Is a godfather necessary for survival at work?

Is a godfather necessary for survival at work?

On this Friday morning, I was at Cognizant Technologies in Hyderabad delivering a lecture to a group of high-energy youngsters on how one must dream and work towards fulfilling those dreams, both in and out of workplace.

I stressed on morals and ethics and the need to be true to oneself and the organisation even as we go about fulfilling our dreams.

The question and answer section was on in full swing, when one young girl stood up and asked me a very innocent question. “The point about politics and ethics is well made, sir,” she said, “but in today’s day and age how can one survive unless you have a godfather. In both your books the guys who do well, have at various stages been pulled up in life by godfathers.. How do you explain that? Is that ethical?”

This got me thinking. It gave me deep insights into the way youngsters of today think. The look on every ones face when the girl was asking this question was more of agreement than of dissent. Is a godfather necessary for Survival?

When I introspect, at various points in time in my career too, there have been godfathers who have helped me around.

But the moot question is, do you need to cultivate Godfathers? Does one have to consciously work at acquiring godfather, and if possible multiple godfathers? Todays generation seems to think that the answer to this question is a resounding “YES”. At the very best, this is a very short-sighted approach to ones career.

The solution to this riddle lies in a simple question. Why do bosses Godfather you? Simply because there is some value that you bring to the table. Because you are either a good performer or are an extremely good emotional and moral support to your boss.

Either you are a good errand boy, or even a good mail drafter (most bosses lack this skill and hence they have people who send them draft mails which are then forwarded from the bosses email id to a larger subset.) Net net, you make the boss look better than he actually is. In other words, the boss needs you too. It’s not a one way relationship where only you need the boss and not vice versa.
If you are good in your job, if you possess skill sets which are important to the bosses, if you can demonstrate your value to the organisation on your own, it is better to stay non-aligned and not have godfathers. If you develop godfathers, your career and your success get automatically tagged to him. Why do you want to make your career susceptible?

It’s also been seen that people who over a prolonged period of time work with singular godfathers lose the ability to work with anyone else as they become used to one man’s style of functioning. God forbid, if you have to work with anyone else at any point in time, it becomes a lot more difficult for you to adjust. Adaptability at work goes down dramatically.

If godfathers fall into your lap, you cant obviously push them away, but do retain your identity as individuals and also cultivate relationships with every senior at work, even if that individual is at professional loggerheads with your godfather. That is the only way of maintaining professional independence.
On the other hand, if you are one who is not so confident about ones own skill sets, if you are a below average worker, who constantly needs props to survive, than it is more than acceptable to go out and consciously cultivate godfathers who can pull you up.

There are obvious downsides to it, but if at some point in time, the godfathers falls from grace and your career gets impacted, do not fret. Your godfather in any case took you to levels, which you would never have reached, without his support. You enjoyed while it lasted. Maybe the career graph you had was never meant to be yours, but came to you gratis the Godfather Boss.

In summary, if you are a good performer, godfathers will seek you out. They too need you. Maintain your identity in the organisation, as an individual and not as a part of the godfathers coterie. If you are an average performer you will be well served to consciously cultivate godfathers and work at becoming part of their coterie, and once you do so, enjoy and make hay while it lasts.

( Ravi Subramanian is banker and author of ‘Devil in Pinstripes’)

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/6635576.cms