Getting Rid of the Thorn
In the corporate world some news items travel at the speed of light.
The moment Sam Jessop decided to quit as the deputy CEO of Teknology Supreme Ltd, a premier engineering company of the country, the news spread like wild fire. His name and fame as a capable engineer and manager had touched all nooks and corners of the engineering industry. And as the bigwigs of the engineering industry came to know about it, they were ready to woo him for their own companies with open arms, now that he was available as the most suitable and eligible bachelor around. Sam Jessop was after all a very successful person in the eyes of the entire world.
Yes, Sam Jessop was after all a very successful person for the entire world but his existing company Teknology Supreme did not think so. That’s the reason, finally, when it came to select the next CEO of the company, he was bypassed and his contemporary was chosen as CEO of Teknology Supreme. No one knew the exact reason. To everyone in Teknology Supreme, Sam Jessop would have been the obvious choice for the CEO’s position. But, things happen queerly in corporate sector. The outcome- Sam was quite unhappy and resigned from the company in protest. Teknology Supreme decided to let him go without much of melodrama.
Many companies now wished to grab him. He was a hot property. Sam got some three or four good offers. Finally, he decided to join the number two engineering company of the country “Boundaryless Engineering Corporation”.
He joined them as an engineering consultant by the title “chief technical adviser to the chairman” of Boundaryless Engineering Corporation. He was meted out the hierarchical level, fees, perquisites and everything else exactly on par with the existing CEO of Boundaryless Engineering. And he was given a big cabin next to the cabin of the chairman of the corporation. The CEO used to have his cabin away from that of the chairman. This nearness of cabin of Sam Jessop created a bit of a stir in the entire higher echelon of the company. The CEO Ray Barry’s sentiments did not go untouched by this. He felt a bit let down by this type of induction of Sam Jessop. However, he consoled himself by thinking that after all Sam was brought as a consultant- as adviser and not as an executive. All the powers ultimately rested with him only.
Soon Sam Jessop was attending all the strategic meetings of Boundaryless Engineering Corporation. Initially he was quite a spectator in the meetings but within a month’s time, he started opening up his mouth in these meetings. And what he spoke was not always liked by many attendees and particularly the CEO Ray Barry. The things used to be more critical when the chairman was also around in the meetings. Many decisions were shaped by the advice of Sam Jessop and Chairman invariably saw a point in the advice of Sam. There was always something value adding in his remarks. Not to be seen as a threat to the executives and CEO of the company, Sam Jessop had picked up a habit of concluding his remarks by saying, “This is what I can advise in the best interest of the company. If you gentlemen think it fit to give consideration to my suggestions, it will be good. But that decision rests entirely with you. My job is to advise and your job is to execute.”
Ray Barry was quite uncomfortable after the arrival of Sam Jessop. His managerial designs were being constantly questioned and put to test due to involvement of Sam. He saw these involvements as interference in running the company. He hated this situation, He thought to himself, “I must soon find out some solution to this problem. I don’t want Sam hanging around my neck.”
Ultimately Ray Barry worked out a plan.
First he put few of his confidants to carry out an elaborate research work on the background of Sam Jessop. Main agenda of the research was to find out the specific reasons for the indirect ouster of Sam from his previous organization Teknology Supreme Ltd. That would uncover the yet unknown weaknesses of Sam. “Every person on this earth has weaknesses. Sam too must be having some”, thought Ray.
Ray also started to interview some of the persons who had migrated from Teknology Supreme and joined Boundaryless Engineering at senior management levels. He used to ask them pretty searching questions to get some clue about the working style of Sam, his strong points and mainly his weaknesses. And this way he did gather some very important pieces of information that would help him to draw out his strategies to minimize the interference of Sam in his ways of running the company.
His confidants of the research project also brought in a number of very significant details about Sam’s weaknesses which were also probably the major most reasons for denial of CEO position to him in his previous organization.
One evening Ray Barry sat down in his home office and pondered over all the information and tips he had collected from various sources about Sam. Out of all of them, two things or two facts were glaring at him prominently. First fact pointed to the first major weakness of Sam. Sam had weakness for alcohol. The second fact pointed to the second major weakness of Sam. Despite having a beautiful wife at home, Sam was fond of company of other women. Ray did not waste his time in registering other weaknesses of Sam. As per Ray, these two weaknesses of Sam were his “A” class weaknesses and he must concentrate on them and use them intelligently.
This was the third month of Sam Jessop’s contract as adviser to chairman. Within these three months he had done a good degree of damage as per Ray. He would not allow him to extend it further- he was determined.
As per the contract, Sam used to visit the company only on the days when there were important meetings. Sam continued living in the city of the head quarters of his previous company and used to fly to this city of head quarters of his new employer Boundaryless Engineering on these days. On such occasions the company used to make five star arrangements for his stay.
Sam Jessop was scheduled to arrive for the next meeting in a couple of days and he would stay in a five star hotel for about a week. A few days ahead of his arrival, Ray Barry called his administrative chief to his cabin and said, “I wish to review the arrangements of stay etc of Mr Sam Jessop. I want you to upgrade his stay into the best suite available in the hotel now onwards. He should not stay in the regular rooms of the hotel- that is below the dignity of a person of Mr Jessop’s stature. And you guys have never looked after him decently in the past three months. He spends his evenings alone here, away from his home town and away from his family. Please do think in terms of how to entertain him in the evenings. Organize a few parties when he is around. To compensate for our failure in this aspect, please set out a party this time on the very first day of his arrival. It should be a great party. Nothing should be missed out. The menu of the dinner should be first class and the drinks should be top rated.”
Then Ray Barry handed over the list of invitees for the party. In the list of invitees he had included the names of couple of top notch socialite ladies whom he knew as great company to any male connoisseur seeking a female company.
And Sam Jessop fell for each of these arrangements head over heels. He indulged himself. He drank to the brim. Soon he was also enjoying the female company. And he had a luxurious suite to himself.
Next day in the meeting where even the chairman of the company was present, Sam Jessop just did not open his mouth, made no comments and released no advices. He was suffering from a serious hangover and lack of sleep.
Ray Barry was smiling all the way.
Chairman was not very happy at the silence of Sam Jessop. After all, he was paying heavy sum of money for each minute of Sam Jessop’s presence (and his words of wisdom/advice) in the meeting.
(We learn that this trap was repeated several times by Ray Barry and Sam Jessop became its victim every time. The latest grapevine is: the chairman of the company is seriously considering terminating Sam’s contract).
In the corporate world some news items travel at the speed of light.
The moment Sam Jessop decided to quit as the deputy CEO of Teknology Supreme Ltd, a premier engineering company of the country, the news spread like wild fire. His name and fame as a capable engineer and manager had touched all nooks and corners of the engineering industry. And as the bigwigs of the engineering industry came to know about it, they were ready to woo him for their own companies with open arms, now that he was available as the most suitable and eligible bachelor around. Sam Jessop was after all a very successful person in the eyes of the entire world.
Yes, Sam Jessop was after all a very successful person for the entire world but his existing company Teknology Supreme did not think so. That’s the reason, finally, when it came to select the next CEO of the company, he was bypassed and his contemporary was chosen as CEO of Teknology Supreme. No one knew the exact reason. To everyone in Teknology Supreme, Sam Jessop would have been the obvious choice for the CEO’s position. But, things happen queerly in corporate sector. The outcome- Sam was quite unhappy and resigned from the company in protest. Teknology Supreme decided to let him go without much of melodrama.
Many companies now wished to grab him. He was a hot property. Sam got some three or four good offers. Finally, he decided to join the number two engineering company of the country “Boundaryless Engineering Corporation”.
He joined them as an engineering consultant by the title “chief technical adviser to the chairman” of Boundaryless Engineering Corporation. He was meted out the hierarchical level, fees, perquisites and everything else exactly on par with the existing CEO of Boundaryless Engineering. And he was given a big cabin next to the cabin of the chairman of the corporation. The CEO used to have his cabin away from that of the chairman. This nearness of cabin of Sam Jessop created a bit of a stir in the entire higher echelon of the company. The CEO Ray Barry’s sentiments did not go untouched by this. He felt a bit let down by this type of induction of Sam Jessop. However, he consoled himself by thinking that after all Sam was brought as a consultant- as adviser and not as an executive. All the powers ultimately rested with him only.
Soon Sam Jessop was attending all the strategic meetings of Boundaryless Engineering Corporation. Initially he was quite a spectator in the meetings but within a month’s time, he started opening up his mouth in these meetings. And what he spoke was not always liked by many attendees and particularly the CEO Ray Barry. The things used to be more critical when the chairman was also around in the meetings. Many decisions were shaped by the advice of Sam Jessop and Chairman invariably saw a point in the advice of Sam. There was always something value adding in his remarks. Not to be seen as a threat to the executives and CEO of the company, Sam Jessop had picked up a habit of concluding his remarks by saying, “This is what I can advise in the best interest of the company. If you gentlemen think it fit to give consideration to my suggestions, it will be good. But that decision rests entirely with you. My job is to advise and your job is to execute.”
Ray Barry was quite uncomfortable after the arrival of Sam Jessop. His managerial designs were being constantly questioned and put to test due to involvement of Sam. He saw these involvements as interference in running the company. He hated this situation, He thought to himself, “I must soon find out some solution to this problem. I don’t want Sam hanging around my neck.”
Ultimately Ray Barry worked out a plan.
First he put few of his confidants to carry out an elaborate research work on the background of Sam Jessop. Main agenda of the research was to find out the specific reasons for the indirect ouster of Sam from his previous organization Teknology Supreme Ltd. That would uncover the yet unknown weaknesses of Sam. “Every person on this earth has weaknesses. Sam too must be having some”, thought Ray.
Ray also started to interview some of the persons who had migrated from Teknology Supreme and joined Boundaryless Engineering at senior management levels. He used to ask them pretty searching questions to get some clue about the working style of Sam, his strong points and mainly his weaknesses. And this way he did gather some very important pieces of information that would help him to draw out his strategies to minimize the interference of Sam in his ways of running the company.
His confidants of the research project also brought in a number of very significant details about Sam’s weaknesses which were also probably the major most reasons for denial of CEO position to him in his previous organization.
One evening Ray Barry sat down in his home office and pondered over all the information and tips he had collected from various sources about Sam. Out of all of them, two things or two facts were glaring at him prominently. First fact pointed to the first major weakness of Sam. Sam had weakness for alcohol. The second fact pointed to the second major weakness of Sam. Despite having a beautiful wife at home, Sam was fond of company of other women. Ray did not waste his time in registering other weaknesses of Sam. As per Ray, these two weaknesses of Sam were his “A” class weaknesses and he must concentrate on them and use them intelligently.
This was the third month of Sam Jessop’s contract as adviser to chairman. Within these three months he had done a good degree of damage as per Ray. He would not allow him to extend it further- he was determined.
As per the contract, Sam used to visit the company only on the days when there were important meetings. Sam continued living in the city of the head quarters of his previous company and used to fly to this city of head quarters of his new employer Boundaryless Engineering on these days. On such occasions the company used to make five star arrangements for his stay.
Sam Jessop was scheduled to arrive for the next meeting in a couple of days and he would stay in a five star hotel for about a week. A few days ahead of his arrival, Ray Barry called his administrative chief to his cabin and said, “I wish to review the arrangements of stay etc of Mr Sam Jessop. I want you to upgrade his stay into the best suite available in the hotel now onwards. He should not stay in the regular rooms of the hotel- that is below the dignity of a person of Mr Jessop’s stature. And you guys have never looked after him decently in the past three months. He spends his evenings alone here, away from his home town and away from his family. Please do think in terms of how to entertain him in the evenings. Organize a few parties when he is around. To compensate for our failure in this aspect, please set out a party this time on the very first day of his arrival. It should be a great party. Nothing should be missed out. The menu of the dinner should be first class and the drinks should be top rated.”
Then Ray Barry handed over the list of invitees for the party. In the list of invitees he had included the names of couple of top notch socialite ladies whom he knew as great company to any male connoisseur seeking a female company.
And Sam Jessop fell for each of these arrangements head over heels. He indulged himself. He drank to the brim. Soon he was also enjoying the female company. And he had a luxurious suite to himself.
Next day in the meeting where even the chairman of the company was present, Sam Jessop just did not open his mouth, made no comments and released no advices. He was suffering from a serious hangover and lack of sleep.
Ray Barry was smiling all the way.
Chairman was not very happy at the silence of Sam Jessop. After all, he was paying heavy sum of money for each minute of Sam Jessop’s presence (and his words of wisdom/advice) in the meeting.
(We learn that this trap was repeated several times by Ray Barry and Sam Jessop became its victim every time. The latest grapevine is: the chairman of the company is seriously considering terminating Sam’s contract).
Related Book
"Sensitive Stories of Corporate World" (available from Amazon, get it online)
Read many more management anecdotes/management case studies in the eminent author Shyam Bhatawdekar's best selling book "Sensitive Stories of Corporate World" available online from Amazon as an eBook as well as a printed book.
Other Related Reading
For everything you wanted to know on building leadership and management, refer Shyam Bhatawdekar’s website: http://shyam.bhatawdekar.com/
Also, refer our High Quality Management Encyclopedia at: http://management-universe.blogspot.com/
For “out of box thinking” articles by Shyam Bhatawdekar, refer: (Out of Box Ideas) http://wow-idea.blogspot.com/
Read other blogs of Shyam Bhatawdekar at: (Home Page for Writings of Shyam Bhatawdekar) http://writings-of-shyam.blogspot.com
Novel "The Peace Crusaders" http://peacecrusaders.blogspot.com
Novels and Stories
Novel "The Peace Crusaders" http://peacecrusaders.blogspot.com
Stories Children Will Love http://stories-children.blogspot.com/
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