The 24 Carrot Manager

Its been almost a year now since I have been thinking of gifting a book as a token of appreciation to each of my team members but have not been able to materialize the idea because –

1. I don’t know what book to gift?

2. I have so many favorites and I am not sure that at what reading maturity is each of the individual.

But I was too pleasantly surprised to receive a book (The 24 Carrot Manager by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton) from Kavish Jain, the CGP sourcing specialist from North, a very dedicated and hardworking individual.

The immediate thoughts which crossed my mind (both positive and negatives)

1. Oh Shit! It’s a duplicate book and I don’t read duplicates.

2. By Gosh! Kavish likes to read books and has sent me one which he likes. I was very happy to know that he too shares a similar feeling as I do i.e. to share your knowledge.

What I did immediately was –

1. I read the synopsis of the book and realized that it is about motivating your employees through rewards and recognition. This got me a bit double minded as to did Kavish send me this to make me realize what I was doing wrong? But then I cleared my mind and understood that he was finding the right words to say thanks to me and has found them somewhere in this book and I made sure to read the book completely.

2. Called up Kavish to say Thanks and ask him the question (above) and he started laughing because I think, what he wanted to say was in the book.

3. I scribbled the date or receipt and Kavish’s name on the book to help me remember the gift even years after.

This book is sincerely a great carrot for me and has motivated me harder. Will try to become a better leader tomorrow and even more better the day after.

Manish Saini