C(ool) D(eal)s on CDs

Touch wood! So far, today has been a day of some very important and amazing discoveries for me. I am sort of overwhelmed. It’s going to take me some time to come back to normal. :-). To add to that, I’ve changed the appearance of my screen completely and it makes me feel sort of good; as if I were in some other world, for the screen looks unique and out of the ordinary now – I’ve chosen the olive green windows theme and changed all the icon/title bar/tool tip fonts. Yippee. I love change. I really think my laptop looks cool (touch wood again) and pleasant now. But I don’t know how long it will be before I get bored with these settings…. ;) Sigh! Anyways, why think about that now? Let me bask in its glory for now…

 

Talking of discoveries, here’s one wonderful discovery I made yesterday which you’ll find to be very useful if you are into Indian movie/classical/instrumental music big-time and have your own unique tastes. If you are not aware of what I shall be talking about, the knowledge is going to leave you ecstatic, to say the least. I was listening to music at home and happened to open an old Suresh Wadkar (one of my favourite singers/voices) cassette after a long time. I rarely study the cover beyond the titles of the songs, but as I opened it yesterday it was a pure chance event that my eyes fell on a piece of information in the inside flap of the back-cover of the cassette. And I beamed so much that my facial muscles ached because this was what it was about – click here.

 

If you’ve seen the link, let me go on to add that it is of course obvious that you can always get your own CDs and tapes made at your local music shop, but I think this would a much easier process online for you may not have all this variety in one local shop. Not to forget, the likelihood of finding that very elusive old song which you’ve been looking for everywhere is very high on HMV! I am yet to order my CD. I need a lot of time to be able to fish out the songs that I don’t have but want to….! In case, you happen to make your own CDs using this service, don’t forget to leave your comments here.  

Personality Types

A useful link if you're aware of MBTI personality types...

The King (Raja) of Music

Hmm. This post ought not to have taken so long to show up; I wonder why it did not ‘emerge’ for so long! It’s taken me almost one and a half years to realize that I haven’t written a full-fledged post on...Ilaiyaraja & his Music, despite the fact that I am almost fanatical about his music. (I’ve made a passing mention of the fact that I am devoted to his music on my blog but never gotten into a complete write-up) Ilaiyaraja - Music. To me, these two are synonymous. In other (better) words, according to me, - Music, thy name is Ilaiyaraja. I was virtually fed on Raja’s music through my growing years and would have probably been subjected to severe mental and spiritual disabilities if not for his music. :) I adore the music that this man has composed and created. The tunes, the instrumentals, the unique and soulful nuances et al. I will be able to identify his music anytime in just a few seconds and I am sure so would anyone who has an ear for music and is familiar with the one and only ‘Raja-Music’. There were days when I moved on with life only because of his music, and I am not exaggerating here.

For a Raja aficionado like me, the recently broadcasted concert on Jaya TV which was spread across three weeks, was a once in a life-time experience. (Though, I was bugged no end about the fact that after every 2 songs the ad-break lasted 15 odd (or is it ‘ad’) minutes.) of course, I can never justify not being able to make it to Chennai for the live concert when it happened but I at least got to see it on TV. I found my mind and heart screaming repeatedly that I ought to make it to the next live concert wherever it is on earth. BTW, this was apparently the first time that Raja did a live light-music concert. He has of course worked on his famous Symphony and other ‘westernized’ presentations through concerts arranged for audiences abroad.

For the uninitiated, Raja is a natural genius. He was not taught music by anyone and has no professional music education whatsoever. The music simply flows from within him. It is purely intuitive. He just sits down and composes music. He has no organized ‘educated’ approach to music. It is as if he has a communion with God and the music flows out of the conversations the two have. I strongly feel that this is probably the reason why I get completely turned on by his music, as it is intuitive and touches one’s heart/soul. Listening to his music is like listening to a wonderful conversation between God and one of his favourite children – specifically, a heart-to-heart conversation. Well, music is creative. But in my opinion there is a world of difference between the product of one who has been taught and groomed to be a commercial musician and one who is a born music genius. Talking of which I should say this holds good in any sphere including that of leadership. But, among those taught and trained, the presence/absence of passion makes a huge difference to the ‘quality’ of the product. Some people have a natural passion but it still requires some fine-tuning by a person destined to be one’s Guru. I digress. Coming back to the topic of Ilaiyaraja and his music, I just thought I’d make a quick list of my current top 15 favourite songs of his. If you were to ask me to make a list of all the songs that I like, it would be next to impossible and I don’t have that much time anyways. So, here are 15 songs that I have been listening to of late. And I just can’t number them. They are all equally good. They simply charge me up and make me feel on top of the world. I simply can’t thank Raja enough for these songs…

· Idu Oru Pon Maalai

· Paadava Un Paadalai

· Pani Vizhum Malarvanam

· Ozhiyile Terivadu

· Kuyil Pola Ponnu Onnu

· Sundari Kannal Oru

· Senthura Poove

· Kanna Unnai Thedugiren

· En Uyire Vaa

· Maanguyile Poonguyile

· Kaatril Varum Geethame

· Janani Janani

· Ye Zindagi Gale Lagale (Hindi)

· Jotheyalli (Kannada)

· Nagu Endhidhe (Kannada)

PS: Two other musicians who *I* put almost on par with Raja and have got me gesturing, and smiling to their music and humming along are R.D.Burman and M.M Kreem…no hard feelings, please. It’s just that something in me responds better to Raja’s music more than anyone else’s. Actually, I think the difference lies in that that - R.D Burman’s music is more of the foot-tapping types and Kreem is more into moving soulful music. Raja’s songs in my opinion are musical melodies that can actually leave one happier than before….especially in my case because I rarely *listen* to the lyrics (in which case the meaning of the song will also determine whether I like the song or not) and concentrate wholly on the music and the tunes...

Long live Raja and his music! :)

Bonus Point: If you like instrumental music/fusion music, consider my recommendation. Buy Rajesh Vaidya’s ‘Voyage’. It has some amazing compositions that can energize you and uplift your spirits. I simply love this tape and have sometimes listened to it continuously for hours together without feeling ‘bored’.

IDOM - IDEAL

This organization - based out of Spain - apparently puts Working Together/Collaboration/Trust before Profit! Wow! Talk about values and non-money centered approaches! :)

Source - Gurteen.com

Ray-Creativity Classes

Very fascinating! I don't know if this makes sense to you, but I shall not venture to explain it right now ;) - I love the combination of business and creativity especially when it is not a conscious effort to simply make money...

Books for Personality Development

I became an inadvertent audience to a state-of-the-art (modern :-)) conversation in a book shop, recently. Presenting it here….

 

2 guys enter the bookshop. Both of them are talking at the top of their voices and couldn’t perhaps care less about disturbing others in the bookshop.

Let’s call them ‘Reader’ and ‘Recommender’.

 

Reader goes around looking for books and picks up a few in about a minute’s time and puts it on the desk at the counter. One of the books is a popular book by an Indian author doing its rounds in the books shops of late.

 

Recommender sees the book and says “Hey, don’t tell me you read XYZ (name of the author goes here)! What XYZ? What kind of books are you reading man?” He goes on to put down the book and the author some more. (Yours truly hasn’t read this particular book but was bothered about someone demeaning a book and its author probably because it had the written by a person from the speaker’s own country! Why?...I thought…why do we adopt this kind of an irrational and unpatriotic approach and praise the foreign and belittle the native?) Anyways, the conversation went on….

 

Recommender continued “You got to read books that develop your personality, man. I know you don’t have a personality. Let me help you build one. Let me recommend books for you. Pick up ‘heavy’ books. Take the classics.”  

 

Reader says “What kind of books?”

 

Recommender names some books here…and says “You should sport books that people think are cool. They should be intended to ‘reflect’ your personality whether you read them or not. I want books that I don’t want to read. A coffee table book that I can let people see and think “what a cool guy that must be…reading that book”.

 

So, that’s what Mr.Recommender meant by “Personality Development”! Funny but sad, eh??

 

The art of innovation! (Lessons from IDEO)

Here’s the gist of the book - The art of innovation. The book is written by Tom Kelly, one of the top managers and the brother of the founder of the design firm, IDEO.

 

Thoughts and concepts that caught my attention and imagination. Some of these statements come with an attached context and may therefore not convey the complete message. All points in italics are direct quotes.

 

·          Innovation is a result of methodologies, practices, culture and infrastructure

·          IDEO’s style of innovation – understand the environment and everything associated with the requirement like the market, customers, technology etc, observe real situations, visualize, evaluate and refine, implement

·          Innovation is something that redesigns the experience

·          Embracing of risk and failures is a must for innovation to stand upright

·          When you are stuck, talk to all the smart people you know

·          Observation-fuelled insight is what makes innovation possible

·          Traveling and asking fundamental questions like why and why not fuels innovative thinking

·          Whether it’s art, science, technology, or business, inspiration often comes from being close to the action

·          Good consultants are good observers of people, teams, organizations, technologies, and trends. They see quirks and patterns

·          The best products embrace people’s differences

·          Listen to your inner child

·          Cross-pollination is the alchemy of innovation

·          Brainstorming needs a well-honed description of the problem statement

·          The book is full of talk about KM though it is not labeled so. The emphasis is on collaborative and collective thinking and learning and letting go of ideas to the team so it can be enhanced and developed. The need for teams to respect and trust each other…

·          A team that works well together can be like an avalanche of energy and enthusiasm  

·          When people feel special, they’ll perform beyond your wildest dreams

·          Celebrate your team members’ differences

·          The importance and significance and the essential nature of prototyping is over-emphasized

·          A playful, iterative approach to problems is one of the foundations of our culture of prototyping

·          When the project is especially complex, prototyping is a way of making progress when the challenges seem insurmountable

·          The process of prototyping can spark little innovations, the sort that can be the difference between a product’s success and failure

·          It’s easy to reject a dry report or a flat drawing. But models often surprise, making it easier to change your mind and accept new ideas

·          Sometimes it helps to have team members and even clients express the project through archetypical characters in a little improvisational skit

·          Prototyping can also remind you that sometimes the most obvious, simplest solution is the best

·          Prototype with energy and enthusiasm, and you’ve got a good chance of hitting upon the very feature or product that resonates with your customers

·          Prototyping, brainstorming and observations. These are the fundamentals, the reading, writing and arithmetic of innovation.

·          The book devotes a chapter for work spaces and stresses the importance of setting up work spaces that inspire and amuse and are both open as well as private

·          The book also talks about serendipity being a major source of innovation

·          The trick is to find that delicate balance between complete choreography and pure inspiration

·          Routine is the enemy of innovation

·          One needs to be an editor to cut away what’s not needed for one’s selling pitch -  the product scrip

·          Selling – make a great entrance, use metaphors, think briefcase, use colours, be transparent, have a single USP, focus on the right features that resonate with customers

 

 My own - partly borrowed- conclusion – the distance between a good idea and a successful product is bridged well by a prototype

 

Inglish

I spotted this board at a place where the road was being dug…in Bangalore: :-)

 

Bangalore Mahanagara Pallike (Corporation)

Work in Progress

In convenience is regretted

Yeah!!!

I just don't believe it. I saw a Kingfisher this morning and that too...in the most unlikely of places! :)

This chap was sitting and meditating (or maybe looking for fish) with his back towards the road, on a small rock in a sort of 'marshy' area on the way to Sarjapur (Bangalore). He had a darrrrk green body and a darrrrk red head. I am in an elated state...yeah! :) Imagine my pleasure, when I realized that there was a bird sitting on the rock, from the corner of my eye, and looked towards the area imagining that it would be the common myna and instead found this coulourful chap! And this 'reward' from nature comes immediately after I spotted one of those tiny birds yesterday (in Sarjapur again)....

 

IBM Workplace 'Blogs'

Good News! Blogs are being included as part of portals and CM tools....and now, IBM has it as part of its Workplace tool...

Villa-ge Experience

Whew. Finally. It wasn’t exactly like a writer’s block. But if my life depended on whether I’d call it some kind of block or not, I’d perhaps call it a worker’s block. Also, come to think of it, introspection tells me that the delay had more to do with the fact that this time around I’ve some cool photographs to go with the post and I subconsciously felt the pressure of having to match the pictures which are as we all know worth a 1000 words and for responding to the ‘pressure’ I needed more time than I could make till date. I myself have been looking forward to this post a lot as a lot went into the trip and more came out. Okay. I wouldn’t want to end up talking more about the making of the post than the post per se. So, let’s ‘Roger Out’.
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The post is about: My trip to the village. The second this year. (First Trip)
The purpose of the trip was: To read, relax and chill out.
The experience/results: It paid off. It was a cool reading trip with the added bonus of some good bird-watching. And I certainly chilled out and forgot about everything else, well almost… :-)

The books I took along with me – Learning to Fly, The Art of Innovation, Blink, Seven Habits, The Effective Executive, Nothing by Chance, C&H (Baby Sitter Stories). When I reached home, I immediately arranged all the books on the reading table and rummaged around the drawers to see what was there and discovered a book on Gandhi’s Teachings and Philosophies by C.Rajaji (Another reward that my mom got for her performance in school). I promptly added that to my pile of books and started off my reading sojourn. From then on it was a continuous marathon till I finished 3 books – Learning to Fly, The Art of Innovation and Blink. The first book is by ex-BP employees on BP’s KM initiatives. Extremely practical book. If it were related to the world of food and eating, I’d say it is a ready-to-eat food served on a plat(t)e(r) in a fast-food restaurant. Practitioners would be thrilled. The Art of Innovation made for some fun-reading. I enjoyed it immensely as the style is pretty informal and I love the subject of innovation. This one too is a practical experience. And finally, Blink – this one was easy to read but I found myself asking too many questions and more disturbingly not finding what one could call concrete answers. It made good food for thought but I still have a lot of unfinished thoughts and questions on the concepts that this book dwells upon. (I’ll probably be putting up the gist of all these books – seen from my perspective – on this blog down the line). I also visited 3 beautiful local temples in the evenings (before taking a one-day break at the ‘end’ of 3 books). The evening walks to the local temples were all a very pleasant experience. Apart from the scenic beauty that was presented to me, it gave my neck and eyes a well-deserved break in the evenings. After 3 books, I took a whole day’s break and went to a very famous temple in a neighbouring village. That too was a cool experience as we went by the village bus, cruising through small villages and stopping to pick up many villagers on the way. The hustle-bustle in a village somehow has a softer feel and genuineness and an authenticity that you can’t see in cities don’t you think? After the one-day break, I came back and finished the book on Gandhi’s Teachings and Philosophies and then started Seven Habits (Stephen Covey). But just when I was beginning to rejoice that I’d have finished 5 books before leaving for Bangalore, I sprained my back as well as caught a cold and couldn’t read anymore of the last book. :-(. I was able to continue with the book only after returning to Bangalore. And about the 3 other books that I lugged along with me - I could not touch them and wasn’t surprised about that either. I knew I was carrying more books than I would be able to read.

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Okay, here are some excerpts from other experiences I had – the birds I saw, the people I met….

On the very first day, I saw two wonderful and unique looking birds on my way into the village. The ‘darshan’ lasted only a few seconds but I’ve sort of captured them in my mental camera. Both these birds were sitting on stones that were part of the barbed-wire fences around cultivated land touching the road. I was in the bus but alert and was appropriately rewarded with these unexpected sneak previews to what was to be a lengthy affair of more bird-watching that lasted the whole holiday. I don’t know what birds they were but here’s a brief description. If my descriptions are good enough for you to recognize them, please throw some light and let me know what birds you think they could be…

1. Black head and body, yellow neck, white belly – small-medium in size
2. Grayish body and green belly – medium in size

Continuing on the topic of birds, through the holiday, I got to see a lot of birds and these undoubtedly gave me a lot of inspiration and breaks from continuous reading – Pattering Parrots, Many Mynas, Eager Eagles, Elusive Egrets, Dancing Doves, Diving Ducks, Tiny Tantalizing birds that I named Tweety (was it a Minivet?), another type of bird that I suspect may have been a Swallow/Shrike/Bush Cat (established bird-watchers, please forgive me for taking the liberty of guessing without the backing of sound knowledge/experience) in the same order of probability.

3. Description of ‘Tweety’ - tiny, longish tail – brownish yellow sides, white belly and dark ash-gray-colored body – very pretty and extremely fast and difficult to spot because of the size and speed. Chirping style – shrill, short and continuous ‘beep’ sounds. I was lucky enough to catch sight of these birds many a time as there was a teak-wood tree with a lot of flowers in the neighbouring compound which not only seemed to attract these birds but also an army of butterflies through the day. All I had to do was to go up to the terrace and fix my gaze on the teak-wood tree to see these birds. But it was a difficult exercise for the eyes to spot them. And any efforts to see them at close quarters turned out to be a failure as they flew away the second they sensed me. (I saw only 2 of these birds every time and I suspect that it was the same pair that I got to see every time)

4. Description of what I think could be a Swallow/Shrike/Bush Cat - medium sized, large belly, light brown and yellow coloured body. Beautiful chirping sound that I can’t possibly explain in words. These were the first birds I saw after I settled down for my reading and the introduction to these birds was so dramatic that it could beat the opening scene in a movie based on birds. I sat down on the steps leading to the verandah at the back of the house and began reading when I suddenly heard a series of beautiful chirping sounds and looked up to find 4 of these birds lined up on the tall compound. And what followed was almost mesmerizing. They all hopped sideways in quick succession and turned 90 degrees to their right (showing their sides to me) after every 3-4 hops while chirping along. They did this till the length of the compound till they reached the end of the compound and then flew away into the garden next door. It was such a perfect dance that I almost stopped breathing so I’d not frighten them away :). But as it turned out I was not destined to see another such performance again and was left yearning for it for the rest of the holiday. My guess is that these birds visit the house regularly and did so this time around only to realize that some humans had intruded into their privacy and decided not to come again till it was vacated. :( Sigh. But I managed to catch sight of these early birds coming in for their worms almost every day as they came for their food to the deserted garden next door. The photographs I know are pathetic. The birds are available in the photograph if you care to spot them. But I needed a camera with a zoom-in facility to catch them next door. Maybe next time around, I will take along a digicam and be able to catch them bang on.

As for the other birds, they weren’t so very elusive…except the Egrets to a certain extent. I saw plenty of parrots in the small Murugan temple near my house where they seemed to live. Mynas were all over the place. So were the Doves and Eagles. I got to see most of these birds whenever I trudged up to the terrace in the evenings. It was only on the third day of my holiday that as I looked skyward, I thought I saw some birds that looked different and extremely beautiful in flight. They were flying in groups of 3 or more – in a V formation. They were white in colour but had visible but narrow patches of brown at the origin of their wings as seen from below. The novice that I am, it took me a few minutes to realize that they were Egrets. The experience was enchanting. They look beautiful. On one particular day, later, I actually spotted them just a few feet above me on the terrace and enjoyed the close-up immensely. Unfortunately, I did not have immediate access to my camera to capture the scene and do think that I may have not been able to capture it even if I had had one in my hands, due to the quickness of the moment.
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Okay. Let me move on to other topics. Here’s a teaser. In my village, one common business that people are into is that of rice-flour grinding. For the uninitiated, rice-flour is the staple food in south India and is ground into a semi-liquid paste used to cook Rice (Idly) Cakes and Dosas which are had for breakfast and dinner. What do you think could be the reason why this is a popular business? Initially I was wondering why it was given that the situation in the village is not akin to the city where people do not have the time to grind rice-flour into a paste. So, if it’s not the time factor which is the constraint, what is it that promotes this business? I found out what it was from my mom. Would you like to take a guess? Actually, the explanation is very very simple. I’ll come back tomorrow/day after and put up the reason(s).

Update - Here’s why this is a popular business: A grinder costs ‘only’ Rs.3000/- but for a villager, that is expensive. She is too poor to own a grinder and instead finds it cheaper to buy rice-flour paste for as little as Rs.10/- and this is enough to feed 4 people for a day. Also, on the occasion of festivals and functions, the outsourcing of the grinding of rice-flour is essential as the deals are in large quantities.
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Nagu, the amazing workaholic, was back to help mom with her household chores. I’ve already said a lot about her but there were more incidents that reiterated her philosophies and approach toward life that I want to mention here. When my mom gave her a few containers that were stylish and told her to store her things in the containers, she simply looked at them and said “I don’t want these. I don’t need them”. When my mom asked her one more time to take it, she said “One should not be greedy. I don’t need this”. Little did she realize that she had astounded an onlooker. When my mom later pressed a bag and Diwali Sarree into her hands, she took them and smiled her way out to the road. It was later that we heard from one of our neighbours that when the latter had stopped her after seeing a broad smile on her face, Nagu had grinned and showed her the bag and Sarree and when the neighbour told her that they were nice, she asked her if she wanted the bag! She was apparently very happy about the gifts but was ready to give away the bag when someone told her it was nice! She would keep only the Sarree because it was essential. Or maybe she would have given that away as well if some one had specifically asked her for it. This natural workaholic who has only 2 light meals a day is worth more than a biography.
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The next story that I want to share is inspiring as well. The director in me wants to give it a title just to make it a little dramatic. I shall call it ‘The Making of the Murukkus’ (Murukkus are a deep-fried south Indian delicacy made out of rice flour, urad daal flour and other ingredients): Amrutha Akka as she is popularly known in the village is no mean businesswoman. She apparently makes anywhere between RS.500 to Rs.1000 a day by making ‘Murukkus’ and a few other popular delicacies. She is perhaps 65+ years old and has a pet cat called Meena (whom she calls Meeni). She employs fewer than 10 women to make the Murukkus and other eatables and a few youngsters for odd jobs. She runs the business herself (CEO, CFO et al) and has unfortunately/fortunately no heirs. (I say fortunately because heirs may end up splitting businesses these days) Her home (a glorified hut) is almost covered completely with sacks of raw material – her inventory – and cooked eatables – the products – and a TV. She has some free space which she uses to place 2 chairs for her customers and to quickly and efficiently pack the orders (that range from 1 to 1000s) with the help of one of her ‘employees’. Local village kids run in and ask for one or two of the chosen delicacy while families coming in from the cities into the village for weddings/festivals order 1000s. She insists on advance orders and delivers on time. The quality has been good mostly but there have been some orders that were not up to the mark, which she promptly denies. She poses for me with her cat, Meena. Also shown is the place where the Murukkus are made. Hers is a clear success story. She does not market/advertise and sales are completely through word-of-mouth channels. I think there’s a lot that idle/unemployed and pessimistic youth and people in general have to learn from her.
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If you thought I was done, let me tell you that, in my perception, the most amazing part of the trip is yet to come. I think it is the most amazing part as it is almost unbelievable. It was what happened at the virtual end of the trip. At the end of the journey back to Bangalore! The climax, so to say! I came into my home in Bangalore and went into the washroom and turned on the tap and bent down to wash my face when I heard a series of continuous beep sounds and almost froze. It sounded like ‘Tweety’. I lifted my head and looked out of the window at the Mango tree outside as if expecting the tree to bring up the next moment quickly and unfreeze me…and nature did not fail me. A tiny bird that seemed to be a distant cousin of the bird that I was so tantalized by in my village flew down from somewhere and alighted on the branch of the mango tree that was in direct view of the window. The bird stayed on the branch for 4 seconds while chirping continuously before flying away. I was stunned beyond action or words. It was as if nature wanted to please me and specifically make me aware that birds that are very similar to the bird that I so admired in the village live in the city as well and visit my own garden in particular. The experience was Alchemistic in nature – one goes looking for something in a far-off place only to finally realize that what one wants was available right there in one’s regular habitat. But of course, it is the trip to that far-off land that adds to the experience and learning and brings about the awareness of what one wants. But let me tell you that I stood rooted and frozen to the spot for quite some time after the bird gave me a dekho. I don’t know if you believe this episode, but believe me; I myself was not able to believe it and seriously considered it be a hallucination of sorts in the beginning. Since then, I couldn’t lay my eyes on the bird till yesterday (thank God for Sundays)– I heard the bird chirp and went out quietly and stealthily and spent quite some time crouched below the mango tree to watch this perky little bird play around on the leafy branches. I will probably set up a camp under the mango tree every week and watch this guy go about his life in an animated manner…. Life is dramatic indeed. Tweet tweet!
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Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs @ Stanford

Goal Mall ;-) (Read in English. Not in Hindi)

I’ve been gleaning a lot of information on goal-setting, planning et al for sometime. Guess I just reached the ‘tipping’ point and decided to record my ‘knowledge’ - blog– on some tools I've discovered/used for Goal Setting and the corresponding Planning Phases: in my opinion, these tools need not necessarily to be used in the same order – especially the last 3 steps:  

 

- Goal Maps (goal setting - benefits, when, why etc) - MS/templates

- Mind Maps (initial elaboration and setting boundaries) - tools

- PPT (information gathering and structuring and planning) - MS

- Concept Maps (linking, relationship building and the big picture - clarity) - MS/tools

- Story Boards (precise steps leading to action/visualization) - MS/templates

 

I’ll come back to this list in case I get to know of more tools that may be of use. Meanwhile, if you’ve come across effective tools that help in goal setting and associated tasks including execution, then you know what to do….! :-)

Zig Ziglar - Ten Steps to Achieving Your Goals

I am clearing my inbox after quite sometime and am going through another 'Zig Zig' phase of discovery :)

....Here's one more great article.

The Gist - Commitment, Plan (detailed and broken-down), Execution based on Values, Ready for challenges and changes, Team work, Visualization for inspiration....

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Training Lesson - Ten Steps To Achieving Your Goals

You've got (less than) 90 days to accomplish your goals for 2005!

We're now into the final quarter of the year, and that means there�s less than three months before 2005 is history. How are you doing on accomplishing the goals you set for this year? Right about now, many of our readers can use a little goal-setting boost, and so here's Zig Ziglar's 10-step formula for accomplishing goals.

1. Make the commitment to reach your goal. 'One person with a commitment is worth a hundred who only have an interest.' Mary Crowley.

2. Commit yourself to detailed accountability. Record your progress toward your goals every night, and list the six most important things you need to do the next day. Daily discipline is the key to reaching your goals.

3. Build your life on a sold foundation of honesty, character, integrity, trust, love, and loyalty. This foundation will give you an honest shot at reaching any goal you have set properly.

4. Break your intermediate and long-range goals into increments.

5. Be prepared to change. You can't control the weather, inflation, interest rates, Wall Street, etc. Change your decision to move toward a goal carefully--but be willing to change your direction to get there as conditions and circumstances demand.

6. Share your 'give-up' goals (i.e., give up smoking, being rude, procrastinating, being late, eating too much, etc.) with many people. Chances are excellent they're going to encourage you.

7. Become a team player. Remember: You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.

8. See the reaching. In your imagination see yourself receiving that diploma, getting that job or promotion, making that speech, moving into the home of your dreams, achieving that weight-loss goal, etc.

9. Each time you reach a goal your confidence will grow so that you can do bigger and better things. After accomplishing any goal, record it in your journal, Weekly Planner or Palm Pilot.

10. Remember, what you get by reaching your destination isn't nearly as important as what you become by reaching your goals--what you will become is the winner you were born to be!
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Zig Ziglar Full Newsletter

I love this piece of inspirational writing...

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From Zig Ziglar - "Training Lesson:Using Your Mistakes To Springboard To Success"

Each of us at one time or another has thought about how wonderful it would be to have as much foresight as hindsight. Then we could avoid making mistakes! Not only is that hope unrealistic, it's also unwise. Mistakes are often the springboard for major accomplishments. Here's a good example:

Thomas Edison was working with a lab assistant who was coming up dry after over 700 experiments. In discouragement, the assistant told Edison that after all these mistakes, errors, and false starts, he simply didn't believe that the project was valid. Edison quickly told him that he wasn't wasting his time and that the assistant now knew more about the project than anybody alive. Edison wisely observed that the assistant hadn't made mistakes but instead had acquired an education as to what didn't work. Needless to say, the assistant went back to his project with renewed vigor.

If you take Edison's approach to life, you end up accomplishing much, much more. You need to understand that after every mistake you can look back and grow from the experience so that you can move forward with confidence and avoid making the same mistake again.

Here are three tips for handling a mistake, either at home or work:

1. Don't let a mistake depress or discourage you. See a mistake as a step on the road to a solution. Realize that depression and discouragement are negatives that limit the future.

2. Admit the mistake. Yes, admitting your mistakes takes courage, but recognition of errors is a sign of maturity. Not to recognize them is to deny them, and denial limits your future.

3. Understand that when you confront your mistakes,"

Why Is Microsoft Afraid of Google? - Knowledge@Wharton

Why Is Microsoft Afraid of Google? - Knowledge@Wharton

Reference

Quote

"Those who can laugh without cause have either found the true meaning of happiness or have gone stark raving mad." - Norm Papernick

:-) Ha ha ha ha ha

Knowledge@Emory

Women; Innovation; Business Management

Working Well with Others

Reference

The trip to my village...

The post on the trip to my village is still in the making! :-
Till then, I thought I'd at least put up what I think is a cool photograph of one of the temples in my village. I'll bless you in advance because I know you'd want to fall at the feet of the person who clicked the snap...It was good old me who was behind the camera.... :)

Aa-ha! [Thinking Inside The Blog!]

Is there anyone out there who has done her/his own thing against the wishes of society or for that matter in the face of raised eyebrows and has as a consequence some experiences and lessons to share? How does one carry oneself, counter questions, curb excessive curiosity, call the shots, not give in under pressure...et al?

Balancing Acts

Balancing Acts

Brilliant collection of approaches to leading a balanced life....

Talent over Hype

Talent over Hype

Methinks: There is a thin line of difference between Branding and Hype. Branding ought to be done not for 'cheating' or 'fooling' people but to simply COMMUNICATE CONSISTENTLY THE VALUES THAT THE COMPANY/BRAND STANDS FOR AND DO SO IN A CREATIVE MANNER...! PERIOD.

"Mosh Pits" Of Creativity

Innovation Labs

Is this the beginning of the end?

Is this the beginning of the end?

Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Floods, Blasts, Heavy rains, Unlimited corruption….

The pain that the world seems to be going through leaves a bitter taste in the mouth to say the least. One fears if this is the beginning of the end of the world as we know it….

An analysis of why we are going through this has been done and has resulted in various findings. But do we care? Could we care any less? We continue to pollute the world. We continue to harm the environment. We continue to think short-term. We continue to be selfish. We continue to be ourselves….

I hate to be pessimistic. I like seeing the positive side of everything, but the series of continuous destructive events in the recent past thrusts forth the obviousness of the mistakes we have made and continue to make and their repercussions…will the world last another century at least?

Blink Blink...What Do I Think?

Thoughts on Blink (The Book by Malcolm Gladwell): Warning: The thoughts are raw/unfinished

One reason why one should rely on intuitive feelings rather than on technical/scientific analysis, at times, is that those who gather data and utilize statistical tools to analyze could be parties with vested interests. They are prone to pick up information that are advantageous to them and simply base their analysis on those few selected numbers and conveniently ignore/turn a blind eye or, even worse, mask the other numbers. And anyways - vested interests or not - in most situations - analysis or no analysis - it is all about the one of the most-abused words 'perception'. Even analysis can be based on perception; The inputs taken for analysis can be CHOSEN/FILTERED/TWEAKINTERPRETEDTED to suit one's preferences/prejudices/biases/understanding. In other words, using intuition to decide what to analyze is a possibility that may lead to an intuition based decision despite an analytical process occurring in between the preliminary data collection and final decision!

Having said that, I should also add something that is a contradiction of sorts - I think that practiced and deliberate analysis irrespective of whether they lead to successes or failures (rights/wrongs) also teach, in the long run, us to be intuitive. Yes... because, ultimately they give you a feel for whatever you're doing; they get things ingrained in you; they become your extension and transform your thinking by converting continuous analysis into intuition (inherent knowledge not necessarily uninfluenced by external factors). In the book Blink, the very first example of art connoisseurs involves snap decisions, but one has to take into consideration these snap decisions are made by experienced folks, that is, people who've seen, felt, analyzed (etc etc) art before. It is this very experience and practice that eventually leads to a situation wherein one can make snap decisions. Snap decisions rarely come without practice/experience. If a small child shows exceptional talent in a particular field, the phenomenon is admittedly almost impossible to explain except if it has medical roots. But in the case of adult skill sets and expertise, it is probably only information overload over a period of time that helps one learn how to filter information in the first place, distinguish between the important and the insignificant and eventually almost automatically/mechanically, get to only that which is required. This does not mean that this person can do without outside data - An essential trait to be retained would be the ability to listen to one's own reasoning and feelings despite overwhelming data from the outside world. One should be able to think her way out despite contradicting information bellowing for attention. That is also intuition to be able to analyze (speed of analysis may vary from person to person and this would perhaps be a reflection of one's inherent intuitive abilities) and make sense out of the multitude.

Update - Hey, what the hell am I trying to say here, after all? Okay. It all boils down to 2 things:

- Let's not forget that analysis does not mean absence of intuition and 'subjectivity' as we do use subjective opinions to choose what to analyze and ignore data that doesn't fit into our paradigms

- Intuition (as in the talent) is many a time, the result of shrewd analysis and pattern recognition over long periods of time!

And, ahem....I recently read in an article (The discipline of innovation) by the late Peter Drucker that even he believed that intuition does not come easy...it comes after arduous years of analysis!

Paradox Thinking - Traffic Jams

I engaged in paradox thinking yet again. :-) I was in the office bus on what was to be yet another 3-hour journey home from office, last week. As I looked out the window at the fellow travelers and billboards, I observed an advt. for couches.  It triggered off my thinking and in about 6-7 seconds I was thinking about various things and connecting them all together. One of the obvious thoughts on my mind was solutions for the traffic problem in Bangalore. This in connection with the advt. got me thinking in the opposite direction. If we can’t make it home on time and end up wasting a hell lot of time in traveling, why not bring the home to the bus!? This may sound pessimistic, but I seriously don’t know what else to think off the cuff. So, proceeding with the thinking, why not build buses and cars that are mini homes. That is anyways nothing new. There are luxury cars with sofas, TVs, and refrigerators. That would help us do what we would anyway be doing once we reach home – read/watch TV/eat. Talking is anyways already possible what with mobiles et al.

 

So, how did I get the idea? By combining 2-3 thoughts! Traffic, an advt, the concept of paradox thinking….combining many thoughts indeed works wonders. Collaboration invariably leads to innovation. Combination of ideas creates the knowledge sundae a la the combination of ice cream, chocolate and nuts. :-)

 

Related post – on one another day last week, I was in my bus and happened to look at the bus next to mine and saw a newspaper sticking to the window. Saw the headline “Bangalore roads may be Jam-free”. I was of course filled to the brim with the urge to reach out and break the window and grab the paper. I rushed to the library to check out if it was that day’s paper only to realize that it wasn’t to my disappointment. Did anyone read the article? What exactly does it say? What are the solutions proposed? And BTW, ironically, I also was amused to notice an advt. for British Airways right next to the article that read “The world is waiting”. Indeed! The world is waiting for Bangalore’s roads to be jam-free not to forget free from pot-holes as well…

Eknath Easwaran...

A Thought for the Day From Sri Eknath Easwaran
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October 18

He that loveth, flieth, runneth, and rejoiceth. He is free, and
cannot be held in. He giveth all for all, and hath all in all,
because he resteth in one highest above all things, from whom
all that is good flows and proceeds. - Thomas a Kempis

This spring I watched six baby swallows learn how to fly. They
were huddled on the telephone wires observing their mother, who
came flying slowly by in front of them, doing the easier turns
and showing them the basics of flying. There was no need for
these baby swallows to read books or attend lectures on how to
fly. They have an inborn instinct for it. Learning to fly may not
be easy, but this is what birds are born to do.

The Lord sees us sitting on a perch made of pleasure, profit,
power, or prestige, quaking with every variation in our bank
account and every critical comment that comes our way; and he
asks us if we would not rather forget our failings, weaknesses,
and insecurities and become united with him.

This is what we are born to do: to leave our perch of selfish
interests and soar aloft. To soar to union with God means to give
all our love to the Lord, so that all the faculties and resources
which have been hidden in us can come into our lives to the great
benefit of those around us.

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>From Eknath Easwaran, "Words to Live By" (Nilgiri Press, 1997)
http://www.nilgiri.org/Html/Thoughts/today.html

The UNIfied UNIverse

I was running through a pocket book on Vivekananda’s approach to meditation today on the way to office. The book states that Vivekananda spoke about the fact that the microcosm and the macrocosm are the same, after one of his enlightening experiences. He said; at the atomic level everything in the universe is the same - they work on the same principles. I took my eyes off the book and went back to something else that I had stumbled upon earlier - a TV programme (The elegant universe) that mentioned Einstein’s unsuccessful quest for the unified theory, which – now - according to the string theory is highly unlikely as, for example, gravity doesn’t apparently work at the sub-atomic level. The forces in the micro-microcosm are supposedly different from what we experience at our level. I feel the urge to explore this matter in detail….

Breaking the Silence...

I am technically back. ;0 But, it’s going to take me a while to break the silence on my Blog… :-)

I’ve got lots of posts planned but it’s going to take me a while to pen them.

Got some interesting thoughts that ‘came’ to me on my one-week –blissful- vacation. Thoughts on birds I met, people I met, books I read et al….but they will all have to wait... :-(

Till then….toodle-oo!

Hush!

I will most probably not be posting on my blog for the next 10 days or so...
But I'd imagine that I may have a lot to say when I 'come back'! ;)
Till then....enjoy the silence...! :-)

The Mystery of the Shrill Cries

Time for a ‘fun’ post. I am in the mood for it. So, here goes…. :)

Every day, when our doggie walks into the house to settle down for his nap in the evening – which is normally after I have returned home from office - our neighbours hear shrill cries emerging from our house. As you may have guessed, they originate from me. The joy that I experience in inviting our doggie into the house and watching him snuggle into his bed comfortably is what is manifested in the form of shrill cries. The shrill cries get shriller when followed by our doggie’s endeavour to jump on to me and bite my head off, at times. When the ritual of me screaming my vocal chords hoarse began, our doggie was, I think, utterly confused and dazed by my behaviour (he conveniently forgot that sometimes the noise was deafening only when he tried to ‘behead’ me). If I were to interpret his expressions, they would be a combination of one or more of the following: “Errr….I hope you are all right?” / “I just don’t believe it!” / “You drunk?” / “Do I hear you right?” / “Can I help you in anyway?” / “Err….is it something to do with me?”. (I can go on, but I guess I ought to know where to draw the line as no one including our doggie is going to stand up and tell me what the expression really means). So, the ritual continued unabated for a few days till the people at home began to warn me about the repercussions of the same.

Despite the warnings I continued with my habits (old habits die hard) but there was a sudden change in the environment from unexpected quarters. Our doggie who gave me his undivided attention until then - more with a view of solving ‘the mystery of the shrill cries’ a la timothy or buster (Enid Blyton’s dogs from The Famous Five and The Five Find-Outers respectively) than out of sheer kindness for a person who would otherwise have had no audience whatsoever - suddenly seemed to get bored with all the hallabullah. Of late, he listens in for a while and then quickly runs up to his bed and falls asleep (or maybe pretends to be asleep, I’d imagine). He gives me a few customary glances and rolls his eyes around the room while still managing to keep a watch over me before running off. I can only attempt to read between the glances and conclude that he perhaps has decided that The Mystery of the Shrill Cries is an unsolvable one and his beauty sleep was anyway more important than shrill cries (or fries or whatever) that anyway wanted a change in tune among many other things like being done away with per se, or maybe he got on to think that he would rather not be associated with me and the shrill cries for his own protection from the neighbourhood early-sleepers. Whatever…..woof…woof. BARK. STOP.

Well, the bottom-line news for the reader is that the ritual has now been reduced to a few short notes (An abrupt break in the communication between doggie and yours truly is not advisable, you see) that I use to indicate that I am glad he is home and safe and getting on with life - which is but mostly a combination of eating, sleeping, chasing cats, squirrels and children and star-gazing that closely resembles the act of introspection. EEEEEEKS (read: short shrill cry)

Nimmy's ES....ha ha ha (Last Part - Part III)

For an organizational KM initiative to be a huge success or at least accomplish something significant at the end of the day, I think there is a definite need to ‘over’ communicate the need for KM. Some people will not be happy about being consistently bombarded with communiqués but as soon as they see a smooth transition into the demonstration of the benefits of KM, the noise would die down. Also, the communiqués would generate conversations and discussions which are a must for an initiative like KM to take off. Out of sight, out of mind is a cliché to be remembered. The communication needs to driven by the organization’s leaders and more importantly they need to practice what they preach. The association between KM and Innovation needs to be drawn clearly; the organization needs to move away from individual recognition and towards team rewards - to the extent that it doesn’t seem silly (eg: loose recognition and praise given to an entire team for an obvious piece of work done by an individual would be no less than ridiculous). Individual rewards need to be handed out, but the criteria should be designed based on the sharing tendencies of the individual more than anything else. If a person who does well at work but hoards knowledge is rewarded and encouraged, further chatter about knowledge sharing will clearly result in cynicism and bitterness in the team. Overall, I strongly believe that consistent and persistent communication that inspires and corresponding practices from the leaders of the organization may be a panacea of sorts for KM….it will surely have a great impact on the effectiveness of the KM initiative while perhaps not contributing so much to the efficiency (productivity, processes, techniques etc) of KM activities.

Nimmy's enlightening statements....ha ha ha (Part II)

Why would Corporate Blogging be successful?

Blogs have a personal feel to them. They are self-centric and will not, in my opinion, be seen as a “here’s-how-you-can-help-others” initiative by the bloggers themselves, even though, in reality, that is what it may be. What kind of a feeling will one get when one picks up the pen and writes into one’s diary? One of altruism? Noh! Actually, ‘good’ bloggers get the due recognition and following even while others are benefiting out of the blogger’s knowledge. So, blogging will work better than asking people to write articles and papers and upload it into the repository for the ‘benefit of the rest of the organization’! I got to add that it will work…unless you are dealing with a lot that is overtly cautious and suspecting of its colleagues/a lot that hates writing and is highly oriented towards auditory learning/a lot that works in a scenario that is so badly organized and planned that there is no time left for writing (which, admittedly, can be time-consuming).