Losing the Fear of Responsibility: A Leadership Lesson from Dad

“I’m afraid of taking responsibility”. What followed was a leadership lesson from Dad.

To give you some context, I’m a Software Engineer in the industry for the last 3 years, which pretty much means I am still a newbie. I can write code in a lot of languages, both for frontend & backend, and I’ve been fortunate to work with talented people in my 3 jobs that I’ve had to date.

I love taking up new responsibilities which are beyond my limits, knowing I can do so much more for the company I work for, but this love comes with an even larger amount of fear of taking up too much, and ultimately failure. I’m sure a lot of us feel this way.

One day, after a rough week at work, I asked my dad, a Marketing wizard who has been in the electronics industry for over 37 years now, a question that I feel he was almost waiting for me to ask.

“Dad, I’m afraid of taking new responsibilities at work. I will be required to communicate with & manage different kinds of people. How do you do it every day?”

At 59, he has worked with people all his career, as opposed to me working with computers. You might think writing software is difficult, but listening to his work stories over coffee or a pint of beer has made agree otherwise.

Speaking to computers is easy, they do what they’re told. If you tell them to do a task precisely, computers will get the job done. People? Uh-uh. People come with an additional add-on known as emotions and this package of feelings means there’s no one-size-fits-all technique. Every person is different, so is the way to get work done from them.

Dad, in his usual storytelling ways, asked me to sit down and listen. Before I begin, another remarkable fact about my dad: His first job in the electronics company, he worked there for 22 years! Over TWO DECADES!

I’ll let dad take over the rest of the story:

My first job in the industry

I started as an Operations Executive, 37 years ago in a company that manufactured Electronics Components. Our company was doing well, thanks to the owner being technically strong. To grow his business further, the management decided to invest in purchasing new & advanced machines so that we could keep up with the customer’s demands and quality expectations. Accordingly, the company took out a loan to upskill the workforce & buy the new machines.

People will always resist change

As news of this expansion spread, the workforce started fearing a change in their daily routines due to advanced machinery and new processes being implemented. The shift from manual to automated always brings in fear and anxiety, but it is something that has to be done. It is still happening today, computers are replacing people in many industries!

This fear in the workforce led to protests against the expansion & the management. The manufacturing had almost ceased to a halt, which was causing a lot of problems for the company. The company was losing money over the loan interest, but the most valuable loss for the company was the delay in fulfilling orders, which meant losing the trust of our customers.

We were faced with a large array of problems: Raw-material suppliers were refusing to supply due to non-payment, electrical bills & payroll were leaking the company’s cash balance, and the staff lost faith in the company.

My dad believes each employee of a company is valuable & should be kept happy. Be it maintenance workers or shop floor workers, if they do not trust the company, it’s as good as a sinking ship.

He also believed that while this was a problem for everyone else, it was an opportunity for him.

I walked into the owner’s cabin one day and asked for a few minutes of the management’s time. I was inexperienced, sure, but that wasn’t going to stop me from trying to solve a problem. The worst that could happen was the management would deny my proposal.

I spoke for about 25 minutes, sharing my view from the ground up, and explaining how I would handle this situation. Of course, I was sweating like I’d been taking a walk on the sun, and I was afraid. Afraid of failure.

This move was bold, I could have waited around watching the mayhem, or I could do something about it. So I did.

The management seemed happy and sent out a memo to the workforce managers that there has been a change in leadership. The entire workforce would be reporting to me, and I would be reporting to the management.

Under the grueling pressure of my new responsibilities, I spoke to the workforce, reminded them that I understand their problems, and asked them to put their trust in me. I spoke to our (very angry) customers, assuring them of restoring the company’s potential and arranged enough cash flow to pay the staff.

Where’s the money!?

Just as I was feeling good about making some progress, I got a disturbing phone call. It was the accounts department.

Sir, we’ve spent all our money! We cannot process salaries.

WHAT? How was this possible? On further discussion, I realized I had missed one important factor of accounts. Post Dated Checks (PDC). These are checks that have a future date on them so they can be encashed later. The management had given out PDCs to vendors and as soon as word reached them, they encashed their money, bringing me back to square one.

My first order across the Accounts Department: Cancel All PDCs.

I apologized to the workforce, asked for their support & trust for the next 3 months. I then called our vendors and asked for their support in these tough times. Luckily, I got the support I needed and we marched on.

Finding the right segment

Back in the day, mass production was at an all-time high. Everybody wanted to get in on producing for the masses. I came across inquiries that required less quantity of components for very specific purposes. They needed quick delivery and were ready to pay more for it.

I decided to create a new business plan. I presented the same to the bosses, the management, and almost expected them to bin it.

However, they too saw the potential. Less quantity, custom manufacturing & quicker deliveries. There were already some companies which supported this model without quick deliveries. I decided to win clients solely on the promise of quicker deliveries. By this time, I had done well & was well on the path to restore the company to its former glory. This meant I had support from the workforce & the management.

I made it a point that for any such custom requirement, I would visit the client and have a face to face discussion to understand their expectations and requirements.

If you want to build strong professional relations with your client, this goes a long way. It shows how serious and important their requirement is to you.

After meeting a few potential clients, I rounded up our team and laid out the strategy. The bunch was enthusiastic about the challenge and decided to tackle it head-on. Soon, we started shipping custom orders in record time. I realized one important thing about how these things work.

Focus on keeping one customer happy. That one customer will turn in larger numbers, but make sure you provide the best and honest experience to your customer. Nothing else matters.

Within a few months of switching to a new customer base, our company was back in it’s prime. Of course, it wasn’t all sunshine but a great experience nonetheless. This might sound like a success story, but it eliminates a lot of failures that came my way. That’s life, sh*t happens.

Every time you fail, you get back up and fight. That is a win. The day you decided to fall and not get back up, you lose the game.

Right, that was my dad’s story in his own words.

The takeaway being, don’t be afraid to lose, be afraid of lost opportunities.

You’re going to fail, and that’s okay.

Ever since the day I heard this story, I’ve always been upfront about what I’d like to achieve, and it’s working out pretty well so far. I know a lot of us to feel scared & lost, so I thought I’d share this wonderful piece of leadership advice.

Being a leader takes courage, courage to get back up and keep going!

Thanks for reading! Hope this helps someone out there!