Page 7 - my SUCCESS! my CHOICE

Deepak Gupta my SUCCESS! my CHOICE
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PROLOUGE

Thousands of people work in this great multinational corporation called The Global Company,

Inc. Tom Adams is one of them. Tom is a brilliant individual – highly intelligent, hardworking, and

full of energy. There is almost nothing that Tom cannot accomplish. His results are always one of the

best. The Global Company recognized his talent by moving him up to the Section Manager level in

record 5 years, which typically takes 10 years for most others. But things have slowed since; he has

been Section Manager for the past 4 years with no signs of next upward move.

Tom works in the Mastery function of The Global Company. His function is responsible for end-

to-end systems of The Global Company. Unlike the commercial functions, where greenhorns soar

and are either allowed to fly higher or shot down rapidly, the Mastery function values experience and

technical mastery, and allows managers to continue their careers at any hierarchal level.

Tom, with all his experience and brilliance, is a valued employee, as his manager Dan Webber

always tells him. But Dan is unable to explain to Tom why he cannot be promoted. There is always a

‘but..’ with somewhat different spin; Tom is never able to pinpoint the real reason.

Dan is in a similar situation himself. He has been a ‘highly valued’ Associate Director for the past

6 years. And whenever he has asked Joe Bird, his Director, he too gets a similar reply. The key

difference is that Dan has already reconciled to the fact that he will never grow beyond Associate

Director in The Global Company. Tom, on the other hand, is still too young and has moved up too

fast to accept this sudden stagnation.