The Home-grown Tiger

We come across employees and organizations which pride themselves for making Managers / Leaders out of campus recruits. The organizations identify talent directly from college and groom them to become Managers / Leaders, over a period of time.

There is a lot of debate on the effectiveness of these so called "Home-grown Tigers". Some believe that these are the pillars to the organizations and that they would be the most effective leaders to lead the organization. I have some different thoughts, let us look at some of these:

1. Employees who are groomed from within, grow with the culture, learnings and under the watchful eyes of the senior management. They will speak and breathe the same vision that the senior management has for the company.
My thought: Though being bred thru the ranks within the same company is good for employees, the same cannot be said of the same for the employees at the managerial / leadership levels. They would be groomed to think, speak and do exactly the same things the senior management / organization wants them to. This minimizes the chances of bringing in fresh perspectives / new ideas.

2. Employee loyalty and longivity of tenure.
My thought: In this age of competitive environment, more prominence to be given for productivity and long term profitability rather than just longivity of tenure. If the employees are kept challenged and motivated by proper employee engagement initiatives, loyalty and longivity issues can be addressed.

3. Proximity and comfort feel with the management.
My thought: The senior management being comfortable with the employee or vice versa, would not lead to effective interventions for pulling up for want of initiatives or new ideas into the business. Employees would have a false sense of security or authority by virtue of having spent more time in the organization.

4. Adaptability to change.
My thought: Employees who have spent maximum number of years within the organization are the ones who would also be the most resistant to any change. The comfort feel and the "i-know-how-it-works-here" attitude blocks the openess towards any change. The resistance to change can also lead to unionism and groupism within the organization. These employees could also interfere with or block the germination of new initiatives / ideas from within the teams or organization.

5. People say "there goes a wise man, who has travelled far and wide". In this context which means that the person has multiple exposure and has gained knowledge in different organizations. He understands different cultures, varied people behaviours, different business scenarios, etc.


It is very important for some fresh blood to flow in the veins of the organization, as it induces new energy, fresh perspective, new ideas and new faces to lead the change. The change for the better..

Will keep adding to this post.. please share your thoughts too. These are strictly my thoughts and influence or reference to any person...