Charlie, Modesty & People.

Hi Friends,

One of my Heros in life, Charlie Munger passed away today morning ?at the ripe old age of 99.

The great man will forever be remembered as a partner/vice chair to Warren Buffet.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he was a key part in one of the most successful transformations of all time, instrumental in transforming a small textile company into a multi-billion conglomerate.

Looking at him besides his obvious and many professional achievements:

Friendship first : He could keep a friendship even in the cut-throat world of Big finance and that too for 60 years. ( How challenging to be in the shadows for such a long period of time and still not lose the friendship).

Charitable : He was rich (not by Buffet standards) but donated most of his earnings to charity during his lifetime.

Modest: In one of the interviews while talking about Elon Musk, he said Elon was brilliant and that they were different from Elon because they were looking for the easy job that they could identify. Well, the reality is that no one build a 800 Billion conglomerate by doing easy jobs.

Let’s look at a couple of them a little more ...

Friendship first, various examples in our epics -Krishna and Sudama -Exemplary friendship with no status locks, Dronacharya and Drupada – Failed friendship due to status locks, what stands out to me is Duryodhana and Karna – identify a friend and honour the friendship, a lot of scholars do believe that the great war of Mahabharat would have been avoided if Duryodhana did not have so much trust in Karna’s abilities to win it for him, but no one denies that it was a genuine and unique bond between two individuals.

Was recently in an informal team get-together to celebrate the completion of a key project ( achieved in 6 months vs projected time frame of 3 years), the solution lead (in a happy state of mind) ?was asked what is his greatest take away from the success of this project and his words were not aligned to automation, technical excellence but a very rustic view “Aadmi kamao”, he went on to elaborate, how people work with people and how some new-comers had become stars due to empowerment and personal connect.

When you need people to focus on the “Fish’s eye”, the total commitment to the objective and the leader is non-negotiable, knowing people for their strengths, their weaknesses and their care abouts is absolutely essential for them to contribute in a long stretch.

An example that was shared that the Solution Architect was returning to Delhi from a wedding in Rohtak for one of the team members, half way through the journey (late at night), there was a call saying you did not have dinner and should return, this meant a long drive back after a long and tiring day and most people would have given some excuse and carried on to the destination and catch some sleep, but the lead and the team took a U-turn and drove back many hours in the middle of the nigh to have dinner, much to the delight of the groom, this small act is the start of a loong friendship.

Modesty, ?In 1899 the economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen introduced the concept of conspicuous consumption, or the flaunting of one’s wealth to gain status and recognition. Conspicuous consumption is a strategic behaviour with assumed positive signal value, you would typically be very respectful to the person stepping out of limo wearing a three piece suit. This was a great strategy in the early part of this century when the chain of command was at the centre of focus, might still be relevant in business circles where people are evaluating your financial status. Both Charlie and Warren have not been compliant to this strategy.?

In fact, new research finds a context in which people are better off holding back particularly when cooperation is the key needle mover. Experiments suggest that people recognize the strategic value of modesty when they need to appear cooperative.

I have a simplistic view on this modesty can be planned and is essential when you are leading and have a big hill to climb, if people connect with you at that personal level, they will deliver extra-ordinary results.

However, when you are managing upwards in large organisations, be vocal( not modest) ?about your work because the days where “work will speak for itself” maybe behind us.?

Some thoughts:

Make friends (particularly at work), you spend a majority of your waking time there.

Research has shown that the first follower is often as important if not more important than the leader, if you are not the voice of transformation, be the enabler /first follower for transformation.

Be Modest in peer and team interactions, maybe not as much ?in managing upwards, because perceptions once created are difficult to change.

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Have a wonderful week ahead.