Column

Double helix

As Yahoo fights for its very individuality, with Microsoft ready to swallow the brand once synonymous with the internet, it is perhaps time to dwell on the very idea of
being cool and different.

Let’s look at what is perhaps the finest ode to differentiation: Po Bronson’s portrayal of Yahoo co-founder David Filo (“who slept under his desk one night a week”) and other entrepreneurs in his 1999 chronicle of Silicon Valley: The Nudist on the Late Shift.

The title came from the story of a programmer who had become the talking point among techies. “Being a nudist on the late shift seemed to me to be the ultimate symbol of how people here want to assert their personal values on the job,” Bronson wrote.

Bronson’s nudist depiction had me wondering: how do you differentiate in Mumbai? Embedded in that simple question is a complex truth. Look at the trends. The world around you is getting cluttered; everyone is following the herd; the individual has lost her identity in the organisation’s processes; and all families are looking striking similar.

So, are you a nudist on a late or a night shift? Are you trying to be cool and different? Or are you happy being part of larger community?

Philosopher Charles Handy showcases the dichotomy in his delightful book, The Empty Raincoat: “Society speaks in two voices. One voice urges us to discover our ‘authentic self’, to be ourselves, to plan our own path through life…The other voice is that of the receptionist or the conference-organiser. ‘Who do you represent?’ ‘To whom are you affiliated?’ ‘What organisation are you from?’”

So which voice do you follow? A friend who works in the dramatically hanging financial sector, where relationship managers keep changing like Mumbai’s weather, told me that his individuality was created by a piece of code called PowerPoint.

“Every presentation to the boss is a multimedia affair, with every marketing executive trying to pass the message that she is not only good with numbers but also with presentations. Exotic fonts, psychedelic colours, and soundbites are used to grab the boss’s attention. It doesn’t matter whether you have delivered after every quarter or not.

What is important is the sophistication of the PowerPoint. I changed the matrix by doing a black and white ppt with arial font and got every eyeball. I wasn’t presenting anymore; I was representing myself.”

A ppt strategy is perhaps the easiest step to individuality. But how do you differentiate in a team whose deliverables are becoming commoditised? After all, everyone follows the same process, knows her target, and can parrot the company’s mission at will?

How do you stamp your identity on a template? In the heyday of Yahoo, you had to be clued up on content aggregation to make a career as an internet strategist. Today people competence is a clear differentiator.

“When you see people all around you leaving for higher salaries, you have to forget processes and act like an individual. You need to specialise in employee retention by becoming a people manager. You need to spot a competence that your organisation will value before others start sniffing it. And today, an HR competency will take you ahead of the herd,” says an advertising pro.

Differentiation is a process of growing. It is a quest for self-excellence that ultimately benefits the community and the organisation. After all, to differentiate is to learn. Peter Senge, author of the Fifth Discipline, summed it up well when he said:

“You know it when you get a sense of enthusiasm. I visited an automobile company in China and found quiet energy on the shopfloor. It looked like a life-force: relaxed, focused, not frantic. Have you seen martial artistes practising? There is no wasted energy: there is more outcome from less energy.

The people there were eager to learn even after having achieved a lot. They had that one question on their minds: Could you tell us how we can be better?”

Could you tell us how to be cool too? After all, it took a nudist to create an upheaval called Yahoo. Its after-effects are felt in cubicles even today. That is the magic and romance of the late shift, where you start exposing your true identity.

Email: vinaykamat@dnaindia.net