Work, Life and something in between

Scott Adams may be the most influential Management thinker of all times, through his daily strip- Dilbert and his spookily familiar characters, he has managed to de-construct the workplace, stereotype the entire corporate culture and reduce management practices to the lowest common denominator.  His ideas resonate with thousands of us in Corporate Jobs, he doesn’t give a top down or bottom up, but an in there, down and dirty view of follies and foibles. We have had numerous Management theories, processes, systems, all of which are trying to streamline, productivise, raise the bottom-line, blah, blah . But all these ignore few fundamentals principles- Employees are humans, they are sentimental, emotional, imperfect and most importantly have lives outside the Office too. As the boundaries between work and home become blurred Adams makes us realize how important it is to maintain balance but even more so our sanity. Adams unashamedly makes fun of managers with their ear to the ground, waiting  for the newest buzzword and trying to catch the next ‘fad’ train. He has cleared up some of the basic, perplexing questions such as:-

• Why sometimes being in an organization is like being in a cult, on the inside it seems nothing less than divine calling, to everyone else its a collection of nut jobs.   
•  Why If you haven’t died working or atleast got in a coma during the financial closing , you probably were not ‘aligned’ enough with the company’s mission and vision.
• Why you should most definitely miss your friend’s  birthday to attend an office party, because 8 hours a day is not enough time to ‘bond’ .  
• Why you should keep changing everything from point A to B, then from B to A,  because consultants need the  money.
• Why HR people are only interested in coining ridiculous recognition programmes, Nazis about  the right  dressing codes, and obsessed with  getting the ‘name’ right.  Because they are evil, and don’t have any real work or talent.

After a thorough study of his books and strips, the Conclusion is that I am a valued employee in an Indian PSU, but if I was a zombie I would be valued more.  

I traverse labyrinths of corporate policies and navigate mazes built with paper every day, the written is sacrosanct and asking questions (especially ones laced with logic) absolutely criminal. Like Adams says, as a law of natural selection, Idiots are promoted to Management, that’s  where they can do the least harm. We were employed to DO, THINKING isn’t in our Job Description. I want to be good at what I do, but I don’t want work to be a sum total of my existence. At the moment, possibility of a universe where these two goals would coincide seems remote. Work and Life have become either, or choices and finding a balance is near impossible. 

The best manager I have ever seen was at my first job, he would shut his laptop precisely  at 6, scold you because you were working on the very Saturday , a new Harry Potter book was releasing. Always told you, that just make enough money to enjoy a coffee at Barista with friends now and again , beyond that has been a waste of time. Like he always implied, a career and a salary is important, but what is it worth is entirely up to you. No one in the history of the universe has ever had it 'ALL'.