The one where I should have let my talk do the working

Satisfying one’s boss at work is not an easy task. But it is a necessary (if not sufficient) criterion for growth. As one becomes upwardly mobile, this task transcends all perceived boundaries of “traditional work” and becomes an art in itself. When one is with one’s boss, one should say and do the right things at the right time. Whatever that means! If this sounds like global gyaan, please forgive me. If I knew better, I would not be writing about it.

The point is, unfortunately, I belong to a class of workers (whom I prefer calling Soldiers) who swear by “Let my work do the talking”. Most of you would easily relate to this class. But I had quiet the privilege of closely observing a second class of workers, let’s call them artists just for yucks. The more I observed them, the more it became clear to me that being an artist is not for the uninformed or the faint hearted. However ironical it might sound, the weaklings always end up as soldiers in corporate circus. Here, it is the artists that run the show. It is not amazing that you will find more artists than soldiers as you climb up the ladder. I realized this long time back, when I was working for a well known IT Company in India (lets call it BABA Consultants).

Just as everything in this world is not in black and white, a few of whom I came across could not relate to artists or soldiers. They are the shades of grey in between. They could be dangerous at times. But I will explain this in another post.

What I have also observed is that many times it is your boss and his environment that decides which class you should belong to, even if you don’t like it. If your boss is a smart soldier, can you imagine being an artist? If your boss is a clever artist, will he allow you to be another one? I don’t know the answers for these. But you could try it and let me know.

A few years ago, when I was in the US, working for a client of BABA Consultants, I had the privilege of working under a mallu boss (let us call him RG). One fine day he called my extension and invited me for an appraisal discussion. He seemed to be in a cheerful mood. As usual I had worked my butts off for the previous year and came to the appraisal discussion straight from a glowing review from my client manager. My boss seemed quite happy with my performance. I was just 2 years into the company and I was already the onsite tech lead for a set of very complex customer facing applications. I was the only one in my group who had “REAL” experience in the technology (someday I will write about “naareal” experience if time and readers permit). I had fixed quite a few serious issues in the project. The soldier in me was elated, dreaming of the 2000 INR pm hike (there were no hikes at onsite) and a sure shot early promotion knocking at my doors.

My discussion went quiet well. My boss gave me a 5 rating on a scale of 1-5 where 5 is the best. Or let us call it “Exceeded All Expectations”. But he informed me that my promotion is in the hands of my super boss (the boss of my boss). I felt a huge lump in my throat. I have never factored in the super boss in my calculations. As a 2 year old fledgling in BABA Consultants, I was still naïve with these things. MY super boss never worked with me. He never sought my customer’s feedback about me. All he knew about me was what my boss preferred to pass on to him. Shit!!!. But I went back with the satisfaction that my rating and my boss’s good word would help push my case.

Two weeks later, I received a two sentence email from boss calling me for a second appraisal discussion. I went there quite confident that my promotion would be finalized. He received me with a stoic expression and informed me that due to "sudden and unexpected circumstances" my rating has been cut to 3 (Exceeded some expectations) from 5. I was shell shocked. I asked him for an explanation. He said a lot but the essence of his gyaan was that my super boss had a larger team and that there is some obscure curve called the normalization curve in which my super boss’s team including me had to be fit in and I did not fit in that well.
Just two weeks back I was exceeding all expectations but in the “changed scheme of things” I would not even be counted as exceeding some expectations. He told me that with great difficulty he convinced the super boss to give me a 3.

Now this was news to me, not just my promotion, but even my rating was to be decided by some entity who does not bother to know anything about me. I had a big fight with my boss on this. Little did I realize that worse was yet to come. Two more weeks later I recieved an auto triggered email which read something to the effect “Dear Associate, Your Final Rating for the year 2001-2002 has been decided. In recognition of your performance and hard work for this year, you have been awarded a rating of 2 (Meet all Expectations) for this year. Please click on the link below and close your appraisal discussion”. I also came to know through unofficial sources that my Boss was awarded a 4 (Exceeds most expectations). I did not get how my boss could exceed most expectations while his team members are as inadequate as me. I moved out of the project next month to get my sanity back.

Now coming to the real point, the boss is usually identified with a father figure in vedic astrology. Hence the 9th house in your horoscope tells us what type of boss you will have. Planets like Rahu and Ketu there could give you some difficulties with the boss, a strange boss, an eccentric one, one who may not like you always. They could also give you a very benign boss in foreign lands. Benefics like Jupiter and Venus when in friendly / Own / Exaltation / Mooltrikon signs in the 9th house would bless one with an ideal boss. Malefics here are not conducive for a good relationship with boss specially if not in Own or exaltation signs. Also the aspect of a benefic like Venus or Jupiter on the 9th house gives a harmonious relationship with boss. Malefic aspects will spoil this. Whenever the periods ( vimshottari maha dasha/Antar dasha/Pratyantar dasha) of the planets in or aspecting or lording the 9th house pass by, they will impact all of life’s fundamental areas influenced by the 9th house.

We have already identified the Exaltation/Mooltrikon/Own & debilitation signs in my previous post. To identify which signs are friendly for which planet, you could follow this:
Jupiter – Signs lorded by Mars, Sun, Moon are friendly.
Venus – Signs lorded by Saturn, Mercury are friendly.
Saturn – Signs lorded by Mercury and Venus are friendly.
Mars – Signs lorded by Sun, Moon and Jupiter are friendly.
Mercury – Signs lorded by Venus and Saturn are friendly.
Sun – Signs lorded by Mars and Jupiter are friendly.
Moon - Signs lorded by Sun, Jupiter, Mars are friendly.
Rahu – Signs lorded by Venus and Mercury are friendly
Ketu – Signs lorded by Jupiter and Mercury are friendly.

Happy Reading!