Leading an Entrepreneurial Organization to Maturity
November 07, 2015
Mr. Monis Rahman, CEO of Rozee.pk, Pakistan’s largest internet-based employment advertising company, paid a visit to the Lahore School on October 21, 2015 and delivered a session to the MBAs on “Leading an Entrepreneurial Organization to Maturity”.
Mr. Monis introduced his organization as very entrepreneurial, as it started in a small room with three people. Now, it had 15 global offices with 200 employees, which would grow to a healthy figure of 400 next year. Today some 65000 companies used Rozee’s platform and some 40,000 job applications were processed daily. But behind the decision to start this venture lay his previous learning from a large organization (INTEL) as Mr. Monis was able to learn about the processes, work-flow and best practices which stood him in good stead later. He also learnt very early the importance of cash flow.
In his talk he made very important points about CV preparation and interviews. He noted that if one looked at the CVs of applicants one could very soon realize that most CVs looked the same. Thus it was difficult to select someone based on his or her CV – however, one could reject someone based on their CVs, e.g. based on his or her English, spelling mistakes, incorrect or misleading information, even indentation and similar flaws.
In an interview it was different and what was perhaps most important was the energy, the passion, the ability to solve problems and in short the spark that the most successful candidates possessed. The worst thing could be that one sat through the interview without energy. One could ask questions, show that one cared, was excited, animated and creative. Of course at this stage one could get more than one offer, and some offers would include a better monetary incentive. However, one should choose a job based on how much learning there would be rather than how much money was being offered. Salary negotiation was a fine art: Neither should one maximize one’s salary nor one should be a “walk-over”.
Once one entered a company, the first task was to learn the rules of the company that were not written or stated, because if one did not assimilate into culture, one would not do well. Similarly, while at work, one had to manage conflicts because unlike at school where one could decide not to talk to the other person, in a company one had to work together otherwise one would be hurt. In addition to learning about the organization’s unstated rule, one had to add value to the organization and trust that the organization will give value back to one.
Mr. Monis also spoke about his own company, Rozee.pk where an open culture prevailed, there being no closed offices, and same desks and chairs for everyone, and where the effort was to break down entitlement. The only way entitlement came to employees was through knowledge and contribution to the organization. Management of diversity was very important and initially it might be awkward to have minorities but eventually it all worked out and a great culture resulted.
At the end, Mr. Monis answered many questions from the students.
Labels: Guest Speaker
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 11/07/2015 03:13:00 PM,
City Campus
104 - C, Gulberg III,
Lahore, Pakistan.
Phones: 92-42-35714936, 38474385
Fax: 92-42-36560905
Main Campus
Intersection Main Boulevard Phase VI
Burki Road
Lahore, Pakistan.
Phones: 36560935, 36560939
