04 Oct Our Eighth. Standing on the Shoulders of Giants!
“Some days I wish I could go back in life. Not to change things, but to feel a few things twice.” ~ Quote on a coffee mug.
A mug of steaming South Indian filter coffee beside me and a blank screen before me is an awesomely scary setting to pen a piece for TATE LC’s 8th Anniversary. With every sip, the time machine of my imagination whirled back through those bitter-sweet moments that hallmarked our incredible journey as Team TATE LC. Beginning with our very first search assignment and fast forward to 2021, there were good times, there were hard times, but there were never bad times.
As I stared at the well worn spines of the tomes we had so eagerly devoured, I realized that we were standing on the shoulders of management gurus – each one changing our paradigm in ways we can admire best in retrospect.
Our first year was spent intensely studying the market and managing to survive. We owe it all to Harvey Mackay’s, ‘Swim With The Sharks, Without Being Eaten Alive.’
Being a small team, year two was focused on effectiveness of effort. Smart work, rather than busyness, produced some great results. Our textbook for the time… you guessed it: Steven Covey’s ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.’
Admittedly, year three marked a period of rapid expansion across the board. Striking strategic relationships with like-minded clients and partners. A year clearly inspired by Dale Carnegie’s all-time classic, ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People.’
Year four was when we zigged, while others zagged. Inspired by Seth Godin’s ‘Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable’. The purple cows we put into everything we did and offered, created services that were highly noticeable to the curated set of clients we worked with. Needless to say, we now count them amongst our friends.
Sailing into our fifth on the wings of W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne’s ‘Blue Ocean Strategy,’ called for us to abandon the familiar hallmarks of competitive strategy by taking up assignments that most others couldn’t fulfil on. Not only did this work, it cruised at an enviable speed.
Year six was when we focused on changing the paradigm through which we looked at ourselves. Our goal, creating a workplace where everyone takes responsibility for their actions….and, everyone is a leader. At the helm of this move was L. David Marquet’s, ‘Turn the Ship Around,’
Year seven was indeed the year of the ‘Zoom boom.’ The pandemic ensured that nobody physically travelled. But we certainly Zoom-ed our way to engage globally through search assignments for International markets. W. Edwards Deming’s bestseller truly kept us ‘Out of the Crisis.’
And finally, here we are, in year eight, as we face the future squarely. Armed with Clayton M Christensen’s, ‘The Innovator’s Dilemma. A book that was on Steve Jobs’ bookshelf. Honestly, we’re still learning to challenge conventional wisdom on what we should be focused on and when to deviate from business as normal.
Bringing this piece to a close are the words of a man who changed the world:
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” – Steve Jobs
When you stand on the shoulders of giants, you get a glimpse of distant horizons. And the range of infinite possibilities they offer. A future that we’re ready to embrace with open arms and wide open minds.
It’s an appropriate time here for gratefulness, to our wonderful clients, partners and my own team, who brought immense meaning and hope to our journey thus far. A happy eighth to us all! Eagerly looking forward to our ninth.
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