Are You Working in a Lala Company? Use this Checklist to Find that Out

How to know whether you are working in a Lala company or not?

Here's a checklist that you can use for this purpose.

1. Has the top man cultivated a set of four (or put your number) stooges around him for running the show?

2. Is parking space reserved for the special stooges despite "first come and first park" policy that is supposedly being practiced?

3. Are there some special people whose Laptop bag is fetched by a office boy from their car to their cabin?

4. Do the top man and his stooges always go together for lunch and are served food in a special way as well as sometimes served special food too?

5. Do the top man and stooges work in a secretive and opaque manner and take many decisions in closed-door meetings?

6. Does the top man has a ludicrous fetish for becoming popular and well-known and is he always chasing awards and accolades, some of which are utterly silly?

What is it Like Working for a Lala Company?

The title of this post will resonate quite well with you if you have ever worked for a Lala company in your career.

What are the thoughts that would come to your mind?

How would you feel?

And what is it really like working for a Lala company?

You are befuddled about the things going on around you.

Like the company is not making enough money so team lunches are stopped but unnecessary and useless off-site meetings get planned.

You are amazed about the fact that the company still exists.

The kind of non-sense going on would make you think that "Ripley's Believe It or Not" is actually all very ordinary.

You feel humiliated about some of the odd things that keep on happening off and on.

Like you come in the morning and are told that the parking place is not available for some silly reason.

And you come to know later in the day that car parking has been reserved for the old, special brigade.

There is lot of talk about open culture and transparency, and that's a problem, there is mere talk.

You are perplexed about the kind people working in the company, especially at the senior levels. 

Everyone placed (yes, placed artificially)  in the supposedly leadership positions are there due to only one reason, servitude - their loyalty to the master and unquestioning attitude.

You are demotivated by the kind of culture you need to put up with constantly.

Since culture is a direct function of the kind of people in leadership positions, it is obvious what kind of people surround you.

The root of the problem is the top dog who openly and blatantly works through and only with his four puppies.

The top dog and the puppies form a close-knit coterie of bad asses.

And when a company is managed by such a cozy group the consequences are eminently disastrous.

You are scared about the consequences due to the kind of organization structure created and management style practiced in such companies.

Loyalty is the only criterion in such companies.

This also leads to a highly grade-conscious workplace.

The sad and strange thing is that the HR head is such a company, who is basically a clown carrying a school-boy attitude and a stooge of the top man, doesn't understand the difference between role and grade.

Artificial reporting structures are erected in such companies with no consideration for merit and competence.

The delivery head in such companies is another specimen, basically yet another clown and a stooge of the top man, who doesn't at all understand how to manage projects and people.

He is a polished talker but an incompetent performer.

The administrative heads of other groups are no different.

Don't Say, Don't Tell, Don't Ask, Don't Listen

What happens when your channels of communication with another person break down?

At least four distinct things happen.

You don't say anything to that person.

You don't tell anything to that person.

You don't ask that person for anything.

And you don't listen to that person.

Why would your relationship with a person come to such a stage where there is a complete breakdown of your channels of communication with that person?

There are many reasons.

The first reason is difference in the way you think versus the way the other person thinks.

You might think the relation between you and the other person should work in a certain way.

You might think something is important.

But the other person may think differently.

An example of this:

• You may consider physical intimacy and sexual relations with your spouse to be a important bedrock for a happy and wholesome marriage.
• However, your spouse would seem not to care at all about this.
• This may result in verbal conflicts and disagreements.
• That eventually leads to breakdown.

The second reason is the gradual building up of ego.

You slowly start thinking that why you should always initiate the communication with the other person. Especially when there is a temporary breakdown.

Temporary breakdown of your channels of communication with another person can slowly become permanent because of ego coming in the way.

An example of this:

• After every minor fight with your spouse you might be the one who always initiates the first interaction to normalize the relation.
• However, your spouse behaves in an odd way and is also never the one to initiate the thawing process.
• So slowly you might come to a stage where you would say, "why should I be the first one, every time?". Your spouse might think, "why shouldn't you".
• That eventually leads to breakdown.

The third reason is that you may slowly grow over the need to have any relation with a person.

Communication is necessary to build relation with another person.

If the other person doesn't respond in kind for very long you might grow over the need to continue any meaningful relation with that person.

And once you don't consider the relation with a person important the need to keep your channels of communication diminishes and at times would simply cease to exist.

An example of this:

• You spouse refuses and avoids physical intimacy and sexual relations for silly reasons.
• After several refusals and rejections you slowly develop your mental mechanism to start reacting in a certain way.
• You develop the attitude, "I also don't care any longer. This is all over".
• That eventually leads to breakdown.

And finally, you then enter the state where you "Don't Say, Don't Tell, Don't Ask, Don't Listen."

True Empowerment will Always be a Pipe Dream in an Unprofessional Company

An unprofessional company is typically characterized by a strange culture where symbolism prevails over pragmatism.

In such companies true empowerment will always remain a pipe dream.

There are serious deficiencies that percolate the structures and staffing in such companies which result in abject failure of its systems and processes.

The company is run by a close-knit group of incompetent but manipulative people. This group is sadly what constitutes the senior management in such a company.

The only qualification of such people is their blind loyalty to the voodoo master. Yes the head of the organization in such companies is nothing more than a voodoo master.

What happens in such companies is similar to a pied piper playing the flute and driving the rats along to his tune.

The head of the organization is like the pied piper. And his loyal stooges are like the rats who play along the tune.

The coterie works like a pack of wolves. They do not care about the organization and the value-add from their respective departments.

They only bother about protecting each others' backs.

They work like a group of manipulative crooks who indulge in secret games and do malicious things behind the curtains.

Of course, they would act as if they are highly professional.

The facade of professionalism is created through symbolic gestures related to people practises.

Lot of silly things are brought into the company to this effect but with no actual change on the ground.

External awards, certifications, industry accolades, etc. become the primary source of false pride in such companies.

True empowerment remains a pipe dream though because the top man and his coterie don't let that happen in the real sense.

Promotions and appreciation in such companies follows just one criterion - loyalty.

Strange reporting structures are put in place by the top man and his coterie.

Reporting structures are created to actually perpetuate the control of the coterie. True empowerment has no place in such a company.

All the good words and phrases are used in meetings but they mean nothing.

Rituals related to people practises are established and followed religiously but on the ground nothing really happens in the true spirit of empowering people.

Handling a Sudden Medical Emergency at Home

When bad time strikes, you or someone in you family may face a sudden medical emergency.

A few minutes before the emergency all would seem to be going very well.

And then suddenly!

Getting panicky is very natural and perhaps the first reaction one would normally have.

Unless you are a trained doctor or medical expert, there is not much that you can do that in such a situation.

Here are some thoughts on what one could do to handle a sudden medical emergency at home:

• Quickly assess the extent of impact or damage, if that is possible. This may be possible in case of external injuries only.
• See whether the family member can be taken to a hospital immediately. If not, call for the ambulance immediately.
• Take the patient to the nearest hospital. Any reasonably equipped hospital in your vicinity would be fine so that first-aid or emergency treatment can be given without loosing precious time.
• In case of any case history to the medical emergency the hospital you generally go should be contacted and informed and you should do whatever advised.
• Have at least 3 people, if possible accompany you. One should stay alongside the patient, the second one should stay along with the doctors and the nursing staff. The third one should do the errands like arranging for money, getting things from outside if not available at the hospital, etc.
• Always remember, for you the emergency may be a first-time or a rare situation that you may not have ever faced but for the medical staff it is just routine.
• Based on the immediate above point, let the medical staff take the decisions based on their professional judgment. You should certainly expect them to brief you as appropriate and at the appropriate times.
• Certain necessary paperwork may also be required to be completed as the treatment begins. That is another reason having 3 people helps. The third person can easily take care of such administrative tasks.

Some other miscellaneous thoughts to take care of some other things that though not directly related to the medical requirements are important for you to manage:

• Maintain a positive and encouraging attitude as you interact with your family member who is going through the physical pain and discomfort. He or she would need both physical and mental support to handle the tough time with higher level of fortitude.
• As soon soon as you get time, but surely at the earliest, you should inform the relevant people at workplace about the fact that you may not be available for certain days. Do mention medical emergency so that they are more considerate to your needs in such a tough time in your personal life.
• Ensure you brief the people so that critical tasks at your workplace don't get missed in your absence.
• Make sure you have medical insurance policy to take care of such situations. Inform the insurance provider at the earliest possible.
• Keep an emergency fund equal to 2 times of the medical insurance amount. This would help in case the hospital you go to is not a network hospital. Also it gives you a nice cushion which is 3 times the medical insurance amount and that should normally be sufficient in most cases.
• Make sure some of your investments are liquid so that in case you run out of the emergency fund, you should be able to access some more funds by quickly liquidating your investments so as to generate the required funds.
• In case even the above also fails to provide you the needed funds, you may have to explore taking personal loans to take care of medical expenses. This should hopefully be a "God forbid" scenario!

Always carry the feeling of gratitude that the whole thing could have been even worse that what it is.

Never carry the grudge "why me"?

Be positive and cheerful. Generate inner mental strength to take care of whatever situation is there before you since that is your reality at this point of time.

Do whatever you can do to the best of your availability. Leave the rest to the medical experts.

And finally, and most importantly, pray and thank God. He wanted you to go through such an experience in life. It is simply destiny at play.