In the late 70/s and early 80’s, the vast majority of immigrants to the USA from India were mostly divided into two categories. The highly educated and those who never saw sunrise at a college, much less a high school. Unlike today, where the Indian diaspora is comprised of all sorts of people, the mid 80’s was mostly segregated into two broad categories, the very affluent or the working class. I belonged to neither when I arrived on the shores of this great country in January, 1986 with suitcase full of dreams and a jar full of my mothers tears. I belonged in a category that didn't exist or perhaps I choose to think that it didn’t. I finished high school on a wing and a prayer and in college those wings had been clipped and god was ignoring my prayers as it had figured out that I was just a disingenuous jerk.
My goal was to achieve success at any cost without putting the necessary effort to achieve it. The lure of the short cut was omni present. The pressure to prove myself to my parents and the desire to show myself that I was capable were paramount and enveloped me like the thick fog of San Fernando Valley where I spent my first 7 years in the USA. With no life jackets and little guidance, I dove into the deep end of the pool without knowing the perils that lay ahead of me.
After myriads of gigs and plenty of sputtering, I found my path in technology. I signed up for a programming course in Cobol, Assembly and Basic. I have never been a good student. I may not have been clinically diagnosed with ADHD but keeping my attention on anything for more than 20 minutes has proven extremely hard to this day. Many ADHD patients tell me that I am lucky that I can hold my attention for that long which much to my dismay took away a convenient crutch. It’s odd but when life takes away one thing, it give you something else to compensate. My compensation has been persistence. I don't give up that easy. Quitting is not in my DNA and that has held to me to good stead to this day.
After meandering for years in technology, I found myself looking for more. No, this story is not going to lead you down a hackneyed “true calling” drama. That may happen to some and every time I hear about it, I feel jealous pangs. For those who were successful executives but found their “true calling” by running a taco truck, I am envious of you and at the same time extremely thrilled that you found it. Others, like me, tend to slog through and are either risk averse or are more worried about taking care of their families and tend to stay closer to their comfort zone. I don't think there is anything wrong with either approach.
After having spent about 15 years at various programming roles, I found myself looking for a job at Cisco Systems. Don't ask my why, but every once in a while when I drove down Tasman in the late 90’s, Cisco was teeming with energy and I used to dream about working there. Share prices were going up like a rocket to the moon and fortunes were being made under my nose every day. There was a party going on and I was outside, wistfully looking in, wishing that I was invited. A few years later, as luck would have it, a dear friend who was in a very influential position at Cisco referred me and I found myself standing in the lobby of building 12 on none other than Tasman street waiting for the hiring manager to come get me for a lunch interview.
What transpired after that, changed my life in ways that will be hard to describe but I will try. The door from the office building to the lobby opened and I saw a gentleman with long blond/white hair and a beard walking towards me. With an aura of a sage and face that personified composure that only belongs to people who are evolved, Henry D White approached me and asked me if I was Kartik? Indeed, I said and shook his hands. He took his left hand and put it on my right shoulder and with a gentle squeeze told me that he was very happy to see me. We waited for another manager to arrive who was going to be a part of the interview and proceeded for lunch. For various reasons, my hiring at Cisco took an inordinately long time but this period allowed me to interact with Henry prior to joining his team. My career which spans about 31 years has been filled with managers who have been extremely supportive of me and I consider myself lucky to have escaped for the most part, the dreadful managers who do nothing but further their own cause. I didn’t know this when I joined Cisco, but my tenure under Henry White changed me forever. Not just as a manager, but as a human being.
I joined Cisco in 2005 and the company was doing well, the luster had started to peel but the culture was still great. There were more layers of management at Cisco than a Baklava and you could find all kinds of managers, directors and VP’s. There were those who only managed upwards and there were plenty who managed downward but there were few who were extremely effective. Henry was one of them who clearly stood apart from the rest of the crowd. He stood “head and shoulders” above others. That was a line he told me one day that I will never forget. “Look me in the eye” he said, “You need to stand head and shoulders above the others, because you are capable of it”. My eyes kept betraying me, but Henry leaned in from across the table and insisted that I comply. “You have the ability to make profound changes at Cisco”, he said. Never had I ever heard those words. That was the power Henry had. The power that came from doing nothing but paying attention to you when you met him. You were the most important person to him in his presence. I can safely say, I was not the only one who felt that way. Practically everyone who worked for him was treated much the same way. There was no discrimination based on your title. Equal treatment for everyone. I rarely left his room after our 1:1 without feeling great about myself and inspired to do the right thing for the company.
I know some HR folks will cringe about this, but some of my best moments were when Henry would sneak into your cubicle behind your chair and put his arm on your shoulder and tell you how great you were and for no particular reason. His sense of humor was for the ages and many of his stories cannot be retold in a blog post but suffice to say, there was never a dull moment when Henry was around. If you happened to be in a meeting with Henry and there were big wigs, he would make sure you got more exposure than himself and he was quick to help you if you strayed off course. Who does that these days?
Reorganization at Cisco was as common a phenomenon as breathing is with humans. The dreaded day arrived and Henry was re-assigned to another role and moved to another building. A grown man went home that day and bawled his eyes out in front of his wife who had no idea what had happened. I explained that I wasn't going to be reporting to Henry anymore.
That reorganization didn’t stop Henry’s relationship with me. Like a true leader, he stayed in touch regularly and made sure I stayed on track. Who does that these days?
This world lost Henry to colon cancer almost two years ago and there isn't a week that goes by where he isn’t there with me. Maybe not physically but his guidance and coaching shaped me and as silly as it may sound, I find him sitting next to me in many of my meetings, silently telling me what to do and with his hand on my shoulder, he says “ you are doing terrific”.
