Middle Management Crisis
More and more people I meet (especially in the investing and entreprenuerial community) sound a similar concern. There's a serious lack of sound middle management in a growing Indian Enterprise.
A friend of mine did a short stint at a PE in my city. When I met him one day this summer, he sounded so frustrated. He had just come back from a series of meetings with a very famous trade publication company. He said that the company is great and the business is growing. He said that the top management is really aggressive and dynamic. But the biggest problem is with the middle management. Most of the people in the middle layer cannot even communicate properly. It's a shame. He said that was the case in most of the companies that he had visited. Big Problem!
My very good friends are a couple who're very passionately running their family business of print based products. You can see the passion in their talks about their business. They said something similar. They tell me often that they're seriously looking to expand their business and diversify. But their biggest problem is a lack of middle management. They spend nights doing stuff that could be done by employees. But they say that it is really difficult to see that kind of passion and will in the employees. The employees aren't smart enough to be raised to a level where they can independantly handle both operations and sales. Big Problem!
I recently met a lady who's at a very respectable position at one of the better PE's in the country. She had a very interesting view on the subject. She says that the entrepreneurs have started and sustained their business through the tough times of a downfall. They have learnt it the hard way and hence show that passion, will and that go-getter attitude. On the contrary most of the middle management staff have joined either just before or during the boom that the country is seeing. Since the conditions around them are so favorable, they tend to take a lot of things for granted. They're all from MBA schools. They have multiple employment opportunities - so they keep flipping. That hurts the company and more importantly the entrepreneur who treats the organization like his/her own baby. Big Problem!
A friend of mine did a short stint at a PE in my city. When I met him one day this summer, he sounded so frustrated. He had just come back from a series of meetings with a very famous trade publication company. He said that the company is great and the business is growing. He said that the top management is really aggressive and dynamic. But the biggest problem is with the middle management. Most of the people in the middle layer cannot even communicate properly. It's a shame. He said that was the case in most of the companies that he had visited. Big Problem!
My very good friends are a couple who're very passionately running their family business of print based products. You can see the passion in their talks about their business. They said something similar. They tell me often that they're seriously looking to expand their business and diversify. But their biggest problem is a lack of middle management. They spend nights doing stuff that could be done by employees. But they say that it is really difficult to see that kind of passion and will in the employees. The employees aren't smart enough to be raised to a level where they can independantly handle both operations and sales. Big Problem!
I recently met a lady who's at a very respectable position at one of the better PE's in the country. She had a very interesting view on the subject. She says that the entrepreneurs have started and sustained their business through the tough times of a downfall. They have learnt it the hard way and hence show that passion, will and that go-getter attitude. On the contrary most of the middle management staff have joined either just before or during the boom that the country is seeing. Since the conditions around them are so favorable, they tend to take a lot of things for granted. They're all from MBA schools. They have multiple employment opportunities - so they keep flipping. That hurts the company and more importantly the entrepreneur who treats the organization like his/her own baby. Big Problem!
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