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Author Archives: deepakpanigrahy
Learn Confidence from Google
Do you believe you have confidence? Do you believe in yourself? Are you ready to go out there in the open and question your identity and authority? Are you ready to be criticized? Are you are ready to look yourself into the mirror and say that this is who I am? Are you ready for change – the only universal truth of life? Are you ready to transform? At first go, all these questions look scary. Isn’t it?
Lets be honest with ourselves. These questions are scary and most of us, including me, try not to answer them. But look at it closely, isn’t this the other definition of life? I believe it is. I have accepted it and in the process of accepting the one and only truth of life: CHANGE. But to accept the eternal truth, one needs to have confidence and confidence in plenty. The confidence should be of it utmost purest form, which even when challenged will never kneel down. The confidence will be the armor against all odds, making way to our dreams.
So, where is this confidence? How can I find it? Will it remain with me? There are lot of questions that immediately pop up the heads. Lets try to look into these questions bit colsely.
Where is this Confidence? Confidence is not in the head. Its within you. The mantra is not about finding confidence from thinkings rather from inner self. Its within our hearts. Its within our beliefs. There is a thin difference between confidence and arrogance. Confidence gives positive energy and spreads the same around us. In other words, confidence is the way to prosperity and happiness. On the other hand, arrogance is exactly the opposite. Arrogance brings sadness, frustration and more frustration. Confidence makes the world around you feel proud of what you are doing but arrogance makes only you proud.
How can I find it? Find confidence in what you love to do. It may not be easy because in reality, the world behaves in such a way that makes a vicious cycle that revolves in 360-degree without any clue. It may be very hard. But there is definitely a way and as I mentioned earlier, the only way to find confidence is to look within and follow your love.
Will it remain with me? I believe Confidence can remain always with you. Confidence is like a farmland. You need to sow right seeds, give enough nutrients, water, sunlight and keep watching it from weeds and other plant pollutants. The more one looks within and tries to cultivates it, the more it grows and keeps you to step the right foot forward.
To illustrate all of the above, let me bring forward an example of an amazing Black Swan: The Google. Google recently announced a cash prize of $20 grands in cash anyone breaks the Google Chrome browser on the first day. Last year, Google Chrome browser was the only browser that left unhacked in the conference. For people who do not know about PWN2OWN, it is one of the biggest platform for the hackers where participants try to hack various browser and mobiles. Last year, we saw how Apple released a lot of patches for the bugs unveiled for its Safari. This year, when Google Chrome was not included in the browsers’ list to be hacked by hackers, Google came forward and announced it bounty.
So, is it arrogance or confidence? I believe it is confidence and this is exactly I am talking about. First of all, let me be very clear. People may be arrogant when they are either very stupid or useless and low standard. Good reputable people are confident. And that is what I would like all of us to have.
Most importantly, it is your confidence that tells your true worth no matter where you are and what you might be doing. Confidence is treasure which boost the morale of an individual and helps in keep chasing his dream despite all odds. Learn to cultivate this farm and I am sure all of you will find the individual you are looking for inside you.
Calling Volunteers for Aarambh
This is my second post of the day. It is about calling volunteers for “Aarambh”: the state level sports event for Specially Abled people. Please read on and see if you can contribute in any form possible. I hope to see you there on February 19th.
“Aarambh” – The Beginning! Please spend 2 minutes of your precious time to read on…
If you have already been a part of rendering smiles to the Specially Abled people through Aarambh 2009 – “Sports Meet for the Specially Abled”, this is an information to you to yet again provide your priceless support for a good cause, this time on 19th Feb 2011.As for the new recipients, here is a brief about Aarambh ! Day-to-day, we see a lot of not-so-fortunate people who cannot perform the activities that we can normally do and which we have taken for granted. One such activity that they dream to do but do not have the opportunity is participation in “Sports”.
Rotaract Club District 3190, Rotaract Club of Jayanagar and Rotaract Club of Bangalore in a collaboration with Snehadeep Trust for the Disabled, came up with an initiative to organise a mega sports event “Aarambh” for the “specially-abled”, who are not-so-fortunate to participate in the sports events conducted normally.This lead to the birth of “Aarambh”.
The event in 2009 saw the participation of about 500+ children from different parts of Karnataka, in different Sports events, that were organised in the Sree Kanteerava Stadium Bangalore.
At the end of the day, the happiness on the faces of the children, the fact that they also did something which they long for, was just enough to rejuvenate the organisers and the volunteers to look back at the day with pride J.
This event “Aarambh 2008″ organised by Rotaract Club of Jayanagar in 2008 was very successful and Rotaract Club of Jayanagar went on to win the prestigious “Rotaract Outstanding Project Award for South-East Asia – 2008″ in the Rotary International event held at Los Angeles, USA.
This year too, we are organizing “Aarambh” on the 19th of February 2011.Since the event is being conducted on a larger scale, with opportunities for more children to showcase their talents, we need larger number of volunteers who can dedicate a single day for volunteering activities during the event.
This is a chance for some selfless help and guaranteed to give you an unmatched sense of peace at the end of the day.
In case you are interested to volunteer or know someone (family, friends, colleagues) who is/are interested, please do not hesitate to contact any of us:
Rtr Jitendra Mahato @ 9740296104 – jitendra.jitu16@gamil.com
Rtr. Asha Subramaniam @ 9886041098 – asha.subramaniam@gmail.com
Rtr. Hemanth S M @ 9986027202 – contacthemy@gmail.com
If you wish to volunteer, please send us an e-mail confirming your participation, before 08th of February 2011.
Link to some memories from 2009 : http://picasaweb.google.com/115884818596928349922/AARAMBH09SportsMeetForTheSpeciallyAbled?authkey=Gv1sRgCMmS7OueqaifEw#
Must Watch Link on Youtube:-
About Rotaract:
Rotaract Club has been involved in community service for decades . Every year of growth has been imbued with the awareness that real progress brings with the first spirited move to overcome difficulties. In an effort to provide a better place for individual growth and community’s well being, Rotaract Club has been striving to help both self and others, reorganizing individuals to promote leadership qualities, responsibilities catering to reach problems and opportunities in community and worldwide. Rotaract Club comprises a team of enthusiastic members, comprising both students and working professionals.
Quantity vs Quality
A known tussle all over. All of us everyday in some form or the another ask this question: Quantity vs Quality. Let me put few of them to you here:
- My job profile is not good but they are paying me handsome. Quality vs Quantity.
- At grocery store, the quality of food may not be good but they are offering me a discount.
- I may not have genuine friends around but I boast of 2000+ friends on facebook.
- Hire IITians though there may be better candidates from some general college.
- Company xyz boasts of xxx number of employees but with no job satisfaction amongst the employees.
These are very general circumstances with no boundary to the list. I am sure once we start looking around us, we will see a lot of such circumstances around. Personally, I have experienced some of them. In fact, I have been a victim of quantity over quality and the quantity always won the war of quantity vs quality in my case till I refused to allow it win anymore. I can say that I have been decently successful in my motive. But time and again, quantity tries to empower quality. It tried once again when I tried attempting “post a day” campaign of wordpress. But I realized that my time does not allow me write daily and if I could fall into the trap again.
I apologize but I have decided to pull out of the campaign of “post a day”. And my reason is simple. I would like to continue writing and try to put my views in more concrete way rather than copy pasting some random information. Th idea of this blog is to share my thoughts and not put any global information that is available. I would like to generate genuine interest in my readers and I am happy if I could trigger a thought into my readers and compel them to think about the happening sin their surroundings. We are the generation of 21st century and let us drive the notion of free speech. Let quality win over quantity.
So, today when you go back from reading this post, please ask yourself how many times and what are the things where you have let quantity won over quality. I, strongly, urge you to break this barrier of life and follow quality over quantity. Please subscribe to the feeds to continue reading this blog because I am no more attached to “post a day” campaign. I assure you that I will continue to keep utmost personal and spread my thoughts through you.
VC Directory
This post is to gather the VC directory from Larry and present it to you. I have been a keen observer of this field and really enjoy to be always how VCs make decisions. Personally, I feel VC domain is very interesting because it allows you to be always among the budding entrepreneurs: Young minds with bubbling energy and enthusiasm. So, here is the top 10 VC directory list:
- Paul Graham (@paulg), YCombinator, Essays (97,227)
- Fred Wilson (@fredwilson), Union Square Ventures, A VC (81,483)
- Mark Suster (@msuster), GRP Partners, Both Sides of the Table (53,655)
- Brad Feld (@bradfeld), Foundry Group, Feld Thoughts (38,821)
- Chris Dixon (@cdixon), Founder Collective, cdixon.org (20,988)
- David Skok (@bostonvc), Matrix Partners, For Entrepreneurs (14,173)
- Charlie O’Donnell (@ceonyc), First Round Capital, This is Going to be Big (13,970)
- Larry Cheng (@larryvc), Volition Capital, Thinking About Thinking (13,215)
- Dave McClure (@davemcclure), 500 Startups, Master of 500 Hats (11,127)
- Ben Horowitz (@bhorowitz), Andreesen Horowitz, Ben’s Blog (10,686)
Personally, I have followed some of them like Fred, Mark, David and Larry for few years and have thoroughly enjoyed reading them time and again. For the complete list, do visit http://larrycheng.com/2011/01/19/venture-capital-vc-blog-directory-2011-edition/
Power Learnings from Steve Jobs
As I read this article, I lost myself with Steve Jobs. I, still, remember when I first read about Steve Jobs in iCon. I had heard about Steve earlier but the book made me fall in live with his leadership style. I always hoped that someday I could have made to one Apple Conference and meet this iconic personality, who has so much to offer with his individual presence: management, presentation, leadership, perseverance and many more. As Steve Jobs announced his second indefinite medical leave, Apple shares were bound to take a beating and I feel it should not have surprised many other like me. This post is about analyzing few points that the article tries to address about Steve Jobs and the POWER. As I have consistently mentioned in my earlier posts, we, Indians, are little bad with powers and History has proved it again and again. Most of us have a bad notion of POWER and for us, POWER is just another way to utter sentences like ” Do you know who I am or I am your —————- (You fill in the blanks and bang you are that) and mark your presence without any personal significance. Individuals find ways to stamp their authority everytime.
But lets come back to the article, I am referring to. The first power lesson the article points to is :
“power can result from sheer drive, persistence, resilience, and the ability to tolerate conflict”
Steve Jobs is definitely an inspirational figure for the above lesson. I agree with the author when he mentions that Jobs persisted, sticking with his same focus on the user interface, his fundamental vision of ease of use and cool design, but also learned from the setbacks. People who would have seen “Pirates of Silicon Valley” would know the history that Apple was once written off the radar and so does Jobs. But he held on to his dream and vision only to come back strongly later. Remember his last turnaround, he was sick. The whole world wrote him off, media said Jobs is gone but he again came back only to introduce another killer product – iPad. So hold on and hold tight to your dreams.
The second power lesson the article points to is:
“power can come through the projection of an image of strength that may not yet be the reality”
Remember, what apple store has done to various software developers. It has given a platform for enthusiastic software developers to pursue tehir passion yet not only make money but also become famous. Stanford did not think at all to introduce a course in its computer science curriculum that promotes students to develop apple software application as part of its course. Pulse, an iPad application, is the recent success and latest sensation resulting from it. Android and Nokia followed the store concept of success with their own stores. But Apple did it first. So, powerful people project an image of strength and sustainability.
The third power lesson the article points to is:
“likeability is not a prerequisite to power”
Great and the one thing that I personally love the most. It is not necessary that all powerful people are likeable but as a matter of fact, very few are. It is a very well known fact that Steve Jobs is sometimes heavily criticized for his attitude and actions. One of the example that the article cites is a prime example: “Being Steved”. Being Steved is the official term for Apple employees getting fired by Steve Jobs. In the incident mentioned in the article, when the employee was packing up his things after getting fired by Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs comes by and inquires. And says, you are re-hired. I have personally heard of stories about people who were fired by Steve Jobs only to leverage on the opportunity of getting fired by Steve Jobs to make it big in their life.
Bottom line is: Apple is a success and a lot of its credit goes to Steve Jobs. He is a visionary person, may not be liked by all but he is a successful figure who knew how to make his own ways. Not to forget, his charismatic presence only puts the tagline that we see on Apple products. Personally, I feel this time the medical leave might last a little bit longer and may be a good strategy for Apple to prepare its successor while the market accepts the change and accepts the new Apple as we love today.
Source Article: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/01/steve_jobs_a_study_in_power.html
A Quote from Steve Jobs
I've been doing a lot of thinking about one of my entrepreneurial heroes- Steve Jobs. Last year I asked him a question at the D conference and reminded him that I when I was in 7th grade (in 1986) I had sent him a letter with a new design for the Mac. I said, "I am still waiting for my response." That got a laugh out of him which made my year.
It's hard to put into words what Steve Jobs represents for me as an entrepreneur. But he is the ultimate example of a survivor. After getting kicked out of his own startup back in 1980's he had a remarkable comeback culminating in returning to Apple and finishing what he had started.
There is a quote from his Stanford Commencement speech in 2005 that is so beautiful and inspiring that I wanted to share it with all of you. The picture I chose is from his spartan home back in 1980's that he lived and had barely any furniture in (he never did put any real furniture there). Here is the video of his incredible speech and the transcript is below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U…
I am praying for Steve's health. He has changed the world so many times over. One life lived well and beautifully can change so much. I know he is a survivor and wait for yet another comeback. Our world is such a better place with him in it.
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'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says
This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal—just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents' garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.
Sitting UP: Don’t SHIT
Today one of my friends forwarded me the below story. I was not surprised at the conclusion of the story but I was surprised not to have read it anywhere earlier. Lets first read the story:
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A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, “Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?” The crow answered “Sure, why not.” So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Management Lesson: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.
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Do you see people doing the same around you? Have you heard from your manager or any of friends quoting about his/her manager that I am your Manager? Have you seen leaders duping the warmth of their responsibility behind false powers?
I will be surprised if you weren’t. But the question is: is it correct to have such an attitude? Do people really don’t work as they go higher up?
I have two different perceptions on this. First, let us consider a fictional scenario. Mr. X passes from a top-tier institute from a not-so great branch. Industry Y was booming at that moment of time. X decided to join Y instead of pursuing a career in his core domain. Without much competition and leveraging on the good opportunities (including dirty politics like YES BOSS), he manages to climb up the ladder. Today, he is a manager, recruits people from top-tier institutes. Let me bring a simple IT example here which a lot of my friends quote. Their managers might be good at C, C++ but bad at the domain expertise for which he leads. So, what is the outcome? Subordinates don’t respect their managers. My only concern is if one needs to know C, C++ why don’t you go and hire someone from NIIT or Aptech and why do you go after engineering students for all this. One of my friends once mentioned to me that his manager mentioned that he was too aggressive to be in his company and today, he perceives the opinion that the recruitment process is flawed. One reason that he cites is that recruitment process in India does not look for the “FIT” and “CONNECTION”. Some standardized questions and if one answers them well, you are in. Now, when X goes for recruitment to a top-tier institute or someone really smart works under him and provided Mr. X’s competency is not up to an acceptable level, won’t he be exposed? Of course he will and it might not seem to be catastrophic immediately but it will for the long-term prospects of the firm. On the other hand, if he is competitive, he will gain the respect of his subordinates.
So, we have two different scenarios but who is responsible for encouraging such. I believe that it is the culture and system of the firm that is more responsible than the person. I, strongly, believe that a company exists if and only if it is competitive in the market and keep on innovating. And if any firm encourages the negative environment that we saw earlier, then there must be wrong somewhere in the middle of the chain. When people discuss with me such things, I tell them that probably the only way this can be corrected is through a 360-degree appraisal system. Individuals don’t do anything when they know their subordinates can’t do anything to them or their feedback is limited to closed doors. I feel introducing a 360-degree appraisal system where 50% would depend on the feedback of one’s supervisor and 50% of your subordinates would greatly help the organization keep the system clean and competitive within. And please make the process transparent. There has to be solid criteria on which people are to be judged at every level and they have to be open and available to all instead of any random person deciding it based on their convenience. And this is where HR has to play a very strong and prominent role. I, sometimes, fail to understand why HRs are so badly recognized in our corporate world but the more I try to understand the more I feel that is is they who are responsible for their irresponsible behavior. Some systems bestow huge responsibilities as one moves up the ladder and individuals help to steer not only their careers but also the careers of their subordinates, subsequently helping the organization. Some systems do exactly the opposite. But at the end, it is we who has to make the final call to which system we would like to become part of.
Bottom line is: Please DO what you LOVE. And the moment you start doing nothing, remember it won’t be long to become a STONE, which anyone can crush with a little force. And do GAIN RESPECT and not FORCE RESPECT. Remember always what Spiderman said, With great power comes great responsibilities. And it is only when responsibilities are carried out with due diligence, we GAIN respect. I remember watching one funny video which puts a big question mark the way some bosses work. I urge you not to be this and reject all those who follow such. Bosses should ideally be the mentors of one’s careers and should try to be role-models whom others can follow. Good Luck and here is the video link (Enjoy and but be cautious of your actions): Please DON’T SHIT while you SIT at the top.
PS: Some of scenarios described are fictional and some are taken from friends’ responses. I am not responsible if someone relates it in any form to me or my work as it would be purely coincidental. I, in no form, has written this post to defame any particular individual or firm.
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Global Economic Growth to decrease
BBC News reported World Bank’s report of slower economic growth in the year 2011. World Bank has predicted that global GDP growth will be 3.3% against 3.9% in 2010. It has also predicted a strong growth in the emerging economies with India and China leading from the front.
Well, let us try to take a closer look. Please note that I am not an expert. I am just a reader of news who have developed an interest into looking at different things and hope to share my thoughts. I have no doubt that the India and Chine are going to lead the world economic growth but at what cost. China is keeping its currency manipulated so that its exports benefits the country’s position. India, though not exactly an export-oriented country but definitely a service-providing company. Products are not generally produced here rather they are definitely serviced here.
Even though I, too bet on the Indian and Chinese economies, I have few concerns. Firstly, the population. There is no control over the population in these countries. And till date there is no solid system to measure unemployment or the population itself correctly. In such a scenario, would it safe to have its per-capita, GDP and other measures of economy to be absolutely correct. I doubt it. Secondly, I still don’t believe that the consumption power is good here. I would request someone to find out if the commodities and goods produced in China are really consumed within the country. I believe that the figures could be surprising for some. I still feel that majority of goods are consumed not here rather outside. So, I feel that the real consumer base is the developed countries. Having said that, i must say that we are improving but it is going to take quite a time to catch up. Thirdly, dependency on Oil. We all know all the emerging and developing countries rely heavily on Oil, whose price is hovering around $90. I feel that that Oil price should be around $120. One thing that China and India say in their defense in terms of their oil consumption is their per capita consumption is far less than the consumption of US. But boss, China and India has the largest and second largest population of the world. You guys take the call. Are the defensive statements justified? Lastly, Food Inflation. Inflation of food is at its peak. We have seen the effect of increase in the prices of Onion in India. People went crazy and made the hell out of the government. In the past, we have seen that the governments have lost power at the Central government in the past. Oppositions won over the ruling government just on the basis of high Onion price. Considering the current scenario, all the vegetables are at their record high. How it is going to affect the people and the economy, in general, would be interesting to watch closely but I am sure if the situation remains same as of now, India will definitely suffer.
Comparing the prevailing scenarios of developing and emerging countries’ scenarios, economies of developed countries will have to also tackle few obstacles. Among all of them, the most important and challenging thing will be “Unemployment” World Bank predicts that the unemployment scenario would remain dismal. So, I feel it is going to hurt more than anything else for them. Secondly, European scenario does look so good as of now. I somehow feel that the European debt crisis is going to remain bad and it might not improve as quickly as we might have wanted it to. Thirdly, the government debt will continue to mount and may cause imbalances in their statements, not a good sign at all.
To conclude, I feel that the all the economies of the world will see some nice challenges and if they are tackled appropriately, I am sure that we will redefine how businesses will be done in future. Hope that the future brings more prosperity and happiness all around, equally 