10 am to 6 pm common sense

Someone once said, "Common sense is most uncommon in common people." But I believe, common sense is most uncommon during office hours in common people.

People often ask me what qualifications and skills I look for while recruiting my team members. And I always answer - COMMON SENSE. Except for some technical jobs, I look for common sense above all else. I believe that management is all about applying common sense. There are no new rules in management that can be invented; there can only be discoveries. And NATURE is the best management teacher. We all learn from her.

Management teachings and degrees simply give fancy names and refine our already existing management skills. 'You can take the horse to water, but you cannot make him drink the water.' Similarly, you cannot teach management to somebody who lacks or does not apply common sense to their tasks. Most of us leave our common sense at home while going to the office and take it back only when returning home.

I always tell my team members what end result we need to achieve and give them a fair idea of how to do it. At the same time, I motivate them to do it in their own way. The only thing I ensure is that they never fail to meet my standards and deliver the desired results. One more important thing I always emphasize is that if you personalize the work, you miraculously get the desired results. If it's my boss's command, I may not perform, but if it's my own job, I will get it done in the best way possible. If I am building my own house, I will ensure that the costs are minimum and the quality is highest. If it's a government job, then I will ensure that the costs are highest and the quality is mediocre. So, I want them to have a sense of belongingness to the work. But that is the most difficult thing. I always say that I will not mind giving away a share of savings rather than incurring unnecessary expenses. And it works. Everybody has common sense; the only thing is whether they apply it during 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. or not.

Something that I hate the most is 'EXCUSES.' There can only be two things - doing it or not doing it. When there are excuses, it means there are compromises with the result. An efficient worker (a manager is also a worker) never gives excuses.

Once, a general manager of a corporation asked me how I manage to get the toughest jobs done with so much ease as he had always heard me saying "Ho jayega" (It will be done). I said if I am giving excuses, it means I am not an efficient worker. I know only one thing, and that is that it can be done. And I don't have any problem admitting that I am not an extraordinary person doing everything magically. I too have to put in a lot of effort, but once you have assigned it to me, it's all my headache. I just apply common sense and work on it. I remember the story of Napoleon & the Alps which inspires me a lot. Once Napoleon Bonaparte, the leader of the French army, which was at war with nearly all the countries around, wanted to take his soldiers into Italy. The night was about to fall when they came across the Alps and soldiers screamed that it was impossible to cross the Alps. Napoleon shouted that it was not the Alps, but some other mountain range. So let’s climb it in the night. Sixty thousand army men climbed it and when dawn approached, they understood that they had crossed the Alps. It tells us that an efficient manager does not show the problem to his teammates but offers a solution. But there is one more lesson attached to this incident, and that is that he applied his common sense.