June - 2008 issue > Guru Talk

By Anjan Lahiri

And that would be completely wrong. What we seek always is fulfillment and happiness and according to the Economist magazine true happiness can only be found by people who are ‘intensely focused on the happiness of others’.

But why do I talk about this in ‘SmartTechie’. Due to the ‘Smart’ part; it is never about technology, about the next greatest innovation, or about what that innovation is going to do to bring fulfillment and happiness to others. If we can all focus on the ultimate outcome, the rest of the path becomes easy. Probably never before in the history of the industrialized world have such a large number of people joined a single knowledge profession in such a short time of less than two decades. Moreover, the people joining this profession do not come with a history of similar careers in their families. Hence there is no frame of reference for people to take decisions, no shared social memory which helps us in charting our careers. Our own ‘Me Inc.’ companies have to fill the void where society and social memory has left gaps.

If you browse the business section of any bookstore, it seems to be overflowing with books roughly on the topic of ‘how to be a great CEO’. Much less is written about how to ‘be a great middle manager’. How do I advance my career, how do I take decisions in the course of my work, and how do I resolve conflicts in my mind? In this article I pick up just three traits which I think are useful to be a great middle manager. These are not exhaustive, but three that come to mind now. They are:
1. Challenge boredom,
2. Embrace patience, and
3. Create a network of help

Challenge boredom

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