Rama vs Pandavas Leadership Styles

Truth may be different : Few years  back, I met this man in the airport and was pleasantly shocked (rather envied I must confess) for being offered in one of the most sought after organizations in the Americas.  He was doing quite well in India (that is what most of us were thinking). He quit his job and expressed of his difficulties with his ex-supervisor. This was surprising to many of us the reason being, he was intelligent, smart engineer from a great campus and a committed hard working professional with great team management skills.  The opinion was he was forced fitted to a low performance score and then on, things between his supervisor and himself started soaring.  The Manager was highly territorial and could not allow this guy to grow, seek individuality, etc as he was the closest succession.  As a very demanding organization, one could never survive with a poor performance and still he was offered a “Poor” score while the manager ensured he was a Fortune magnet in the eyes of management.  

Global Job Cuts :With losing charm in the US and significant amount of downsizing of jobs, he has now returned to India.  As I spoke to him this morning, he was very upset and totally emotional.  He had expressed his interest to rejoin his previous organization.  While checking his records, they had responded to him that his reference of records with respect to performance was a challenge and hence they may be constrained to hire him back. 

Shadow of Performance:The challenge was soon after he left the organization, within a short span of time, boss was asked to leave on account of non performance.  This means he had been all the while supporting the performance of his then supervisor as well? Every leader is expected to be wise enough to care, allow the team to grow materially with emotionally well connected working relationships and this is the true exhibit of a leader.  

No rehire of Poor Performers: The challenge now is the organization does not hire poor performers.  How can we term poor performance rating given by a poor manager who is no more with the organization but still considered to be a deciding factor to hire him back? Every rule must have a context and not be a rule book but rather have fixed principles.  This rigid rule book policy is overarching on a prospective candidate who has returned with global exposure and of course with more experience.  A meeting with an open mind could have helped both the parties assess the current potential for mutual benefit. Isnt? 

Performance Score is not God:Performance score is only a data point at that performance year with loads of subjectivity into it with reasons ranging from working relationship to insecurity of the manager, lack of visibility etc.  What surprises here is when the manager herself has been ousted on account of her nonperformance, why is this organization so stuck to her rating? Supporting weak logic is like talking of rules and governance of Dharma at the time of disrobing Draupati.  What is key at that time to be considered vital?   

Evaluate right data:To consider a home coming on the basis of past performance is heights of tragedy of imagination especially when the earlier leadership was highly territorial with immense amount of fear of individuality and hence exploited the position with no empathy for his performance. Overwhelmed by fear, unclear self loss, his manager very intentionally pulled him down. Why do organizations have such a fall back on such legacy data? Shouldn’t they learn to evolve, more often than not, challenging the status quo? This has put the organization at loss by refusing a job prospect to the home comer but also depressed him with low morale and fear of even interviews.  The irony is the same manager has given a recommendation to this friend of mine in Linkedin.  Most often mere knowledge only gives more data which in turn creates more confusion or indecisiveness! 

The final decision: While Rama allowed everything to flow per principles of benefit to others and righteousness, his leadership style was considered as golden era while Pandavas were constantly under agitated mindset with animalistic revenge norms, though they may have been ethically right, were never considered as noble,  Leadership must have a similar choice of what is right for the role - both ethically right and legally compliant!