A humble reportee's farewell blog post for his first manager in life! I could have never imagined that life will change so drastically and so often in Google. Time has now come to bid bye to my first ever manager in life. It would be surprising to know that in the beginning, I thought a company like Google which self-proclaims to be different from any of corporate America wouldn't have the conventional Manager – Reportee structure. So, when I saw people using the word 'manager' so often, I thought if every employee in Google was internally called as a manager just like how every employee in Wal-Mart is called an associate. What a stupid assumption? But of course, Yes!!!!!!! There are companies where there are only managers. Even the last person in the chain is a manager. May be, a manager of himself/herself. Or a good manager of time. Manager can mean anything rite...... How mean for these companies to use such inherent loopholes in English words to make everyone a manager.
But it didn't take me even one full day to realize that real managers do exist in Google. And there comes a new a person in my life as my first manager – Richa Maheshwari. I had never heard of such a name as 'Richa' before I came here. But soon I could understand that this is a pretty common name in North India. Being ignorant of the existence of such a name itself and having seen this wonder woman for more than a year now, I can safely conclude that the word 'Richa' means an embodiment of encouragement, goodwill, an unbelievably long foresight and vision and a never ending list of such qualities.
Let us move on. As soon as I established that I will have to report to a manager, curiosity crept in suddenly to have a first glimpse of my manager. Thanks to the super-spacious JST (for the 1.0 and 2.0 nooglers: the previous building of Google) that only accommodated every team with a pre-condition that it will make sure even the smallest team hosted by it was scattered in different farthest corners, the wait was only long. If this was not enough I had my week long training in an altogether different building (read as RMZ and for the nooglers: just think that there is yet another building for Google in Hyderabad) and all my nets period in a different floor. The wait was getting longer. Add another six weeks.I couldn't stop a moment further when my calendar popped up the reminder 'Chat time with Richa in 10 minutes.' And there went this humble reportee to finally put an end to the long wait.
If I were to give a rough guess, it wouldn't have been more than a few weeks for Richa into this organization at that time and she was already rattling of tips to improve productivity in Approval Bin "Don't be very mechanical" much to the awe of half a dozen experienced rockers who could only nod their heads in agreement. Soon after I digested some of the long list of tips, I went back to my desk and started experimenting them. When I found the tips pay off instantly, it was nothing short of a WHAT AN IDEA SIRJI? Moment for me. Where were you so far? Who else can come to an organization like Google that thrives on radically different philosophies, internalize the new values, and come up with ideas so quickly and easily? Richa you Rock!!!!!!!
It was one of the exciting moments again, when my then pod lead 'The Lenhart' (read as Kerrie Lenhart) pinged a bunch of us to start quickly for a lunch with our manager. All of us gathered quickly to experience whatever that was in store for us. And what was in store? A wholesome picture of life, politics and business and all. Between, during the time when Richa went to grab some food, The Lenhart (our pod lead: if you have a serious short-term memory loss that is) explained how difficult it was to convince this manager that it is not a practical idea to meet every team member individually. The people friendly manager Richa had asked to meet everyone individually over lunch it seems. But that could have easily taken her more than a month considering the strength of the team then. You see. How everyone in Google is always right?????????
The ISB Visit:
It was a Saturday morning and it was only few weeks for me in Hyderabad. My head was clear without any agenda. One of those very rare occasions where I do not have anything to do but time was plentiful. I thought why don't I step out of my house and get on to a bus and get dropped at some random place, walk around for a while in that place and come back. At least, I will get a small flavour of what this city of Hyderabad is all about. Decided. I walked out and for quiet some time, I was only walking in hilly terrains before I could find the closest bus stop (you guys know how well Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills are connected to the rest of Hyderabad right?). Man!!! I bet anyone could survive in Jubille Hills or Banjara Hills without having their own means of personal transport.
As soon as I spotted something like a bus stop from a long a distance, I wanted to confirm. A stranger came to my rescue. Confirmed. But even that spot seemed to be a mile away when my mobile rang up to display a number that was not stored in my phonebook. It was Genevieve.
Me: Hello!
Gen: Hi, this is Gen here. We are coming to pick you up.
Me: Pick me up? To where? (I had forgotten that I signed up for the ISB visit that Richa offered. I kinda have this long-term memory loss. Yup! Events that happened a week ago are long term for me. At least, in Google parlance, considering the rapidity and thoroughness with which things change here. Agreed?????? Now this makes life easier for people like Erin who have a pending obligation to give out their long term plans. Erin, why wait anymore, give away your long term plan. That is, tell her what you will do during the next weekend!!!!!!!!! And there you go!!!!! Just see how my new found definition for 'long term' is coming to the rescue of others.)
Me (again): Also Gen. I don't think I've talked to you before (I didn't know the team members yet).
Gen: Hey. Am from your team. Didn’t you sign up for the ISB visit?
Me: Oh yea.
Gen: So where are you right now?
Me: ahhh... (my head completes a three sixty degree turn to pick some landmark. But in vain. There was no building or anything of the sort of a landmark around). Am in Banjara Hills. But Gen, if you want a landmark, you see in Banajara Hills, there is a steep upward-slope followed by a deep depression and immediately followed by another steep uphill and am right there!!!!!
Gen: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But somehow the clever and capable Gen was successful in picking me up. And there we were in the campus of the coveted Indian School of Business. Followed by brunch at ISB Canteen (Courtesy: My First Manager). Then the entire day witnessed us all admire the various things at ISB as our patient manager went overboard to make sure that there is no important place in ISB's sprawling campus that we didn't visit or there is a must-know thing about ISB that we didn't know. Hospitality thy name Richa?
The Aftermath (of ISB visit):
The ISB visit was over and I was back. Like any important event, the ISB visit also had an aftermath effect on me. I promptly changed my status message to 'I WENT TO ISB.' No!! No!! The cryptic statement was only intentional. Just to fool any soul that is innocent to the core (Though I know such souls don't exist in Google except ME that is. But still...........) that I am here at Google after my one year power packed MBA stint at ISB!!!!!!!!! And what happened???????
Follow up pings were prompt too. But from my friends, Oh My God!!! For the reputation they have for cracking people.
Friend: GEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!
Me: Yep!
Frnd: U went to ISB?
Me: Yea
Frnd: I mean Indian School of Business.
Me: Exactly (I typed confidently, come what may)
Frnd: In your dreams???????? Wake up boss.. came the reply!
I promptly switched my status msg back to 'Available "As Always".'
I think I have gone a bit out of purview of what this post is all about. Let's get back as I want to narrate another incident which will bring out and give an idea of how flexible my first manager is. It was during some holiday when I was preparing to depart for my home town. My trains you all know will always be at weird times. This one was at 5 PM. So, I need permission to leave early. As always. This problem still exists though.
And so I pinged "HI" to initiate the discussion with MFM (aka. My First Manager). "Hi Suresh" came the reply in no time. I just wondered if she was only waiting for her team members to ping so that she can reply instantly. Then I told her that I may want to leave a little early say by 4 PM to catch my train. It was followed by two questions. "Which place are you going to?" And "Which Station?" I answered both in quick time, but there was no reply from the other side for a while. I thought for a moment that the permission was going to be denied. But I can't help. That is my train and I have to go. There is no way out. After a few minutes came the reply. "Suresh, if you want to go to this station, I think you should start even earlier. Say by 3 or 3.30. Don't take any risk especially with the traffic around here." OMG! That says how pampered a lot rockers are.
If I was able to stabilize myself even as my performance was dancing on the edges of minimum expectations, when I myself had thought if I was brought to Rock to fill the gap of a blunderbuss in a team where there was no dearth of stellar performers or core job crunchers, it was due to the motivational therapies from Richa and the like.
The Present Day:
How we all wished and plotted to have a self-contained team with binners, optimizers, emailers, product guru and all, so we can stay together as one team. But separation had known our plans it seems, to have its way. And there comes the saviour Sanjaya as if he had come to convert OSO India into the likes of Nike's 'Innovation Kitchen.' Or does he want it to become a sales powerhouse? Or Both? GOD Knows What!!!!!!!
What then? The teams are split. Two worlds are formed. The old (Before Sanjaya) and the new (After Sanjaya). And also the A&O and 4-7 societies born, splitting teams across the office into parts, not sparing even managers. Rock isn't any different.
As the blogging powerhouse and the GOD of Geeks (no this isn't a misspelling for Greeks. Read as Geek. Say someone who knows well on how to get their blog to feature as one of Google's top generic search results every time you search) prepares her part of the team to conquer the Tier 4-7 world where the claim to conquest itself needs to be process-innovated yet, the entire part which forms the 4-7 world from Rock is only thrilled and considers it a pride to sail under her visionary leadership.
If for anything, the team members are concerned about, it is the obvious lacuna that Richa is leaving behind. But as we all know the two mutual admiration societies (A&O and the tier 4-7) that these are will only complement each other until they converge again.
Finally, as Richa heads on to strengthen, build, and rewrite our analytical and operational competencies, here's wishing her all success. Richa, continue rocking. Always.
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