Action or Omission: Triumph of the entrepreneurial spirit

You really cannot judge events in life till quite some time has flown by, and you realize what has been achieved compared to how much could-have been. In a recent reading of the "LESSONS FROM THE POOR: Triumph of the Entrepreneurial Spirit", (edited by Alvaro Vargas Llosa and foreword by James D. Gwartney), I could see the mind boggling story of how extreme poverty can be mutated into abundance by the entrepreneurial efforts of the people of Nigeria. To quote the book,

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)'.

Folks, mostly women, have used their entrepreneurial efforts in creating wealth, without no governmental wealth. Why I titled this post as 'Action or Omission..' is primarily because of the attitude of the government towards these workers and they have proved that in either case, an entrepreneur can succeed. In stead of helping, the policies of the government have at times been road-blocks to their progress, but it seems these measures have failed to deter anyone in the long run.

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'.

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Little Angels on Earth

(Repost)

Two and a half years have passed by since I was first in the campus of Ashraya and even now, when I go there every week, it seems to be a new experience. As I walked to the campus yesterday, I was wondering how quickly time moves. It was not the first time that I was in such a place but it was a very special experience to be with kids around you who are not just special but very talented as well. During the initial days, I was with a GE Volunteers team and had volunteered to teach these kids, mathematics, origami, and lots of fun-making activities. Most of the kids at Ashraya are normal from a physical point of view, but not so from the emotional point of view - I would term them para-normal! They are a bit more mature than their age, which varied between 3 to 13 years. Ashraya has a number of infant orphans as well but we were not interacting with them. This place was unlike the Helen Keller Institute at Vashi, Mumbai where was dealing with special kids with visual and hearing challenges. You need a different level of patience while interacting with these little angels.

They have a garden with swings, slides and see-saws to play with. I used to hold them in my arms and rotate fast - they enjoyed these rides and you should just see the expression on their faces. We were not supposed to take photographs, but over the years, I have taken snaps of the work done by the kids, such as in their coloring books. Last year, for Christmas, I got an idea which was quickly accepted by the other team members - we gifted them gifts which we helped them to make. Let me explain that a bit: We taught them how to make Santa Claus masks, cone caps with bells, and paper toys. Then few of them became Santa and all of them played a game where you have to sing for Santa and get your gifts! There were many sessions when we showed them animated movies - they loved Ice Age 2! They loved Winnie the Pooh so much that it took them no time to learn when I taught them how to draw and later paint, huge Winnie posters.

We have Rakum school for the blind at Indiranagar, Bangalore where I live. This is another place which I frequently visit since I have been in Bangalore. Initially, many of my visits were anonymous, and I felt good that I am able to contribute to the education of such special kids - they needed our time and understanding more than monetary contributions. As per Mr Rakum, there are many folks who contribute money, but the number of persons who contribtue their time is very less. It is a different kind of realization and an expansion of the awareness of your existence, when you are with these kids.

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. :-)

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Moving from "Made in India" to "Made for India"

This is a pointer to the full article here by Devita Saraf.

Two years ago, I visited Shanghai on a business trip and went to the famous Yu-yuan gardens. Outside the tourist attraction, like every other in the world, were hoards of souvenir stores selling locally produced handicrafts. The beautiful wood and jade carvings, painted silk screens and other memorabilia had faces created on them. I thought they would be holy Chinese images, but on closer inspection they turned out to be portraits of Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise and even George Bush. This would never happen in India. We have our own set of demigods in Bollywood actors and cricketers.

Devita Saraf, CEO of Vu Technologies and Executive Director of Zenith Computers

The Maoist Revolution in China turned their cultural identity into a clean slate, which is the reason their dressing, tastes and aspirations are largely inspired by the western world. India, in contrast, has given a stubbornly tough time to McDonalds, KFC and others as they tried to gain a foothold in the Indian market unless they "Indianized" their menus. By this, I mean that the menu must be suited to the Indian budget and the Indian palette. At Indian weddings, we proudly flash Indian designers and traditional Indian wear, which is why few Western designers have been able to succeed with their formal range of clothing here. The number of successful indigenous brands in India has created a new consumer class who are happy to flaunt their cultural identity.

But this wasn't always the case. Growing up in India in the 1980s and 1990s, anything "imported" was considered superior. There were certain markets in all cities that would sell smuggled electronics, foodstuffs and other consumer products. Ads with foreign models in them meant the product had been endorsed by a developed country and would be priced at a premium in India.

After liberalization and the flood of foreign brands in India, this phenomenon is changing. Slowly, steadily and very subtly. You will notice that advertising in India now reflects pride in the country. Read the full article here.

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Recos on Linkedin

Author: David Weiner
This article points to David's Linkedin Profile. Please click here to know more.

(1) Timing on offering a mutual recommendation: WAIT 2 WEEKS TO RECIPROCATE! In conjunction with each recommendation prepared on your behalf, LinkedIn prompts you to reciprocate. Yes, you want to respond in kind, BUT you have to time it right. Here’s why. Weekly, each LinkedIn member receives an update of changes from all contacts in their respective network. This includes recommendations make by AND make for each contact member in their network. If you offer a recommendation for someone right after they recommended you, both are likely to appear next to each other. The effectiveness of the recommendation is lost since Back-scratching is implied ("I will says something good about you if you say something good about me"). Don’t fall into this trap.

(2) Proof each received recommendation: SPELL CHECK! We have become complacently dependent on the spelling functions in our work processing systems, but LinkedIn does not have any built in features to check spelling or grammar. So you should - always. Don't be afraid to ask for a recommendation to be amended for spelling errors. The person who recommended you will appreciate that you protected them from such a published error. Don’t post it until you like it. (And, when you are offering a recommendation, type it 1st in your word processing system so that your spelling and grammar are monitored – then cut and paste it into the LinkedIn recommendation. That’s how I wrote this BLOG – and was able to include bullets, in addition to making sure I had no spelling blunders).

(3) Make recommendations timeless: EDIT OUT "HIRE ME STATEMENTS!" Recommendations that encourage you to be hired that remain on your LinkedIn site may cause your next employer to suspect that you are still job hunting. Recommendations can be worded to champion you as a good candidate for employment consideration without stating that so obviously.

(4) Don’t be shy: YOU DON’T GET WHAT YOU DON’T ASK FOR! Look at who you worked with, worked for and served in your current employer and each of the companies you have worked for in the past. When you make this request, honor them with a personal note on why receipt of their endorsement is personally important to you. Do this when you have a job. You won’t have adequate time to do this when you are looking.

(5) Target the right mix: INCLUDE CLIENTS / PEERS / DIRECT REPORTS / SUPERVISORS! This will offer a more complete balanced picture on you. Make sure you have representation from each of the companies you have worked for.

(6) Provide guidance: MAKE IT EASY! With the velocity of e-mails and time demands, you will want to make it as inconvenient as possible for someone to provide a recommendation on your behalf. If they feel rushed, it is likely to come through in the tone of the recommendation. Without your guidance, demanding someone to craft all of the text from scratch, it is likely to be less complete than you desire. No one can read minds or guess exactly what you want them to offer in a testimony. Offer the signature themes and accomplishments you want your contact to address on your behalf through some talking points. Consider e-mailing a personal updated narrative biography to provide full context of your career experiences. This is particularly critical when requesting a recommendation pertaining to a position held many years ago when you are likely to be remembered for whom you were then and not how you have matured and developed since. And, if “a-long-time-ago-in-a- galaxy-far-away” … the more foggy the recollection of your work. Help them come out of the fog - at light speed offering the information that your contacts can serve you with a recommendation with clarity and ease.

Regularly request AND recommend thoughtful testimonials through LinkedIn. My six secrets are out. Good career journeys to all.
This article points to David's Linkedin Profile. Please click here to know more.

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Managing Wikis in Business

Penny Edwards, who primarily contributes at his Wordpress Blog, did a study in 2007 about the acceptance, usability and popularity of Wikis in business environments. We are two years beyond the date that he first published his report. Now, (in agreement with Penny!) Wikis have gained remarkably more acceptance - take for example, the site for Startup Saturday Bangalore http://network.headstart.in/projects/startup-saturday-bangalore/project-home.

To quote Penny,

The study investigates how businesses can manage wikis to facilitate collaboration in the workplace. In doing so, it describes a process framework for managing wiki implementations and analyses how ‘learning organisation’ themes can aid in that process. It also considers whether a wiki can act as more than a mere technological enabler for wider information dissemination, by providing an independent mechanism whose management and widespread use can encourage organisational learning.

and later,

It also indicates that wikis have provided platforms for collaborative and emergent behaviour, enabling people to work/communicate more efficiently and effectively, learn from past experience and share knowledge/ideas in organisational contexts that are not averse to collaboration. Whilst it has not been possible to conclude whether changes to organisational learning characteristics have resulted from wikis’ fostering of such collaborative/emergent behaviour, or will become more pronounced as wikis mature, it does highlight scope for longitudinal research in this area.

Today, many organizations use wiki engines for anything you'd use a content management system for - more than likely in their intranet. Wikis are an excellent entry-level content management system because they are easy to edit, require very little training and no specialized software (other than the browser and web server). Wiki is also being used for document version management in many organizations.

"Wiki" (/wiːkiː/) is a Hawaiian word for "fast". "Wiki" can be expanded as "What I Know Is," but this is a backronym. Wikimapia, Wiki Mind Maps, MediaWiki, Educational Wikis, Social Wikis and Corporate Wikis  - we have a lot of proof that people have understood the evolution of wikis.

                                    

Penny Edwards has done a good job reviewing wikis in business - you can access the report published by him at Final Report – Managing Wikis in Business – September 2007.

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Little Angels on Earth

Two and a half years have passed by since I was first in the campus of Ashraya and even now, when I go there every week, it seems to be a new experience. As I walked to the campus yesterday, I was wondering how quickly time moves. It was not the first time that I was in such a place but it was a very special experience to be with kids around you who are not just special but very talented as well. During the initial days, I was with a GE Volunteers team and had volunteered to teach these kids, mathematics, origami, and lots of fun-making activities. Most of the kids at Ashraya are normal from a physical point of view, but not so from the emotional point of view - I would term them para-normal! They are a bit more mature than their age, which varied between 3 to 13 years. Ashraya has a number of infant orphans as well but we were not interacting with them. This place was unlike the Helen Keller Institute at Vashi, Mumbai where was dealing with special kids with visual and hearing challenges. You need a different level of patience while interacting with these little angels.

                                                       

They have a garden with swings, slides and see-saws to play with. I used to hold them in my arms and rotate fast - they enjoyed these rides and you should just see the expression on their faces. We were not supposed to take photographs, but over the years, I have taken snaps of the work done by the kids, such as in their coloring books. Last year, for Christmas, I got an idea which was quickly accepted by the other team members - we gifted them gifts which we helped them to make. Let me explain that a bit: We taught them how to make Santa Claus masks, cone caps with bells, and paper toys. Then few of them became Santa and all of them played a game where you have to sing for Santa and get your gifts! There were many sessions when we showed them animated movies - they loved Ice Age 2! They loved Winnie the Pooh so much that it took them no time to learn when I taught them how to draw and later paint, huge Winnie posters.

           

We have Rakum school for the blind at Indiranagar, Bangalore where I live. This is another place which I frequently visit since I have been in Bangalore. Initially, many of my visits were anonymous, and I felt good that I am able to contribute to the education of such special kids - they needed our time and understanding more than monetary contributions. As per Mr Rakum, there are many folks who contribute money, but the number of persons who contribtue their time is very less. It is a different kind of realization and an expansion of the awareness of your existence, when you are with these kids.

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. :-)

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