Old wine in a new bottle
By Arvind Sridhar | 23 Oct 2009
Published by: Penguin Group
Price: Rs399
Classification: Non-fiction
Subroto Bagchi conceived the idea of his third book, The Professional, when he realised an important ingredient was missing from his previous two books on business: Guidance!
In his first book, The High-Performance Entrepreneur, the author spoke about the making of his company and in the second, Go Kiss The World, he wrote about his life-story, hoping to motivate readers to achieve what they want to. With The Professional, Mr Bagchi provides a prescription for achieving true professionalism to the young and the experienced alike; in other words, the much-needed and even more sought-after guidance missing from his previous books. In about 200 pages, he provides us with a toolkit to sharpen our edge in the 21st-century workplace.
Mr Bagchi has drawn on experiences from his life to depict various facets of professional conduct under different circumstances. He has divided the book into seven chapters: integrity, self-awareness, professional qualities, managing volume, managing complexity, new world imperatives and the professional’s professional. The book is well-structured and easy to read. It won’t take you more than a couple of hours to finish, but I suggest you read it leisurely, in sequential order, internalise what the author conveys through each anecdote before you move on to the next subject.
The book has a little bit in it for everyone. Mr Bagchi tackles the dilemma of firing a star performer, advises us on managing client expectations, and talks about personal issues at work: boredom, whining, personal loss, transparency, logic versus emotion, sexual harassment and other gender issues. You are sure to find yourself saying, “Hey! That's happened to me” or “Hey, that's what I wanted to know about!”
The first chapter of the book leaves a lasting impact on you and sets the tone for the rest of the book. Making an important distinction between a professional and someone who is merely professionally qualified, Mr Bagchi mentions these two qualities as differentiators: “One is the ability to work unsupervised and, two, the ability to certify the completion of one’s work.”. And to illustrate this difference, he tells us the story of Mahadeva – the professional who disposed off unclaimed dead bodies and gave them a decent burial. Stark, but crystal clear!
Another example that I found very enlightening was that of the recent Satyam debacle, where Ramalinga Raju, the founder and chairman of the company admitted to largescale fudging of the balance sheet for years. Mr Bagchi uses this sordid saga beautifully to stress the importance of “The Responsibility of Dissent”. He has made very discerning, analytical and thought-provoking observations, which should serve as a constant reminder to any professional, who might, in beguiling situations, be tempted to disregard his or her scruples.
Mr Bagchi has made it easy to judge our actions on the yardstick of professionalism by drawing up a list of top ten markers.
If you're looking for radical career solutions or fiery concepts in management, you're not going to find them here. What you will find is a practical, comprehensive handbook advising and guiding you on how to be a true professional. Like old wine in a new bottle, The Professional serves up time-tested values and truths packaged to cater to today’s world.
Excerpts from The Responsibility of Dissent:
“The entire board of directors that consisted of several independent directors of international standing simply agreed to a completely unrelated business acquisition with an interested party. Who were these men and women around the table who consented to one of the least transparent deal in Indian corporate history? What on their minds when they raised their hands and said, ‘Aye’?…
“Eminent people all, but they individually and collectively failed the shareholders, 53,000 employees and their families, and the entire industry by their bizarre approval of the deal...
“But the focus of the Satyam falsehood is not Ramalinga Raju. Your focus should be on the professionals who knew all along that the company was taking one wrong step after the other but chose to go along and earn their salaries and bonuses. These people were failing the unwritten code of conduct for any professional – the responsibility of dissent.”
About the author:
Subroto Bagchi is the vice chairman and co-founder of MindTree Ltd. Till 2008, Subroto was its Chief Operating Officer, a role he stepped down from to become its Gardener. His work involves co-innovating with MindTree’s customers, tending the top 100 minds in the organisation and serving its fifty communities of practice. He is also chairman of MindTree’s Innovation Council.
His previous books, The High-Performance Entrepreneur and Go Kiss The World were bestsellers and received critical acclaim.
The Professional’s handbook: The table below ranks the top ten attributes of a professional and non-professional conduct
| Professional | Non-professional |
| Integrity | Missing a deadline |
| Commitment and ownership | Non-escalation of issues on time |
| Action orientation and goal seeking | Non-disclosure |
| Continuous learning | Not respecting privacy of information |
| Professional knowledge/skills | Not respecting ‘need to know’ |
| Communication | Plagiarism |
| Planning, organising and punctuality | Passing on the blame |
| Quality of work | Overstating qualifications and experience |
| A positive attitude, approachability, responsiveness | Mindless job hopping |
| Being an inspiring reference to others; thought and leadership | Unsuitable appearance |
