Growth through mediocrity
One of my braindroppings that came by in a conversation with a friend. Figured it was unique enough in my view to pen it down. Let me start this the ENTJ way ( those who have done the myers briggs test would know what I am talking about )...so let me start from the top.
TCS, WIPRO, INFOSYS - These names are often taken as organizations which are taking india to the world. Guess what - they are all based on mediocrity...in fact large volumes of mediocrity. Let me explain. The revenue model of these organizations are based on the volumes of billable resources - you know that your career is going nowhere the day your manager refers to you as a resource...and you know you are becoming a manger when you start referring to your team as a pool of resources !!! Anyways....The moment you talk of volumes in any context..you are talking about commoditization. The moment you talk about commoditization, you are talking about the smack center of the bell curve. And if you have a large enough center, it just means you have a large number of 'average grade' products...or resources in the context of the above firms. Given the extremely large number of people ( i am trying to be a different manager - i still refer to everyone as people and not resources ) these firms employ, it is safe to assume you have a large number of them who are essentially the average lot. Dont let anyone give you any crap about the fact that everyone is above average...that just means there is a new average...there is no such thing as a large above average crowd. As very delightfully said in movie ' The Incredibles ' - 'If everyone is special, it just means no one is'. So that is what we have with TCS, WIPRO etc...a large number of folks with average skills who contribute in making their respective firms multi billion dollar organizations.
Let us dig a little deeper into the nature of work these firms do. This is how I would think a Business Dev Manager and a Client conversation would be
BDM - Whats up ?
Client - not much. Just hangin in there.
BDM - Why ? what happened ? work pressure ?
Client - Yup. Late night support, was up all nite. And to top that, I had to document all the shit. To add to that, most of the stuff I do is so repetitive in nature that I could do it blindfolded....and guess what...sometimes I do it that way so that things get challenging in that I do not know where the keyboard is.
BDM - You got to to be kidding me.
Client - the worst part of it....I could not attend this friends bachelor party .
BDM - Dont you worry. We can take all that work off your back which will then leave you to focus on the real work that you need to do ( have fun with strippers !! )..... and we will do it for much cheaper rates too.
2 months down the line
BDM : Folks ...we have got a lot of challenging work being thrown at us by our new client and we need to make sure we do a phenomenal job at it.
ODC employee : What is the nature of work ?
BDM : The firm is a fortune 70000 company.
ODC employee : What is the nature of work ?
BDM : Infact they made it to the top 1000 best firms to work in alaska !!
ODC employee : What is the nature of work ?
BDM : They are rated the fastest growing company north of iceland given their geographical positioning on the planet
ODC employee : What is the nature of work ?
BDM : And best of all there is a good likelihood that many of you will get to go onsite !!!
ODC employee : When can we start ?
So my friends that is what the bulk of the work that is done out of these firms. And you do not need super smart folks to do this kind of work. An average joe like me can come out looking golden by doing this. And all the top IT service firms depend on this as their bread and butter and more. They excel in grabbing such mediocre quality work opportunities and get it done at a lower price with a reasonably high margin. So in essence their objective is to do volumes and volumes of mediocre work which will help then grow and generate more revenue. So they strive for growth through mediocrity. Hope I made my point.
TCS, WIPRO, INFOSYS - These names are often taken as organizations which are taking india to the world. Guess what - they are all based on mediocrity...in fact large volumes of mediocrity. Let me explain. The revenue model of these organizations are based on the volumes of billable resources - you know that your career is going nowhere the day your manager refers to you as a resource...and you know you are becoming a manger when you start referring to your team as a pool of resources !!! Anyways....The moment you talk of volumes in any context..you are talking about commoditization. The moment you talk about commoditization, you are talking about the smack center of the bell curve. And if you have a large enough center, it just means you have a large number of 'average grade' products...or resources in the context of the above firms. Given the extremely large number of people ( i am trying to be a different manager - i still refer to everyone as people and not resources ) these firms employ, it is safe to assume you have a large number of them who are essentially the average lot. Dont let anyone give you any crap about the fact that everyone is above average...that just means there is a new average...there is no such thing as a large above average crowd. As very delightfully said in movie ' The Incredibles ' - 'If everyone is special, it just means no one is'. So that is what we have with TCS, WIPRO etc...a large number of folks with average skills who contribute in making their respective firms multi billion dollar organizations.
Let us dig a little deeper into the nature of work these firms do. This is how I would think a Business Dev Manager and a Client conversation would be
BDM - Whats up ?
Client - not much. Just hangin in there.
BDM - Why ? what happened ? work pressure ?
Client - Yup. Late night support, was up all nite. And to top that, I had to document all the shit. To add to that, most of the stuff I do is so repetitive in nature that I could do it blindfolded....and guess what...sometimes I do it that way so that things get challenging in that I do not know where the keyboard is.
BDM - You got to to be kidding me.
Client - the worst part of it....I could not attend this friends bachelor party .
BDM - Dont you worry. We can take all that work off your back which will then leave you to focus on the real work that you need to do ( have fun with strippers !! )..... and we will do it for much cheaper rates too.
2 months down the line
BDM : Folks ...we have got a lot of challenging work being thrown at us by our new client and we need to make sure we do a phenomenal job at it.
ODC employee : What is the nature of work ?
BDM : The firm is a fortune 70000 company.
ODC employee : What is the nature of work ?
BDM : Infact they made it to the top 1000 best firms to work in alaska !!
ODC employee : What is the nature of work ?
BDM : They are rated the fastest growing company north of iceland given their geographical positioning on the planet
ODC employee : What is the nature of work ?
BDM : And best of all there is a good likelihood that many of you will get to go onsite !!!
ODC employee : When can we start ?
So my friends that is what the bulk of the work that is done out of these firms. And you do not need super smart folks to do this kind of work. An average joe like me can come out looking golden by doing this. And all the top IT service firms depend on this as their bread and butter and more. They excel in grabbing such mediocre quality work opportunities and get it done at a lower price with a reasonably high margin. So in essence their objective is to do volumes and volumes of mediocre work which will help then grow and generate more revenue. So they strive for growth through mediocrity. Hope I made my point.
Labels: Braindroppings
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