The Grind

Got thinking about this after the hullabaloo on social media on two posts by people who are CEO’s/founders of their respective startup’s. The first was by by the founder CEO stating that freshers should put in an 18 hour workday and quit cribbing. He got roasted, was called a slave driver and much worse. He tried to cover up by saying he meant give your all and then some. The second post was by a CEO stating that a candidate that had been selected for a particular job decided on the last day to take up a job with someone else. 

Both posts have issues from my point of view - moral as well as ethical. However there is something more fundamental that both founders have forgotten. One can safely assume that the founders have a dream to be successful and are following that dream based on what they feel is right and correct. It is their dream and their path. Someone might join them and share that dream and that path and then there are others that might join them share that dream but not the path and finally a set that don’t believe in that dream or that path. Making an assumption that your thought process is the only one correct is a sure sign to disappointment later. Making an assumption that everyone will agree with you because of your position is a bigger sign for disappointment later.  My own thought about this issue could be absolutely wrong and I would be willing to learn; these two gentlemen have taken the easy way out by quitting social media based on the storm that has been unleashed by their posts. 

The ethical issue I have with both posts are a. A person is hired for the skills they bring to the table and are supposed to be fairly compensated for those skills. We find however that you can have two or more people with the same skills but different compensation and different levels of efficiency. By assuming that everyone has the same efficiency and everyone is willing to bend over because they get paid for the skills they bring to the table is unfair. People have different needs and different balances that they want to achieve. Being fresh out of college doesn’t mean that the needs don’t exist or the balance should not be struck, whatever that need or balance is. It is unfortunate that we as a nation have succumbed to this notion that putting in overtime (more time than what is actually needed) is equal to being a hard worker or very skilled. I could argue that a person that puts in overtime all the time is either not skilled enough or is downright incompetent. Of course we also have the issue that because of this willingness to do overtime people tend to hire fewer people than needed to do the job. 

B. The assumption that skilled people will not look for what they believe is the best fit for them is naive. Couple this with the fact that in the current top 6 economies only India has a 90 day notice period as the norm (I won’t consider China here - that is a completely different story). It is medieval thinking that one needs to keep this skilled person tied to that particular role as long as possible before letting them go. The tragedy of this situation is that while employers retain the right to terminate an employee with absolutely zero notice the employees have no such right. Being surprised at a rejection in the last minute is essentially telling the world that you are either naive or do not want to be fair and equal when dealing with candidates or employees. 

To potential founders - rethink and evaluate your position on what essentially is a question about being fair and equal. To the people in the grind - stick to your plan , your dream and find an employer that would be best suited to help you succeed. Above all else stick to your word. People are judged on their conduct. Keeping true to one’s word is amongst the main characteristics of conduct.

C