Powered by ScribeFire.
Monday, December 21, 2009
He trains India's poorest students for the IIT
Saturday, December 5, 2009
HOW TO: Build the Ultimate Social Media Resume
Social media resumes are important for attracting hiring managers directly to you, without you having to submit your resume, blindly, to them. The problem with submitting your resume online to job postings is that most job postings aren’t (read more...) Posted using ShareThis
Powered by ScribeFire.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Ethics and leadership - a personal event to recall
The integrity of a professional reflects in his daily work. Although this was just one incident of many that I have faced, the nature of lessons learned are applicable everywhere. Today, I have conducted numerous camps for eye-care, met numerous influential people who trade favor with values and once, I have had to decide between hiring a meritorious candidate vis-a-vis a less apt one but relative of my boss.
In life, we will continue facing similar ethics (or the lack of it!). But when we look at the bigger picture, we always can understand the right direction to go, even if it is seemingly difficult or temporarily unpopular. I believe that if we are determined and courageous to go ahead with the better path, any hurdle (be it government machinery, public misunderstanding or personal loss) can be constructively overcome.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Supervising the Board
Quoting Tanri Abeng of PT Telekomunikasi:
“The board of commissioners cannot just say, ‘I’m non-executive, so I’m going to play golf.”
What are the pros and cons of a two-board system? Does it handle the issues raised by a single board system? Is it a good idea to ward-off (or nullify a bit) board politics?
Read here for more on this.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Launching LinkedIn From a Living Room
The founder of Linkedin opens up in an interview here. From 350 personal invites to 4500 within one month, and 50 million users today, this is a story to read! Click here. | |
Powered by ScribeFire.
"How do you manage business objectives and social objectives?"
HEC Social Business Conference: Our Decision Today, Our Impact Tomorrow
Keynote speaker: Emmanuel Faber, Co-Chief Operating Officer, DANONE.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
A different reason for this recession
Why are we in a recession? An NBER paper by Ravi Jagannathan, Mudit Kapoor, Ernst Schaumburg.
In quotes:
"Arguing against conventional wisdom about the causes of the recession, the authors say that the inability of existing financial and legal institutions to cope with the huge increase in the world’s labour supply in a very short time period, led to the recession."
This paper is available as PDF (741 K) or via email.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Turning the underprivileged into successful entrepreneurs!
Powered by ScribeFire.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Dismay and Delight
How thin is the line between dismay and delight!?
Life is a beautiful amalgamation of everything nature can provide us and the notion of right/wrong, and culture dismay/delight looks so relative to our thoughts!!
Powered by ScribeFire.
A 'green' entrepreneur's success story
Powered by ScribeFire.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Entrepreneurship and Positioning
Powered by ScribeFire.
Japanese and Deutsch
One of the most important attributes I (re)developed was my ability to attend classes. I was facing teachers who were trained to teach alphabets to adults. I was made to do homework (which I avoided in the initial stages but found to be a useful tool for my brain - wish they named it something better). My patterm recognition abilities have improved manifold (well, for the uninitiated, the Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji scripts in the Japanese language are worth learning from this aspect). While learning two different set of rules of grammar, I could understand the commonalities in very varied human behaviour.
We had various session on inter-cultural business etiquette (with certifications).
Not being afraid of the unknown is seen more in my classes than even in my corporate life. One I translated a sentence from English to Japanese as 'Please sleep well' and it got translated as 'Let us sleep together' - you can imagine the expression on the face of the young teacher. By the way, not falling asleep in class (and to get to sleep well when unable to doze) are two other attributes of this training.
During the last few weeks of the Japanese class, I used to attend Deutsch classes as well and my brain got mixed signals varying from insanity to amusement while mastering the vocabulary - add to this the fact that my wife speaks a different language from me (the common languages between us are Hindi and English and her mother-tongue is Marathi, mine being Odia) - it has been an amazing cocktail of experiences for my brain.
Overall, the result has come out quite positive and I am able to speak the fundamental parts of speech in both the languages. In both languages, they taught us how to shop in the mall, buy train tickets, talk formally/informally and so on. In both classes, we had hilarious sessions of mistaken language and terrible sessions of taking 'achievement tests' (I passed!).
While talking to the encryption expert in my firm, we both observed the necessity of tickling our brain with such experiences. It really sharpens you up! :-)
Powered by ScribeFire.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Engineering with a Cause – Chewang Norphel, Ladakh
Powered by ScribeFire.
Corp Morality!
Powered by ScribeFire.
Mickey Mouse in IIMA
Powered by ScribeFire.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Decision Process Vs Decision Outcome
Powered by ScribeFire.
Why violence
It's a failure of listening to the people. If the state consistently doesn't listen to the people who are the sovereign, then what results may seem like "irrationality."
Shall we start listening please..? I am sure this internal violence is a passing phase for the country's economic growth. In fact, the mineral rich tribal areas are going to further contribute to the economy once peace prevails.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Most Significant Achievement?
Although some achievements like being the state topper in matriculation, or getting into one of the topmost engineering colleges, look significant to people close to me, I differ.
This takes me back to 1999 when the eastern coastal state of Orissa in India was ravaged by a super-cyclone (officially called Cyclone 05B). I volunteered to be with one of the teams doing relief work.
I call this as an achievement because I found myself working with the army, handing over food packets to people who were hungry enough to kill each other for a handful of rice - I found myself collecting floating corpses so that they could be burnt before deteriorating further - drove a jeep in knee-deep mud to rescue kids surrounded by flood waters - and could not forget the face of hunger and calamity plus a determination to survive for the joy of life. Strangely enough, I also witnessed the worst faces of humans when I saw things like robbery, bribery and rapes even in such dire situations - it metamorphosed me emotionally as well as intellectually.
It taught me how to look beyond categories of people, and showed me the core of life's existence. As I sit today in my office in an air-conditioned environment, I feel one with Mahatma Gandhi's description of his experiences in the Red Cross camps of South Africa (1906). I learned to have a vision bigger than individualistic goals and to 'be' the change that I want to see. It taught me real leadership when a single decision can save as well as jeopardize lives. It brought out the real leader in me. Life teaches..Powered by ScribeFire.
Debate: Global Impact.. of Global Indians
What does the Galleon Scandal tell us about the impact made by Indians abroad? Click here for an interesting debate.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Entrepreneurship gains ground as a career choice on campuses
Click here to view full story
Powered by ScribeFire.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
CleanTech Flight - First Flight Takes Off on Kerosene from Natural Gas
Powered by ScribeFire.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
New Media New Marketing
Powered by ScribeFire.
Confidence Picks Up in Clean Tech Funding: Report
Brief Pointer: Thank billions in government funding for helping to lift clean technology investment in the third quarter, said the Cleantech Group and Deloitte in a report Wednesday.
The quarterly analysis reiterated that the recession has kicked but not killed investments in this sector, which remain... (Full article) |
Powered by ScribeFire.
Friday, October 2, 2009
8 Reasons (You Never Thought Of) That Sustainability Will Change Management
As sustainability affects how the world works, so will it affect how business works in the world. Here are eight changes that smart managers are already talking about. Click here for the full article
Powered by ScribeFire.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Reasons Why Change Fails
Quoting the 'Be Excellent ® ' blog:
Reasons Why Change Fails
It isn't inadequate processes, strategy or technology that lead so many organizational change programs to run into the sand.
The main reasons for failed change are all about people.
Management-Issues reports that a study from Deloitte Consulting suggests that change programs need to tackle issues in an integrated and focused way and, in particular, look at the people issues facing the business before, during and after the program.
The research has come as a conference of 165 HR directors organized by PricewaterhouseCoopers has separately predicted that a growing focus on people issues means there will be a chief of human resources on the board of most organizations by 2015.
According to the research, there are eight key people-related areas companies need to be addressing:BOTTOMLINE: "Companies don't transform themselves just for fun, but to stay competitive, innovative, and operationally effective."
- People risk and impact management
- Leadership alignment and stakeholder engagement
- Communications
- Culture
- Organizational design and governance
- Talent requirements and HR programs
- Workforce transition
- Learning and capability transfer
Powered by ScribeFire.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Action or Omission: Triumph of the entrepreneurial spirit
Half the people in the world live on two dollars or less per day and roughly 600 million live on no more than one dollar per day. With thousands of international relief organizations, strategic government programs, and billions of dollars in foreign aid, why do so many underdeveloped countries remain unable to grow their economies beyond mere survival?
Many a times, you may have heard the phrase, 'change is unavoidable'. But, I feel, progress is something that is in our hands. Change and progress differ in the direction they lead us. And in this context, it is important to remember the mantra, that 'entrepreneurial spirit is the best catalyst for progress (not just change)'. |
Indigo dyeing has been an old industry and more of a culture amongst the residents than a source of earning.
How many cultural aspects can you think which can become commercial venture, able enough to wipe-out poverty and create wealth as an alternative to redistributing wealth? Have a read.. 'Lessons from the Poor'.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Imagine...
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
Powered by ScribeFire.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Little Angels on Earth
At Rourkela, I used to go to a place called 'Home and Hope', which was on the way to my school (Saint Paul's Rourkela). I used to observe these boys and girls, (I was of their age those days: this is around fifteen years ago) and was amazed at the patience of the caretakers in looking after mentally challenged kids. I continued interacting with these folks even after school, and during my engineering, I visited a similar school at Anushaktinagar, BARC Mumbai. I was gifted a Diwali card made by a mentally challenged 11 year old - you could find more beauty and imagination in the design than any other card you have seen and you will be perplexed when you meet the kid who created it. At 'Asha Niketan' in Koramangala, Bangalore, I met a 15 year old special boy, who asked me if I liked his drawings and would like to buy some. The bigger surprise came to me later when he shared, "I like A R Rahman's music - if you buy few of my drawings, I'll get enough money to get few more of his DVDs". I was dumbfounded to hear this and was really wondering whether he is mentally challenged or the rest of the world is - how come we ignore such talents in our day to day lives of mindless hurry.
Even after I got married, I continued my visits to Ashraya, Rakum School and the Spastics Society of Karnataka in Indiranagar, Bangalore. My significant half, Pallavi, is always with me in all such visits. It has been so many years that I have been visiting such places, and still everyday teaches me something new about life, something really novel. I have had very busy schedules in life, but I have tried not to miss these visits.
At GE India, and later at Mercedes Benz India, I organized some personal visits by volunteers who want to look beyond their problems in life and look at little angles struggling to make meaning out of their existence. We also organized a tree plantation program and 'Teach me Hindi' program for the kids. It was an emotional reconnection with their school days, for many of the volunteers. At times, we organized these events personally (not through the office) so that folks from various companies can join us - we had friends from SAP, Tesco, Yahoo India, HP India, and Infosys to name a few. For us, contributing our bit was closer to heart and meant much more than just logging hours for community service on the company portal.
Life teaches you a lot of things indirectly and it depends on our observation abilities, how much we learn from it. There is a unique humility that you develop with such events and it has a great effect on your management skills. You have a much wider outlook on life. We need to realize how fortunate we are, even in our deficiencies, and how we can still make a difference to brighten someone's smile someday. :-)
Powered by ScribeFire.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Do-Gooder Auto Driver
Powered by ScribeFire.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Paul Graham at Startup School '08
Paul Graham, founder of YCombinator, speaks at Startup School 08 about how to create a successful startup.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Share This Site
Please use the Share/Bookmark/Tell-a-friend Icons after each post to connect to your favorite bookmarking sites or email the post to a friend.