Management is not a one man show

One of the reason's why pakistan cricket has always invited turmoil is because they never understood the meaning of the word "team!" or atleast till they started playing India. Such is the case in any organisation. The importance of team work is highly emphasized in all layers of management. Organisational team work has more inferences to football than cricket.

The goal is achieved by one person, but not without the tactical inputs from 10 other men.

Being managers in any organisation requires one to listen and take valuable inputs from your team members. The credit may sometimes come only to the implementer(goal scorer) but it takes the team as a whole to great heights and commands respect.

The way i learnt about teamwork is by a live example. During my graduation year of college, i was playing my last cricket tournament. It was a highly contested tournament among the seniors. My team had made it to the semifinal having won from improbable positions in the past matches. Gave us a lot of confidence. We didn't win because of our talent, we did so purely because of team spirit! Anyway, going into the semifinal we were very weary as the past two years we lost in the semifinals as well. We won the toss and decided to bat first in a 15 over game. At the end of 12.3 overs i knew that we were fighting a battle where we had soft balls and the other team had guns. We were bowled out for 59! The tournament average score was about 120. So at the 5 minute mid innings meeting, no one said a word about losing the game. Everyone said we'll make them sweat for the runs. It was probably the best match i have ever played till date. The way the team backed eachother and pressurized the opponents was truely amazing, adding testimont to the power of team work. Had the opposition at 45/8 in 10 overs before a catch was given not-out and resulted in an hour long dispute, ending in a decision favouring the batting team! Though we lost the match, it was dubbed the best match of the tournament and got a mention during the main award ceremony.

The inference i drew from that experience was that, sometimes talent alone cannot win you anything in life. There must be self belief, recognition of contribution of every member of a team, back eachother's stengths. This will take an organisation a long way. No better corporate example than Infosys. 7 men left their jobs to start a company that today has placed Bangalore on the world map. The passion and desire and the self belief that infosys of this magnitude wsa possible existed in all members and backed by eachother. Talent alone could not have given them success. Willingness to sacrifice point of view for the betterment of the company are one the many characters of that 7 men team.

Sometimes u wonder why 11 men of the Indian Cricket team were playing contrasting cricket before 2000 and post 2000 till date. Before 2000, the team comprised of only one man, "Sachin Tendulakar". The bowling was strong enough but when it came to batting there was no question of the word team work being used. The team sitting in the balcony knew if sachin plays well, the team could linger around. Otherwise, the attitiude was "lets try and do our best, coz we dont think we can win this". Then came the series that i believe changed Indian cricket for all good. The Natwest Series final which announced the birth of a new India, a resurgent India and an India that said it does not matter if Sachin makes only 16 runs because Yuvraj can make a 69 and Kaif can make an 87* to win a match from the jaws of defeat. It announced the birth of team spirit and belief that one could win from any situation.

Management ----> Sports

In my three years of college education i have learnt very little of management whereas the rest came from an increasingly popular source(thanks to Harsha Bhogle).....Sports! He has and forever will be the greatest student of sport and especially cricket. To describe Harsha in one line: "He can make a six look ordinary and a single look dramatic."

One may wonder how much and at what level i have played cricket to draw parallel's to management, the truth be told,not more than a few tennis ball tournament and gully cricket. But i have always had a keen interest in watching and learning the game. Its bit like Apple's Steve Jobs, he never knew what a computer was or what an mp3 player. All he knew was that an Mp3 player, the size of a matchbox was possible.

Leadership: One of the key elements of management in any organisation. Leaders must lead by example. They must be dynamic, must solve problems efficiently and quickly. As most are familiar with the saying some leaders are born, others are born to be

leaders. The only way i understood this is after the conclusion of the IPL Season 2. When the Royal Challengers reached the final there was so much being spoken about the leadership of Kumble (He truely deserves all the accolades to compensate for the years he never captained India). I started to wonder what was different in this side from year 1 and year 2. The team more or else remained same with Kevin Piterson starting with glory and leaving with the team in survival mode! Out went Jesse Ryder and Dale Steyn as well. Except Uthappa, the team remained the same compared to last year even so without Zaheer in the bowling.

To reach the final was no mean feat viz-viz to be the best organisation. A team in the final or the best organisation is constituted by the best talent at any given time. Thats when I understood what Leadership was, though Kumble got all the accolades and deserved to, i thought a substantial bit must also go to Dravid. After all, Wasnt it he who picked this "Test Side"

Dravid knew whom to recruit, Kumble knew what to do with the recruits!