I have a daughter (15+) and son (8+). My son, like most kids of his age likes to hear a story. Surprisingly he likes to hear stories on Hindu mythology and stories with Indian background. I on the other side have very little knowledge on these so at times I have to make up stories.
Problem arises when my daughter also sits through. Like most teenagers she likes to pick holes in anything that her parents do or suggest. She picks holes in my stories, so I have devised a strategy - I pick up real historical characters, locations, some events that I remember and then I let go my imagination. So here is one such piece of my imagination.
Many years ago there lived a king named Akbar. He had to fight many battles in life right from his childhood days. One of them was ‘Battle of Panipat’ against King Hemu.
In these wars Akbar was led and guided by a veteran army chief Bairam Khan. Bairam actually worked with Humayun i.e. father of Akbar and when Humayun died he picked up the mantle of being guiding light for Akbar’s fighting and administrative skills.
Akbar was a teenager when he went for the war and like most teenagers and also some learned people Akbar had complete disregard for people of wisdom who have grown through the ranks and learnt from life. His outlook changed completely with growing years but as a teenager he was brash.
One fine morning Akbar and Bairam were out for an inspection of the preparation for the upcoming war. During the walk Akbar noticed to his utter surprise, quite a few potbellied men along with some women too are stocking up things, clearly getting ready to go to war. They were not at all army people as one would envisage but they seem to be at home with the entourage.
Akbar saw that Bairam walked up to one such group cracked few jokes, cajoled them to speed up. They too passed some remarks and did not look too bothered by the rank held by Bairam. Akbar was intrigued but chose to keep quiet and decided to enquire further secretly.
Akbar was fond of archers, especially archers from Assam. He called for one of them, up came the six pack guy, chiseled body, lean mean fighting machine, swift, nimble, fast mover, keen to go into a battle and demonstrate his skill. He was a professional warrior, keen to showcase his talent, please his supervisor and earn a bonus. It does not matter who he was fighting as long as he can ensure a fat pay check. Through him Akbar got the view that preparation of war is getting delayed due to those fat bellies, weak knee guys. They never seem to move fast, do not possess any fighting skill and are a drag on entire army. Their delay is giving critical time to Hemu to prepare.
Akbar quietly altered the plan and asked his fighters to charge ahead next dawn, leaving behind the slow movers. He wanted to surprise Hemu with a swift attack and finish the war. He was confident that Hemu would be taken by surprise. Bairam was not part of this decision, he was not to be consulted, Bairam is well past his sell by date and his planning ideas are all stale, used by everyone, innovations are flavor of the season.
Bairam though came to know of the designs but decided to keep quiet; he wanted Akbar to learn from experience.
Akbar’s troop rode up quick and fast on their horses and reached up to place where supposed battle was to take place. In their rush to reach the goal they did not notice that all the villages on the way were empty, fields were empty too, those who still remained were also looking to move out. Army did not notice any of this; in their mind they have already won the war, empty roads and villages only made their journey faster. Next morning the war will start.
Army planned to retire for the night. They were tired and hungry they also had to strategize for next morning. There was minor hiccup though, they could not locate their camp, archers, cavalries, horses and horse riders all were tired they needed hot food and place to lie down but none of it was available. All they could see was a gigantic fort in the front and deserted villages behind at considerable distance.
Soon the matter reached up to Akbar and he decided to reach out to Bairam Khan. When asked, Bairam said, “But you ordered to leave those people behind, those who were entrusted with the job of putting up the camps, preparing food etc. while the fighters plan out their strategy of attack”. Akbar responded, “They are not army, they were slowing up things, we cannot win wars with such slow, average people. To win wars we need niche skilled, high performers”.
Bairam then explained a learning which stayed with Akbar through his life.
Bairam said, “It is true high performers, niche skilled people help you to attack and gain ground. However you choose to ignore the cooks, errand boys, average foot solider and support staff at your own peril. They are as much your army as the cavaliers are. They are the ones who help you retain the ground gained. They pick up the mundane jobs so that high achievers can demonstrate their skills. They are not the glamorous ones, but they do the job given to them, diligently and often remain unnoticed. They are as important to your plans, as your archers are.
We often tend to focus only on 5% of our team of high performers and may be another 20% gets noticed occasionally. Remember many of these 5% team are professional soldiers, they fight for a living and they fight for anyone who cares to pay them higher. It is the average, who compensates their average skill with high loyalty. Great leaders have the ability to put attention to rest 75% and get the loyalty to work for his advantage. Every army has those 5% and 20% of high fliers and they help win battles, it is the 75% which makes the difference in winning a war”.
Akbar realized his folly and asked his army to retreat in quiet of night, promising to come back later. He realized that without rest and food his army is already defeated and not ready for the battle. He needs to go back and get those potbellied guys into the fold, if he wishes to win the battle of Panipat.
History tells us that Akbar won the battle of Panipat resoundingly.
Problem arises when my daughter also sits through. Like most teenagers she likes to pick holes in anything that her parents do or suggest. She picks holes in my stories, so I have devised a strategy - I pick up real historical characters, locations, some events that I remember and then I let go my imagination. So here is one such piece of my imagination.
Many years ago there lived a king named Akbar. He had to fight many battles in life right from his childhood days. One of them was ‘Battle of Panipat’ against King Hemu.
In these wars Akbar was led and guided by a veteran army chief Bairam Khan. Bairam actually worked with Humayun i.e. father of Akbar and when Humayun died he picked up the mantle of being guiding light for Akbar’s fighting and administrative skills.
Akbar was a teenager when he went for the war and like most teenagers and also some learned people Akbar had complete disregard for people of wisdom who have grown through the ranks and learnt from life. His outlook changed completely with growing years but as a teenager he was brash.
One fine morning Akbar and Bairam were out for an inspection of the preparation for the upcoming war. During the walk Akbar noticed to his utter surprise, quite a few potbellied men along with some women too are stocking up things, clearly getting ready to go to war. They were not at all army people as one would envisage but they seem to be at home with the entourage.
Akbar saw that Bairam walked up to one such group cracked few jokes, cajoled them to speed up. They too passed some remarks and did not look too bothered by the rank held by Bairam. Akbar was intrigued but chose to keep quiet and decided to enquire further secretly.
Akbar was fond of archers, especially archers from Assam. He called for one of them, up came the six pack guy, chiseled body, lean mean fighting machine, swift, nimble, fast mover, keen to go into a battle and demonstrate his skill. He was a professional warrior, keen to showcase his talent, please his supervisor and earn a bonus. It does not matter who he was fighting as long as he can ensure a fat pay check. Through him Akbar got the view that preparation of war is getting delayed due to those fat bellies, weak knee guys. They never seem to move fast, do not possess any fighting skill and are a drag on entire army. Their delay is giving critical time to Hemu to prepare.
Akbar quietly altered the plan and asked his fighters to charge ahead next dawn, leaving behind the slow movers. He wanted to surprise Hemu with a swift attack and finish the war. He was confident that Hemu would be taken by surprise. Bairam was not part of this decision, he was not to be consulted, Bairam is well past his sell by date and his planning ideas are all stale, used by everyone, innovations are flavor of the season.
Bairam though came to know of the designs but decided to keep quiet; he wanted Akbar to learn from experience.
Akbar’s troop rode up quick and fast on their horses and reached up to place where supposed battle was to take place. In their rush to reach the goal they did not notice that all the villages on the way were empty, fields were empty too, those who still remained were also looking to move out. Army did not notice any of this; in their mind they have already won the war, empty roads and villages only made their journey faster. Next morning the war will start.
Army planned to retire for the night. They were tired and hungry they also had to strategize for next morning. There was minor hiccup though, they could not locate their camp, archers, cavalries, horses and horse riders all were tired they needed hot food and place to lie down but none of it was available. All they could see was a gigantic fort in the front and deserted villages behind at considerable distance.
Soon the matter reached up to Akbar and he decided to reach out to Bairam Khan. When asked, Bairam said, “But you ordered to leave those people behind, those who were entrusted with the job of putting up the camps, preparing food etc. while the fighters plan out their strategy of attack”. Akbar responded, “They are not army, they were slowing up things, we cannot win wars with such slow, average people. To win wars we need niche skilled, high performers”.
Bairam then explained a learning which stayed with Akbar through his life.
Bairam said, “It is true high performers, niche skilled people help you to attack and gain ground. However you choose to ignore the cooks, errand boys, average foot solider and support staff at your own peril. They are as much your army as the cavaliers are. They are the ones who help you retain the ground gained. They pick up the mundane jobs so that high achievers can demonstrate their skills. They are not the glamorous ones, but they do the job given to them, diligently and often remain unnoticed. They are as important to your plans, as your archers are.
We often tend to focus only on 5% of our team of high performers and may be another 20% gets noticed occasionally. Remember many of these 5% team are professional soldiers, they fight for a living and they fight for anyone who cares to pay them higher. It is the average, who compensates their average skill with high loyalty. Great leaders have the ability to put attention to rest 75% and get the loyalty to work for his advantage. Every army has those 5% and 20% of high fliers and they help win battles, it is the 75% which makes the difference in winning a war”.
Akbar realized his folly and asked his army to retreat in quiet of night, promising to come back later. He realized that without rest and food his army is already defeated and not ready for the battle. He needs to go back and get those potbellied guys into the fold, if he wishes to win the battle of Panipat.
History tells us that Akbar won the battle of Panipat resoundingly.
What a great lesson. True for many corporates too. Every company has such "5%" as you call them. What is also true is that these 5% will work for any company which pay them handsomely and will also switch sides very easily. The average ones (who provide stability) often go unnoticed. One more thing - Bairam must be within those 5% but he himself pointed out that others are also equally needed and important.
ReplyDeleteThere is no historical basis of this conversation between Bairam and Akber I made it up on the fly. Thanks for finding a relevance to corporate world. Most likely my thoughts reflected in the story that I made up
DeleteThere is no historical basis of this conversation between Bairam and Akber I made it up on the fly. Thanks for finding a relevance to corporate world. Most likely my thoughts reflected in the story that I made up
Delete