India Shining???

The Times of India, arguably a rather venerable newspaper in India published with much glee, the news that for the first time in history, average Indian's income crosses Rs 3000.

While on the face of it, this is ecstatic news supposed to make you feel good and believe India is shining, a few facts would put the matter in perspective.

1. The average Indian is predominantly a fictitious character. The fact being that the middle class is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Rising incomes in key sectors ensures that the chasm between the haves and have-nots is essentially becoming wider and more well defined.
2. Any conclusion regarding an average distribution of demographic information, generally assumes that the distribution of the population is on a Bell's curve or somewhere near that. The truth is the population in India is nowhere near a bell curve, but rather as shown below. Applying a simple average to this type of distribution would produce a rather skewed result.

So when the news piece starts with the following line:
The monthly income of an average Indian for the first time in the country's history has crossed Rs 3,000, thanks to economic reforms and a high growth rate of above 9% achieved for three years since 2005-06.

I am seriously tempted to believe that this might just be a media stunt by some rather unscrupulous people, both in the media as well as the political machine, who still live under the false impression that resurgent India will now gobble up every lie thrown at them without question!!! The halo effect of a rather deserved mandate better die down now, because the great power has been given, and we will watch you while you perform your great responsibilities!!!

Matt

I'm not sure if you have seen this before, but when one guy decides to let go of his inhibitions, his limiting beliefs and decides to do things the way he wants to, you just might get a world wide phenomenon!!!!!

Introducing Matt and his Dance of Gratitude...

According to his website, Where the hell is Matt??, Matt is a 32 year old guy from Connecticut who in February of 2003, quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he'd saved to wander around Asia until it ran out.

A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt an idea. They were standing around taking pictures in Hanoi, and his friend said "Hey, why don't you stand over there and do that dance. I'll record it." He was referring to a particular dance Matt does. It's actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly. Anyway, this turned out to be a very good idea.

Reminds me of the Royal Ballet School audition scene where Billy decides to just believe in himself and let go!!!!!!

Just a reminder that when you forget the world is watching and critiquing, you just might enjoy the dance!!!!!!

And I was right!! My Audacity of Hope - Redux

I was right.... you just don't care!! All you can do is complain and light a lot of candles!!



Now at least I can blame you with a clear conscience!!!

Who do I vote for???!!!

WANT TO MAKE AN INFORMED VOTING DECISION???

Find out about all the candidates in your area. This is your last chance!!

Find out about your candidate at Myneta.info

An attempt by Association of Democratic Reform to help the citizen of India make an informed choice!!


Vote!!! Make a choice!! Change your destiny!!! This time, YOU are responsible!!!!!

Will YOU vote???!!! My Audacity of Hope ....

Mumbai will go to the polls on 30th April 2009. And a long list of issues are pending with my city, the latest being terror!!

But will Mumbai wake up?? It still won't surprise me if apathy rules again.... Am I a cynic?? Read on:

1. Last week I overheard a co-worker say, "Arre, there's a holiday on election day. Do you realize that that makes Thursday, Friday [which is May 1st], Saturday and Sunday off?? Amazing, man... I'm planning a big vacation". I HOPE HE VOTES.
2. A man in the local train said, "Kya fayda?? [what's the use?]. Have you seen the candidates this time?? All chors or starry eyed independents". I HOPE HE VOTES.
3. The bus conductor said "They've put us on election duty. Just because they cannot find enough volunteers. They never are serious about it anyway." I HOPE HE VOTES.
4. A girl told me," I hate that ink they put on my finger. Really messes up my hands, man". I HOPE SHE VOTES.
5. Two youths outside an elite Business School "Did you see the Lead India campaign? Those men and women who went on that elated intellectual rampwalk. Never heard of them since. That's the kind of leader-wannabes we have to chose from" I HOPE THEY VOTE
6. On a Facebook discussion "This is no democracy. This is DEMO-CRAZY... Ha ha ha!" I HOPE THEY VOTE

You've heard this all everytime. Aamir Khan and Association for Democratic Reform making a statement about "Voting for Democracy". Janaagraha making its stand using the Jaago Re campaign. Everyone who's anyone keeps saying "vote vote vote" like its in fashion!!!

But ask yourself......... Will you get up out of bed on Thursday morning?? Will you take that short walk to your voting booth? Will you go through the lists to find your name? If you find it, will you queue up?? Will you get yourself inked? WILL YOU EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT???

WILL YOU VOTE??? FOR YOURSELF??

I will.........

But I'm skeptical about you. About your committment to my country. Because whether you decide to vote or not, someone will get elected. To decide about your life for the next five years. And you won't have a recourse to do anything else after that, other than complain and curse this country.

After all, its a democracy. And its your life!! Best of luck with it!!

Conspiracy Theory: "Terror attack" on Sri Lankan Cricketers

Today is a sad day for world cricket. In a reminiscent of the Munich Olympics, gunmen opened fire on the Sri Lankan entourage of cricketers who were heading to the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore, Pakistan for a match. More on the news story here.

So does a conspiracy theory look apt here?? Let me explain:

Pakistan and Sri Lanka are both trying to defeat insurgencies at this point in time. With the massive scale attack that the Sri Lankan authorities have mounted to wipe out the LTTE, this is a country that has finally decided to fix its problems once and for all.

Now, the attack takes place with unidentified gunmen who open fire on the Sri Lankan cricket team. This is the visitor team, so the radar of suspicion is wide open. The prime suspect now becomes the LTTE.

Then there is the world reaction. The usual words like "cowardly", "shocking", "sad" and the other usual adjectives are expressed. But what caught my attention was this statement:

Khaled Farooq, chief of police in Punjab province said the attack "resembles the Mumbai attacks" in November.

Strange this for a police chief to say, at such short notice. I'm not sure if the Pakistani Police personnel are so adept at quick assessment. but eventually, I find that a very strange thing to say in the middle of a definite security, potential political and eventual PR crisis.

By starting this comparison with the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan might have carefully started of the chain in a very well laid out image-cleaning strategy. The stages I see in the conspiracy are as follows:

The attack is staged. If the attack was malicious and with fatal intent, they would have killed the cricketers. terrorists are trained to kill. Yet the players are only injured, while police personnel get killed.

The focus is diverted to Mumbai using comparisons. This would effectively paint Pakistan as a helpless terror victim, while grossly elevating the seriousness of the attack.

Next stage: Garnering US and world support. The helpless terror victim not convinces the world that the terror situation is out of hand and beyond its own control. Pleas for help go out to all the big brothers.

Next stage: Blaming India for the attack. The attack on the cricketers now gets painted as a retaliation by India's Research Analysis Wing for 26/11.

Next step and most dangerous: India becomes the enemy. The attack also gets painted as a retaliation from India motivated by Tamil supporters of the Tamil cause within the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is worthy to note that the current coalition government in power in India has a pretty sizeable chunk of these supporters of the Tamil cause down south. Pakistan wil takethis opportunity to instigate Sri Lanka against India.

This will have two major repercussions:


The 26/11 story gets forgotten. International pressure on Pakistan gets reduced as now it becomes a victim of terror rather than a supporter.

India now has to fight on two fronts rather than one. With the LTTE near decimation, the amicable relationship with Sri Lanka gets eroded beyond repair.


But then its just a theory. Whether its the truth, only time will tell.

Eureka Moment: Vyatta Open Networking

I'm surprised at myself for discovering this almost 9 months late!! I'm truly slipping on my Technology Current Affairs!!!

But this one has me really excited, not so much about the novelty, but the sheer possibilities.

The concept is Open Networking and the basic premise is extending the Open Source philososphy to Networking!! Oh, by the way, that's Computer Networking, before you start to get your business cards out!! Just like the sotware industry was dominated by closed source proprietory developers like Microsoft and essentially the need was felt to free up the source code for various applications so that users could modify it freely to suit their own specific needs, giving birth to the Open Source Initiative.

Sooner or later, industry innovators started to think about bringing this Open Source story to the hardware market, dominated by large manufacturers like IBM and Cisco. Welcome to Open Source Hardware and Open Source Networking.

Now while a number of manufacturers are working on the Open Source Initiative in Hardware, open source Networking has been mostly dealing with networking hardware which ws powered by open source code. A good example is Netgear's Open Source Wireless Router. The box is still designed and manufactured by Netgear and the running OS is open source.

Enter Vyatta. What makes this offering different is that they decouple the firmware from the underlying hardware. Essentially this is a "software router". To explain this, imagine that you could take a PC with two network interfaces and convert it into a router. Better still, forget the PC, you can make the router "virtual" just like a virtual machine..... and then you could also have the option of buying the hardware box and seting it up, if you like to touch your router for reassurance.

Now let's see the implication of this in a Datacenter. Prehistorically, one would have multiple servers cascading onto a switch in the rack which would then connect to the router. Hardware evolved and Virtual servers came along, with one hypervisor connecting to all these multiple servers which were physically not there!!! However you still could not escape the cabling of the hypervisor to the switch (which essentially served the consolidation function) and then the router.

Now, you can connect the WAN line directly to the hypervisor, put the router into the virtual server cluster and eliminate the physical switch alltogether!! Lower power consumption, lower capital cost, lower wiring mess and lower management complexity!!! WOW or what???

Now the fun part!! Tux, the penguin mascot for Linux, Open source's best known posterchild, is always taking potshots at Microsoft Windows!!! Case in point is the picture!!!

Open source networking seems to be going the same way, with Vyatta taking on none other than Cisco!!! Vyatta claims that its open source router is better in value than Cisco's offerings in the same space. Now in the world of Networking, this is blasphemy!! Well, click on the image below:

This is big!!! With the current recession on, there is no way that Vyatta's position on costs won't impress. Also this brings "Technology Equity" in the market, where small and medium businesses can now afford Cisco offered features minus the premium price tag!!!

Wait and watch!!!!

Mumbai at war.... yet again!!

Three years and we're still the same.... For those who lived out the 26\7 story three years back, another reminder at how vulnerable we are to deal with crisis......

I would not want to blame the operational machinery, the Police, the Army, the NSG.... they're doing their job, they're doing it superbly and that's the best they can do.

But a few questions remain unanswered:

• Do we need a more serious reason to put a solid crisis management infrastructure into place? A UFO Alien attack maybe??
• Are we equipped to deal with terror attacks, now that we've been through the entire gamut of blasts, propoganda riots and now armed assault?
• Does the common man know how to deal with the situations as they arise or are we content watching the story unfold on the TV?

My prayers go out to the families of those who lost their lives in this horrible incident. This is all I can do now, but I vow that I will influence change from now on!! Enough of spectatorship!!!


And finally, Mr Raj Thakeray and his "Mard Marathi" MNS brigade, you can come out from your hiding holes now. There are poor North Indians to pick on. Hardcore terrorists are way out of your league, you cake cutting chickens!!

Obama's plan vs. McCain's plan vs India - Part 2

Before I continue, let me update that a focussed plan for the American Middle Class was published on the Obama-Biden campaign website. This was the revised The Economic Rescue Plan for the Middle Class. Couple this with the detailed plan on the website and all my past assumptions of the McCain plan being more comprehensive go right out of the window. Obama matches McCain's plan with added detail to boot. So I must revise my score...

Score: Obama 2: McCain 2

Now, going ahead with the analysis:

4. The Economic Crisis:

I'm taking this seperately as both sides have rather varying stances on how to handle this.

Obama's Stand: Free up the withdrawal of savings by legitimate savers if required, without any taxes or penalties. Frankly speaking, Obama tends to attribute a lot of cautious behavior to the American masses. But its a liberal stand, allowing people to be responsible for themselves and meet immediate urgent cash needs.

McCain Stand: Reduce taxes!! That's it!! I must say that the Republicans really think the American is stupid and needs to be continuously patronized. Though reduced taxes really sounds good, it will hit the US exchequer. Tax optimization is good, straight cuts based on popularity only reminds me of the story back home!!

India context: India can only wait and watch. The bailout plan and the different stances about solutions are all good newsbytes, but execution of the plan is going to be a real challenge. A focus on cash flow monitoring and checks and balances in the economic situation is really necessary now.

Score: Obama 2: McCain 2 [The points are for India Context]


5. Taxes on Business:

Obama Stand: This is something McCain makes a lot of noise about!! Obama wants to raise tax on any business that makes more than $250k a year. I think that is reasonable. Tiered taxation makes a lot of sense and establishes fairness in the economy. However this will hit the savings that businesses make from outsourcing.

McCain stand: Straight tax cut in Corporate tax from 35% to 25%!! Though small businesses will benefit outright, I'm worried about the windfall that large corporations will make out of this. More cash on hand, more fraud and reckless investing, more damage to the economy.

India context: Both plans hurt India, especially the Outsourcing industry. With Obama's plan, outsourcing for the sake of outsourcing will grind to a halt. Deals will be harder to come by and the margins will be wafer thin. However, in the long run, India would have an opportunity to develop value in its outsourcing offerings. We can move up the outsourcing value chain, making the deals richer and having more depth in specialization. So there is long term good coming out of this. McCain on the other hand is the larger evil. His tax cut will bring more business to India in the short term, however we will stagnate at the same old outsourcing offerings with little innovation and value addition.

Score: Obama 3: McCain 2 [Sustainable long term gain over short term gain gets more brownie points]

Well, the contest is tied close, but as I suspected, Obama did come ahead. I reiterate that Obama's plan was much more concrete than McCain's plan, while both were equally detailed. Obama-Biden dare to call a spade a spade effortlessly. And I believe that is where the strength of the Democrats lie.... fearless leadership in these troubled times.

Here's where Obama scores more brownie points:

- Green fuel tech focus as against McCain's "clean" coal technologies
- Reduced dependence on oil imports
- Focus on new small business development
- strong focus on eliminating corruption, especially with bankruptcy reform
- Opposed to Free Trade Agreements. This is big for India for levelling the playing field, though China will benefit more.

On an analysis, though the first two years of the Obama presidential reign will bring pain to India, it is going to make the best come out of us. Sooner or later, we will have to build value into our business relationship with the US. This seems to be the right opportunity.

Obama's plan vs. McCain's plan vs India - Part 1

Sitting back here in India, I watch with careful trepidation, the presidential race between Barack Obama-Joe Biden and John McCain-Sarah Palin. For all the criticism of both sides ranging from race, intelligence quotients, partnerships, political and economic stands, even religious leanings [??], it is funny to note that, wherever you may roam, politics will be politics!!

Now I would be out of my league to comment on which side would be best for America. I do hope that my American friends have the good sense to analyse and make that choice for themselves. However, what I can comment on is a very selfish issue, that of which side is best for India. After all, with a large portion of my work coming from the United States of America, quite frankly, the US presidential election is indeed, my business as well.

One of the best things that I find about the US Presidential race is the massive use of the internet that the candidates make. Everything from economic plans, advertisements, even merchandise is on the net!! And it makes a good starting point for a non-American citizen of the World like myself, to take an unbiased view at both sides.

I am going through both plans at this point in time, Barack Obama's Blueprint for Change and John McCain's Economic Plan. There is a lot of rhetoric and marketing spiel in both documents, but it does make interesting reading.

The major difference that I see is that Obama's plan is a 64-page, downloadable PDF document, while McCain's plan is on the website and all I can download is a 1-page summary of the "plan", with a lot of feel good statements. The actual McCain plan is here. If there are points for being open and upfront, I find Obama-Biden scoring big here!!! A website like McCain's that I have to dig through to get answers, well, I find that secretive and non-transparent, very similar to a speaker with folded arms!!!

On the face of it, both documents cover almost identical issues, and there is a lot of gloss, similar to the stuff in Corporate Annual Reports. The coverage also is rather comprehensive, and carefully laid out to cover almost every issue important to the American citizen.

I personally find Obama's plan a little easy to follow, because its all in one place. So the breakup of issues I'm going to use is as per the Obama plan.

1. ETHICS:

Obama Stand: Obama wants to make Washington [a synecdoche for the American Government] more transparent, specifically calling for increased communication with the masses, an end to no-bid contracts and removal of political lobbying [the Revolving Door]. It is a tough stand for a presidential candidate to take.

McCain Stand: McCain specifically talks about the "pork barrel", a government initiative to earmark taxpayers' money for pet projects. Also, he makes a prolonged statement against political lobbying, calling for removal of the "revolving door" as well.

India context: Though both sides address the lobbying issue, Obama is more specific about the "how" of increasing ethics. Also, with the issue of ending "no-bid" contracts, it might mean the levelling of the playing field for government contracts. Whether this translates into allowing Indian firms to bid for the same, needs to be seen.

Score: Obama 1 : McCain 0


2. HEALTHCARE:

Obama Stand: A very very detailed plan. It is solely focussed on inclusion, making grounds for more Americans to be brought under insurance cover. Specifically, the creation of the National Health Insurance Exchange to act as a watchdog over the private insurance market to ensure fairness and to make individual coverage more affordable and accessible. Also calls for transparency in the insurance schemes, with greater accesibility to advanced treatment and drugs for all. A detailed healthcare reform plan is available here.

McCain Stand: McCain has an equally, if not more detailed plan for healthcare. McCain specifically calls for Affordability, Access and choice, Portability and Security and Quality of healthcare insurance. For a change, McCain makes a specific reference to the "how" of healthcare reform. Apparently, this is a very touchy issue with the American population, as McCain also includes an "independent third party" comparison of his plan vs Obama's healthcare plan as well as a smear campaign against Obama's plan.

India Context: Both sides make a specific reference to the use of IT in healthcare delivery. I see an opportunity for India here. Also, Obama speaks about increased use of generics to increase affordability of drugs. The Indian generics pharma industry can benefit from this stand.

Score: Obama 2 : McCain 1


3. ECONOMY [a.k.a. the Big Kahuna]

Obama Stand: For this I had to search Obama's site, as the blueprint was a bit dated and did not fully account for the recent economic crisis that hit Wall St. However, Obama's prime focus remains the middle class, calling for reduced income tax for waged workers, enhanced worker rights, tax credit for homeowners, a five-star rating for credit cards and greater work-family balance. On the macro front, Obama promises Foreign Trade reform, re-looking into agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA as well as big specific on Innovation and Technology, including clean energy and high-skill manufacturing. There is a specific reference to bankruptcy reform, ensuring that bankruptcy of companies has minimum effect on the workforce.

McCain Stand: McCain's website has Senior Policy Advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin endorsing the McCain Economic reform plan. And the plan is very very comprehensive, with its focus on jobs, another touchy issue with the US voters. He guns for reduced dependence on foreign oil, with gas tax holiday and increased dependency on coal. There is a" HOME plan", calling for part writeoff of the principal amount by lenders and a federal bailout for the eligible homeowner. There is also a middle-class tax cut proposal and a simplification of the taxation scheme. One important point is a one-year Government spending pause to review effectiveness of all federal programs, though it exempts "essential military programs".
McCain makes very bold statements for Clean Energy, with sops being promised galore. Also in the fray is corporate tax rate cuts, which will positively impact new businesses. McCain also proposes to overhaul the unemployment insurance scheme, thus making it an engine for "retraining, relocating and
assisting workers" who have lost a job, a welcome reform for this important government initiative.

India Context: I find McCain's plan very comprehensive, compared to Obama's plan, which seems very generic. However both sides promise a lot of tax cuts and ambitious reform plans. This will take time and will impact the "cash flow" within the economy. I see a continued slump in the US economy which will take some time to break the plateau. US specific business will have a stagnancy and it would be better off for India to explore other markets and diversify their business mix.

Score: Obama 2 : McCain 3

[I gave McCain 2 points here, as the comprehensiveness and detail of his plan impressed me. Whether it is good for America is something the economists have to concur, but it is a very detailed action oriented plan, if executed properly]

The rest of the issues in Part 2.

Mistakes when quitting your current company: Pt 1

Its amazing how people get unnerved about quitting their organization. After all, you keep waiting for the moment of release from the boss' tyranny, the impoverished existence or the sea of sycophants..... so you strive and toil over your resume, write the best cover letters, squeeze in telephonic and personal interviews galore and finally land the big one!!

And now, its showtime.... time to leave!! You've just handed in your resignation and watched with perverse pleasure the look on your boss' face [And he thought I would never quit, huh??] You sit through all the sentimental tales of how you mean so much to the organization, of how things will grind to a halt when you go, of how much opportunity you're leaving behind... etc. etc. etc. Its good fun......

But jokes apart, your exit from your company is a very important part of your career. For one, it is the linking point between two consecutive employment phases. Hence it is an important part of your career transition.

To establish yourself as a true professional, even the exit process needs to be handled with care, tact, finesse and well, professionalism.

Mistake #1: Improper Handover

This is the biggest mistake made by the most thorough of professionals. Usually your boss would confirm to whom and how the handover is to be given to. However, realise that in most cases, your boss is also unprepared to actually plan a succession that fast. So it is usually a scapegoat colleague who gets nominated to take over. And that, is usually, very ineffective.

I suggest you put your entire work functions in writing and mail a copy to your boss and his boss well in advance. That way you have ensured that any changes can be addressed before you are gone. My suggested timeline is as follows:

First Draft: Within one week of resignation

Corrected draft and discussion: Three days from first draft

Final handover Document: Within two weeks of resignation


Another major advantage of a written handover is that it eliminates people blaming you later for all their shortfalls ["Oh, you know, if Navin would have given a better handover, this wouldn't have happened!!"]. Sad, but it happens!!! God forbid, if you're in a customer facing role, and your company starts giving this excuse to the customer.

Also, giving it to multiple people quickly addresses the nasty habit that people have of "losing" vital information when necessary. With that much visibility, the boss is forced to reconsider who to give your job functions to, objectively.

Now you would say, what if no one comes back with corrections or changes? Its easy. You remind them, at most twice!! If they still don't come back, well, you promote your first draft to final document and relax!! Keep a copy with you for your own reference.

Mistake #2 coming soon....

Of accommodating organization cultures......

I have no idea what to call this... but it really had my friend and me in splits for ten minutes!!

The story goes that around lunchtime, my friend recieves a mail from his boss with the following subject:

IEEE Seminar on 30th August 2008

As such mails with most bosses go, my friend naturally got suspicious. After all, his boss was actually asking him to go to a seminar??

The body of the mail just had the following words:

IEEE is conducting a seminar on Entrepreneurship on the 30th of August 2008 at xxx place

Please see if it is useful for you.


Okay, this is a new one..... However the piece de resistance was the following line:

It is free.

So how is that for the goof of the year?? You allow your subordinate to go to an Entrepreneurship seminar just because its free!!

So its OK if the subordinate gets motivated to quit and walk the lone road, just because its free??

Like I told my friend, he's lucky to have such an open and accommodating organization!!

Consulting? What is Consulting?

I was talking to an IIM-Bangalore student yesterday, who I happened to meet in a restaurant. We were both waiting for our food and I happened to ask her what she intended to do after graduating.

"Oh, I'm going to get into consulting", was the reply.

So my next question was, "So what, in your opinion, is consulting?"

"Its bringing high value to the client we work with, by our expertise and experience, so as to enable them to excel in their respective industries"

Spoken like a true consultant. Her professors would be proud. Her campus recruitment office would be proud. The corporates who interview her would be floored. This kid sure had a bright future!!

But then it got me thinking about the whole deal about consulting. Having a few years of consulting experience myself, I felt there were three little issues in that definition:


1. Bringing High Value to the Client

That is usually the client's expectation. Somehow most clients believe that they can hire this magician to come and work magic with their troubles. Consultants also, on their part, consider themselves superheroes. So very rarely is the problem the focus of the engagement, as consultants pull out their rabbits... pseudo-American accents, 50+ slide presentations, huge pivot-table spreadsheets and volumes of Arial 12pt documents!! Woe befall the client who is not wowed by this show!!!

Fix: Understand that the client has the expertise to fix the problem. The consultant only shows the way. The consultant can never bring high value. She can only enable high value.


2. Our Expertise and Experience

This is the fault that most large consultancy companies are unanimously guilty of. I agree that the collective intelligence, expertise and experience of the entire firm is a huge force to reckon with. So most consultants can wield a lot of power with that force. But very rarely are consultants taught to wield it in the right way. Most of the time, this force turns into a baton to silence client and stakeholder objections. "We're the consultants from <substitute with your favorite top consulting firm>, what we say is Gospel truth... and we say it will work!!"

Fix: Go back to the common knowledge pool and check for similar cases. Then understand how similar assignments were delivered. Do not, ever, rehash an old assignment deliverable. The consultant may use the structure, but never the content of the old deliverable. Look for ideas to solve the problem at hand. And listen to your client with an open mind. He knows more about the business than you possibly ever will!!!


3. Enabling clients to excel

A tall order that one!! Very rarely does a consultant genuinely understand what a client's parameters for excellence are. Simply, because he hasn't asked the client. Coupled with their "Our expertise and experience" belief, consultants end up promising the sun, moon and a few stars, when all the client wanted was a better lightbulb. And the rest of the assignment is spent window-dressing every deliverable to justify that promise!!

Fix: Under-commit, over-deliver. Before an assignment begins, define quantifiable parameters for success with the client. Meeting those parameters are the objective of your assignment. Moreover, put a strong framework in place, with processes that enable the client to sustainably perform on those parameters. Educate your client to measure and optimize performance. All that works much better than window-dressing.


So to all the consultants, who are and will be, you may say anything that sounds good in an interview, a client meeting, a sales pitch or in an elevator.... but know that when it comes down to delivery, its your reputation that's on the line if you can't back up your word... with or without your firm backing you!!

Laloo Prasad Yadav - Communicator Par Excellence

The No Confidence motion is over, the UPA won and the markets are upbeat. Finally the country can get back to business. And as the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram put it smugly, "No reform will be 'Left' out now"...

But despite all the allegations, all the mudslinging and all the treachery that goes with a No Confidence motion, there is one aspect that I highlight here, which is no where political in nature. And that is the superior display of communication skills that one rustic "son of the soil" displayed on Tuesday.

I have always maintained, as my friends will bear testimony, that Laloo Prasad Yadav is one of the best communicators in Indian Politics today. For all the jokes that you may make about him, no matter what Shekhar Suman says, he still can hold an audience rapt. His speech in the House on Thursday bears solid testimony to this fact.

Let me explain my argument by starting with the fundamental question:

What is Communication?

The Oxford Dictionary defines Communication as:

communication

• noun 1 the action of communicating. 2 a letter or message. 3 (communications) means of sending or receiving information, such as telephone lines or computers. 4 (communications) means of travelling or of transporting goods, such as roads or railways.

My definition of communication is "the transfer of a message to the reciever of communication, such that he understands it".

To me communication has nothing to do with command on the language, impressive style, proper grammar or immaculate pronunciation. Communication is getting the message across. Period.

So what makes Laloo an excellent communicator?

I see three distinct points of distinction:

Simplicity: Laloo would make John Maeda [The Laws of Simplicity] and Jack Trout [The Power of Simplicity] exceptionally proud. His language is simple. His ideas are simple. Hence, there is no one who can claim that his oratory is above their level of understanding. So more people understand and appreciate what he says.

Humour: The classic hallmark of all Laloo interactions is his use of humour. I have always maintained that humour is one of the easiest and best attention arresters, the others being sympathy, intimidation and pronography. Lalooji's wisecracks are witty, sarcastic and his unique delivery causes no hostile reactions. So after every joke, everyone's listening to the talk in rapt attention, waiting for the next one coming. Audience attention guaranteed.
[Also no apologies for the spelling of Humour. I learnt English from the British.]

The use of Metaphors: This is the Laloo signature. He can use the most amazing array of metaphors, from ridiculous [comparing Bihar roads to Hema Malini's cheeks] to downright philosophical [comparing the behaviour of the Left to Kalidas, who once cut the branch on which he was perched]. The metaphors stem as an offshoot to the simplicity aspect. Everyone understands the content of the metaphor, everyone understands the context.

A professor of mine once told me, when we were debating our effectiveness as communicators in Business School, "Don't measure yourself by the complex presentations that you give or the superbly fluent language that you use.... rather measure yourself by the ability to explain to the chaiwala [tea stall owner] what you do for a living or what latest management theory you learnt from HBR. If you can do that, you're a great communicator!!"

Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav is a lawyer by qualification. I have no idea whether he's read Aristotle's Rhetoric or ever taken a Public Speaking course. He may not have the polish and diction of Jawaharlal Nehru, the inspiring rhetoric of Martin Luther King or the audience arousal of a Barack Obama. But if he can keep that most unruly of audiences, the politicians in the Lok Sabha, either in total splits or listening in rapt attention, He is a great communicator.... and there's no doubt to that!!

I hope someone uploads his speech to Youtube!! If that happens, the link comes here first!!

Update:
I found it... here it is!! Laloo's Speech on Tuesday!! Too bad if you don't understand Hindi... ask someone to translate it for you... it'll be worth it!!

A nuclear deal?? Anti-Muslim??

One of the most ridiculous things I've heard in the past few days is related with the Nuclear deal that India intends to sign up with the United States.

Finally it seems the political circus has entered its comedy act, with all the jokers putting on quite a show. With alliances being formed almost overnight and a no confidence vote to be done tomorrow, this is classic Indian politics at its best.

But the one that took the cake was a statement by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati:

Bahujan Samaj Party president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tusesday, July 1, termed the proposed Nuclear-deal 'anti-muslim' and said it had upset the political applecart of Congress-Samajwadi Party combine.

''The deal is being done at the cost of cheaper gas from Iran and Muslims are vehemently opposed to it", she told a luncheon-press conference at her official residence this afternoon.

I really wonder if the lady realises that cheap gas does not really make any difference to the common man, not just the common Muslim, if he can't afford the food to cook on it!! Inflation being out of control, I wonder if the nuclear deal really is that important a topic right now.

Iran is good, but isn't it the need of the hour that they start to think about India... and more so, Uttar Pradesh??

Eureka Moment: CrossLoop

IT never ever fails to amaze me. Just when you think it has all been done, something innovative comes along and just blows you away. Compound that with the fact that you've been looking for something like it.

So my folks at home, far far away had a big spyware problem with the PC and as I was the only one who fixed it before I relocated, they sent out cries of help. Now its an interesting situation... I can connect to the internet from a cybercafe with a public IP address while they were on a PPPoE link with a natted private IP address. In simple words, I could not connect to them directly. That made every remote management option, PC Anywhere, VNC [Tight, Ultra or otherwise] and the "famed" Microsoft Remote Desktop go out of the window.

And I just wondered.... what if it can be done over the internet, irrespective of firewalls, network architecture, protocols etc.......

ENTER CrossLoop!!!!

CrossLoop is "a consumer Internet company that empowers everyone to help someone anywhere in the world with its free and easy-to-use software application for desktop sharing. CrossLoop connects computer users with trusted, qualified service providers and friends who can provide the support they need quickly and conveniently."

So that is the equivalent of turning the internet into one big helpdesk. The company intends to play host to a large number of Technical experts, like ExpertExchange, but who can actually log into your computer and help you with your problems.

The company intends to build a business model around it which would enable homemakers, students, friends, tech help consultants all help other people in need of tech help and get paid for it.

As far as security is concerned, even though this allows a remote user to log into your machine, your presence in front of your machine is essential. That keeps you alert for misuse or information theft, because you can see what happening on your PC.

And as far as marketing speil is concerned, CrossLoop floored me with this:

"Inherently, there is tremendous potential for knowledge to be transferred – a grandparent who has been taught how to edit and post videos online should be able to take that knowledge to a peer. With CrossLoop, you can teach someone (or even a class) remotely. CrossLoop shrinks distances – between countries and between those who have and do not have expertise. In the process, we reduce our carbon footprint!"

I know, the purists are gonna scream "BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY??" The people at CrossLoop have really thought about this, judging from the slick FAQ they wrote about security, covering every aspect from the security of the download to the security of the connection.

But then, coming back to my specific problem, I found the concept real neat. I've still to try this with my home PC. But this is gonna be very very exciting to watch in the future.

Bangalore at the polls!

With the world watching the American Presidential elections intently and its seeming impact on the state of affairs globally, Karnataka state went to the polls on Saturday, May 11 2008. It was a rather amusing experience for me, as it was for the first time that I witnessed an election as a bystander!! Nope, I did not vote!!

Now before you all jump to conclusions and classify me as an irresponsible citizen, let me make my interesting position clear. My voting constituency is in Mumbai, so essentially, in a Karnataka election, I don't get to vote!!!

Rather ironic, considering the outcome would affect me bigtime!! I work here, in the IT industry!! Much of the policy decisions that take place in the Karnataka Assembly would directly affect my job!! So I had an ulterior stake in getting my local brethren to exercise their franchise responsibly!!!

There was an interesting article that then appeared in the following Sunday news websites. Despairing news about the voter turnout, but rather interesting in its demographic analysis. Apparently it went on about the following points:

1. 72.5% people voted in the rural districts compared to the 44% BBMP residents
2. Women outnumbered men in most booths
3. First-time voters said candidates mattered to them and not parties

A few interesting insights develop here.

Firstly, rural India is more concerned with who governs them than Urban India. It is difficult to say whether New Age consumerism or old world apathy insulates the urban population from wanting political stability. However, I'm not sure whether urban India really understands the implication of long term political stability on their daily lives. True, most of them have food on the table, irrespective of who's in power, but eventually there is no explanation for not wanting more out of the political system.

Secondly, kitchen economics are a powerful motivating factor for demanding political stability. For a mother or wife who wants to ensure the best for her family, economic phenomena like inflation and commodity shortfalls are experienced and dealt with at an operational level. Compound that with the fact that the education levels of the population keep increasing, thanks to IT and new age economies in this Silicon Valley of the East!!!

Lastly, I believe there is a general decline in interest for casting one's ballot, as one takes part in more number of elections. A young voter who has just turned 18 cannot wait to get to the polls and "do it"!! Again, couple that with the increase in understanding and responsibility for the political selection process which goes beyond party ideologies and answers the simple question: "What can that particular candidate do for me??" The solution is to have fewer elections, by voting for more stable governments!!

Coalitions sadly cannot be eliminated, but its better to have a group of sensible cooks cooking the broth!!! Much lesser chance of them spoiling it!!

On a lighter note, the article also made a small observation on logistical problems:

However, army security personnel had difficulty communicating with the people. “Hindi ka problem hai. People don’t seem to understand what we say,’’ Sube Singh, a BSF officer said.

I understand the problem perfectly, my man!! I've been facing it for six months now!!!

On Setting Corporate Values and Brand Values

I saw a great fundamental question on LinkedIn asked by Pasi Rahikka.... and I came up with a classic answer. Somehow, LinkedIn won't allow me to post it. So I'm putting it up here.

Here is his question:

• How should the corporate values be created?
• Where do they come from?
• Can the brands a company has have their own values?
• Can these extend the corporate core values?
• Where do the brand values come from?

Here's my answer:

There are two ways to set corporate values.

The easy method is to take a lot of jargon words like Stewardship, Respect, Trust, Honor etc etc., flip a coin and chose five and write real professional sounding and complex sentences around each one...... That's the Dilbert method....

Jokes aside, there is only one foolproof way to develop corporate values. And it takes time, maybe weeks, maybe even months.

Start with closing your eyes and trying to answer the single most important question that one should ask while setting corporate values:

"What do I want people to think about when they think of my company?"

For example, when Richard Branson thinks about what people think about Virgin, he visualizes smiling people having a ball of a time with really innovative, "WOW" products and services.... Now check the Virgin website, you'll find this: "In our customers' eyes, Virgin stands for value for money, quality, innovation, fun and a sense of competitive challenge." See the point??

So obviously, there is your starting point. The more vivid your visualization of how people should react to your brand or company, the stronger the chance that that is you identity. This visualization can take a long time to develop, but it is a foolproof way to pinpoint your values.

Now, write 5 simple words that capture that visual. Forget the jargon, the marketing, the MBA vocabulary..... 5 simple adjectives that describe your visual in completeness. These are your target qualities.

Now the final step. For each target quality, write what you need to become to achieve that target quality. These are your CORE VALUES. For example, Mother Theresa's Missionaries of Charity would have a target quality like "Service to the Poorest of the Poor". The core value would be "Benevolence".

Its not an easy method, but if you refrain from taking shortcuts, it is indeed the most effective.


Let me now answer the other questions:

Yes, individual brands, like whole companies can have their own values. The process for finding these is basically the same... to find what people think about when they think of your brand. One word of caution, let not a single brand specific value be in conflict with even one the company values. This can ruin either the brand or company, usually both. This is the danger zone.

It is safer to extend the corporate values to the brand specific values, but it should never be forced on the brand. This can cause an identity crisis for the brand. Rather, it is better to do the above exercise for each individual brand. That way, each brand will develop its own unique identity.

On a final note, I leave you with a real example of Corporate Values. Visit this site and then ask the nearest Indian you can find about the company...... and listen carefully to what they have to say..... you'll know what I mean by the "visual" in the exercise!!!

Honor among thieves???

Frankly there's nothing to the title of the post, but then it was the first thing that came to my mind when I sat down to write on this.

So when two former bitter rivals sit together for a conversation about the future of the Computer industry, sparks will fly. Guy Kawasaki, former Apple evangelist and Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, sit for a fireside chat at MIX'08. The result is a lot of fun as well as a lot of insight...

Guy asks the right kind of questions and Steve answers with each one of them with excited clarity....

So here's the link to the actual video. It was on the Microsoft site, so you would have to install Microsoft Silverlight..... but it was really worth it.... after all, you can uninstall it later!! So if you want the Silverlight version, here it is!!

Watch out for the point where, right at the start, Guy calls Steve and Microsoft "racists" for not hiring him in 1987!!! That's classic Guy!!!! And then Steve tries to almost "destroy" Guy's new Macbook Air..............

I guess old habits die hard, even with age!!!!

Oh, and Steve supposedly gives out his supposed "official" email id for the record!!! And Guy eggs him to give out his phone number as well!!! Watch out for that, just in case you get the blue screen on your Windows machine!!

Accessible HR for the H!!!

I was discussing "work life" with a friend over coffee and he brought up a very peculiar practice in his organization.

Apparently the HR department of his organization was placed in a secured cubicle room in the building. Few employees, if any, had access to this secured cubicle enclosure.... which evidently made use of state-of-the-art electronic access methods.

So each time my friend needed some help with HR, eventually he was supposed to address this on the phone or if the matter needed the "physical presence" (sic) of the HR person, he was supposed to reach the place and call the HR person out of the enclosure.

This reminded me of a strange business model that banks had, where you would be charged each time you used the services of a human teller at the bank. Another reason I kept my money with the nationalized banks.... after all, I hate to be restricted to finite options of machines.....

But that's digressing from my point. Eventually Human Resources is a function to manage the Human Capital of an organization. Restricting access to the HR department is similar to not allowing the Materials Manager into the stockroom, or maybe not allowing the Finance Manager to touch the Account Books.

Perhaps the HR department was inundated with multiple queries about trivialities like "Where do I get the company transport?", "What is my PF number??" [PF is akin to 401k in India] or during appraisal time, when that million dollar question is repeated a thousand times: "When are the raises being announced??".

But the solution for that is definitely not putting HR in solitary confinement. Companies would rather do well by checking whether there is a discrepancy with the policy or processes by which these trivial issues are addressed in the organization. If a trivial query continues to arise with clockwork regularity, there is a good chance that the issue has not been addressed adequately enough in the process implementations, inductions, knowledge sharing sessions, HR orientations etc. that companies do as part of their onboarding or employee engagement initiatives.

The fallout of this, as I see it, will be a sure disconnect that employees of a company will develop with the organization. Sooner than later, employees will consider HR as an ornament, who comes in and organizes the occasional party or off-site outing..... and that possibly the only sensible way to solve a problem that genuinely requires HR intervention, like a coworker conflict or harassment, would be to QUIT.

Just like a bank that offers me lousy service, I'll just take my business elsewhere!!!!

So much for talent retention..........