“Congratulations! You’re now a manager.”
I still remember that Monday morning. Fresh shirt, new diary, motivational quote copied from a WhatsApp group scribbled on the first page… and butterflies in my stomach doing full-on garba. “You’re the manager now,” I told myself. “People will listen, meetings will move, and problems will run away like bad interns.”
The transition from individual contributor to manager is like switching from being a cricket player to being a coach – suddenly, your success depends not on your own batting average, but on how well your entire team performs. And in Indian organizations, this transition comes with its own unique set of challenges that Western management books rarely address.
Here’s my journey from Haresh-the-doer to Haresh-the-manager. And what I really faced, and how I slowly grew into a manager where my team wanted to work with, not just work for.
How can...
