THE CASE OF THE BONSAI MANAGER - LESSONS FROM NATURE ON GROWING (Overview)

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