Education begins at home ..

.. or so all like believe !

I happened to be at the Mysore palace Sunday afternoon, being host to couple of old friends. Very crowded place.

They don't allow shoes inside. And the crowd at the shoe stand was un-controllable.

I offered up to look after these friends and their kids shoes.

It was a long meditation in the crowd looking at shoes, where clearly professional working on stealing them.

Then a middle aged woman comes along with her teenage daughter and found that daughters shoes are missing. She was really in a cranky mood. Pushed literally my 4 yrs old who was sitting on the floor to get some rest.

Then asked her daughter to pick up any pair of good shoes which she thinks will fit her, in Bengali - the language I understand !

I followed the discussion clearly. And was shocked by a mom suggesting to a growing daughter to steal to compensate for something stolen !

"Bright" .. but not so much !

(Back to blogging after a small break)

I am coaching / mentoring unknown colleagues last 2 days as part of an HR initiative. Every year, this event, is probably more informative for me than to the people who come seeking guidance.

I get to know people from other departments, with problems and issues, which are common to the ones I know - only at the highest level. Like changing the career track effectively to match someone's interest, or dealing with a bad manager, or setting short term long term goal for oneself etc.

But at the granular level, the problems are different. The dynamics are different. Good learning opportunity about other function within a mammoth of an organization.

One such case caught my attention yesterday !

Young chap, fresh from college - just a year or so in to the job, had this concern.

He has been an outstanding student all through his studies. His parents and teachers and relatives have always referred to him as a "bright" guy ! They have all been proud of his abilities and accolades, which he seems to have plenty.

His current problem is - his existing management does not think he is particularly "Bright". His abilities are not underlined or high-lighted.

Young friend has clearly lost sleep over this new discovery about himself ! He has done his set off soul-searching !

I politely asked his permission - if I can as personal questions. Which he agreed to !

My questions were simple -

1. How many siblings he has ? Ans: none

2. day Scholar or hostel ? Ans: Day Scholar

3. Who filled his forms when he appeared in entrance exam ? Ans: Dad helped

4. Did he choose his branch in engineering ? Ans: Uncle, who is in IT industry for a while, told him what he should pick and in which college !

5. Did he think his uncles decision was right ? Ans: Did not have any opinion either way !

6. What are the parameters based on which everyone thought he is "Bright" ? Ans: Marks / grades

I am sure there is nothing wrong in all the answers he gave. But there is a pattern that I noticed.

A pattern where, the brightness is mere reflection of others light than from own fire !

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I sent him back with an simple exercise for next 4 weeks and asked him to contact me again. Hope he completes the exercise and brings me the journal !

I am sure, he can be as Bright in his job ! Just that the self ignition need to happen. And that's what the suggested exercise is supposed to do.

Yet another innovation...

After the UV protected, liquid ammonia shirts for executives, a real meaningful one here.

A leading home electronics brand, connecting a ceiling-fan and the AC controls.

Most Indian families who use AC, use it sparingly for the huge energy cost it comes with.

The brand lets you set a timer when you go to bed, say for two hours when you get deep in to slumber. Quietly the AC stops and passes the control on to the fan after you are asleep ?

Hybrid cooling ?

Certainly green thinking ! Better than UV protected shirts :)

Marketing to board room dummies !

In a leading business weekly, I found an interesting adv.

Shirts and ties for executives, that have liquid ammonia coating to protect UV rays falling on the skin of the executives.

Innovative ???

Look at the end users - tie wearing executives !

How they move ? AC Cars with tinted glass !
Where they live ? AC houses !
Where they work ? AC closed offices !
Where they play ? Golf in a golf course. But they do not wear formal shirts and neckties to that.

Now, why would these people need protection from UV rays ?

Whats next innovation ? Breast Enlargement for men ??

Amoral "means"

The transport service picks up my friend 2 kms from her house. To work in the morning. Back home in the evening. Again 2kms walk to home with the office bag, computer and all.

And she is expecting now !

She wanted to change the route to a closer place to her house, where there is already a route and cab running to. And there is space to accommodate ! But, the answer was NO.

The answer was NO until she said, she is "expecting", that to ! Of course after that the transport route for her was changed.
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Now take this story and slice and dice it -

1. There was a "route" already through her area

2. Accommodating in that route was not a challenge for the transport dept

3. 4 Kms walk everyday with Laptop and gym bag can be inconvenient even for people "not expecting"

4. She had to use her condition to get the route changed !

5. She felt miserable for using that "condition" ...

Sometimes one needs to use amoral means for a moral end.

Free market seeks equilibrium !

There is a lot of hue and cry over Obama's Bangalore talk today. Everyone is predicting doom for India's knowledge industry, that has thrived with outsources products and services from USA and other richer countries over last decade.

Now, Obama wants to clip the move, to save jobs for Americans, who are going jobless in hordes.
Companies, who set up shop outside USA, if they did not repatriate the profit from the operations back in to USA, they paid a lot lower tax.

Now, that the hole Obama wants to plug, and analysts believe this would raise the cost of outsourcing by 50%, which could make India not-so-competitive among the other service providing nations.

Now, look at it this way. If you have a Pot of a crazy crazy shape, and you pour enough water in to it, the water top level is always the same. Irrespective of the shape below it.

When we say, economy should be "Free" - this is what would happen.
- Businesses would look for cheaper places to go to produce. For e.g. USA to India

- The cheaper places will make more money e.g. Indian working on these would be wealthier

- More money brings more greed, and the salaries and comp. of the workers in the cheaper place would keep increasing, much more than the source (USA)

- When a lot of these job moves, the source country will have joblessness. And their spending will decrease. And more free workers will attract less wages.

- This cycle would continue till US and India (in this example) workers would cost similar !

This is free market. It will seek equilibrium.

Only thing is that, the time to equilibrium is probably expedited by such policy decisions, which are not so free market in nature ! Its like vaccination. Inject bacteria to make one bacteria free :)

Courage to "feed"back !

I sincerely doubt local services are bold enough to take customer feedback, process them and convert them to leverages.

I rented a big SUV for the long weekend to go up a mountain with kids. The driver was trained in Bangalore call center cabs and did lack the skills of carrying a vacationing family for sure.

Starting from safety considerations, like moving when someone is still getting down and door is open, taking the mountainous hair-pin bends, vanishing from the wheels leaving the customers in hot summer sun for hours etc.

Well ! After the trip is over, and Thank GOD its over, I called up the CAB company and requested them not to send this particular cab driver with family crowds.

The driver is pissed with my action and calling me every few minutes drunk !

Not sure, giving the feedback or taking it - needs more courage !

End of ownership ???

Twelve years working for the same employer !
Twelve years of metamorphosis - from being a small nimble innovative company to large diversified corporation.

This company has been generous in handing our "Stock Option Grants" in the past. The theme is - when you own shares, you behave like a shareholder. In other words like a part-owner of the company and do the right thing.

I kinda believed in that when I was younger ;) So, today I am trying to think hard to see if something has changed.

I ve sold the last lot of stock options I could sell. I am holding NO shares what so ever and there is no possibility of stock options being granted in future too. Its done !

Now, is this end of the sense of "ownership" ???