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BOSSES AND HOW TO SURVIVE THEM-Part 2: Pehli Mulaqaat
Amitabha Banerjee 05 February 2021
Personal Finance

‘T’ was in constant strife with the various functional heads, such as HR, finance, audit, etc, who reported to his Boss, the managing director, along with T. 
 
In particular, T had a running battle with the HR head.
 
In my early days with T, I was summoned to his office along with my counterpart, the head of operations.
 
T had a great big smile on his face.  
 
“Sit yourselves down, lads,” he said. “I am going to show you a letter that I am going to send to that… idiot (head of HR).”
 
T handed each of us a copy of his letter and sat back with a smile, waiting for adulations and compliments on his brilliant missive.
 
As I read the letter, I became more and more aghast at the vitriol it contained. It was full of accusations, innuendoes, un-substantiated allegations et al.
 
When we had both finished reading the letter, T looked at us and asked “Well, how does it sound?”
 
The other chap, the head of operations, was an ex-MNC banker with impeccable credentials (Doon School, St Stephens), well versed in diplomacy and CYA , thoroughly schooled in the art of never contradicting the boss.
 
“It reads very well indeed, I must say” he said. “Very forceful, very powerful, brings your points home with a bang. Terrific!”
 
T nodded with a happy smile, turned to me and said “Well?”
 
“You can’t write this,” I said.
 
“Whaaaaaat? Why can’t I write it? I am the general manager!” T thundered.
 
“Yes, of course, you are,” I said. “But, what you have alleged cannot be proved. It will backfire on you”.
 
T held back his rage, took a deep breath and said “Well, then, young man. Tell me what is wrong with my letter”.
 
I started with an allegation.
 
“But M told me this,” T yelled.
 
“Does he have any proof?” I asked.
 
M was summoned and asked to provide the proof. He hemmed and hawed and, finally, admitted that there was no proof, only hearsay.
 
T pasted M and scratched out the offending line in his letter with a snarl.
 
“What else?” he asked.
 
I took him through the letter, line by line, and pointed out the many things that were wrong. T gnashed his teeth but made corrections as he went on.
 
Finally, he could not take it any more.
 
“You have destroyed my letter. Destroyed it! Go away from here. I don’t want to see you again.”
 
I went back to my office thinking that my brief career with the bank had come to an end.
 
Next morning, at 7.31 sharp, T summoned me.
 
To clarify, official working hours were 7.30 to 2.30, but T expected his direct subordinates to be available from 7.30 until 5.30 (at the earliest).
 
I entered T’s office with a heavy heart – I was going to be terminated.
 
To my great surprise, T greeted me very genially.
 
“Sit down, sit down”, he said.
 
Then, he embarked on what is probably as close to an apology as he ever could manage.
 
“Yesterday I was very angry with you. But in the evening I sat down with my wee drop of Glenfiddich and read my letter again. I realized that what you had said was correct. I changed the letter last night. I reached office at 6.30 today, got my secretary to type it, and was waiting for you to come.”
 
“Here is the letter. How does it read now?”
 
I read it. It was far, far better. All the dangerous allegations and innuendoes had been removed. What remained was sharp and cutting, but it would stand its ground.
 
“Yes, this is very good,” I said.
 
T beamed from ear to ear. He stood up, clapped me on my shoulder and said “Thank you, thank you.”
 
T’s letter to the HR head worked. He had marked a copy to the managing director. The letter was the thin end of the wedge which he drove between the HR head and the MD, ultimately leading to the HR head being terminated and a new HR head, susceptible to manipulation by T, being appointed.
 
The head of operations soon found that T could not be managed by the traditional method of agreeing to whatever the boss said. He was terminated some months later, in a unique way.
 
T made a new organisation chart and left his name out of it.
 
(Deserting engineering after a year in a factory, Amitabha Banerjee did an MBA in the US and returned to India. Choosing work-to-live over live-to-work, he joined banking and worked for various banks in India and the Middle East. Post retirement, he returned to his hometown Kolkata and is now spending his golden years travelling the world (until Covid, that is), playing bridge, befriending Netflix & Prime Video and writing in his wife’s travel blog.)
 
Comments
BALRAJ AMARAVADI
5 years ago
Repercurssion (s) are inevitable! irrespective of ombudsman ...at least org has changed (effectiveness?)to the habit of T - sacrificed for the global good. We have seen this in the history of mankind and is going on...
Reply
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