February 28, 2019 at 09:08Career steroids. Way of the Samurai
The career method “Samurai Way” somehow does not dare to be called a steroid, because it ... I don’t know if it’s right. Honest, real, kind and fluffy.
Therefore, in life it is not very common. I could recall only four examples, and not all of them are from my personal practice, but I saw these stories with my own eyes. Of course, the people in question never read the Hagakure (Samurai code), but their stories, behavior, principles and approaches lie very close to the philosophy of the ancient Japanese warriors.
To start, I’ll talk a little about samurai and their philosophy.
The Samurai Code is based on several basic principles. Probably the most famous is the acceptance of the inevitability of death (“live as if you have already died”). He does not really belong to a career, he helps more in self-development. But there is one more principle, which, as a rule, is not particularly paid attention to, considering it to be some kind of bisexual one - service .
The meaning of the entire existence of a samurai is to serve the master. It seems that even the word "samurai" comes from the word "serve." In modern interpretations and arrangements, master is a concept, in general, an abstract. It can be a person, an idea, an organization, a project - it doesn’t matter. But the samurai’s master was very specific - daimyo, representatives of the upper class of feudal warriors, or, more simply, the elite of the samurai.
So, the service for the samurai is a complete, undivided, absolute and disinterested immersion in the problems and tasks of his master. Samurai does not serve for money, fame, career or honor, but only for the sake of the master. The problems of the master are the problems of the samurai, the tasks of the master are the tasks of the samurai, the death of the master is the death of the samurai.
If purely according to the code, then after the death of the daimyo, the samurai was supposed to either commit seppuku (suicide, better known by the people as hara-kiri), or avenge the lord and then commit seppuku. Do you remember the story or the film “47 Ronin”? There, the guys violated the code when their master died, went to avenge him, but, in the end, they still committed suicide by doing their duty. Death for the master, or with him, is the highest, final point of service.
What is interesting is whether the samurai, or we have a cart in front of the horse. We work for money, position, prospects, idea, development. We are working to get something for it. But we do not always get what we want. But the samurai is the opposite - he just works, or serves, but in the end receives what he did not ask for - fame, money, land, and if everything goes well, he himself becomes a daimyo.
You probably will be interested to read the book “Samurai without a sword” - it tells about a real person named Hideyoshi, who was born in a poor peasant family, and eventually became the ruler of Japan. In the book, of course, everything is beautiful and elegant, and you can safely divide in two, but the basis for the success of this guy is precisely service, although Hideyoshi did not use his sword, but his brains.
It’s worth mentioning right away: the service of a samurai is not stupid submission, licking or looking into a man’s mouth. The key word is acceptance , or consent. Just as a samurai accepts the inevitability of death, he accepts service. He simply agrees with all his heart that he has no tasks other than the tasks of the master.
Please note that this is important - not the tasks that the lord set . After all, the daimyo does not keep in mind the whole context of its specific principality. Samurai must perform all the tasks that are. Even if the master does not know about them.
At the same time, you should not think that a samurai is a stupid performer without brains. The codex separately prescribes recommendations on what to do if you see that Mr. is mistaken. Samurai will not, like the hero of the book “Corporate Lamanch”, cut off his shoulder and declare in person to the lord that he is wrong. He must find the right words, choose the right moment, start from afar, but bring the idea to the master.
There is nothing easier than to tell a person that he is wrong. But the purpose of such a statement is the statement itself, emphasizing its own significance, and not at all the good of the master. No man, in his right mind, will agree with such a statement, will argue, be offended, and if he is your boss, then in an ultimatum form he will demand submission - he will have to do as he said.
The line between true service to the master and narcissism is very thin. The goal of the samurai is the good of the master. If for this good it is required to obey silently, he will do so. If you want to spend a couple of years conveying your thoughts, the samurai, with a blink of an eye, will do so. If in order to show the fallacy of Mr.’s judgments, one must die, the samurai, without hesitation, will do so. Because for him the main thing is the benefit of daimyo.
In our life and work, it seems to me that such a form, or degree of service, is practically unattainable. Try, for the sake of interest, to take some article on the Internet that you don’t agree with and convince its author that he is wrong. Not to achieve formal agreement, but to be truly straightforward. For example, so that he voluntarily wrote another article with the title “Damn, I was wrong, I need to do something different in general.”
Samurai’s ministry is very similar to “The Message to Garcia” - a simplified and widely known concept. The "Message", of course, is dumb, compared with the "Hagakure", it has no depth and philosophy, but for immersion in the topic it’s completely alright.
Everything is infinitely simple, but at the same time complicated. Those who worked as a leader will best understand.
From the side it may seem that employees are subordinate to the head. Perform tasks, follow directions, follow deadlines and rules. But, in fact, the leader constantly has to fight resistance.
Tasks are performed, but, excuse me, through the ass. We have to control everything, check and double-check.
All constantly need to be motivated. No one works stably well . Trying today, tomorrow - sitting and blunting. We must come, talk, convince, scream, force, beg. And so - every day.
The rules invented by the leader are respected, but are constantly looking for loopholes to get out and somehow get around these rules. Therefore, the validity of the rules and changes cannot be verified.
All the time you have to consider risks, such as a sudden dismissal.
An Italian strike is often organized - they formally fulfill all the rules, solve the assigned tasks, but they will not lift a finger if they find out that the task is not true or the rule is working incorrectly. They will giggle and do things that harm the boss, the company, or themselves.
They do not want to share responsibility with the leader. They pay him more, let him worry. And a person will only perform tasks - and only those that are assigned to him.
In general, the life of a leader in such conditions is one continuous struggle. And with the tops, and with the bottoms, and with the sides.
I’ll make a reservation right away - I am not saying that people are wrong when they behave this way. This is just the reality that you have to work with. I just want to show the contrast.
And here comes our samurai. It does not require a formal setting of tasks. It is much easier and more correct to give him a goal or responsibility for the whole site.
For example, a samurai is a system administrator. They say to him: your responsibility is the servers. He silently walks into the noisy closet, where he stinks of dead rats, closes there and does not crawl out until the equipment meets his own requirements that exceed the requirements of the company. It will establish stability, stability, integrity, all power attributes, performance, etc. And most importantly, when it finishes, it will exit the server room and get busy ... There is always something to do. But he will not wait for the task "so, now deal with office equipment" - he will come out and take care of himself.
Such a samurai does not need to be motivated, in general. He motivates you, if necessary. The motivation inside him sits because he has accepted responsibility. He did not put a signature in the act of transfer and acceptance, but in his heart agreed with this responsibility.
Samurai will fulfill all your rules, because he understands their true meaning. Rules are not needed to spoil everyone’s mood. Their goal is improvement and change. The boss came up with the idea of holding a morning meeting while standing - it’s clear that it’s not just like that, but to test the hypothesis “will the effectiveness of the meeting increase if it is held standing?” Samurai honestly fulfill the requirement and help the boss in the experiment.
If the samurai sees that you, as the boss, are mistaken, he will find an opportunity to inform you about this. Or not to report, but to show. For example, the boss decides that the application server must move from one physical machine to another, and the samurai knows that it will be worse. An ordinary performer will simply do as they say, and then he will poke, like "look, you moron, I was right." The samurai will prepare — he will make it possible to show the error of the task and roll back as quickly as possible so that there are no losses — both data, time, and the boss’s reputation.
I will not list further, you already understood the meaning. In simple terms, a samurai relieves a headache . You can rely on him because he will do what needs to be done. He is the very “my right hand” that every leader dreams of.
Actually, that's why the Samurai Path works in a career. Samurai - support, outlet, continuation of the leader. Who will refuse such a thing?
Refuses, even as. But under certain conditions.
The first option is if a real career steroid player comes along and stays samurai. In the examples that follow, there is one such story.
Unfortunately, Mr. is also a man. In ancient Japan, there were more samurai than steroids and graffiti, so no one, roughly speaking, sat in the ear of a daimyo with a rush, hedge or dogs. Everyone simply served and demanded nothing.
In our modern world, the balance is reversed. There are almost no samurai, but there are more than enough people who want to quickly make a career. And these people will bypass the samurai, especially if he at the beginning of the journey and the daimyo did not yet understand to the end what kind of diamond he got.
The second option is if the daimyo leaves. In this case, a career samurai, by analogy with the present, leaves behind - only not in oblivion, but in another company. A decent daimyo always carries samurai with him.
Actually, a cure for it follows from the main danger. You just need to take into account the difference between ancient Japan and the modern world. Samurai must understand, cognize and use other career steroids.
The explanation for such a need fits well with the principle of service, so that it remains in place. The samurai must understand and accept that protecting the master from steroids is also his task. Because a career jumper does not care about the welfare of the leader, they are driven only by selfish interests.
Yes, to solve this problem you will have to master the intrigue, and gossip, and court manners. If in antiquity it was possible to simply slaughter an asshole, now it is necessary to display its true goals in clean water by more decent methods. That's all.
Actually, it is enough to understand the types of steroids and the methods that they use. And then - vigilantly watch others, especially beginners, who strive to arrange rush.
The first example is a classic samurai, only it was a woman.
She came to work in the company as a sales manager. The tasks - the real tasks of the company in the field of sales - it plunged completely and without regard. I was constantly in the fields, knew all the customers and their needs, was versed in products, and did everything that was needed. Then it was noticed by the owner, who became the master.
The rest of the sellers worked from the fence to dinner, and she worked as much as needed, and as needed. The owner began to communicate with her more often, and saw the unity of goals - she, like him, wanted to increase sales, expand the product line, scale her presence.
Of course, the owner very soon appointed her head of the sales department, and a little later - commercial director. In this position, she began to delve deeper and wider into the tasks of business.
She climbed into the field of production, procurement, marketing, automation, etc. Not for the purpose of leaving a mark there, but in order to do better, for the benefit of the company and the master. Parallel leaders from related areas, of course, hung themselves from her, weaved intrigues, sat down in the ear of the owner and tried to get rid of her. But it did not work out - her voice sounded much louder, and most importantly - in unison with the voice of the owner.
From a commercial director, she turned into almost a director. I don’t remember exactly what the position was called, but it was subordinate to production, supply, design, warehouse, most of the sales, etc. Almost everything that makes up the company's assets and basic business processes.
Finance, accounting, part of sales, automation were left aside. But not for long, because the female samurai saw the problems of these units and processes, and continued to “batter” them. About a year later, she became the real director managing the entire company.
All this time, she did only what the company and the owner needed. And that which he told to do, and that which he did not speak, and even that which he did not suspect. As director, she continued to act in the same way.
I expanded the business, improved it as I could. I was mistaken a lot, especially at first. She completed training - first, management courses, then an MBA, then an EMBA, and as a result, she began to know almost everything that exists in the world about management.
But then came the steroid. It turned out unsuccessfully - he came not to the company, but to the sphere of personal communications of the owner, i.e. was beyond her influence. A female samurai about a steroid for a long time simply did not know anything.
And when she found out, it was too late. The steroid worker was immediately taken to the post of CEO, and she was slightly pushed down. She, of course, was upset, but decided to continue her line - she served the master. Although, most people would probably leave.
Her samurai and this time worked. The steroid, not having the experience of real management, did not last long. But she stayed.
But the ending of the story is not very funny. Another steroid was sitting on the steroid, who came to the company as a consultant, but managed to quickly get hooked in the owner’s ear. The first was kicked out, the second was put in the position of CEO.
The second turned out to be more weighty and, most importantly, more cunning. He saw, saw a samurai in a woman, and realized the danger. Therefore, he made special efforts to get rid of her - and he succeeded. It all happened very sadly and unpleasantly, but now, this is life.
The worst thing is that the steroid itself soon flew out. And the owner was left with nothing but an “effective manager” or a devoted samurai servant. Business sharply went down, from the past greatness and plans there was no trace left.
And the samurai woman, as far as I know, has become a daimyo woman.
The second example is related to the first. A female samurai, when she was a director, found and took a male samurai into her submission.
First, this guy was taken by someone like the production manager, or even the site manager - I don’t remember exactly. The meaning of the position was to raise from the knees a separate production site, which was located in another city and lay on its side.
Samurai quickly converged. Our guy did not ask for tasks, permissions, help - he just drove every day to this city and raised production. He killed his car at the end, but did not worry about this.
He quickly raised production, and immediately got a new area of responsibility - supply. He also had to be raised. Yes, but production also remained with him.
About a year stuck in the supply. I can’t say that he directly built everything there efficiently - everything rested on him personally, but the effectiveness grew. And the guy went on.
So, gradually, all production, design development, service, etc. went under it. He became the chief engineer, with broad powers. Fully held the responsibility for the entire entrusted area, and served the lord.
When the first steroid came, this guy just continued to serve. The steroid did not like him, but for a short period of time at the top post he could not pick out our samurai.
And when the second steroid got rid of a samurai woman, our guy had to leave - he was left without a daimyo. Unfortunately, he could not follow the master - everything was just beginning there, and there was neither money, nor tasks for the samurai. Therefore, he simply left to work as a chief engineer at another plant.
The third example is very similar to the first, so I’ll tell you briefly.
Also a woman, she just entered the company on the other hand - not through sales, but through finances and accounting. Either I got a job as chief accountant, or as his deputy - I don’t remember exactly.
The director was an energetic and proactive person. He developed the business tough and very fast. He delved into all the details, processes, did not tolerate negligence and chewing snot. Few could withstand his approaches and pace, so the staff turnover was terrible.
But our female samurai was imbued with service and worked on the same principles. As a chief accountant, she built a strict submission and discipline of task execution. She began to quickly and successfully penetrate first into related fields - finance and economics, then - into distant ones, such as production, sales, supply and marketing.
The first promotion was the post of financial director. This position was very high - financiers, economists, the IT department and lawyers obeyed it. Just like the female samurai from the first example, she studied a lot - both in courses and the second or third higher in management.
But most importantly, she continued to serve the master. She supported and dragged all his projects and initiatives, lived happily at work, did everything that needed to be done.
Then the director went higher, to the level of the holding, and he appointed the samurai woman the director, instead of himself.
The fourth example is myself. Not for long, only eight months, but I, too, was a samurai.
The woman from the previous example, as I said, was subject to the IT department. There was a boss - a typical steroid. He was hired to implement 1C soft starter, and for several months he went out of business, put everything off, and eventually admitted that he didn’t understand a damn thing in 1C.
He did not serve a female samurai - he chose another gentleman, a director. But that didn’t really care about the IT department, so the guy was safely fired.
At the first interview, she and I did not work out. The head of the IT department led both programmers and system administrators. The previous guy spoiled the director very much - he personally ran his computer and smartphone to set up, was friends with secretaries in order to quickly learn about the problems of Mr.
The female samurai tried to hang his projection on me. Implement, says, we have 1C soft starter, but do not forget to run to the director and help. I honestly told her - sorry, of course, but I'm not interested. I, I say, can quickly and easily introduce 1C soft starter to you, I have no equal in this (I just said that I was young, stupid). So, I say, I'm sorry, look for someone else, I'm not an errand boy for you.
She did not argue, and we said goodbye. A few weeks later they called me back and called me again. He says - ok, you won’t run anywhere, we will appoint one admin as the senior, he will be responsible for the work of the director’s equipment. And you introduce 1C UPP, since you are called a cargo.
Well, I took it, with all my heart. It was October in the yard, it was necessary to switch from 1C 7.7 to 1C SCP from January, moreover, at once, without parallel accounting and along all contours. And there are only two of us - I and the local programmer, who knew 7.7 well, but still hadn’t worked much with 8.
Actually, it was the ambitiousness of the task that made me a forced samurai. I was deeply imbued with the problems of the lady, and sincerely wanted to help her. The company is tough, and in the event of a transition failure, it would be affected, first of all, by it, and not by me.
Well, then, as in a fairy tale. Until December, I went about it - I bought a box and licenses, deployed it, tested the transfer of balances and directories, modified something. He was not a real samurai yet.
In January, it simply turned on the turbo mode, and within a month my assistant and I completely transferred the company to 1C UPP. A couple of goodies, not very urgent, were left for February - they also had to tinker with it, but everything seemed to work out. Including the delivery of accounting, tax and industry-specific reporting, payroll for 6 thousand people, closing the month and other goodies full implementation.
The female samurai was naturally very pleased. Well, I, too, didn’t let Madame down. Straight proud of himself.
According to all the canons, I had to move further and higher. Madam helped me as best she could. True, there was nowhere to move especially within the company, so at first they simply increased the staff and expanded the range of tasks. She tried to push me higher in the holding.
But, as I already said in one of the previous parts, I was let down by the disregard for the director. The senior administrator could not cope with his whims, and discontent poured out on me - the director took the CIO from outside. I freaked out and quit. But in vain, by the way - he was also a steroid, and did not last long. Although, why in vain ... Nothing happens in vain.
Summary
The way of the samurai is to serve the master.
Mr. is a person, a company, an idea, and a project.
Service is not stupid submission, but acceptance of the tasks of the master as his own.
Samurai careerists are rare and therefore highly valued.
The main danger for the samurai is steroids.
In order not to fall prey to steroids, one must understand their methods.
Therefore, in life it is not very common. I could recall only four examples, and not all of them are from my personal practice, but I saw these stories with my own eyes. Of course, the people in question never read the Hagakure (Samurai code), but their stories, behavior, principles and approaches lie very close to the philosophy of the ancient Japanese warriors.
To start, I’ll talk a little about samurai and their philosophy.
Pillar of Samurai
The Samurai Code is based on several basic principles. Probably the most famous is the acceptance of the inevitability of death (“live as if you have already died”). He does not really belong to a career, he helps more in self-development. But there is one more principle, which, as a rule, is not particularly paid attention to, considering it to be some kind of bisexual one - service .
The meaning of the entire existence of a samurai is to serve the master. It seems that even the word "samurai" comes from the word "serve." In modern interpretations and arrangements, master is a concept, in general, an abstract. It can be a person, an idea, an organization, a project - it doesn’t matter. But the samurai’s master was very specific - daimyo, representatives of the upper class of feudal warriors, or, more simply, the elite of the samurai.
So, the service for the samurai is a complete, undivided, absolute and disinterested immersion in the problems and tasks of his master. Samurai does not serve for money, fame, career or honor, but only for the sake of the master. The problems of the master are the problems of the samurai, the tasks of the master are the tasks of the samurai, the death of the master is the death of the samurai.
If purely according to the code, then after the death of the daimyo, the samurai was supposed to either commit seppuku (suicide, better known by the people as hara-kiri), or avenge the lord and then commit seppuku. Do you remember the story or the film “47 Ronin”? There, the guys violated the code when their master died, went to avenge him, but, in the end, they still committed suicide by doing their duty. Death for the master, or with him, is the highest, final point of service.
What is interesting is whether the samurai, or we have a cart in front of the horse. We work for money, position, prospects, idea, development. We are working to get something for it. But we do not always get what we want. But the samurai is the opposite - he just works, or serves, but in the end receives what he did not ask for - fame, money, land, and if everything goes well, he himself becomes a daimyo.
You probably will be interested to read the book “Samurai without a sword” - it tells about a real person named Hideyoshi, who was born in a poor peasant family, and eventually became the ruler of Japan. In the book, of course, everything is beautiful and elegant, and you can safely divide in two, but the basis for the success of this guy is precisely service, although Hideyoshi did not use his sword, but his brains.
It’s worth mentioning right away: the service of a samurai is not stupid submission, licking or looking into a man’s mouth. The key word is acceptance , or consent. Just as a samurai accepts the inevitability of death, he accepts service. He simply agrees with all his heart that he has no tasks other than the tasks of the master.
Please note that this is important - not the tasks that the lord set . After all, the daimyo does not keep in mind the whole context of its specific principality. Samurai must perform all the tasks that are. Even if the master does not know about them.
At the same time, you should not think that a samurai is a stupid performer without brains. The codex separately prescribes recommendations on what to do if you see that Mr. is mistaken. Samurai will not, like the hero of the book “Corporate Lamanch”, cut off his shoulder and declare in person to the lord that he is wrong. He must find the right words, choose the right moment, start from afar, but bring the idea to the master.
There is nothing easier than to tell a person that he is wrong. But the purpose of such a statement is the statement itself, emphasizing its own significance, and not at all the good of the master. No man, in his right mind, will agree with such a statement, will argue, be offended, and if he is your boss, then in an ultimatum form he will demand submission - he will have to do as he said.
The line between true service to the master and narcissism is very thin. The goal of the samurai is the good of the master. If for this good it is required to obey silently, he will do so. If you want to spend a couple of years conveying your thoughts, the samurai, with a blink of an eye, will do so. If in order to show the fallacy of Mr.’s judgments, one must die, the samurai, without hesitation, will do so. Because for him the main thing is the benefit of daimyo.
In our life and work, it seems to me that such a form, or degree of service, is practically unattainable. Try, for the sake of interest, to take some article on the Internet that you don’t agree with and convince its author that he is wrong. Not to achieve formal agreement, but to be truly straightforward. For example, so that he voluntarily wrote another article with the title “Damn, I was wrong, I need to do something different in general.”
Samurai’s ministry is very similar to “The Message to Garcia” - a simplified and widely known concept. The "Message", of course, is dumb, compared with the "Hagakure", it has no depth and philosophy, but for immersion in the topic it’s completely alright.
Why does the Samurai Path work in a career?
Everything is infinitely simple, but at the same time complicated. Those who worked as a leader will best understand.
From the side it may seem that employees are subordinate to the head. Perform tasks, follow directions, follow deadlines and rules. But, in fact, the leader constantly has to fight resistance.
Tasks are performed, but, excuse me, through the ass. We have to control everything, check and double-check.
All constantly need to be motivated. No one works stably well . Trying today, tomorrow - sitting and blunting. We must come, talk, convince, scream, force, beg. And so - every day.
The rules invented by the leader are respected, but are constantly looking for loopholes to get out and somehow get around these rules. Therefore, the validity of the rules and changes cannot be verified.
All the time you have to consider risks, such as a sudden dismissal.
An Italian strike is often organized - they formally fulfill all the rules, solve the assigned tasks, but they will not lift a finger if they find out that the task is not true or the rule is working incorrectly. They will giggle and do things that harm the boss, the company, or themselves.
They do not want to share responsibility with the leader. They pay him more, let him worry. And a person will only perform tasks - and only those that are assigned to him.
In general, the life of a leader in such conditions is one continuous struggle. And with the tops, and with the bottoms, and with the sides.
I’ll make a reservation right away - I am not saying that people are wrong when they behave this way. This is just the reality that you have to work with. I just want to show the contrast.
And here comes our samurai. It does not require a formal setting of tasks. It is much easier and more correct to give him a goal or responsibility for the whole site.
For example, a samurai is a system administrator. They say to him: your responsibility is the servers. He silently walks into the noisy closet, where he stinks of dead rats, closes there and does not crawl out until the equipment meets his own requirements that exceed the requirements of the company. It will establish stability, stability, integrity, all power attributes, performance, etc. And most importantly, when it finishes, it will exit the server room and get busy ... There is always something to do. But he will not wait for the task "so, now deal with office equipment" - he will come out and take care of himself.
Such a samurai does not need to be motivated, in general. He motivates you, if necessary. The motivation inside him sits because he has accepted responsibility. He did not put a signature in the act of transfer and acceptance, but in his heart agreed with this responsibility.
Samurai will fulfill all your rules, because he understands their true meaning. Rules are not needed to spoil everyone’s mood. Their goal is improvement and change. The boss came up with the idea of holding a morning meeting while standing - it’s clear that it’s not just like that, but to test the hypothesis “will the effectiveness of the meeting increase if it is held standing?” Samurai honestly fulfill the requirement and help the boss in the experiment.
If the samurai sees that you, as the boss, are mistaken, he will find an opportunity to inform you about this. Or not to report, but to show. For example, the boss decides that the application server must move from one physical machine to another, and the samurai knows that it will be worse. An ordinary performer will simply do as they say, and then he will poke, like "look, you moron, I was right." The samurai will prepare — he will make it possible to show the error of the task and roll back as quickly as possible so that there are no losses — both data, time, and the boss’s reputation.
I will not list further, you already understood the meaning. In simple terms, a samurai relieves a headache . You can rely on him because he will do what needs to be done. He is the very “my right hand” that every leader dreams of.
Actually, that's why the Samurai Path works in a career. Samurai - support, outlet, continuation of the leader. Who will refuse such a thing?
The main danger of the Samurai Way
Refuses, even as. But under certain conditions.
The first option is if a real career steroid player comes along and stays samurai. In the examples that follow, there is one such story.
Unfortunately, Mr. is also a man. In ancient Japan, there were more samurai than steroids and graffiti, so no one, roughly speaking, sat in the ear of a daimyo with a rush, hedge or dogs. Everyone simply served and demanded nothing.
In our modern world, the balance is reversed. There are almost no samurai, but there are more than enough people who want to quickly make a career. And these people will bypass the samurai, especially if he at the beginning of the journey and the daimyo did not yet understand to the end what kind of diamond he got.
The second option is if the daimyo leaves. In this case, a career samurai, by analogy with the present, leaves behind - only not in oblivion, but in another company. A decent daimyo always carries samurai with him.
How to avoid the main danger?
Actually, a cure for it follows from the main danger. You just need to take into account the difference between ancient Japan and the modern world. Samurai must understand, cognize and use other career steroids.
The explanation for such a need fits well with the principle of service, so that it remains in place. The samurai must understand and accept that protecting the master from steroids is also his task. Because a career jumper does not care about the welfare of the leader, they are driven only by selfish interests.
Yes, to solve this problem you will have to master the intrigue, and gossip, and court manners. If in antiquity it was possible to simply slaughter an asshole, now it is necessary to display its true goals in clean water by more decent methods. That's all.
Actually, it is enough to understand the types of steroids and the methods that they use. And then - vigilantly watch others, especially beginners, who strive to arrange rush.
Examples
The first example is a classic samurai, only it was a woman.
She came to work in the company as a sales manager. The tasks - the real tasks of the company in the field of sales - it plunged completely and without regard. I was constantly in the fields, knew all the customers and their needs, was versed in products, and did everything that was needed. Then it was noticed by the owner, who became the master.
The rest of the sellers worked from the fence to dinner, and she worked as much as needed, and as needed. The owner began to communicate with her more often, and saw the unity of goals - she, like him, wanted to increase sales, expand the product line, scale her presence.
Of course, the owner very soon appointed her head of the sales department, and a little later - commercial director. In this position, she began to delve deeper and wider into the tasks of business.
She climbed into the field of production, procurement, marketing, automation, etc. Not for the purpose of leaving a mark there, but in order to do better, for the benefit of the company and the master. Parallel leaders from related areas, of course, hung themselves from her, weaved intrigues, sat down in the ear of the owner and tried to get rid of her. But it did not work out - her voice sounded much louder, and most importantly - in unison with the voice of the owner.
From a commercial director, she turned into almost a director. I don’t remember exactly what the position was called, but it was subordinate to production, supply, design, warehouse, most of the sales, etc. Almost everything that makes up the company's assets and basic business processes.
Finance, accounting, part of sales, automation were left aside. But not for long, because the female samurai saw the problems of these units and processes, and continued to “batter” them. About a year later, she became the real director managing the entire company.
All this time, she did only what the company and the owner needed. And that which he told to do, and that which he did not speak, and even that which he did not suspect. As director, she continued to act in the same way.
I expanded the business, improved it as I could. I was mistaken a lot, especially at first. She completed training - first, management courses, then an MBA, then an EMBA, and as a result, she began to know almost everything that exists in the world about management.
But then came the steroid. It turned out unsuccessfully - he came not to the company, but to the sphere of personal communications of the owner, i.e. was beyond her influence. A female samurai about a steroid for a long time simply did not know anything.
And when she found out, it was too late. The steroid worker was immediately taken to the post of CEO, and she was slightly pushed down. She, of course, was upset, but decided to continue her line - she served the master. Although, most people would probably leave.
Her samurai and this time worked. The steroid, not having the experience of real management, did not last long. But she stayed.
But the ending of the story is not very funny. Another steroid was sitting on the steroid, who came to the company as a consultant, but managed to quickly get hooked in the owner’s ear. The first was kicked out, the second was put in the position of CEO.
The second turned out to be more weighty and, most importantly, more cunning. He saw, saw a samurai in a woman, and realized the danger. Therefore, he made special efforts to get rid of her - and he succeeded. It all happened very sadly and unpleasantly, but now, this is life.
The worst thing is that the steroid itself soon flew out. And the owner was left with nothing but an “effective manager” or a devoted samurai servant. Business sharply went down, from the past greatness and plans there was no trace left.
And the samurai woman, as far as I know, has become a daimyo woman.
The second example is related to the first. A female samurai, when she was a director, found and took a male samurai into her submission.
First, this guy was taken by someone like the production manager, or even the site manager - I don’t remember exactly. The meaning of the position was to raise from the knees a separate production site, which was located in another city and lay on its side.
Samurai quickly converged. Our guy did not ask for tasks, permissions, help - he just drove every day to this city and raised production. He killed his car at the end, but did not worry about this.
He quickly raised production, and immediately got a new area of responsibility - supply. He also had to be raised. Yes, but production also remained with him.
About a year stuck in the supply. I can’t say that he directly built everything there efficiently - everything rested on him personally, but the effectiveness grew. And the guy went on.
So, gradually, all production, design development, service, etc. went under it. He became the chief engineer, with broad powers. Fully held the responsibility for the entire entrusted area, and served the lord.
When the first steroid came, this guy just continued to serve. The steroid did not like him, but for a short period of time at the top post he could not pick out our samurai.
And when the second steroid got rid of a samurai woman, our guy had to leave - he was left without a daimyo. Unfortunately, he could not follow the master - everything was just beginning there, and there was neither money, nor tasks for the samurai. Therefore, he simply left to work as a chief engineer at another plant.
The third example is very similar to the first, so I’ll tell you briefly.
Also a woman, she just entered the company on the other hand - not through sales, but through finances and accounting. Either I got a job as chief accountant, or as his deputy - I don’t remember exactly.
The director was an energetic and proactive person. He developed the business tough and very fast. He delved into all the details, processes, did not tolerate negligence and chewing snot. Few could withstand his approaches and pace, so the staff turnover was terrible.
But our female samurai was imbued with service and worked on the same principles. As a chief accountant, she built a strict submission and discipline of task execution. She began to quickly and successfully penetrate first into related fields - finance and economics, then - into distant ones, such as production, sales, supply and marketing.
The first promotion was the post of financial director. This position was very high - financiers, economists, the IT department and lawyers obeyed it. Just like the female samurai from the first example, she studied a lot - both in courses and the second or third higher in management.
But most importantly, she continued to serve the master. She supported and dragged all his projects and initiatives, lived happily at work, did everything that needed to be done.
Then the director went higher, to the level of the holding, and he appointed the samurai woman the director, instead of himself.
The fourth example is myself. Not for long, only eight months, but I, too, was a samurai.
The woman from the previous example, as I said, was subject to the IT department. There was a boss - a typical steroid. He was hired to implement 1C soft starter, and for several months he went out of business, put everything off, and eventually admitted that he didn’t understand a damn thing in 1C.
He did not serve a female samurai - he chose another gentleman, a director. But that didn’t really care about the IT department, so the guy was safely fired.
At the first interview, she and I did not work out. The head of the IT department led both programmers and system administrators. The previous guy spoiled the director very much - he personally ran his computer and smartphone to set up, was friends with secretaries in order to quickly learn about the problems of Mr.
The female samurai tried to hang his projection on me. Implement, says, we have 1C soft starter, but do not forget to run to the director and help. I honestly told her - sorry, of course, but I'm not interested. I, I say, can quickly and easily introduce 1C soft starter to you, I have no equal in this (I just said that I was young, stupid). So, I say, I'm sorry, look for someone else, I'm not an errand boy for you.
She did not argue, and we said goodbye. A few weeks later they called me back and called me again. He says - ok, you won’t run anywhere, we will appoint one admin as the senior, he will be responsible for the work of the director’s equipment. And you introduce 1C UPP, since you are called a cargo.
Well, I took it, with all my heart. It was October in the yard, it was necessary to switch from 1C 7.7 to 1C SCP from January, moreover, at once, without parallel accounting and along all contours. And there are only two of us - I and the local programmer, who knew 7.7 well, but still hadn’t worked much with 8.
Actually, it was the ambitiousness of the task that made me a forced samurai. I was deeply imbued with the problems of the lady, and sincerely wanted to help her. The company is tough, and in the event of a transition failure, it would be affected, first of all, by it, and not by me.
Well, then, as in a fairy tale. Until December, I went about it - I bought a box and licenses, deployed it, tested the transfer of balances and directories, modified something. He was not a real samurai yet.
In January, it simply turned on the turbo mode, and within a month my assistant and I completely transferred the company to 1C UPP. A couple of goodies, not very urgent, were left for February - they also had to tinker with it, but everything seemed to work out. Including the delivery of accounting, tax and industry-specific reporting, payroll for 6 thousand people, closing the month and other goodies full implementation.
The female samurai was naturally very pleased. Well, I, too, didn’t let Madame down. Straight proud of himself.
According to all the canons, I had to move further and higher. Madam helped me as best she could. True, there was nowhere to move especially within the company, so at first they simply increased the staff and expanded the range of tasks. She tried to push me higher in the holding.
But, as I already said in one of the previous parts, I was let down by the disregard for the director. The senior administrator could not cope with his whims, and discontent poured out on me - the director took the CIO from outside. I freaked out and quit. But in vain, by the way - he was also a steroid, and did not last long. Although, why in vain ... Nothing happens in vain.
Summary
The way of the samurai is to serve the master.
Mr. is a person, a company, an idea, and a project.
Service is not stupid submission, but acceptance of the tasks of the master as his own.
Samurai careerists are rare and therefore highly valued.
The main danger for the samurai is steroids.
In order not to fall prey to steroids, one must understand their methods.