Essential Reading

Here are a list of books that you need to make a part of your library. And I will list these at random here. You can go through them in any order. These will be at the core of your re-orientation.

BUSINESS BIOGRAPHIES
Warren Buffet - Berkshire Hathaway
John Deere - John Deere Farm Equipment
Michel Dell - Dell Computers
Lee Iacocca - Chrysler
Raymond A Kroc - McDonalds
Jack Welch - GE
Jeff Bezos - Amazon.com
George Soros - Quantum Fund
Sam Walton - Walmart
Bill Gates - Microsoft
Mark Zuckerberg - Facebook
Anita Roddick - The Body Shop
Steve Jobs - Apple
Richard Branson - Virgin

BUSINESS HOUSES
Tata: Tata: The Evolution of a Corporate Brand by Morgen Witzel
Walmart: Walmart:The Bully of Bentonville by Anthony Bianco
Apple: Inside Apple by Adam Lashinsky
IBM: Who says Elephants can't Dance by Louis V Gerstener
GE: Jeff Immelt and the New GE Way by David Magee
Boeing: Boeing vs Airbus by John Newhouse
Coca Cola: For God, Country and Coca Cola by Mark Pendergrast

MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORKS
The Balanced Scorecard by Robert Kaplan, David Norton
Strategy Maps by Robert Kaplan, David Norton
Alignment by Robert Kaplan, David Norton
Strategy Focused Organization by Robert Kaplan, David Norton

SUBJECT TREATISE
Economics by Paul Samuelson, William Nordhaus
Leadership in Organizations by Gary Yukl
Organizational Theory, Design and Change by Gareth Jones
Damodaran on Valuation by Aswath Damodaran
Principles of Corporate Finance by Brealey Myers
The Marketing Imagination by Theodore Levitt
Managing Human Resources by Wayne Casicio
Macroeconomics: Theory and Applications by GS Gupta

GENERAL MANAGEMENT BOOKS
Know-How by Ram Charan
10 Rules for Strategic Innovators by Vijay Govindarajan & Chris Trimble
Fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid by CK Prahalad
The Agenda by Michael Hammer
The Dance of Change by Peter Senge
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan
The Return on Depression Economics and the crisis of 2008 by Paul Krugman

MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS
Principle Centred Leadership by Stephen Covey
The 10-day MBA by Steven Silbiger
The Essential Advantage:How to win with a capabilities-driven strategy by Leinwand, Mainardi
Staying power by Michael A Cusumano
Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt

The objective is not to burden you with reading material. I have chosen only those books that I have found truly useful over the years. Some of them, like Paul Krugman's "Return of Depression Economics" are absolutely classic and a must read. Warren Buffets biography is a real eyeopener on one of the most influential minds in business, as is Alan Greenspan's book "The Age of Turbulence". These are all easy reads, like a novel. Others require quiet time, study and hours of reflection. "Damodaran on Valuation" is the definitive guide on valuation. Others like Stephen Coveys "Principle Centred Leadership" gives a different perspective that will aid you on your transition from military to business leadership.

Some of the books under the category 'Subject Treatise' are recommended reading at B-School. The books listed are from the list given to us at my alma mater, the XLRI in Jamshedpur. I did mention earlier, that unless you are a short-service commissioned officer, retiring after 5-10 years of service, there is no purpose served in doing a 2-year residential or 3-year executive management program at a B-school. Your experience is more than adequate to survive in civvy street, provided of course, you have prepared well. This reading list is just one more step in that direction. If you are still curious about business education, pick up the "The 10-day MBA" by Steven Silbiger to understand the scope of coverage in a typical B-school. Again, I am emphasising re-orientation programs instead of full 2-3 year programs. The book gives a synopsis and the terminology of many subjects including Marketing, Ethics, Accounting, Organizational Behaviour, Quantitative Analysis, Finance, Operations, Economics and Strategy. And as the author says "Written for the impatient student, The Ten-Day MBA allows readers to really grasp the fundamentals of an MBA without loosing two years wages and incurring a $100,000 debit for tutions and expenses." If anything, and like in the military, just consider it to be yet another glossary of must-know terms!

I will keep on expanding this list over time.
So do revisit this page as often as feasible.

I am a military leader. Why can't I be a business leader?

That is absolutely the right question!

And if this is your attitude, you are already in a different league.

However, there is a caveat.

And the caveat is that you need to visualize leadership, not as an absolute (meaning, either you have it or you dont) but as a spectrum.

What the hell does that mean?
The question is more likely to be asked by Army officers in particular, as they generally tend to think of themselves as such kick-ass leaders as to be closed to any suggestion that there may be something more to learn about the subject! When you are jumping out into civvy street, an open mind is your parachute.

In the military, traditional leadership has been necessarily of the autocratic "command and control" type, especially in active operations.

However, you might have already realized that, either consciously or unconsciously, you changed your "leadership style" when dealing with peacetime routine. You tend to be more democratic and flexible, you are more open to solutions or view points of your team members and you encouraged participation. This is when you wear your "mentor" hat, so essential in nurturing future leaders in your organization.

Over the years, you would have also noticed that as the battlefield evolved and the environment became more complex, diffused and technologically advanced, your leadership style has also evolved. Your dependence on your subordinate team members has increased exponentially. Trust has become a key factor and your approach is more laissez-faire. You are increasingly compelled (and happy) to delegate authority for decisions, even though it is your neck on the line and the military continues to hold you responsible for their outcomes.

Many of us would have invariably run into the leader who is a stickler for rules and policies, which though appropriate in the context of administrative fairplay, has negative connotations when applied in situations where a fair amount of lattitude or discretion is the norm. When this "bureaucratic style" of leadership is applied indiscriminately, this type of leader is classified as an appropriate 'body part'. So much so, it has even inspired people to write books about them.

The bottomline is that there is a spectrum of leadership styles, each appropriate in a  certain context, and this is important to keep in mind. In civvy street (infer corporate sector), there will never be a situation where you have to resort to the "command and control" style of leadership. It will be highly inappropriate and counter-culture. Even if you are an entrepreneur and own the company, you will never resort to the "command and control" style. As a matter of fact, you may find that in most of your leadership actions, you would seek to build a consensus, aligning, more often than not, with the style at the other end of the spectrum.

This is tough initially. Especially when in your assessment, a situation calls for quick and decisive action, you will find an appalling drift, sometimes even at the very top of the organization. Don't get your knickers in a twist, unless you are sure someone is going to get hurt. Don't even complain! And never volunteer to do someone else work. If you do volunteer, the chances are that a majority will think you don't have enough to do. Funnily, your proactive actions may even open up the possibility of your eventual redundancy!

So what should you do? I would suggest that you mention it, informally and in passing, to the colleague who is responsible, and then just get on with your work, even if it means allowing a very visible situation to deteriorate. There may be a method behind the madness that you may not quite understand yet, but make allowance for the person closest to the problem to get around to it. If you act, or complain, before this person has had a chance to address the problem, it may show him in poor light and he will never forgive you for it! On the other hand, if you referred it to him, offered to help, suggested how you might address it, but untimately left it to him to resolve it, he might well become your greatest supporter the next time your nuts are in the fire.

That's politics, you might say! Yes, indeed. And that's a strange world for soldiers! It's also good learning, and as the old song goes:

"If you're gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right.
You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run."

On the other hand, you may continue to take the initiative and act decisively with your other dealings such as, with problems in your community, or personal life, or in support of social causes.

The emphasis here is on your mindset - specifically - your ability to adapt. Your leadership style has to adapt and be in consonance, not only with the group you lead, but also with the specifics of each situation. And the "life or death"  situations in civvy street is most commonly associated with margins or market share. They do matter, but not in the way you have been trained to think.

The most common mistake leaders make is to maintain a single leadership style, without giving any thought to the capabilities of the group they lead or the attributes of the situation. This is especially significant when a task-typed leader is put into a different context. The such leaders tend to assume that what worked for them in the past will continue to work in the future, a classic case of "situating the appreciation" from your combat school days. It is no wonder then, that so many business leaders who have done extremely well for themselves in a particular field or situation, fail so miserably when they take up new assignments. The departures of Carly Fiorina from Hewlett Packard, Carol Bartz from Yahoo! and Jeff Kindler from Pfizer are a few recent instances that comes to my mind immediately. They all provide valuable lessons for us to learn.

This change in context is also the main reason why military leaders sometime fail in civvy street as their leadership style is so deeply ingrained or internalized, that they fail to even recognize the compelling need to adapt.

There are numerous biographical accounts of great business leaders and these must find place in your pre-retirement reading list. Not only are these books deeply insightful and revealing, they humanize these very accomplished individuals and give you a top level perspective on the day to day challenges of running some of the worlds most respected companies.

Developing your interests

This is a really big deal and can consume a lot of your time as you get closer to the big day.

You now have many years of work experience. You are fully aware that all jobs have pros and cons and in general, if you had aligned your interests well at the time of joining, the pros have a sight edge over the cons, meaning, on balance, life's been good!

One good indicator of whether you are ready to hang up your boots is when your interest and enthusiasm for the job has been waning for SEVERAL years. Usually it happens post a major event in your personal life, like a debilitating injury, death of a parent or even marriage. These are usually inflection points in your life which can result in major changes in your priorities.

What then?

You then need to either reconcile or act! Both are tough. But sitting on the fence for too long will be detremental both to your interests as well as to the interests of the organization you serve, not to mention, your butt! And it may take months of reflection before you can determine what you can do with the rest of your life. More often than not, it will continue to remain hazy until you begin to act and move in that general direction. Usually a short-list of your interests may be a good starting point. Mine looked something like this:

This is fairly straight forward in the beginning!

However, I recommend that instead of my back-of-the-envelope demonstration, you could open a wire-bound A4 sized notebook to keep adding and then developing your ideas.

"Day sheets" are very useful too. What's that? This is nothing but a section in your notebook where you jot down anything of interest on any particular day. It may be something that you read in the newspaper that morning, picked up in a conversation, heard on the news, seen in a movie, overheard in a restaurant or seen in a hoarding while commuting to work. Or maybe even a dream, a vision or flash of inspiration! You may like to add newpaper/magazine clippings of editorials, articles of interests, job descriptions or whatever perked your interest. And once a week, you consolidate it to update your shortlist or timeline.

A section of your notebook could be dedicated to research on industries, jobs or job functions or even to the analysis of specific companies from their websites or physical copies of their annual reports you find lying around in the waiting areas of some offices or maybe at your "avid investor" friends' home. The annual reports, specifically, the section on "management discussion" provides a wealth of information about a company and its plans. By this, not only do you begin to understand the company but also you become acquainted with "management speak", the lingo of the top executives of the company. Along with this, it is useful to study the fiscal policy (Budget) documents published by the Ministry of Finance, news articles of  your country's securities and stock exchange regulator and the monetary policy as laid out by the Fed or Reserve Bank.

India has the SEBI (sebi.gov.in), the RBI (rbi.org.in) and Ministry of Finance (finmin.nic.in). All documents pertaining to the Budget 2012 for instance is at the FinMin website indiabudget.nic.in. It is useful to go through both the "Economic Survey" and the "Union Budget" to get a good macroeconomic (read "high level") perspective.

In the US for example, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) has the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retreival system (or EDGAR for short) which is an important source for researching public companies. Again, pick up a set of 5-6 companies from among the top fifty in the Fortune 500 list (search google or download the FORTUNE magazine webapp) and use EDGAR to retrieve the latest filings.

Say for example, you want to research GE. Find and click on the company search link in EDGAR and give the company name "General Electric" in the company name box. This will first give you a list of GE group companies. Locate the "General Electric Co" from the list and click on the CIK (Central Index Key) in column one. This leads to all the documents filed by GE. Pick out the 10-K (annual report) filing and click on the "Documents" button provided against it.Then click on the first document in the list that appears - the "10K form".

The second page of the 10-K has the table of contents. Your primary area of interest is Item 7 in Part II, that is "Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation". Click on the link and read through the entire section. If you dont know the company, it is useful to start with Item 1 (Business) and Item 1A (Risk Factors). Item 11 (Executive Compensation) might be revealing in its own right!

I can assure you that no B-school can provide this kind of education. This is the real stuff for grown-ups, not the b-school mechanics - the theoretical stuff taught to the 20-something just-out-of-college kids with raging hormones and unquenchable thirst who appear to inhabit those campuses!

Will you understand all of the terminology used in these documents?

No chance!

At least, not initially. So read this in conjunction with common web-based investor encyclopedias like Investopedia (investopedia.com) or even generic ones like Wikipedia. Begin to take these first baby steps and very soon, you will find yourself getting comfortable with the language.

Much later, when you apply for jobs or are interviewing for one, the conversation will be very much along the lines of these management discussions. Interviews at your level is not meant to test your knowledge. That mode is for freshly coined graduate trainees. You will have done your homework, researched the company you are interviewing with well enough to understand where the challenges lie.

And if the person you are interacting with, can take away something of immediate value for the organization for the time he (or she) invests in the conversation with you, you have your foot in the door. If you cannot do this, don't waste their time. Or yours, for that matter! It will only mean that your re-education is not complete yet.

Coming back to our current topic, you now have your SHORTLIST! You have been researching and developing each item in your shortlist. It may take weeks or even months, but a picture will begin to emerge. And during this while, the more the number of people you meet and interact with (and I mean, outside the services), and with an open, inquiring mind (this is tougher than you can imagine!), the more developed your plan, timeline and options become.

Can you take people at face value?

A good friend who had preceded me into civvy street once remarked that since I was planning to quit, there were two things I needed to keep in mind that would be hugely different from service at least in the initial years of re-building a career:

A. Don't waste your time playing golf with old army buddies! (sorry guys, the next round is on me!)
B. Don't take people at face value.

It is not just golf. It could be a dinner, lunch-time reunion or a course get-together. That represented an investment in time that you could ill afford. Playing golf with a potential client is an investment and you get to establish a rapport. Playing golf with an old buddy is fun! It is for you to determine what is worth your while.

I did not initially, understand the remark on taking people at face value. I was still in service at that time and I had never for a moment in my entire service career, have reason to question the motive or doubt the integrity of fellow officers. So what did he mean by this statement.

My education in this regard was revealing and I must admit, extremely expensive! It meant that your colleague in civvy street is not all what he comes across as! Nowadays, I have learnt to factor this into my assessment of each business relationship.

I think the best way to put this would be to re-state a story I heard a long while ago, about a non-conforming sparrow who decided not to fly south for the winter. However, soon after the weather turned cold, the sparrow changed his mind and reluctantly started to fly south. After a short time, ice began to form his on his wings and he fell to  earth in a barnyard almost frozen. A cow passed by and crapped on this little bird and the sparrow thought it was the end, but the manure warmed him and defrosted his wings. Warm and happy the little sparrow began to sing. Just then, a large cat who was passing by heard the frantic chirping, and decided to investigate the sounds. As it cleared away the manure, it found the chirping bird and promptly ate him.

There are three morals to this story:

(1) Everyone who shits on you is not necessarily your enemy.
(2) Everyone who gets you out of shit is not necessarily your friend.
(3) If you are warm and happy in a pile of shit, keep your mouth shut.

I have hung up my boots? Now what?

I am often surprised by this type of query from friends.

My response is "Good morning to you too!"

(Here my focus will be the external considerations, not the internal processes associated with retirement.I must confess that since I retired prematurely I have no clue about the whole gamut of service related post-retirement considerations starting with pensionary, medical and insurance benefits, PF, leave encashment, reserve liability and whatever! Each of these require careful analysis, planning and follow-up actions on your part. And don't make any assumptions on the competency of your unit/formation clerks to know the procedure well enough to execute it without errors.)

Actually the timeline of preparatory actions should have begun from the time you joined service as your date of leaving is preordained the moment you join. Service conditions and your own circumstances are unpredictable and it is best to be prepared early. If things work out for you beyond the age of 50 - great! Viewing that as a bonus attributable to chance will keep you in good health.

I would even go to the extent of recommending a services-industry tie-up for officers to intern with them for 2-months each year, right from the first year of service, so that they can familiarize and pick up industry specific skills (which incidentally will be useful even while in service). However, practically, you will need at least a full two to three years prior to retirement to get it right.

What I am suggesting is that you need to have a gameplan that starts at least good two to three years before you retire. Reducing this to a year or even six months, may expose you to unnecessary risk and uncertainty depending on your specific circumstances. Even if you thrive in uncertainty, your family may not have the same opinion. And the moment you get your retirement date, you should be in "outbound mode".

The first step is to list out your considerations. This includes place of residence post retirement, financial health and committments, insurance cover, spouse work attributes/location, schools/colleges for children, parents health considerations, proximity to siblings, etc. Determine the importance of each of these considerations.

Some considerations will be absolutely vital, others just optional or good-to-haves. It is useful to mark each consideration as vital, essential or just desirable! Do this BEFORE you determine your post-retirement work interests. The reason is simple. While in service, the service came first. Now YOU and the immediate family come first. Adapt your work around your conveniences not the other way around. Believe me, it is a huge learning curve!

Companies that are interested in you will respect your boundaries and hire you if they can accomodate these constraints. Conversely, if you don't layout these boundaries, you may well find yourself being shipped off to Timbuctoo as an advance guard of one, with little or no facilitation. A large company that I was providing consulting services to decided to close their Delhi offices and move all project resources to project locations. Non project resources had to move to their head office location in Mumbai. Many stalled for time, delaying their move to the extent possible, the sensible ones left the organization as the conditions no longer suited them. One of them, a GM, with whom I was working on a regular basis and who agreed to move was killed in a Naxal ambush in Jharkhand. He was just in his early 40's and had two young school going children.

I agree, that this is a risk that officers live with all through their service career, so what is the difference, you may ask? The difference is that the company doesn't give a damn. It will be considered as a distraction that has to be managed and disposed off as quickly as possible, put behind and forgotten. If the company doesn't give a damn, why the hell should you?

A lot of officers are too comfortable with the idea of a relocation at the drop of a hat. That is perfectly okay while in service. In civvy street, you should relocate only because there is something in it for YOU. Remember, "YOU come first", and with all due respect, screw Chetwode! I know of officers being happily shipped off to manage coal mining operations in Chattisgarh, leaving the family in Delhi. What you get in the field may be a lot of peace and quiet that you didn't bargain for and a motley bunch of drunks as co-inhabitants whose idea of a great evening is to sit around in groups in one of their rooms with a glass of IMFL in steel tumblers, with raw onion rings and green chillies as snacks and gossip about local politics! (If you were expecting to see an officers mess, you have been warned!)

Once you have been able to list out your set of considerations, begin to list out your qualifications, experience and interests. Use this as a basis to do a job search on common job portals. Depending on your experience, search for titles such as VP/GM/Head or even plain old "manager". Read through the job descriptions and associated titles. Check out the variations across industries. Then begin to identify and shortlist jobs that appear aligned with your interests. Discuss this with someone who may be working in that industry to refine your understanding of the requirements. Map your qualifications and experience to the job requirements. Identify and list the major gaps in your profile, if any.

Now, for each gap, determine whether there are programs offered by colleges and other educational institutions. A lot of the time, the problem will be that the programs are targeted at students seeking post-degree or early career qualifications, whereas what you will require is a re-orientation program. Luckily a number of B-schools have picked up the gauntlet and there are numerous programs being offered through the DGR. These are for six-month residential programs leading to a diploma/certificate.

Does pedigree matter? Yes, pedigree matters, but this has to be balanced with convenience. Sometimes, a program at a school located at your selected place of post-retirement residence would be more useful, as the school will have local industry links that will come in handy during placements.

The next step is to pull out your list of contacts. They are at the edge of a network to which you need access. Ninety-five percent of the time, opportunities arrive only through a network. The remaining 5 percent is just plain old bloody luck. The network is really that critical. And your network could be your school mates to officers who have preceded you into civvy street. Start getting back in touch with everybody. State that you are on the market for a new assignment and specify the date. Ask them whether you can send them your resume (and preparing this is a whole new exercise). Request an initial feedback on your resume along with their recommendations on structure and job possibilities. Ninety percent of them wont respond, but ask anyway. Re-iterate as often as possible without becoming a pain in the neck. You will be surprised as to how often people just simply forget, so reminders are necessary. And do everything possible to increase your network and get your resume out to as many of your acquaintances as possible.

Is there any point in sending your resume to recruiters? Nope. Unless they have got in touch with you and requested you for an updated resume, don't even waste your time. Its a black hole and you will not even get the courtesy of an acknowledgement. Of course, there are many categories of recruiters. Some, like Egon Zehnder for example, are a class apart. It will be worth your while to even engage in a discussion with any contact there.

Lastly, determine the time required to accomplish each of your preparatory objectives. Then plot all this information onto your timeline. Here is what a timeline looks like with high level milestones:

Once completed, your timeline will, of course, look a lot more cluttered. It will also evolve and undergo multiple revisions as your planning progresses and you work out the details. Review this plan with your family on a monthly basis. Keep them in the loop, since the transition is as relevant to them, as it is to you.

And for god's sake, be prepared to shell out some money for service providers for they don't run a charity. These may be those that provide resume writing services, an educational consultancy, a paid industry event or whatever form or shape it may take. Besides, if you want quality services, they invariably come at a price!

Task Typing Service Officers

I read an interesting and very revealing example of a "task typing" (associating a category of resources based on past experience) job description for a "VP/GM Administration" of a regional television network recently that said that they needed someone who had:

"an MBA with work experience in a corporate setup with relevant years of experience (12-15 years for VP or 8-10 years for GM)"

OR

"served the armed service for a minimum of 5 years".

From the advertisment, I could not decipher whether the company considered the service officer with 5 years of experience as qualified for both VP and GM posts, but that definitely appeared to be what the description implied.

More significantly, the opportunity for service officers was only for "Administration", and not for the other functions of "Human Resource", "Marketing" or "Production" that the same advertisment carried.

Why?

It is because service officers routinely tout their "administrative" capabilities without understanding that in civvy street, "administration" is about (and I quote verbatim from the job description) "maintenance of head office as well as regional offices, employee travel/stay arrangements, hiring of office boys, intercity travel, maintenance of office resources and vendor management". What is missing in that description is "etc...". Any guesses what "maintenance" entails? Yes indeed, it is the broom and mop routine. "Travel/Stay" arrangements? That makes you a go-between for an employee-travel agent transaction. "Office boys?" This is an India-specific feature. Office boys are a more dignified version of the ubiquitous "peon" in government offices. "Intercity travel?" Thats train/cab reservations for you. "Office resources?" That covers all expenses under "Printing and Stationery" as well as all cleaning material used in the offices to the toilets. And vendor management here refers not not to the esoteric practice of the procurement experts, but only to "handling" vendors providing the services referred to here.

The fallout has been that most companies in the private sector have task typed service officers into the "security" or "administration" streams, both of which, in the civvy street context, are more often than not, relevant only to PBORs. Yet, you will be surprised as to how many officers apply for these jobs just because the term "administration" appears to resonate with familiarity. What is probably worse, is that a lot of officers consider this as an easy entry point into the private sector. The intention is to facilitate a move into some other function within the organization while considering this initial assignment as some sort of acclimatization period to figure things out.

But that brings us back to the concept of "task typing", a term that has negative connotations in the management context, and ingrained into the management mindset for no greater reason than the inability or unwillingness to evaluate alternative capabilities. So now you have two hurdles to cross - one, the common perception of service officers as most suitable to certain preconceived categories of jobs, and the second, of the "tag" you picked up with your recent foray into an "administrative" function.

Another common misconception is of attempting to equate HR with "Personnel Management". It is not. The "personnel management" as practiced in service correlates to "leadership" as it applies to the line ("command") function (read "business managers"), and has nothing to do with the staff function of managing the acquisition-development-maintenance-transition cycle of employees.

It does not mean that innovative new approaches cannot be adopted for these "cost centres". If you take an informed decision, by all means, go for it. But do remember, that in the larger context, "administration" is a distraction that is of cursory relevance to the organization. And, god forbid, if your suggestions entail an increased outlay (and even if you manage to find a tenuous link from administration to the company's topline), you will probably be viewed with skepticism and disdain and people will wonder what all the fuss is about. It can get inordinately frustrating very quickly and as you find your preconceived avenues of career progression being blocked more often than not by a closed mindset, you will find yourself seeking the exit door. And now, you are not a newly retired service officer. You have a background in "administration", you have been task-typed for life! For those who reconcile to this state of oblivion, you may well find your desk in the basement, next to that of the security supervisor!

Should I pick up a job after retirement?

Again, there is nothing stopping you from picking up a job after retirement. It is an individual choice, whether you wish to take the plunge or really hang up your boots, relax and tend to your kitchen garden, autobiography or grand children.

My recommendation again, will depend on whether or not, you are drawing a pension.

If you are drawing a pension, it gives you the flexibility and the time to think about it and wait for something to come by that fits your set of requirements (I will get back to what requirements later in another blog). If you are keen to get started, and especially if you have financial committments that cannot be met from the pension you draw, the earlier the better. But if your children are well settled, and you are comfortable and in good health, take a break and travel the world, catch up with your reading, re-discover yourself and your interests once again. Remember, that your interests may be nothing that you may have imagined it to be and you may well find that you need to re-invent yourself. This takes time as sometimes it is a question of chance and opportunity. It involves exploring your new environment, meeting new people or doing a professional course that may have picqued your interest. Try getting involved in activities where you can meet and interact with people, like your local RWA, a school reunion, a social group, industry event, trade show, golf club or even an NGO. Volunteer your time and energy and very often you may end up finding something you are passionate about or something you never dreamt of doing and would now never exchange it for any job in the world.

If you are not entitled to a pension, you may have no choice but to find something of interest that will challenge you and give you the kind of returns you expect. You will have to move quickly, often even before retirement to make this happen. If there is a one-to-one correlation between what you do in service and the kind of opportunities available outside, it is a relatively easy transition (for instance, like for our flyboys). If not, you may think of picking up another supplementary qualification (I would like to think of this as more of a re-orientation). B-schools offer a good six-month post-grad diploma program for serving officers through the directorate general resettlement. If you can land one of these, it is ideal, of course with some caveats. B-schools do not guarantee placements for your seniority level, so you may have to collectively take matters into your own hand. How? Here are three steps (a) tailor your resume (b) select a set of companies and determine points of contacts, and finally (c) plan a campaign and market your batch, just as you would any other product! Start early in the program so that you begin to get results by the end of the program.

Get your resume prepared by a consultant, or a friend who has done this transition in the past. It may cost you a penny, but rest assured, it is worth it. I have come across resumes that most faujis do, listing out all their command and staff assignments and courses done - ensuring thereby, that it heads straight for the bin. When you think about it, how does it matter to the company you target if you have "commanded a unit of 800 men in an extremely challenging terrain". Nobody out there understands any of this stuff anyway. The question in the head of someone reviewing your resume would be "What are the key words or punch points that indicate a fit to my job description?". Very often, it is a keyword search that sorts the first responses to a job advertisment. So your resume needs to be translated into the language of the industry. Service officers fit a number of profiles, and it may be necessary to draft more than one resume, depending on the type of role you are seeking. Let me assure you that you have absolutely no experience in crafting one. Leave it to a consultant, and remember, you will have to pay for it.

If you are senior management material, with 15-20 years of experience, then sending resumes to job advertisments is a lost case. It is only networking that will bring you the opportunities. Networking means meeting new people and having the opportunity to interact with them. These interactions should not be done with a narrow view to just position yourself (that is selling). Seek only to establish a rapport. If an opportunity presents itself, see whether you can contribute to add value. Ask questions that will enhance your understanding of what they do? Draw out the kind of challenges they face on a day to day basis. Instead of asking whether the company has plans to recruit in the new year and what kind of opportunities will be opening up, you could ask what new plans are in the offing, whether they are expanding into new sectors or geographies. Make use of all opportunities to network.

In all the open seminars or workshops I conduct in my line of work, I have made it a point to send a special invitation to all three service chiefs requesting nominations so that these interactions can happen while officers are still in service. More often than not, I draw a blank (and I respect that as chiefs are surely not thinking of what officers will be doing post retirement and there is little need for informal industry interactions of this nature.) But officers have attended these events in the past and while the benefits may not be immediately realized, the industry gets a sense of the capability and versatility of officers, and the memory sticks. I am sure that if these executives where to hire people in the future, a service officers resume will make the short list. There is no alternative to networking at this level.

The second thing that you need to do is to translate your pay into civvy street terms.This is important, both for job seekers as well as for those who will be involved in negotiating your salary. Find out in advance the typical salary structure in an industry. Map that structure to the one you have on your last salary statement. Those that cannot be mapped can be placed clubbed into a head called "special allowance". Your take home pay is not your cost-to-company(CTC). Figure out all the heads, convert it to "market rates" and then tally it. Again, it is useful to get help, wherever possible. This will at least help you understand what your CTC is in real terms, and help you peg the expectation at an appropriate level. Your new salary should be 20-30% more that your last drawn salary. You will be surprised as to how many officers routinely undersell themselves as they have not done this simple exercise. If you are not prepared for this stage of the interview, you will be the loser.

Should I use my rank while in civilian employment?

While there is nothing stopping you from using your rank post retirement, my suggestion is that you don't use it, especially if you intend to work in the private sector.

Why?

Well, for starters, there is a real person behind the facade of the rank that we have long forgotten (or possibly been made to forget) when we joined the academy at the age of 16. Since then we have been Cadet, Gentleman Cadet, Lieutenant, Captain or whatever. These ranks or "titles" are fundamentally (and while in service, necessarily) elitist. They come with a set of responsibilities and expectations from the organization during your service. Once you leave the service, and specially if you pick up a job with a company in the private sector (we will come back to whether you should pick up a job at all, post retirement), the use of rank with your name is irrelevant to the job. It brings with it unintended baggage and has no meaning in the new life you have chosen.

Secondly, and at times, it works against you as it plays to the stereotype and your new colleagues will have strange preconceived ideas about your abilities and job fit. More often than not, you will get stupid questions starting with 'What is a fauji like you doing in "a-place-like-this"?'

Third, for our colleagues in civvy street, a Major is no different from a Major General. They have absolutely no concept beyond the stereotype depiction in feature films or from what little they get to see of the services during their lifetime. They will associate you with "guns", "borders", "march pasts", and quite amazingly, even "parties" and "liquor". They will ask why you don't have a "big moustache" or whether you have been in a war or whether you keep a gun at home, whether a subedar is senior to a major, the "department" you worked in while in service and even whether you have ever killed anyone! The list goes on.

It detracts from who you really are, what you represent as an individual and the skills that you bring to the organization. The worst torture possibly is to carry the baggage of being a Colonel or a General, and having to, with all due respect, play to the stereotype and "act like one" even after retirement.

So, drop it mate! Or at the very least, know where it is appropriate to use it and where it isin't. Loose the baggage and discover yourself and your new place in society once again as a common citizen. Trust me, even that is going to be a long journey. On the average, it takes about a year for every four that you have been in service (yes, including your time at the academies).

For some, it is already too late to change. They are stuck behind what they consider to be their entitlements - whether this takes the form of their rank, their moustache, their golf caps, their swagger sticks, miniature medals, regimental ties and unit badges - again with all due respect, for they represent a honest life led with dignity and honour. But no matter how far back into the past the glory days lay, they will attempt to hang on using every crutch available, and for as long as possible. My view is that this is probably because they are no longer able to separate the "individual" from the "entrapments of service", and that it has all unfortunately "gone to their head". In short, they appear to have forgotten the adage "old soldiers never die, they just fade away".

Quite surprisingly, despite the sea of ignorance about all matters military, our civvy street buddies are quick to pick up on the rank as if it is a qualifying criteria for jobs, irrespective of post retirement qualifications and experience you may have have picked up. I remember a conversation with the head of HR of a well known hotel chain requesting me to find a retired officer to head their security section (of course, it had to be security!). The mandate was that they had to "find some one at least of the rank of Major General, though a Lieutenant General would be ideal".

Though I passed on the opportunity to the DGR, I promptly recommended my old Subedar!

Sure enough, I did not hear back from him again! Much later, I heard that a Major General had indeed taken up the assignment. And of course, he is using his rank.

Topics

Its been a while since I retired. And I worked full-time for just about 6 years post-retirement.
Its now been exactly 18 years since retirement so the challenges I faced post retirement are now happily, a hazy memory. So I will be quite happy to respond to any questions my guests here may have.

From the top of my head, I have written up the following list:

• Should I use my rank while in civilian employment
• Resumes? What are these and how do we correlate
• You cannot take people at face value anymore
• Dropping the attitude
• Developing your interests
• Is a management programs at a B-school helpful?
• How do you find jobs?
• Which job suits me best?
• Networking
• How much should I quote?

Business terminology

Here are some civil-military term equivalents:

Administration - a term understood in the military as the day to day functioning of a unit or formation. In civvy street, this would be classified as "operations". The term "administration" is used generally to imply the functions of facilities (or utilities) management, transport fleet management, house keeping and other such. Some more traditional companies club "Human Resource Management" in administration, referring to it as a concatenated "HR and Admin". Here "admin" may be limited to facilities and housekeeping or may be expanded to refer to all cost centres (cost accounting units of indirect costs) including IT. The term "Business administration" used in B-schools includes the three mega functions of sales & marketing, finance and operations.

Operations - the closest equivalent is a "project", defined as an endeavour, with a definite beginning and ending, and intended to deliver a unique product, service or result. And like military operations, all projects have terms of reference (or constraints), usually expressed in the form of a budget or deadline.

Salesforce are the frontline troopers or the infantry and the use of terms such as "road warriors" and "in the trenches" in reference to this group is common. Sales are ultimately responsible for fulfilling demand, whereas marketing focuses on creating demand and managing the brand. "Rolling out the artillery" here could imply anything from big budgets, to bringing in the fat cats from the corporate head office face to face with the client, to putting up grand shows or events to impress the customer.

Finance is about sources and application of funds. Though finance is the prime responsibility of the board and the executive, the finance department is responsible for the implementation of decisions whether these pertain to investments, raising of capital, disposal of surplus (dividends, retained earnings), estimation of budget, management of cash, etc. It also deals with financial controls and the measures needed to monitor them. Accountancy refers to the process of recording, reporting and analysis of the financial transactions of the business for the purpose of communicating these to the management or other stakeholders.

Here is the tricky one. On the face of it, a majority of officers are not exposed to finance in the traditional sense. They may handle unit accounts of different types (accountancy), but are never concerned with raising capital. The trick is in considering "capital" as "firepower". Once you make this leap of imagination, correlate "ground" to "market" and "enemy" to "competitor" and you are all set.

The equivalence of the concept of "customer" was difficult to correlate initially, but when you consider it (and companies seek to deliver "value" to customers), you will quickly realize that you always had a customer and that is the "nation state" or indrectly its citizens through their elected representatives. The "value delivered" is "national security", or more specifically (as national security has a very diverse set of connotations), security against external aggression, with the caveat that in the 21st century, the role of the defence services too is changing rapidly (whether we are adapting rapidly enough is topic for a seperate chapter) and at the same time, getting rather nebulous with considerable overlap with other functions of the state (again a separate chapter).

The "value" can also be looked at as a "risk cover" as in the insurance business. Since "risk" is based on perception, it is difficult to quantify and therefore difficult to determine the "risk premium" (read defence budget) payable.

But lets get back to our discussion on the connotations of "capital". Consider this. You have "assets". You have "capital". Some of your capital went to procure assets. Assets are capacities, capabilities or just plain old reserves. Investment in capital assets (capital budgeting) requires strategic inputs, considering the time period for operationalization (or "commissioning") of each asset category. Here I am referring to the evaluation-procurement-commissioning cycle. An asset like a new CNC machine may be operationalized within a year. A thermal power plant may take 3-5 years from concept to commissioning. A new weapon system usually takes even longer. Defence purchase cycles are long and tedious affairs usually taking decades to finalize, to be delivered, for its tactics to be evolved and finally to be fully integrated.

At the unit level, you already have assets associated with a set of capabilities. In an operation (read "project"), specialized units are integrated into a cohesive body (the ORBAT). What is the function of this body? It is anything but "guarding the border"! Primarily, and at at whatever level in the organization, you are concerned with sources and application of available "funds"(read "capital"). You analyze "ground" and "enemy" (read "market" and "competition") and invest "capital" in the form of "deadly violence" to maximize return. As in business, you have strategic and tactical objectives. In civilian terms, you are both "director" as well as a "business manager" as you determine type and quantum of investment to maximize returns, and further, you are concerned with utilizing resources at your disposal efficiently to deliver short term objectives.

Did we inherit the "security" business?

One of the toughest things to do to make sense of civvy street is to understand their terminology. I refer here of course, to business terminology. A lot of my civvy street friends often ask what I am doing in the field of management and systems consulting. To which, my question is "Which field do you feel I should be in?"

The answer surprises me for in ninety nine percent of the time, they would recommend the "security" business - which, as I have come to understand, is the provisioning of uniformed "security guards" to enterprises. The logic is that since we have been "securing the borders" and "securing the country", it should be right! Right?

Wrong. Firstly, the army does not secure the borders. If there were borders, they would rightly be secured by border police, the coast guard, as well as customs and immigration folks. The army is never deployed to a border except under exceptional circumstances or when a war is declared. And its been many decades since the last war.

Secondly, though units are responsible for "their own" security (for good reason) whereever they may be located, how often do officers get involved in this routine? Here obviously, I am not talking about operational deployments. The unit's JCOs/NCOs are perfectly capable of determining the strength and disposition required for securing the unit area.

Thirdly, security guards in the civilian context are all unarmed, and provide rudimentary functions of protecting, guiding, observing, documenting, and reporting usually within the premises of the enterprise and without any legal powers.

Any incident involving trespass, theft, injury or fatality would necessarily entail liaison with and co-option of local law enforcement, just as it is applicable to any other citizen. In other words, a security guard is just a citizen in a costume with no locus standi.

On the face of it, the security business it is all fairly simple and straightforward - a job that can be done well by anyone with good sense. Some background in police or security services may be useful, but not necessary.

My recommendation is to leave running security firms to JCO's and NCO's, if they consider this a reasonable outlet for their creative energies.

Returning again

Blogger appears to have misplaced my last two blogs. No worries! I am back again with another attempt to ease the transition.