more than a week now, and I've just managed to complete it half, with over two parts still remaining. This book is an autobiography of Jack Welch, former CEO of GE (General Electric).
For a novice reader like me who's just graduated from fiction to non-fiction and is reading an autobiography for the first time, it’s something that has affected the reading speed. Most of the books on fiction don't let you keep them aside, sometimes not even for a while. Once you're involved, you just can't leave the book before finishing it off. But unlike fiction, autobiographies are a slow read (at least in my case) and at times uninteresting for many.
Meanwhile the book I'm reading isn't such a case. Since it’s more on business aspect, at time the issues seem uninteresting. But when you look out, research, and think about the problem on your own - like what you would have done if you were in that position, you get a real feel of what would have been the difference. The GE story described in the same is so inspiring. And it kind of helped me learn something, about an environment that can build up in any company. That environment, when the company shocks employees by kicking them off. Reading the book, it feels, a process like this is what is really required, if you want to turn the profits on to a big scale, like GE did by removing those people who weren't close to the benchmark they chose for being an ideal GE employee.
It kind of helped me relate everything with my future. Everyone doubts TCS, on why's TCS recruiting so much in numbers. It’s increasing its man-power. Like GE of 1980s, when it had enormous manpower, it had to either fix, sell or end a particular business in which they weren’t No. 1 or No. 2, and kick out those employees who didn't bring much to the corporation, it could be the case later in any such company who's recruiting large in numbers. The GE story has a moral, if you want to stay alive, you need to work hard, bring and contribute to the organization. Hard work that does no good to the organization is of no use. Those who can't work as a team, those who can't dissolve themselves in the environment they and their colleagues are, are better expelled then having them stay. This is one of the many things except the deals, which the book discusses. The appraisal systems and the methods of recognizing talents within an organization are some things that every new entrant needs to know before he turns into an employee from a student.
Disclaimer: I'm still a novice when it comes to reading, my views, ideas may be different, at times wrong. And the TCS' relation with the book, well that's something my mind forced me to imagine, which again could be wrong. TCS' role of being a mass recruiter must be having a strategy hidden that lets the IT giant achieve their vision of being in Global top 10. And I'd love to see TCS achieve their vision, which after an year I can call as 'our' vision. For those uninitiated, GE is TCS' one of the biggest, and favorite clients.
----------------------------
Word of the day:
hagiography
Pronunciation: (hag"ē-og'ru-fē, hā"jē-)
—n., —pl. -phies.
the writing and critical study of the lives of the saints; hagiology.
Synonyms: hagiography, biography, life, life story, life history
Usage: a biography that idealizes or idolizes the person (especially a person who is a saint)
posted by codeextracts at 3:20 AM
3 Comments:
hey ..i m amiya s fren...n she recommended me ur blog...n i must say its worth reading...loved ur post....v true!...infact i jus read my first autobiography....Iacocca....even its all abt how he reached d post of president in ford n den kicked out of it n den helpin chrysler out of d crisis..if u havnt read dis one....do it asap....!
yeah...thts absolutely rite...those employees that dont perform well shd b kicked out of the company.... i hav heard tht after the bubble burst in the IT sector 5 to 6 years back,some companies began to diversify in the kind of businesses and services it offered to b on the safer side...
@shikha:
Thanks you found it interesting :)
I've heard about Lee Iacocca, haven't read that book as yet. I'll make sure its the next autobiography I'm going to pick up, thanks. :)
@Neha:
Right, we people are termed as tech coolies, aren't we? :)
Thanks for visiting the blog and this post :)
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