The Case of the Bonsai Manager

Excellent read. The writing and thoughts reflect the rich experience of the author Gopalakrishnan. He presents a view of what is needed for managers apart from analytical skills to develop the intuitive skills. The book name gets from the fact that most managers are bounded and find their growth stunted due to various hindrances just like a Bonsai tree which has a stunted growth. He emphasizes the need to be effective. Most of time as per his experience managers have inclination for efficiency, though efficiency is good to have but not at the cost of effectiveness. The author has rich industry experience and is able to articulate his thoughts very well. Interesting to read how he observes the phenomenon in nature and explains it as a learning mode for the managers . He emphasizes the need for developing intuitive skills apart from honing the analytical skills and shows several ways in which it can be developed by managers or people in general.Most of the learning's are conveyed through short stories/ anecdotes which I found much more interesting and captivating than usual jargon on the subject as such.

Some notes from the reading:

1. Wisdom= Knowledge + Intuition ( Knowledge is what you know. Intuition is what you do not know you know). Knowledge & Intuition are complementary in nature.

2. Develop intuition by viewing issues holistically and not in isolation. Enhance intuition through varied experiences, relationships, contemplation & reflection. Manager can develop intuition by exploring and sensing beyond what is visible and audible. ( supported by various examples)

3. Understanding the context( contemplate) is important while reflecting on how a success or failure happened. Context influences perception of the issue.

4. BRIM( Brain's Remote Implicit Memory) - email ID of the brain. Remote memory stretches deep into psyche and childhood. This memory is very durable. In the implicit memory human hold processes - such process manifest themselves as skills or habits. Practice embeds processes into the implicit memory. In the explicit memory human hold facts. One knows what one knows. BRIM is the common area between remote and implicit memory in the brain. To develop strong intuition the this Email service need to be activated.

5. Effectiveness comes through good judgement

Good judgement comes through experience

Experience comes through bad judgement

6. Management is an art than a science. Management principles are philosophies and not discoveries in any scientific sense.

7. Space in which manager grows is defined by 4 perceptions:

- nature of industry & company

- type of work & role within the organization

- people relationship involvement

- threats and obstacles faced

8. Experience is not what happens to a man, it is what a man does with what happens to him ( Aldous Huxley)

9. Westerners tend to emphasize explicit knowledge ,the Japanese tend to emphasize tacit knowledge.

10. Be humble about what one knows, recognize what one can learn from others and be willing to seek out opportunities.

11. Mentoring attributes include trust, respect, mutual commitment and faith.

12. Excess of resources increases competition where as scarcity promotes cooperativeness. ( eg. USA & Singapore)

13. Cash does not fuel the journey of future but the emotional and intellectual energy of every employee.

14. Bland's Law- The amount of backbiting, infighting and skulduggery in an organization is in direct proportion to mobility of its goals.

15.Enduring leader's trait : integrity, decisiveness, competency and visionary.

Interesting facts:

1. Brain constitutes 3% of body weight but consumes 25 % of energy used by body.

2. When a a crocodile has torn a chunk of flesh off its victim and swallows it, pressure is exerted on the thin flexible roof at the back of reptile's mouth. This squeezes the tear glands which are just above, causing tears to well up in its eyes. hence the cynical expression 'crocodile tears'.

3. Snail- when faced with threat , the snail reallocates its resources away from early reproduction towards growth and community survival.

4. "Nirma" brand of detergent ( local popular brand in India) got its name from entrepreneur Karsambhai Patel's daughter named Nirupama.

5. One can calculate the outside temperature by counting the chirping rate of Cave crickets. These have antennas 4 times there body size.

6. Pigeons can flay at 90/100Km/hr covering over 10,000Km distances.

Other article.