Pathways

Three ingredients of Charimsatic leadership and Anna Hazare

2011-05-25T17:54:00.016+09:00

Anna Hazare, a grass root activist from a small village flashed suddenly on India's national canvas with his anti-corruption campaign.

In spite of his old age, humble background & simple life style he had huge followers, that too including youths. Clearly his Charisma was in action.

Events that unfolded during his anti-corruption campaign highlights three important ingredients of Charismatic leadership.

Integrated Personality: Charismatic leader shows integrated personality. Often the roots of such personality is found in their spiritual practices and simple living. Vivekananda's influence on Anna Hazare and his Gandhian way of living contributed to his charismatic influence.
Crisis and Public Hope: Chain of high profile corruption scandals in 2010 were not less than any crisis in India . Though Indians are not new to corruption ,still the sheer scale & frequency of these scandals shattered national image.It upset every Indian mind. Anna's call of "anti-corruption" was perfect in time for the crisis. It addressed the need & hope of billions.
Radical Solution: Demand of Lokpal bill and its aggressive timeline was absolutely radical in the snail-paced policy world of India. Though the demand is heavily criticized by policy-makers , it fulfilled expectations and hope of followers. This further bridged the link between followers and Charismatic leader.

Image Source : http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramesh_lalwani/5597837277/

Smile - There are so many reasons ...

2011-05-16T12:59:00.006+09:00

Interesting talk by Ron Gutman smile - A curve that straightens cranky things ...

(Speech is supported by strong research findings from range of publications, and worth watching . All the studies that he is referring are available here .).

Changing the sleeping Blog ..

2011-05-10T10:33:00.008+09:00

Currently this blog has infrequent updates, And this is about to change.

Basically this blog is a reflective personal journal started as a learning tool. One can see that early topics were scattered all around. Because when I started blogging , I was "exploring" different areas. As time passed , I could narrow down this search to Organization Behavior (OB). Though the blog is titled hr-universe, it is about OB. In practice HR and OB don't have water tight compartments, but still they differ. (Surely in the academic world !).

HR has excellent presence on blogosphere ,but not so for OB. So aim is to connect with these few like minded bloggers. This is also attempt to understand puzzling behaviors at and outside the workplace, There are so many ways to look at behavior that stretches limit of our potential and limits our potential too. It's interesting.

Lastly as I am switching over to academic world from corporate , I guess both will be visible in these learning steps.

Stay tuned !

(Image source : http://www.flickr.com/photos/spursfan_ace/2328879637/ )

How three year old can teach you something ?

2011-04-18T16:54:00.018+09:00

The following is the speech I made for my 6-th Project in Toastmasters .

Project was targeted at "Vocal Variety". It wasn't easy to come up with the topic. I toyed with different ideas and then set on following one. I wrote the speech many times, by focusing on start and end. And then ensured that it is sprinkled with "Vocal variety".

Response , smiles, feedback and evaluation told me that I was successful at this project.

3 LESSONS LEARNED ON A NEW JOB.

Good Evening Toastmasters. I got a new job.

It's mission critical , demanding & 24X7 job. But ..it involves a girl. She hugs me, kisses me on cheek & also puts a big hole in my wallet. Yes – she is 3 year old & incidentally my daughter.

I got the job of father , when she was born in Feb-2008.

As I told you this is very demanding job.

I am early morning person & she sleeps very late.

When it is about 10:30 or 11:00 at night, I start pursuing her & she has excuses.

Papa , This pajama doesn't have Mickey mouse on it ? And no anpanman on shirt !

I grab her, Look it is 11:00, (she doesn't understand but still looks at clock), it is dark outside & Baikiman will come. I switch off light ,& put her on bed, and it is silent.....!

but just for 5 minutes !

And she tweets Papa, Chocolate Milk ! (Common sleep time habit in Indians).

I am bit irritated . I wake up , warm a cup of milk – add Complan and give it to her.

She touches her mouth ,sips some & turns away... . No I don't want …

Now I am angry – Drink it ! ,

She sips some ,slips some .Half in , Half out. Half the dress is wet . I am boiling with anger now, & even wish to hit her .

But I breath deeply, cool myself & keep telling myself – oh it is just my little ,cute devil.

I change her dress & again put her on bed by 12:00. And pat her to sleep.

Sleepy cutie, wraps her hands around my neck, & says – papa suki desu ne. (Papa I like you). And I learn my first lesson :

Be patient ,Control your anger & you will be happy with your loved ones at the end of the day.

But a natural doubt will be in your mind. What keeps this 3 year old awake.

It is her two friends – Tom & Jerry, some-times Mickey mouse too.

She watches them intently , with 100% focus, as if she is a statute.

Only sound you will listen : Ha ,Ha , Ha ….

I call her , Aarushi , come for dinner.

She says : I want here , with Tom & Jerry.

Mumma wants to see some TV serial , Aarushi replies with big No!

Please Aarushi , NO.. ,

Please Aarushi ,Again reply is No ,

Please – and you try to switch over ,And a big cry...

So now a days – I too watch Tom-n-Jerry. Believe me I actually enjoy it.

And we both keep laughing. And I learned my second lesson:

Change your hobby as your loved ones & you will have happy moments at the end of the day.

But you know as a adult , we make people around us unhappy. I also loose my temper.

And I know there is no point in arguing with 3 year old ,she is too smart.

So I turn to my wife.

Why can't you make her sleep by 10:30 at-least ?

And gender equality strikes back – But you can do it too !

I try to push my case – But you are Mother !.

What ! She bounces back – did I complained through out the 9 months..

Oh (sigh!) - Ultimate argument , which no man can ever win.

And I learned my third lesson:

If you want a happy life ,respect a motherhood and never argue. That’s lesson for Father.

Toastmasters – Once a girl was asked ,how old is your father. And she replied 5 year old.

Wrong ! No !! right. Person becomes a father – only when a child is born.

One has experience in a job ,only when one starts doing the job.

Toastmasters – that was bonus lesson , Thank you !

What is the most important sign of Yoga Practice ?

2010-11-25T16:27:00.008+09:00

I have completed my fifth project in Toastmasters , half the road is covered to reach first mile-stone!, Feels good.

Fifth project is "Your Body speaks" ,it is about using body language to enhance the delivery of speech. I struggled for topic for this project & then realized that it is not the topic , but how one fills the details in the outline. Hence I choose the subject familiar to me, Yoga. I approached it from the misconceptions about yoga & emphasized that one of the most important aspects of yoga is being aware of "breathing" & Hence the title :

Breath in ,Breath out !

Toastmasters good evening ,

Have you heard of DOGA , D-O-G-A , DOGA is yoga for dogs !.

Is it surprising for you ? It was certainly for me !.

Like this – there are many misconceptions about yoga. Yoga is a sport ,It is a exercise ,work-out . Some says it is just a acrobatics – like standing on head ,or placing your toe on your shoulder , which requires rubber like body , bone-less flexibility !.

These all are misconceptions. It is not real yoga , then what is Yoga ?

General purpose of this talk is to inform you about yoga & specific purpose is to clarify what the real yoga means . I won't go in intricacies of philosophical & theological discussions. But in its simplest form, yoga is “Controlling the mind”.

For instance , you may want to focus on this speech , but get distracted by mail on mobile, phone or voice from next room. Or another example is you get angry with sight of some people, may be your Boss. You get irritated , agitated & gyrating with the idea to kill him !.

This all is originated in mind, a mad monkey like animal , always flickering, wondering & running in all directions.

Yoga is concern of this , how can it control this mad monkey !.

Lets see how it tries this. When you get angry , what is the first visible change ? Your breathing changes its pattern , it looses its balance !.

Lets understand this breathing connection with a example.

Suppose you have gone for trekking , it is hot simmering sunny day. In the scorching weather , you had to walk long, you are sweating , thirsty , your throat is dry ! And suddenly you see the vending machine. Oh what a relief !.

You take out your wallet , insert a 100 yen coin, buy a cold coke or lemon, feel its cool touch, wet your lips , & touch your mouth to it !.

What happened ? Next time observe it carefully , your eyes are closed , breath almost stopped , & mind is super-quiet & calm.

Yes that is the link – your mind & breath are closely connected. Breath is your door-way to your mind. When you loose focus , loose concentration or get angry : you loose your breathing balance.

Breath-n-mind is the greatest contribution of yoga .

Whether you are poor or rich, day-n-night, work or home ,your breath is always with you. If you get in touch with breath & you get in touch with your life.

Yoga teaches that , step-by-step, systematically , methodically & diligently it teaches to monitor your breath-in & breath-out.

Master your breath , master your mind & your destiny too.

Are you convinced now that one of most important element of yoga is breath-control. Dogs can not control breath , hence DOGA can not be yoga. Real yoga is not acrobatics, nor work-out is .

Yoga is beyond that . It is becoming aware of your breath-in & breath-out .

So toast masters - next time someone boasts of yoga , check if he is aware of breathing !!.

Best Place to work !

2010-08-07T08:29:00.009+09:00

This fourth toast-master project is my most memorable one.

First I had already committed the date . Before due date, even after toiling with two three ideas , I was not ready with the speech. Then I decided to take a short-cut. I used my Organization Behavior assignment of book review Maverick. I reviewed "Maverick" - a story of turn around of Brazilian business. I rewritten my assignment to suit 6 minutes speech. At that time I followed all project-4 requirements. I could finalize the draft after 4 to 5 revisions in the Starbucks.

Now only one day was left for rehearsal. So I practiced from early morning, while having breakfast , along with commuting, & during lunch hour . Finally I practiced it mentally while going to venue in train, and I delivered my speech. In spite of Anxiety , delivery was confident, smooth and free flowing. Practice helps !. I could feel the "Positive feedback". Later evaluator also gave good feedback.

Surprisingly speech won the best prepared speech award for that day. For me it become memorable as comparatively with less preparation , it gave more rewarding results.

Here is the draft of speech.

Best Place to work!

Fellow toastmaster , which day you like more - Friday or Monday ?
If you are cheerful , happy , and excited on Monday morning ,than Friday evening - then you belong to the better work place.

And How is this workplace - all employees reach at dot 0900 , all wears starched ,spotless suits and shiny shoes. Your idea will change - Mine also got changed after reading this book Maverick . Purpose of this speech is to introduce you to this book and ﬁrm called SEMCO - S-E-M-C-O . The book is all about the change - Change for better workplace .

Change made by people ,for people and by people.

First is ﬂexibility . Flexibility in everything . Flexibility in arriving , leaving , holidays , dress - literary about everything. For example - look at our Monday morning routine. We rush , run to catch subway . It is peak hour ,as usual crowded . People ,People ,every where people. I use Tozai-sen , So much crowded ,that there is special subway staff to push people and close doors. I always feel like overblown balloon, someday it is going to burst open !.

How great it will be if we can avoid this time and reach ofﬁce - may be just 15 min. late ,for some 30 min late ?

Crowed is not the only thing - You may wish to spend morning for a dear one - with simmering ,steamy hot coffee , or you may wish to hold the soft , smooth hand of your two year innocent child and walk for Hoiku-en.

This is possible - only with one single ,easy and simple step. You should have ﬂexibility in ofﬁce time. Semco does that . All employees -not only white collar staff ,but blue collar workers too - can come to ofﬁce as per their convenience.

Company does not bother as long as work is done. But this single ,simple and easy step balances their work-life beautifully. Semco is ﬂexible not only in arrival time ,but also in everything . You can decide your parking space , color of your ofﬁce, color of factory , your furniture. You can
decide job-rotations , holidays & training. The height of ﬂexibility is employees can decide their salaries too. Yes - Salaries too.

Another thing is your manager , your boss. Unavoidable evil. isn't it ?
(Pause ! )

Many feel that boss is like a devil - who stands between you & your evaluation , You & your promotion too. He is the one who drives you and your ( low voice ) increments and bonus .

What if we can reverse this ? So instead manager rates you , you rate your manager. Semco does exactly that !. Instead boss hire employees , employee interviews and hires boss. Employee
decide - if their manager need to be promoted or not.

Do you think this all is odd, weird and strange . But this book with 36 chapters and 300 pages is full of such odd things.

Like ....
No Organization Chart , Semco doesnʼt need one.
No pyramidal or hierarchical structures with CEO at top ,then VP , then middle managers and then staff. Semco does not have any hierarchies .
And no designations for employees . Obvisouly Semco donʼt need HR department too.
So no HR ,No secretarial staff.

Sounds odd ,but note that ﬁrm is a huge success by any standards and any measures .

What is the secret of this success ?
It is collective decision making. It is not a mere Nemawashi - or simply consensus making . It is genuine collective decision making , true participative & democratic decision making.

Employees are not distant , disconnected ,abstract , faceless number. They are part & parcel of this Semco. They are spirit & soul . They are the force behind Semco Success.

Toastmasters now if you want to read this book ,my purpose is served .

Thank you very much.

Single Habit to Change your life !.

2010-06-08T20:44:00.008+09:00

This is my third speech on the journey of Toastmasters . I gave this speech on 24-Dec-2009, taken almost two months since my Second speech. I took more time as I want to put this habit in practice and then preach about it. It proved fruitful , speech made a good impact earning me first in house "best speaker" recognition !

Toastmaster's third prepared speech project is "Get to the point". Objectives of this project are -

Selecting speech topic with its general and specific purpose.
Organize speech so as to achieve its best purpose.
Ensure beginning ,body and conclusion reinforce the purpose.

This time too , I prepared speech just little above 5 minutes , so as to finish within 6 minutes.

Google and web resources helped me lot to gather the content for this speech , mainly Steve Pavlina , Zen habits blog.

Here is the draft of the speech.

A One Habit to Change Your Life.

How do you start your day ? Snooze alarm and go back to sleep ? or Jump out of bed and rush to catch overcrowded train ? If people are meant to pop out of bed , they would be sleeping in toaster , but we don’t . we sleep on bed .isn’t it ? Fellow Toastmasters , if this is the way you start your day , this speech is for you. In general this is to pursue you and specific purpose is to encourage you to wake up bit early. So lets see some of the benefits of early rising.

If you are rushing , jumping and popping out of bed , you are triggering your day with stress. Stress doesn’t go away . It builds through out the day . Stress is root cause of many modern day diseases like blood pressure, stroke including killer heart attack. You name a life-style disease ,stress will be related to it. Further stress drops your capacity to work. So the 8 hour work will take more time 10 hours , 12 hours , again you will work late ,go home late , sleep late and wake up late. So vicious cycle continues. Break the cycle ,just by waking up 10 minutes early. Just 10 minutes . There is one more health benefit. You will actually find the time for breakfast - first and most important meal of the day. It will not be quick and rush meal. In fact relaxed breakfast will balance your lunch and dinner too.

Other than healthy life, early rising has other benefits too - like easy commute . you can go to office bit early, and avoid morning rush hour. You will get a place to sit ,at least to stand properly. You can use this time for listening or reading something of your choice. Reaching office early ,before heavy work flow starts - helps to schedule priorities . You can focus on goals on daily basis. See how many times we crib about not having time for friend,family or helping fellow toastmaster ? or nurturing for our own hobby ? For example - I used to squeeze 45 minutes to one hour on my commute .I used to reach office early almost by one hour . And spend this time on study. It helped me to complete my MBA with good grades without any impact on office work. You too can work on your goals. Your boss ,colleagues and friends will be surprised with your productivity. That helps in advancing job and hobbies - and ultimately increased earning too ! so wake up early and get wealthy too.

Last but not least ,there are other benefits. Other than just being healthy and wealthy. You can witness the glory of nature in the morning hours. Have you ever seen how blackness of night fades out and blueness of sky creeps in ? Have you seen the brilliant changing colors of sky ? how about those warm rays wrapping around mount Fuji ? Early morning people are not rushing , cars are not polluting . visit some nearby garden or Koen to see the magic of nature in morning hours. This is the most serene ,calm and poise time of the day. No wonder that artists, mystics and saints thinks this is the best time for contemplation and mediation. The Experience is beyond the words. It is more than intelligence or genius. It is called wisdom, wisdom of life.

That is what Benjamin Franklin said - early to bed and early to rise ,makes man healthy ,wealthy and wise. Toastmasters it is new year time , time to make new resolutions .So make a resolution to wake up early and be healthy ,wealthy and wise.

"The next management Guru"

2010-03-05T11:36:00.007+09:00

Pathways -my Blog - though little more than one year old - it is still do not have any single subject focus as such . Postings also have sometime too big gap between them .... (Doesn't that happens often on all blogs !! ).

I am using my blog as a public journal of my learning and thought process. And I am still learning the tricks of trades about what to blog ,when to blog and how !. I am neither tracking about readership ( How many ? ) nor its development and I wish to keep this in the same way.

Then I feel elevated when Angushman asked me suddenly to contribute on TNMG.

I feel TNMG is a nice effort particularly in the area of Management and Business studies . And being group blog - there is synergy from different areas of management . Readership is also growing . Few of them comment at different places like Facebook ,twitter or on mail. Reader feedback and comments do motivate one to write more. So I hope I will contribute more in the area of Organization Behavior. So watch the place.

I have two posts on TNMG ,

Communication - Something that makes life better .
To be MBA or not to be MBA.

and hope to write more ( what should be the ideal target , post a week ? or post a month ?)

Listening Skills - Golden touch for Communication in career !

2009-12-22T09:38:00.007+09:00

This is my second step on Toastmaster journey . Additionally I have started participating in club activities (like word/thought of the day ,grammarian etc. ) proactively . I can immediately see the improvements , not only in my speech - but overall my look towards reading articles , blogs etc.

Toastmaster prepared speech second project is "Organize your speech". Objectives of this project are

Select outline that will allow listeners to easily follow and understand your speech.
Make your message clear with supporting material directly contributing to that message.
Appropriate transitions when moving from one idea to another.
Create strong opening and conclusion.

This time my speech is just little above 6 minutes and I had to keep an eye on time limit. I think to end comfortably ,I need to end it within 6 minutes while practicing itself.

Purpose of the topic is to improve my own listening skills as well as to understand more about listening skills. I think this is highly ignored ,but very important soft skill.

Again Six minutes blog was extremely helpful in drafting the speech and supporting material for the speech came from various books and Google search.

Here is the draft of speech.

Toastmasters - Find a Gold mine !

Are you able to hear me ? You and You ?
And are you listening too ... ?

Yes - There is world of difference in hearing and listening. One is just input and other is Intake. If you are not listening , you will not understood , worst is you might misunderstood . No wonder Turkish has a saying which says “If speaking is silver , listening is Gold !”.

And Fellow Toastmasters I am going to talk about this gold - Listening Skills. I will talk about three points ,One - importance of listening . Two - difficulty in listening . Three - overcoming the difficulty.

First about Importance. Listening is important . Listening was sole means of communication ,since when books were not available . Till today it is important.You listen to your Boss , subordinates and colleagues . You listen to your friends , childrens and spouse too . Off-course they always complains that you don’t listen. But still fact remains that it is important skill. Researchers have found that professionals earn 45% of their salary from listening ,executives and managers upto 70%. So as you move up to lead , listening skills becomes more and more important. It can lead you to higest level. For example Buddha’s the most charismatic thought leader of his time , was great listener , who listened everything around him. This is always symbolized by long ears in his statues. So bottom line is listening is very , very ,very important - I would say if speaking is silver ,listening is goldmine.

But then what stops us from getting this goldmine ? There is a pecularity about spoken word. You have always only once chance to listen !. Buddha had compared it with Arrow , Today we can think of bullet . Once it is fired , Gone !!. See on other side speaking is faster than reading .Listening is still faster. It is 10 times faster. So 90% of speaking time “Listener” is idle , it is waiting. 90% ! That is a lot of time. And this empty listening mind , devils house flickers , loose focus , it can’t concentrate. Ultimately your listening quality drops down. very much natural cycle.

But wait , don’t panic. There is a solution . Listening is a skill and can be nurtured too. First you can use 7 steps given in Toastmasters leadership manual. ( I was not aware of it ,when I started preparing for the speech .) That will help you to build your awareness at external level . Second -I will tell you a simple exercise , that will take hardly your one minute and you can practice anywhere. ( I picked it from Marshal Goldsmith’s bestseller - what got you here won’t get you there ). Close your eyes and count 1 to 50 slowly , calmly in your mind. And try to listen to it. Seems very easy ,but not so . You have to listen so that your attention is 100% .but you will find that all sorts of thoughts creep in. Problems at work , home will prop up. May be your hunger or thirst will strike you and you will find that it is impossible to focus. But please keep practicing .It is just a minute or so , you can practice simply while you are traveling or when you are about to sleep . And over certain days you will find that you are able to count without loosing attentiveness/focus. That is key. Slowly your awarenss while listening will increase multi-fold. you can focus with your will and your listening skills will improve dramatically.

Thus in conclusion - we saw importance of listening skill . we understand the root cause in listening attentively . At the end we have seen the solution at external and internal level too. This is bound to improve your listening. We already have a silver by practicing speaking , so lets get gold by practicing listening. I urge all of you to practice & find that goldmine of listening skills.

East and West - Mythology explains business behavior

2009-11-21T13:20:00.004+09:00

I watched this small video on TED , which draws parallels in eastern and western mythology with respective thinking and behavioral patterns. Video is really insightful and fascinating , a kind of must watch. It is inspiring to look at behavioral patterns from this perspective.

It really tells us why the best practices invented in Japanese and American thinking will not work in India . How the culture differs and how it impacts the behavior of individuals and organization.

It surely instigates Indian mind to critic management thinking from different perspective.

Toastmaster Speech 1 : The Ice Breaker

2009-09-10T15:49:00.003+09:00

Thus my journey of developing speaking skills started . Though I used to participate in speech contests in school , I have never done it over long period . I wish to conquer speaking fear as well as acquire public speaking skills , which will help me in all walks of life.

Toastmasters prepared speech first project is "The ice breaker". Objectives of first project are

Simply begin speaking in front of audience.
Find out weakness in public speaking so as to improve them.
Introduce yourself to Fellow club members.

I used "Six minutes" blog liberally to prepare for this .Though it has large number of example speech in text and video ,I found the section on "Speech preparation" most useful.

Fitting your story in maximum 6 minutes is pretty difficult task, mine is still going little above 6 minutes and I wonder ,how and where do I curtail it .But now I wish keep this as it is and let fellow toastmasters comment on it.

I centered my speech on how and why academic is my best career option Here goes my speech -

Lost in India ,Found in Japan.

Good Evening Fellow Toastmasters.

Introducing “yourself” looks very easy and simple , but now I realized that it is one of the most difficult thing to do. But for Toastmasters I gathered my courage ,did some soul searching and standing in front of you with my little story.

I born and brought up in typical lower middle class Indian family. My father was clerk in Government service, mother house-wife and I have a younger sister. We two ,ours two , short and sweet family. Life was not very harsh ,but it was neither comfortable and luxurious. My mother always hammered ,if you want to grow and come out of all hardships ,study hard. You eat ,drink and play ,yes play also that helps in study. Just be a better student.

As a student once I played the role of Teacher on “Teachers day” .We taught in other classes for one full day. That left a lasting impression on my body ,mind and soul. I used to teach my sister too ,who was junior to me by 6 years. It was more than helping in studies. I used to coach, teach and scold her too. Everyone enjoys bossing around brothers/sisters ,isn’t it ? .But it worked. word spread among her friends and I became a kind of “Community teacher” very early in my life. This continued till Junior college. And it helped me too. Helping others to learn , helped me to learn. I became a better at studies and got good grades.

Eventually I got admission to Engineering college. This was my regions most prestigious engineering college. I started working in IT and was posted to Chennai - a South Indian city.

Here too I used to counsel and help my juniors to become a better at work.Again helping others to grow ,helped me to grow. It fine tuned my skills And I became better at my work, got better opportunities. It helped me to land in the land of rising sun ,Japan. Starting from one part of India to Southern India to Japan , the career graph was up-rising ,rewarding .

But still “something” was missing .I had feeling that my potentials are not used fully.

To search this “Something” and expand my wings , I participated in JMEC - Japan Market Entry competition in 2006, (Again one of the inside secret - In the super-expensive Tokyo that was the only affordable learning option.) .I learn lot about market survey, financial and writing business plan. Further I enrolled for MBA and completed it. But that “Something” was still missing.

So I returned to JMEC director ,talked to her and volunteered, to mentor JMEC team. We competed with other 12 multinational high profile teams. As a Mentor ,I worked beyond expectations.I searched for ways to to help team learn better, faster .and yes again It worked !. We were winners in 2009.

I started reflecting , did you ? Have you got the pattern. Whether studying , working or volunteering , or in my home-state , another state or another country too. So in different time, space and roles I was best when I was counseling , coaching & mentoring too.,Essentially I was teaching in one of the three ways.

Yes that's it- teaching ,that's where my heart is. In India I lost my teaching heart to IT and found it in Japan. So I decided to switch my career to teaching , teaching in business school ,where I will be able to counsel, coach and mentor to aspiring minds. I am very very very happy and satisfied about my decision as it will help me to grow with growing minds.

Statistics And Context - Presentation

2009-09-10T09:13:00.003+09:00

Being research student , we always use statistics in one or other form . Rather we abuse it more than we use. To avoid the pitfalls you may like to see this nice presentation .

This is part of entry in "Best presentation contest" on www.slideshare.net

Why Statistics Need Context

View more presentations from Edward Fidgeon Kavanagh.

You may like to check other nice entries , some of them which really needs mention are

Presentation ,Speaking Skills and ToastMasters !

2009-09-10T00:57:00.007+09:00

Communication is one of the most important skill ,that is hardly taught .Primary aspect of communication is public speaking .It is the most important skill whether you are addressing big audience (for example big gathering ) or small group (for example team meeting). Survey after survey shows that majority around you will have phobia for public speaking ( Technically they call it Glossophobia) .

But for the leader in making ,Public speaking and Presentations is the number one skill he/she must attain.

One of the best way to achieve the presentation and speaking skills is to join Toastmasters. Toastmasters is a non-profit organization dedicated for communication , public speaking and leadership development. Some major features are

It is inexpensive.
Toastmasters have time tested methods and self-paced graded program. Anyone can follow and acquire the skills. More than 4 million have discovered the benefits.
It is not bookish or mere textbook learning ,but interactive and "learning by doing" . You will actually do small projects and gradually build required skills. You will have mentor and fellow club members who will help in learning. Whole environment is supportive and friendly.

Next natural question will be where do I find it , just click here and search.

I am also participating in the club meetings and started with basic communication manual . I shall post my speeches on this blog for follow up and feedback. watch out the space for more updates.

In addition to the Toastmasters manual , I am using online resources at "Six Minutes" liberally for this development. You may like to visit the site for its rich and very useful content.

Smile and Move - A excellent Presentation.

2009-08-26T09:15:00.004+09:00

I am interested in developing presentation and speaking skills . And I keep on following some blogs/sites related to it . Further try to collect the motivating and excellent examples. Here is one more excellent presentation "Smile and Move" , I found it on "The Extreme Presentation Blog".

Spirituality and Job Satisfaction - 1

2009-08-20T14:27:00.005+09:00

In general IT (Information Technology) industry in India is considered lucrative and IT professionals are said to earn comparatively higher salaries .Still attrition rates are very high in IT industry. As attrition (Or employee turnover) is negatively related to the job satisfaction , there are various attempts to increase Job Satisfaction to address the issue.

Spirituality at workplace is being explored and researched as one of the means to boost performance,change attitude towards work and increase job-Satisfaction .This Survey is intended to study spirituality and job satisfaction among Indian IT professionals. Some of the questions that we are probing in this survey -

Is spiritual belief prevalent among Indian IT professionals ?
Whether Job-Satisfaction and spirituality are related in anyway ?
Is onsite/Abroad opportunities/postings impacts the above relationship ?
In general whether spiritual belief & Values guide & shape behavior of IT professionals ?

Please revisit the blog for further updates on the survey.

Excellent Presentation - on Social Media

2009-08-11T16:16:00.003+09:00

The subject is interesting and appealing ,but additionally the whole presentation is nicely prepared . A excellent case for making self-explanatory impressive presentations ,

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

View more documents from Marta Kagan.

A case for Statistics !

2009-08-10T19:03:00.011+09:00

As a student of science and then engineering , I studied calculus .

I am sure that its true for majority of management students in India , many are from Engineering background. And for all of them Statistics is a shock . Still a bigger shock for non-quanta background students ( like humanities and arts ).

Here is a impressive clip by Mathemagician Arthur Benjamin . He argues the case for Statistics. In a interesting way he explains why calculus forms major part of our mathematical study and more important - why it should be replaced by Statistics . Being a student of management science ,I really appreciate argument and hope statistics will form a major part of basic education in future.

Those who wish to see Arthur's magic check here.

Words are important .

2009-07-23T22:46:00.003+09:00

Extrememe presentation's Dr. Andrew Abela posted a interesting video from youtube. It emphasizes again on how words are more important .

Original post is here.

This specially applies to the situations of business presentations, as Prof. Mehrabian's formula ( 7% words ,38% tone of voice and 55% body language ) is not applicable to these situations. It works only when communicator is conveying about his feelings and emotions.

Thus it is paramount important that your communication speech , need to boil down to central theme or ideas ,translate those ideas into key-words . Use these key-words in your power-point/keynote slides. Experience tells that graphics associated with these key-words will further enhance your message for pursuasive delivery.

Watch this interesting video .

Winning JMEC !

2009-07-04T08:18:00.010+09:00

And ultimately we won JMEC !

Winning always has a good feeling, especially when you are through a tough competition. Ecstatic mood of whole team is well captured in this photo. No wonder about it. Team was struggling through sleepless nights through research, and totally uncertain about where they stand with respective to other teams due to confidentiality measures.

Once the business plan is submitted , feeling is like "Oh, there is light at the end of tunnel" . I empathize with them.

... When I look back on my experience of JMEC-12 , JMEC-14 and JMEC-15 , I realize today as a team-mentor that it is very important to keep up team-spirit. The way stretched rubber looses all its tension , team looses the steam after submitting the business plan.They just don't show up same level of enthusiasm while preparing for presentation. Most important is to boost team spirit for presentation and facing judges which is almost a month away after plan submission.

I think that's what makes the winning difference !

Whole JMEC cycle is a rich learning experience not only for Participants but for mentors too, giving excellent exposure to real life business scenarios. I am looking forward for similar learning experience in future too.

Presenting Business Plan

2009-07-02T23:04:00.004+09:00

As far as JMEC ( Japan Market Expansion Competition ) goes ,though team has prepared the BEST business plan , still they are far away from winning. Team still need to present it to Judges ,face the critic and satisfy their doubts.

This post looks at the Presentation aspect.

JMEC arranges a excellent workshop on presentation skills specifically with respective to business plan. Further as a mentor I advised team to take a serious look at Guy Kawasaki's 10-20-30 rule of presenting business plan.

In general all following rules apply

Very punchy, good start will ensure that judges will listen more attentively.
Too much to read on slides or jazzy graphics, both is distracting .
As a thumb rule less than 4 lines on a slide & less than 6 words in a line .
Remember bullets kill and bullet points too ,know this "Death by Power-Point" ?
It is good to prepare a list of potential questions with model answers – if possible with some backup slides.

From my experience ,sure tips to ensure satisfaction of Judges -

Does plan address market potential ?
Does plan establishes market need ? [ Do you understand the difference ?]
What magic team is recommending to the client to address 1 and 2 ?
And most importantly whether financial section supports this magic ?

Indian Bureacracy - HR perspective .

2009-06-04T16:29:00.007+09:00

Today I read the news about worst south Asian bureaucracy - India.

Those who area aware of Indian bureaucracy should know that majority of them come through the most grueling and difficult selection process of UPSC. Many bright and brilliant student spend years studying as this brings prestige ,salary ,power and unparalleled benefits. Many view it as kind of dream service with life-time employment and almost negligible performance accountability.

Moreover constitution of India protects these bureaucrats from fear of persecution ( mainly from politicians ) and financial insecurity. ( Details here. )

Prima facie bright employees and excellent career opportunities should result into high performing change agents , but Indian case is proving it wrong.

One of major reason may be the environment in which they work ,reminding me of article titiled " why good people do bad things ? " making a case for impact of system on individual behavior.

Though it is true that system in which these people work is practically difficult to change - but from HR perspective how about providing means ,practices and expert advice about how to cope with this system and remain efficient and high performing individuals ?

Any thoughts ?

Japanese adopting western Bonus culture !

2009-06-02T11:09:00.003+09:00

Financial times dated 1-jun says "Nomura's 1600 staff- more than 50% of its investment arm adopted western style contracts" .

This will cut basic salaries , provide higher performance bonus and it will be easier to fire them in case of downturn.

Though the firm maintains that it is essential for integrating Japan and European acquisitions of Lehman , still it is in stark contrast with Japanese employer outlook of "stable Jobs" as well as against the government and regulators efforts all over world to curb executive compensation and golden parachutes.

So is Japanese embracing western culture in pay-packages ? It is difficult to comment with one such example.

More-over news article no where comments about employee reaction .One may doubt about the negotiating power with employees given recessionary trend and downturn in job-market .

Lets keep watching how other Japanese firm are responding ...

Future Success and Delayed Gratification

2009-05-27T22:10:00.005+09:00

Here is interesting experiment ,( And funny too ) - which evaluates delayed gratification and links it with future success. I find it interesting . I wonder whether the traditional Indian wisdom of asking children to wait for everything has links with success ?

More-over - it does mean that self-discipline is really important in all walks of life .

Still experiment raises one question in mind - whether ( in general ) 1/3rd population has more potential for success ?

Chinese Mania of learning English

2009-05-27T22:00:00.002+09:00

It is well known fact that India's one of the strength is its English speaking population - but see the way china is bridging the gap - no wonder that it will be world's largest English speaking country soon.

Communication - Excellent short film

2009-05-27T07:19:00.004+09:00

What a nice and touching short film about Communication ..

Amazing Inspiring video

2009-05-26T23:55:00.001+09:00

Looks like cadbury people have created this - but it is amazingly creative.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull - always inspiring

2009-05-26T23:06:00.003+09:00

Jonathan Livingstone seagull - by Richard bach which echoes typical vedantic views ( I think ) about continuous learning and development so as to work towards excellence. And gives the message that perfection is not only life-long but passion beyond life.

Achieving your childhood Dream

2009-05-26T23:01:00.002+09:00

This is one of the phenomenal and really inspiring lecture by Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch. Everyone who wish to achieve his/her dream must watch this .

Forgot to Live ....

2009-05-26T12:52:00.003+09:00

I found this on web , somewhere - I think posted by Gautam Ghosh. Picture and the comments are so appealing that I thought of posting them again here.

Japan Market Expansion Competition

2009-05-22T15:10:00.002+09:00

If you are foreigner in Japan , then you already know that how difficult it is to get insight about how business works in Japan and why certain things - which prima facie looks very normal to you ,don't work in Japan.There is a way to get around this problem and understand intricacies of Japanese business - enroll for JMEC.

JMEC is Japan Market Expansion Competition ,though it is named as a competition - it is an intensive learning program that runs approximatly from October till June. Essenec of program is "writting a real time business Plan" in a live environment. Program is divided in two phases. In first phase you learn over a period of around 6 saturdays sessions. These lecturs and workshops covers practical aspects of Japanese business from experienced business players. This lecture series is like mini-MBA that will make you sensitive towards issues and practices specific to Japan. Then participants are segregated into different teams with confidentiality pledges. They meet project sponser - a real firm who is doing business in Japan or willing to enter Japanese Market. Team - guided by mentor and a consultant ,works on market entry problem and submit "Business Plan" to JMEC appointed Judges and Project sponser.

JMEC Judges grades these plans. Team gets a chance to present and defend this plan to judges and the client. This presentation is graded and combined grades will decide the three top winners out of all competiting teams. This competition sprit is the principal motivating factor behind high quality plans.

If you are university degree holder working in Tokyo , fluent in English and have minimum 2 years of experience , you can apply for JMEC.

JMEC is a very good opportunity -

* If you want to expand your horizons beyond the nuts-n-bolts of your daily grind.
* Great to network in multinational environment as participants are from many countries.
* Ideal to hone your language skills in business settings as each team has Japanese and English speakers.
* Gain practical business skills like market research , financial planning, strategy and time management.
* Yes and you can win exciting prizes and earn a certificate of participation - which is valued.

Free - a world where you don't pay .

2009-01-09T12:13:00.007+09:00

Business models where products are available for free and that too with no hidden costs is a reality. As this BBC Article talks about Chris Anderson's book "Free: The Future of a Radical Price." The time has reached where underlying costs are so much cheaper , that it makes sense to give it free.

And some one else will pick the bill for you.

Open source is great example of this , essentially the software is free , what firms pay for is support cost. It is great example of what interlinked world of collaboration and break-down of traditional distribution channels will do with the business.

Business models like Flickr, where few premium customers are paying and most others are using services as good as free has limitless possibilities and both segments are happy with it.

It is straight-way counter-intuitive for traditional business mind-set , where you literary don't give anything for free. It will be really interesting to see how business model is evolving .

For example you have free air-travel and cargo firms , tourism-centers and few premium customers pay for travel. One more example Metropolis is a popular high quality print magazine among foreigners and it is free , even classifieds are free and business ads support the revenue. And One of the best example I have seen is Dells 100 yen ( Approx. 40 Rs or 1 $) Netbook. Yes it is true and I am not kidding !!. Basically you get the Netbook at 100 Yen and sign for a mobile wire-less internet contract which is binding for 2 years. But still at the end it is attractive option and the unit is selling like a hot-cake in Japan.

I sincerely feel that idea has potential in all walks of life in strategy building , with a personal experience with following example. Vipassana meditation camp was not available everywhere. When S.N. Goenkaji made this 10 day residential camps 100% free including your residence and food ( It should be pointed that the motivations were never profit driven ). The growth that vipassana saw was phenomenal and exponential. Now one can find vipassana camps at almost every part of world with same rules/regulations and conducted totally free (check here ). It was pleasant surprise for me to see one in Japan. It is worth-while to note here that the move was counter-intuitive for others ( As S.N.Goenkaji mentions in his lectures ).

Basically Idea of FREE has enough potential to ponder and toy around in your way of work.
Gautam's this post helped me to explore more about the idea here.

Managerial Style & Financial Fiasco

2008-12-19T11:37:00.006+09:00

Though theory states about different managerial styles like AUTHORITATIVE , COERCIVE ,DEMOCRATIC and so on . But fact boils down to how "managed employees" look at you as a boss.

This is further high lighted by recent confession by many managers in financial industry that they were not aware that trouble was brewing .

This BBC article throws light on why !

So mere 7% of employees , who think that the boss is "kind" , reported that the managers listened to them. Further research indicated that "kind" bosses gets superior results.

This new generation Y, ( not only in US ,but in other part of world too ) is seeking change in managerial styles. Article further stresses that "Kind" bosses are not doormats , but like respectful knowledgeable parents with integrity.

So the qualities required are different than what the contemporary textbooks are conveying.

Obesity - Metabolic Syndrome and HR

2008-12-09T10:14:00.010+09:00

Obesity ! What HR has to do with it . looks like a natural Question.

But in the Country like Japan , where salary-man spends most of his time in office - is closely linked , at least Authorities think so. So For employees ( And there dependents too ) measuring the waist-line is mandatory. This is an attempt to promote more healthy living as well as to keep tab on rising health care costs.

All employees above 40 will take this test. The number is estimated above 56 Million employees . Health ministry says 13 million suffer from Metabolic syndrome and further 14 million are at risk.

Tab is - firm has to cut number of overweight worker by 10% by 2012 , else they will face surcharge for elderly health care costs.

Personally most will support initiative , (And recent research like one in this link on BBC also underlines impact of waist-line on health. ). But it will be interesting to see how firms will respond to these regulations in coming days.

Lay offs reach Japan

2008-12-01T11:04:00.002+09:00

World economy is heavily interconnected and flicker in any economy creates ripples everywhere. So how the Japan will escape the fact that US economy is in down trend ?

In general the credit crunch is hitting everyone. Automobile industry in US is struggling to survive. This has direct impact on Automobile industry in Japan too.

Here is the news article on the same.

Japan too is heavily dependent on Auto-industry and the lay-offs and job-cuts in this segment will have impact on all other sections in Japan.

Japan brace up for the roller-coaster ride , here is my another take on coping with lay-offs

Severance Pay ,

2008-11-05T13:33:00.001+09:00

Severance pay is paid for terminating employment .
This can be layoff , job elimination ,restructuring or mutual agreement. If employee agreement do not stipulate any serverance pay , there is no obligation on employer to pay.

But normally employer get rid of any future claims, litigation through signed release along-with Severance Pay.

Severance pay is a positive and good thing from employer ,when job is lost through uncontrolled external circumstances. ( For example current financial turmoil ).

Japan still have the mind-set of life-time employment (Though changing) and hence in most of cases employer pays for loss of employment.In general holiday and other monetary benefits ( other than Bonus ) are also compensated.

Normally bonus is paid - if you are working till the pay-date. Off-course if retrenchment happened unfairly just before bonus , you can complain to labor office. And in good circumstances labor office may negotiate this to fair-portion.

Japanese firms like to keep low profile in such circumstances and in general for employees with two years with firm 3 months of salary plus unused holidays are paid. For more experienced employees up to 5 months plus unused holidays is the norm.

Senior employees and Managers need to negotiate . In a recent financial melt-down there are examples of 18 to 24 months of severance pays tied with signed release.

So there is surely more to watch while leaving too.

Happiness at Work

2008-11-04T13:40:00.000+09:00

Ravindra Prasad has written an article on employee happiness on rediff.
In my opinion "Plan your week on Sunday night or Monday morning" is the most important in this list. It is surely more than mundane "to do list".

Those who are aware of Coveys most popular work "7 habits of highly effective people", will recognize that weekly planning is much more than effective time management.

Week is the basic planning block for realizing your long term goals which stems from personal mission statement. A motivating mission statement ,is the one which runs as a central thread in all decision making and planning. Preparing smart goals that reflect mission statement is the first step in good and effective time management. Now breaking down these goals in small chunks of weekly target is just a matter of working with details.

Personal mission statement and weekly planning complements each-other and sure way to lead purpose driven and satisfying life. This is applicable to personal as well as work-life.
No doubt that "7 Habits" has become a one of the most important work of our lives.

In my humble opinion introducing 7 habits at work-place in teams and with individuals is one concrete step towards happy employees.

Challenge of doing business in China

2008-10-31T13:24:00.011+09:00

Financial times has interesting news-article and throws light on Challenge of doing business in china. It basically talks about abduction of trader Anil Srivastav by Chinese firm in order to settle business issue. This link from shanghai scrap has more background detail on this.

China too is not resilient in this recent economic turmoil and looks like down-turn in world-economy is getting unbearable for them too.

And on the side note we understand why they say international assignment's are demanding !

Bankruptcy and Employee Benefits

2008-10-23T18:46:00.008+09:00

There was unimaginable fall-out in financial markets recently . Japan too was not different.
Bear sterns, J.P. Morgan ,Merry Lynch , Citi-group and biggest of all Lehman !.

Example of Lehman was very classic ,while employees were down with week-end hang-over they woke up with the bankruptcy news. Initially there was a ambiguity about whats gonna happen ,to the extent that whether even current months salary would be paid ?

After little exploring it shows what happens to employees in such circumstances -

Firm files bankruptcy in court.
Court monitors , dispose of assets and use incoming cash to pay off creditors.
Taxes comes first
Then employee claims are paid.
Lastly outside creditors are taken care off.

So as long as firm is solvent and have enough assets , employee will be paid surely for the billable hours.

Normally pension is safe ( In case of Japan at-least ) but for health insurance you need to refer to your agreements.

I extracted this information from here ,here and here

Salary and Confidentiality

2008-10-19T23:47:00.006+09:00

As long as there is some-one in your friend-circle earning more than you , you are bound to be unhappy. Firm don't want you to be unhappy and hence forbid you to discuss about compensation.

Humor apart , but back in India I found that this is common topic around water-cooler among friends. I was never aware of the sensitivity of the topic till last week.

But in Japan and in Financial industry environment , it is very sensitive topic. Two employees are fired recently in firm X for openly discussing about Bonus issues and others are reminded that this is confidential matter.

I was surprised and turn to Google to satisfy curiosity.

In one of the surveys 51% mentioned that there is no policy regarding pay-confidentiality.
Surprisingly in some of places ,it is illegal to forbid employees , and they can share information about wages.
I personally feel that this is little gray area , as packages of top management are published and considered a good governance practice. Further salaries are openly discussed with recruiters and with tax-consultants.
Simple web-search or even casual talk with other HR-executives shows that there is no clarity about this topic and no concrete answers available. I would like to hear some views on this. Any pointers to legal articles will be highly appreciated

Unavoidable Lay offs & Coping with them.

2008-10-17T22:43:00.015+09:00

Indian Blogs are buzzed with different views about Jet-layoff . Responses varies from Corporate social responsibility of jet to unavoidable nature of lay-offs .

Though the different views are genuine and true in its nature , the fact remains that Lay offs are reality of our times. ( Air-India's so called unpaid leave is essentially same as the period is pretty long , it is in years ).

In this globalized economy flickering of butterfly in one corner of world creates storms in other part of world. And current economic events are more than that flickering.

First we need to accept the fact that job-loss is going to be part of life. Even the country like Japan ,where life-time employment was norm was not immune from this. Specially after recent financial turmoil.

Now once we accept the fact , lets jot down some points ,

Always prepare for worst - My one of the mentor used to say keep your CV always polished. ( we were part of a mission critical 24X7 environment where things can go wrong any time ,in spite of all precautions. So be always ready. )
Never burn bridges and quit on good terms. For a mass lay-off , your performance is not responsible. So pick up a recommendation letter.
Your network is a best place to start searching job. Even previous employer may have a position for you.
Do you have unemployment insurance ? It is best bet in mass lay-offs.
How about sharpening skills ? Picking up those skills or courses ,which you always wanted to do .
Isn't it a good time to take a hard look at your goals and career. This is a good time to think about career-change as well . Little search will show that forced departure opens more satisfying career for many job-seekers.
Did I mention to keep tight tab on expense and not to use that credit card for a while ?

Begining ...

2008-09-29T13:43:00.006+09:00

Once Upon a time ....

No stories here . Just plain my thoughts !!.

I am currently located in Tokyo ,and finding ways to "do different" or/and "find outlet for my inner voice". This blog is attempt towards that.

I find people & all sorts questions about them very interesting.
This is true for Individuals and groups and equally true for human aspect of organizations ( Both For Profit and Not for Profit Units ) , I guess this covers every aspect of so called HR , and That is the reason I titled this blog as "HR Universe".

I have made up my mind to post regularly my thoughts on relevant to this and looking forward for your feedback.