Indirect profits

Earlier this month, an article in the Economic Times talked about direct and indirect approach to problem solving. The author mentions a book by John Kay, “Obliquity: How our goals are best pursued indirectly.” The book, he says, is about tangential achievement of goals and indirect solving of problems. There is data to support the premise that “the most profitable companies do not sport direct profit-orientation. They simply do the right things and end up being nicely profitable”.

The article goes on to talk about other things but the key message for me was the validation of my personal opinion that if we do the right things (without major blundering along the way), do good work and have clarity in the values (of the person or organization), the work should pay well.

When I left my comfortable job, I knew myself, I knew the market reasonably well and thought that I could fill a need with my unique blend of experience. I did not have an earnings target for myself. I worked on projects that came my way, met people, deliberated on ideas either alone or with friends. Most importantly, I acted. I took up work, did it sincerely and enjoyed what I did. At the end of the first year, I found that I had earned a decent living.

Now in my third year of working independently, I am able to fine tune my vision for future growth. Perhaps I am naïve and lack an MBA, but I am sure I can grow a profitable company if I continue to focus to identifying needs and working towards providing high quality services. My company may not become a giant corporation but certainly will do well, towards its employees, towards its customers and fill a niche. It will have good reputation in the market, it will make a difference. What we will earn will be fair compensation for the value we bring but more importantly, we will earn goodwill.

That will be the bottomline.

Wish me luck.