Dwell on the track record before you condemn

People's memory is short. We tend to condemn even the smallest mistake without taking into account the larger picture. All the good work done in the past is quickly forgotten.

One day Standard Oil chief John D. Rockefeller learned that one of his senior executives had made a decision which had cost the company more than $2 million. Fearful of Rockefeller's wrath, most of the firm's other executives studiously avoided him. One notable exception was Edward T. Bedford.

Scheduled to meet with Rockefeller, Bedford arrived prepared for a long diatribe against the wayward executive. When he entered Rockefeller's office, the boss was bent over his desk busily scribbling on a pad of paper. Not wishing to interrupt, Bedford stood silently until Rockefeller finally looked up.

"Oh, it's you, Bedford," he remarked. "I suppose you've heard about our loss?" Bedford admitted that he had. "I've been thinking it over," Rockefeller said, "and before I ask the man in to discuss the matter, I've been making some notes."

Bedford later recalled: "Across the top of the page was written, 'Points in favor of Mr. ____.' There followed a long list of the man's virtues, including a brief description of how he had helped the company make the right decision on three separate occasions that had earned many times the cost of his recent error."

It was a lesson, Bedford later noted, which he never forgot.

Disconnect between rulers and masses

We have a strange situation in India at the Government level.

We have a Prime Minister, Mr.Manmohan Singh, who has the responsibility, but do not have the Authority.

We have a Super Prime Minister, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, who has the Authority but has no responsibility and is not accountable to anyone.

This goes against the fundamental principles of Management that Authority and Responsibility go hand in glove. Is it any wonder then that the Governance is in a comatose situation?

We take pride in the fact that we are the largest democracy. But for the elections, we are hardly democratic in anything we do. None of the political parties follow democracy. They have had no internal elections for donkeys years. All positions are filled through nominations. Government too hides behind official secrets act and with the judicial system being so painfully slow, they get away with murder.

We had the classical case of MPs holding the Office of Profit. This matter is sub judice and nearly 1/3rd of our MP's would have been disqualified for holding the office of profit. And we are nearing the end of the term of the current Parliament. It means that ANY LAW passed by the Government is illegal as it is being voted by 1/3rd of the MPs who have no business to be there in the first place.

Unlike their western counterparts, our leaders dont believe in giving any detailed interviews articulating their philosophy of governance. We dont know what is the political and economical outlook of Sonia Gandhi, leader of the ruling party. She has never given a single interview nor has she held a press conference. For that matter pray tell me when was the last time our PM gave a press conference?

There is a total disconnect between those who rule and the masses. There lies the tragedy of our Country

Deliberate

According to Herodotas, the ancient Persians met before every major battle to strategize. After comparing troop numbers, leadership, and equipment, and studying battlefield terrain and many other factors, they would reach a sober decision. Before acting, however, they would discuss their plans again - this time while completely sotted. If they reached the same decision as they had when they were sober, they would adopt their plan and march with confidence into battle. Using this two-tiered decision-making technique, the Persians dominated most of the known world for many decades.


There is an anecdote pertaining to group decision,

"Gentlemen, I take it that we are all in complete agreement on the decision here," General Motors chief Alfred P. Sloan declared during a meeting one day.

"Then, I propose that we postpone further discussion," he continued, "to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about."

Any decision made of consensus quickly may not be the right decision. Do deliberate threadbare.

Dont vote for these self serving *!@#

Another terrorist attack............another set of platitudes from the Government....................something for the 24 hour channels and newspapers to fill space during the next 3 days......................and then what....................nothing..........................till the next terrorist attack.

Let us accept. We are a soft state. We have absolutely no value for human life. Contrast this with US or UK. Post 9/11 and 7/7, both these countries tightened their security aparatus and intelligence gathering so much that no major incidents have occured since then. Look at little Isreal. The target of every single Islamic Jehadist. Have you ever heard of a single terrorist attack inside Israel- barring one recently?

We live on fear everyday. Government is apathetic. The guy who was instrumental in attacking the seat of our democracy, Afsal Guru, has become a cause celebrity for the so called liberals and this wimp of a government is dragging its feet on presidential reference of his request for pardon. A swift punishment would have sent the right signals.

I shall tell you why the Government is not concerned. Our bunch of politicians are bothered only if it affects them. As long as Arjun Singh was spoiling the higher education, no one bothered. But the moment he raised his feeble voice against Sonia and Rahul, they became threatened and the knives were out. Terroism doesnt concern them as they, sitting under black cat protection, have nothing to fear. It is the common man who is suffering and who cares for him anyway.

There is only one way to make politicians take terrorism seriously. Pull out their security personnel. Let them move around in an ordinary car and walk amongst the people. Let them be exposed to terrorist strikes like everyone else. Then and only then will they do something.

And we still vote for these self serving *!@#

Fix

Do you know what is a 'Fix'?

When you notice that there is a problem, it means that there is a non confirmance to the performance requirement, leading to loss and waste. 'Fix' is a temporary solution to arrest this non confirmance and to reduce the loss till a permanent solution is found out. Once a 'Fix' is in place, follow up action like finding the root cause, identifying a permanent solution, implementing the solution, following it up and removing the 'Fix' has to be done.

Unfortunately, people and organizations are short sighted. They tend to forget about the problem once the 'Fix' is in place, till it snowballs into a major crisis later.

Let me give you some examples,

Most of the middle class houses in India have wash basins. The tap invariably is of poor quality and starts malfunctioning leading to water dripping. As a 'Fix', the residents close the gate valve under the wash basin which is kept for an emergency. This is fine. But then they are expected to rectify the defect in the main tap or replace it. This is never done,leading to the 'Fix' of controlling the water flow using the gate valve becoming a permanent solution.

At a macro level, let us look at the plight of farmers who are driven to suicide by wrong governmental policies. Government, typical of its ostrich like approach, has applied a 'Fix' by announcing a 60000 crores rupees loan waiver. This is fine. But have we heard a peep from the Government regarding analyzing the root cause of the problems faced by the Agricultural sector and finding long term solutions for it. The answer is a resounding 'No'. It has been found that 72% of the fruits produced in the country goes waste.

Another case is applying a 'Fix' to tackle inflation. Inflation is not something that cropped up one fine day morning. Everyone saw it coming but did nothing till it started shaking the foundation of the Government. Then the 'Fix'ing started. First it was the raising of Interest rates, then banning of exports and then increase in CRR of Banks. These don't constitute permanent solutions. The root cause is more structural in nature. We do not have a long term inflation managment policy. But who cares? The RBI Governor and Finance Ministry says inflation will be down to 6.5% in 3 months as if that is a relief. Contrary to what many think, food is not the cause for inflation. Government slept through when Steel producers and Cement producers formed cartels and started raising the prices. The Government hardly raised a finger when it knew there was a wheat shortage, and that it had to import wheat to make up for the shortfall. It didn't do anything to procure wheat when the prices were low in international markets, but placed orders when the prices had hit the roof. Even allowing that food consumption is on the higher side, Government should have seen it coming as people don't just start eating more overnight. Now they have come up with another ingenious 'Fix' - let people change their food habits. Is there anything more ridiculous than this?

Whenever you apply a 'Fix', please ensure that you go back to the problem, analyze it carefully, identify the root causes, find solutions, implement them diligently - and................don't forget to remove the 'Fix'

Icarus Paradox

In ancient Greek mythology, Icarus had wings of feathers held together by wax which enabled him to fly. Entranced with his newfound ability, Icarus ignored his father's warnings and soared ever higher. His wings eventually melted and he fell into the sea and drowned.

This is called Icarus Paradox in Management. Many successful companies, quite confident of their market dominance or their own exceptional core competencies, develop a sense of invincibility which leads to a fall sooner or later.

Let us see how this happens. Companies which enjoy high levels of success are often unable to sustain the processes and qualities that brought them success in the first place. More often than not they get so obsessed with the factors that brought them success in the first place that they show strong resistance to change and the evolving market conditions. For example, a company which built its success on a commitment to quality at the smallest level can become enmeshed in too much attention to detail and lose their ability to understand and react to macro level changes. A classic case is that of process driven Japanes automobile industry. In their quest to make cost efficient cars, they have missed the bus regarding R&D and need to build vehicles for the future. Some of the Companies and key individuals, once successful because of their ability to be flexible become increasingly rigid in their internal structure and decision making process, leading to loss of entrepreneurial spirit and ending up showing a marked unwillingness to expand into new markets away from their core business.

In today's dynamic market environment, it is essential that both organizations and individuals do not carry baggages from the past and embrace change wholeheartedly

Soft Skills

Apart from hard technical skills, the employees require quite a few soft skills. They are applicable to any field of work, and are the "personal traits and skills that employers state are the most important when selecting employees for jobs of any type.

Courtesy
Honesty and Integrity
Reliability
Flexibility and adaptability
Team skills and cooperation
Cooperation.
Self-directed
Good attitude
Writing skills
Dependability
Personal energy
Positive work ethic
Interpersonal skills.
Motivational skills
Willingness to learn
Common sense
Critical thinking skills
Punctuality
Perfection in work
Ability to follow rules
Willingness to be accountable
A feel for the job
Staying on the job until it is finished.
Caring about seeing the company succee
Understanding what the world is all about
Willingness to take instruction and responsibility
Innovation
Mentoring skills
Tenacity
Commitment
Computer literacy
Presentation skills
Leadership


How many soft skills do you possess?