Aa..ha! [Thinking Inside The Blog!]

Our long vacation in the Troposphere: A perspective

2012-01-21T15:20:00.000+05:30

Our long vacation in the Troposphere: A perspective

To be one with nature, to be friends with a four-legged creature, to read the best of literature,

To connect with The Creative Power, to seek wisdom and humor,

To tune into the divinity of music, to do that which makes us feel good and tick.

Life as it is

2012-01-16T09:12:00.001+05:30

Why does it take a lifetime to understand that if one wants to clean a ditch one needs to get used to the stink? If, on the other hand, one realizes that a ditch will always be a ditch, why can't one go away from it or breathe less of its air?

Saturday Stories

2012-01-07T13:18:00.000+05:30

This is the story of a Cat, Cow and Horse that were good friends. One day, the Horse who happened to be slightly late in arriving at their regular hang-out found the Cat and Cow quarreling. The Cat was saying "Let's go to the Meow-ies!" and the Cow was saying "No, let's go to the Moo-vies!". The Horse flicked a speck of dust off his collar, snorted, shook his head and said "Let's go to the Ci-neigh-mas!!"

The dog that was sitting at the next table murmured, "Ensure you sit near the Woof-ers".

The Poem of the Phoenix

2011-12-27T11:34:00.000+05:30

There are two ways to look at poetry. There are two ways to look at life. It must be a lie because the 'poet' *makes* it rhyme. It can't be anything but the truth because the rhyme somehow falls in place.

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Life is at the peak of confusion
Not when 'up' is followed by a 'down'
But when it blows both hot and cold
When one feels weak as well as bold

When nectar and poison are one
When soft and rough spoil the fun
When the child is both patted and hit
When the lamp is blown out immediately after being lit

When one reaches the mountain peak
And yet there are no traces of what one seeks
When the fire of life is doused out of sight
Just as it begins to burn bright

The words to repeat as always
are Trust in God and hope of a divine blaze
The picture of a rising phoenix
Shows silent strength and wipes off the jinx

Happy New Year - 2012!

2011-12-26T10:15:00.001+05:30

Happy New Year - 2012

2011-12-22T11:47:00.001+05:30

1. Great message
2. Perfect illustrations
3. Nice mix of quantitative and qualitative proof

Context Rules

2011-12-21T15:12:00.002+05:30

When one doesn't take the complete context into consideration, nothing may make sense. Things may seem contradictory and illogical. Decisions and conclusions under such circumstances can and, most probably, will go wrong. I may enjoy watching a speeding car in a Formula 1 race, but not on a busy road. Logic is a function of the context (if there is such a thing as universal logic). Detectives probably crack the case more because of the clues that the context provides than because of those provided by the content. Right? Wrong?

Quotes

2011-11-29T08:37:00.001+05:30

Here are four brilliant quotes that I came across recently and found to be thought-provoking.

All cruelty springs from weakness. ~ Seneca

Notes: The next time you come across a person who seems to be cruel, see if you can possibly discover the weakness behind it...and address that!

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There is one path for the fleer, many for the seeker. - Marathi proverb

Notes: Seek. Seek. Seek. Never ever give up.

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Between what I think,

What I want to say,

What I believe I’m saying,

What I say,

What you want to hear,

What you hear,

What you believe you understand,

What you want to understand,

And what you understood,

There are at least nine possibilities of misunderstanding.

- French Jurist Francois Garagnon

Notes: If we believe and understand this, we may trust more people around us.

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Thinkers 50

2011-11-22T10:49:00.001+05:30

Vineet Nayar's "Employees First, Customers Second" philosophy has put him in the list of Top 50 Thinkers. Tom Peters, anyone? Sheena Iyengar (TED video on the dilemma of Choice) is the only Indian Woman in the list.

Umair just about makes it at #49. Phew. Seth Godin, Gladwell, Marcus Buckingham, Rosabeth Kanter, Daniel Pink, Gary Hamel, Stephen Covey, Goleman and Nitin Nohria are all there. Ken Robinson is definitely there but I'd have expected him to be higher up the list.

Clayton M. Christensen is at #1 and, importantly enough, he is someone who talks about organizations' (single-minded?) pursuit of profits being not just the death of innovation but of the economy.

http://www.thinkers50.com/

Warning: A Wandering Mind

2011-11-18T20:11:00.001+05:30

How does one deal with the paradox of “be yourself” and “adjust” (the famous term that used to be associated with Bangalore and its people before the former became a cosmopolitan city) at the same time? In the long run, is happiness a consequence of listening to your heart and doing things your way or “adjusting” with what is? What if the situation you are in involves entities outside of your well thought-out and deeply absorbed (or prejudiced) value-system or communication model or something else equally important? Is it okay to kill a little part of you – in a virtual sense - and adapt yourself to the situation while pretending to align with it even if you are not perhaps really doing so? Is it okay to live with the attitude that you may, after-all, change or things will change or, well, you can change things somewhere down the path? Does it make more sense to be practical and result-oriented rather than attach yourself to a subconsciously acquired (some of it may be natural, if genetic causes can be labeled as natural) value-system (or communication model or…..)? Or, more alarmingly, how do you know it is not your ego that wears a clever disguise and convinces you to be the way you are?

An episode involving the ethics of a social worker triggered me off to muse about the identity of the so-called “truth” and the validity of a black and white world as opposed to a grayish world. I then attempted to see it from the perspective of the Mahabharatha, when a brave woman I know responded and declared that Sri Krishna may have won the war for the Pandavas by deceit but he achieved his goal (justifiable to some and not so justifiable to others) he set out to achieve and that is all, perhaps, that mattered. Outsiders, she said, only watch and debate his methods. How do you blend your thinking and action? If Sri Krishna is the answer to today’s ruthless, ambiguous and vague world, then what is the importance of the unquestioned obedience and love that Lord Rama is identified with? Go ahead. Share your wisdom. Some of you are capable of running a correspondence course on the human psychology in the context of relationships/communities, like the Master might say! ;-)

KM Asia 2011

2011-11-15T12:00:00.001+05:30

Here is a very high-level mind-map of the recently conducted KM Asia 2011 Conference. Please note that this is only a bird's eye-view of the proceedings. You can look up the #kmasia11 hash-tag in Twitter for more details, ideas and thoughts from the conference attendees.

The Living Root Bridges of Meghalaya

2011-10-19T11:21:00.001+05:30

Ingenious. Inspiring. Brilliant. And a superbly shot video too.

Take a look at this video. It is the story of how people in the rural areas of Meghalaya, in India, connect and interact with nature and build natural bridges made out of tree roots! Reminds one of the blockbuster movie, Avatar. The video shows how an old man shares his knowledge of how these bridges are built with his grand-daughter. Someone from the source network said - very beautifully - in response to this video, "The joy of sharing the knowledge is its own reward".

More Information:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2035520/Meghalaya-villagers-create-living-bridges-training-roots-river.html

http://rootbridges.blogspot.com/

http://chrisgagne.com/541/the-root-bridges-of-meghalaya/

Mixed

2011-10-12T10:44:00.000+05:30

Some inspiration that I thought I would share:

Two great quotes that I came across today:

"Nothing is interesting if you're not interested." ~ Helen MacInness

Brilliant! Not something that many people understand or agree with, however true it is. I wish I'd known this quote a year ago. Could have probably used it to my advantage :-)

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This was in one of the responses, in Quora, to a question on God's invisibility: Read the full set of answers here, in case you're interested.

The worst kind of leader is one who is despised and defied.

Next is the one who is feared and obeyed.

Then the one loved and praised.

But the best kind of leader is the one whose existence is doubted,

who accomplishes all things, and the people say, "I have done it myself."

-- Tao Te Ching

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Moving on to less philosophical things, here's a nice set of slides on Social Media Strategy by @zaana. She has done a great job of collating data and ideas on the topic, with some cool pictures too

http://www.slideshare.net/zaana/strategically-social-plan-engage-act

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Finally, I loved this article on the two flavors of passion for work - harmonious passion and obsessive passion. Via @gautamghosh

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/08/why_your_passion_for_work_coul.html

In other words, I think it is all boils down to the philosophy of being engaged in work for inner happiness and yet being detached enough to pay attention to other dimensions of life.

Think Different Advt - Steve Jobs

2011-10-07T15:10:00.003+05:30

Serenity

2011-10-07T11:47:00.000+05:30

Just reading these Buddhist tenets makes me feel serene. Following these, however, I know will require herculean effort and infinite faith.

Bao Yen Hsin: The willingness to accept, without complaining, suffering and unhappiness because you understand it is your own karma.

Sui Yen Hsin: Understanding that all situations are the consequences of karmic causes, and therefore, you maintain equanimity in all circumstances, both negative and positive.

Tsung Fa Hsin: Realizing through practice the essence of your Buddha Nature, which is equanimity.

Source: http://sped2work.tripod.com/bdharma.html

Facts

2011-10-07T10:40:00.001+05:30

I found this interesting and thoughtful set of quotes on the significance of facts.

“If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.” - Albert Einstein

“Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thought that is forever flowing through one's head.” - Mark Twain

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.” - Charles R. Swindoll

“There are no eternal facts as there are no eternal truths” - Friedrich Nietzsche

“If the dream is big enough the facts don't matter” - Dexter Yager

“I am not one of those who in expressing opinions confine themselves to facts” - Mark Twain

“In the wild struggle for existance, we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place.” - Oscar Wilde

“It must be remembered that the purpose of education is not to fill the minds of students with facts…it is to teach them to think.” - Robert M. Hutchins

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Isn't it ironic that the most opinionated people are the ones that think they are armed with all the facts, A to Z? Sometimes, reading (and remembering) a lot leaves one with a fixed mindset rather than an open mind.

Success or Joy

2011-09-30T17:35:00.000+05:30

A young and budding singer gets contradictory advice from established singers in the same forum. While one e.s stresses that he must not focus on showing (or tapping into) his talent but understand what constitutes winning (=mass acceptance), another e.s says the mark of a 'true musician' is to sing for 'himself' (my interpretation: do what is 'right' and do something simply for its challenging experience). This is likely to be a never-ending dilemma for some of us, irrespective of our professions.

Independence

2011-09-30T09:36:00.000+05:30

Great article on Daily OM - http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2011/30292.html
Because an idea or way of doing things is popular doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone.

Just because an idea or way of doing things is popular doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone. However, part of the way that something becomes popular is that many of us don’t take the time to determine what’s right for us; we simply do what most of the people we know are doing. In this way, our decisions about life are made by default, which means they aren’t what we call conscious decisions. There may be many other options available, but we don’t always take the time to explore them. This may be the result of feeling overwhelmed or pressured by family, peers, and humanity at large, to do things their way, the way things have always been done. Regardless of the cause, it is important that, as often as we can, we decide for ourselves what to do with our lives rather than just drift along on the current of popular opinion.

It is not always easy to make decisions that go against the grain. Many people feel threatened when those close to them make choices divergent from the ones they are making. Parents and grandparents may be confused and defensive when we choose to raise our children differently from the way they raised us. Friends may feel abandoned if we decide to change our habits or behavior. Meanwhile, on our side of the fence, it’s easy to feel frustrated and defensive when we feel unsupported and misunderstood simply because we are thinking for ourselves. It can be exhausting to have to explain and re-explain our points of view and our reasons.

This is where gentleness, openness, and tolerance come into play. It helps if we are calmly persistent, consistent, and clear as we communicate to those around us why we are making the choices we are making. At the same time, we have the right to say that we are tired of talking about it and simply need our choices to be respected. Our lives belong to us and so do our decisions. Those who truly love us will stand by us and support our choices, never mind what’s popular.

Management Theory, Anyone?

2011-09-28T10:20:00.000+05:30

Absolutely loved this article. Feast for thought...! (Link and extracts below)

The Management Myth - Magazine - The Atlantic

One of the distinguishing features of anything that aspires to the name of science is the reproducibility of experimental results
Another, even more fundamental feature of science—here I invoke the ghost of Karl Popper—is that it must produce falsifiable propositions
Over the past century Taylor’s successors have developed a powerful battery of statistical methods and analytical approaches to business problems. And yet the world of management remains deeply Taylorist in its foundations.
Much of management theory today is in fact the consecration of class interest—not of the capitalist class, nor of labor, but of a new social group: the management class.
Each new fad calls attention to one virtue or another—first it’s efficiency, then quality, next it’s customer satisfaction, then supplier satisfaction, then self-satisfaction, and finally, at some point, it’s efficiency all over again
But what happened to such stalwarts as McKinsey, which generated millions in fees from Enron and supplied it with its CEO?
Our firm wasn’t about bureaucratic control and robotic efficiency in the pursuit of profit. It was about love
“R-I-P. Rip, shred, tear, mutilate, destroy that hierarchy,” said über-guru Tom Peters, with characteristic understatement
The lessons Mayo drew from the experiment are in fact indistinguishable from those championed by the gurus of the nineties: vertical hierarchies based on concepts of rationality and control are bad; flat organizations based on freedom, teamwork, and fluid job definitions are good.
On further scrutiny, however, it turned out that two workers who were deemed early on to be “uncooperative” had been replaced with friendlier women
It was a way of harnessing the workers’ sense of identity and well-being to the goals of the organization, an effort to get each worker to participate in an ever more refined form of her own enslavement.
The Taylorite rationalist says: Be efficient! The Mayo-ist humanist replies: Hey, these are people we’re talking about! And the debate goes on
In most managerial jobs, almost everything you need to know to succeed must be learned on the job
No,” he said, shaking his head with feigned chagrin. “There are only three forces in this case. And two of them are in the Finance Ministry.”
but the point is rather lost if students come away imagining that you can go home once you’ve put all of your eggs into a two-by-two growth-share matrix.
Taylor’s pig iron case was not a description of some aspect of physical reality—how many tons can a worker lift? It was a prescription—how many tons should a worker lift? The real issue at stake in Mayo’s telephone factory was not factual—how can we best establish a sense of teamwork? It was moral—how much of a worker’s sense of identity and well-being does a business have a right to harness for its purposes?

Death of Deprivation

2011-09-16T14:10:00.002+05:30

Deprivation of Love is death of the Soul

Deprivation of Knowledge is death of the Mind

Deprivation of Trust is death of the Heart

Deprivation of air, water and food is death of the Body

Deprivation of Freedom is death of Individuality

Deprivation of Conversations is death of Relationships

Death of Deprivation is all we need.

Give your Children all you've got. Because you're all they've got. Happy Families are the foundation of a happy world.

PS: Update: (Optional ;-))

Deprivation of Encouragement is death of Confidence
Deprivation of Travel is death of Wonder
Deprivation of Financial Assistance is death of Choice

Misfits - Umair Haque

2011-09-06T09:47:00.000+05:30

http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2011/08/what_kind_of_misfit_are_you.html

Inspiring article from one of my current favorite writers, Umair Haque.

Extracts:

It's not that every misfit accomplishes something fundamentally unexpectedly awesome (for example, yours truly). And it certainly is the case that misfits have also been some of history's greatest villains. But it's also probable that most things unexpected, radical, and breathtakingly awesome take just a little bit of nonconformity; just a little bit of dissatisfaction with "the way things are.

Hence, I'd say: the biggest and most unforgivable crime industrial age institutions commit againstour humanity is to deny us the freedom of our own singular humanity. They stifle us at every turn, fitting us into neat boxes, relentlessly and brutally pressuring us — when they're not pulverizing us — to conform, obey, fit in, toe the party line.

If we had more freedom of individualism in organization, we'd have less politics, bureaucracy, jargon, time-wasting, wheel-spinning, and an almost embarrassing level of hubris that would have put Icarus to shame — and veritable monsoons more humility, imagination, creativity, empathy, trust, respect, wisdom.

We need those free thinkers. In fact, in a world where perma-crisis seems to be the status quo, by which our so called leaders seem paralyzed and hopelessly confused, we've never needed the misfits more.

The KMix Program

2011-08-30T13:03:00.002+05:30

I believe this post may liberate me from boredom for a while. There was a time when the highlight of a good week - for me - was likely to be the process of writing a creative/humorous/meaningful post. Now, one needs to be satisfied - more often - with a quick and witty observation or insight, shared in a jiffy, in the form of a tweet or a status update. Arguably, the process of blogging is a more mentally engaging and absorbing activity. What a to-be-recorded speech for a permanent audience demands of (and gives) you is different from what a quick remark in a largely informal setting does. However, the most dangerous addition to the former situation is, potentially, rambling.

To get ahead with this post, it is not meant to be an accurate reflection of reality. You may or may not recognize these characters or may only be able to partly relate to them. This post is meant to provide more humorous relief than genuine insight. That said, by Toutatis, let me proceed.

Look around in your organization or even your personal social circles. You may possibly find at least one of the characters described below, only their names are likely to be very different. You need to understand what roles they might play in your knowledge management program/strategy before the sky falls on your head. Let's call the program, you are in charge of, KMix as it rhymes with the characters' names and sounds harmonious etc.

Asterix: A star hero(ine) who is both intelligent and action-oriented. A person who shares his knowledge on the go and inspires others to solve problems, accomplish things and stay active and alert in life and at work. But he also knows when he must keep his mouth shut. Your knowledge management program - KMix - must engage him at any cost. He is your program Salesman (Ref: Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point) in more ways than one. He needs a micro-blogging account if not anything else.

Obelix: A good-natured but ignorant bloke (or girl) who is happy following Asterix around and using his 'raw' skills when asked to. He can beat up the bugs and be the life and soul of a wild-boar party. He does not consume the magic potion of knowledge but is nevertheless an asset in certain situations. He may never understand the meaning of a knowledge management program (KMix, in this case) but he needs to be mentored by one of the Asterixes so his skills are leveraged upon. He needs to follow Asterix's tweets even if Getafix (coming later) does not allow him to consume any of his blog recipes. He may need a micro-blogging account to at least declare that he has spotted boars (opportunities) or Romans (competition)

Getafix: The wise man (or woman) in the organization. A thought-leader who has plenty of important and magical recipes and is content sharing it with the action-men and women. He is a Maven (Ref: Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point). He likes to cook up reliable stuff that will help fix problems. He is the expert or adviser that your knowledge management program (KMix) must point to when there is a crisis or when your action-men and women need to get started. He is the person who is interested in discovering knowledge and putting multiple pieces of it together. Ignore him at your own peril. He needs to have his own blog of recipes and might also want to create demos, documents and presentations at times.

Cacofonix: A lot of you would probably jump up and say you know this person really well and he sits right next to you. A man (or woman) who can't help sharing his, err, so-called wisdom. Someone you'd like to shut up every time he opens his mouth, which is quite often. He thinks he is great, but the problem is no one else does. The KMix program could do without him and his noisy ways. He, after all, adds to the information overload and forces you to focus on information filters as much as information fillers. His blog may have no use for feeds/email alerts and his tweets may be blocked by most colleagues. But remember to release him when you want to chase away annoying competitors.

Vitalstatix: The manager who may not necessarily fight battles himself (or herself) but is a powerful entity. He is the one who decides whether the battle should be fought or not, in the first place, and then puts people on the job. He, however, listens to Getafix and Asterix and considers their views before he decides what to do. He is a people connector (Ref: Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point) who knows everyone, can see the big picture and has a bird's eye-view of the situation. (He is carried around on a shield in the actual Asterix and Obelix stories.) He needs a social networking account and needs to be subscribed to important knowledge sources if not anything else.

My version of KMix stops here even though I am tempted to include Dogmatix (as a character or subject matter expert who focuses on ethics, values and is the champion of the Organization's environmental initiatives etc) and UnHygienix (as perhaps a character who knows how to 'fish' for knowledge but does not know how to curate it and package it well so it can be consumed by others. What he needs is good training ;-) ) as additional examples but that would be taking it too far, uh? Woof.

PS: All credit for this post goes to the authors of the Asterix and Obelix series (Goscinny and Uderzo). My version of these characters, for KMix, are nothing but simple extensions of the real characters.

Creativity Techniques

2011-08-22T11:29:00.000+05:30

Though it is true that I've come across plenty of articles - in the past - on these lines, this particular list of ideas and the way this post has been written resonated with me. Quick reference....followed by the link to the original article and some extracts

- Psychological Distance
- Fast Forward in Time
- Path of Most Resistance
- Indulging in Absurdity
- Combining Opposites
- Re-conceptualization
- Using Moments of Extreme Emotion (Positive/Negative)

Quotes:

Boost Creativity: 7 Unusual Psychological Techniques | PsyBlog

Project yourself forward in time; view your creative task from one, ten or a hundred years distant.

Physicist Niels Bohr may have used Janusian thinking to conceive the principle of complementarity in quantum theory (that light can be analysed as either a wave or a particle, but never simultaneously as both).

....that experimental participants produced higher quality ideas when forced to re-conceive the problem in different ways before trying to solve it. Similarly a classic study of artists found that those focused on discovery at the problem-formulation stage produced better art

Hehehehee

2011-08-11T12:03:00.000+05:30

If Calvin were a dog.....

Seek. Sense. Share.

2011-08-03T09:27:00.001+05:30

Beth Kanter - SM Model

I'm always looking for simple and catchy ways of communicating what knowledge management is all about. Most people, incorrectly, believe it to be something abstract and conceptual - something that cannot be practiced too easily because it only has theoretical clarity. Many KM practitioners plunge into complicated and/or dry explanations (and I'm sure even I've been guilty of this in the past ;-)) which makes the situation worse. Admittedly, this blog has, perhaps, plenty of such posts (self-written and borrowed from other writers) and corresponding ideas. Looking at the brighter side, ultimately, each one of us may be able to relate to and remember at least one of these slogans/models/definitions and apply it effectively. ;-)

I came across Beth Kanter's (http://www.bethkanter.org/seek-sense-share/) SM model (pic above) via G+ this morning and thought it was simple and easy to remember for people who are still confused about what KM is. Any practice, process, idea, tool or behaviour that attempts to help us seek, sense or share is, in my opinion, a knowledge management entity.