Sankar Kalyan shares his experience of reading Apparent in Hindsight, a business novel about the chronic problems faced by the Indian automotive industry.
A confession first. I have very little knowledge of the auto industry, never questioned how this industry works, nor understood its challenges. I know that each industry has its own challenges; my own experience as a quality consultant for an IT firm dealing with pharmaceutical organizations has made me aware of the challenges faced by that industry. And so, when one of my friends from the auto consulting industry gave me a copy of this book, I was mildly curious. What did she think I will gain from reading it?
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I began by doing some research. The authors are founders of Vector Consulting Group, a management consulting firm established in 2006 that deals with supply chain issues of the automobile industry, among many others. This book was written as a tribute to the teachings of Eli Goldratt who seems to have impressed the authors considerably, with his emphasis on “systems thinking” – don’t think in silos, and don’t think you can come up with a solution without taking a holistic approach. (To put it simply, “it’s all connected” – if you are binge watching the Netflix mind-bender “Manifest” as I was when I got this book, you would be pardoned if you suspected that this was the universe sending you some sort of a message!) There was also something about a “Theory of Constraints” in the preface to the book. I immediately rang up my friend to check if my ignorance of this theory would be a constraint to my ability to comprehend the book’s contents. She reassured me that that won’t be the case.
The chapter headings seemed intriguing, and the very first chapter plunged me headlong into crisis mode. The After Market Sales Head, Sunil, is getting roasted by the CEO, the CFO, etc. during a review meeting. To defend himself, he tries to deflect the blame on to the Operations Head, Majumdar. Slowly, all the problems besieging the auto component supplier company - High Gear - come to light. Neither their vendors nor the car manufactures to whom High Gear supplies products seem to be happy with them. To compound their misery, their competitor is doing phenomenally well even though their products are priced much higher!
This sets the context for the rest of the book. The beauty about the entire narration is that the issues are described in detail, the realization that High Gear itself is not exempt from blame, that the solution cannot be found in fixing just one department (or, rather, that all departments cannot fix their problems in silos) – all come out in the most logical and convincing manner. If one has the willingness to learn, if one never stops questioning things, one can learn. Sure, some paths might lead you to a dead end; but the journey itself is not a waste of time. There is no one eureka moment here. It is all about accepting the problems, learning, questioning, trying, failing, trying again differently till you succeed. Then you realize that the solution was staring at your face the whole time! Hence, the title of the book.
As an IT consultant, we are told that it is not our job to merely implement an IT solution. Equip yourself with knowledge to check if the customer is asking for the best solution. Probe beneath the surface, see the inter-connected nature of the business, and come up with a solution like a true consultant; not just an IT systems implementer. Don’t fix the problem only to create another one upstream or downstream (regression analysis is part philosophy!).
If you are connected to the automobile industry in any way (an automotive consultant, the CEO of an automotive company, a salesman in an automotive component manufacturing organization, etc.) this book is a must-read for you. Even if you are not (as I am not), this book is for you, for it opens up avenues of thinking that, as an intelligent student, you can customize to find solutions to your own problems.
There is something in the end of the book that makes me think that Sunil and Majumdar are going to turn their focus on another vexing problem, and find a solution for the same, much like a famous detective and his doctor friend who used to live in a famous street in London! So, if my reading is correct, this won’t be the last book that the authors are going to write.
Sankar Kalyan (IT Consultant, Tata Consultancy Services)
An English literature and language enthusiast, Sankar finds that he has spent nearly two decades of his career with Tata Consultancy Services, and even more curiously as a Computer Systems Validation specialist. Sankar enjoys travelling, reading (grammar and astronomy websites jostle for his attention), listening to music, singing and playing Table Tennis.
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