THE CASE OF
THE BONSAI MANAGER - LESSONS FROM NATURE ON GROWING
Author - R. Gopalkrishnan
“The Case of the
Bonsai Manager” happens to be one of the few books that I happened to read
because of a strong recommendation from a budding entrepreneur in the process
of scaling up his venture. He was empathetically speaking about the central
theme of the book and how he could relate it to himself and his employees. He
found the book deeply thought provoking and had left him thinking how he could move
himself out of what the author called the “Bonsai” trap.
That was
somewhere towards the mid of 2007 when the book had just been published. The time gap between the recommendation and
when I actually happened to read the book was almost of two years. This time
around an article in a leading daily recommended the book as one worth reading
and owning it too. I am happy to have
done just that.
Before I get into
why one should be reading the “let me tell you a few things”, the book has been
criticized for. It has been criticized for its casual language, grammar and
punctuation. Some people found the premise interesting but the execution and
presentation far from desired. There are no groundbreaking strategies included
and most of the topics are reinforced with personal experiences rather than
statistical studies. Another major key concern is that the bonsai manager issue
is not delved into with great depth and most of the time you might not find a
link between one and the other chapter. For this I would give the benefit of
doubt to the author for leaving loose ends for the reader to tie it up. For
what sense does it make if someone offered you a fruit and ate it for you as
well. And more importantly if you want to move out of the “Bonsai” trap then
you have to get out of your comfort zone and develop yourself to read between
the lines.
Barring the few
things the book has been criticized for, it makes an interesting read. The
style is simple and feels more of conversation with the reader and at times
with self.
In his foreword
to the book, The Case of the Bonsai Manager - Lessons from Nature on Growing,
Ratan Tata refers to “the ingenious insights and lessons Gopal draws from
Nature to emphasise the importance of imbibing, developing, listening to and
trusting intuition to develop the confidence to take that leap of faith which risk-bearing
decision entails”.
The book is based
on the premise of stunted growth of a manager and for the author the bonsai
tree developed by Japanese just happens to be a perfect analogy. The reason why
Japanese invented the bonsai was lack of space that made it difficult for them
to grow trees. The bonsai tree is a tree in every sense except growth. It gets
stunted after a period of time. This is precisely where the author picks it up
from and establishes parallels with managerial growth through a different
perspective.
One can connect
with perspective when one reads the following excerpt.
“The message is that the 'space' in which a manager
grows is extremely important. This space around his job is defined by the
manager by four perceptions: 1. The nature of the industry, 2. The type of work
he does and his role and within his organization, 3. The people relationships
he is involved with and 4. The threats or obstacles he faces and has to
overcome.
If the space in which the manager operates and grows
is limited, if his emotional and mental exertion are low, then his development
gets stunted. If he stays in this stultifying situation for long and does
nothing to change his circumstance, then he can become a permanently stunted
manager!
Just as the growth of the crocodile depends on the
diet and the space available, the growth of a manager too is influenced by his
'mental' food (reading, training, and people challenges) as well as the
experiential space (new experiences and tough assignments that disturb him from
his comfort zone). Nobody sets out to become stunted manager. Yet
stunted managers do exist, in large numbers.
Because of inadequate challenge and learning arising
from working at the grassroots of company operations, young managers can get
stunted in their growth at a very early stage of their career. The truly
big and successful managers are set to solve problem after problem, they are
constantly challenged to swim upstream against the tide so that they learn and
grow fast.”
The Case of the
Bonsai Manager, thus manager warns us of managers being stunted only after a
few years into the role, thereby stopping them from the growth that they are
destined to like that of the Bonsai plan if they do not nourish themselves. There
are various characteristics exhibited by “Stunted Managers” which would help in
identifying such people in an organization. Most of us face these kinds of
situations in our life where we lose our initial enthusiasm towards work and
start to crumble in the mundane and redundant nature of our work. The book
explains how we start off with great aspirations but lose our way in between,
we stop learning and end up as stunted managers.
To emphasize
this, the author draws a parallel between the complexities in nature and those
in management. He also draws upon his experiences as a manager and shares
anecdotes which support his theories. The books thus is an intersection of
lessons drawn from nature, management and personal experiences.
He describes
intuition (or instinct) as an unconscious process, unlike analysis, which is a
conscious process and is at the centre of the mind’s thinking. The unconscious
memory, (he calls it BRIM-the brain’s remote implicit memory), is very valuable
for developing and strengthening instincts.
The book
cleverly switches from the behavioral theories of animal kingdom to those of
human. It shows an intersection of nature with management. It shows that there
lessons to be learnt from everywhere. The book makes the reader reflect upon
the anecdotes and draw a few memorable lessons.
The book
reflects author’s journey of self-awareness and self-discovery. He advocates
that good leaders overlay the unknown facts with their gut feel and instinct,
which they consciously develop through keen listening, reflection,
contemplation and mentoring.
The
last chapter of the book is the best where it mentions that nothing in nature
follow a straight line, all of them are spiral. From the great galaxies to the
minutest DNA to the smoke let out from a cigarette, all follow the spiral
pattern. As in nature, our careers also will not have a straight line from
where we are and what we want to be. It will have its twists and turns, the ups
and downs but if we strive through it with the willingness to learn and without
arrogance, we will surely reach where we aspire to be.
P. N : The Revised Edition is titled – The Case of the Bonsai Manager – Lessons
for Managers on Intuition
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