Reading - A complete waste of time ??

Recently a friend of mine who is not into reading in any form observed - "You like reading books but don't you think it is a complete waste of time ? Especially since your books are not even related to work. In the time you are reading you do nothing productive !!!! "

Of course I bristled at this but she being a friend - I did not shoot off acerbic comments; even though uncharitable observations about her serial-watching-time did occur to me !!! :))) Ha ha ....

Nobody likes to be told they are wasting time !! :)

Still .... I decided to actually think about her observation ... :) I know anyone can go on and on about the benefits (and disadvantages) of reading so I am not getting into that .... :)

I am going to play devil's advocate [ any offense in unintended ! ]

If we are to think of reading books as a waste of time then anytime spent in not foraging for our basic needs is a waste of time.

So letz see -

1. Time spent in listening to music is a waste of time - unless it is how you earn your bread-and-butter.
2. It goes without saying that only people involved in movie making should watch movies. [ What about the associate industries of Advertising, Toys, T-shirts, Games ...... :) No idea ! ]
3. Serials are a complete waste of time of-course - never mind the neighborhood boutiques ... that sell sarees and jewellery inspired by the serials !
4. Reality shows ? Ha .. toss it out of the window .... :)
5. You would like to learn the piano ? Why ? Read a trade magazine instead ! :))
6. Watching cricket / football / tennis by any one other than the players is an absolute no-no ! Never mind if your spouse starts to resemble a grizzly bear on losing his/her relaxation time with a favorite sport. :)

And so on and on ..... :))

To stretch it to a crazy level .....

Your child should decide what he/she wants to be in childhood and based on that should learn / read only skills related to the same !! Ouch ....

How would the world fare in this kind of environment ? I shudder to think .... :))) So next time I am tempted think of any specific recreation as a waste of time I am going to remember that the lateral impact of our recreations are many and varied [ both on self and others :) ] and I should realize each person chooses his/her own brand of poison ! :)
 
As for my friend - When I showed her this blog post she groaned and said "Blogging is creation of more material to read and ...... wasn't that where all this argument began ?" ! ;)) "

Books to Movies - Gripes ......

I think it is always dicey when books are converted to movies ....I mean just take the Bourne series .. !!! The movie(s) have not captured the book. They have taken "Bourne Identity" and made it into 3 movies with bits and pieces from the second and third book. The books "Bourne Supremacy" and "Bourne Ultimatum" hardly have anything in common with the movies of the same name. :)

While some adaptation in the storyline is expected; I wonder why glaring mistakes are made while casting .... One would think this area at least can be close to perfection .....

Yet ..... when I think of Lord of the Rings and the role of Galadriel played by Cate Blanchett -

She is supposed to be absolutely beautiful .. in fact so beautiful that the Dwarf and Elf keep arguing on the point - Arwen vs Galadriel. I know beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and all that but she looked terrible in the movie instead of gorgeous. Absolutely disappointing !!! Arwen as Liv Tyler was so much more better and she looks ethereal the way it is in the book. [ For those of you who forgot ; Galadriel is an elf queen and one of the 3 keepers of the rings. She gives Frodo the Star of light ].

Same for Marie in Bourne Movies - I don't think the actress fit the bill for this role ......

Another famous series - Harry Potter just seems to have too many wrongly depicted characters ... think of - Voldemort - He finally completely appears in "Goblet of Fire" and what a disappointment. Honestly as the main villain-of-the-piece in Harry Potter isn't he supposed to be so scary that nobody can mention his name ? Isn't he supposed to look more menacing ? Instead he looks like a caricature of a villain or a comic portrayal gone wrong !! Jeez .. no chills at all... ends up looking silly in fact ..... And then his eyes are supposed to be red slits !!!

Fleur Delacour - She is a Veela and has an ability to entrance and mesmerize men ... well .... she seems to have no appeal at all in the movie !!! :)

And I can go on .... :)

These look like glaring examples to me ... but may be this comparison is something obsessed book-readers observe and like to critique ..... :)

In recent times - the best movie adhering to the book descriptions IMHO is "Twilight". I found no issues with any of the characters - be the main characters or the lesser role characters - they have chosen exceptionally well. Yet how much does this diligence in casting convert to profit for the movie ?

[ Twilight - New Moon - is not very riveting as a book so I think it may not do much at the box office when compared to part one... :) But then that is the storyline .. not the character ..... so I digress .... ]

I did think it was an interesting question as regard casting but I know I do not have enough data to analyze ... :)) May be getting the main characters right is sufficient ....

Mom ? Or just a doubtful indecisive person ?

With a child every decision  is fraught with doubt ....

-- If you quit your job you wonder if you are sending the wrong signal by not working but if you work you bemoan the lack of time with your child ... :)

-- When you send your child to classes on drawing , piano , swimming etc you question if you are not allowing the child free time ... if you lessen the classes you ask yourself if you are not exposing the child enough to new ventures that he/she could learn ....

-- When you prepare food you ponder if you are getting the nutrients right .. if you don't and instead have a cook .. you feel guilty for not cooking every meal and snack yourself ! :)

-- If you scold the child you feel guilty for hurting him/her but if you don't you contemplate whether you not making the child too soft emotionally and tied to your apron strings .... :)

-- If you spend lots of time playing with your child you speculate if you are making him/her dependent on you for entertainment; if you don't you feel like a heel for not spending enough time with the child...

-- If you read many story books to the child you wonder if you not paying enough attention to physical development and motor skills ... if you don't spend enough time reading you feel you are not preparing your child for future study ! :)

-- When you are firm you deliberate if you are being too authoritative and if you are lenient you mull over if you are spoiling the child ! :)

-- When you allow your child to play in the rain you muse if you have lost your senses ( :) ) lieu of the swine flu scare and but if you don't, you feel the child has lost an opportunity of spontaneous fun under the raindrops ...

And the list goes on .... damned if you do and damned if you don't !!! :)

  I believe this is not a question of right or wrong .. which I think would be easier to handle ..... it is a question of balance with respect to the individual nature of the child ..... and who knows what the balance is ... ??? :)))

I wonder if this is a common obsession / compulsion that makes me over-think every step I take .......

However even though I cannot help but think that my daughter deserves so much more better than the kind of parent I am .... when she unexpectedly gives me a hug and says "I love you Mama" ... I think may be ... just may be ....I am not doing such a bad job after all .....

Human beings are divisive social animals

When I consider Aristotle's quote - "Man is by nature a social animal" - it occurs to me it is not completely true. We seem to have come a long way since we killed each other just because we occupied different turfs but the lines of differentiation are always present.

We slice and dice people based on various criteria -

• South Indian ?
• Indian ?
• Language 
• Caste ( but ofcourse ... )
• Economic status
• Lineage ( my father's cousin's-cousin's was royalty ! ;) )
• History ( my folks came with the Mayflower ! :) )
• Religion - More people have died from this cause than all epidemics put together !!! And all religions advocate non-violence ! :)
• Geographical teritory 
• Education
Humans need to be part of a faction and yet be unique

I think the list can go on .... So while we have travelled in the road to equality I cynically think that we will never be able to quell the need to be distinct.

While by nature humans are social animals - I think this bonhomie extends only to the point of feeling part of a group and at the same time being able to feel a cut above others ! :)

And this is not a new observation - Am sure this is a part of some human behavior course material ! :)

Lessons learnt from changing my blogger template .. :)

I changed my blogger template and it proved to be an exercise in frustration. I keep coming across these wonderful websites and it tempted me to change mine. :) Plus I went an extra step and thought "Hey ...let me make my own blogger template too !" Talk about delusions of grandeur !! :)

The previous look of my blog and the current look.

I have no idea how folks actually make a blogger template a day - but I went from trying to make a flamboyant vector transparency blog template to customizing a template in which I would settle for getting the search button icon aligned with my textbox !! You would think that this would be a no-brainer ! But no the textbox and search button icon don't align themselves horizontally without some tweaks ! :) Ofcourse I was always slow at front-end coding but .... :)

So here are my lessons ....

1. First if you can get away with not changing your blogger template - do so !!! :) Ha ha ha but yeah this hardly makes sense if you want your blog to look unique
2. Don't start to create a blogger template from scratch - it is easier(???) to customize an existing one. Unless ofcourse you enjoy CSS and those pixel alignments ! :))
3. There are hundreds of readily available navigation codes on the net - can use them. ( I have not used any - have kept it simple )
4. If possible search for a template that you can use without requiring any tweaks other than just adding your widgets
5. The holy grail of blogger template change - backup your existing template !!!
6. Just as an additional step - backup your blog posts too
7. Note any specific HTML scripts that you have put in your blog template that is not part of the widgets
• SEO type meta tags
• Google Analytics code etc
8. Contemplate using a test blog if you want to first check how your website will look before making any permanent changes [Create a test blog]. You can use this test blog to even try out new widgets/script that you plan to add.
9. Can use this link to keep your widgets safe. I found it did the trick
10. Upload the new template
11. Reposition the widgets
12. Add the HTML/javascripts that were not part of the widgets
13. Add any other new widgets / scripts that you want
14. Keep your fingers crossed ..... and check how your blog looks after the changes! :)

Enjoy ! :)

The Seven-Day Weekend - Ricardo Semler - Book Review

When I picked this book from a friend's collection - I thought it was material along the lines of time management. The cover specifics were not very enlightening ! :) I was surprised by the atypical model of management that I ended up reading about ! :) 
 
The main underpinning of this book is employee democracy ( democrazy ?? :) ) in all areas of company management. The ensuing chaos may seem like a recipe for disaster but it is hard to argue with numbers - the Semco company is supposed to have grown from $35 million revenue to $212 million revenue in 6 years .... with virtually no employee turnover.

The conviction the author advocates is that of relinquishing control ... and inherently trusting the employees to behave like adults and not kids requiring supervision. He believes that peer control is effective for both reporting and auditing purposes.

Consider some of the company practices -

• Company plans

The company has no vision statement, no 5 or 10 year business plans , no mission statement or corporate strategy. Plans are only made for 6 months in advance !

• HR / Organization structure / Motivation

The company has no HR and the organization structure is flat. They have no fixed CEO ( at the time of writing the book ! ) and no standard practices either.

The author believes that an employee who puts himself first will be motivated to perform !! And that it is due to a non-alignment of corporate interests vs personal interests that too many companies end up spending too much time trying to motivate its folks.

• Attending meetings are optional

Now this may not sound very unusual - but considering the amount of importance a show of hands by workers has towards - opening a new service, product, vetoing a deal, closing of a factory unit, hiring of new people for a particular function - it assumes considerable importance.

Say not one person turns up for a meeting to discuss a new type of product for the market it is a clear indication that the employees do not consider this important and perhaps this product is not required at all. Same logic extends to everything. Even the CEO is not immune to empty meetings towards any of his ideas ! :)

• Salaries

People decide their own pay packets and everyone knows what others are paid ( Ha ha ha - can you imagine the furore this would cause ??? :) ).

People can opt to work less ( phases in life - pregnancy, part time study etc ) and can move some of their work to other people interested in working and earning more. The people who work less thus choose a lower pay packet accordingly.

Individuals can take 3 yrs off for a sabbatical with some help from financial packages ( they should invest towards the same while working obviously ! :) ).

• No time constraints

People decide when they come and what they do and this extends even to assembly line workers. These groups decide amongst themselves when to come and hence are better able to monitor themselves and manage themselves ... it is no longer a management vs workers problem !

The author believes that forcing workers to work standard hours may mean losing employee potential on a daily basis. This kind of flexi-timings allows people to make family the first priority and schedule work around it.  ( And in Brazil - schedule work around the football matches ! :) )
 

• Choosing their niche

People can move around in the company to find their niche. Trainees for the first one year are not assigned to any unit - they are exposed to various groups and responsibilities. Workers follow their interests and instincts when choosing jobs or projects.

•  No information hoarding

Board meetings are open to all employees - people can sign for them in advance on a first come and first serve basis and the agenda is made available so persons can prepare themselves. Whoever attends is expected to actively participate and vote responsibly.

 The company books are opened to all employees and all unions. To ensure workers understand what exactly is happening - not only classes are provided - the budget is also presented in simplified format where relevant.


Sounds like Utopia ? :) Some of the things mentioned in the book are not new - 360 reviews, profit sharing plans but the underlying collective consensus approach is perhaps what makes the difference.

All in all - an easy and interesting read. And if executed ...... new vistas ...... :)))

Do you identify with .... Treasured Emptiness ?

Sometimes .... this feeling settles down on me .... "Is this it ??"

Although it may seem that nothing but depression can trigger this ... it is not true .... it can happen subsequent to euphoria; post some cherished accomplishment or when I look at a brilliant sunset too ( sorry to all those nature lovers who believe sunsets are always inspirational ! :) ).

I am confused when I find that this mental frame is not chased away by one's regular daily activities, music, movies, books , shopping ( :) ) , browsing, twitter ( :) ) etc

This is different .... it does not intrude in the normal course of life's events ... what it does is, give a spectator perspective .... it is a part of every activity and yet a bystander ... a strange dichotomy of being ....

It is not sadness, happiness, not anger , not futility, not animation or sentimentality ...... and it dawns on me ( sometimes after a week or so !!!! ) ... it is nothing ...... a very special barrenness .....

A strange emptiness ; an emptiness that resounds with silence .... a thing of desolate beauty .... an emptiness where thoughts are intruders .......

Vedanta Treatise - The Eternities by Swami Parthasarathy - Book Review

I bought this book quite some time back but each time I picked it up to read, I felt I was not mentally prepared for its tenets :) But now after reading it ......to say it is inspirational and profound sounds very tame !! It is much beyond that.

First of all - don't read this book unless you are ready to have your religious , spiritual beliefs questioned ! :) The author calls a spade a space and how ! :)) Secondly it starts dry - more like a textbook - and includes examples with logic, maths, poems , stories etc.

Some insights in the book -

• Vedanta - The author says that Vedanta is to be approached like a science. Vedanta elucidates truth in an analytical manner akin to how math theorems are approached. Its truth is its authority and needs no person to give it credence. It belongs to everybody and in fact needs organized study just like a professional course.

• God - The author claims that God is a concept like the unknown quantity in an algebraic equation. One needs to resolve the equation to get to the real value !! Also compares God to fuel in a vehicle ; says while the vehicle cannot move without the fuel - still the vehicle holds responsibility for where it travels and hence the responsibility of our lives lies with us !

• Religion -  The soul of religion has been killed and people are clinging on to the remains ! A most sagacious statement and so true ! Today - religion seems to mere following of rote conventions / meaningless rites / forced thoughts / inflexible beliefs without any value or emphasis being given to contemplation and reflection on any spiritual maxims or discourses.  Religious education seems to have become an acceptance and compliance of past thoughts and actions. Says thinking is a skilled activity !! :) Most consider it a natural ability !

• Who are you ? - We do not know who we are because when in dreams we think we are the person in the dreams and it is very real to us , just as the person we become when we wake up is very real to us too !!!!

• Bhagvad Gita - Says it is ironical that while the Gita is a actually a book that is a kindle towards action ( after all it galvanized Arjuna to fight !! ) most people in India seem to consider it as a retirement activity and is only for the elderly !!

• Renunciation - Renunciation does not mean abstaining from your essential duties. In fact it means that you should perform your duties and yet be a detached witness to all that happens in your life. True renunciation means you should be able to life life even enjoy life and yet know it is but transient and momentary.

• Meditation - The author's views on meditation was startling and perhaps contentious too !!! Meditation is the last step of religious procedure and not the first. Says a mind full of desires is an agitating mind and cannot truly meditate. Something like bags of stones weighting a bird down - it just cannot soar. With all the hype surrounding meditation and the blithe assumption that meditation is the first thing to do when needing to be calm - this confounded me !!

The main goal in any-one's life should be self-realization. The world dissolves on attaining this !

Would you hire someone smarter than you ? :))

One of the oft repeated mantras in management lore that I come across is hiring/surrounding yourself with people smarter than you. My personal experience in this has been somewhat ambivalent and inconclusive.

I have had people with me who climbed the corporate ladder faster than me plus there are others who are languishing more or less where they were when I left. :) I cannot claim to have made any conscious decisions towards encircling myself with brighter people than me.

 So ....... let us look at others .....

When I was a relative junior in the organization a valid query from me regarding Database design along with a viable solution was rejected by a senior person ....  I was puzzled by it at that time but came to the conclusion that there must be a very valid reason for the dismissal of my inputs.  It made the code a little messier in my opinion so I could not help wondering why that individual did not see it fit to tell me the reason. ( And yes I did ask in person too !! :)) Since when have I stopped asking questions ? :)) )

Contrast this to another boss who was also high up in the corporate hierarchy but always found time to answer my queries (plus that of my team mates ); especially those insights gained through experience. We were exposed to quick bytes of wisdom ( and justified rebukes too ! :) ) through out the working relationship. This person collaborated with people who were technically more brilliant and yet did not feel intimidated nor were the inexperienced people in the group treated in a cavalier way for the many "dumb" questions.

Needless to say - working for the second person was much more fun and there was hardly anyone who found it difficult to go the extra mile when deadlines loomed !! :)

So my musing is this - Exactly what kind of person can hire other people around him/her who are more sharp, talented and clever than himself / herself ?  Someone --

• who is articulate ? ( May be my boss could not tell me why my design was wrong ! It is one thing to know and another to explain ! )
• who is secure ? Security not based on position / title alone. ( Think of the number of  CEOs sacked so unceremoniously ?? ;) ).
• who enjoys learning
• who knows he/she is employable ( even if the recession bites ! )
• And someone who is office-politics-savvy if he/she is gunning for that promotion while being surrounded by exceptional people and actually wants to keep them happy too !!!! :))

Pace of Life .... :)

I read this great article by Nandu - Pace of life and this blog is in response to some of the queries he has posted there. ( My answers turned out to be too long !!! )

The main topic .. is pace of life and how we seem to be rats in a spin wheel. Not a new topic ... but .. :))

The psychological/medical explanation of why we are addicted to searching, tweeting etc is given in this article . For those of you who have a short attention span - this is a long read but you can directly read the first para and last 3 paras to get the gist !!

First I must say I don't believe in balanced life. :)) I don't believe any generation ever really had it. We might think looking from a perspective of 15-20 yrs that they were happy - but they faced their own challenges. Plus we were kids !! :) It may make more sense to see what the adults were doing.

If we see; our parents spent a lot of time in physical work ... I don't remember a time when my mom / grand mom really goofed off. May be only when they visited their maternal homes !! :) My grand mom would do patchwork quilts when she was free ... !!!! Otherwise she was cooking, working in the fields, winnowing, running behind us kids , making butter, tidying the house etc etc etc. No cleaned rice, wheat , ready made butter etc off the shelves for her !!! My granddad was busy in the fields or with his photography .... He was engaged most of the day .. and night time was good for his photography work ..... Similar story for my Mom and Dad - Mom worked too ...

Yes the pace of life was slower I think - but then that generation had its own stresses to cope with.

Now for us a quite a few our stresses are self-inflicted. This is not to say that there is no compulsion to be better, faster and more efficient on a daily basis. It is there ... and I don't see it getting less any time in the near future. What we can do is instead is stream-line the areas that we have to focus on and eliminate the chaff.

Here are few of my observations -

First I think - we should forget the 5 day week and 2 day weekend concept. It is a 7 day work / weekend. That means pockets of leisure have to be taken during the week itself. You may think - Not during the working hours ... but I knew people who would go for a jog in the afternoon which worked as a stress buster and helped them get their exercise. It also made them come back to work with a fresh mind !!! Some would go to their patch gardens near the office - to do half an hour of weed pulling !

We have to choose what our stress buster is - be it 2 min meditation, slow deep breathing, going to a comics website , reading a few inspirational thoughts, watching a movie , a walk in nature etc ... It is a fact that there is no longer a clean divide between work and leisure time.

Secondly I think it is easy to get lost in the thick of thin things. ( Borrowing from Stephen Covey's - First things First ). How many times have we found that just googling on one topic leads to another and then another and you have ended up spending 3 hours ... almost doing nothing ? Personally I can be online all day and all night ... and still feel that I can continue ! :)

Yes technologies are addictive no doubt but much of the online experience also comes from
what we decide to look for. Being online itself is not the main thing - it is what we do online that matters. Mere zombie browsing is obviously a time waster.

RSS feeds, Twitter updates, iTunes podcast subscriptions, Online university material, News updates - how many times do we prune this to get only material is important and relevant to us ? Undoubtedly we have some searching to do to get the best out of the net but we forget this involves deleting too ! I personally unsubscribe/unfollow blogs/people that I don't feel are adding value to my online experience. Yes it may mean that I might miss that fantastic article on the perfect way to blog ....but if I have to hunt through 200 articles for that one ... I am better off without it !! :)

Same goes for the need to know the latest news asap. C'mon - current news is old news tomorrow. Lots of days we can live without reading the newspapers / news updates too !! :)) You just have to go and browse for top 10 news of last week / month to get the relevant details when you get back online ! :)

Another thing is ... time taken for a few tasks - especially the mundane ones !! We can limit them - fixing a time may ensure we do not squander time on non-essentials.

On the whole awareness is what will help .... being online cannot make us efficient unless we evaluate what we do - all the time ! :)) There are lots of books and tips on how to be more productive and I will not get into that but the bottom line is that it all fails if we do not tailor it to our needs.

Mind you - these are my inputs and a lot of you may think it is easy for me to say this since I am not working and juggling home life and office life. But the addiction to being online all the time affects me too ! :)

May be though; sometimes nothing but cold turkey works - so get off the net / twitter / facebook etc for a couple of days - the earth will still revolve around the sun !!!! :))

And sadly may be nobody will miss you ! ;)

Thinking about thinking ... :)

I read in the book "The monk who sold his Ferrari" that for most people, 80% of the thoughts they think are same as that of the day before .... I was astounded ... somehow .... it seemed too fantastic a figure ... and then just the other day I came across this "People don't seem to realize that thinking is skilled work . We believe it is a natural process like breathing and eating."

Made me wonder ... how much do we think about the process of thinking itself ? How original or independent is our thinking ? And what, is original thinking ?

I traced a few random thoughts .... and felt that some of them were biased due to parents/elders/spouse's influence. A good deal of my thinking pattern has been molded in school - so read the impact of my teachers. Outlook on current affairs, technology trends or any other subject for that matter is shaped with the help of newspapers, books, magazines, blogs, ex-office colleagues, peers - and of course the influences mentioned before.

As for religion - although I have not inherited( ?? :-) ) the belief of my parents - I still have enough traces of their impressions. Especially where religion is concerned I speculate - just how much of our opinions are formed due to the result of reflective thinking and just how much is handed down and blindly absorbed ? Distinctly uncomfortable area but definitely something that augurs contemplation .... :)

And then - thoughts that come out of whatever experience I have gained in life are not unusual - mainly lessons learnt which so many in the world would have also learnt. :) I moved on to nostalgia. Is this in any way novel ? Simply because nobody else can view the past events through my eyes. I rejected this - I think while my frame of reference may be unique it is hardly original or independent.

Does my taste in music constitute any creativeness ? I did not think so .... I mean I listen to a good amount of music on the radio and unless I decide to listen to other songs in the album or movie ... how much can I consider my taste in music my own ? Can I not trace quite a few of the songs I like/hate to being assaulted by them day and night ? :) Some songs are remembered and enjoyed simply due to listening to them with friends ... rarely have I heard a snatch of
music completely on my own and liked/hated it instantly .. I will not say it has not happened ..... but ... I muse ... how much have I been predisposed me to like/dislike specific types of music simply due to confluence of influences ?

This understanding can be extrapolated to taste in movies, art, fashion sense, games, food , handling of finances etc.

In a seminar to illustrate just how different people were - a set of 6 people - were given 6 clues and they were all interpreted in myriad ways - and yet when I googled the interpretations - I found others with the same ideas or conclusions !! :)

So through out our lives we pick up so many prejudices we are not always aware of them ...... nor do we realize when and how we pick them up ....

This is not to say - we can live without influences/biases ... it just makes me think that it is amazing in this plethora of material that is bombarded at us - originality does crop up - like Gandhiji's non violence movement, Picasso's cubist drawings ( I honestly don't get them !!! :) ), music composers, Isaac Newton's theory of gravity , Albert Einstein's relativity , Moon walking ( ;) ), The determination of the Benzene ring ... to name very very few ......

But that does take me back to the basic question : Does original and independent thinking mean it has to be startlingly different from whatever is the prevalent culture at that moment ? Does it have to mean something unheard of before ? Or is the amalgamation of biases/prejudices/influences that give me my perspective on all that I think of - fresh ? That still makes me think I am predominantly a second-hander. ( to use Ayn Rand's terminology ! :) ).

Aargh .... Somehow this thought makes me rebel ... but then being rebellious is not original either ! :)

Colors of Friendship .....

I have been ruminating on this thought for sometime but it may never have made it to the blog but for the serendipity of receiving a perfect friendship message for this post!

Also, I think my sacchariferous post may be more easily tolerated now - post friendship day ! :)

There are numerous odes to lifelong friends and best friends which I need not repeat here and I have no grouse about them. I just wonder why do short-term friends get the short-shrift almost always ?
Reminiscing - There was this friend with whom I concocted schemes to steal unripe and sour mangoes and equally unripe and hard-as-stone guavas from the neighborhood grouch ! :) A roomie who I thought had the weirdest (read worst ! :) ) taste in music and who believed the same of me. And well ...... etc etc etc .... :)
Not all brief friendships were fun either. A painful lesson in self-reliance was learnt because my friend in school dumped me for another girl who was more exciting and glamorous ( sounds crazy right ? :) ) during the summer holidays and I lost my entire crowd of friends ( my school and home friends were the same ... since we all went to the same school ) in one fell swoop. I had to face the sneers and snigger's from being an outcast ! :) Definitely my first heartbreak ! :)

I am sure most would have had different friends at the various stages in life with myriad experiences [ / capers? :) ] shared with them. Some may still be there today ....

Unarguably if were I meet some of these transient friends - I might not ( ok ok most likely not ) remember their names, the meeting might be awkward ( only so much time can be spent reliving old escapades ! ;) ), might not recognize them and some might just ignore me. But this does not diminish what they meant to me at whatever point of life I met them.

I have spent several lifetimes in those moments with them. :) And learnt that it takes all kinds to make the world ! ;)

And that being the case - I think while long term and best friends do have their place .... butterflies, fireworks, shooting stars, aurora borealis and annoying bee stings :) - all make up the kaleidoscope of our lives.

So I would like to say , what my friend said ...... "Friends are like sketch pens. They color our lives. I may not be your favorite color, but you will need me somewhere to complete your picture." :)

Happy Friendship Day ..... Belatedly !!! :)))

Balanced Life is a Myth

Much has been written about Michael Jackson and more will be written. Already there are umpteen tribute songs, latest rehearsal clips and what not. There will be a whole industry that will cater to ensuring his memory is kept alive and and more importantly ... making dollars !! :) May be it will help clear his debts !! :))



I was thinking of his early debut in the music world. He joined the family band at the age of 5. Under the hands of his father he underwent infinite rehearsals to hone his talent. But is this so unusual ? It does not seem so .. consider the following celebrities...

• Venus and Serena Williams - who say they do not remember ever learning to play ... they just knew how to play !!!
• Andre Agassi - whose father Mike Agassi is supposed to have hung a tennis ball over Andre's crib and taped a racket to his hand as soon as he could walk !!
  

I am sure there are others .... but I am not commenting on the parenting styles of the parents of these celebrities.


My question is more basic - would these people have become so great in their fields without the overwhelming and relentless focus in their areas of expertise ? Just think of some other top-notch people -

• Michael Phelps - Trains 5-6 hours every day ... 7 days a week ... 365 days a year ... no holidays / Sundays. This hardly leaves him time for anything else.
• Tiger Woods - Was a child prodigy who began to play golf at the age of two. He does weight training and of course practises golf daily especially his swings.
• Vishwanathan Anand - Daily tunes up anywhere between 4 - 10 hours depending on whether he has a match or not.
• Warren Buffett - He was just 6 when he displayed his ability to make money off cola bottles !!
• Bill Gates - Was never satisfied to be the best. He always had to push beyond.
• It is well known that vocalists, musicians, dancers, circus performers, magicians etc have to practise/rehearse daily. It is not enough to know their trade - they must hone it on a daily basis.
  

This kind of targeted knuckling down obviously does not leave much time to lead a so-called-balanced life. And what is a balanced life ? Is it really good-to-have ?


When I was working I had attended this workshop called "I can". There was an exercise in which we were supposed to draw 8 spokes of a wheel. Each spoke represented a section of our life - like - spiritual , professional , health, relationships like father/mother/sister/brother etc ....I forget the rest. One had to mark how proficient one was in each section. 0 was the center. 10 was the extreme and represented 100%. And at the end of it .. we were to join all these points on the 8 spokes. Needless to say the joined dots never formed a circle which was supposedly the result to aspire for. But today I believe living a balanced life is a myth. Like it or not unless we invest in our orbit of excellence - we will never be good - forget being the best !


In this process of trying to lead a balanced life ... we do not seem to recognize that it seems to be a path to becoming a "Jack-of-all-trades-and-master-of-none". Perhaps it is time to accept that living a balanced life is not really desirable. It seems to be recipe to make one mediocre .... It is more beneficial to focus on our core strengths in one / two domains and realize that everything else will be at the expense of these ... and rightly so. Being a master in any sphere involves - time, effort, discipline and yes; sacrifice.
More to the point - Natural ability or talent ... will just remain raw potential unless it is exploited. Couple of areas of our life will dominate our waking hours - making time and having time for any other interest is just a bonus. So forget trying to be a 'super-anything' .... just be excessively good in your mainstays and let the rest take care of itself !! :))
This begs the question ..... For some these child prodigies - did their parents do a good thing by helping them harness their abilities or did they do them a disservice by pushing them so early ?
Would the genius have surfaced without the prodding ?

On diets, conflicts and health ! :)

First of all let me be very clear - I don't diet. :) I don't believe in doing anything drastic with the body especially the diets that talk about surviving on juices alone or eating such miniscule amounts of food that all one would think about all the time is food ! :) Neither do I believe in one-miracle-plant/drug/grain/juice/tonic/exercise etc to make one full of vigor and life. :)

Having said that ... I am a believer in good eating habits ( does that sound like dieting ? Nope .. dieting in general seems to be synonymous with starvation ! :) ) and would love to get the motivation to exercise. The less said about this .. the better !!! I enjoy walking .. brisk walking and that is about it ... I need to get more exercise I know ... I need to just do it ! :)

Having read few ( very few ! ) books on healthy eating habits .... and obviously being no expert in nutrition , diet , exercise et al I have come across conflicting views. And sometimes wonder , what is the middle path. Once again none of these points I will be listing here - are to do with weight loss. Weight loss/gain is a side benefit, salubrious is what I am looking at.
Consider these points -

• 1 -> Sip warm water with your meal to aid digestion. ( Even within Ayurvedic writings they differ on this view )

vs

• Do not drink water with your meal since it will dilute the digestive juices and lead to incomplete/improper digestion.

I actually asked 2 ayurvedic doctors about this ! :) One said - how do you grind atta for idli/dosa ? You put little water to help the process but not so much that you lose the consistency of the atta. So a little water is good.
The other doctor said - what happens when you dilute acid with water ? Its efficacy decreases , same is true for digestive acids. :)

• 2 -> Minimize raw foods. Cooked foods are easier to digest.

vs

• Extensive Salads seem to be the way to go for better health !

• 3 -> Leave 4-6 hours between meals. Allow time for the the process of digestion to reach completion - including absorbing of nutrients in the small intestine and not just the digestion in the stomach. [ Do I sound gross ? Sorry ]

vs

• Eat every two hours to keep the metabolism going.

• 4-> Eat fruits on an empty stomach as a snack by itself not at the end of a meal.

vs

• Eat fruits only in the morning since the high quantity of fructose in fruits gets directly converted into triglycerides at any other time of the day unless you consume it post some exertion ( Whatever happened to the nutrients / fibre part of the fruit ? ) :)

• 5 -> Eat ghee - 3 to 4 teaspoons a day. This is highly recommended in Ayurveda.

vs

• Ghee is laden with calories. Avoid it completely.

• 6 -> Drink coffee - is a stimulant, it can decrease insulin resistance among other benefits attributed to it. These keep coming in the paper. ( Coffee with no sugar or milk )

vs

• Coffee interferes with absorption of minerals like iron and calcium. Increases acidity. So avoid completely.

• 7 -> Eat dark chocolate for the anti-oxidants. ( 70% or more than 70% cocoa )

vs

• Dark chocolates still have some sugar / sweeteners in them. And this miniscule amount renders the anti-oxidants in them useless.

• 8 -> Taking/Avoiding Vitamin supplements - a controversial topic for sure !!!

These are just a few simple ones that I have come across in my limited reading.
I am glad however to see that now the trend in dieting seems to be to do things in moderation. I am no fan of Atkins / GM / South Beach diet and the like. But then again may be I am speaking without having a complete knowledge of the same and am simply biased ! :)

These days what seems to be consensus is this - [ I say this b'cos these things are like a cycle I think - so what is good today most likely will not be so tomorrow ]

1. Say "No" to fruit juices. You lose the vitamins due to exposure to air, lose the fibre and get mainly the fructose. Instead eat whole fruits/vegetables.
2. Don't eat when angry, frustrated, depressed , bored etc. This interferes with good digestion and may also make you eat more.
3. Eat at home or as much home cooked food as possible. Eat in a quiet place. Avoid eating while walking/standing. If with family / friends avoid talks that can become agitating , negative or quarrelsome.
4. Give thanks for what you are about to eat. ( Yes this helps in digestion ! :) )
5. Savor the food - don't want TV while eating , don't talk on the phone or do other activities. Chew each bite thoroughly.
6. Use fresh, local, seasonal foods as much as possible.
7. Eat a little good fat before or during a main meal like lunch - e.g. walnuts / peanuts. I guess this where our Indian ghee comes into picture.
8. Keep regular meal times. Sleep well.
9. Do not stick to only one type of food - only low carbs , only proteins , only juice etc. It works against the body and robs you of vitality and strength.
10. Exercise. Stretch. Do weight training - use body for resistance ( e.g - yoga ) or weights it does not matter. These help the joints. And ladies - No, you don't get bulky. You get toned ! :)
11. Don't walk post a meal. It takes the blood away from the digestive process. According to Indian outlook - Vajrasana is the only asana recommended post a meal since it aids digestion by directing blood towards the stomach.
12. Avoid sweeteners. They have known side effects.
13. Low-fat, low-sugar,sugar-free, fat-free, baked food items - check the labels carefully. They might be just 1-2 gms lower than the full-fat items. Plus they might have other ingredients that pose a health risk.
14. Have lassi/buttermilk post meal. Acidophilus ( live culture ) helps maintain the good bacteria in your intestine.
15. Avoid Colas. No trans-fat. [ Using of deep fried oil again in cooking ]
16. Drink plenty of water.
17. Always eat breakfast.
18. Wake up at sunrise. :) [ Heard this one before eh ? :) ]
19. Meditate at least once a day.
20. Have dinner 2 hours before sleeping or before 8pm. Don't have a heavy dinner.
21. Your waist size is a better indicator of your health than your weight.
22. Your body needs fat !
23. Nutrients are more important than calories - Case in point - Brown rice vs White rice. Brown rice has more calories but is more nutrient rich than white rice.
24. A little stress is good for the body. It is when it becomes too much or chronic that problems creep in.
    

Ok this list is getting unwieldy. Am stopping here ! :). But the guidelines here are by no means exhaustive. :)
Let me know what you think ! :)

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance ? by Louis V. Gerstener - Book Review

I am not surprised this book is one of the top ten business books that are recommended reading for management professionals. It is an amazing story of a turnaround of a behemoth that had all but ossified itself right out of the market place. Written by Loius V Gerstener , who joined as CEO at IBM and was the change agent who brought about the transformation.

Consider some of these statistics/ traits / problems when he joined -

• 128 CIO's across the company !!! Everyone of them managed their own local architecture & home grown applications.
• 3 different budgets allocations due to which accountability was difficult to determine.
• 266 different general ledger systems.
• A very rigid HR system - an IBMer actually had to be fired from one division to work in another !!!
• Decisions were made by committees, a type of centralized control that led to diluted responsibility and leadership.
• Archaic IT systems which could not communicate with each other.
• A business model that entailed having to start a fresh relationship with the local IBM office regardless of how big a customer you were anywhere else geographically. [ What a nightmare this would have been for customers !! ]. These were due to the geographical strong-holds or rather strangle-holds ! :)
• 339 different satisfaction surveys with disparate methodologies.- Scant information on customers and IBM's offerings viz-a-viz that of competitors.
• No pan enterprise ad agency, multiple ad agencies employed with differing sometimes conflicting ads.
• Loss of customer trust
• Business alliances that made no sense
• Inability to to bring its scientific inventions to the market place - like the relational database, Network hardware and software, Operating system ( which it sold to Microsoft ), Micro-processor ( to Intel ) , Unix processors ( I did not know this ! )
• Sales that were focused on products rather than the customer needs and different IBM sales people disparaged their own products and different divisions would bid against one another with the same company.
• Internal Turf wars - an appalling example is where IBM hardware made a deal with Oracle ( its arch rival ) without telling its software division !
• A culture where everyone could say "No" and no one would clearly say "Yes" to company wide initiatives. Almost like veto power !! Imagine if you can just decide to ignore what your boss tells you .. simply because you do not concur !! :) Yes - they actually had a "Nonconcur" process and management system ! :)
  

And so on and on ......

What IBM had though was a sound R&D , Product development , a sense of responsibility , integrity , and a can-do attitude that helped. Ultimately management can only create conditions for transformation and provide incentives. Management does not change the behavior of thousands of people - it invites the employees themselves to change.

Critical decisions to bring around the company included -

• Keeping the company together - When the CEO joined the company there was an ongoing clamour to break the company into many small companies with different offerings. Going against the tide - the CEO made the tough decision to keep IBM together. He forecast that the IT industry would be services led and not technology led. He considered the size of IBM a strength that would help IBM in the ability to apply complex end-to-end technologies to solve business challenges and integration issues.
  
• Changing the business model of IBM from a product company to an Integration Services enterprise.
  
• Change of culture - easily the most difficult aspect of the turn-around. IBMer's were internal-focused. Internal processes and politicking took all time and people had settled into a sense of entitlement. IBM's basic beliefs had morphed beyond recognition. For eg. 'Excellence in everything we do' credo had become an obsession with perfection. aided by rigid bureaucracy wherein it was said IBM did not launch products - they escaped !! :) 'Superior customer service' meant servicing IBM machines on customer sites !
  
• Changing management philosophy - so IBM was market driven and customer focused. The apathy towards customer needs was replaced with customer focused quality strategies that were also competitive. Change in the internal processes in almost all areas to shake off the petrification that had settled in.
  
• Change in compensation and incentives to reflect the new philosophies of marketplace driven strategies, business performance and individual contribution. Teamwork was rewarded.
  
• A multi-year effort to re-write all of IBM's critical software to not only be network enabled but to work on HP, Sun , Microsoft and other platforms. This was the step towards embracing of open standards.
  
• Creating a Brand IBM with one ad agency. Re-Positioning of the mainframe value in the PC world.
  
• Integration of the company into a whole and breaking up of the geographical fiefdoms - by shifting the power and measuring the performance.
  

Other key decisions

• Services/Integration unit IBMers - They were instructed to suggest even Sun, HP products if this suited the particular customer problem that IBM had been consulted for ! :)
• Strategic acquisitions without getting into the acquisition heat/fever !!! E.g - Lotus Notes, Tivoli , Siebel.
• Protecting the R&D budget - Reducing the price of S/390 even though it was their main cash flow generator. They did this by changing the underlying technology from bi-polar to CMOS - even though at that time this task was time consuming plus expensive.
• Getting out of the OS/2 vs Microsoft Windows war
• Licensing and Patents royalties - this is the custom defined micro-electronics which ensures IBM benefits from growth of business outside the IT industry
  

Win , Execute , Team - was the new leadership competencies - focus to win, mobilizing resources to execute and sustaining momentum with teamwork to accomplish goals.

After the turn-around when danger was behind them - they decided to focus on e-business.This is a psychological understanding that once the crisis was past , the company needed a new motivator.

Some personal learning's of the CEO mentioned in the book

• Chasing revenue at the expense of real earnings ( profit ) is the surest sign of a weak management.
• Underpromise and Outperform.
• CEO's should tackle problems personally and not delegate or preside over the work of others.- Strategy is quantitative , risky and is actionable - on a day to day basis. Vision is aspirational.
• There should be no compromise on corporate principles no matter how highly placed the executive is.
• Management has to identify new growth centers and fund them .
• Credit should be given to people building arks not those who predicted rain !
• Passion is the cornerstone of leadership.
  

Every single page of this book endorses the fact that it is an eminently penetrating look at the handling of the crisis at IBM. Most of the decisions taken were bold, decisive and futuristic with a high chance of failure. Down-to-earth with an admission that any of the changes could have dove-tailed - it is a lesson in organizational behavior too. Mention of the relevant people who were crucial to the turn around means the CEO gave credit where it was due.

I know this review seems long but I felt there were just too many things to mention and I feel I have not been able to capture the essence of the knowledge in the book. Of course that is why it is a good idea to suggest to read the book ! :)

Infinity Redefined ... :)

Saturday is the day my daughter keeps her Dad completely at her beck and call. He is her toy, playmate, a cartoon character, punching bag when frustrated .. etc. On this Saturday though, my hubby suddenly found himself at leisure. Reason being – her neighbourhood friends had come home and my daughter was having a fun time with them instead. The non-stop chatter and pitter-patter of feet running across the home ensured hubby dear was relegated to a discarded toy pile !

This sudden windfall of time left my husband at loose ends and in a dilemma on how to fill time. He had been given clear instructions not to leave home for any work outside from the pint-sized dictator. The computer was being hogged by yours truly. He resorted to sorting his in-tray.

Come evening, when our baby was fast asleep after a very eventful day and we were relaxing in the silent aftermath post the cacophony of having 3 kids at home, he said to me “In school we had a teacher who always insisted that infinity was not a very large or a very small number. It was an unknown number.” He went on “You take infinity from infinity – you will be left with infinity. You add infinity to infinity – still you get infinity. Today, I realize what infinity is”.

I perked up at this. In our home – realization is beyond mere knowing and understanding. It is the ultimate pinnacle. Hanging on his words, I wondered what philosophical nugget he would utter. He said “I have been going through my letters the whole day and yet after a complete day of sorting, deleting and organizing – the pile of letters in my in-tray has not diminished at all ! Now THAT is infinity” !! :)

Review of "The Monk who sold his Ferrari" by Robin Sharma

This book is written in a very simple conversational style that grabs your attention. I think the USP of the book is the fable that the author uses as a mnemonic aid to impart the timeless lessons.

The fable is simple - talks about a beautiful garden with a lighthouse, a heavy-weight wrestler wearing only pink cable wire who comes out of the lighthouse , falls on a watch and goes into unconsciousness. He gets revived by the sweet smell of yellow flowers and then sees a path full of diamonds and proceeds towards it.

That is it ! Sounds simplistic but therein lies the beauty of the book.

The garden exemplifies the mind - which should be tended to without allowing the weed of negative thoughts into it ( He makes the point in a better way of course ! ) , the lighthouse represents the need for distinct goals, the heavy weight-wrestler stands for "Kaizen" - which means continuous , small improvements, the pink cable represents discipline, the watch depicts time and the fact that it should be utilized wisely , the sweet scent of the flowers symbolizes acts of kindness and the path of diamonds is the path to enlightenment.

The only place where I think the book gets a little tedious is when he talks about the 10 Rituals of Radiant living. Not that the points are not relevant but the presentation could have been better I think.

There are numerous nuggets of wisdom throughout the book but to re-iterate , it is the unpretentious depiction of ageless principles that is the clincher. Definitely a good read.

My favorite learning from the book though is this "On an average day the average person runs about 60,000 thought through his/her mind. 95% of these thoughts are the same as the ones you thought the day before" !!! Talk about being stuck in a rut !!!

Some quotes/learning's/inspirational points from the book

-- Worry is a toxic waste into the fertile garden of the mind.

-- A worrisome thought is like an embryo, it starts off small but grows and grows. Soon it takes on a life of its own.

-- "Success like happiness cannot be pursued. It must ensue. And it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself" - Viktor Frankl

-- There is nothing noble about being superior to some other person. Try true nobility lies in being superior to your former self.

-- What lies in front of you and what lies behind you is nothing when compared to what lies within you.

-- The ten minutes period before you sleep and ten minutes period after you wake up are profoundly influential on your subconscious mind. Only the most inspiring and serene thoughts should be programmed in your mind at those times.

-- We don't laugh because we are happy. We are happy because we laugh.

-- You are what you think about all day long.

-- People have liberty but no freedom.

-- It is the busiest people who have time to spare.

-- We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

-- Happiness is a journey not a destination.

-- On an average day the average person runs about 60,000 thought through his/her mind. 95% of these thoughts are the same as the ones you thought the day before.

Delegate to Mom .. :)

It occurred to me that my child's physical development has come a full circle. She started unable to eat by herself, dress by herself and walk by herself. Then came the messy attempts to eat her food on her own - the amount of food dropped could probably feed an army or two. Trying to walk was littered with numerous falls none of which made her tired or unable to attempt again. As for dressing - the strident cries of "I can wear it" accompanied by the invariable twisted arms and legs made for funny moments. But now my daughter has mastered the art of walking, eating and dressing up herself. ( Or so she thinks - I mean now what she drops while eating can feed just one segment of an army ! : ) ) So what is the best thing to do ? Delegate of course !!

The novelty of walking has long gone ; to be replaced by "Mom carry me ... my legs are paining". She tells me ever-so-sweetly that I should dress her up because - I can dress her up so prettily right ? Which she cannot do by herself ; it is complicated handling those lovely pins / clips , princess gown, glitter shoes , handbag and oh - the nail polish too ... [ if you did not get it ; it means I am to dress her with the items mentioned ... :) ] As for eating .. she gives me a woe begone expression and tells me so soulfully "Mom - you never feed me " .. I more often than not fall for this appeal . Who can resist that tone and those guileless eyes ?
Now I realize - her mobility has come a full circle !!!! :)

Am just wondering when she is going to say she is tired of talking ..... :) May be then I will get a chance to talk to my hubby without interruptions .... :)

Sojourn to Lakshadweep

To say Lakshadweep is stunning is an understatement ! However one cannot help but rave about the place - the views are fabulous , the water is that wonderful shade of turquoise, the beaches are pristine clean , the beach sand is unbelievably soft, the islands are not commercialised beyond recognition and the water sports are great. Scuba diving off these coasts is a must - the waters are so clear that even snorkerlling will ensure you can view the amazing coral life.

We went on the Coral Reef Package from SPORTS. Went on the 2 island tour - we did Kavaratti and Minicoy. The cruise ship is no cruise though ! :) It is a passenger ship which is the only mode of transportation from the islands to the mainland ( Cochin ) .. you get to see the transportation of goods/materials etc in plenty ! :). However the entire trip is very well organized especially considering it is a govt undertaking. We need a permit to go to the islands. And no souvenir shops ! Amazing that the place is so unspoilt.

Since we went just after Chaitu's Brahmopadesham - we got designer tans :) The henna covered areas remained untanned .. so we are still sporting the mehendi designs albeit differently :)

Learnings from "Don't sweat the small stuff" by Richard Carlson

Learning's from "Don't sweat the small stuff" .... I was not very keen to read this book .. I thought it was one of those books that gives a one-solution-fits-all-problems kind of book ... but .. it was lying on my bookshelf and I thought it would most likely be an easy read too .. and surely a book that was popular would have some things that I could learn from ? :) So here goes ...

1. Many people live as if life were a dress rehearsal for some later date ! The idea is to be what you want to be NOW ....

2. Imagine everyone in life is here to teach you something .. you are to consider they are more enlightened than you ... so you will be receptive to learning from everyone and not prejudiced to learn only from a select few.

3. Create "patience practice periods" - you can start with as little as 5 minutes and you are on your way to being a more patient person.

4. Realize "Life is not fair" - reminds me of the famous start line "Life is difficult" from the book "The Road less travelled " by Scott Peck. ( Now that book is a must read in my opinion ! :) )

5. Allow yourself to be bored. Feelings of boredom will be replaced with feelings of peace. You'll learn to relax. We seem to be frightened at the thought of not having something to do even for a minute !

6. Lower your tolerance to stress - people seem to be proud of having the ability to cope with more stress ! The author feels that when one lowers one's tolerance to stress , one tries to find different methods to achieve more with less wear and tear on self and without losing what is important in terms of relationships , health , spiritual growth.

7. When you die - your inbox will not be empty ! So don't be hell-bent on completing everything before live life to the fullest at the moment !

8. Set aside quiet time every day. Schedule time for inner work.

9. LISTEN !! We often treat communication as if it were a race.

10. Choose your battles wisely.

11. Expect disapproval from others, then you will not go on defensive when you hear criticism.

12. Proving yourself in a dangerous trap. If you argue for your limitations they will always remain yours.

13. Resist the urge to criticize b'cos it says nothing about that person ; it merely says something about your need to be critical.

14. When someone criticizes you - merely agreeing with them can diffuse the situation and open your eyes to their inputs - so you can improve yourself.

15. Think of what you have instead of what you want.

16. There is no better time to be happy than now.

Learnings from "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Succes"' by Deepak Chopra

I felt that while the book is not as inspiring as it could be given the title - nevertheless - profound wisdom can come in simple terms. This is what I gleaned from the book. I would not consider it a must read book though.

1. The author differentiates between self-referral and object-referral. Object referral is being defined by and influenced by external things like situations, people, things , seeking of approval from others. In object referral our thinking is in anticipation of a response and is fear based. Self-reference refers to our internal reference which is our spirit and not the objects of our experience.

2. Power based on object referral is a fable ; being ego based it lasts as long as the object of reference is there - be it a title of corporation, money , status etc.

3. Most of our energy goes into upholding our importance.

4. If you observe people around you - 99% spend their time defending themselves.


5. Chasing symbols ( cars, bank notes, clothes etc) is like settling for the map instead of the territory. It creates anxiety , makes you feel hollow and empty inside.


6. The search for security is an attachment to the known.

Quotes/Statistics/Learnings/Points from the book "Hot, Flat and Crowded"

Some key points that I liked from the book "Hot, Flat and Crowded" by Thomas Friedman

1. A certain connection between work, achievement and accountability has been broken. America thinks it can borrow its way to prosperity.

2. US has been mortgaging its future instead of investing in it.

3. If all Americans could compare Berlin's luxurious central train station today with the grimy overcrowded Penn. st - it looks like US lost World War II

4. De-forestation in Indonesia and Brazil is responsible for more CO2 than all the world's cars, trucks, planes , ships and trains combined. About 20% of the global emissions.

5. Average cow expels 600 litres of methane a day !!! Methane is a deadlier greenhouse gas.

6. Difference between the earth being an ice ball and it being comfortable for living is only 6 degrees. Today our earth has fever.

7. America has invented a system of living on cheap fossil fuel foundation.By 2030 instead of one America and half in Europe there will be 8-9 America's

8. Through oil purchases American is helping strengthen the most intolerant, anti-modern, anti-western, anti women's rights and anti-pluralistic strain of Islam , which is propagated by Saudi Arabia.

9. American oil strategy seems to be - Maximize demand, minimize supply and make up the difference by buying as much as we can from people who hate us the most !

10. 1st Law or Petropolitics - the pace of freedom and price of oil move in different directions.

11. Larry Diamond - Of the 23 nations that derives a clear majority of their export income from oil and gas - not a single one is a democracy.

12. Edward O Wilson - Destroying a tropical forest and other species-rich eco-systems for profit is like burning all the paintings in Louvre to cook dinner

13. We are the only species that no animal or plant in nature depends on for its survival , yet we depend on the whole web of life for our survival.

14. Energy at its most basic is the capacity to do work.

15. The most frequent and difficult question we get from China is "If it is so good, why aren't you doing it?"

16. The green issue particularly the climate change does not pit have-vs-have-nots -it pits present against the future - the unborn grandchildren. The future can't lobby , organize or protest.

17. Oysteins Dahle - Socialism collapsed because it did not allow the market to tell the economic truth. Capitalism may collapse because because it does not allow the market to tell the ecological truth.

Review of "Hot, Flat and Crowded" by Thomas L. Friedman

I have read both "World is Flat" and now "Hot, Flat and Crowded" and I think this book presents a bleaker future in store for our future generations unless we clean our act. By "we" he means the Americans ofcourse ! :) The book contents can be really summarized in his title "In Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America". He considers this a watershed moment for both the energy predicament as well as America's vision/moral/leadership crisis.

a. Hot - Refers to the global warming - which apart from climate touches food , fuel as well as forests !

b. Flat - The numerous upheavals in the market that have created a more level playing field for the world to compete and hence join at the same table where US feeds. ( I would recommend reading "World is Flat" by the same author to understand more on this ). This means lot more people living like Americans

c. Crowded - the burgeoning population growth ; and hence more people competing for the same resources on Earth.

He believes today's America is in a defensive position post 9/11 and has lost focus. He uses the phrase "Where birds don't fly" to capture this and says that this is a place where people do not mingle , friendships are not established, ideas are not kindled , trust does not get built and freedom does not exist. Such an America cannot play an important role in the world nor can it use its own potential in ways that would benefit the world and itself.

One of the causes is America's playing of "dumb as we wanna be" game and "we will get to it when we get to it" instead of resolving problems. This has led to a "sub-prime" nation that is incapable of handling a multi-generation problem like the energy crisis.

Where the book takes off is that - it is not a mere rhetoric on global warming by simply expounding the problem , it tries to identify solutions that could work within the framework of business. This is the crux of the book. It is here that he espouses a need for political consensus , collaboration with local government bodies, communities as well as NGOs and help business to earn profit as well.

One thing that he makes clear is that there are no quick fixes to this energy crisis, and only long term solutions can help. A combination of taxes, incentives, regularisation are required to make the energy innovation lift off and reach escape velocity. He stresses the need for the young who need to be taught to use their skills and earn without needing to harm the environment.

Green technology is first an innovation challenge and not a regulation challenge since first and foremost a cheap, easily renewable and transferable energy technology is required. Companies instead of challenging regulations should see them as a way to knock out competitors.

A chilling chapter is on the Petro-dictatorship where the enormous amount of money being pumped into the oil producing countries is strengthening and giving power to rulers who are not democratic and who have not earned their leadership by actually working towards building economies and educating their people. The dependency on oil makes Washington bite its tongue on women's rights and makes China go into partnership with murderous African dictatorship in oil rich Sudan.

He takes head-on the question of countries like India and China feeling unfairly penalized on their carbon emissions ( Kyoto protocol ) especially after decades of carbon emissions by the West , just when these economies are growing. He says that while the sense of unfairness is understandable there is a choice for such countries

a. Continue feeling unfair and build economy on dirty fuels giving America the time it needs to come up with clean energy solution and thereby allow US to sell it to them at a later date [when they are choking in their polluted air !!! ]

b. Or try to beat America towards a greener future and hence be in a position to reap benefits from it in myriad ways - economic growth, cleaner air , continued rich bio-diversity , healthy population

He believes Energy Technology is going to be a big industry as big as or even bigger than the IT pie. He would like America to grab this opportunity but he does not think America is doing enough towards this. He thinks USA needs to set an example to the rest of world to follow towards a clean energy system. For US , it is not just an opportunity but a test. America has a moral responsibility since it consumes more.

Towards the myriad benefits he gives some good examples including one where the US Marines-Corps in Iraq gains in multiple ways when they tries to reduce the large and vulnerable fuel line logistics which were easy targets for bombing with usage of solar panels.

All in a very well researched book which hits the target.

My Review of "Winning" by Jack Welch

I have not read the other book(s) by Jack Welch so cannot comment on how this fares wrt to the others but as far as "Winning" by Jack Welch is concerned , the book is an easy read. It is very simple , conversational almost. It imparts business wisdom without usage of big terms and complex chapters.It covers a gamut of topics relevant to employees, employers , leaders , managers and businesses/organizations.

The ideas are not new mostly common sense ( which is uncommon ! ) inputs yet delivered/accompanied with anecdotes which drive home the key points he makes. It may seem like the book glosses over a lot of ground and I think it does. In depth coverage is definitely not the goal here. Instead it covers a broad range of topics which include personal values in business, company practices , handling competition and career related questions. Being a book by Jack Welch I did expect more on the Six Sigma success but he gives a 30,000 foot level view which was disappointing. The frank inputs on work-life balance are refreshing although not satisfying.

The book's front cover line "No other management book will ever be needed," by Warren Buffet is surprising and not deserved.

Some learning's from the book

1. About values and mission - Mission is how we intend to win in this mission and values are the 'how' of the mission , the means to the end.

2. Importance of candor - mentions that lack of candor blocks smart ideas , fast action and good people contributing all they can.

3. Differentiation - 20/70/10 Rule to pick out the best people : 20 % are the top performers who should be rewarded and recognized, The middle 70% is the heart of the company who should be encouraged and worked on to improve and the bottom 10% who should be trimmed

4. Leadership - this quote covers the main theme - "Before you became a leader , success is about growing yourself. After you became a leader success is about growing others."

5. Hiring - Mentions a framework for hiring that includes what he calls - 4E's and 1 P - +ve Energy , Ability to energize others, Edge ( Courage to make tough Y/N decisions ) ,Execution ability and Passion.He believes HR in a company should be elevated to a position of power.

6. Emphasises on importance of a clean , simple and powerful evaluation system that is relevant and not an exercise in paper pushing.

7. Crisis Management - Most managers waste a lot of time at the outset of a crisis denying something went wrong ! How true !

8. Strategy - the 5 slide questions

1. What the playing field looks like now

2. What your competitor has been upto

3. What you've been upto

4. What's around the corner

5. What's your winning move

9. Budgeting should not be a negotiated settlement where both sides jostle and agree on a settlement nor a phony smile exercise that head quarters uses to push on people the budget and expected results.

10. On organic growth mentions that companies have a habit of sending expendable people to run new ventures instead of sending the best !

11. Beware of deal heat which in which a merger or acquisition can be seen as the last best deal. For employees - Resisting a deal , no matter how scared , confused or angry one is is suicidal to career as well as emotional well being.

12. Six Sigma is a quality program that improves customers' expectations lowers costs and builds better leaders.

13. Mentions that finding a right job is often an iterative process and there are no perfect jobs. There will always be some trade offs.

14. In any bad boss situation you cannot let yourself be a victim.