Management Gurus

chillibreeze writer — Kalyani Sethumadhavan

The origins

Chances are that you are aware of the origins of the word 'guru'. It stems from the religion of Hinduism, and means a spiritual leader and trusted counsellor who helps his disciples attain self-realisation. The more modern or western adaptation applies to anybody who is an 'expert' in a discipline and has a merry band of followers - like the business thinkers and intellectuals we label ‘management gurus’.

Modern historical perspective

Till 1943, 'management' was either a noun or a verb. But Peter Drucker changed all that. When he commenced his study of the corporate structure of General Motors that year, management also became a discipline. And like any other discipline; it began being formally taught, learnt and 'practised'. While Peter Drucker is clearly the pioneering management thinker of modern times, Tom Peters took the discipline of management thinking to new heights. Peters, a former McKinsey consultant, co-authored ‘In Search of Excellence' in 1982. The book created a record for being the first management book to appear in a best-sellers list. Needless to say, his marketing strategy of hosting a series of TV specials based on the book ensured immediate prominence in all of America. And brand 'Guru' was born.

Current Scenario

Ever since, management thinkers have moved out of academic journals to mainstream media. They're omnipresent. You'll find them on television, in newspapers and magazines, on the Internet and in seminars. They even come in paperback. Management gurus are the panaceas for corporations to survive and succeed in today's competitive global economy. What may surprise you though is how the term has now come full circle. A guru who has recently been in the news for wowing CEO's, company presidents and well, even management gurus, is no management expert. Swami Parthasarathy is an eighty-year-old spiritual thinker and best selling author of a book on Vedanta, an ancient Indian philosophy. He has recently lectured at the temples of American management like Wharton, Kellogg School and Lehman Brothers. His talks have focused on how the Vedanta, considered the philosophical foundation of Hinduism (see www.vedanta.org) can help attain self-realisation, not only in one's personal life but also in the context of business excellence. What next? The Bhagvad Gita may yet become the new bible for managers and corporate mantras may actually be just tha t- religious Sanskrit hymns chanted around a fire! And the latest avatar of the management guru is not being one at all!

Having said the above though, the possible differentiating factor between 'professional' management gurus and their more spiritual counterparts - is what separates a corporation from a registered charity - the profit motive! Wearing the robes of a management guru is a rather lucrative proposition, with the best-sellers in the clan supposedly commanding over USD 30,000 per lecture. Given the prosperity in this business, it is most certainly an attractive career option. To survive in this competitive and increasingly global industry, management gurus actually practice what they preach. They apply much of their consultative solutions to succeed in their own businesses. Below are my five 'must haves' for any aspiring guru.

Five Golden Rules to 'Gurudom'

RULE #1: ACQUIRE IMPECCABLE CREDENTIALS
Use your favourite search engine for a 'Top 10 management gurus' listing. You'll most certainly find Michael Porter, Tom Peters, Henry Mintzberg, Gary Hamel and Peter Senge. You may also find, say, Daniel Goleman and Stephen Covey and perhaps even Bill Gates and Michael Dell. What all of them have in common is an impressive background. All of them are attached to 'Top 10' organisations themselves. If they're professors its at Ivy League or world class universities. If they're ex-consultants, they worked at Big 4 firms. If they're business authors they've been best-sellers, if they're 'executive gurus', then their companies are highly ranked in the Fortune list and if they're political advisers they've been advising prime ministers and presidents.

RULE #2: CREATE THE BRAND NAME
For a guru, his name is his brand. And it’s all in the packaging. Every management guru has an imposing, corporate-style personal website with a (auto) biography, seminar schedule and booking facility, publications information, blog and media appearance details. Plus a mugshot or two. These days, they're seen as much as they are heard! A strong brand name automatically creates a high brand recall, resulting in greater customer retention, higher profitability, and larger market share. Strategos consulting may sound vaguely familiar but Gary Hamel (the founder)? Just put the two together for a seamless extension of the brand.

RULE #3: ENSURE STRATEGIC MARKET POSITIONING
Differentiation creates barriers to entry and gurus all have their niche areas of specialisation. There's a wide selection really - change management gurus, marketing gurus, crisis management gurus, IT gurus, strategic thinking gurus, HR gurus, motivational gurus, globalisation gurus and what have you. Differentiation also requires continuous reinvention and repositioning. Here, the unspoken law is to never trespass territories. You won't find a guru adopting a fellow colleague's niche, but you will find a guru creating a new one.

RULE#4: JARGONISE!
The 'Three Js' for longevity that any self respecting guru needs to adopt- Jargon, Jargon, Jargon! Where would we be without 'Disruptive Technology' or better still, acronyms like ABC, TQM, KM or BPR? These extremely creative and innovative catchwords make sure the guru is in the limelight. And in business- wouldn't a corporation need to actually hire the services of the guru to know what exactly the jargon means? This may sound counter-intuitive, but while most gurus tom-tom the need for reducing complexity in today's corporations, their jargon only seems to get increasingly indecipherable!

RULE#5: MAKE SELF FULFILLING PROPHECIES
Rule #5 is perhaps the best kept secret in Guru-world. Rest assure that any aspirant who can make this work, has definitely come to stay. True gurus are able to make fact based, highly evaluated predictions that can send CEOs scurrying for cover. To prevent the very occurrence of these events, the executives then plead for the remediation services of our gurus and voilà! There's Rule#5 accomplished! The caveat though, is that to successfully achieve this rule, aspirants have to already possess some guru stature. Rule#5 will then catapult them to the super guru club.

In Conclusion

Will management gurus ever be out of business? Unlikely. As executives struggle to put out the fires that come with increasing complexity in the workplace- be it due to the emergence of new business models, changing work ethics, stringent regulation or new technology, they become more and more myopic in their view of the organisations they run. Management gurus, with their experience and innovative thinking can often provide the objective insights that put these organisations back on track. And as in any other industry, expertise pays!

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—About our writer:

"My toddlers have taught me more about management techniques than I ever learnt in business school." says Kalyani, who holds an MBA from the US. Kalyani has worked in the financial and consulting industries. She lives in England with her family and enjoys writing, public speaking, travelling and a good game of badminton.

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