Loyalty in Workplace

Everyone has different motivations at work. You have to define what yours is, and where your loyalties are - and depending on the position, that decision may come sooner rather than later. If you are an analyst (Business Analyst, Project Lead, Project Manager, Systems Analyst, Developer, DBA etc. fall in this category), it is easier to lay low and out of the lime lite. There may be some jockeying, some power plays, but mostly you are protected by the fact that your management is doing enough of that. You may be a casualty of war, but not necessarily the general or even a soldier. This quickly disappears as you start rising through the ranks and enter the middle-tier management, or the senior management roles. Even if you are on the outskirts of a conflict, being in those positions will force you to eventually get roped in - and that's because your word matters. When you say something, people act or react. The power you hold allows you no flexibility but to force-choose a side.

So when you are surrounded by this type of environment, where should your loyalties be? Who should you be "in bed with"? Is it the camp that is portraying itself to be the next successor? Is it the camp that is projecting they have the ultimate upper hand? Is it the camp that seems to have alignment with their superiors? Is it the camp... you get the idea. There are so many damn camps sometimes, that its even hard to choose.

Ultimately, your loyalty should be to your work and to your work ethic. There is no person, no leader, no department and no single entity or being that represents your "work" wholly and solely. Your "work", be it operational, be it BD, or Sales or any other area within the organization is represented by executing on the vision of the company you are with. The vision is abstract, and hence has an entity of its own. The vision can change, and so should your strategy and approach to execute on the newly defined vision. This defines your work ethic.

Sikhs in United States Military - Reaction

Fox News reacted. They don't like anyone messing with their good ol' USA. They got experts, and political strategists, they even have black people now, you know, to show they are diverse. They all got together behind the message of "shouldn't change the military dress code to accept Sikhs", "if they want to serve , follow our code", all the while showing pictures of Taliban and other Muslim terrorists in the background. Wow Fox - Jon Stewart is right - you are the true spin masters, sitting on the bullshit mountain.

If you look back in American history, when "American" meant 'being white', and black people had to struggle to get their rights, struggle to share the same seat on the bus, struggle to enter the military, I am sure there was some other 'fox news' equivalent out there, opposing, digging in their heels, and rallying bigots behind them.

Let's look at their arguments:

1. Beard and mustache hinder usage of gas masks and other equipment.

Really? So Sikhs have been in the military for hundreds of years, without using proper equipment eh? And if it is the case that somehow our military's design was so narrow minded so as not to consider a mustache, wouldn't that be a design flaw?

2. It impacts morale and cohesion.

Oh right - wearing a turban is where we break cohesion 'cause obviously teamwork is defined by shaved faces. All these experts should really take some therapy from team building experts (aka the Military). A unit lives together, goes to battle together, protects each other and lay their lives for each other. That's how cohesion is built. A black person or a Sikh for that matter, is not why cohesion or discipline is broken.

And if you look at the history of Sikhs (you know, use google maybe?), you will see Sikhs have been a military class from the very beginning. Heck, our forefathers were born in the field. No kidding. And there was a Sikh who was part of the U.S. Military during WWI. No no, that's not a mistake - that does say world war 1. His name was Bhagat Singh Thind (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagat_Singh_Thind). 

In allied forces, thousands of other Sikhs laid their lives and World War II saw even more participation. Here's a link where you can read all about it (http://www.sikhroots.com/sikh-literature/history/3014-sikhs-in-world-war-ii).

Oh and I forgot their last argument - 

3. But we are a bunch of bigoted naysayers unless ofcourse it is a republican move.

Right.

So, feel lucky U.S. army that you are getting warriors who have 'fighting for the righteous' in their blood. Here's a few more stories of Sikh bad-assery -

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/21sikhs.html

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/maibhago.html

Rejoice.

2014: Resolution

It's isn't about doing big things - 'cause only if making resolutions made us do big things, most inventions would have happened in January / February timeframe. It isn't about working out, or eating less or praying more  - 'cause those are lifestyle changes, and if you couldn't do them in November, you certainly aren't going to have a Divine intervention in January (it was less than 2 months ago - really). So, thinking about resolutions, I couldn't come up with something I could truly commit to and strive for. So here's mine: my resolution for 2014, is to get to 2015. That's it. It's that simple. 

If I get through 2014, keep my shit together, spend some acceptable time (acceptable to me, that is) with my family and kids, (oh and see my brother get married), I have delivered 100% on what I set out to do. 

So there it is folks - just commit to get to the next year in this crazy world without losing your shit.

Happy New Year!