My husband was running an IT company in the 90s as a first time CEO.

One
of the interesting decisions he took was to move his ! manager to a fie"d
ro"e as the !egiona" Manager heading sa"es and support operations in a
region. I had seen "ine managers move to ! ro"es in companies "ike #ipro
but this was the first time I had seen it happen the other way round. #hat a
foo"hardy move was my first reaction. ow cou"d an ! person manage a
sa"es force$ face customers and hand"e operations% It is not in their &'()
(nd why% #hy risk pu""ing your revenues down and "osing a good !
manager% My husband had a very convincing and interesting rationa" for his
*uirky move. e said he wanted an ! head who understood his business
first hand. +omeone who had been in the trenches and knew what the
cha""enges were. Otherwise he fe"t that ! strategies wou"d be driven by
theory and wou"d fai".

Over the ne,t decade as I watch the Indian economy evo"ve into a
predominant"y services economy I fee" that there is an urgent need for this
approach to become more of a norm and "ess of an anoma"y. ( services
based economy rests on peop"e especia""y know"edge workers. In such an
economy the ro"e that ! p"ays is often very different from a capita"
intensive production driven economy. ere the ! professiona" is e,pected
to be a business partner working c"ose"y with the "ine managers. The
organisation depends on them to p"an$ source$ train and retain a high end
ta"ent poo" with a pipe"ine of "eaders. This is not -ust a .nice to have/
differentiator but is often a .make or break/ parameter for the 0en,
organisations. #hy does an (ccenture sti"" command a premium pricing in
the high end IT consu"ting business% It is the distinct *ua"ity of its peop"e
and the e,pertise it has bui"t by "everaging such a workforce. (nd the pivot
for bui"ding such an organi1ation rests on !. ow does ! e*uip itse"f to
p"ay such a pivota" ro"e effective"y% Current"y$ we sti"" fo""ow the o"d mode"
where we 2train3$ educate ! e,ecutives in 4abor institutes and +ocia" #ork
+choo"s and "and them straight into ! ro"es from &ay 5. They are e,pected
to rise through the ranks to reach the "ofty position where they wi"" be
drawing up the peop"e strategy for the company. This without ever spending
a day in any ro"e which wou"d e,pose them to the rea" guts of the business.
'o wonder then that most CEOs prefer to move their best "ine managers to
the strategic ! ro"es instead) +o$ we see a "ot of movement especia""y at
the top from operations to ! but very few instances of the reverse.

This may a"so be because of the re"uctance of ! professiona"s to move out
of their comfort 1one and get into front"ine ro"es. (nd why take such risks
when you can go up neverthe"ess% 6ut the point which is missed is that as
they move up the "adder their "ack of hands7on e,perience is a rea" handicap
which "eads to most critica" ! decisions being taken by the CEO himse"f.
In a wor"d where new generation companies "ike 0oog"e and (pp"e succeed
pure"y on the strength of their innovation$ ! fo"ks are under tremendous
pressure to de"iver a workforce that is mi"es ahead of competition. This
when they have to compete g"oba""y for ta"ent) They have the difficu"t -ob of
then keeping them motivated by giving them an environment that wi""
enthuse their creativity.

(n ! professiona" who has had the chance to be one of them or has
direct"y managed such a team instant"y gets it and can *uick"y figure out
what wi"" make them tick. Is there any reason to hesitate then about the need
for ! to not -ust wet their toes but to deep dive into the poo"$ when the
stakes are so high% 6y the way the ! manager as the !egiona" Manager
proved to be a great success in my husband8s company proving once again
that a good professiona" can do we"" in mu"tip"e ro"es. It is imperative that
we give them that opportunity and not put them in si"os with no escape
route. This is no a"truism but se"f7interest as great ! fo"ks wi"" not happen
un"ess we give them the right e,posure to business. 0uess what% 9acebook$
the socia" networking site$ has a :;<!= whose "ast stint was with e6ay as
head of marketing$ advertising$ brand management and consumer
promotions)