THE FLAW IN MASLOW'S THEORY

I once attended an interview with a leading Indian IT company. 9/11 had just happened, I was retrenched from a large Airline company and was trying to resume working.

 

No sooner had we finished exchanging very brief pleasantries, than I was asked about my percentile scores from nursery to high School, an explanation on the derivation of the theory of Black Scholes model AND my views on the flaw in Maslow's theory. This was the opening question for a sales position for selling Aviation related services (read outsourced call centers for large airlines).  The interviewer was an IIM graduate ( probably 25 years old), brimming with cocky confidence, clearly relishing the sight of sweat on my brows and the fact that he had 'defeated' yet another 'rival'.

 

Not prepared for such dazzling display of intellectual prowess and faced with questions of such importance that would materially change the existence of human race, I failed the interview, infact miserably failed it- humiliated and red in the face, morale completely shattered and shaking with nervousness, I walked out of the room, head hanging down in shame, in less than 5 minutes of having entered it. Dejected,  I walked back home, as hallucinations of failing math exams in calculus kept appearing with voices of my elderly relatives advising my father that opening a PCO booth at the corner of a busy thoroughfare in our colony would be the best career move for me. It would earn me a lot more than people earned in regular jobs.   

 

However, You could probably imagine that I was curious to know who the bloody hell Maslow was, whose theory (or the flaw in it) was threatening to permanently interrupt my nascent career.

Maslow, a management theorist, (whatever that is), simply put, said this: People aspire for more material things early in their life such as money and gradually graduate to things like self esteem, standing in the society, respect etc. and he drew a pyramid to explain this. The flaw, again simply put, is that it is not necessary that people will follow Maslow's said trajectory and could desire and value self esteem right in the beginning. That is it- that's all that there is to it.  Trust the management theorist and consultants to make common sense sound like rocket science.

 

You get the point I am making- why is there so much obsession with theory and so little with its application?

 

Take a look around you and you will find products with outdated technology everywhere- some very common, low tech, day to day examples- the whole world uses a variety of drip systems as toilet deodorants, we use phenyl balls. Visit the Yelehanka Air force station with machines like MIG-35 at display-the very pinnacle of Aviation technology that we have in the world, and hear about them on 'bhopus' (loud speakers) designed in Circa 1919-the rest of world uses slim smartly designed ones and much much smaller, that produce far better sound. But the technology simply hasn't permeated down. The world decorates its buildings and trees during festive time with special decorative lights, we still use the ones with large plastic beads- I have seen them since I was born- and am inclined to believe there is just one manufacturer of decorative lights in India and 1 single approved design.  If this is the case with low technology items, you can imagine the state of high technology products.

 

Many years later, while talking to my wife, who is studying education, I learnt that Education, comes from the word 'Educe' which means 'to take out', or  'to extract' . We do it exactly the other way around. We drill rather than extract. Well, some amount of drilling is perhaps good, if the motive is to extract, but education cannot be 'planted'.

 

Anyway, back to the flaw in Maslow's theory, I noticed this wonderful signboard in a local grocery store and loved it. Maslow hasn't left me since the disastrous 2001 interview (and I thank my young interviewer for that) but now that I understand the flaw in his theory rather well, I do consciously look for opportunities where it can be applied. You can use Maslow's or other  management theories as ammunition to unnerve and unsettle an unsuspecting interviewee or you could understand and apply them to make things better.      

 

EXODUS

 

Flipping through the Feb 20, 2011 issues of Business India, one statistic caught my eye:

 

Which is the number 1 state in India, in terms sending workers aboard?  The top of the mind answer would be Kerela. And that was the correct answer, until 2009. Since then it has been UP.  Just the first half of 2010 saw 68,375 migrant workers leaving, mostly to the Gulf. 

 

This is a familiar phenomenon observed elsewhere- when Argentina was about to default on its sovreign debt in 2008, there was an exodus of people to UK, Italy, Spain. The flights were full- (one way). It was a short term phenomenon. In other cases however, like Mexico, Philippines and India, there is a recurring exodus- leaving for the US, or Japan and in India's case to the Middle East mostly. There is no prospect of a local job, so migration is forced. Real GDP in UP has been sliding with Behenji (may peace be upon her) at helm.

 

What does it mean for Airlines? Vast swathes of UP are underserved. Places like Bareilly (covered in the media, only when Priyanka Chopra opens her (much talked about) pout to let the world know that she schooled in Bareilly), have a fine airport controled by the Armed forces and can be opened to civilian traffic if Behenji wants it (may peace be upon her).  

 

Those airlines that have been recently blessed (or should I say cursed) with a license to fly aboard, may want to consider launching flights from relatively uncontested territories like Lucknow, rather than do exactly what the others have done, launching yet another flight to Singapore/Bangkok from a Metro city. This is, a rather 'unglaomourous' option but then we have Ms.Chopra to lend all the glamour if a flight from Bareilly was ever launched. We may even have the other behenji (may peace be upon her) grace the occassion, given that elections in UP are near.  Don't believe me? Ask Air Arabia- Where do you think traffic on their Nagpur flight comes from?

 

  

 

Unusual hiring

 

 

The luxurious office of Northwest Airlines was located at the 19th floor of Cosco Tower at Hong Kong's Queen Road in Central Hong Kong. As I stepped into the corner office of the Vice President of Asia, I was stunned by the expanse of the room and the unfolding vista offered by the very large glass wall that overlooked the busy Kowloon bay area, as one got closer to it. That room was designed to portray power. For a brief moment, I felt I had stepped into the scene from 'Dewaar' where Iftekaar (playing Dabur Saheb) offers Amitabh Bachchan his first bundles of currency notes spread on the table and the camera moves to show the Marine Drive down below, clearly visible from the office….

I was there for an interview with the then VP of Asia at NWA (let's call him David). Awed by the set up, I was fumbling a bit when David asked me to take a seat and soon after asked me what it was that I wanted to do. I mumbled something about doing pricing. He smiled, looked at me intently and repeated his question, adding that he meant it in a much larger context, as in, my ambition in life. I hadn't expected the interview to start with this sort of talk, so could not muster any words at all for some time. Sensing my discomfort and nervousness, David sought to put me at ease by telling me his own story. A person with just high school education, he started his career as a baggage loader at TWA and rose to become VP Asia at NWA many years later.  Another example- UPS Airline President Robert Lekites, started his career as delivery truck driver and rose to become president of the Airline company.  There are numerous such examples of people, who were the most unlikely candidates for the top job, but succeeded nevertheless. I have narrated these story to make a point to which I will come to later in the article.

When you step into a 5-star hotel as a guest, unknown to you, the concierge Porter or Bell Boy, as they are called, has not just spotted you, he has noticed the car you got down from and its registration number, people accompanying you-and if these are women, he has judged whether they are your family, your office colleagues or otherwise. He has seen your shoes, the quality of your suit, the make of your mobile phone and the watch you are wearing.  If you are a repeat guest, he has already welcomed you with your last name and reassuringly informed you that the hotel holds a reservation for you, even before you step infront of the reception desk. As a 21 year old, and their Manager, I was continuously challenged by them. They knew the views and vantage points of all the rooms. They knew the staff- all 500 of them by their first names. They could organize just about anything in a matter of minutes. They knew who the General Manager was sleeping with. They knew even whim and fancy of the repeat guests. A bell boy goes to every single room in the hotel and we are talking about 500 or more rooms here and he knows every nook and corner. If a switch wasn't working or there was something wrong with the carpet in the walkway, they were the first people to spot it. Infact, I would say, if a fire broke out, a fireman may lose his bearings, but a bell boy, is your sure shot bet to find a safe way out of the place.  

In short, Bell Boys are far sharper than we think and do far more than their intended role. Yet will you ever think of a Bell Boy when looking to fill a role that requires sharp observation, continuous customer contact, ability to make polite conversation, and solve day to day issues. I would give a serious thought to enlisting them for an eventual role as managers in service organization, like the role of a Airport Manager at an Airline. I am not saying that every single Bell Boy should be made an airport manager, but just being a bell boy, does not exclude them from that possibility, so don't stop looking.

If you are an early riser, take an early morning stroll to the local street corner, where bundles of newspapers are dropped, and the local distributor's boys get down to the task of sorting them and putting the advertising inserts into them. Perhaps there's one boy there, who has done this long enough to help you with your direct marketing/advertising initiatives.

Ever spoken to a TTE (Train ticket examiner) of an express train? Imagine Abishek Bachchan's role in Bunty aur Bubli.  A TTE would have traveled between a sector like Raipur and Delhi 100's of time. Could anyone know the route and the passengers who travel on it better than him? Why then would you want to hire a city boy, with a cozy confined up brining in a life full of luxuries to do a job that legitimately belongs to someone who has spent all his life traveling on trains?  

Take the auto rickshaw drivers. Many of them are rowdy's and so is there public perception. But try talking to some, just to get through the noisy ride, if for nothing else. They go to every part of the city- to the railway station, bus station, city centre, suburbs, bazaars, high streets, red light areas, deal with the traffic police and local goons, who all have to be paid a 'hafta'. Some of them are in fact listed as informants for the police. Wouldn't you include them as part of your city sales team, even if just as the driver?  I surely with responsibility for sales, it does not matter what I call him, but I know he would not fail me.

There are numerous other examples but the point I am making is this: Use imagination to hire. Leave the orthodoxy to the British Royals. They may make a living out of it. Just because someone has done something before is not an indication that he is good at it. You can't etch your designation on your forehead as an example of what skills you have. Infact, usually, if a candidate has done a job before, and you are hiring him for exactly the same job, he/she may bring little enthusiasm to it.

A high performance team needs all kinds of people, greater the diversity of experience, better the chances of achieving success. All fingers are not created equal, Yes you need an IIM graduate to take care of those complicated algorithms; yes you need the good looking bimbo (or brute) to attract some corporate eyeballs perhaps, or so people believe, but what a pity it would be, if you filled your ranks with people who are out of touch with the reality on the ground?

(CAN BE APPLIED ANYWHERE, BUT THE ARTICLE IS WRITTEN FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF AN INDIAN AIRLINE)