Indira Gandhi on Doing Work Versus Taking Credit For It

I had a meeting today with my colleague Huggy Rao where we were batting around various ideas about systems that are effective versus ineffective at scaling good ideas. Huggy brought up this cool quite from Indira Gandhi:

My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition.

He then went on to argue that systems that bring-in, develop, and reward people in the first group  -- and that expel, reform, and punish people in the second group -- are likely to be more effective at spreading and implementing constructive action. Sounds right to me.

Comments

[crowdSPRING]

Well If you measured the right things and reward people who indicated that value actions, expelling people to take credit for the people who worked is much easier, because the indicators show who did what.Really great post..It is worth to read..

[AJBrammer]

Agreed! I also find it helps to give the credit to your crew beneath you. It's very rewarding and they'll love you for it. If they look good, you'll look good. Thanks for sharing the advice!

[Jess - a beginner learning spanish one enchilada at a time]

I think this is a very interesting concept that relies on the systemic view of business models that has important implications on scalability and long-term growth prospects of the company. If you measured the right things and reward people who indicated that value actions, expelling people to take credit for the people who worked is much easier, because the indicators show who did what. I found Kaplans balanced scorecard to be a valuable tool in depth limitation of strategic value creation propositions and initiatives. Just focus on measuring the right things, not just asking managers for their opinion.

It will shared this link on Facebook with my coworkers,it is a very interesting point

[John]

That is a great sentiment. I went to this online supervisor training and they taught us something similar. It is important to do the work because those are the people that actually make something out of their lives. Great post and an even better sentiment.

[Moyo]

That's a great quote that should be shared as widely as possible. Many organisations actually do the opposite and create a culture where 'loudness' is what is rewarded, while the quieter doers are disdained as 'not visible'.

[Lisa R Berlinger]

Bob (& Huggy): Thanks for this.
A great pick-me-up today!

[Gregory Leiby]

Bravo!

[Walt]

Humbleness

I like the quote very much. You can sense the "humbleness" that came from its speaker that seems to be missing from much of Corporate America.

[Akash Ghai]

Awesome.

[Al Pittampalli]

What a great quote, Bob. I think Wikipedia does a great job with this. The community is tight knit, does the work tirelessly and silently, and ostracize those that do the opposite.