The Quiet Mechanics - @ Home @ Work







 The Quiet Mechanics -  @ Home @ Work 




This piece focuses on the quiet warriors in our families and work-places. The ones who keep at the ‘unsexy’ tasks that add immense value, but are not often noticed….The Quiet Mechanics

Look around your families….We have so many types

there the ‘glory boys/girls – these win awards, impress us with their passion, typically are at the top of their careers. We celebrate their clear ‘wins’ and look at them with a combination of pride/envy. They seem to always know what needs to be done and seem at ease making decisions. One thing is certain – you can’t ignore these race car drivers

Then there are the connectors/the influencers – through their open enthusiasm, they bring us together. They are typically the life of the party and are the creative ones. Again, the spotlight seems to follow them….the cheer-leaders

And then they are the silent and dependable sorts. They are patient and see tasks through until completion. They work the trenches and hence often operate below the radar. The Quiet Mechanics





My brother in law Karthik is one such person. For over two decades, a property belonging to many members of the family had been basically ignored/almost abandoned. Real estate is dirty business in India. Over the past decade he worked assiduously through the system to first clear out the illegal tenants, mobilizing the many family members to focus on this cause and then led the discussions with multiple potential buyers. But he made it happen! And so many have benefitted.

Venu Menon was a seasoned sales professionals when our path first crossed at work. As we began interacting, it was so crystal clear to me that he too was an all to rare Quiet Mechanic. Over seven years across two project teams, I saw how wonderfully he quietly made a very diverse group of people work with each other. He left the limelight to some of us who craved it, and focused on the hard grind of operations. He was probably not the one you took to dazzle an investor, but was indispensible when it came to diffusing innovation/change within the organization or when there was a tricky human resource issue to be handled sensitively and effectively.

Venu and Karthik epitomize sheer perseverance, diplomacy and street smart intelligence required to keep the engines of our families and workplaces running. The Quiet Mechanics. They are amazing. But this is not the type of amazing that shines bright like a diamond. It is more akin to the embers of a warm fire…soothing, pervasive and a great connector.

To these silent crusaders, these Quiet Mechanics, I doff my hat!





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