I vividly recall the advice that a friend of mine gave me four decades ago on how to conduct myself in a group discussion situation. The context was related to my ambition of getting admission to a well-known business school in the Western part of India (as many of the case studies referred to it!).

He told me that I must be the first to speak and speak for as long as I was permitted to do so. He also told me that towards the closing stages of the discussion, I should butt in to summarise the highlights.

I followed my friend's advice implicitly and no doubt made myself quite unpopular with the rest of the group. Then came the reality check once I joined the institution. Given the fact that we were all so competitive, most of us naturally suffered from verbal diarrhoea when we were asked to comment on the topics under discussion by our professors.

There were a few amongst us who rarely spoke and when they did, they spoke with conviction and certitude. Surprise, surprise! When we got our grades, the silent ones with something to say had the highest marks for class participation!

We are all familiar about how company meetings go and I am sure we have all seen such characters in action many, many times.

Vocal narcissists: People who monopolise the discussion, cut in rudely when others speak and generally behave obnoxiously. They firmly believe that their voice charms and informs in equal measure! When the meeting is over, they are also likely to come across to flaunt their ‘success'. Clearly, people who have not read Norman Vincent Peale's classic How to win friends and influence people . Such personalities, when told that they should conduct themselves responsibly, invariably respond by saying that they were only stating what needed to be stated and also that they were the ones with the courage to “tell it like it is” — implying that the others attending the meeting were spineless wimps.

Foul-mouthed ‘strong men': This type firmly believes in using strong language, expletives and displays of temper to get their points across. They rant and rave and thump tables. Votaries of the Decibel Law, which no doubt states that impact increases in direct proportion to the decibel level of discourse.

The exhibitionist: A crafty type of corporate denizen who drops hints to all and sundry using cleverly manufactured but casual sounding throw-away phrases to create an aura of being in the thick of things and being consulted quietly by the powers that be. Also, normally afflicted by that dreaded disease, CCitis — a compulsive need to let many people know that they know what is what!

The smooth Poison Ivy: A dangerous character whose main job seems to be to inject venom into any discussion. This is done so subtly that most often the victims do not feel the fangs going in but soon the poison starts its insidious attack on the individuals and the system.

The conspiracy specialist: A particularly insidious sort who conjures up conspiracies that seem very real. The net effect is to obscure the reality of any situation and let non-existent ghosts and shadows haunt people.

The Praying Mantis: An Uriah Heapish character who uses high-level platitudes and evokes the common good as a cloak for selfish goals. A prayerful attitude that seemingly keeps the person concerned anchored at a higher plane.

The Teflon Man: An acrobat who is adept at playing on both sides of a tennis court simultaneously and a person with a wind sock like ability to tack to the wind direction. A magician to whom no muck ever sticks.

The IP Thief: A most dangerous type of individual whose modus operandi is to keep his antenna attuned to receive other people's ideas and then present them as his own. These IP thieves are the lowest of the low in the totem pole of offenders.

Ultimately, impact has to be measured in terms of the positive results that the system achieves. Equally importantly, it has to be measured through the value addition that individuals get through their interactions with their colleagues. Once in a while this impact can be visibly felt when breakthroughs and successes of a great magnitude happen. Most often, it is gentle layer after layer brushstroke of organisation building — the equivalent of a geological process that takes a long time to become visible.

High impact is not about theatricality or posturing. It is all about well-intentioned, well-directed, successful, team-oriented effectiveness. High impact individuals, be they of the rock star high-visibility type or of the rock steady low-visibility variety, ought to be guarded and nurtured.

The senior leaders must set an example by explicitly stating what constitutes high impact behaviour and what constitutes unacceptable behaviour. They should also reward and punish suitably.

The right high impact DNA is a sine qua non for building successful organisations and institutions that last a long time and gather lustre even as they age much as pearls do.

(The writer is corporate advisor to the Manipal Education and Medical Group. He can be reached at: >mcshekaran@gmail.com )

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