Shiv Shivakumar breaks down ‘The Art of Management’ at a session of FICCI FLO Jaipur

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“The whole discipline of management now has three elements to it: Managing Yourself, Managing Your Team and Managing Your Business. The big difference from the past, in my view, is that all the three elements are your responsibility today”, shared Shiv Shivakumar, who is one of India’s longest serving CEOs and is also ranked among India’s leading management and leadership thinkers and speakers, in the context of a Post-Covid “New Normal”. He was in the Pink City for an inspirational talk with the members of the FICCI Ladies Organization of Jaipur. In conversation with the FICCI FLO Jaipur Chairperson, Mudrika Dhoka, the management expert threw light on the theme ‘The Art of Management’. Below are some interesting excerpts from their conversation:

Managing Yourself

Managing Yourself is at the core of anything. If you cannot manage yourself, you are not likely to get success. Play to your strengths and avoid your weaknesses. Try to imbibe as many good habits as you can – be it eating right, sleeping well or exercising regularly. Even though it sounds simple, this is the key to a successful future.

Managing Your Team

The idea of leading a team is not be the same with everyone. One needs to be fair as a team leader but treat each team member differently based on their needs. For instance, people’s age, gender, strengths etc. need to be considered while managing one’s team. To retain employees, give them a flexible work environment. However, it is important to remember that despite your best efforts, there is no guarantee that people from your team will rise to the challenges. It is important to give up on such people. As leaders, one should not try to be popular but rather fair and right.

Shiv Shivakumar in conversation with Mudrika Dhoka

Managing Your Business

Managing your business is all about trends. Trends impact us at three levels – individual, family and society. If a trend impacts all 3, it is surely going to make it big. Consumer experience should be at the core of any business.

Managing Your Time

Time is one element all of us have the same quantity of – some make the hour work for them and some waste the hour. Look at time as active time and dead time. Make as much use of dead time as possible so that you can give yourself the power of concentration in active time. For instance, while sitting in the car or waiting at the airport, make your calls or catch up on your reading. Prepare and plan for the activities of the next day. Delegate work wherever you can and don’t shy away from giving credit.

‘Hire to Retire’ doesn’t exist today

The company is no longer a continuing entity in the way we have known it to be. The average life of a company has dropped from about sixty years in the 1960s to about twenty years today, or even less. The average employee tenure in a company is less than four years. When you need employment lawyer to handle legal issues concerning your workplace, you may visit a reliable site like HKM.com for help!

Feedback is the breakfast of champions

Seek and gather as much feedback as you can from people about yourself. The trick to constructively learn from feedback is to ask the person to cite examples that made them think like that.

It is worth noting that ‘The Art of Management’ is Shiv Shivakumar’s third book. In the book, through a series of highly insightful and in-depth interviews with twenty one top leaders across the spectrum, Shiv Shivakumar shares the three elements essential to the discipline of management and shows that how these elements are your own responsibility today, unlike in the past.