Waiting to Aboard..(few lessons froms Mumbai's Lifeline

Waiting to Aboard..(few lessons froms Mumbai's Lifeline - the railways)

Railways - the lifeline of Mumbai everyday transports lakhs of commuters to and fro. Thousands flock to each of the enroute station for reasons that vary from just fun to work to meet their near and dear ones.

One of the interesting skills people from Mumbai and its suburbs develop is their ability to board the train. Being able to board the trains that ply on these routes comes with own set of challenges. You will come across people politely requesting to get into the train, to people literally barging their way in what is an already crowded train.

Seeing these people boarding the train especially at the starting point made me realize the few parallels that can be drawn with the corporate life.

1) The incoming train presents an equal opportunity those awaiting to aboard the train and seize opportunity to gain the first mover advantage. The first mover advantage in this comes here in form the fresh breezes that blows on to your face sitting next to the window in a compartment that's soon going to get crowded like crazy.

2) The different windows each person gets present the different opportunities and positions various competitors take likening the compartment to that of a market. Each person though part of the same journey has different destinations with different views and different perspectives on his/her mind.

3) At times though surprise awaits the early boarders - for despite their best efforts to get the window seat they come across people who have come down up to the station of origin for something called as return journey (something which I believe only a true Mumbaikar will understand). So be prepared for the surprises your competitors are going to throw at you and chances are they have gained the first mover advantage much before thought about it but never quite realized it.

4) Then you have much to the amusement of people already occupying the seat, one traveler coming in and trying to request those seated to make some space so that he can squeeze in. The lesson - in an already crowded market place there is still place for someone to enter provided he/she manages to fit into the vacant space.

5) Then of course there are the one's who are standing patiently awaiting their turn to seat provided the those commuting are generous enough to share their seat or getting ready to alight. They could be referred to as ones who play the wait and watch game, waiting to seize the moment or collaborators if the seat gets shared through a mutual agreement.

6) You also come across people who are running late and trying to make it on time to board the train just like the organizations who are busy playing the catch up game vis-a-vis those who are the least bothered lot who are neither interested in getting seat but just a place good enough to stand comfortably. They can be likened to the niche / focused player who are happy doing what they are and are not in hurry in to change tracks.

7) Last but not the least there are the one's who man the door, crack jokes, give opinions, provide latest updates, initiate celebrations and end up filtering whom to let in at the stations to follow in an already crowded train and at times (though rarely) bear the burnt for doing so. Something which gatekeepers, resource investigators and motivators in organization do.

This is just glimpse of life that occurs and that get's repeated at almost every door of every compartment of the train as the train is about to commence it's journey. No wonder then it's called Mumbai's lifeline bustling with life.

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