The Millennial Blog

A simple little 'Year 2012' vision for today's Enterprises!

2012-01-01T21:06:00.007+05:30

Last evening as the year 2011 was drawing to a close, I stood still witnessing the fireworks seamlessly blending into the vast ocean right in front of me. The artificially illuminated sky against the dark backdrop only added to the charm. In all of this perfection, I couldn't help but contemplate how great it would be if the components of today's enterprises i.e. people, process & technology, could be bound in an equally "seamless" manner.This is not to say that this binding in the current state isn't strong enough, it definitely is! Just that the adjective "seamless" doesn't quite fit in naturally as part of its description.

Seam plays a critical role in deviation, be it on a cricket
ground or in the enterprise space

Let me pick up a simple analogy from the game of cricket to describe this better. In cricket, bowlers use the very prominent "seam" of the ball to get it swinging and behaving in a deceptive manner by utilizing air friction against it, thereby disrupting the ball's natural trajectory in the air. While this is a great weapon in the cricketing sense, we really do not want swinging and seaming organizations, do we? Instead organizations wish to be as independently stable as possible with no attached internal disruptive elements, so as to focus all their attention on tackling external disruptions (competition, economic hurdles and other ecosystem disturbances). For this to happen, its of paramount importance that we eliminate the "ever prominent seam" altogether. Question is what exactly is this organizational seam and how successful have we been so far in ensuring "seamlessness"?

Lets get back to the "people, process, technology" notion. Despite all the advances in enterprise technology, executing day to day processes in organizations is still a cumbersome act. Even simple non-core activities like expense reporting leave a lot to be desired on the efficiency front. The situation only gets worse when one thinks of the "unfriendly" information systems at the workplace put in place to execute these processes. How many of us care for those workplace desktops / systems / software and enjoy using them as much as we enjoy our iPods, iPads, iMacs or for that matter even the simple Blackberry RSS Apps? How many of us feel like admiring those dull and dead looking enterprise software screens as much as we admire the fluid Web 2.0 portals which are intuitive to the T? How many of us wish to be stuck on one seat, unable to move till the time we are done with our work?

Probably, the immediate counter-question would be, "Isn't this the way its supposed to be? Ain't workplaces and the constituent information systems supposed to promote a sense of seriousness?" That's the whole point! What could be a bigger anomaly for the human civilization than the fact that work and personal life are still considered two completely disjoint aspects of life? While all of us want life to be fun, most workplaces systems and processes are still..well "lifeless".

You might again want to counter-attack by stating, "Why is this relevant in the first place?" Well, if companies can go through multiple design and functional iterations in order to come up with that perfect consumer product which ensures a flawless "user experience", why can't they do the same for their workforce who are the rightful "consumers of the workplace"? Remember the seamless ball analogy? We want seamless organizations, which as a matter of fact would come into shape only if employees: (1) Enjoy their work and workplace (2) Relish the ease with which they are able to make the most out of their efforts (3) Perform their work without procedural distraction so as to maximize focus on the core activities. All of this would immediately lead to increase in productivity, cost savings owing to process efficiencies with an eventual transition to the bottom line. What more, its a well known fact that a relaxed and focussed mind at work is more likely to increase the topline through aspects like innovation than otherwise. Traditional HR facts isn't it, and yet casually ignored!

If we were to dig deeper, we would realize that this is actually a much bigger problem. In the "People, Process & Technology" scheme of things, this points to the lack of inadequate integration of the "Technology" and "People" elements in the enterprise space and this is where the "seam" becomes evident. For long organizations have incorporated IT systems with a one dimensional mindset "execution of processes", ignoring everything else. However, given the rate at the which today's workers (read "workplace consumers") are increasingly getting habituated to consumer entities like smartphones and social media and wanting to bring them to the workplace (better known as "Consumerization of IT"), aspects like "user experience with workplace systems" can no longer be ignored. To add to it the millennial mindset of today's workforce would only lead to excessive frustration if not allowed to function in their own convenient way.

User Experience & Worker preferences
need to be the focal point of Enterprise IT

This leads us to the all important question, "what is the secret sauce for setting up a seamless organization given the current scenario?" Well, there is no secret sauce, its all out in the open, "Adoption of the consumerism mindset for the workplace by smart integration of disruptive consumer driven concepts like mobility, social computing and cloud within the enterprise space". So is this the vision I had set forth to present for 2012? No way! Given the current organizational and technology maturity levels, getting close to even reasonable utilization of the power of these concepts could take no less than a couple of years. My vision for 2012 is a tiny but very powerful component of this larger picture: "Unrelenting focus on 'user experience' and 'worker preferences' when designing the enterprise information systems". In short, organizations need to allot much more priority to the "people" element when planning future information systems. If they make this a norm, the following years could see a lot more progress on the maturity front of new age Enterprise IT as well as much quicker rise of the CIO department from being a mere cost center to an innovation churning machine.

Here's the good part! The benefits of this specific focus go way beyond just making work an enjoyably productive activity, tangible examples of which have been presented to some extent in the recent posts with the more detailed representations tagged for the forthcoming ones. So, keep on watching this space for more! Here's wishing you all a PHENOMENAL 2012 and needless to say, prospective "seamless" organizations.

What's so disruptive about new age Enterprise IT?

2011-12-16T22:12:00.003+05:30

With the enterprise IT space going through a major transformation owing to the emergence of concepts like Mobility, Social Media & Cloud, every passing day leads to the emergence of a new jargon meant to describe the changing paradigm and its constituent elements. Terms like ‘Consumerization of IT’, ‘Enterprise 2.0’, ‘Web 3.0’ are now common place. While each of these new terminologies has a strong exploration base, their casual flaunting ends up demeaning their real sense every now and then.

One term which probably leads the chart these days is ‘disruptive technology’. If we were to actually go back to the origin of this term, it takes us back to the year 1995 when a Harvard Professor by the name of Clayton Christensen first used it to describe a ‘new technology which had the potential to successfully displace an existing one’. In those days, it was applicable to something like a CD drive replacing a floppy drive. True to its inherent meaning, the displacement indeed happened. Over the years, the same turned true for the iPod like music player, digital camera and USB to name a few. The trend continues but the horizon has broadened beyond just the technology to the impact this has on the entire ecosystem (read business &society)

Probably Christensen saw hints of this happening in the future in a big way and replaced the term ‘disruptive technology’ with ‘disruptive innovation’ in his book “The Innovator’s solution” (sequel to the popular “The Innovator’s Dilemma”). However as it turns out, there’s a huge gray area between the two terms. While ‘disruptive technology’ is quite restrictive and specific in nature, ‘disruptive innovation’ expands the scope in a humongous manner taking it beyond the ecosystem itself. Fortunately in the current enterprise context, the first word in each of the two terms overpowers the second one in all possible ways and thus for the sake of simplicity, I wish to use the term ‘disruption’ and its adjective form ‘disruptive’ in this post to steer clear of the ambiguity.

Why emerging enterprise IT scenario is ‘not’ disruptive in the ‘traditional sense’!

Off-late there has been a lot of debate around the premise on which emerging enterprise solutions based on mobility, cloud & social are being labeled ‘disruptive’. Analysts, thought leaders and consultants have tried to come up with their own versions but the picture remains blurred. By the way, is it really important to find the right premise around the usage of the term ‘disruptive’ in this context? Absolutely! What if someone replaced ‘marketing’ with ‘selling’ or for that matter what if we used ‘supply chain management’ to describe ‘operations management’? That’s how critical the word ‘disruptive’ is for technology! Incorrect usage could severely restrict the thought process which eventually leads to the creation of enterprise solutions based on these new concepts. So here are my two cents on the grounds of disruption in new age Enterprise IT. This is my personal non-biased view of the paradigm based on my professional experience as well as personal usage (more on this in another post) of these technologies, so please feel free to agree/disagree/vilify/promote the thought.

To begin with, let’s go back to Christensen’s first definition of ‘disruptive technology’ which describes a technology as disruptive if it ‘displaces’ an existent technology. As it turns out, this definition is still the industry benchmark for grading a new discovery/invention and is most commonly used to describe the combo of mobility, social & cloud Here’s why this is out-rightly inappropriate.

Are mobile phones and tablets in any which way replacing laptops and desktops? – In some cases yes but no way in entirety. There is still a long way to go before we could create power-packed presentations and do hardcore excel based number crunching without a keyboard and mouse and this is just a first level example. Instead, iPads and iPhones extend involvement with a business process by taking it to ways and means not feasible with a laptop/desktop.
Is Social Media displacing physical social environment in a business setting? – No way! We would still need to conduct meetings in a physical environment and have face to face interactions with our colleagues and partners to do business in an effective manner. We would still need a salesperson to sell products and services. Instead, similar to mobility, social media extends the scope of interaction with a social touch, beyond conventional hours and irrespective of geographical co-ordinates. More importantly it tries to nullify the conventional 6 degrees of separation.
Is the Cloud replacing physical infrastructure and ensuring ‘no dependency’ on devices for every possible scenario? – Again, absolutely not and I will leave the reasoning to you.

In short, none of the new age concepts are entirely displacing what we already have in place. Instead they are extending the scope of existent processes to add never-before imagined flexibility, agility, leanness and speed. This invalidates the very definition of ‘disruptive technology’. Of course there are a few cases where something like mobile devices are replacing paper-based processes but that’s just a segment of a business process, not the entire value chain.

What exactly is disruptive about the emerging enterprise IT scenario?

Here’s the real deal. While the traditional sense of disruption does not work in the scenario being explored here, the disruption actually goes way beyond the norm and transforms the entire ecosystem itself and that is HUGE. It is this disruption which is shaking up things and forcing companies to look at IT from a completely different viewpoint. Here’s how.

Enterprise IT has always been viewed as a dull and boring box where technologies in the form of applications are used just because they have to be used to execute certain business processes. It doesn’t matter whether the user likes what (s)he is using, it’s a mandate. Most of the IT that an employee is exposed to at the workplace is of no use the moment (s)he steps out of the office premises and this stands true both for the hardware and the software. In short, the world created by Enterprise IT within an office complex is completely different from what a worker experiences in his personal space or at home.

However, this as we see it has now started moving to the past. Here’s the brand new picture. A worker is no more a worker, (s)he is a now a ‘rightful consumer’ (yes even at the workplace). Just the way a business keeps its consumers’ needs, preferences and requirements in mind before conceptualizing a product/service, companies would now need to keep the consumer’s (worker) interests at the forefront before rolling out their working environment in the form of Enterprise IT.

So why this sudden paradigm shift? Well, there probably could not be a better analogy to this than the “boiling point” syndrome. Till very recently corporations could afford to operate in a silo, delinked from their workforce’s preferences, however these preferences were slowly heating up. The mass availability and adoption of mobile phones and social media by the same workforce meant that the temperature suddenly started rising. However, something that is now speeding up things and proving to be a catalyst of sorts is the “millennial mindset”. The Gen Y workers are much more upfront in expressing their opinions and getting things done their own way and this tendency is now starting to show up in a big way. They wish to work on their personally preferred devices (BYOD phenomena), don’t think twice before utilizing social media for reaching out to people for work related issues (just an example) and wish to be a super-flexible knowledge nodes who wish to execute work irrespective of their geographical co-ordinates and movement.

Owing to all of this, for the first time in the history of Enterprise IT, consumer behavior and user experience is starting to override all traditional parameters, a ‘disruption’ which is too huge for an organization’s comfort. So is this a deadly friction in the making? Well, here’s the encouraging news. The other end of the spectrum i.e. the all important CIO is actually viewing this shift of paradigm as an opportunity to make the organization more efficient, agile and effective. Concepts like enterprise mobility, cloud and social media can enable organizations to improve productivity, eliminate inefficiencies, cut down costs & wastage, enhance customer engagement and dare I say, innovate! Ponder over the previous statement once again!!

However, coming back to the aspect of disruption, while the first look paints a rosy picture, the implementation aspect i.e. getting the whole setup in working order, is a major challenge. It requires a strong understanding of aspects like consumerism, behavioral science leading to experiential marketing, none of which is ideally a CIOs core competency. However, given that globalization was never at a higher magnitude than now, organizations are reaching out to the apt entities to help them wade through the maze and discover the treasure trove.

No matter where all of this leads to, Enterprise IT would no longer be the same again and rightly so. For the first time ever, the ‘human element’ could occupy the top slot when an organization thinks about how it’s using technology, a disruption strong enough to reach irrecoverable limits.

Of Consumers, Games & Enterprise Mobility

2011-12-07T19:17:00.002+05:30

With every passing day, ‘consumerization of IT’ is raising its stakes, showing up in ways and means never seen before . By the time I am done with this post, which I suspect is going to take me 15 odd minutes, 906 iPads would have been sold world over in addition to a whopping 13311 smartphones. What more, on a pure numerical basis, almost 77% of the global population already uses a mobile phone. This number becomes even more relevant when we factor in the fact that every month 2.5% of feature phone users switch to a smart phone. But why exactly am I mentioning these stats and what does this have to do with the ‘consumerization of IT’?

Well, what makes these stats relevant is the fact that the very people who would be purchasing these mobile devices in the next 15 minutes would soon wish to (if not already) use them for work purposes as well, even if its something as simple as checking their official mails. What more, with the ever growing prominence of mobility in the enterprise space, companies are already engaging Consulting firms & Technology Service Providers to help them solve business problems, improve productivity, cut down costs and dare I say, innovate using the power of mobility. However, the real differentiator with something like mobility is that the user experience (consumer mindset) plays arguably the single biggest role in ensuring that the use of mobile devices for carrying out business processes and work activities is a success. A superbly well thought out mobile strategy could easily fall flat if the workforce isn’t comfortable with what they are being asked to do with their devices.

For those of who are not really aware of how mobility is helping companies across verticals transform their business and processes, here are a few examples. Pharmaceutical companies are arming their sales reps with iPads loaded with apps which helps them perform cricial activities like sales call management and sample management while on the move, thereby increasing productivity (Novartis expectes sales call increase of 30,000 per year through this) . Airlines are replacing 10,000 odd page manuals in airplane cockpits with digital versions loaded on an ipad, thereby not just making the content easily and quickly accessible to the pilots in times of emergency but also cutting down paper cost as well as on board weight leading to decrease in fuel consumption (United Airlines expects fuel savings of 326,000 gallons per year).

FMCG companies are enabling their field force to perfom administrative tasks like reporting while traveling while on the other end of the spectrum the executives are using a combination of analytics and mobility to keep track of their product portfolio replete with sales and geographical analysis to keep a minute by minute tab on sales performance. Banking firms are providing their staff with app loaded mobile devices to enable them to visit customer locations and execute possibly every request then and their (I recently made an online request for a cheque book to be delivered to me at office, only to find the ICICI guy land at office with a custom mobile device which captured my digital signature and performed the identity verification instantly before handing over the cheque book to me)

Mobility is being used inside mines, on top of antenna towers, inside heavy duty vehicles, at all possible locations, in all possible ways and by all possible workforce categories none of which was imaginable a couple of years ago. This brings me back to the all important aspect of consumer mindset and user experience. None of the examples mentioned above would be effective if the sales reps, pilots, mining personnel and the service delivery guys are not comfortable with the devices. Instead discomfort could actually backfire leading to extended process execution times, not to mention process failure. All of this leads to a glaring factor: the importance of change management, behavioral as well as technical.

Gamification as a change management tactic

As per a recent study, 47% of the time Americans spend with their mobile apps is on playing games, followed by 32% on social networking apps. How much do you think this piece of stat could help in making the workforce, enterprise mobility-savy? Well, Coca Cola is now encouraging its sales force to start playing Angry Bird on the iPads they were recently handed over for executing some of their daily chores. The reason behind this is two-pronged (1) Getting the sales force acclimatized with the iPad and improve the ease of use (2) Indirectly promoting the ‘handle with care’ habit for the device by targeting the ‘I like what I have and so I care for it’ consumer mentality.

This is just one of the many examples of how consumer habits are now influencing enterprise strategies. By the way, if you thought this is the only utility games can have in the Enterprise Mobility space, you couldn’t be more wrong. Gamification through Social Media is already an accepted tactic of brand promotion for a number of companies in the B2C space but given the ‘47% time on games’ stat for mobile users, its only a matter of time before we see companies trying to reach out to their potential customers on their favourite devices through means which they not just prefer but enjoy as well. This is specially relevant in B2C centric industries like retail, consumer goods and automobile to name some in addition to some of its possible relevance in the pharmaceutical space (to enhance direct patient connect).

Eventually when it comes to the new age technology spectrum, from the looks of it, it all boils down to understanding consumer preferences & habits (can’t help but reiterate this), using this understanding to lay down enterprise strategies and technology architecture followed by flawless user experience. More than anything else this stands true for disruptive concepts like Mobility & Social Media. Probably for the first time in the history of enterprise IT we are formally stepping into a zone where aspects like consumer psyche and experiential marketing could become more important than technology architecture or business strategy. After all, it is for some reason that we can’t stop talking about ‘consumerization of IT’

P.S.: The stats mentioned in the first para have been derived based on the 2011 Q2 global sales figures of iPads and smartphones. By the way, in case you are still wondering as to what’s the big deal with Mobility, well, even the Indian MPs are now set to embrace it :)

Leadership in the generation of millennials

2011-11-24T00:30:00.005+05:30

I happened to attend the Millennial Leadership Conference in Mumbai on Sunday, featuring CEOs of young startup companies. Interestingly even the audience was a carefully selected one (they got a questionnaire filled up to select the audience), young management professionals, working with multinationals, adept at using technology in their daily lives, well networked and most importantly passionate about their work. You got it right: The attempt was to hear out the elite end (at least that's how it was branded without being elitist) of the 'millennial generation': their traits, wants, needs, preferences at work and get the views of the leaders on the same.

While the experience was a pleasant eye-opener of sorts in the sense that today's leaders indeed think like millennials themselves and structure their organizations accordingly, more about that in another post. Through this post I just wish to lay down the one major mindset of the millennial audience which showed up again and again, followed by what I said in my speech (I was asked to address the panel and the audience on behalf of the millennial generation through an impromptu 10 minute verbal talk)

The session began with a fairly straightforward question (the theme of the conference) put up to the audience: "What should leaders do to retain millennials in their team/company and prevent them from moving out?" All the responses had a common theme deeply embedded: "Keep them excited and add fuel to their passion, else millenials dont really care about moving out and embracing uncertainty". I suppose the statement says it all without the need for verbose.

My 10 minute impromptu talk

I was asked to represent the millennials in the room and deliver a 10 minute talk on the question: "As a millennial, what are the traits I expect in an ideal leader, someone I would love to work with?". Although I must admit I was taken by surprise by this request, it was a great experience. Impromptu talks are always fun for they let you speak your heart out with minimal thought corruption. Here are the five traits I mentioned in my response speech.Please note that these are traits that are being asked for, not necessarily 'working methodology'

1. Millennial leaders should be crazy souls

A millennial leader should be like a 'highly energetic free bird', not bound by any mental restrictions whatsoever. The leader should have the courage to follow his heart and intuition if he feels something is worth it, even if its unimaginably ambitious. (S)He should not be scared of worldly reaction to a new business plan/concept/idea if (s)he feels it has the potential to change things significantly.

Aspects like history, best practices and conventions should be the last elements on his mind, even if beating them sounds crazy. If a leader exhibits this kind of a mindset, it rubs off on the team members and encourages them to think openly and unconventionally which more often than not is a source of passion and motivation for millennials.

2. No respect for status-quo

Half of an individual's enthusiasm is lost when he gets a response on the lines of: "Hey this is not the way It’s done here. Try something which fits the bill!". Instead a response on the lines of "This has never been done before but lets figure out if it makes sense and can be worked out" does a world of good to the individual who feels that his words and thoughts are being respected. This is the sort of respect that a millennial seeks much more than fat pay cheques and extravagant titles.

3. Go-getter and Executionist

A millennial leader should be more of an executionist, avoiding over-planning. Far too many millennials lose interest by the time a strategy is ratified repeatedly through endless planning sessions. Instead the focus of the leader should be on aspects like 'Just-in-time' principles, learning on the job, flexibility and being spontaneous in decision making and execution. This not only helps focus more on execution but also gets more done in less time. Action is what the millennials crave for, not talks! More importantly, millennials believe they are themselves daring and spontaneous enough to carry out such rapid execution on the ground.

4. Passionate about work, passionate about leading

A millennial leader should simply not step into a role which genuinely doesn't excite him/her. Millennials love being passionate about what they do at work and they expect the same from their leader. They desire to feel the sense of the Three Es: Energy, Enthusiasm, Excitement in their work environment which just cannot happen if the leader is not passionate about work in the first place.

5. Hierarchy? What's that?

Millennials have scant respect for words like 'experience' and desire to be judged purely on the basis of their capabilities. Given the way organizations have operated over the years, 'years of experience' invariably ends up being a critical component of promotions and moving up the hierarchy. In such a scenario, millennials expect their leaders to have confidence in them and take their words in all seriousness irrespective of where their designation puts them in a hierarchy. Additionally, millennials exhibit enough self-confidence to reach out to people at any level in the organization if they feel the need for it and so they expect the same of their leaders.

This was a gist of what I spoke. As I mentioned, this was an entirely impromptu speech, so all that you see above is something I genuinely believe in, without any external consideration. Open to thoughts/opinions/comments/criticism.

'Timeless' Two Hours

2011-11-13T10:32:00.000+05:30

Even before I provide any explanation, here's the short and straightforward focal statement of this post: "If I were granted two extra hours in a day, I would 'literally and practically' shut down the very sense of time for these couple of hours."

Now that I have probably managed to provide you a sense of unrealistic and superhero-ish vision, probably prompting you to utter the words, 'What crap..', let me explain the what, why and how of it.

In today's complex world of deadlines and multitasking, the very 'concept of time' is an issue. It doesn't matter whether a day has 24 hours or 48, the ticking seconds would more often than not ensure a vulnerable mind with distorted focus leading to inefficient utilization of time . Having said that, if the very notion of time could be erased, the moments are bound to be much more productive. (Ever noticed your productivity levels when all your focus is on the task, not one bit on the time/deadlines?)

Although my human roots do not empower me to bring the planet to a halt, I would certainly want to completely lose track of the sense of time for these two hours and yes in a very practical manner. So, the clocks and watches would be turned off and dumped inside the cupboard, the time display on cellphones and laptops would be hidden. Additionally, all possible sources of connectivity to the outside world, leading to possible infiltration of time, would be shut down. No one would mind your dis-connectivity because these two additional hours are beyond the scope of the day, remember?

Once every bit of timely consciousness around me has been taken care of, I would resume the most precious activity of that particular day, be it working on a seemingly 'impossible to achieve work activity', spending time with family/close ones who always crave for some quality time with me or my favorite activity: dreaming (its strange how time interferes with dreams as well). In short, I would perform the activity which demands the highest quality, for without timelines, focus is the king.

To sum it up, here's my two step mantra for the two additional hours:

Completely shut down the sense of time
Execute the most precious activity of the day

Short and simple, yet more productive than the remaining 24 hours. End of it!

P.S.: This post is an entry to the IndiBlogger.in #GetSmart blog contest

Personal Knowledge Management System - Optimized web content consumption

2011-10-24T23:01:00.000+05:30

Ever wondered the extent to which we simply waste the information/knowledge we are exposed to on a daily basis? Given the plethora of RSS feeds, blogs, social media platforms and the web in general we all are subscribed to, access to information is never really a problem. However, something that is not so stratightforward is making effective use of this information for meaningful application in our daily lives.

The primary reason behind this ‘intellectual wastage’ is the fact that its simply impossible for our brain to register all the content that’s dumped on us throughout the day. The next best option is to store all of this content on an external system but one can imagine how (in)convenient it is to go on saving all weblinks and articles that one happens to read. If one thought this was the only problem, well here are a few more:

How do we decide which of the web content is actually worth saving? (information overdose is no less a problem)
On a later date when we need to retrieve some information, how do we filter out the relevant piece from the not so relevant ones?
How do we seamlessly redirect content on multiple forums (blogs, networking sites, news portals, forwards) to a single storage location, if at all there is one compatible to the multitude?
How do we add our own thoughts/ideas around the content and store them together?
Last but not the least, how do we store information in a form which makes it easily applicable and re-usable?

To add to the above, if one happens to be a ‘minimalist’ like me, one would hate the scenario of multiple logins, unlimited browser tabs and the very thought of having to access multiple sites to get the daily dose of information. That’s not all, if one also happens to be an ‘impatient soul’, the idea of sitting at one place to access stuff is simply not acceptable i.e. there is a huge urge to be able to access content on the move, in our own sweet time, irrespective of device constraints.

All of the aspects highlighted above may sound redundant to those who understand Knowledge Management at an organizational level but this post is entirely based on the utility of a ‘Personal Knowledge Management System’, which unfortunately is still an area most of us struggle with. The image below highlights how I handle and utilize the web content that I am exposed to.

(Click on the image below subsequently followed by another click to view the full size image)

On the first look, the map might appear complex but its really a very simple representation of how two specific tools, Blogger and Google Reader, along with a couple of embedded applets/extensions handle all of my information needs. As you move from the left to the right side of the image, you would notice a gradual reduction in the layers of complexity, finally boiling down to a ’single web login’ which enables access, creation, reading, sharing and use all of the web content I am subscribed to.

Here are some of the high level pointers of the setup:

The KM system handles almost the entire range of web content from blogs and news articles to social media content and even link forwards
It takes into consideration not just external web content but also self-generated content and thoughts which can be integrated with the rest of the content through Google Reader ‘Notes’
Applets like ‘Note in Reader’ enable easy bookmarking and linking of random web content
Reuse of content is made efficient through the inherent tagging and commenting utility of Google Reader
Sharing of content to social media platforms is enabled from the same dashboard through external connectors on ‘auto-mode’
The single login and one platform enables easy access of the content anytime, anywhere and irrespective of the device form factor. I use four of them so it is indeed very convenient
If you are using the system on Google Chrome, feed expansion extensions would mean that you don’t even have to open a weblink on the browser to view the entire content
Finally and most importantly the system enables one to regularly develop and work on thoughts/ideas that strike in the process of content consumption, so the scope for a part of content going invisible is minimal

Having mentioned all of this, one must note that the system is flexible enough to accommodate a few additional layers of web/self-created content as well as one’s personal preferences. So go ahead and setup your very own ‘Knowledge Management system’, customize it to suit your preferences and cherish massive web consumption at will. The initial integration of the platform with applets might be a touch cumbersome but once the setup is done, its fun and convenience all the way.

Goodluck with knowledge hunting and ideation!

How Steve Jobs influenced and moulded my life

2011-10-16T15:05:00.003+05:30

I was all of 12 when I first happened to watch the video recording of Steve Jobs unvieling the Macintosh in front of a frenzied and awe-struck crowd who were cheering him on with no less enthusiasm than what a stage performer would extract. Having no clue about what was going on I immediately turned towards my teacher who was standing next to me to inquire about what was driving people crazy.

Just then I heard the words "It is with considerable pride that I introduce a man who's been like a father to me...STEVE JOBS.". It was no one else but the Mac uttering these words. I had my answer, here was a man who could charm the audience on the sheer basis of the way he let a machine play to his tunes. That was my introduction to the world of TECHNOLOGY and more importantly an introduction to someone whom I grew up admiring more than the Khans, Bachchans & Jacksons of the world.

Something about Steve Jobs that always struck me was that unlike stage artists he managed to enthuse the crowd by the sheer power of his ideas (no disrespect to the artists here). They cheered him on with thunderous applause and expressed disbelief at every product that he introduced with such charm and energy through those keynote presentations.

While the excitement around a stage event quickly dies down overnight post the conclusion of the performance, in Jobs' case, the stage acts were usually the beginning of the excitement for the masses. After every product introduction, the anticipation around the product's market launch would gradually increase and reach its peak with people queuing up outside Apple stores a night before the launch so that they could be the first to get their hands around this new wonder. This to me was magical.

During my teenage years, two specific questions always made me curious: 1) What was so special about Steve Jobs' stage acts that got people so excited? 2) How did he manage to get the masses waiting so curiously for his 'technology' based products? I mean at school I always made to understand that technology was only meant for a select group, not the masses.

I clearly remember the day when in a bid to find answers to these questions I got hold of the video recordings of all of Steve Jobs' keynote presentations. Immediately the patterns started emerging. He was a complete natural on stage. His confidence flowed from the fact that what he spoke came straight from his heart and from the belief that what he was talking about made a hell lot of sense. During a stage presentation this self-belief immediately rubbed on to the audience who were now under the influence of his energy and started believing in all that he said. Jobs didn't seem to care one bit about how the audience would react, for he almost always knew the answer to it, probably well before his act. This to me was an introduction to PUBLIC SPEAKING.

I further analysed those videos. His presentation screens were also of immense interest to me. During those days I didn't really understand the purpose behind presentations which we now so fondly call PPTs. Back then to me they simply seemed to be a canvas that an artist like Steve Jobs was using to charm his audience. The canvas almost always had pictorial representations of classy looking objects (the products)with a couple of numbers thrown in with high font. He spoke about those numbers and technology in a way which made even the layman understand their meaning with precision and clarity. Further, they always seemed so simplistic with minimal content, the objective of which clearly seemed to be pointing towards the fact that Jobs wanted the spotlight to be on him rather than on the canvas, so that he could let his energy and stage confidence take control of the audience. That to me was an introduction to PRESENTATIONS.

Gradually as I moved out of my teenage years, the second question drew my attention more than ever before. I started reading up articles around Steve Jobs' thought process, style of working, his art of coming up with winning ideas. Again, patterns were clear. All his product ideas seemed to be an output of his intution. He didn't seem to care what others would think of his thoughts and just stuck to them with utmost self-belief, conviction and optimism. I stumbled upon a couple of articles on his ideas being ridiculed by his peers resulting in him being labelled a 'Crazy Psycho'. Yet when these ideas saw their day they went on to change the world. This to me was an introduction to the POWER OF SELF-BELIEF and INTUITION.

Something that also drew my attention was the fact that he enjoyed his own company more than anyone else's. His best ideas always cropped up during one of his solitude times on an early morning walk or late night skygazing, moments which let him be at peace with himself. I remember reading up one of his statements wherein he mentioned that a peaceful mind let him combine the power of his brain and heart, a combo which he felt always led to the most powerful ideas and thoughts he was capable of. That to me was an introduction to IDEATION.

Some of these notions around ideation got further ratified for me during my B-School days. At B-Schools there's always so much emphasis on aspects like brainstorming and FGDs in a bid to solve business cases and problems. To be very honest, I never really enjoyed being a part of these brainstorming sessions. To me they seemed to be killing innovative thought process and almost always led to a generic solution. I always felt I could do much better work in an hours time if left on my own rather than hours and hours of brainstorming sessions. The only application for brainstorming that I can see is when there is a need to have opinions based on diverse set of experiences across diverse fields, thats about it! (My sincere apologies to those who live by it)

Its strange how in todays age of customization, we all are still driven by the generics. We are fed with the same old working principles, taught to operate in a similar manner often misused in the name of 'best-practices' and even made to think on similar lines under the cloud of what was once categorized as 'thought leadership'. In all of this similarity, what we do lose is a track of our unique qualities and capabilities.

Steve Jobs would be remembered for ages for what he brought to the world through his products and concepts but more than anything else he would be remembered as someone who did justice to his own uniqueness. For people like me, who have tried to follow his antics as much as possible, he has by far been the single greatest teacher we never met. He introduced us to the notion of self-belief, instincts, intution, optimism and more importantly the power of listening to the heart more than worldly opinion. Probably, the least we all can do to pay tribute to his greatness is by simply being 'UNIQUELY OURSELVES'.

Diversification or Core functionalities?

2009-04-28T17:42:00.000+05:30

In a recent interview to The Economic Times, Chris Zook, a noted business writer and partner at Bain & Company talks about the importance of focusing on the core functionalities of an organization. Not just that, Zook advocates the cause of concentrating on the core business to the extent of ‘outinvensting’ competitors in that particular domain. In Zook’s words, “The number one rule is that if you can discourage your competitors from investing in attacking your core, it is ‘game set & match’ “.

Chris Zook’s thoery is based on the fact that the average growth investment has a success rate of one in four. Though in such turbulent times when most businesses are cutting down on diversification and risk-taking, his views are pretty much justified but is it really worth sticking to the same principle all the time? The classic case which brings out a completely new dimension to the concept is that of Microsoft vs Google.

As a matter of fact, Microsoft has always focussed on its core business (software products) ever since its inception. Microsoft’s strategy has always been in complete adherence to Zook’s views, even to the extent that when the internet boom had started gathering momentum, MS didn’t take it seriously enough to start tapping into the huge opportunity lying ahead. By the time it realised its folly, it was too late. Google had already become a dominant force in the search engine market and was rapidly diversifying with utilities like Gmail, Gtalk, online advertising, etc. Microsoft remained stuck to its core business, in which it still remains the undisputed leader but look at the irony….Google despite being focused on its own core (internet based applications) has started diggning into Microsoft’s business. First came Google’s online office applications, then the browser and now its making a big time entry into the OS market and guess what even the OS would be have the internet as its base.

Doesn’t this make for a really interesting case study? Both companies have remained focused on their core domains yet Google’s core has started eating up Microsoft’s business. Microsoft has always followed Zook’s policy of out-investing its competitors by maintaining absolute monopoly even to the extent of stepping over ethical boundaries at times, yet Google has managed to create some serious holes in Microsoft’s umbrella without even touching it. Howzzatt?

On a completely different note, right from the very beginning, Apple’s strategies have blown apart Zook’s thoughts left, right and center. Apple started off, focusing equally on both hardware(Macintosh) and software(OS). It continued to build a strong base in both the domains. Then came some serious diversification in the form of the ipod and iphone. Interestingly, Apple’s core strength at this point of time is neither the Mac nor the OS, its actually the mutimedia market (ipod/itunes/iphone). Yet, it continues to focus equally on all its domains and has managed to carve out a niche for itself as a company dedicated to innovation.

Despite all the anomalies mentioned above, Zook’s theory does get vindicated in numerous cases like Daewoo’s obsession with diversification which eventually resulted in the company going bankrupt or for that matter failed attempts by companies like P&G and Escorts to move away from their core LOBs. Probably at the end of the day, its all about being flexible without sticking to a pre-meditated set of strategies.

Wonder what Chris Zook would have to say about Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems. On a much lighter note, he would probably be hoping that someone like Dr. Vijay Mallya stays in business for as long as possible. The man has made investments in all sorts of domains starting from alcohol to airlines to sports (read Formula One and IPL). However, unfortunately for him (and fortunately for Zook’s theory), all his ventures apart from the alcohol line have bombed bigtime (at least financially), thereby making him Chris Zook’s ideal muse.

Footnote: All opinions stated in this post are completely analytical without any intentions of presenting companies or individuals in an embarassing light.

Unreal Expectations? You've got to face them...

2009-04-25T08:07:00.000+05:30

Recently a US publication came up with a list of the "20 Best & Worst American CEOs" of all time. The list features quite a lot of expected names with the likes of Henry Ford, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet making the cut in the "Best CEOs" category while the "Worst CEO" tally is headed by the recession critics' favourite boxing bag i.e Lehman Brother's chief Richard Fuld. Some other names which seem to be quite an obvious inclusion in the Worst CEOs category are Enron's Ken Lay and WorldCom's Bernie Ebbers.

An interesting selection in the Worst CEOs category is John Sculley, the infamous former Apple CEO who as per common perception had Steve Jobs literally thrown out of Apple. However, the most striking name in this particular category is Vikram Pandit, Citigroup's current chief. Hold on...before you start getting emotional about him, given his Indian lineage and humble beginnings, here's a food for thought. The explanation provided for his inclusion in the list is:

Pandit didn't create a mess Citi is in, but he is the Financial-Services equivalent of the Titanic's Edward Smith - a commander ill-equipped to save his ship.

When Vikram Pandit tookover from his predecessor Sir Winfried Bischoff in December 2007, the recession crisis had just started showing its true colors. Citi was already on a tough road and there were huge expectations from Pandit to guide the ship out of the rough waters. Unfortunately what was to follow was a literally uncontrollable global economic storm and Vikram Pandit (by choice) was caught right in the midst of it. Citigroup went from bad to worse and Pandit faced most of the flak for it. Experts feel that Vikram Pandit was plain unlucky to have got the reigns of the company during arguably the worst of times when even the best of the lot couldn't have done much about the dooming economy. However, today's leadership dynamics point towards a newer leadership approach "Making the best out of the worst". Call it badluck or incompetency, the inability of Pandit to weather a ruthless storm has landed him in the list of the worst American CEOs ever, displacing numerous others who have literally single-handedly been responsible for the downfall of some huge organizations.

All these facts point towards a simple fact, "when the stakes are high, even poor performance appears worse than absolute failure." Over the past year or so, Citigroup has been through the worst of the lot, raking in bailout packages on more than a couple of occassions and facing some serious flak for baseless mismanagement of funds. Even now when the company is showing signs of recovery, Vikram Pandit is seen facing verbal bullets from enraged investors who for starters simply want him to be thrown out of power. Again, you may call it a game of luck or helplessness, the fact remains that gone are the days when people would feel for you if they knew that you can't do much about something uncontrollable. Today's ultra competitive environment expects you to deliver as per expectations, no matter how 'unreal' they are and this stands true for each one of us.

Faces of Corporate Innovation

2008-09-22T18:02:00.000+05:30

I remember reading an article by management guru C K Prahalad wherein he states that innovation can broadly be classified into two categories: Continuous (Incremental) Innovation and Breakthrough Innovation. Both terms sound a bit abstract on the first look but the concept pretty much lies in their meaning. Lets give these terms a corporate tinge in order to dig them.

Close to a decade ago, Google took its first steps in the technological domain through its now legendary search engine. Even before Google had entered the market, there were the likes of Alta Vista who made sure that people at least knew what the concept of online search was. However, Google's search engine blew people's mind. No one had imagined that such precise and accurate information could actually be available at the next click. Next up, Google came up with another revolutionary online product which again took everyone by surprise i.e. Gmail. Since then, Google has been rolling out innovative products on a consistent basis but probably people have become so used to Google's innovation spree that the new roll outs no longer seem to be as fascinating as Google Search or Gmail. In short, Google has graduated from the phase of 'Breakthrough Innovation' to 'Incremental Innovation'.

In simple terms, 'Breakthrough Innovation' refers to occasional spurts of innovation which surprises one and all by shear might and uniqueness of the concept. Breakthrough innovations in someways tend to bring about a revolution worthy enough of setting up a new trend altogether. This is what happened when Google Search and Gmail were unveiled. On the other hand 'Incremental Innovation' refers to consistent innovation whose impact may not be as big as a breakthrough innovation but nevertheless it is unique in its own right. Gtalk, Google's online office utility, Google Earth, Google Desktop are examples of continuous innovation which didn't really have the same impact as the likes of Gmail and Google Search, but nevertheless helped the company establish itself as the numero uno innovator.

So the question is, what's more important for an organization? Breakthrough Innovation or Incremental Innovation or on the more diplomatic side, a combination of both? Its interesting to note that most of the technological bigwigs like Microsoft and Google started off as Breakthrough Innovators but gradually moulded into Incremental Innovators. But again there are the likes of Walmart and Toyota who for long have been Incremental Innovators but all off a sudden have started focussing on Breakthrough Innovation (Toyota plans to take the Hybrid Car market by storm). To add to the mystery, there's Apple, which has always promoted itself as a Breakthrough Innovator, never really concentrating on Incremental or Continous innovation. Some say, this is the reason why Apple despite being a top notch innovater has never really grown up to be the size of someone like Microsoft. The Apple CEO, Steve Jobs himself says that size doesnt really matter to him as long as Apple continues to shock the world with breakthough products.

I'm sure, most of you would say that at some stage you've got to have a combination of both but then history reveals that companies have come to be known based on the particular strategy of innovation they have adopted. For example,contrary to Apple, Microsoft caters to the needs of huge masses but clearly lags way behind when it comes to being labeled an innovator in the true sense. In fact most of its recent attempts at breakthrough innovation have completely fallen flat thereby giving the company a tag of being 'safe yet mundane'. Its unsuccessful attempts at Breakthrough Innovation is also being attributed as the major cause behind its losing some serious ground to Google which by the way seems to have understood the concept of innovation in the best possible manner. Google started off with breakthrough products, phased into the 'Incremental Innovation' stage for some time in order to consolidate on its initial momentum and now has again put on the top gear promising something as big as an OS in the near future.

More or less, its pretty clear that companies that have the ability to make effortless transitions from one phase of innovation to the other have been the most successful ones. Ones which have been rigid with their stance have been made to suffer in someway or the other. With global economy going through a complete upheaval, may be the time is ripe to strike a balance between the two phases of innovation or may be (if someone's willing to) venture into an unknown zone of uncertainty and 'innovate innovation in the actual sense'.

Famous Words - Steve Jobs' Secrets of Success

2008-09-02T14:51:00.001+05:30

Here's the famous speech that Steve Jobs, the Apple CEO delivered on the occasion of the Stanford Commencement Address for the batch of 2005. In the speech, Steve Jobs outlines three specific aspects which shaped him into what he is today. As usual, Jobs' words were filled with an essence of inspiration and practical views.

Introduction

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

'Rotlu' Ro Mat

2008-08-18T13:08:00.000+05:30

This one comes straight out of the Bollywood flick 'Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na'. Anyone who has seen the movie would remember the character popularly known as 'Rotlu', owing to his consistent cribbing and crying for no reason.

Here are a few popular personalities, who definitely deserve being given the honorary tag of a 'Rotlu', owing to their nonstop acts of cribbing and crying in full public view.

1. L.K.Advani

With all due respect to his political skills and 'never-say-die' attitude, it can be safely concluded that the man has clearly gone overboard with his constant nonsensical and baseless attacks on the UPA Government, thereby making all efforts to disrupt any steps towards progress. More often that not, the Indian Government is seen defending his harmless attacks rather than concentrating on the nation's development.

Now whether the cribbing skills have been imposed on Mr. Advani as a result of his countless political defeats or they have naturally become a part of his persona owing to his age, is something only he knows.

2. Rakhi Sawant

This supposed Bollywood actor (she thinks she's an A-lister) feels that the world is at her feet....only if the world could actually concur with her thoughts. Known more for her fake emotional dramas in the media and the slaps she imparts on her boyfriend, this lady sure is the most irritating of the lot. Thus, taking into account her unmatched cribbing skills, lets bestow on her a token of appreciation and present to her the distinguished tag of 'The Queen of Rotlus'. Long live the Queen of the tribe!

3. Sourav Ganguly

Agreed that the man has brought immense laurels to the nation as a cricketer, but something that he clearly seems to have missed is a count of his age. For someone who can't even move on the field, harboring dreams of playing the 2011 World Cup seems a bit too unreal (or should I say childish). Oh by the way his most famous method of cribbing in the public is giving an account of a string of centuries he had scored in the past decade against the weakest teams in the world. Actually, his statements are justified in some ways...he still scores runs. Its just that by the time he reaches a decent score, the team is already on the verge of yet another loss.

So Mr. Ganguly, would you like to retire on your own or would you want the selectors to kick you out of cricket. Well, in a way the selectors dismissing you from the game would actually work to your advantage. After all, you would have more issues to crib upon.

4. Raj Thackeray

He says that he's doing it all for the love of his community, but does he even realize that his constant attacks on the non-Marathi community is actually presenting the Marathi sect as a huge disgrace. People have started hating Marathis for the fault of one man. And yet he can't stop his consistent cribbing and crying. Every now and then you would find him uttering the same old baseless crap and trying to prove that had it not been for Maharashtra and the Marathis, the world wouldn't have existed in the first place.

(The para above is directed only at Mr. Raj Thackrey. I've got absolutely nothing against Maharashtra or the Marathis.)

5. President Pervez Musharraf

Yet another example of person who's mind is no more in sync with reality. He keeps talking about how Pakistan is charting rapid growth in almost every sector, whereas as a matter fact the nation was close to being labeled an 'official terrorist state', a couple of years back. More and more people have started disliking him and yet he doesn't seem to have enough of their hatred. According to a survey, majority of Pakistani Nationals would prefer seeing Musharraf being replaced by a worthy contender and yet the man goes on addressing speeches to the nation in an air of misconception that everyone out there simply loves him. Oh and yes, the man has become so addicted to cribbing that he can't leave aside Kashmir even during the Independence Day speech. I mean, an Independence Day speech is supposed to be based on lines of a nation's development and growth, right?

6. Team of Aaj Tak, Headlines Today and Star News Hindi

This one's a team effort. Three groups coming together to present a plethora of utter nonsense and stuff that's anything but news. Off-late, the anchors of these three media channels have been competing vigourously in order to achieve the tag of being the 'Numero Uno Cribber' or should I say 'The Cribber of the century' or may be 'The Ultimate Rotlu'. The situation is such that, these days if even by mistake I end up catching a glimpse of any of these anchors, a 'Rotlu Ro Mat' message appears to be imprinted right on their forehead.

7. Navjot Singh Sidhu

This guy tries to project himself as a really cool dude by coming up with self-constructed and exceptionally silly idioms and shayaries. Unfortunately for him (and for us), all he ends up doing is exhausting and frustrating the audience with his never-ending blabbering. Oh by the way, the man has a unique style of crying, he blends his wild laughter with tears and ends up jumping all over the place. To top it all, even the most boring person on Earth can make him cry (I mean laugh!)

8. Shilpa Shetty

Yet another self-exaggerating lass who goes on and on about her non-existent achievements. Wonder what exactly is it that she calls an achievement. Her stint on Big Brother where she ended up portraying herself as the silliest person one could ever come across? Or is it her recent inclination towards Yoga which she feels sets her up as a role-model. Whatever be the basis of her thought process, I guess the first thing that this lady should do is draft a CV. That for sure would give her a true account of her self-proclaimed achievements, or should I say failures.

9. Sreesanth

No prizes for guessing this one. This guy is the 'King of Rotlus'. In someways the perfect match for the Queen of the tribe (Rakhi Sawant). He's someone who literally practices this art in full public view. When he cries, he makes sure he does it in a packed stadium, under the glare of loads of shutterbugs and a huge television audience. There are times when he projects himself as an all-conquering warrior and the very next moment he shows the world what a sissy he is. His recent acts speak highly of his control over the art of being a distinguished 'Rotlu'. Cheers to the man and his 'rotluisms'.

10. Sania Mirza

This lady underlines the phrase 'All style and no substance' to perfection. During interviews she projects herself as someone who is simply unbeatable on the tennis court, yet during tournaments she hardly ever moves ahead of the first round. She courts news for everything else apart from her skills with the racket and yet the chatterbox simply can't stop blabbering. In all probability, Shilpa Shetty is her ideal role model. A clear cut case of 'all talk and no walk'.

So guys, lets put our hands together for this unique breed of 'Rotlus' and for once lets repeat in unison 'Rotlu Ro Mat'. Hope these 10 'Rotlus' get the message.

Funny (and embarrassing) moments of my life

2008-07-20T20:58:00.000+05:30

For a change, I thought, instead of blogging on issues relevant to the corporates and society, let me post something from my own life. As I was wondering as to what do I write about, I thought why not make fun of myself. They say that laughing at yourself is one of the best ways to relieve your mind from worldly burden and stress. Moreover, it also gives others a reason to smile (if not roll on floor).

Here are a couple of incidents from my life wherein I committed the silliest of blunders and subsequently made a complete mockery of myself.

Incident - 1

I remember the day when I returned from office, all tired, just to find that the lift of my apartment wasn't functioning. At this point I would like to draw your attention towards a habit that all IT professionals suffer from. We have these identity cards hanging around our neck all the time and in order to unlock our cabin door, we need to flash the card on each entry/exit. This happens quite a lot of times during the day.

Anyways, coming back to the situation, on observing that the lift wasn't functioning, I climbed the stairs all the way to the fourth floor. It seems I probably lost my presence of mind somewhere in between because what I did next was pretty senseless.

I reached my apartment door and for some reason started swiping my identity card at the door, not realising that this was my home. (Due to some unknown 'chemical locha' in my empty brain, I was caught in between the office and ATM mode, and hence was swiping the card instead of flashing it). Just then the domestic maid happened to open the door but being in my own dreamy world I never noticed it until I heard someone scream right in front of my face. It was my maid. Unknowingly, I had actually swiped my card right on her face and obviously it hurt her.

Her scream finally brought me back to my senses. For the next 15 minutes I just couldn't control my laughter and neither could my neighbours (they had witnessed the entire scene 'live').

Incident - 2

I used to play some serious cricket during my college days. It seems the hangover of cricket never really desserted me, as a result of which a friend of mine almost had to pay a huge price. The story goes like this.

A group of us had gone for a trip to a pretty scenic location near Kolkata. There was a pond at the spot. A friend of mine had a discman whose battery seemed to have expired. So, he decided to replace it and in the meanwhile handed me his cellphone so that he could do all the mechanical work. He removed the dead batteries, handed them over to me and again got engaged in putting in the new set of batteries. So here I was standing right in front of the pond, holding the dead pieces of chemical cells in one hand and his cellphone in the other.

All of a sudden something struck me and I felt an urge of creating waves in the pond water. Since those dead batteries were of no use, I decided to throw them in the pond using all the power throwing abilities I had acquired during my cricketing days. Unfortunately for me or rather my friend I misjudged my hands (with regards to what I was holding in each of the hands). So, out went his Nokia N95 with immense force and a target so precise that it would have made the best of fielders proud of themselves. On realising that I had actually deprived someone of his most pricey possession, I simply froze then and there.

Having completed his replacement work the very next moment, my friend asked me for his cellphone and I was like 'What? Did you give it to me?' Of course, I didn't utter any of those words as I was too shocked to have control over any of my five senses. I simply ran towards the pond as fast as I had ever managed in my entire life. Luckily for me, the pond wasn't deep at all and by god's grace the cellphone was clearly visible from the top. I picked up the cellphone and I must say, fortune was definitely with me (more so with my friend), the cellphone was in fine working condition with no damage done whatsoever.

In fact I had only helped him wash off the dirt and dust that had gathered on his cellphone and guess what.. I actually said this to him. As far as his reaction is concerned, well I leave that for you to guess.

These were a few moments from my past where I did stuff which would even put Charlie Chaplin to shame. Today when I look back at those moments, I still can't help laughing at my stupidities but then as I said, laughing at yourself makes you feel relaxed. Moreover, it also makes the target audience share a smile, which at the moment is you. Do let me know if you were actually rolling on the floor...

Coffee and ‘Corporate Tales’

2008-06-22T14:54:00.000+05:30

Yesterday evening, I met a group of friends over a cup of coffee. The chilled out ambience at Barista was supposed to be the perfect foil for some laidback talk, but what followed next was a heated discussion on an issue central to the lives of each one of us i.e. 'The Corporate World'. It all began when a friend of mine raised the Microsoft-Yahoo-Google fiasco. Very soon opinions were flying from all corners and ultimately we ended up kind of trying to dissect the intricacies of Corporate Inc. Here are a few interesting observations (replete with true examples) that emerged as a result of the never-ending debate.

(1) All that glitters is not gold

Kingfisher Airlines is supposed to be one of the fastest growing units in the aviation sector. In a matter of three years, the company has ended up capturing the largest market share in the Indian aviation sector. But how many of us are aware of the fact that till date the company has hardly ever posted profits in its financial reports. In fact, according to reports, the losses for the company keep on surmounting quarter by quarter. The company was incepted in the year 2005 and is predicted to turn profitable only after 2009 .

An organization that keeps growing rapidly despite consistent financial losses.. hard to imagine isn't it? Well, not for Kingfisher. The entity has the backing of Vijay Mallya's much bigger venture i.e. United Breweries(UB) group which keeps pumping money into the airlines business. So how does it matter if KA is showing losses, growth comes from investment, which the group is never short of.

(2) Success is all about spotting opportunities

How many of us are aware of the fact that Graphical User Interface(GUI) was first invented by the engineers of Xerox ? Supposedly, in the late 70s when engineers at Xerox presented the first GUI application to the Xerox executives, they dismissed it as a stupid and worthless waste. Coincidentally, when Steve JobsApple. Discouraged and blinded by the management, the engineers at Xerox had no issues in literally donating the technology to Steve Jobs. visited the Xerox campus a few days later, he was really impressed with the GUI technology and decided to work on it at

This is how the GUI was unleashed and through the industry milestone products like LISA and Macintosh, Apple and GUI became an overnight phenomena. Later Microsoft, in collaboration with IBM, adopted the GUI technology which ultimately shaped the computer industry. Its hard to imagine that, had the Xerox executives believed in their engineers and patented GUI, today Xerox would have been possibly worth the combined size of Microsoft and Apple and may be Apple and Microsoft wouldn't have existed in the first case.

(3) Undivided focus is the key to crossing hurdles

In late 2005, when Aditya Mittal first had a talk with L N Mittal regarding the takeover of Arcelor, it would have been difficult for the senior Mittal to imagine his son's vision . However, Aditya Mittal was able to turn his father's scepticism into an unbreakable belief and then as if into an organizational vision, which was to create the world's biggest steel firm. The rest, as they say, is history.

The father-sun duo kept crossing hurdles with a never-ending determination. They chalked out a full-proof plan, arranged the finance, braved severe opposition from the target, convinced the British rule makers, even confronted French politicians, faced the castism war, but all throughout believed in their vision. Finally on 25 June,2006, their undivided focus reaped results. The Mittal group merged with Arcelor, thereby creating the world's largest steel company.

(4) Innovate or perish

Around 30 years back, Hindustan Motors was the unchallenged king of the Indian automobile industry. Their good old 'Ambassador' used to sell like hot cakes. There wasn't a single viable competitor in the market. This is where the company committed a serious blunder, which would cost them their business in the near future. HM took success for granted. The company completely ignored the R&D division. They thought, no matter what, the Ambassador would always remain the first choice for customers.

In the early 90s, when the Indian economy was liberalized, foreign automobile giants got a peek into the Indian market. This is where the trouble started. The likes of Suzuki, Toyota, Hyundai started pouring in big-time. However, Hindustan Motors was still blinded by its early success. It mistook these automobile heavyweights to be mere rats. While the new entrants were wasting no time in bringing in the latest technologies and investing millions on R&D, the HM executives were happy banking on their past laurels. Today, the company is almost at the verge of bankruptcy and the good old Ambassador has no takers.

(5) The billionaire and the common man can indeed exist together under the same roof

A prime example of this testimony is Tata Motors. The company manufactures something as cheap as the 1-lakh car 'Nano'. On the other hand it has recently taken over the business of a luxury and high-end car maker like Jaguar. Who says that two swords can't be kept in the same sheath!

(6) Its all about unlocking the hidden treasure

The Reliance empire was worth around $25 Billion on June 18, 2005 i.e. the day it was split into two. Today, exactly after three years the combined worth of the entities owned by Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani is close to $160 billion. Talk of hidden value and de-consolidation!

(7) A weak foundation can never sustain the long run vigors

In the year 2000, Fortune listed Enron as 'America's Most Innovative Company' for the sixth consecutive time. Enron had gone on to become a $111 billion company , at least it claimed so. It employed close to 22,000 people. However, in late 2001, disaster struck. It was revealed that the success of Enron was a mere illusion which was skillfully painted though accounting frauds and enormous corruption. The impact of truth was such that within a couple of months, the company had to file for bankruptcy. In no time the so-claimed $111 billion company was reduced to ashes.

(8) The customer always comes first

Just within a matter of a decade, Cognizant Technology Solutions (an IT Service MNC), has touched the $ 2 Billion mark and made an entry into the Fortune 1000 list. The major reason behind this rapid growth of the company is its 'Customer Comes First' policy. Cognizant has a history of retaining its oldest clients who have a very strong trust in the company when it comes to outsourcing their IT demands. No wonder then that the organization is doing so well!

(9) Think before you leap

The Daewoo group used to be one of the major conglomerates in the Asian market, boasting of an extremely diversified business portfolio. Electronics, automobile, construction, marine, heavy metal, you name it and they were there. The company portfolio featured around 265 subsidiaries in the year 1997. However, the problem with the company was that its obsession with expansion and size had turned it into a blind sprinter. The company believed that no matter what, it would never compromise on its expansion policies.

In the year 1998, a major financial crisis hit Asia. While other Asian giants like SamsungLG turned a bit cautious owing to the deteriorating economic conditions, Daewoo acted as if everything was on track. Despite riding high on debts, the company added 14 new subsidiaries to their portfolio that year. Unfortunately, most these new subsidiaries flopped big time and the debt piled onto an uncontrollable amount. The very next year, the company filed for bankruptcy. To add insult to injury, it was revealed that in order to sustain its growth, Daewoo had adopted unethical means like corruption and accounting fraud. From there on, the situation turned hopeless and today just one subsidiary in the name of 'Daewoo Electronics' survives. News is rife that even this subsidiary has turned bankrupt and could rap up any moment. and

These are some of the events that have over the years, shaped Corporate Inc into what it is today. Some created history, some proved disastrous, some showed the way, while some retracked to anonymity. But then, this is what makes the wonder called 'Corporate', so colorful and fascinating. No wonder then, that there are millions like us out there vying every second to etch their mark on the golden board called 'The Corporate World'. Oh, by the way, the cappuccino was great!

The Best Things Come In ‘Small Packages’

2008-06-08T11:35:00.000+05:30

How many of us make it a point to greet our managers early in the morning? We enter the cubicle, walk straight to our desk and bang we go, stuck to our work for the rest of the day. A small "Good Morning", coupled with a genuine smile, early in the day could make the day for the each and every individual around us at the workplace. Its not without any reason that they say, "There could be nothing more contagious than a smile."

Human nature is such that we always stay focused on the larger issues but tend to forget the petite ones. Ultimately these petite moments are the ones which could make a significant difference to the entire cause.

While undergoing a monetary exchange, may be while giving out the monthly rent to the flat owner or lending a significant amount of money to a friend, just make sure you put the money or cheque in an envelope and write a "With Regards" quotation on the envelope. It would be significantly different from handing out bare cash. Not only would this small gesture look decent, it would also make the other person feel dignified and important.

Something as small as a telephone call to that someone special, at a completely unexpected time could be far more valuable to the person than the expensive gifts that one normally indulges in. Something as petite as helping a blind person cross the road could re-instill in him the confidence that he once had in this cruel world. While commuting by public transport, let the cab driver keep the change. The extra couple of rupees could be a far bigger gain for him than what you could have gained by arguing for a ten rupee note.

When dining at a hotel, a tiny statement like, "The food is really good. Nice job", conveyed to the manager or the waiter would make them feel appreciated and motivate them to serve even better. Not that the service would have been bad without your message, but its just that it would bring about a personal touch to the entire scenario.

A beautiful example of cashing in on small moments is prevalent in Cognizant, in the form of the "Thank God It's Monday" mails that get delivered to the associates early every Monday morning. The inspirational stories in these mails kind of tend to set the tone for the entire week and one feels motivated at the very beginning of the weekly phase.

Yet another application of utilizing small moments could be during business deals. While competing for that all important client project, a small "Hello" to your rival (again coupled with a genuine smile) at the client location, would soften them up and help reduce the grudges that they might harbouring against your organization.

You might have given a stupendous client presentation, catalyzed by the most professional business plan the client has ever seen, but if you fail to deliver that really 'firm' handshake in the beginning and towards the end, your entire effort goes for a toss. On the contrary, there might not be too much of a difference between your ideas and that of your competitor, but if you've made sure that your etiquettes and body language were spot on, the client would subconsciously be drawn towards you and your organization.

These are some very minute aspects of our day to day lives, yet handling them with proper care could make or break the deal. After all, life is made up of such precise moments and its during these moments when we actually connect to a person, an organization and to the universe in general. Probably this is why they say, "The best things come in small packages."

Innovation and originality: A distant phenomena?

2006-05-04T11:28:00.000+05:30

No, I’m not talking about breaking all the ground rules and going on to do something completely over-the-top just to show how innovative and different one could be. Neither would I suggest you to idolize Micheal Jackson as far as his blind crave for the color ‘white’ is concerned. Its simply not required. All that needs to be done is to make sure that we use the ‘right’ side of our brain, more often than not. Unfortunately, this is something that’s not quite the norm as of now (at least in our day to day lives) and the results are there for all to see.

If you’ve noticed, off late, there has been an air of sameness and monotony around us.You switch on the TV and you would find those numerous 24 X 7 news channels presenting the same news, in a similar manner and using similar tactics to attract the audience. Whats the difference between a certain ‘Times Now’ and ‘Headlines Today’? Hardly any. You find companies coming up with the same products, providing similar services, using similar promotional strategies and employing people possessing similar skill sets. Where’s the difference? Advertising campaigns focus more on maligning the competitor’s products instead of promoting their own work (The Cola war). You find politicians coming up with similar election campaigns, promising similar benefits to the ‘naive’ citizens and ultimately forgetting every single word of it like their innumerable predecessors. Where’s that one unique individual?

Each one of these entities mentioned above could be replaced by the other and it would hardly make a difference. Everyone is so busy copying and imitating others that they seem to ignore their most prized possession, ‘a human brain’. What we see around is the true reflection of our thoughts. Just yesterday I was watching a talent hunt programme on MTV. Each one of the contestants was asked a simple question “What is your dream in life?”. The answers left me shocked. 90% of the answers were on the lines of “I want to be the next Shahrukh Khan”, “I want to be the Bill Gates of India”, “I want to dance like Hrithik Roshan”, “I dream of becoming Aishwariya Rai”. This was the youth of India on display. From the replies it was very evident that instead of aiming at carving out their own identity, these people were hell bent on following others blindly. Getting inspired by the greats is not a bad thing at all, but trying to be like one at the expense of your own identity doesn’t really make sense, does it?

A couple of days back I met a couple of friends who are planning to start their online entrepreneurial venture. I asked them to provide me with a brief description of their objectives and targets. They handed me a printed sheet. Each and every printed statement was targeted at how their venture could beat this particular ‘xyz.com’. The foundation of a new business was nothing else but that of a potential competitor. I simply couldn’t understand as to why were these people not trying to present their own ideologies in front of the world. Why were they not willing to come with a unique business plan instead of copying an existing one? Ultimately I had to settle for a shocking reality-check…”People are no longer willing to create their own unique identity and the same reflects in what they do. ” Where’s the ‘escape velocity’ required to break the shackles of mental restrictions?

We have become so used to the conventional stuff that neither are we willing to be unique and nor do we backup someone who wants to be unique. These days the world laughs at someone who wants to go out of the way and do something different. A techie who also shows interest in the operational and managerial stuff is laughed at and accused of not being clear about his goals. People are not willing to accept individuals possessing a multi-dimensional thought process and this is what promotes a singleton mindset and a copy-cat tendency.

How great it would be if each and every individual was willing to march out of the comfort zone and discover his/her unique skills. The world would be so different if companies could put more thought into creating unique products and services instead of blindly competing with the rivals. In short, if each and every individual starts unleashing the true power of the human brain, this planet would be a far more interesting place to live in and may be then we could truly be proud of having made a difference to the society as a whole.