Deva's Commentary

9/11 Anniversary - My reactions

2011-09-11T12:21:00.000-05:00

FIRST OF ALL MY RESPECTS TO ALL BRAVE, SERVING, AND MARTYRED AMERICANS!

On the anniversary of 9/11, to gauge world opinion I have been reading articles and essays by purported experts on America & Americans in foreign publications trying to describe the psyche of Americans and their government. It has been painful reading them give advice to us, which I consider nothing but stupid or short of senseless drivel. Their articles and essays may appeal to the less aware people who get swayed by even a light populist breeze, however I have to inform them their analysis is dead wrong! You cannot spend 4 years in an isolated environment of an academic institution in America and let that make you and expert on American psyche! That's doing no better than the terrorists hijackers of 9/11.

I can tell you as a person who grew up here and has now spent half my adult life in this country their "analysis" is way off the mark. One doesn't become an expert on America living in a closed environment like they did.

As much as I am saddened and humbled by the events of 9/11, and bow my head to the Heroes. I dearly wish from the bottom of my heart for the sake of the ones who lost their lives, their near and dear ones, my own children, family, friends and myself the events of the day would have never happened!

Without being an apologist for anyone, have some people in American government and corporate houses made mistakes along the way I'm sure they have. Tell me a nation or corporation that has not bungled along the way? Do you then go out and try to destroy them completely unless there intentions were clearly maleficent? Being a follower of history I can find less than a handful of such instances. America the government and America the corporate has never done anything close to that. Jokes aside, there is no arrogant and loudmouth America. This notion that America the big brother is trying to control the world as the single evil entity is nothing short of poppy seed ingested hallucinations that I can attribute to!

There is only ONE AMERICA, the warm loving, caring, & sharing ONE! The America these people will never know because of their inbuilt and deeply ingrained subconscious prejudices. If America and Americans are so bad why come here? Why not stay in the comfort of your cold dusty cave, or pest filled tropical jungle, or hot, dry arid desert, or wherever else you are coming from? I have yet to see people immigrating to Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan, India, China, Mexico, or even Japan and Europe, in droves like they make a bee-line for America even now!

For the last 3 years the country has been in a recession, bottoming housing market, high unemployment, and various other issues, yet the American people or the American government and business has not turned their on backs on anyone anywhere whether it be helping the earthquake victims in Haiti or Japan, rescue trapped miners in Chile (YES, American Technology at it's BEST!), trying to contain the financial meltdown in Europe (would have never guessed it, right?).

Does the world standby Americans when a natural calamity befalls us? Thank goodness we don't have half the problems they rest of the world has or we would be left up the creek to dry...

It confuses me that the rest of the world thinks that Americans have unlimited patience to keep on accepting the hurls and abuse it constantly throw at us yet we keep turning the other cheek! Has 9/11 changed Americans? It didn't immediately, but the procession of subsequent events is surely bringing about a slow and marked change in the thinking of "American" people.

Let me tell you what the event of 9/11/2001 has done, it has made the majority of simple minded, loving, and trusting Americans realize the world is a much deadlier and vengeful place than they can even imagine. That it is not all about "do unto others as you would have others do unto you"! There are people, countries, and ideologies that want to hold you(Americans) responsible & destroy you for the real and imaginary grievances which are inflicted on them by their own people!

Here's a thought if the Saudi hijackers were so upset at their monarchy why didn't they do something in their own country? Because they knew they would have faced a certain and mind you horrible death if their government had even got a whiff of their plans. So they come to America abuse our hospitality, take advantage of our law enforcement mechanism (innocent until proven guilty of an actual crime), prey on the tolerance of American society (had it been any other country they would have been marked men), to kill our people! If once was not enough we have another guy try to do the same almost a decade later by trying to use a SUV as an IED in New York - AGAIN! Yet it was not the first or second time that New York was made a target. In 1993 the WTC was the target of the first of many attempts to kill thousands of Americans by blowing up a truck filled with explosives in its' basement parking lot. So these were and are not isolated one off aberrations, but a series of well thought out deadly projects to inflict harm on the United States of America and it's citizens!

The American people are the ones that ALLOW their representatives to spend billions if not trillions of dollars on foreign aid helping other people. It is the American people who have ALLOWED their C-suite executives to export millions of jobs outside of the country to places like India & China. Yes, there is a business motive to it, but don't forget we could have done sent those jobs anywhere else had we wanted. Don't forget companies like Dell, HP, and others have shut down operations in India and elsewhere before and moved them elsewhere. America, could become a closed and protected economy like China, India, and dozens of other countries. America could also start imposing high tariffs on foreign imports like Europe, Japan, and others. Yet, we don't do it, at-least not yet; and don't tempt us into doing it! The tide is turning as 9/11 has started to make common Americans more aware of what has been and is going on in the rest of the world. Instead of trying to become equals the rest of the world does not think of rising up to the level of America, so what does it do try to do drag it down to their level!

Americans and myself included, because I am an AMERICAN and a PROUD one, are coming to the realization we need to take of our country and people first! We are getting sick of hearing there was a tsunami, earthquake, genocide in a certain part of the globe so we need to send billions of dollars of aid there and put our peoples' lives at risk! We don't care if people are starving in certain countries so we need to send jobs there to help them out. Why? Because look what 50 years of do gooding did to America, more than 3,000 killed in New York City!

For the last 200 years America took care of itself and the world when no-one was there to be a role model, now I think the time has come for America and Americans to once again take care of themselves, but let the rest of the world step-up it's own game!

Am I upset? YES, I am UPSET! Upset as an AMERICAN! Upset as a parent of couple of great ALL AMERICAN kids! UPSET AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN WHO HAS HAD ENOUGH!

On behalf of most(see we still have freedom of choice!) AMERICANS I'm giving the rest of the world notice don't take us for granted, at-least not anymore!

WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

The Myth of Osama Bin Laden's Lavish Lifestyle

2011-05-07T15:57:00.002-05:00

Team Six of the US Navy SEALS successfully assaulted and were finally able to bring an end to the OBL and his terrestrial existence on planet Earth. I believe this is a fact we should rejoice on and congratulate the administration and the brave men and women of this country who risked their lives to make this happen!

I am saddened that even the American media forgets to mention that he, i.e. OBL was one of the major brains behind the 9/11 WTC carnage that took 3,000 lives on American soil and countless many overseas! Let's not forget those whose lives were lost and the sacrifices their family members have to still endure! As well as the permanent changes that have happened in the daily lives of billions of people worldwide since that fateful morning of 9/11/2001.

However, I am more dismayed at the general media who has tried to milk this event by trying to portray a larger than life image of OBL after his death! Let's get one thing straight and clear everyone OBL was a COWARD! And NO he was NOT charismatic or a leader! He preyed on the weak, poor, socially, economically, and mostly uneducated youth like his partner Al-Zawahiri to entice young Muslims to fight for their (OBL+Zawahiri) personal ideology. Yes, there were a few educated folks who supported the same agenda, but they were and are still the minority contrary to what the media wants us to believe. This is no different from how gangs find recruits from modern urban inner cities or militias recruit new converts for their cause in the American Suburbia.

This weasel or rat whatever you want to call him was hiding in a small town being protected by elements of the Pakistani intelligence and military. For days I have been reading about reports of the multi-million dollar compound where the brave and outstanding members of Team Six finally put an end to him. If you have seen pictures of the building where OBL finally breathed his last he wasn't living like a shadow of what moderately well-off Pakistani's live like. The place while big clearly looked in a state of disrepair. It was more like a dilapidated safe-house.

I can bet for a fact that his Pakistani or other handlers lived ten times more lavishly than what he was found living like in his last days. Okay so the compound was large, but big F#$%*&^ deal! OBL was a global multi-millionaire, the media doesn't get tired of telling us this every single moment! If you look at the compound around this large building it didn't even have a garden or a lawn that was properly manicured or well kept, just a dirt field. Small time local-millionaires in the region live in better comfort and style than what OBL lived before he died.

Even the furniture, which you see from the pictures and video released by the US, in the so called mansion looked like it was from the middle ages. OBL was living like a rat in a sewer, not like the Sheikh he was supposed to be. This is no different than when Saddam was found hiding in an underground hole by the US forces years ago! For all the palaces that Saddam had he was literally found trying to survive and stay alive in a rat hole!

What people in the west don't realize is that in most other countries having high walls and gated courtyards is the norm for anyone who is even slightly middle class or above. For Americans who have traveled to places in Mexico, Puerto-rico, DR, or Asia, etc. they will know this is a fact. Again unlike the US or Europe very, very few houses are wired for internet in these countries. With the proliferation of mobiles (cells phones for Americans) most people don't even have landlines for telephones.

Secondly, I can bet most average folks would probably have more than a couple of hundred bucks on them plus at-least couple of credit cards most of the time. All OBL had was 500 Euros (they say he hated the US & everything American so probably no dollars ;-). OBL was a legitimate Sheikh a multi-millionaire who was hiding in a country where credit card acceptance and usage is very low compared to US, he had to have cash on him to survive if ever even in a minor pickle. 500 Euros is not a lot of money, even an economy airfare out of Pakistan costs twice as much. The cost of a weekend stay in a decent hotel in a Pakistani metro would have cost him more than 500 Euros!

In all reality the poor bugger was running scared, hiding in Pakistan where power outages and brownouts are the norm. Life was not even normal forget about being lavish for him at all, he was pretty much stay'in alive by the skin of his teeth! Maybe the CIA guys paid (or were charged) a million bucks for the house next door to watch him from. Which is why they think his house was also worth the same. Just like the US Govt. pays $500 bucks for an ordinary hammer, that sells for $10 at Home Depot!

So read between the hype and garbage the traditional media reports.

Outsourced - The TV Series

2010-10-14T21:38:00.000-05:00

Episode #4

Coming...

Episode #3

Episode #2

Episode #1

Outsourced - The TV Series

2010-10-14T21:25:00.000-05:00

The episode today - #4, was much much better -

Looming CWG Fiasco in India

2010-09-23T01:14:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to grasp the frustration everyone seems to have as well as the overwhelming urge to appoint blame and lay responsibility on a few individuals trotting around as figureheads... BTW, not absolving anyone from taking personal respon...sibility. Yet I am probably correct to assume that everyone of us who is demonstrating this "supposed" indignation is miles away from the ground reality in the planning, organizing, and execution of these games. Come on guys these are just games! Seems we are living in a pre-cold war world when the US & USSR tried to project their capabilities via the Olympics and we now know how hollow that projection of capabilities was / is. SCREW THE CWG, WHY THE HELL HASN'T ANYONE COMMENTED ON THE PLIGHT OF THE FOLKS DISPLACED BY THE ONGOING FLOODING IN NORTH INDIA!!! See how F#$%ed up our armchair brougeoisie mentality has become! If the events leading up to games had not been exposed by the media as a humongous SNAFU, I bet everyone here would have then reveled in basking in the glory of such great CWG games, and hailed the capabilities of India Shining! While we all know how superficial and limited those capabilities are... Development of infrastructure has always been the Achilles heel in India. Let's first accept this only then can we hope to move ahead, otherwise we will only move on...(!?!?!?)

Update: 12Hours later...

It was interesting to see Sr. Editor Headlines Today Sandeep Bamzai echo the exact same sentiment about India's weakness in infrastructural development as the major cause of the current CWG fiasco as well as the issues facing the general public due to flooding.

Follow-up: More Facts About $35.00 Indian Tablet

2010-08-11T22:25:00.002-05:00

A NDTV report with Indian Union Minister of HRD Mr.Kapil Sibal with a working prototype of the $35.00 Tablet computer.

Gadget Guru - NDTV LINK

See a video from a few other Indian Tech wizards from a company called AllGo Systems at Trade show in Florida, USA.

Evaluating the $35 Indian Computer

2010-07-24T13:31:00.002-05:00

After reading a comment by Ajay Vaishnav, from the Times of India about the low cost tablet computer developed in India and just announced this week, I could not help myself in responding to it. For his take on it, please click on his name.

Sometimes we become victims in the desire to create a perfect world, where we fail to realize that while things may not always be perfect there is usually an opportunity to make an incremental or even marginal difference which over a period of time will gather enough momentum to create a self sustaining cycle.

How else due you think India has become the back office of the world without having the necessary infrastructure to support it, in terms of human and other resources? If it was only about a quality vs. cost the mega-corporations would have found another place by now...wouldn't they?

Yes, there are large tracts of poverty and under developed infrastructure in the country, but there are also extremely large tracts of developed and affluent areas in India that would shame any progressive western economy. That development did not happen overnight by being transplanted from somewhere else, it gradually evolved due to small efforts over time that coalesced to create the current vibrant economy. You can see the opposite of that happening in the US with the minor, but steady erosion of the education system, the numbing down of the work-force, and decay of built up infrastructure with no investments being made to maintain or create anything of new or lasting value. Just as every business has a life-cycle, every nation has its glory days till things start to wane and then the cycle of re-building and creating new systems and values begins anew!

I’d like to mention that companies like Infosys, Wipro, TCS, etc. did not suddenly make a big splash on the world stage in the latter part of the '90s when personal computers and the internet started becoming ubiquitous first in the US then the world over. Yes, the general awareness of these organizations was greatly amplified, along-with the newly discovered capabilities of the Indian workforce. Those visionaries kept toiling away quietly without any hope of impending fame and fortune. Just imagine a group of engineers from India trying to convince C-level executives of large corporations in Europe and US to let them do their back office work and handle phone calls for them in India in the mid-'80's, when there was hardly a reliable telephone network or any other similar infrastructural network in the in the country to handle local calls let alone international calls and a regular uninterrupted supply of electricity, even in the so called developed metros. There was no way they could have met the agreed upon SLAs based on the available facts!

If they had looked at the reality of the situation they should have come to the conclusion that the situation was bleak and the hurdles insurmountable, so they should have given up on it...? Tenacity and the will to forge ahead in spite of formidable odds are what create larger than life inspirations and role models; while naysayers keep repeating the same old tales of doom and gloom, without thinking even once that they have the opportunity to do so because of the efforts of those that they are belittling! Had someone not have planted the tiny seeds of the technological revolution in India years ago I wonder how Ajay Vaishnav would have found a way to voice his reservations that can be heard the world over? I doubt he would have taken a megaphone in hand and marched the world over holding a placard in the other to let everyone know his thoughts... or maybe he would have.... When you're talking about the human spirit anything is possible!

The pilgrims that arrived on the shores of America over 300 years ago not only survived and prospered, they reinforced to individuals across the world the concept of what we now term the "American Dream". Like Alexander, the Vikings, or even the Britisher's before them (let's not get into the politics of it) they were pioneers. That same indomitable will and passion for innovation and continuous urge to better oneself and move on ahead is present in each and every one of us the world over.

LEADERSHIP - IS IT A MYTH???

2010-06-05T10:25:00.003-05:00

I often wonder if the behavior of top management of various companies, businesses, or for that matter any organization is just short sighted now or if has always been so myopic through the ages. Could it be that due to greater scrutiny and supposed greater oversight we are able to observe their fallibility much more often than was possible in the past.

Look around closely at almost any organization be it public or private and you will see supposedly brilliant individuals who we look/looked up to and revere make meaningless and absurd decisions that effect the lives of hundreds and thousands, if not millions, of people in their immediate vicinity. Yet these folk go about living their lives as if nothing has happened, completely oblivious to the plight of all the people around them.

This leads me to contemplate - Is Leadership really such a great trait, and if it is, what exactly is the secret sauce? I know, have read, and even written about the qualities that make a supposedly good or even great leader, but is it really so...

Let's take a few luminaries who are hailed as some of the greatest leaders objectively dissect their behavior as leaders... I know I am probably going to get raked over the coals for bringing up these names...

John Francis Welch, Jr.- Chairman of GE Corporation for 20 years from 1981-2001, more commonly known as "Jack" and "Neutron Jack".

Here is a recent quote from him - “On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world,” he said. “Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy … your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products.”

However, this is the same man who initiated the concept of "Shareholder Value" or pursed the concept by laying off more than a quarter of GE's workforce within 5 years becoming CEO to pursue higher profits, and increase market cap.

He also pushed the managers of the businesses he kept to become more productive, by constantly working 70-80 hours a week. "Jack" worked to eradicate perceived inefficiencies by trimming inventories and dismantling the workforce. He shut down factories, reduced payrolls and cut lackluster old-line units. For a company that touts innovation and new products what is there to show right now? He is also the same person who pushed for the expansion of GE Capital which almost took the entire company down and caused it to lose it's 'AAA' credit rating. As well as begging the Feds for a TARP bailout, as it was deemed too big to be allowed to fail! Now granted Jack was not at the helm when these things went down, but he took credit for everything good that happened with GE even after he left office, often boasting how he had laid the foundation for everything during his 20 year reign at the company.

If Jack was such a great manager as he has been made out to be then how did everything start to unravel so fast as soon as he left office, that too only after he was assured of an $8,000,000.00 annual pension with lavish company perks. Was there a great smokescreen and mirror show going on, which made him larger than life!?!

His so called "VISION" has decimated so many lives, leaving carcasses all over while he lives in his glass tower in New York, oblivious to the plight of many, still pontificating now!!!

Does anyone ever stop to think that it's not all about widgets and processes, there is a human element to it also! Widgets and processes are there for the use and consumption by human beings. If people can not afford to buy and use the widgets and services no matter how great they are what is the use of creating them. That is exactly the situation the US landscape is in right now. The likes of Jack created this "Shareholder Value" ponzi scheme to pay themselves and now we are there to pick up the pieces...

Maybe one should read Jack's biography with a new perspective, after taking off the rose tinted glasses....

More to come...

Business and Politics

2010-05-22T13:29:00.002-05:00

Did you ever stop to consider that Business and Politics are almost identical! Except, that businesses have no multi-party system, which kind of makes business similar to the communist party where anyone can reach the top, but everyone has to toe the party line!- RaviD

The above has to the above ultimate irony for a capitalist business from an ideology point of view.

Some more nuggets -

Monopoly - Monarchy

Big Business - Oligarchy

Board of Directors - Senators / Congressmen / Member of Parliament

Chairman Emeritus - Queen of England / King of Spain / etc.

Institutional Shareholders - Power brokers

Individual Shareholders - Voters

Venture Capitalists - Lobbyists

Transnational Corporations - World Domination

Mergers and Acquisitions - European Union

Corporate De-merger - Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

Corporate Cartels - NATO

By the way did you notice there is no mention of democracy here. Democracy is about promoting equality which is a supposed need (disguised wants), business thrives when there is inequality, which promotes wants. So essentially in a thriving economy or business environment there is not need for a democracy...???!??!? Comments...?

Some more analogies -

Walmart - China

Conglomerates - Ex-Soviet Union

Google - India

GE - USA

Goldman Sachs - Switzerland

Microsoft - Japan

Exxon-Mobile - Saudi Arabia

SAP - Germany

Yahoo - England

Ask.com - France

Apple - Canada

Patent Trolls - Al Qaeda

Bear Stearns - Greece

Lehman Bros. - Iceland

Cisco - South Korea

NAFTA - United Nations

PIGS in the Euro-Zone

2010-05-21T00:37:00.003-05:00

On Feb.25th of this year I had blogged about the coming global financial meltdown that would be precipitated due to turmoil caused by the financial profligacy of the European Union member states in the last decade. The Euro-Zone has even joined a visually enticing acronym for the countries most likely to default now - PIGS = Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain. Friends if you have any doubts please go back an look up the stats on my blog that I refer to, Greece was the country with the least amount of issues. Just imagine what will happen if Portugal, Ireland, Spain implode or explode depending on what word you would like to describe the event as. All I can say is Europe will be knee deep in - PIS!!!

A fact that had been staring us in the face for anyone who cared to look, but not one major economist or financial guru was willing to admit to. So folks how does it feel to be lighter in the pocket? Invest in currency & commodities - Euro, metals, and energy? Gee whiz crude is down 15%, the Euro is down 15%, Gold is down from it's high, so friends what is going on.... ? Stay tuned...

Politics... taking the plunge!

2010-03-23T21:42:00.002-05:00

Entering the political arena requires you to be ready to bare not only your deepest darkest secrets, but also your soul! Speak nothing of being under constant scrutiny even if trimming your toe nails. Also, entails very, very long hours and finally walking the talk you preach... I guess that is why people are terrified of politics...

So in the end it's ... hard to like what you are afraid of, which is why I believe politics is despised so much.

Sometimes I think where and how these folks get the energy to continue from early morning to late night on a regular basis.

I guess the best analogy it to think of it like getting into a warm mud bath at a spa-salon, first you have to cleanse yourself by taking a shower, stay naked and get into the warm mud, seems so yucky!!! ... but they say it has therapeutic value and as you get used to the warm mud so don't want to get out of it as it seems so relaxing and comfortable!

If ever you think you want to come out the mud bath then imagine you look like a pig wallowing naked and caked in mud, and by then staying in the mud bath seems more enticing than getting clean and going about your normal business!

What happened to - AVATAR, at the Oscars...

2010-03-08T16:40:00.000-06:00

What happened to AVATAR, at the Oscars yesterday...?

Seems the critics saw past the Na'vi and their blue skins... James Cameron you can take us for a ride as many times as you want whether under water in the Abyss, on water on the Titanic, or across the galaxy to Pandora, but don't expect Oscars to be showered upon you every single time you make a movie now.

Gatekeepers and Screeners at the door - That's what HR recruiters call themselves!

2010-03-03T09:41:00.001-06:00

As mentioned in the prior post I got a bunch of responses to my questions on HR and Recruiting. Some of the responses were just amazing!!!

Listed below is the query I framed and a few selected responses -

"Quite often I hear - "... a resume has less than 30 seconds to make an impact to a recruiter - independent or corporate HR.." WHY?"

- "Let me first correct you: It takes 3-10 seconds to review a resume to verify if it meets qualifications for a majority of positions. If it was 30 seconds, I would never get any work done."

- "Because time is money."

- "10-15 seconds tops... You have to market yourself if you are missing some requirements on the job description...otherwise 10 seconds is all you will get."

- "My goodness, I don't read resumes for a living, but do you know how many of these answers I could skim over in 30 seconds and get a pretty darn good idea of what they were talking about?"

- "For the same reason cyber security is in such great (sic) shape in this country and beyond. As far as I can tell that's 29 seconds past the maximum attention span of most recruiters."

- "The way we see the problem is often greater than the problem we're trying to solve.

To most people;

1. Busy = important, 30 seconds "I must be busy, I'm important"
2. Decision Making = Important, "5's" (performance level relative to the 1,000's in their industry) aren't asked their thoughts on "move the needle" issues, thus, why not make it up in volume, 30 seconds at a time ... important again
3. Believe their intentions are good; say a prayer and move on

I coach the coachable HR people on how to do the process more effectively and efficiently. However, my systems reward / create consequences for HR performance as most don't.

Litmus Test on the Culture of an HR Dept:

What % of the HR Payroll will be paid, regardless of who is hired?
Example: $5M in salaries and $4.7 is paid regardless while $4.9 - $5.1 has a 95% chance of getting paid. Where's the motivation?

Life's too short to worry about it unless you're helping someone that is open to changing it."

- "They're not, by and large, out there searching for talent. They're the gatekeepers, who screen applications sent in."

- "Because HR people are the equivalent of soccer goalies - their job is not to let anyone in but to keep just about everyone out. ...Getting your resume or a letter in front of the hiring manager is the only way you can get through the stonewall the square peg HR gatekeepers put in your path."

Now keep in mind the above are just a few excerpts from from about 25% of the responses received, the majority of them were basically of the opinion "How dare I ask this question and bring this issue up!".

Well here are a few of my rebuttals - enjoy!

- "...most of the responses seem to validate the "30 Second" rule / hypothesis.

So taking that for a baseline if one was a great recruiter and received and average of 100 resumes a day, that's about 50mins of your time in the day. I'll be generous and round it up to 60min, wait I'll be magnanimous and give you 1min per resume that's 2 hours of your day every single day of the month. Almost every recruiter out in the field would kill for those kind of potential leads, the fact is none have them, get them, or come even come close to generating them!

So, what do you do the rest of the day? Waste of company time and money if internal Dept. and do outrageously high billing if an external recruiter!

If I was a CEO/CFO/COO I would take a quick look at my HR recruiting Dept and partner recruiting companies and FIRE THEM! HR guys you just discredited your entire industry! You just proved that you provide very little value addition to the hiring process which can be completely substituted by an automated system, albeit one that may require a little more fine tuning"

- "The responses here themselves say a resume is a way to get your "toe" into the door! How can you make a judgement call for an individual by "seeing" their so called "toes" only? It's like the story of the 5 blind men who touched a different part of an elephant and came to a different set of conclusions as to what it was and what it could do, without seeing or even feeling the entire elephant."

- "...almost every other function that you said a "Generalist" may handle has been outsourced or is in the process of being outsourced and automated, or the employee is being "empowered" to handle on their own with the service provider.

So the one pure HR function that you can add value to internally is recruiting, however if that seems too much for most don't blame outsourcing and automation when it takes over completely. What you call "screening" can be done by anyone sitting half way around the world in a window less room, and then making an appointment for the hiring individual by an email or a phone call."

- "...In this day and age of almost 12% unemployment in the US, why employers are unable to fill positions with the "right" and properly "qualified" candidates is the mystery worth exploring..."

What does "Over-Qualified" mean for Today's Workers?

2010-03-03T09:00:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, I asked a few HR and Recruiting related questions on the social networking site Linked In. I received a bunch of responses.

One a of the few that I found interesting was withdrawn for publishing by the respondent for some reason. However, since they responded to me I will publish the response in my blog for the benefit of everyone to review. I would love to give credit to the writer of this, however the person who actually penned the following statement does not want to have their views published or wishes to remain anonymous. Therefore, I am not identifying them, except to let everyone know that she is a Professional Career Coach with a Global HR Solutions provider.

Typically, "Over-Qualified" for a position in the US is used as a euphemisms for being "too-old" for the particular position or even company culture. Her take -

"I'll respond to being "overqualified." If you are 35 and spent the last 5 yrs in a managerial role and were not "hands-on" then apply for an individual contributor role with no management/supervisory responsibility, you are "overqualified." WHY? Most likely, no matter how much the applicant says they are "ok" not managing people, most likely they will not be a "fit" and will seek a better opportunity before the company sees it's ROI. The applicant isn't "old" but used to working in a different capacity than the job being offered.

Again, if an applicant has 10+ yrs of HR exp at the Dir and above level, they are OVERQUALIFIED to be the HR Assoc responsible for scheduling interviews, processing paperwork, and ordering lunches for the departmental meetings.

Are there cases when applicants may be discriminated against for age? Of course, but a good HR/Recruiter will look for fit and most often we know and have experienced the downside of hiring an overqualified person for a job. Only once in my career did it work and it was because the employee admittedly wanted a "place to hang out" until he retired in 2yrs."

Hope the above helps...

Are the economic experts reallly that stupid...?!?!?!

2010-02-25T17:48:00.000-06:00

In the last quarter of 2009 there was great deal of optimism that the global economy was on the verge of turning around, but the US economy was doomed to complete annihilation, which was the reason gold was having such a great run up.

Now I'm not an economist or an expert on the subject, but I have studied it a little and do read a bit, more than anything I like to look at facts before making any kind of predictions.

Anyone who claims to be an economist even as a passing dilettante on the subject usually has reams and gobs of paper pass under their nose that would show factually where the fault lines are in the global economy. Yet, there is either a global conspiracy to suppress the evidence or the academics who teach the subject have no idea what they are talking about these days, or even in the past when were proven dead wrong(!); and still fail to admit that the academic theories they have grown up studying and teaching are fundamentally flawed in this new age of instant global inter-connectedness!

Let's get to the real issue - a great global meltdown is staring at us in the face yet nobody sees - EUROPE!!! All everyone can report about is the failures of the American economy, which are miniscule compared to what has already happened in Europe, is now happening, and will unfold in the coming months!!!

Greece is just the very "tiny" tip of the financial meltdown volcano that will erupt if people these so called economic experts do not take their heads out of places where the sun don't shine, and start initiating more sound economic polices rather than blow air as they did at the WEF recently!

Anyway, to satisfy my own curiosity and see how and why my hypothesis may just be right I created the following tables to analyze and draw my own conclusions. The information is as of 2008, so still current.

Rank	Country	GDP in Billions	% Debt. Of GDP	External Debt. in Billions	Per Capita Debt	Per Capita GDP
20	United States	$14,260.00	94.35%	$13,454.00	$43,793.00	$47,440.00
19	Hungary	$196.60	105.76%	$207.92	$20,936.64	$19,553.00
18	Australia	$800.20	111.38%	$891.26	$42,426.18	$36,918.00
17	Italy	$1,823.00	126.71%	$2,310.00	$39,741.00	$30,631.00
16	Greece	$343.00	161.17%	$552.80	$51,483.00	$30,681.00
15	Spain	$1,403.00	171.70%	$2,409.00	$59,457.00	$30,589.00
14	Germany	$2,918.00	178.48%	$5,208.00	$63,263.00	$36,320.00
13	Finland	$193.50	188.55%	$364.85	$69,491.00	$36,320.00
12	Sweden	$344.30	194.34%	$669.10	$73,854.00	$37,334.00
11	Norway	$275.40	199.02%	$548.10	$117,604.00	$53,738.00
10	Hong Kong	$306.60	205.85%	$631.13	$89,457.00	$43,847.00
9	Portugal	$236.50	214.38%	$507.00	$47,348.00	$22,232.00
8	France	$2,128.00	235.95%	$5,021.00	$78,387.00	$34,205.00
7	Austria	$329.50	252.63%	$832.42	$101,387.00	$39,887.00
6	Denmark	$203.60	298.32%	$607.38	$110,422.00	$37,304.00
5	Belgium	$389.00	320.31%	$1,246.00	$119,681.00	$36,416.00
4	Netherlands	$672.00	364.88%	$2,452.00	$146,703.00	$40,558.00
3	United Kingdom	$2,226.00	408.22%	$9,087.00	$148,702.00	$36,358.00
2	Switzerland	$316.70	422.48%	$1,338.00	$176,045.00	$43,196.00
1	Ireland	$188.40	1266.45%	$2,386.00	$576,805.00	$42,110.00

I have highlighted the US and six largest economies in Europe.

Just look at the per capita debt per person vs the per capita GDP and draw your own conclusions from the comparisons. By the way the population of US is approx. 311 million, while the population of European Union for those wanting to do more analysis is approx. 500 million.

Besides the teetering economies that we are already aware of Iceland and Greece, there are greater underlying problems in Europe specially in the realm of politics and it's proximity to Russia and the turbulence that arises from the Middle-East. Let's not factor out geo-politics when it comes to the occurrence, division, and allocation of natural resources, and ethnic tensions in the region.

If anyone of the readers was a betting person and was aware of the geo-political-economic world order which country would you place your bets on... to successfully emerge intact with the least amount of collateral damage from the current economic crisis?

Darwin lied...

2010-02-25T14:15:00.000-06:00

If being able to survive was a sign of the survival of the fittest and thus the foundation of the theory of evolution we sure have been taken for ride for the past two centuries.

The Dinosaurs supposedly became extinct because of a great global catastrophe and also because those huge lumbering creatures had pea sized brains. Same happened to the Sabre tooth tigers and mastodons before the great ice age.

Yet, we never hear of Sharks and Cockroaches evolving into higher creature beings despite being on the face of the earth for hundreds of millions of years. What happened to evolution? Then again evolution into what...?

Now mankind has supposedly been on the planet for only the last six million years, yet it has managed to evolve beyond a seemingly wild creature into having it's own distinct civilization. That is not what I claim, but what is asserted by leading scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, and other "...gists" around the world.

Now if we were to believe the theory of evolution and the past recorded history of the planet - mankind doesn't stand a chance, because going by the past the entire world will face devastation through either natural calamities or man-made extinction of all species.

So just being able to survive longer as a species does not necessarily make it a prime candidate for evolution. Maybe the same holds true for people just because someone has been around for a while doesn't necessarily make them more evolved from another fellow being in any way shape or manner.

Some of the people who we admire for their contributions (open to debate depending on POV)Alexander, Jesus, Kennedy, Ramanujam,or even the likes of Einstein and Marie Curie had their stroke of genius at a relatively early part of their lives.

So what does all the above mean... ? Make your own deductions and post your comments if you like!

Back to Blogging - Bloom Energy

2010-02-24T16:17:00.007-06:00

Back to blogging after almost a 2 year hiatus...

However, the best thing is that re-starting the blog with unveiling great news from the world of technology and that too my another fellow of Indian-heritage - KR Sridhar of Bloom Energy.

If you have recently noticed Google getting into the Energy space well here is the brain behind the thought.

Simple - The world would not have had to wait almost another 500 years for Indians to migrate to the west to contribute their talents and brilliance!

If you are the `LAST PERSON ON THIS EARTH'....what would you do????

2008-02-15T14:02:00.003-06:00

If you are the `LAST PERSON ON THIS EARTH'....what would you do????

Adam was the first person ....

Imagine a situation , a very hypothetical one , all the people in the world have vanished and you are the sole survivor on this planet, The last person!!!

What comes to your mind in such a situation, what would you do???

let your thoughts flow.... :))

I guess that would be an excuse to finally watch some movies such as - "Castaway", and finally pay attention when watching "Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines" .

Then grab all the books of the "Rama" series by Arthur C Clarke & Gentry Lee and read them at leisure. Diligently flip through "Contact" by Carl Sagan, etc.

However, on more serious note after reading all the previous posts I was intrigued by the lack of companionship that people would feel in such a situation. Hardly, anyone mentions family or friends or displays any empathy on whatever may have happened to them. Everyone seems to be thankful that they finally get to be alone... Quite an interesting though very subtle and implicit comment on our global society, since this is a global forum.

"Mercy killing of Brands... Pros & Cons"

2008-02-10T19:57:00.001-06:00

A really thought provoking issue. Secondly, what a question... probably good enough for a Phd dissertation in marketing.

Anyway, to keep it simple and see other viewpoints also. My take is fairly simple - business is there to provide a return on capital employed, when there is no significant return on the capital employed either in the short or long term the business should be liquidated. Obviously, this is a very simplified scenario, hopefully all due diligence is done and all tangible and intangible cost benefit scenarios have been objectively evaluated.

If after doing all the above there is a negative trend for future ROI yes by all means the brand should be killed, otherwise it will negatively impact the overall business, giving a perception that not just one brand is doing poorly, but the entire business is also subject to the same malaise.

To touch upon GM, in my opinion they were too slow and too late in pulling the plug on - Oldsmobile, and even to some extent are doing the same with Buick now. GM makes some of the best vehicles around technology wise, but their perception is that of a stodgy car manufacturer.

The reason you think of "mercy killing" or using the proper term in my opinion "euthanasia", for a brand at-least, would be mainly because the product, service, and it's communication is no longer relevant to the market audience the - consumer. So removing any support would not really have a backlash from the customer. If enough consumers really wanted to use the product or service you wouldn't be thinking about "mercy killing" a brand.

If you look through the marketing history of the major FMCG organizations worldwide there are numerous instances of killing off various brands and not all of them mercifully! In 1993 Phillip Morris Companies, killed off their corporate name when they renamed themselves Altria.

Sometimes there are perfectly good reasons to initiate the killing of established brands, this may sound quite shocking, but look at the marketing from Microsoft which has a history of such behaviour. BTW, I do not want to get into discussing the merits of the product itself.

In 1995 they purposely killed "Windows X.1" OS to introduce "Windows 95". Then in 1998 they killed "Windows 95" to introduce "Windows 98". In 2000 they killed "Windows 98" to introduce "Windows ME". In 2001 they killed "Windows ME" to bring out "Windows XP", and this year they officially killed "Windows XP" to introduce "Windows Vista".

In each cycle of killing off a major brand MS had a perfectly good product at the stage and an established revenue stream that generated billions of dollars, yet they chose to start completely afresh rather than create a line extension.

The above was done as part of a planned strategy known as phased obsolescence, which is based on the theory that if one rests on their laurels too long someone will come and eat their cake, so rather than have that happen one eats their own cake and goes out searching for more. Again another simplistic viewpoint, but it should get the message across.

Hopefully, that provides some fodder for thought. There will never be a right or wrong answer to a query like this, only hindsight will make us comment more on the merits and demerits of each.

"What Consumers Want... As a Marketer if you had the power to know..."

2008-02-10T19:50:00.001-06:00

As a professional in the "Product Development" business I get to hear and know all the time, directly from consumers, middle men, sales reps, etc.; what kind of products and services the consumers want and desire.

However, as a person with operational and fiscal responsibility towards my company I have to evaluate objectively whether I 'can' and more importantly 'want' to respond to those demands by putting out a product/service that is financially viable for us, and meets the needs to the consumer also.

In my opinion the reason the marketing landscape is littered with stories of failed products and services is because marketers put too much faith in listening to what the consumer wants. Most marketer's also forget way to often and conveniently how fickle the consumer is and what they want and need is a puzzling dynamic to the consumer themselves.

If you see the most common and basic service almost all consumers want across the globe is 'good supportive customer service', however almost every major global organization fails to deliver on that one service repeatedly. Even the ones that have failed or are failing on this count were once evangelical about the merits of deploying good supportive customer service, yet have in the long term determined that 'not' offering good supportive customer service does not alienate customers once a significant user base has been built up. Is there a certain loss of dissatisfied users - absolutely, however the gain from new customers more than offsets the potential losses due to consolidation and lack of competition that is now becoming rampant in various industries.

What all consumers want is choice, but due to market dynamics and governmental regulations we keep limiting that option. So in the end do we really want to listen to the consumer or just use that as an excuse to gain false empathy with the consumer, similar to the way Mel Gibson used his powers in the movie? Point to ponder....

"Brands on Steroids"

2008-02-10T19:39:00.001-06:00

Brands on 'roids' quite an interesting concept...

Brands are built and nurtured in relation to the corporate business philosophy to execute a business plans, having said that let's examine the concept.

Usually, a branding plan is strategic in nature and to introduce a new greenfield product / service a 'nurturing' approach strategy may be employed to gain market traction in response to whatever opportunities and constraints that may have been evaluated by the business unit.

Sometimes a branding plan may be tactical in nature, to either be a offensive or defensive response to market opportunities, due to this issue you may see the emergence of - 'Brands on Steroids' syndrome. Sometimes the defensive or offensive tactical moves may open up significant opportunities for the brand to move in the limelight and from a tactical launch it may morph into long term strategic role, but still employing the original tactical moves that brought it in the limelight. The above would be the disciplined and rational explanation to the 'Brands on 'roids' syndrome.

However, as mentioned there are definitely situations when due to a change in management focus or to maximise short term revenue generation you may observe the same syndrome. When you see 'Brands on 'roids' in such a scenario quite often they follow the way of 'Humans on 'roids' , a brief spark and glimpse of a meteoric rise and then discarded and forgotten in the depths of oblivion once the spark is extinguished.

How can the next president better help small business and entrepreneurs thrive?

2008-02-10T17:18:00.001-06:00

Ravi Deva wrote:

On 9/20/07 11:27 AM, Ravi Deva wrote:
--------------------
Thank you for your personal response.

I wasn't expecting any kind of acknowledgment from anyone, but it gives me a glimmer of hope that quite possibly some is at-least willing reach out and hear the opinions of the masses in an uncontrolled setting.

Who knows I might even vote for Mr.Obama, he seems to be the most viable candidate out there right now in the Democratic party, plus he represents Illinois my home state.

Thank you,

Ravi

On 9/20/07 10:56 AM, Barack Obama wrote:
--------------------
Thanks for participating in Barack's question on LinkedIn Answers – we
apologize for the delay in response. We received an incredible number
of thoughtful answers, and our campaign will continue to review all of
these answers in the days ahead.

Barack is committed to helping small businesses and believes they are
at the heart of the American economy. He is committed to expanding
opportunities and easing the everyday pressures so many businesses
face by cutting their health care costs, improving access to capital,
and investing in innovation and development.

He plans to fix our health care crisis and enable more small
businesses to provide affordable care to their employees. He will
expand loan programs for small businesses and create a national
network of public-private business incubators. He also will invest in
women-owned businesses, increase minority access to capital, increase
supports for businesses in rural areas, and work to close the digital
divide that limits the growth potential of many urban and rural small
businesses.

We appreciate immensely your willingness to share your insights and
suggestions on these issues and your help in achieving these goals.

For more information on Barack ideas for improving America visit:
www.barackobama.com/issues

Thanks,
Scott & Becky @ Obama HQ

On 9/13/07 9:41 AM, Ravi Deva wrote:
--------------------
For small business to truly survive - create a level playing field for all entrepreneurs and businesses.

Just because big business has the deep pockets to hire lobbyists and propel their agenda through the executive branch is the biggest impediment for the survival of small business.

Create an environment where there is oversight in the real sense for "MEGA" corporations so that they cannot create barriers for free and fair competition with their smaller rivals with the help of big government.

Small business does not require sops and platitudes, most of the people who start small businesses do so not because big business is incapable of providing new services, but because it will "NOT" provide new services in a reasonable manner and also because it is too busy trying to protect its turf.

Fix the Financial System and Commerce Policy! We are the world's biggest economy, but our fiscal and commerce policy is worse than that of the under-developed nations, not because we do not have the resources, but because we do not have the will to do the right thing.

We have been lurching from one financial disaster since almost the last 25years - the S&L crisis, Stock market crash '87, business downturn and internet bubble '90's, and now the real estate and mortgage crisis. What gives? You really don't expect us to believe that big government didn't see this coming to prevent it from happening. Not that I want big government to interfere in everything, but it still does so for the most useless of scenarios so it might as well do so in things that matter!

Stop the outsourcing and off shoring of everything otherwise in the long term the entire country will be a hollow shell with no economic activity.

How can a small business thrive in the this country when it has to abide by the laws on the this state against a business that thrives in an environment of chaos overseas, without any regard to US protections for safety, environment, respect for personal dignity, etc. That is not fair competition.

What will large corporations do next when the cost for off shoring and outsourcing to China and India become sky-high. Move those services and manufacturing to the poverty stricken African continent or some other low cost place because they can do it for cheaper than the Indians or Chinese?

Think of the long term when making decisions not just for the duration of your - Presidential Term!

Ravi

Question Details:
--------------------
How can the next president better help small business and entrepreneurs thrive?

Catching Up

2008-02-10T16:37:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I last blogged, I'll try to reproduce some of my thoughts from this missing period.

Ravi

Irrational Exuberance or Stupidity! Part - 2

2007-08-26T19:08:00.000-05:00

Last week as I started to write about a - bubble of various sorts, forming across the entire gamut of the Indian economy the – sub-prime mortgage mess started to unravel in the US.

Media outlets and various financial organizations expressed shock and disbelief at the ramifications of the situation here in the US. It is interesting that none of them decided to interview the mastermind of the current fiscal mess his holiness - Mr. Alan Greenspan, under whose watchful eye the entire current sub-prime fiasco has it's genesis!

Yes, Mr.Greenspan is a very erudite and knowledgeable person; he is also the architect of this current mess. Mr.Greenspan had the knowledge and the tools at his disposal to prevent this situation in the sub-prime mortgage market as well as the deeper credit crunch that is making ripples across the globe. In fact if memory serves me and possibly other folks correctly this is not the first time Mr.Greenspan can be faulted for his acts of fiscal omissions - The Great Internet Bubble of the 20th Century also happened on his watch!

Now in India we have Prime Minister - Dr. Man Mohan Singh, who also is a very erudite fellow as well as an economist like Mr.Greenspan. Again if my memory serves me correctly the last time India as a country was almost at the doorstep of financial insolvency, this same Dr. Singh was at the head of the finance portfolio. Wonder if this is just a coincidence or fate as they say in India?

Lets look at some other interesting parallels.

Things that happened on Alan Greenspan's watch.

Black Monday 1987.

Internet pump and dump.

Beginning and end of Real-estate boom.

Super hot and sizzling economy, followed by busts and boom.

Overall decline in manufacturing economy!

Things that happened when Man Mohan Singh was lead Economic Advisor to PM, was FM, or PM himself.

India close to financial insolvency 1990.

Indian stock market pump and dump 1991/92.

Indian real-estate market becomes super hot.

Super hot and sizzling economy, followed by busts and boom.

Over all decline in manufacturing economy.

What happens next in India?

Every time I talk of the above scenario I am told to stop being a naysayer, and look at the rapid strides the service sector economy has made and the growth of employment etc. that will eventually create a trickle down effect that will uplift the Indian masses. Everyone tells me about the transition of global economies, from being agrarian to industrial manufacturing to eventually service driven.

TO WHICH I SAY CRAP! STOP THIS NONSENSE, FUELED BY PSEUDO-INTELLECTUAL DRIVEL!

SHOW ME ONE, ONLY ONE ECOMOMY THAT HAS SUSTAINED ITSELF ON A SERVICE ECONOMY WITH A GROWING POPULATION!

World War I & II saved the British Empire from being a footnote in history 50years ago. Japan has seen it's best days behind it. The Asian Tigers on the Pacific Rim are barely managing to keep their heads above water from the onslaught of the Chinese Tsunami. Countries on the African and South American continent barely register on any economic indicator or can hope to do so in the near future. Argentina and Brazil have never lived up to their potential despite the billions of dollars pumped into them in the past. Except for South Africa which has some economic activity the rest of the African continent it seems will be battling a human medical catastrophe.

Granted some of my predictions are a little extreme, but with a looming global recession, it would not take much for those predictions to come true!

Lets not forget about the nature of the Internet and electronic specialty service economy which moves at the speed of light is also susceptible to an equally rapid transformation into a commodity service that tends to flatten and remove various hierarchical barriers to entry for most service businesses. This not only reduces margins it automates and eliminates various functions that may have been essential earlier, and in turn may have been a source of wide scale employment.

The speed of the service economy is very rapid and by nature disruptive; it has a cannibalizing effect on general business and society as a whole. This is due to the constant search for greater economies of scale and optimization of efficiencies. We have witnessed this on a wide scale level during the dotcom meltdown. The same happens and has happened in an agrarian and industrialized economy, but at a much slower pace. When this reduction in economic activity does happen there is already enough ancillary business activity that has been created that it smoothes out the usual and periodic cyclical business and economic ups and downs.

My next post will touch on the immediate and near term ramifications of this service economy.

Irrational Exuberance or Stupidity? Part - I

2007-08-19T19:18:00.000-05:00

For an individual that has been closely associated with the two business sectors in the US - IT Enabled Services and Retail, that have or are about to take off in the Southeast Asia region, especially India I sometimes find myself having a feeling of deja vu when reading excerpts of the astounding economic growth happening there. I have used the terms ITES in the US context because just as in India they were part of the IT growth boom in the US also.

This sense of deja vu is not of the same optimistic kind promoted and shared by a lot of other evangelists of developing world growth patterns.

I rejoice at the phenomenal growth that has and is continuing to happen in India; however I keep waiting to see some measure of hardcore economic activity in the development of physical infrastructure take place. Even when any activity to shore up physical infrastructure has / does happen it is only in response to an ancillary investment in islands of economic boom in places where there is already an ITES infrastructure.

Let's not forget what the acronym ITES stands for - Information Technology Enabled Services, in the majority of cases this is nothing but once again a fancy term for low end backroom processing support work that has been offshored to India from the more developed nations.

Support activity can only happen if there is primary business activity to be supported, if we keep on creating and encouraging an environment where home grown physical industries are decimated and discouraged we will face the same consequences that the US is currently facing.

The home grown US economy is already frayed at the edges and is starting to tear apart due to the lack of regular investments in in the physical infrastructure for almost the last 30years. Let's not forget even the robust internet era of the 1990's in the US could not keep the economy going for long.

I understand all investments follow the money trail, but you cannot have isolated islands of economic prosperity and growth in a land of 1.2billion people, not have some kind of equitable balance being maintained without having nasty repercussions. We have seen the former USSR implode and explode over ten years ago, which had similar kind of isolated pockets of growth. Granted India does have a wider base of business, but we have already seen the erosion and extinction of numerous small scale businesses and industries all over India, especially in areas far from these Special Economic Zones - SEZs.

At the time when I was moving to the US in the early '90s, major trans-national consumer (hard and soft goods) corporations were making a beeline to India to capitalize on the spending power of the - emerging Indian middle class. Many of them lost their shirts in the ensuing years and some have barely managed to stay around profitably even after all these years. This despite all the years of boom activity.

There is risk in all activity, however when people lose sight of rationality in understanding and accepting risk, it is politely termed - Irrational Exuberance, or in layman terms - Stupidity!

The Indian stock market has been growing at a double digit rates for the past few years, the real-estate situation is even worse prices are going up in triple digits and the lay people are lapping it up in the name of growth, being led around by organized opportunists - like rats dancing to the tune of the Pied Piper!

My opinions may seem harsh to many, but I have my reasons and will elaborate on them going forward.