Godfather

Nope am not talking about the movie. Am talking about having a godfather at your job. While I had never thought about it before recent incidents at my office just got me trying to figure out the entire thing... from both the parties perspective.

So who is a Godfather? What does he do? A Godfather would typically be someone high up in the value chain, quite senior to you and/or to whom you might be reporting to, who will promote you and look to it that you do the right things at the right time? Create a situation where "Uska haath tere sir par ho aur tereko koi phikar nahi" (Literal translation "If his hand is on your head then you have nothing to worry about").

So why would someone high up the food chain take up your cause. Well nothing is free in life, so there has to be some gain for the Big Boss as well. If you come to think of it its very simple. Even your Big Boss is at the bottom of some value chain that goes high up to the CEO or someone. So he also is trying to come up with ideas, actions that might put him in a better light than his counterparts and get the Biggest Boss to notice his efforts or his group/division as better than the others'. The only difference is that he has people under him at his disposal through which he mobilises his efforts and earn brownie points. On the other hand the mear mortals like you and me dont have anything to complain. You start getting visibility, start getting rewarded and have a protective shield from others in the organisation. So noone has anything to complain about. The only issue in the entire thing is that its not a game that either party can start. It has to be initiated by the Godfather.

So what is a mear mortal like in such a case? What is the profile of such a guy? Well wont comment on it right now. Not after jus witnessing a couple of examples, but my guess is that it is also dependent on the kind of person your Big Boss is!