Challenges are circumstances that need to be addressed. Work-life balance is an oxymoron, embrace life as a whole. Head of Learning & Development at Emerson, India, the Middle-East & Africa, Binesh Menon has over 21 years of experience. Work should energise, not stress you out, says renowned trainer, facilitator and ‘influencer’ Binesh Menon and speaks to Corporate Citizen, about his field of expertise and experience
I started my career as a 17-year-old, when after my Class XII exams I worked for a marketing campaign. From then on, there was no turning back as I took up a series of marketing assignments and even full-time jobs during my graduation years. The jobs that I held those days gave me a lot of exposure across industries and product segments. Most importantly, it enabled me to garner invaluable experiences which have had a significant impact on me. After my PGDBM from IIMM (now BIMM) in 2002, I again drifted through a few jobs in customer service and sales, prior to finding my calling in the fulfilling world of talent management and people development.
Out of my total 21 years of work experience, I have been fortunate to have spent the past 15 years in the field of Learning & Development in reputed organisations like the Tata Group, John Deere and now for the past seven years with Emerson. In my current role at Emerson, I head the Learning & Organisation Development function across India, the Middle-East and Africa. Essentially, what that means is, I get to outsource 10,000 of our employees across over 50 countries to not just become what they do today, but also equip them with skills, knowledge and experiences for their future career growth. I am also a certified facilitator for various leadership courses. I like to believe that when I deliver these workshops, they have an impact not just on the business aspect of what these leaders do, but also have a significant influence on their personal lives as well.
In my role, I need to work closely with business heads and senior leaders to drive development initiatives across their organisations. Sometimes the senior-most leaders in these organisations don’t necessarily share our enthusiasm for developing their people. I have learnt that it is best to first work on establishing one’s own credibility with them before convincing them on backing our initiatives. This is easier said than done. However, one of the most effective methods I have found is to help them achieve their business goals through coaching conversations and targeted interventions. I don’t see these as ‘challenges’, I prefer to see them as ‘circumstances’. Sometimes the circumstances are favourable for one to achieve their goals and at other times they may be unfavourable—like tailwinds and headwinds in aviation.
Work-life balance is an oxymoron. Trying to maintain a balance between work and life is one of the foremost causes of stress today. Because in today’s world of constant connectivity, it is next to impossible to cut off from one’s work at any point. Similarly, if you have a crisis or a concern in your personal life, it would be a huge challenge to not think about it between nine-to-five and only focus on it once you step out from your workplace. Hence, instead of constantly trying to balance these two aspects of one’s life like a juggler in a circus, our focus needs to be in creating a life that is wholesome in every way. Instead of striving for a balance between the two, I embrace both. That’s why it is important that you love what you do for a living. There are 24 hours in a day and all of those 24 hours are my “life”. It would be absurd to think that I will “work” from 9 – 5 and live my “life” after I am done with my work. When I wake up in the morning, I prioritise what all needs to be done during the course of the day, irrespective of whether that task belongs to my personal life or my work life. I do it with the same enthusiasm and zest, because life cannot be lived in compartments.
"With this connected world of Instagram, Facebook, etc., peer pressure has moved to a completely different level. This constant need for external validation is turning people into insecure beings hidden behind the projection of a concocted exterior. They are often too stressed out with their own expectations of themselves"
I am a proud army brat; my father is a retired Colonel from the Indian Army. My mother is a very strong woman; throughout my growing up years I have seen her handle a lot by herself. My father, being an Infantry officer, was away on long tenures in very hostile environments including the IPKF in Sri Lanka. My parents are now settled in our ancestral home in Kerala. My elder brother is settled with his family in Mumbai. My wife, Anjuna and I live with our sevenyear- old son in Pune. We have been together for 18 years now and married for the past 13 years. She is the academician in the family with three postgraduate degrees to her credit and is currently working towards her doctorate. She teaches film and television production for Liberal Arts students and runs her own company that specialises in conducting workshops on film-making.
Believe it or not, I am happiest when I am in front of an audience and training people. Hence, my “work” energises me rather than stressing me out. I do travel for work about 15-20 days in a month, which can be tiring at times, especially while taking red-eye flights and moving across time zones. To mitigate this, I do make it a point to hit the gym or pool at hotels when I travel. I love reading books, mostly about psychology, philosophy, management and leadership. I avoid reading fiction. I watch shows on Netflix for my dose of fiction. When I am at home, my favourite de-stressing activity is spending time with my son. We do fun things like baking cakes, playing video games, painting or just going down to the playground together. On a philosophical note, I have found that Stephen Covey’s concepts of ‘Circle of Concern’ and ‘Circle of Influence’ are very relevant when it comes to managing stress. I avoid being concerned with issues that are beyond my influence and continuously work on increasing my influence on every aspect of my life that I am concerned about.
I have always been a seeker. Ever since I remember, I would explore different places, observe people and behaviour. I didn’t know what I was looking for but I was constantly searching. As I entered teenage, I experimented with and explored numerous paths. There was a phase in my life (late teens) when I was deeply religious, I remember saving money from my part-time jobs and setting out on numerous pilgrimages by myself. I visited many holy places across the length and breadth of India. I also read a lot of books on different philosophies, alternative healing and spirituality during that period. I also meandered through a lot of jobs and entrepreneurial ventures in search of something that would resonate with who I am. In five years (1995 – 2000), I had worked at 23 different jobs even before I went in to do my MBA.
After my MBA in Marketing, I again switched a couple of jobs in sales before I found my true calling. The turning point in my life, both personally and professionally, ought to be the first time I stood in front of an audience as a facilitator. That day I knew that that was what I enjoyed doing the most. This was almost 15 years ago, and from that point onwards I have trained audiences of all sizes, age groups, levels of experience and seniority across India, in the Middle-East, Singapore, Australia and even places as far off as South Africa. The one thing that has never changed is the level of satisfaction and happiness from making a difference in somebody’s life through my workshops and one-on-one sessions.
Despite all the initiatives and growing clamour about equality and women’s rights, even today women make for only a minuscule percentage of the corporate world. This is really disheartening. There are a number of reasons for this. It’s like a funnelling effect of sorts. The gender ratio keeps on dipping throughout their education from kindergarten till their post-graduation. At every progression point they keep dropping out from the mainstream. Unfortunately, the trend doesn’t stop with education; even in the corporate world, if you look at the ratios from the start of an employee’s career all the way to the top of the organisation at the CEO level, you see the same pattern. At various transition points in a woman’s life, she is faced with this difficult choice between pursuing her career and fulfilling her perceived social obligations.
"The turning point in my life, both personally and professionally, ought to be the first time I stood in front of an audience as a facilitator. That day I knew that that was what I enjoyed doing the most. This was almost 15 years ago, and from that point onwards, I have trained audiences of all sizes, age groups, levels of experience and seniority"
Absolutely. I am aware of several initiatives that organisations like ours have implemented in this regard. There are programmes that are put in place at the talent acquisition stage itself to ensure women candidates are given equal opportunities as their male counterparts and the most suitable person for the role is selected, irrespective of their gender. Many policies are especially designed keeping in mind the needs of women employees, e.g. flexible hours, work from home options, crèche facilities, etc. But these are not enough; the larger part of the challenge is in creating a conducive work environment where every employee feels valued and respected. The focus needs to be on creating awareness around the unconscious biases that may have crept into the psyche of each one of us around gender equality and women in the workplace. Don’t get me wrong, these biases aren’t only in the minds of men in the workplace; research tells us that women have similar unconscious biases around the skills and abilities of other women employees. Hence, awareness and acceptance are the first steps in eradicating the corporate world of this inequality.
I have been fortunate enough to receive a lot of recognition for my work, not just from within the organisations that I have worked for but also from the fraternity and industry at large. Despite all these awards and recognitions, what I truly cherish as highlights of my career are a few heart-touching moments. These are oftentimes small gestures like a thank-you note or message from someone years after I would’ve worked with them. It’s so gratifying to realise that the brief conversation or even a message I would’ve delivered to a larger group sometimes ends up helping an individual through what might’ve been a critical phase of their lives. “Changing lives” is the mantra I live by, and I am thankful to God that I get to do that on a regular basis through my work and other social initiatives.
In a recent convention at a city institute, Binesh Menon shared his views with students on a range of topics such as the demographics of the corporate world, diversities, some dos and don’ts, statistical characteristics of human populations (such as age or income) used especially to identify markets, besides others, culled from his years of work in the field
The demographics of the corporate world have been taking different shapes down the years. This is one of the main reasons why organisations have had to adapt their practices in order to respond to the increasing diversity within labour markets. Diversity alters pools of potential employees, the needs of employees, as well as influencing broader business objectives like service provision. In addition, the constantly changing demographic profile of the broader population means that organisations need to develop strategies that will meet the needs and desires of the country’s citizens. Citing the profound implications for organisations and managers in the coming decades, he said that the need to have better understanding and awareness of different cultures including their practices and religious beliefs makes it imperative to implement flexibility in work whilst ensuring that the quality of work is not eroded. He emphasised the need for the creation of non-discriminatory environments within organisations and better integration of work and life, so that workplaces are more family-friendly.
There have been many changes at the workplace and with changed diversities one has to cope with these changes. Diversity encompasses race, gender, ethnic group, age, personality, cognitive style, tenure, organisational function, education, background and more.
According to experts, power distance index measures the extent to which the less powerful members of organisations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. This represents inequality (more versus less), but defined from below, not from above. It suggests that a society’s level of inequality is endorsed by the followers as much as by the leaders.
The most important aspect of corporate culture would be navigating different geographical cultures, selecting jobs based on culture, changing cultures, and offering feedback across cultures, especially in a multi-national firm. Building a great culture in your workplace is a worthwhile endeavour. Sometimes, the hardest part of building the culture is keeping tabs on how well you are doing. A general view of this would be the notion that “we’re all in this together” for a better office culture. Great managerial cultures eschew the divide between ‘us’ and `them’, replaced by ‘we’. But it is easier said than done, as this is an extremely challenging task.
"Seeing is believing, but believing is also seeing. You believe in something and you will see that more than anything else. It is a valuable tool for understanding ourselves better and others as well. Preference is different from skill. One can develop a skill, but preference will remain the same, since it is internal"
Seeing is believing, but believing is also seeing. You believe in something and you will see that more than anything else. It is a valuable tool for understanding ourselves better and others as well. Preference is different from skill. One can develop a skill, but preference will remain the same, since preference is internal. Citing an example, Menon asked the students to write something with their preferred hand (right hand for the majority of the population) and later asked them to do the same with their other hand (left hand for most people) which many felt was difficult. He asked them what would happen if they continued to do so for long with the hand they did not prefer. It could be that they would also be able to write just as well with the other hand as well. However, even if they are just as skilled in writing with the “other hand” their innate preference would never change. Which means you may not be able to alter your preference, but if one wants to learn a new behaviour or a new skill, they can.
With this experiment, he reiterated that irrespective of one’s “preference”, any skill can be inculcated, adapted and “learnt”. This holds true also for our ability to deal with the behaviour of people, who, we believe, are different from us. When we use our non-preferred hand for writing we could be clumsy, slow and the process may be very frustrating to begin with. But if we persevere we can master any behaviour and be adept at it, no matter how different it is with our innate preference. Preferences are in-born but skills are learnt.
"What I truly cherish as highlights of my career are a few heart-touching moments. These are oftentimes small gestures like a thank-you note or message from someone years after I would’ve worked with them. It’s so gratifying to realise that the brief conversation or even a message I would’ve delivered to a larger group sometimes ends up helping an individual through what might’ve been a critical phase of their lives"
I totally love the youngsters of today. They are very confident, well-informed and clear about their goals and ambitions. Most of them have such detailed plans in terms of how they would like to steer their careers and life. We saw this trend with the millennials but now with the current generation of centennials (or iGen) these strengths are even more pronounced. These youngsters have been fortunate to come into a world where there is no dearth of either information or entertainment and the access to knowledge is free and unlimited. On the flip side, they have also had to face the pressures that come with this information overload. People of my generation and the ones prior to us never had to deal with the stresses of social media while they were growing up. Peer pressure was limited to your immediate circle of friends, now with this connected world of Instagram, Facebook, etc., peer pressure has moved to a completely different level. This constant need for external validation is turning people into insecure beings hidden behind the projection of a concocted exterior. Based on my interactions and observations of this generation, I think they are often too stressed out with their own expectations of themselves. I would love to see them take joy in the present moment rather than trying to capture it (not to mention the edits and filters) for social media. Your life is only as rich as the variety of your experiences!
Spend time understanding and developing yourself. Never stop working on yourself. The more you see the more there is to marvel about. Keep an open mind. Spend your time learning, experiencing, interacting, reflecting! Bruce Lee once said—If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of. This, to me, is the best advice for anybody irrespective of whether they are young or not. You must make a conscious choice at every moment of your life for the best utilisation of your time. If the answer is negative, then it is time to make a change!
Dream big! Go forward! Believe in yourself and be nice!
By Joe Williams
