BEYOND FIFTEEN MINUTES SMARTNESS

Due to the information explosion in the recent past quite a few things have come out in the open. The one thing to stand out is that every person has become smarter than the earlier version. You may or may not have realized the same. Do you agree? Good! The earlier version was a labored, nervous and may be slightly unsure about his thoughts and position, not so now. The information provided by the internet, TV channels, by way of the news, interviews, features, live telecasts, as well as the print media provides a menu which very few have been able to assimilate.  Even in the media some are becoming stronger than some of the nations in the world, while others are facing a shutdown. The print media which has to struggle very hard to keep the interest of its readers and to prevent them from stopping the “to read the paper” habit. Whether you want to know about your falling incomes or falling hair or even your falling standards of morals and ethics, be sure that you have a readymade, easy to consume, shortcut dose of advice. Take any area in your life and you may have it repaired or re-oriented by some smart Alec who tells you “how to”. The easy access has arguably devalued the importance of the information.

 We are all in the exposure of such people and I feel that it is as bad as the Uranium radiation. I am amused to see the changes in people around me. To a certain extent I am happy for such changes in people and their improved behavior. What makes me sad is that these changes are predominantly on the superficial sides, and more often than not on a cosmetic scale. They are now better dressed, better in their usual conversations or in the routine interactions with other people. However, it becomes a time consuming, if not wasting exercise, as you venture to find out the real value of these people. This is the reason why most times you feel mildly cheated when you find a person whom you thought to be a smart one, fades out very fast. The problem becomes even more serious when the person in question is your employee or a colleague and further worse if your performance depends on him. We come across such problematic people in our active careers. When I discussed this problem with my friends and associates, I was surprised to receive very animated response. They readily accepted the presence and discussed their torture at the hands of these people.

 Such persons are categorized in a slightly new concept named as Fifteen Minutes Smart, the FMS.

 The logical question you should ask is what is this business all about?

 The surface levels at which these FMS are accustomed to operate can be deceptive and it takes an astute and experienced person to appraise such FMS. The FMS, unfortunately, are in a majority these days. Hence, what I write is for the ones who believe in the hard-earned, slogged-for and time-consuming version of the smartness.  Nowadays they are the ones who are left with proverbial cleaning operations.

 Let us find out the characteristics of the FMS.

• ? The first is that FMS are overdressed.
• They are loud in their bearing.
•  They speak very loudly, and try to dominate the meetings.
•  They have an acceptable command over the language they speak.
•  They can speak on any topic for a short time, restricting the talk to the generalities.
•  They speak in the words of someone else and never acknowledge.
• They would rarely accept what others have to say, but when it comes to deliver, they would invariably do the vanishing trick.
•  They can be extremely sly and are prone to taking the shortcut
•  They are willing to help only those persons who are good looking, fair and usually belong to the fairer sex.
•  They shall do this holy thing at a serious cost of their colleagues.
•  They speak poison for their friends, and not at all bothered by the inner voice. Their receiver may not have this channel.

 They are very poor timekeepers, and come late to the meetings and subsequently give some unimaginable reason. But if the Big Man calls the meeting then they would arrive on time and can look very busy. Overall, they give a restless appearance. They can move at a break neck speed here and there, without actually doing anything worthwhile. They are shallow and this shows to all those who have some time and inclination to test these people. The thing that works in the cases of FMS is that the ones who matter do not generally have time to test the FMS. Actually, after a few interactions with the FMS I have seriously stopped believing in the first impressions. The FMS are masters in pleasing the bosses. They make it a point to know everything about the boss, and (as well as the boss of the boss,) the wife of the boss. They keep a track of the birthdays, and other important days in the life of the boss. Do not confuse FMS with the chamchas, as the FMS are smarter and sure of what they want and to get them in any which way possible, ignoring the accepted norms.

 FMS are masters in positive “talking”.  Point to be noted is Talking. As long as they have to only talk they would promise everyone everything. The distance between the talking and the actual doing is very rarely traveled by the FMS. They boom in the meetings and can monopolize them. Under the garb of the positive thinking, they talk of goals. The more impossible nature of the goal suits better to these people. After all they are not going to put any effort to achieve the goals. They know that when such time arrives, they would not be around.

 FMS can be extremely irritating to the prudent ones. The prudent think before they talk and hence find FMS as loveable as the plague. Because they cannot assert and resist, they have to temporarily accept all the trash dished out by the FMS.

 FMS are blessed with a very selective memory. They remember the shortcomings of their colleagues. They have an uncanny knack of presenting the awkward data at the most inopportune time for sincere workers. (Since the time of the early civilizations, it is proved that those who are sincere workers or have a different vision, have to swim against the current.) The selective memory very conveniently allows the FMS to forget his promises and failures.

 What happens to the FMS in the end? Do people like them or just tolerate them? How do they function in a team? Until what time the shortcuts can be effective? What about the core? You have to decide for your specific cases. As long as you and your organization allows the presence and further dominance, the graph of growth would be always a straight line, that too if you are lucky. As soon as the artificial polish wears out the insufficient core of the FMS is exposed with all its stink.

 There is no substitute for the old-fashioned and simple hard work. “Do it yourself” is the first condition, which starts the downfall of the FMS. When it comes to actually doing something the FMS is at a loss, for the simple reason that he does not know how to do anything or even worse there is a lack of inclination. Therefore, once again he tries his time-tested method of finding a person who may actually do the job. As soon as the job is done with FMS moves in like a hyena and grabs the credit. Sadly, for the FMS, his organization cannot have an unending supply of doers who are gullible. There comes a time when everyone, in the organization becomes wise and refuses to help FMS. And then the only way left for the FMS is the way out.

 Actually, FMS should understand one simple thing. Doing something is most of the times easier than the manipulations the FMS undertakes. Rarely, the FMS accept this. Moreover, the satisfaction of an accomplishment and the purest joy of doing cannot be replaced. Couple this with all the ill feelings generated in the minds of the FMS victims, and the picture becomes clearer. For his own self-esteem the FMS should find out the benefit of an honest effort as against the manipulation of the people.

We have to seriously reorient our methods of the selection and the subsequent appraisals to weed out the FMS. The new system should be designed in such a way that it enables us to filter such garbage before it can further vitiate our organizations and the society. We already know that there is very little connection between the qualifications the person has and his actual capacity to deliver the goods. This is reflected in the individual entrance and aptitude tests conducted by various industries, which are reluctant to take the qualifications on their face value.