The last time I went to Hyderabad,
Col and Mrs. Nasser invited some of us over to dinner. Mrs. Nasser has some
secret recipes passed down over several generations. Hence it was with a lot of
eagerness and anticipation (the tongue lapping against my knees was not
particularly conducive to ambulation) that I arrived at their door step. Nasser
sahib has a haveli which can put many a modern day nawab to
shame. At the entrance to his divan-e-am (this portion is for commoners;
real guests are entertained at the divan-e-khas that is the inner
sanctorum) I stopped by to look at an interesting school of fish. For those of
us who have grown used to seeing brightly colored fish blinded by psychedelic
lights in drawing room aquariums, Nasser’s fish tank might come as a big surprise.
Here the fish are allowed to live in peace under more natural surroundings.
As we stood admiring the fish, we
found one that was injured. Mrs. Nasser came and announced that one more fish
had been attacked. It was then that Nasser related the tale of the new fish. It
seems that the fish in the tank were living a peaceful life under the
benevolent care of Col and Mrs. Nasser. There were several species but the tank
was large and they all had learnt to live in their own territory. In social
terms one could call it lebensraum. They all respected one another’s living
space and learnt to co-exist peacefully.
It was then that the new entrant
was introduced into the pool. He was a very healthy specimen. He was obviously
the brightest and smartest of them all. Unfortunately he lacked one trait. He
was a poor team player. A loner by nature, he was shunned by all. In turn, he
was constantly looking out for opportunities to attack any unsuspecting member
of the pool who showed the audacity to cross his path. We also saw that some of
the smart ones in the pool had learnt to adapt to the presence of the new
entrant. They were vigilant and managed to evade the threat. Suddenly the whole
pool had become an arena where only the fittest could survive.
As we stood talking, Col Nasser
was seriously contemplating ways to segregate the newcomer from the rest of the
pool. I was reminded of a famous Hindi saying that a single rotten fish is
enough to spoil the pond.
Management lessons:
Lesson 1. As leaders when we
build teams, we need to look at the attitude and aptitude of each team member.
Sometimes a particular member might be very good in all areas of work but he
might be unwilling to share and bond with the rest. As leaders we need to try
and integrate such members into the team. We also need to look at this trait
while hiring new members.
Lesson2. Just as the new fish
had changed the established order, a new entrant always brings a breath of
fresh air. It awakens a team from its state of stupor. It provides new challenges
to the rest who feel their territory being threatened.
Knowing Colonel Nasser’s penchant
for discipline I am quite sure that he might have trained the new fish and
integrated it into his school. If not, I wouldn’t be surprised to know of a new
addition to the Nizam’s famed recipe book. J
