Tijo Philip

Capitalist Puzzle 01

2012-11-04T10:21:00.001-08:00

You have a commodity over which you hold the monopoly, the worlds biggest reserve of this resource is under your control. The second biggest reservoir of the commodity was recently found in a deserted island. Which came as both a good and bad news for you.
Good news is that, your reserve will hardly last for 70 years and when it runs out you wont be out of business. Planet has more time to develop an alternative!

Bad news is that your stock prices went steeply down as the supply of the commodity is going to steadily increase. Over exploitation is a sure fact! Over exploitation of the resource which would ensure that by the time your reserve runs out the new one would too.
The government has planned to send the resource extraction team which includes massive infrastructure and dozens of ships to the island. This could possibly take a month or two.
Here is the question. You have time until the government team can make it to the island. You must ensure that the resources is kept untouched for some couple of decades, you cannot move it or steal it. All your plans for protecting the resource from getting exploited must be completed within the next few weeks and you cannot go back to the island for at least a few decades! Not even a single life should be shed, bribery? No!

Clue: The way out is a bit complicated. So think hard and think flexible!
If you found out the way to regain your market share and keep your share prices on fire mail me at tijosdesk@gmail.com. Let the adventure begin!

Brainstorming 2.0

2012-11-04T09:09:00.000-08:00

Brainstorming is considered to be the best idea generation technique, especially in countries like America, India, Japan and Thailand. For about the past seven decades brainstorming officially has been the solution to all questions in an organization.

Hence it would come as surprise to most managers, including top level executives, and even management consultants that this 'brilliant technique' the way its done now, does not lead to much good.

Many argue that brainstorming is the only way to create great and sustaining ideas. Then how come brainstorming is one? Which, was not (obviously) created by brainstorming? Brainstorming is only one among the many idea generation techniques, which has its on pros and cons. Redefining and reinventing brainstorming we can cut short the cons, take in the pros and have a better idea generation tool, and much better ideas and solutions.

Trycoon Brainstorming (T.B.S).

Step 1) A well defined question is raised and given to the group members prior to the meeting.

Step 2) Group members figure out solutions or create ideas alone. Hence eliminating groupthink. Introverts, if given adequate time to have their creative juices flowing would give some of the best ideas in the whole session, but in traditional brainstorming this is an uphill battle. Top it with the fact that even if an introvert gets a brilliant idea,chances are high that he is not going to speak up but stay low.
(Knowingly or unknowingly persuasive leaders in the group makes not only the introverts but also lesser extroverts conform to their opinions or ideas)

Step 3) Generated ideas are given to all group members, by keeping their sources anonymous. This is done so that people can reconsider their opinions and either take back, modify or reaffirm their contribution, they might even get new ideas or select the best idea collected and work on it!
( Bonos 6 thinking hats, would be of great use in this level)

Step 4) Brainstorming! Just like the old times. All group members assemble together, discuss the ideas they have been working upon, raise the questions and concerns they have thought about. I have been in brainstorming sessions with as few as 3 people to as high as 35. Both are extremes, the preferable number could be somewhere between 7 to 10 people who are comfortable with each other.
Usually in this level there are no much ideas generated but conclusions. Though measures must be taken to ensure that the session stays open to ideas all the time.

The T.B.S is more time consuming and costly than traditional brainstorming! But worth every penny. Next time your organization needs some serious ideas on board give the new boy in town a shot. Please mail me your responses and on how the new brainstorming tool helped your organization to tijosdesk@gmail.com, would love it!

Story of the watchmaker.

2012-10-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there lived a watch maker, his works so famous that men traveled round the globe just to buy the watches he made. The watches he made was a synonym for perfection, if only better.
One fine day a man and his son walked into the old watchmakers store. Premium watches adorned the walls of the old building in east London. An aura of beauty surrounded the place.
It was early in the morning and the watchmaker had already started his work. The man who was in fact one of the highest authorities at the east India company walked with his son to the old man.
They needed the yearly watch dusting and service of their watch which was gifted to him by his father on the day he got married.
Time stops at the work of your hand, signed the Queen. Calligraphy at its best! The letter hung on his walls, in fact the only work of art other than those by the old watchmaker. The watchmaker signaled him to wait. Couple of minutes later he came to the man and his son with a huge smile and some coffee. 'Turkish, roasted to perfection' he said while taking a deep breath. aroma filled the room. Young man smiled and added 'can't agree more' then gave him the watch. He carefully opened it. To the great surprise of the young man, he saw that not only was the visible part of the needles engraved and polished to beauty but its not visible side too.
He was not able to contain his curiosity 'Why do you work so much on the part of that little needle no one see?' Why dint he spend that time on building a new watch, he never fell short of orders, he repeated himself 'Why do you waste time for something none will ever see? smiling and looking at the young mans eyes he said something that changed the life of the man and his son, forever 'God sees' And returned to his work.

The one law to be insanely successful

2012-06-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

The law: If you take money out of your pocket, how much ever it may be, how much ever rich or poor you may be, don’t spend it. Invest it! If you can’t invest it double it. How do you double it? Fold it into half and put the paper back!

It’s not about ‘on what you spend’ it’s all about the attitude. Suppose a great soul and mediocre mind is sitting in a restaurant a table apart enjoying the extremely expensive Almas Caviar. And if the mediocre guy is asked, why he is doing so, the reply probably would be “am rich, just chilling” Upon asked the same question the great soul would go “am investing” (He sure will do if he has read this article). That thin line hence is not about being stingy on spending money, but on ‘why you do it’. Not ‘what you do’ or ‘how you do’ but why.

Back to the Caviar story, If you ask them each a second question “why do you say so”, the mediocre person would go “what does that suppose to mean” while the great mind would surely reply something like this “Am rewarding myself for the great deal I got my organization” or “It’s a battle from tomorrow just preparing my mind and relaxing myself for the crucial round of negotiations"

After understanding this principle your complete attitude towards using money will change you will become powerful with each dime you burn. Investing is not limited to good times, invest all the time you can. You don't need caviar to invest on, maybe all that you have are bread crumbs,as in the song 'Live like we are dying' Kris Allen sings "you could make a fest from these crumbs" Don't wait for everything to settle or come to its place so you can start investing. It never will. Life's a bit hard. You got to to chase it down or you starve! If you got nothing, start with what you have and people with everything don't -Time. That's all that comes free, everything else - You got to chase it down!

One easy way to exercise this law in your real life is to picture yourself as a company. Invest like those fortune 500 firms. Your most valuable asset is your time. Invest it with people who are worth it. Life is limited. Make sure you stay away from letting down people who spend (invest) their time with you just like how companies hate to let down their shareholders.

Don’t spend a single moment out of the 86,400 you are granted a day. Invest in them. You got to reap the benefits off every moment. Obviously to reap you need to invest, this reaping factor differentiates spending from investment. Investments give returns. You might lose out on a couple of your investments, but it’s better than spending because spending unlike investments never give returns.
When you make returns on your investment make sure you invest that too. Harvest. Invest it again. Keep the loop rolling, only if you want to be insanely successful.

These days many companies provide training to their employees, the problem with most is that they view it as a spending. as a perk, as a reward for a some achievement, by doing so it leaves a 'use it or loose it' tag. Which fails in achieving lasting organisational impact. What organizations got to do is view training and development as an investment, expect and demand returns. Don’t spend money on Gold, invest in them. Don’t spend money on education – Invest in them. Don’t spend money sending your employees for a vacation. Invest in your employees by sending them to a vacation. Invest - The word has power to turn around things and situations.

Rewarding yourself is one of the main areas in which you can invest in yourself (Huge returns guaranteed, no matter how the economy is doing) It gives your mind a picture of a greener side every time you are going through a hard terrain, keeps you motivated and hydrated. I usually picture success with a very favourite chocolate of mine. Despite the fact that I would love to eat that specific chocolate for the rest of my life I say no to it! But after I have a victory I treat myself to it. Its least about the flavor or its taste it’s about self respect, having your own symbol of success and associating with it when you earn it. Make sure you keep the bar higher (If you associate each of your wins, both big and small with your success symbol it no longer is special. In a very recent ‘How I met your mother’ episode Ted says “If all nights are legendary then no Nights are legendary) So keep the bar higher, and Greater the victory Greater be the reward you give yourself, Give yourself a week off, Maybe a a Caviar or even vacation at India (Write to me if you do). It’s something you should try for yourself it’s a lot different from your friends or organisation appreciating your work. Here you appreciate yourself. You tell to yourself “Am proud of you”. Feels like top of the world!

Never spend a single dime. Invest. buying medicines – Investment in your health, Buy a faster computer – invest in your time. Do things, use your money ; as Steve Jobs said “ Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me... going to bed at night saying we have done something wonderful... that's what matters to me". Remember - its only in an investment you expect and demand returns. Lets say it once again, If you take money out of your pocket, how much ever it may be, how much ever rich or poor you may be, don’t spend it. Invest it! If you can’t invest it double it. How do you double it? Fold it into half and put the paper back!

Jugaad - Not just 'how' India works but 'why' India works.

2012-05-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

Jugaad is the Indian contribution to the management world. Just like Japans Just In Time and Chinese ultra large scale manufacturing. But what makes Jugaad perhaps one of the worlds best management technique is that its not just limited to management. Jugaad in India is practiced by all. By all i mean everyone from a corporate CEO to a dabbavalla exploit this great Indian gift to the world on a day to day basis. Meanwhile in western nations its done by scientists in labs. The basic definition of Jugaad is simply a quick fix. In many ways its similar to a hack or a kludge, the main difference being hack is more of a lifestyle thing, a form of 'intellectual art' while jugaad is a survival tactic and is practiced even in the grass root levels at large.
Jugaad before getting widely accepted as a synonym for innovation was a village made truck widely used in North India. Its not exactly a truck, its just a cart fitted with a diesel motor originally intended for pumping water. The truck is a spellbound example of Indian innovation, or Jugaad.

in a recent survey by Legatum Institute 81% of Indian business men admit that jugaad was the key reason for their success. Anil Ambhani once said " Reliance succeed not because of invention but of innovation"
In simple terms if a barrier come along, jugaad is something that will not go back but either jump over it or find a way around. Yes, even corruption is jugaad.

For instance one of the finest examples of illegal jugaad turning out to be a blessing for the lower end could be that of hawala market, which is used by drug lords for money laundering. But it also enables poor migrants to remit money across countries, faster and more cheaply than formal bank system. Jugaad is now widely accepted around the world us an efficient management technique. So is it taught formally in several IVY league universities.

One another example of jugaad i cant resist from telling is that of the great washing machine sale boom that happened in Ludhiana. Companies were wondering what is it that made this not so big town (back then) to show up a washing machine sale rate that competes with the metropolitan cities. Later to their great surprise it was revealed that many dhaba owners bought washing machines not to wash cloths but to make large quantities of lassi with minimal effort and very less time.

A few more Jugaad snaps from India

Picture courtesy :-

http://flickrhivemind.net/

http://www.projectsjugaad.com

http://www.myindiapictures.com

http://www.picdesi.com

http://www.projectsjugaad.com

http://www.myindiapictures.com

How positioning can build and break your brand; Why multi positioning is a very bad idea

2012-05-02T01:50:00.000-07:00

Positioning is essential, anything and everything from political parties to candy bars need to be positioned. Not positioning a product or service is fatal. But always the product or service creates its own space and definition in the minds of the consumer. Hence no-positioning is seen only in the textbooks. But once you take a conscious step in positioning your product, challenge arises. But so do opportunity.

It was the brilliant positioning of Apple that made Apple the Apple we know today so is the same with all others who succeeded. It all gets cornered to how people see your product among many other in a store rack. Your job does not end with getting your product to the market; in fact it starts there. The consumer after doing a scan of alternatives compares, decides, justifies and reinforces their decision. And it’s all based on one factor – positioning.

Hence positioning must be done, and done well. We saw why no-positioning usually does not happen. Even if you don’t formally position it, consumers use and position it by themselves by taking into their experience and comparisons with others.

Multi-positioning is the only way in which you can create a no-positioning effect for your product or service. And trust Me., you don’t want to do that! Multi positioning is a situation where you give more than one positioning to your product. For instance let’s consider an Italian restaurant in U.S of A, Italian in respect to its name, colors used, menu, furniture, except for its tagline which says “Flavors of America”. The not so familiar with marketing retired executive believes he can get both the Italian consumers who live in the region as well as the local Americans. What an awesome plan, Sir. Spare no one! But this is a very bad idea. And it’s all about the danger in confusing the consumer, but I will get to that.

Let’s see another multi positioning illustration. I want to buy a car, a very expensive one. I Google and get obsessed with this one car that has got the body of the latest supercar in town say some model of Lamborghini. The only problem being that it’s marketed by a company that has tradition of selling cheap cars. I will not buy that, social acceptance is the problem. The car is good but consumers position it as cheap because it’s sold by a cheap brand. And in case I want to buy a cheap car, I just love this car; social acceptance is not a problem but way out of my price range. A car initially created with a hope of getting both the markets fail to get even one of them. Practical example could be of Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara Indian launch, a 1.7 million (Indian bucks) car sold by a car whose biggest hits and most cars fall in the below 500 thousand range. Rich people dint want a Maruti Suzuki label and middle income loyal customers of the company just could not afford it! Big time failure.

Facebook, Rolls Royce, Sony, Apple, Amazon, let’s take any big names, none of them have been able to successfully multi position themselves, It just do not work that way. You multi position with hopes of getting different classes of people and you get none. You may focus it broad but its different, let’s consider the Italian restaurant example once again. There is no problem if they position it as a complete Italian or just limited to pizzas its broad and narrow positioning. Not multi positioning.

Why exactly does multi positioning fail, all the time?

2 reasons, first

Every consumer believes that every other person has the same feeling he has about a product or service. In other words, he thinks there is only one way of viewing a product and that is the way he views. When a consumer see a high or low quality T-shirt under a brand name, which he believes to be cheap he assumes the community he often interacts with views it cheap. Hence he reaches a conclusion to buy or reject the T-shirt. If he does not want to position himself as cheap there is a great possibility that he will reject the T-shirt.

Secondly

People hate to be confused! They hate it so much so that they will usually not even give it a try to figure out and clear the doubt. I have read somewhere- “If you cannot convince them, confuse them!” Please don’t try this with your customers (works good with teachers though). If you do not confuse them then at least some you can convince but if you confuse, none will you be able to convince.

Readables

2012-04-16T06:29:00.003-07:00

Education and Significance of Life By J Krishnamurti

The primary premise of the book is that nearly all of the education system (govt. based, religious based, private) fail our children. These systems educate children to be good at techniques or skills, but do not educate them to know themselves.
Continue reading

The 48 Laws of Power By Robert Greene

The 48 Laws of Power is a 1998 book by Robert Greene. Robert Greene takes elements of some of the world's most influential political thinkers to come up with the 48 Laws of Power, from Niccolò Machiavelli to Sun Tzu, he captures their most important points of power

Click to read the 48 laws...

Fact: Natural disasters boost the nations economic growth!

2012-04-16T03:20:00.000-07:00

Natural disasters have always been a burden for the human race, and it will continue to be. I am least interested to discuss the many ill effects of natural disasters, Google will give you a gazillion results for the same.We will now see that natural disasters just like coins, got two sides. We will discuss the brighter side of natural disasters, the long term economic side!

Natural disasters stimulate the economy! This is how it does-
Natural Disasters lead to destruction of property, to rebuild which the government spends millions or billions of dollars and use new resources and technologies. hence disasters lead to

increased cash flow in the economy
greater innovation.

Truck loads of money a government will pump into the economy after a natural disaster will increase the cash flow and strengthen the purchasing power of the society. Which will lead to more saving and investment, hence more growth. This is even applicable to poorer economies nowadays, because we can see that just after a disaster money in really large numbers flow in from outside. Take the case of 2010 Haiti earthquake that took the life of 316,000 people. The nation with a GDP of just $11.18 billion had $12 billion donated by rest of the world for Disaster relief and rebuilding.
But this method could fire back if an economy is having high inflation rate as more cash flow would intensify the inflation. Obviously Inflation beyond a level harms the growth. But firing back usually will not happen because the natural disaster would have already bought the inflation to a pretty low level due to large scale destruction of property and assets which include factories and other employment providing facilities.

Naturally when disaster affected infrastructure is replaced by new infrastructure, the latter is much sleeker and productive compared to the former, hence greater productive economy which leads to higher GDP, hence greater growth! The newly introduced infrastructure and technologies most probably consume less energy and space which is an added advantage.

Lets consider some cases

Ruins of Sichuan earthquake 2008

1) On May 18, 2008, an earthquake shook the Sichuan Province in southwest China. Measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, it was the most devastating earthquake since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. The quake took at least 70,000 lives, left millions homeless, and quite considerably more jobless. Over 100 square kilometers of infrastructure were either seriously damaged or destroyed. The mountain tops sheared into valleys, cities were reduced into rubble and dust, dams were cracked, bridges were collapsed. And if we can believe the Chinese government this major disaster resulted in a 0.3% hike in China's growth.

2)Asia is the worlds most natural disaster hit and vulnerable continent. And yes it is the economically fastest growing continent too.

3) Studies have shown that earthquakes in California and Alaska has helped stir economic activity there.

Natural disasters do help the nation gain economic growth! But take into consideration these following aspects too

1) Natural disasters help the nation gain long term economic growth. Growth decreases till new infrastructure is built then increases
2) All natural disasters except drought help the nation gain economic growth. Meanwhile earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, flood and ice storm boost the economy like no other due to the widespread destruction it causes.
3) Economic growth due to natural disasters may not benefit the poorest and the worst affected.
4) Disasters result in loss of lives and property as well as traditional wisdom and knowledge, making affected communities more vulnerable.
5)Nothing in this world can replace a human life. What i have discussed here is just economic after effects of natural disasters. Disasters should NOT at any cost be seen as an opportunity to gain economic growth. Peace.

References :
http://internationalbusiness.wikia.com
http://online.wsj.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Men, learn from cement - 1

2012-04-15T07:15:00.000-07:00

Human life has got a pretty much big lesson to learn from cement. A lesson worth learning especially if you are a leader.

We all have seen how fast and easily an impression is made on cement when its just laid and wet. we also notice that these once quickly made impressions stay on them forever. These impressions define them. Human life is like cement, in young age whatever that happens around us is absorbed easily and the impression is made. Your family and social background, the character, believes and values of your near and dear all affect and shape the future you!

Children who live with parents who act disrespectfully or even worse to their parents will mostly do the same to them as they grow up.The man is what, how the child was raised.

Realize that children are like wet cement every time you interact with them or in front of them, it makes an impression very hard to change. As these kids grow old its like the cement getting harder and harder. What they learnt in childhood stays. Making impressions now is hard but rewriting impression once made is harder.

It is possible to change the situation and build a new you. It takes a lot of dedication, hardship and interest. An interest to change and be a new you. In my case my God did that for me and am forever thankful to him for that!

You might be a tiny cement hut, but tiny cement huts don't survive in this world. You might be a mansion, whatever you are a tiny cement hut or a mansion as long as you are not a castle, work on and build a castle out of yourself. Strong and rooted. Build the gates strong and high. Only let people worthy enough get in, and make impressions on you, make sure they are good too. Surround yourself with the right people as i would like to call them - fortresses, for many reasons. Castles made of cement adorned with impressions of beauty and goodness not guilt and fear stand tall, stand strong. Peace.

The era of American dominance ends. Dragon calls for celebration.

2012-04-10T21:11:00.001-07:00

Two hundred years ago, Napoleon said, “Let China sleep, when she wakes up, it will shake the world.” China has awakened. And now, it’s shaking the world to its foundations. Uncle Sam, you no longer are the numero Uno and China has just started.

Americans are going to face some serious issue as we will see the wallets of the world swapping Dollar for yuan in the coming days. In fact, the U.S. dollar is already being abandoned by many countries and companies in favor of the Chinese currency — the yuan:

Investors can now buy yuan-denominated bonds in Hong Kong.

Caterpillar and McDonald’s recently financed their mainland China projects directly via yuan bond offerings instead of U.S. dollars.

China’s trade with Russia, Vietnam and Thailand is now being settled in yuan instead of U.S. dollars.

Apple Computer is even accepting iTunes payments in yuan

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), by 2016, the United States will no longer be the world’s number one economic power. According to the IMF, China will be richer than America in less than five years. But according to the prestigious Peterson Institute and based on data published by the University of Pennsylvania the IMF is wrong: The Chinese economy will NOT surpass America’s by 2016. Nor will it happen in 2017 or even in 2020, for that matter.

Peterson and the University of Pennsylvania say China is ALREADY the world’s #1 economic power.So do we.

Take a look at these 12 reasons and some couple of facts to realize for yourself that American dominance is over.

1) The U.S. economy produced goods and services valued at $14.6 trillion in 2010.
Good enough, but China’s Gross Domestic Product soared to $14.8 trillion.

2) The U.S. economy grew only about 1.7% in 2011.

China’s economy grew 9.2% (SEVEN AND ONE-HALF TIMES FASTER!)

3) The Beijing government has almost no debt.

Washington has nearly $15 trillion in debt and obligations.

Fact 1: Securities valued at more than $6 trillion trade on Chinese exchanges every day and

that number is taking huge leaps.

4) China has $3.2 trillion in cash (and its cash reserves are growing ever larger, month after month)

But Washington has almost no cash on hand and has to borrow nearly half of every dollar it spends, much of it is borrowed from China.

5) China’s total tax revenues are up nearly 30% from a year ago

Americas tax revenues are dramatically down due to the sluggish economy.

6) The U.S. has about 160 million workers - 8.50% underemployment

China has 810 million workers (more than 5 times more than the United States)

7) In China’s urban areas wages rose by 7.6% in 2011 and the increase was about double that in rural areas.

inflation-adjusted wages for U.S. workers dropped 1.7%.

Fact 2: China enjoys the largest foreign capital inflows"of any nation on Earth, surpassing the
United States as the world's favorite place to invest.

8) The Program for International Student Assessment ranked Chinese students #1 in the world. American students were ranked fourteenth.

9) China’s Tianhe-1A super computer is the fastest in the world (capable of processing more than 2.5 thousand trillion calculations per second)

American technicians don’t even know how that kind of speed could be even possible.

10) U.S. is winding down its space program,

China is preparing to put a man on the moon

11) China has the largest army in the world - 2.2 million active-duty military personnel

600,000 more than what America has.

12) U.S. is cutting its military expenditures

China has increased military spending every year for more than 20 years and is still boosting it by an average of 11.8% per year.

Fact 4: China’s military is state-of-the-art: It just unveiled the J-20 - its first stealth fighter.

It also has spy satellites, aircraft carriers, nuclear attack submarines and more. China’s nuclear arsenal is especially worrying: While the U.S. has been steadily reducing its stockpiles for nearly 30 years, China continues to build up its forces and is refusing to even begin talks on nuclear arms reduction

In the size of its economy and economic growth, in science, in technology, in the scholarship of its students, in the growth of its military, in every conceivable area, China is already the world’s most dominant nation, but the list doesn't end with it, now lets see the main reason why no one will be able to stop China from taking over the steering wheel of the world economy from the United States of America. And it will happen soon too

Nearly 50% of every dollar Washington spends today is borrowed money, much of it borrowed from China. Without the billions Beijing loans Washington, the entire U.S. government would go bust. Washington would become a virtual ghost town. Millions of Americans who count on government checks would be financially destroyed.

The entire world including the United States must sadly bow to China’s superior power - the greatest the world has ever seen.

I understand; most Americans wont accept this. The U.S. has been number one their entire lives. They've always assumed that would never change. But its high time you accept it. US is no longer the number one. It was but no longer is. The Chinese era begins, , and China will soon be in a position to dictate Economic policies to the world including America. and sometime in the future it too will move its way for a superior power, Data says India. But we will watch and see. Change happens as time passes. Peace.

Sources: http://finance.uncommonwisdomdaily.com, http://www.wikipedia.org/, http://www.worldbank.org/

The poems i love

2012-04-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion.And medicine, law, business, engineering - these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love these inspires us to live on - Robin Williams

1) The road not taken...............................................................

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;	5

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,	10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.	15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.	20

  2) Aedh wishes for the cloths of heaven

W.B. Yeats (1865–1939).  The Wind Among the Reeds.  1899.

HAD I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:	5
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

3) To the Virgins........
.............................................................................

Robert Herrick (1591–1674)........
...............................................

GATHER ye rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day,
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious Lamp of Heaven, the Sun,	5
The higher he’s a-getting
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;	10
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times, still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time;
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,	15
You may for ever tarry.

Innovation that counts

2012-04-08T04:35:00.001-07:00

Once a man told that technology makes men lazy, men asked why, man replied "last month i bought a lawn mover a week after that i hired a man to use it". Yes technology makes us lazier, whats worse?, it also eats up our time and health...Then why do everyone promote technology? just because it makes life easier..or is it better to say lazier? Nothing beats the value of time, But only a very little attention is given to developing technologies that really saves time. Saving time can be done by two ways,
one- just cut short the time, in this case the utility that you received in the former is much less compared to the latter, hence not effective. The second option is to cut the time short, meanwhile providing equal or more utility than what the former, greater time consuming technology offered, hence effective. The best example i could think of now is the email, which was surely a true time saver, compared to the postal services, as not only did it offer a much faster, cheaper platform for transfer of information it also supported mass communication., But most of the technology we have around have fall into the first category, for the sake of a new technology,Lets take movies. Its been decades and cinema duration's stays almost the same, If you can give me a movie that is only 10 minute long and i get more utility than what i could have got from a 2 and a half hour movie, applause! Whatever technology you stuff into it, 3D, 4D, 100D or whatever, i have 10 minutes, recharge me full, and that is an effective technology.
Technology should be first judged on its ability to save time. More time then more of everything. But to be totally effective it should be also efficient and safe. So all innovations should be rounded to three factors. The three tech judge factors. Lesser time consumption.Affordability- both financially and ecologically.Safety - of users health and interests.The one good example i can think of now is undoubtedly the worlds largest passenger aircraft as of now - Boeing Dreamliner 787.lets compare it against the three tech judge factors

1) Lesser time consumption - Flies at 0.85 mach top speed ( am not sure but i guess its pretty fast) and the best part being Boeing has identified 450 airport pairs that could be connected for the first time with the B787. It means a lot less of "via's" in your ticket. Huge time saver
2) Affordability- Dreamliner787 consumes twenty percent less fuel- Hence both ecologically and financially more affordable
3) Safety- The company claims it safe and their test flights also went awesome. So lets say its safe in the air. And also it may help fight jet lag with its 16% higher humidity and lower pressurization. The facilities is also much better and ambiance is really great with the much acclaimed B787 cabin lighting and many such innovations.

A true innovation if you ask me. one post on the well-respected aviation website airlinereporter.com called the B787 " the iPhone of aviation industry".Its not just the new Dreamliner but many such innovations have changed the way we kept our schedule and yeah budget too. Such technologies inspire greater innovation and we could never have enough of it. That is the reason why when these Tech judge factors looks positive its a sure hit commercial success, now all you got to do is communicate it to the world.

[As of February 2012, Boeing had received orders for 870 planes, worth an estimated $110 billion, making the Dreamliner the most successful commercial launch in aviation history]

Education and Significance of Life By J Krishnamurti

2012-04-06T22:19:00.002-07:00

The primary premise of the book is that nearly all of the education system (govt. based, religious based, private) fail our children. These systems educate children to be good at techniques or skills, but do not educate them to know themselves.
Without knowledge of oneself, children will grow to be conflicted between the reality of their true nature, and the constrictions of conforming to civil society or religious doctrine.
An educational system that truly sought to benefit the children would be staffed by adults who were continually studying themselves, and striving to deepen their own awareness, not just conformists seeking the safety of job, income and leisure. Only when open-minded, self-aware adults teach with true love can children learn to know themselves, and so lead dignified, effective lives
This book throws light into many of the loopholes our current educational system is having. I would recommend you to read this book and also share it with others its a short 128 page book. Hope it will inspire you too .

Advocating sheep and other leadership challenges. Why we need a change in business education?

2012-04-01T07:23:00.002-07:00

Leaders face many challenges and it is those which carve out a leader of him or her. But not all overcome these challenges, you need leadership qualities and more than that should use them effectively to tackle the challenges and grow. Never run away from them.

Leaders face challenges like adapting to change, managing diversity and a lot more but we have very common ones but never or almost taught such as the ' Advocating sheep'.
Advocating sheep is a leadership dilemma where by one or a few number of subordinates advocate for you, and seems almost like they will die for you. Maybe because of your charisma or something that made them to follow you madly, but the problem is when these advocating followers are the trouble. A dilemma arises, what could you possibly do to them, you have tried everything, the solution that lies in front of you is to fire them. The only thing they do is singing praise for you. The whole office knows this, "If this is what will happen to a die hard follower than what about us" they might think, leading to stress and demotivation. Moreover some leaders will find it the hardest to look at a co worker who sees them maybe like God and say you're fired.

Some possible things that you could do is get someone above your hierarchy fire them hence absence of a situation where you directly have to fire them, and you could convince them that it was way out of your hand.another case is that if they are extremely skilled but the only problem being they are unproductive as all the time they are worshiping you around, keep them at bay. Never show partiality and do not give them any more attention than they deserve . You could move them across to a different division or chapter if found necessary.make sure you never demotivate them

Situations like advocating sheep are very common in today's organizations and business schools leave out on practical scenarios like these, making it nothing more than 'for the sake of a title' education. Tomorrows leaders should be induced to real life situations, Longer Internships and shorter lectures, more of entrepreneurs and less of full time professors. We need to revamp the business education so that our leaders of tomorrows do not stumble with memorized theories and equations when they get out into the sunlight.

The 48 Laws of Power By Robert Greene

2012-03-28T09:00:00.001-07:00

The 48 Laws of Power By Robert Greene

The 48 Laws of Power is a 1998 book by Robert Greene. Robert Greene takes elements of some of the world's most influential political thinkers to come up with the 48 Laws of Power, from Niccolò Machiavelli to Sun Tzu, he captures their most important points of power

The 48 Laws of power according to Robert Greene

Never outshine the master ...
Never put too much trust in friends; learn how to use enemies.
Conceal your intentions.
Always say less than necessary.
So much depends on reputation. Guard it with your life.
Court attention at all costs.
Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit.
Make other people come to you; use bait if necessary.
Win through your actions, never through argument.
Infection: avoid the unhappy and unlucky.
Learn to keep people dependent on you.
Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim.
When asking for help, appeal to people's self-interests, never to their mercy or gratitude.
Pose as a friend, work as a spy.
Crush your enemy totally.
Use absence to increase respect and honor.
Keep others in suspended terror: cultivate an air of unpredictability.
Do not build fortresses to protect yourself. Isolation is dangerous.
Know who you're dealing with; do not offend the wrong person.
Do not commit to anyone.
Play a sucker to catch a sucker: play dumber than your mark.
Use the surrender tactic: transform weakness into power.
Concentrate your forces.
Play the perfect courtier.
Re-create yourself.
Keep your hands clean.
Play on people's need to believe to create a cultlike following.
Enter action with boldness.
Plan all the way to the end.
Make your accomplishments seem effortless.
Control the options: get others to play with the cards you deal.
Play to people's fantasies.
Discover each man's thumbscrew.
Be royal in your fashion: act like a king to be treated like one.
Master the art of timing.
Disdain things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best revenge.
Create compelling spectacles.
Think as you like but behave like others.
Stir up waters to catch fish.
Despise the free lunch.
Avoid stepping into a great man's shoes.
Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter.
Work on the hearts and minds of others.
Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect.
Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once.
Never appear perfect.
Do not go past the mark you aimed for; in victory, learn when to stop.
Assume formlessness.

Budget 2012. For the sake of a budget (India)

2012-03-24T11:21:00.002-07:00

Sachin Tendulkar hit his hundredth international century on March 16 2012. Something else also happened on the same day, which should have been the highlight of the day, too bad Indian budget 2012 failed to even get her peoples notice. Shame on you Pranab Mukherjee, the only thing that seemed to be good with the dunk in corruption UPA-2 was that they took good policies irrespective of the opposition. And these were the actions that took India to the forefront. Government face more opposition obviously from Inside, from trinamool than anyone else not even PAKISTAN! BJP is a sad story; they have even lost interest in news, but not in all sorts of media, seems like.

Century by Sachin dint save India, neither will the budget of Pranab do. Pranab ensured for now that UPA-2 will keep rolling, by saying nothing that could bring a frown to Mamathas face. Shame on you again Pranab! Survive is the last word warriors want to see, all those who supported you in between of all those controversies. (Which DOES NOT mean that those were wrong). Either you take Indian economy to glory or get the hell out of here. A nation should be governed by MEN! Not cowards.

“As long as it’s in control(inflation), no deficits matter,” Which only means that India is going to get screwed up the moment Inflation will go out of control, and Mr. Mukherjee does not realize how much less is the control he will have over inflation in the coming times, because Inflation will depend not just on domestic factors. The quantitative easing in the US and Iran issues which keeps the crude prices high is more of a knife hung above India’s dreams. Many such loopholes can be seen in the budget another one being he ignoring the Industrial slowdown he himself acknowledged. The economic survey too had identified Industrial slowdown a reason for growth deceleration.

53% of Indians trust that its government will take the right decisions. Let it be the fuel price hike or whatever, we all did see that in the later stages all these turn good for nation; Inflation did come to a steep low. 53% people - high enough! But not anymore a UPA-2 government that cannot take firm decisions without looking at the face is nothing worse than a Dog that just barks, looks like UPA-2 cant even do that now. Remember UPA-2, India is bigger than you and your allies; we don’t care about you surviving. Turn back before you reach the no turnaround zone.

Is a monarchy with a breeze of harmony better than a democracy soaked in blood?

2012-02-15T06:06:00.000-08:00

  Is a monarchy with a breeze of harmony better than a democracy soaked in blood? this is a question that can have different answers from continent to continent ,civilizations to civilizations ,why say more it is a question that can make a clash within a human soul.

Many nations have screamed "NO" to the above question ,and they have paid its price ,but the reward is freedom and that's what heaven means to these people.
Oscar Wilde once told the world that "When liberty comes with her hands soaked in blood ,it is hard to shake hands with her" and this have inspired many human souls particularly the Chinese to be a parrot in a golden cage than taste freedom , which means nothing other than self sufficiency to them.

   China-the dragon has kept its suffering souls in its curl and swirl for generations , with not even a single dilemma among them.
They have seen the dragon cheering with satisfaction  in the nearby times , which have only made them see the brighter side. (which is surely not bad) but in this case let them think  , how the dragon gained by keeping them at a food inflation rate of around 10% to grow at 10% , Let the Chinese think.
   Meanwhile the Chinese people may not get a secured life than what they have it now in a democratic society ,Whatever is the circumstances China have never forgotten to keep her people employed (perhaps largest no of employment in the world) ,educated and with pride. China has also evolved itself into a open society where the opportunities are abundant  and the communism is moving way for the state capitalism,

   May be it is for the goodwill of her people the dragon has kept them still with her fists of iron ,Let china think and choose between breeze of harmony and liberty soaked in blood!

   This post is just a personal view.

The National Restructuring Project, and how can it restructure India?

2012-02-15T05:33:00.000-08:00

Why MG National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is not the best thing to do?
The MGNREGA is the largest initiatives of its kind in the world, It was the flagship program of UPA1, and gave a lot to cheer back then, But as time passed by, the economic crisis of the decade gave a terrible shock to the world economy , even though effect on India’s economy was minimal compared to many western capitalist nations , the inflation rate soared up , the nation was on its way to that “heavy growth period” And actually who pays for that? It is the low income Indian.

Economic crisis did have an impact on the Indian economy, But as we dig deep we can find that the inflation is caused not only by the impact of world economy, but also as a result of the heavy growth and many steps taken by the government to overcome these, like stimulus packages and variations bought in CRR, SLR and interest rates

One of the main causes is left unnoticed by many mainly due to the high degree of welfare touch it has –The NREGA.

The government pumps in a whooping 40 thousand + crore Rs into the society a year which naturally gives an increase in the disposable income, hence a growth in the inflation as well. The notable fact is that the tax-GDP ratio has actually been falling and the program could end up costing 5% of GDP.

Further concerns include increasing corruptions by the state government. It has been found out that more people have job cards than actual people on field. Asking and receiving Bribes have also been reported, There have been cases where as high as Rs 50 are asked for a job card.

The NREGA also fails to bring in substantial amount of development into the society to ensure efficient and effective development .The options are almost none for the government as most of the low income people are non skilled, forcing the government to employ them in low skilled or non skilled works like plucking of weeds and cleaning of water bodies, which also ensured that the cycle goes on and on, promising employment all the time. But sustainable development is a question left out.

“A multi-crore fraud has also been suspected where many people has been issued the NREGA card who is either employed with another Government Job and who are not even aware that they have a Job Card. In Gujarat, a scam of Rs 10 million has taken place. The productivity of laborers involved under NREGA is considered to be lower because of the fact that laborers consider it as a better alternative to working under major projects. There is criticism from construction companies that NREGA has affected the availability of labor as laborers prefer to working under NREGA to working under construction projects.” – A major online news portal.

राष्ट्रीय पुनर्गठन परियोजना

The NRP. How could it place India one step ahead in the game?

NRP stands for national restructuring program.

The national restructuring program is expected to be an efficient as well as effective program, for guaranteeing sustainable development in the much diverse Indian economy. It is formulated so as to decrease the government spending and promote sustainable development.

NRP is formulated with a target of long term gain for a greater population than a short term gain for a smaller part of the society, also the changing status of Indian economic system is taken into consideration.

NRP is not a substitute for the NREGA in the societal view, but theoretically saying NRP can replace NREGA in the long run. But the chances are almost ‘0’. NRP can facilitate in a building of a better and stable economy through NREGA. Hence a hand in hand method is preferred.

NRP is designed to ensure transparency in procedures, effectiveness of the work done and efficiency of the society in creating a sustainable economy. NRP creates no direct revenue for the government; but it contributes to the GDP as the savings and investment rates go up.

Every district in India varies in terms development, level of education, basic infrastructure and male female ratio. Hence the concept of NRP cannot be implemented in one stage.

It will only be logical to slowly dissolve the NRP into our society without discouraging the NREGA. NRP works best with NREGA for an unemployed person. NREGA through NRP is different from the normal NREGA the main difference being shift of NREGA from welfare to workfare.

Working of NRP.

Every institution/corporate/firm/organization/ or any kind of body that employs people gives a detailed application for employees which mentions expected qualification, experience etc..This is scanned and details of unemployed individuals whose details match with specifications are then forwarded to the employer.

All of these are accomplished through a powerful integrated network connected to each and every district of the country, this database store the information of each and every people listed as well as employers. Hence NRP can only reach its full potential with Unique Identification Project.

People irrespective of their qualifications and employers irrespective of their size can list themselves into this massive NRP network.

The difference of NREGA through NRP is that if there is no productive work to employ, or works that are directly connected to poverty like flood removal or disaster assistance, people are given the unemployment allowance that is 1/2^nd of the wage, which will be paid by the state government.

NRP Administration.

The NRP works with the collectorate as its regional office ,NRP works on a district based level so that , expenses are lesser compared to a panchayath based model meanwhile it is more efficient and closer to people than a state level approach.

Role of the district office is also that of a monitoring body , that is the office makes sure that all works done through the NRP is contributing to the national GDP, and no work is left unproductive, it also monitors labor relations of the firm is kept as per the standards.

Collector is the regional head, so as to reduce the political influences in operations.

A central body is made and maintained by the Government of India which has members representing each and every state; the head is appointed by the central Government.

The restructuring role of the NRP.

Most of India’s population is found to be illiterate, that is 80% of the population in 18-22 age group are illiterate and literacy most often doesn’t do any help as 90% of the employers in India require people with vocational skills and 90%of countries collage and school education has nothing to do with technical skills its only about bookish knowledge

Recent statistics say that in the age group of 15-60 only 0.3%has technical education, considering these factors and taking into account our 1.2 billion +population, it is mandatory that making them fit for the future would do the job for India. But a price needs to be paid. The estimated cost for the structural repair of India’s educational system and providing technical education is found out to be 490,000 crore rupees, which is 10% of India’s GDP.

The amount (490,000 crore) could be found out by implementing NRP, as there is a revenue for the government from the project, not only by cashing on the potential developments of the country with more disposable incomes with the employee as well as employer (more savings and investments) also by getting rid of huge NREGA spending a year.NRP may not be able to find this sum in a short period but it sure will in a long term perspective.

The spending on educational restructuring, if the estimations are correct would yield out a 17, 51,487 crore for the country which is 61% of the nations GDP.

But as in present case it is obvious that 92%-93% of the total applications for the NRP listings by the people would be for non-skilled, illiterate jobs. And there should be naturally some factor that enables us to create new or existing employers that would motivate them to employ these people. This could be

· Tax exemptions.

Giving a different bracket preference to employers employing these people –with X% of total employees being in lower end of the society, X varies with demography, size and manner of job done (With terms and conditions).

NRP in an entrepreneurial view

NRP is also formulated with a purpose of promulgating an entrepreneurial tendency all over India, especially among the women. People should register themselves as self employed for this .The people who register themselves as “NRP self employed” are listing themselves as employed. Hence on receiving their application the regional office creates a request (if found satisfactory) to the government for the business behalf of the applicants. These businesses are created by a group or an individual. The government gives them loan and initial support.

They can even employ themselves in projects like Shakhty amma an initiative of ITC that is currently creating tens of thousands of entrepreneurs among women, even in the deepest rural areas of India. It has been a great success. Hence if implemented and executed in the right way with the monitoring done transparently there is no way Entrepreneurial NRP can turn out to be a disappointment .

Benefits of NRP

ü To make sure that minimum wages as per state govt is kept

ü To increase disposable income in a healthy way

ü To make rural India better for investments as well as living

ü To increase self sufficiency

ü To increase the Govt revenue

ü To decrease the Govt spending on NREGA

ü To improve employment rates

ü To increase standard of living in both urban and rural India

ü To enhance the complete image of the nation

ü To improve domestic production and consumption

ü To pull out people from BPL (subsequently)

ü To improve the labor standards as regional offices also has a monitoring function

ü To bring in transparency to employment and related activities.

Follow you passion!

2012-02-15T05:25:00.000-08:00

Hard work often does not work! Almost every single person I come across chase dreams that does not belong to them; they chase money, status, social acceptance and almost anything that glitters.

We see only a handful number of people who chose to follow their passion. And among all the successful people I have interacted with, those who chose to chase their heart have always taken a position on top. That taught me that true victory belongs to those who show courage to take up their passion and conquer temptations of easiness. Listening to one’s own heart is not for the ‘relaxed at attitude’ herd, who just want to take the fairer grassy road that is travelled by all.

Passion is like an unfinished sculpture within you, when you follow it you learn experience and discover more of it, carving out the imperfections. As you carve, the spark inside you becomes a fire, the fire which inspires you to work hard. And when you work harder for it, better and better polished your sculpture is.

Following passion is also about monetizing it. In this information era, how much ever weird your passion may be as you learn more about it you will be able to effectively monetize it.

Passion is a spark, a half finished sculpture, is what you truly are, and is the beat of your heart and also it is the burden of the mind which goes with the flow.

But for those who listen to their heart it’s like the Robert frost poem…

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference.”

So stand up now, let that spark inside you grow into a fire hot enough to burn all the imperfection of that sculpture within, no time is too late and no star is too distinct. So follow, monetize and celebrate your dreams.

Some very moving quotes on pursuing your dreams , Feel free to notify us if you come across something awesome like these.

Image courtesy - www.http://quotesfactory.com, www.http://everythingsright.com