This week, I saw two young professionals fail at their required tasks. Not because they are not great thinkers or hard workers (they are intelligent and hard working). Not because they did not know what was expected of them.
Can you guess what the reason was?
They did not have a network. So, people hid behind jobsworth, delayed their tasks, and succeeded in making them look bad at their job (which I knew they were not).
Not only had these bright young people not invested in cultivating an office network, they had also managed to actively antagonise people.
Which took me back to my first month in the HCL Technologies office. For a starry-eyed fresh grad, being in a first name basis company was mindboggling.
One day, I had to book a travel ticket and was guided to the person in Admin.
"So, I have to talk to Chitra?" I piped to a colleague.
"No. You have to talk to Chitra ji. Everyone else is first name. Chitra ji is Chitra ji."
I walked up to her and introduced myself - "Chitra ji, ek favour chahiye tha."
She smiled, "Haan batao na."
Chitra ji's daughter is also called Nidhi.
When I left office, she gave me a farewell gift which remained in my home office for more than a decade - a smiling toffee box.
Last week, Chitra ji and I spoke on the phone. We remain in touch. 25 years and counting.
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