The Case for KM....

This one's been languishing in my folder for quite a while now! It's high time it was liberated into the world of slideshare! I almost feel like I've freed a caged bird. Phew. So, what do you think? Will it fly (pun intentional)? :D Care to let me know, what? :-)

One day at a time, forever

Hey! Wow! What!! I think this quote is real cute :-) LoL
"It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis." - Margaret Bonnano

Life's Mathematics

A little bit of introspection led me to this conclusion. What we are in life is perhaps largely a function of the following. (Pay attention to the mathematical symbols as well)

(Our natural talents * how effectively we discover and use it) + (How we use our intrinsic intelligence to evaluate what we should learn and how much we listen to that natural intelligence) +/- (How much we (un)learn of what we (un)learn * how effectively we apply it) +/- (How much of appropriate or inappropriate family, peer & societal influence, learning and action related, we allow into our lives) to the power of (Whether we find just the right mentor(s) for ourselves as we move through the various stages of life)

Complex, what? But who said life is not complex! ;-)

And then there are two perspectives/interpretations that get attached to all of this. The individual's perception of himself/herself and the society's. In my opinion, it is very unlikely for the two perspectives to be alike however hard the individual tries to project "his/her" reality. I might as well add that at the end of the day, it is the individual's perception of himself that is real and not that of the society.

Society's perspective is pretty much influenced by how the individual behaves, acts and communicates * how uniquely and interestingly it is done and how it fits into the society/bigger picture.

While I'd like to believe I am talking sense and on to something worthwhile, I must admit that I may not have articulated what's on my mind as effectively as I ought to. If you want to lend your talents to help me refine this....what are you waiting for? Type away! :-)

See This!

Discovered this via Jack. Nothing earth shattering or mind boggling....but nice. Especially if one is a visually oriented person! This is what I got on keying in some of my interests.

How to Think Different

Wonderful post on thinking differently...by Dave Pollard. An old one.....but missed reading it before.

A THOUsand THOUghts for THOU Perusal....

I think this would be quite a decent and worthwhile post for #1000. Yes indeed. This is my 1000th post. A blogging milestone of sorts, eh? Maybe. But I do think it is at an appropriate time for the 1000th post as my blog is fast approaching its 4th birthday (May 3rd week). (But don't you worry....I haven't particularly been keeping track of the number of posts and my blog birthdays all this while.....I think to do it is quite boring for readers. So, rest assured that this is an exception ;-)). But I think I've got just the stuff required to make reading this post worthwhile.

Someone I respect a lot shared these thoughts with me yesterday. (A cousin who has come up the hard way and accomplished an awful lot in life). And I'd like to embed it out here so I don't forget it too soon.

- No one but you should drive your life. Don't hold anyone else responsible or blame them for what has happened to you. If required, detach yourself from others so as to enable this till it becomes a natural process.
- Be conscious of every decision you take and remember that you are the one who is responsible for each of those.
- God only facilitates.

The Long and Short of it All :D

Talking of laughter (previous post) reminds me of two things that don't fail to gift me this wonderful....well...solution. Plum's wonderful work and a special Dachshund's character and misadventures (episodes of which have been featured before on this blog ). And I knew of the connection between the two laughter generators quite some time ago. Plum was a dog lover, perhaps with a soft corner for Dachshunds in particular for he had one. And....to my pleasant surprise, as a proof of this connection, I recently discovered this wonderful pic (reproduced below) on a blog devoted to Dachshunds! Wow! :-) How cute! Go here to read the full post. And hey, I must add that they've thought of the most appropriate name for the blog - The Long and Short of it All ! :D Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. LoL

More on Laughter's Merits...

In our daily lives, we encounter many stressful situations that we often don't deal with very well. It is easy to store up negative emotions, such as anger, sadness and fear, rather than expressing them. Have a comic relief...laugh! Laughter provides a way for these emotions to be harmlessly released in a safe environment and it doesn't take much effort. - Zenyasi

Enterprise 2.0 is Democracy

I don't know if I've said this before on my blog, but in my view, a good way to describe Web 2.0 in the Enterprise (in other words, Enterprise 2.0) is "Democracy". Think of the ways countries are managed and the various political models therein and I see the analogy for Enterprise 2.0 as a transformation from Military/Dictatorship models to Democracy. Of the employees, for the employees, by the employees....

Update: And....Zeph has this excellent response to my post above: "I see web 2.o and beyond as liberating consciousness and freeing one's capacity to contribute. No longer is the model hierachical. I think this is when enthusiasm, innovation, and collaboration become key drivers in the evolution of a company and society rather than rules. "

Who are the Happy Blokes?

H'm! That was not meant to be an acronym but an expression of thought and analysis! But, wow, it turns out to be one....and unexpectedly so! And I realized that just while I was typing out this post...! H'm - H for Happiness and M for Money....!

Many people would be ready to bet their last currency that happiness is not a 'result' of money. But....check out this Life Satisfaction Index (projected to be a reflection of happiness) and you'll find it intriguing (especially if you're someone who belongs to the above-mentioned set of people) that the richer countries seem to be happier than the rest....now, you may talk of developed economies and the like, but the development is apparently because of the financial resources at the country's disposal, eh?

The World's Best Acrobat

Time for another "pet" story. It's been a loooong time since I indulged in narrating a story about such 'small' but unequalled joys of the world. The VIP at home - my doggy - was enjoying the evening breeze just outside the main door and seemed to be getting into some sort of a trance (though, if asked, he might like to call it divine meditation). The door was open and the fella knew he was not encouraged to enter for he had the tendency to destroy all objects he found interesting and amenable for destruction. I decided to conduct an instant meeting with the chap, on an impulse, and went over to the door, bent down, patted and tickled his head for a while and then babbled everything I could think of, into his ears. He listened with part amusement, part suspicion and part ridicule. After a while, I decided to get back to my "Things to do" list lest my doggy return my favour in cash or kind. So, after emitting a sigh of satisfaction about a job I thought was very well executed (I rarely have problems with tickling and babbling), I started walking back in my room's direction albeit lazily.

The next moment, the world came to an end....or so I thought. I vaguely realized something was whizzing past me at break-neck speed and into my room. If you're somewhat smart you'd have surely realized the nature of the whizzing entity described herein. (Wo)man's best friend. Full marks. To you and to the world's best acrobat who happens to be a part of my family. He went into my room and picked up the door mat and flung it high in the air - directed at the ceiling for the door mat couldn't possibly go through it - and it landed in the middle of my room. Meanwhile I was shaking from head to toe wondering whether I'd be run down beyond recognition. Even as I tried an escape route into the kitchen to avoid going through experiences that roads are subjected to when being tarred, the world's best acrobat rushed back to the main door and then followed it up with two additional runs in the same route and in the same style. The door mat, luckily, was left alone after its first shocking and unexpected engagement with the gravitational forces of earth. If you believed that all I did was just escape into the kitchen, you are way behind in terms of common sense. Of course, I also shrieked my head off which contributed to the quick ending of the wonderful acrobat's performance.

When the acrobatics subsided and came to a stop at the main door after a few seconds, I approached the world's best acrobat with the strangest mix of emotions - confusion, respect, anger and ideas for improvement. Even as I shook like a feather caught amidst a combination of a hurricane and a typhoon, I gently held the main door (more because my grip had weakened than because of love for the door) and told the hero of the story what I exactly thought of him. To his credit though, he seemed to have performed such heroics as a gesture of gratitude in response to my flawless performance in the recently described 'meeting at the main door'. So, he was probably expecting another meeting involving petting, tickling and babbling and was justifiably surprised at the lack of appreciation. So, as I warned him about the consequences of a repeat performance, he raised a confused eyebrow (or should I say eye?) and looked away perplexed. I don't know if I am reading between the lines but his expression seemed to suggest that he did not understand why humans are so mad, stupid and illogical (ok, you can change 'humans' to a reference to just yours truly, if you are a stickler for accuracy). Anyway, before I recovered completely and decided to make up for the lack of appreciation and encourage him to continue his energetic performances but in a more controlled and predictable manner, he made a move and decided to bark at the dogs on the road.....

When I shared this with one of my friends, she looked at the whole thing from the other's perspective (obviously, I am not so important) and exclaimed that humans do not have the energy and enthusiasm to match that of animals. So true!!! Sad for them, eh? Sigh.

T.I.G.E.R.R.R.R

Thanks to my blog-friend here :-) I ran into this wonderful YouTube video on her blog and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you love Tigers, you simply should not miss this one. Ooooooh! What magnificent creatures, what charm, what beauty!!! Aaahhhh! Tigers are simply marvellous! I can watch them for many hours, I really can!

Speaking of which, this (the third photo) is one of those photographs that people would find hard to believe I clicked - one I am therefore quite proud of. I happened to come across this chap when I'd been to a nearby forest and I promptly (and politely) requested him to pose for a snap and he obliged with an ambiguous roar. The way he settled down into a perfect posture, you'd be surprised why he isn't a common sight in movies that involve wild-life. Thinking thus, I clicked away, shook his dirty paw with gratitude and also contemplated asking for a pally-pally snap together but finally decided against it as I have no right to create a dent in his reputation. (Those of you who can't stand such nonsense, very quickly, before you get violent....this chap can be found in the Mysore Zoo...don't tell him I told you....he doesn't like too many visitors)

Letters....Words....Knowledge

Yes. I understand I am on a blogging spree today. So what? Huh? Knowledge doesn't come one (piece) at a time....all the time. It may come all at the same time and overwhelm us or it may act like it doesn't exist at all and make us brood endlessly or sometimes it may decide to regulate and discipline its entry and make us think everything is beautifully controlled. But knowledge is welcome whenever it comes....in whatever form it comes.....and however frequently it comes....as long as it keeps coming! :-)

One of the best ways to share knowledge many many years ago would have been through letters - hand-written letter, that is. At a time when the Internet and Web 2.0 certainly did not exist....neither were there telephones....and even travelling to meet someone would have been very difficult because of lack of infrastructure and resources. Yes. That's the era I am talking about. It would have taken many many days for the knowledge provider to reach out to the seeker or vice versa through letters. But that was probably the only means to share thoughts and ideas when the two parties were not co-located. So, there would have been a lot of value attached to writing....the written word would be the carrier of knowledge. Body language and the like would have had a minimal role to play in knowledge sharing and transfer. Jumping into today's world, pure text blogging is probably just like that (leaving out the pics, audios and videos)....except that you have to wait no more than a few seconds to read the "letter" and respond to it and continue the conversation endlessly if you wanted to.....

Speaking of which, there's a small related tidbit that's been hogging my mind since this morning....I noticed a huge billboard advertising a new movie (Hindi) and its tag line reads "Sometimes the greatest journey is the distance between two people".....ummm....I like it.... yes....! :-) I think that's a nice and thoughtful tag line!

Apart from the emotional and relationship-based flavour that the movie-makers obviously aim to communicate, I see a knowledge sharing/collaboration flavour to it.....! :-) For knowledge sharing to work, people will have to have the motivation, dedication and commitment to travel this distance.....! The processes will provide some effective ways of getting there and the technology some ways to get it done efficiently (and in a painless or even a lazy way).....but it's the people who have to eventually take the steps and cover the entire distance!

Last Lecture...

The Last Lecture. Been meaning to share this link since a long time. It's been circulated quite a bit....so, you may have already seen it. But if you haven't, watch it right away!

There's no Free Will if you will....!?

Whew! Read this. Link courtesy - Scott Adams on the Dilbert Blog.

So, is it not free will that has made me post a link to this article? Is it some other mysterious power in this universe that makes me share this link with you? Are we all like programmed computers that run on a pre-determined concept/flow that cannot be changed if the variable parameters, as indicated by the program, do not? Nah. I beg to differ. I think not. Will tell you my interpretation of this later. But first, do tell me what you think! And mind you, if there's no free will, there's no you! ;-)

This topic is so very intriguing....my free will wants me to explore this further. ;-) If you happen to have an interest in this topic and can share some views and news.....puhleeaassseeeeee do so. God bless.

Textbook Vs Novel

Without wanting to sound like I am a pure intellectual or something, I have to say that I rarely read interviews with movie stars. Admittedly, there were days when I used to find them exciting.....but that was long ago. Slowly realized there was very little worth reading....except maybe interviews with a few rare actors who are sincere and passionate about their profession, have admirable values, are 'surprisingly' intelligent & wise and also possess the uncanny knack of dealing with tricky questions that they are likely to be subjected to - which, of course, makes for interesting reading. So, when this one came to me and stared me in the face.....and an excerpt attached to the link made it look quite appealing as well....I decided to get the mouse to work on the link. And I don't regret reading it....not a waste of time, this one. I simply loved the last Q&A. Loved it. In case you're not bothered about the whole interview, here it is....

Interviewer: What’s your take on your status as one of the rare Indian actors to be considered a textbook in acting?

Kamal: Textbooks are boring, so I hope I am not that. Anybody or anything that indulges in pontification is boring and stagnant. I would rather be a novel that’s unputdownable. I have no rules and the best possible way I could become a textbook is when others learn from my mistakes.

Wow, I mean......! Impressive & intelligent answer....

The Truth about Lies

Samuel Butler - "Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well."

Umm? I normally bump into quotes I either find to be inspiring or thought-provoking in a positive way or, let's say, amusing or sometimes, perhaps, just bland and not so interesting or exciting. But this one makes me go "What? Nah, Sam....you maybe right in a way....but I am convinced you're looking at it from the wrong end...!"

Reminds me of doing things right but not doing the right thing...! A lie can never ever get through till the end however smart and cunning the liar maybe (sounds idealistic and naive? I don't mind ;-)). Even if the world fails to see the lie, the person who lies knows it all along...deep within his/her heart! I don't know if SB simply meant that lying is an art that few can master and is sometimes good.....and was not actually thinking too much about the nice and honest souls that would rather speak the truth than lie to create a temporary illusion of a better world. Concocting a lie may require cunning and intelligence of a kind......but speaking the truth requires courage. Speaking the truth requires the ability to face reality. Speaking the truth may seem to take one down the darkest of alleys....but it is more than worth it....for the good that it does to the conscience and oneself.

Hey, I know I probably sound like Gandhi's disciple....and maybe I am just wasting my energy for SB might have, in all probability, had a very relevant context that made him say so! (Hazarding a guess, maybe he was talking of falsely convincing a dying patient that there is hope and maybe that very hope was what made the patient live a little longer than he would have lived otherwise....ah, well....I can't think of any other examples though. Maybe those who are adept at politics can come up with a few dozens of situations wherein they believe lying is the only way to survive...but that is something I am not going to talk about in this post). Anyway, the quote compelled me to present my view of the importance of truth vis a vis falsehood in the general sense. This is what happens if you are itching to write something and can't help but grab hold of the first thing that comes your way and makes you think a bit.... :-)

Quotes on Positive Thinking

A friend sent me these quotes when I mentioned that I seem to be heading into a challenging situation from many quarters. And reading these definitely helps....inspires one to drop all the doubts and fears and move on without a care in the world.... :) I have always considered myself to be a hard-core optimist....someone who finds it difficult to see the negative aspects most of the time....someone who gets excited easily,at the drop of a hat more often than not....someone who believes that anything is possible with passion, determination, faith and love. But even such a person can be tried (and tired) at times! Here's to positive thinking then...!

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.”

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

In a gentle way, you can shake the world.

People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.

The trick is to put a positive spin on things. And humor is always a good tactic.

If you gravitate to successful, positive people, in time you will find yourself a successful, positive person.

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.”

For myself I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use being anything else”

Freedom's Way....

Approximately three years ago, one of my close friends impulsively gifted me a book that she noticed I was intrigued by when we both visited a nice and cute little book shop in Bangalore. As was our regular practice ,we were smiling and grinning at the books around us and rejoicing in the inimitable environment of a book shop, when I walked up to the 'Spirituality and Self-Help' shelf and casually picked up the book I am referring to. As I flipped through the pages, it quite gripped me and I found myself getting excited and inspired by what I was reading. That was when my friend observed my expressions and interest and decided to be an angel - even before I got out of the reading mode and began to think about buying the book, she declared that she'd be gifting it to me!! :-)

The story then moves on to what happened after I read the book. Here are three posts that I wrote about the book/as a consequence of reading the book - one, two, three. I consider the first post to be the closest one, so far, to enlightenment for an ordinary mortal like me. It was definitely inspired by the book apart from a few other things that I was going through at the time of writing the post. A few weeks after I'd written these posts, the author, Zeph discovered them and got in touch with me and we had a few conversations via Email. I was obviously excited about the whole thing and was quite surprised and impressed to see how down-to-earth Zeph was! We continued the online friendship with occasional exchange of mails and sometimes a flurry of mails wherein I posed some of the questions to which I needed some enlightened answers! :-) Needless to say, Zeph may be quite young but he is full of wisdom and is inspired by Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi among others. He has a strong connection with India and its values.....

I recently heard from him again and 'am delighted by what I heard. I am writing this post to tell those of you who would like to discover his wisdom and learn from it that he is now blogging! :-) Check it out here! For starters, don't miss this post...which I found to be very appealing! Zeph has a website as well, in case you want to know more about his wonderful work! Three cheers to blogs, for blogging is most certainly proving to be a wonderful platform and tool to even share such rare wisdom!! :-)

Laughter - A Collaboration Tool

W. Lee Grant - "Shared laughter creates a bond of friendships. When people laugh together, they cease to be young and old, teacher and pupils, worker and boss. They become a single group of human beings."

How true!! :-) I seriously believe people who laugh a lot (not at others though) are nice folks....

The Music of Life

Life is a journey quite long...
And in here, everyone has her own song!
To write, compose, hum and sing....
Energy and enthusiasm one should bring!
To make it a hit and inspire one and all...
The song has its intro music, pauses, chorus, voices et al!
You can go on the repeat or the shuffle mode...
Depending on whether you're lazy or bored!
The music player is who else but you....
With creative skins for every possible attitude...!
If music be the food of love, then play on
For a life without love is surely a bygone!

New Earth - Three Gems for Life

Long pending post. My key takeaway from Eckhart Tolle's New Earth are listed here for your consumption/consideration. Happiness and peace of mind comes with the adoption of three principles/attitudes in life.....and maybe more so when one comes across situations completely outside of one's control. (Examples have been suggested by me....and are not from the book)

- Non Attachment (Reaction to any situation translates to "This too will pass!" e.g: Death? )

- Non Resistance (Reaction to any event translates to "Is that so?" e.g: Stock Market crashes?)

- Non Judgement (Reaction to any judgemental comments translates to "Maybe!" e.g: Gossip?)

Afterthought: It's obviously useful to be emotionally detached and yet contribute in whatever way one can.....it's highly sensible to not get judgemental about people or things and lead life in a simple and joyous manner......and, finally, it's quite reasonable to not resist global movements outside of one's control but important to take action to resolve challenges at the micro level! Eh?

Lighting up Life....!

Just occurred to me. If the Sun as in the day is a metaphor for brightness, happiness, joy and the good times and Moon as in the night is a metaphor for the not so good times, the sorrows and the challenges.....why can't we take the analogy forward and learn from the fact that the Moon may not be luminous....it may not generate its own light....but it does a pretty decent job of reflecting the light from the Sun!! So, during the bad times, one should look up to the Moon and do what it does. Reflect on the good times and use it to 'see' things from a better perspective! Use the light as inspiration for working harder and keeping the spirit intact....! :-) And what's more....it's not the day but the night that sports those other twinkling stars that have the capacity to enchant us endlessly. The Sun is too bright to let us see the other stars that are further away and transmit less light all the way to the Earth. These are the smaller joys/miracles of life. Life is meant to be celebrated....irrespective of whether it is day or night! What? :-)

Innovation at the Intersection

Check this out - http://themedicieffect.typepad.com/stories/2007/08/intersecting-cu.html

Innovation can happen either when two people/teams from two different areas work together (because they have the same purpose or they simply love to look at meeting points - or should I say melting pots? - and create something new) or when one opportunistic person sees both sides of things and wants to bring them together to meet the needs of those in between the two ends of the spectrum.

PS: At first, when I read the name of the product before reading the full story, I was wondering if I'd read it right.......and then even as I started reading about how it all happened, I literally put one (word) and one (another) together and realized what this new product was all about. ;-)

Thinking.....Dreaming....Wondering....

It's nice to dream......dream.....dream......dream of doing something wonderful......living life fully.....using God's gifts and not sticking to the mundane and ordinary.....being creative.....innovating......inspiring people.....making people smile.....making people happy.......making a positive difference to everyone and everything associated with you.....meanwhile enjoying life yourself....realising your full potential.....and leaving the world fully knowing you gave it your best.....sigh! Come on.....join me and dream along.....dream till your subconscious does everything it takes to make the dream a reality.....! 8-)

Paradise

"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go." - William Feather.

Optimism, idealism*, determination, and a burning desire or passion.....these are perhaps the attitudes and qualities that keep one going despite many a fall and many a failure. In other words, these are qualities that keep one going despite reality! Sometimes I wonder whether it is the people who are very 'pragmatic' and accommodating of the weaknesses and the inconsistencies of the world that are really happy.....because they would rarely be disappointed by what they encounter. They are 'OK' with things......OK with anything. But is it really worth it to live such a life? Perhaps this is what 'existing' means as opposed to 'living'! Like G.B Shaw said, isn't it the people who are 'unreasonable' (I am interpreting this to be behaviour that does not accept the norm.....that is, the so-called pragmatic perspective) who are finally capable of achieving something significant? Isn't that what happiness is ultimately about?

What kind of life would you prefer leading? One where you don't let the day-to-day problems get to you and you move on either ignoring them or accepting them and settling only for what *seems* possible? Or one where you would rather not 'accept' these nagging and seemingly trivial problems but resolve them (even if it sapped a lot of your energy) while at the same time moving towards a larger goal that aims to change the world? In movies, our favourite heroes, of course, adopt the latter attitude. Luckily, they are conveniently endowed (by the director and the story-writer) with superhuman powers (physical and mental) to fight the villains, the society and sometimes the entire world. We know we aren't similarly equipped. Sometimes though, we do hear of real life heroes and heroines who have miraculously managed to stand out of the crowd and change something. They'd have more often than not achieved it through one or more or perhaps all of the following:

- relentless efforts - involving knowledge and action,
- heart-wrenching compromises or sacrifices,
- extremely smart and unconventional approaches that others somehow did not think of,
- luck/destiny that places them in perfectly convenient situations,
- natural or acquired charm and passion that influences people to join forces (inclusive of general people skills)

Sounds like an uphill journey, I admit.......but, in my perception, a very satisfying and fulfilling one that eventually takes you to 'paradise' - the close-to-ideal world that one was inspired by to begin with. And well, the journey itself would anyway be one to celebrate, despite its demands, for someone obsessed with its purpose . The most fundamental of requirements would of course be the desire to make life better not just for oneself but for society at large.

Have you looked at something beyond the world you live in today? If so, is it a paradise or just a little picture on the wall? Does it justify your emotions, capabilities, aspirations and dreams? If it's a paradise you're thinking of, what does it look like in your imagination? Do you plan to embark on the journey to your paradise sometime? Have you decided what you need to pack your 'suitcase' with for the trip? How much will you suffer were you to not embark on this trip to paradise and justify your purpose here on earth?

Idealism* - The seemingly unreasonable expectations from the world and from oneself that some of us can't stop having. It may be about values, competency, relationships, character, and so many other specific aspects related to smaller chunks of life....! The deadly kick of idealism can throw one into the deepest and darkest of pits just as much as the intoxicating heights to which its divine inspiration can take one ;-)

The Room without a View

Dark room so pitch black
Nothing there only empty space
No sunlight not even a tiny crack
To let in the Sun's rays

Should I move around without fear
Sure that there's nothing that will hurt me
Or is there something lurking here
That I just don't happen to see

Do I walk around in the dark happy
Because ignorance is after all bliss
Or do I wish for light.....get all snappy
And then see some snakes on the floor hiss

Creative thinking changes the scene altogether
Or wait.....maybe it simply changes my vision (or lack of it?)
So, here I come floating like a beautiful feather
Blindfolded.....bright or dark......there's no differentiation!

PS: I don't particularly like to indulge myself in such 'dark' and 'sober' thinking.... but there's no escaping it at times. I know this poem borders on negativity and sarcasm.....but it is equally true that I can't help but see the silver lining around every grey cloud....hope you too find it in the poem. If not, please excuse me this time. :-)

Oh My God!

I am speechless.

The King of Music....(and the Queen of Love)

Someone left a comment on my previous post. He said he arrived at my blog by following a link in the Favourite Music section in his Blogger Profile. (Profile tags connect bloggers with the same tastes/interests). BTW, what he followed in this case was Favourite Music - Ilayaraaja....and obviously, I had to be there somewhere in the first few pages. (Meanwhile, I visited his blog and found it to be cool! Loved his post on growing daughters... :D LoL)

And then, I decided to follow suit and check out some more Raaja fans myself. Found many...of course. But I had the time to run through a few and one of bloggers I discovered during the search had a recent post on Raaja which I noticed and read. He has something to say about Raaja's genius. Sigh! I couldn't have put it better. Reading this gave me goosebumps....a great fan of Ilayaraaja that I am.....

"Think of S.D. Burman's incredible capacity for creating melodies, add the musical genius and range of R.D. Burman. Top that off with a knowledge of Indian (Carnatic) classical music that was the envy of professional classical singers, and an understanding of western classical music and orchestration that has invited comparisons with Bach, and you get some idea of where Ilayaraaja stands."

And, on the same blog, I found another post that quite moved me. One on Audrey. Wow. I knew nothing about her other than her lovely performance in Roman Holiday. This post makes me a fan of her personality in real life as well.

Choose What to Fear....

Frances Moore Lappe - "Even the fear of death is nothing compared to the fear of not having lived authentically and fully."
Mmmmmm. MMmmmm. MMMmmm.

Tipping Point of KM...The 3Cs

If you're a KMer.....you must leave your comments against this post. I really want to know whether others have tried it....thought about it this way....or have something to add....whatever....

I've honestly believed in and used all the three concepts mentioned above, outside of the Tipping Point influence.....and saw this link between the three Tipping Point concepts and KM implementation only in retrospect. Nevertheless, I decided to spend the time to articulate it quickly for two reasons....beginners may find it useful to remember and use and this will perhaps be an easy way to 'sell' KM Implementation Strategy to the management in your organization. I hope the mind map above conveys my thoughts effectively. If you want me to weave some text around it for better understanding, do let me know. Now, out with your thoughts and comments on this one, please. I am looking for some good conversations on this one....

PS: The whole thing can be labelled as the 3Cs of KM- Champions, Communication, Context.

Update: Apologies if you've not read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell....I guess this post will not make sense if you haven't. And I am afraid I can't make it easier for you to understand this post if so - It would be difficult to summarize the book here....but ,anyways, the book digs into the reasons why some ideas and concepts are very popular and when and why exactly they take off....so, given that KM is something that a lot of KMers struggle to introduce and popularize in organizations, I felt that it would be good to learn from the Tipping Point concepts.... :-)

A KMer's Life...

Becoming a KMer - Thinking aloud on how the story unfolds or perhaps should ideally unfold?....

- Understand the KM philosophy, concepts, big picture....the essence of knowledge.... (Core Competence)

- Understand it's association and relationship with the entity where/for which it needs to be leveraged upon - Business (What business, which domain, what stage, what circumstances?), Non-profit, Country, Family, Individual, Other entities/events? (Additional Competence and Application of Competence)

- Understand the various objectives that KM can satisfy in the cumulative context of the previous points and what is required (focus area) therein (What do we want?)

- Understand what comprises knowledge (i.e. what needs to be managed) in the cumulative context of the above-mentioned points. (What are the smallest units that comprises what we want?)

- Understand the dynamics given the above - people, politics, processes, tools, applications, systems, dependencies, thoughts, feelings, ideas, previous attempts at such a thing, inputs from inside and outside, future plans (How will this work? Dos and Donts)

- Plan: Objective - Culture - Method - Approaches - Outcome. Why, Who, What, When, Where, How. (How exactly do we make it happen?)

- Implement - Communication, Processes, Systems, People, Technology, Management (Following it through)

- Check. Change. Accomplish. Publish. Learn. Evolve. Teach. Publish. Learn. Evolve. (We can't stop now!)

What say??? Thank you or Go get some sleep? :-)

'Collective' Thinking....Collective Thinking....

Thinking about knowledge, multiple perspectives, wisdom and the like....

In retrospect, I think most of the times that I've been able to come up with a very simplified version of why something is the way it is, or what something is all about or how something works, that simplified conclusion has more often than not, been preceded by excessive rambling and collection and consolidation of information and knowledge from all over the place. Sometimes it seems like just a little bit of introspection but something tells me that introspection is a mysterious process in which the subconscious refers to all the stuff that it knows and somehow manages to quickly see through the piles of information, pull out what's most relevant and connect everything that matters to arrive at a simple explanation. Of course, this isn't a radically new discovery that I need to be awarded for but something that many people out there may have already spoken/written about. But it occurred to me this morning.....and reminded me of one of the prominent innovation methods which recommends that we adopt divergent thinking and follow it with convergent thinking to find a solution to a problem.

So, what am I getting at finally?

Point #1: More often than not, simplifying something requires accepting and absorbing and filling ourselves with loads of information and perspectives.

Point #2: With relevance to KM and Collaboration, point #1 is perhaps one of the key processes and reasons why it (KM and Collaboration) makes all the difference. When people are sincere and serious about collecting information from various nodes and encourage the bringing forth of multiple perspectives, someone in the group/community begins to see the connections, the relevance, the irrelevance etc. Someone else may pitch in at this point and discover something through such a connection. One more person then joins in and so forth. Then, somewhere down the line, it suddenly hits the entire group or maybe just one passionate person or some involved people in the group that the whole damn thing can be simplified to mean XYZ....!

Thus, a group of people who are keen to gain knowledge and not reluctant to voice their thoughts and opinions and not waiting to gain credit for themselves for things that are discovered are bound to have fun and achieve a lot. Of course, the biggest problem is that this doesn't seem to happen in organizations most of the time.....whereas it may quite happen in Internet-based communites....where there are no organizational politics, deadlines, pressures and incentives to worry about.

PS: Now I know why we use the term Collective Thinking....collect....reflect.....simplify....
;-) I heard you say..."collective means....many heads together...dudhead"

Ideas on Leadership...

Check out Stan's wonderful collection of slides on Authentic Leadership.

I loved the PICKLES idea in particular....

P - Passion
I - Integrity
C - Communication
K - Knowledge
L - Love
E - Empowerment
S - Service

Networking the 80/20 Way?

Posted this at Patti's. Occurred to me that I could put it up here as well.....for some insights and responses from you. Especially if you're a good networker. PS: This has become an area that derives questions from me perpetually....the many conversations I've had on this topic don't seem to be really sealing things in my mind.

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Hello Patti! :-)

My comment isn't quite relevant to this particular post but a generic one on social networks. I'd love to know your views on what I am about to share with you - I've been reading the book, "Living the 80/20 Way" by Richard Koch. Koch says that we're good at creating strong relationships only with a finite number of people (which maybe something like 10 or so for most of us) and that we ought to focus on spending more time with these top 20% of our friends and relatives for a happier and more fulfilling life. I tend to agree with this view. To be honest with you, I must admit that I am not a natural networker and I tend to keep in touch only with really close people or people who've had a significant impact on me. I find it somewhat draining and tiring to spread my arms and get to know more and more people and then keep in touch with them. Random connections and exchange of ideas are OK at times. (Because) For me, it is not sufficient to just know people - if I really want to keep that connection going, I need to keep in constant touch with them...else the relationship is not a relationship at all. And this is not possible if my network is too large. But I very well understand the importance of networking and knowing more people....for purposes of learning, getting things done etc. Do you think technology can really come to the rescue to help people like me? I do believe that once you become popular and famous, you don't really have to network. People then follow you wherever you go....your network follows you and keeps in touch with you without you having to put in a lot of effort.

Basically, I am thinking aloud and don't even know if I've made myself clear....nevertheless, if you can see through my rambling and share your thoughts and suggestions on this confusing question of mine, I'd be thrilled.

:-) Nimmy

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I'll come back and post Patti's response to my 'question' if she decides to take it. :-) Meanwhile, let me know what you think.

0 or 1? Leading a Digital Life....

"Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot." - D.H Lawrence

I like this quote....maybe because I have found myself doing this more often than not, especially at the start of my career. And then, warnings about politics and people dynamics and this and that threw a spanner in the wheel and made me pause every now and then and sometimes prevented me from being myself.........maybe there's no right or wrong to this...........but I guess the tendency is to follow one's heart or head depending on what kind of person one happens to be! ramble....ramble....ramble.......blah.

Entry into Entrepreneurship...

I like the way this post captures everything that's important in entrepreneurship.

Shake Up & Wake Up

Discovery time. Awesome. Simply awesome.
What? This.

And it comes to me at a time when I have seen quite a few similar (new and not so new) ideas emerging from many other things - books I've been reading, things I've been doing....etc. I am not sure whether this is the famous game that the human subconscious is known to play or just a 'coincidence' or a superior power at work.......but right now, I am not really bothered about getting behind the scene and discovering the hidden mechanisms. Just want to welcome the experience and soak in it.

The two common ideas that have been coming to me from various directions are these. Who knows, you too may need them now....

- Capitalize on your strengths. Do more stuff that leverages on your strengths and makes you feel better. Don't focus too much on your weaknesses. (In case some of you are wondering, this is not really 'running away from things' but 'accepting things'. End of the day, it most certainly is true that we are all naturally good at certain things). Now, I want to add that this is not just something for people who are focusing on their weaknesses more than they should but also for people who are not perhaps capitalizing on their strengths as much as they ought to. (This is an idea that has also come to me from Living the 80/20 Way and Warrior of Light)

- Stop being busy. Haah. Something I had a lot to say about in the recent past. I will not say anymore. The video says it a lot better. (Another thought advocated - directly or indirectly - by both the books I've mentioned above)

And, this is definitely not a replacement for the video, but I just want to list down the eight principles of fun so I can use it for recalling the contents of the video very quickly. And, btw, I think these are not just the eight principles of fun but also of achievement, success and happiness. If there's a single video that I'd have to recommend you to watch to shake up a dull and monotonous life, then this is undoubtedly the video I'd suggest. Here are the principles....

1. Find out who you are. What's your DNA? Know yourself.
2. Find out what's important to you and do that.
3. Stop following the rules.
4. Start scaring yourself.
5. Stop taking it all so damn seriously.
6. Start getting rid of the crap and the clutter.
7. Stop being busy. (Related to #2)
8. Start something. Take action.

Fabulous stuff!! And the genius who created this video also created this other thing that I think is almost equally thought-provoking. Here's to happy shaking-up and waking-up, then! ;-)

A Beautiful Vision

I recently attended a conference on "Women 2.0" (revolving around Women in the Technology Industry) on the occasion of Woman's Day - March 8th. Missed a few sessions in the first part of the day but caught up with some sessions in the afternoon. Quite a few interesting topics like Entrepreneurship, Juggling Professional & Personal Life, Feminine Leadership, Skill Building for Women, and Innovation were on the agenda in the afternoon.

To be honest, I guess I was not fully engaged all the time as the presence of a friend forced me to indulge in some chatting and giggling as well. But what I want to share here is something on innovation (a topic that gets me enormously excited, all the time, every time).

The session on Innovation was a panel discussion involving 3 women with many patents to their credit, a HR head, and a facilitator from an Innovation Consulting firm. As I sat listening to them, the facilitator revived my interest in the Aravind Eye Hospital (I've heard and read about it many a time and also got to read a really huge case study/story on this a year or so ago). She spoke about how Dr. Venkataswamy (the key person behind Aravind Eye Hospital) got innovative and learned from an industry nowhere related to the medical field** and succeeded in making a difference to many poor people across the country. She also mentioned about the availability of a video of the story on YouTube, that I'd not heard about before. (In case you're interested, I found it to be here). The video is nicely done and worth your time.

Two things about the story that strike me as fascinating and wonderful are that one can be inspired by something that is seemingly ridiculously irrelevant (the process of conducting surgical operations a la McDonald's business operations :-)) and Dr. Venkataswamy's thought at the end of the video - "Intelligence and capability are not enough. There must be the joy of doing something beautiful". Now, I am going to take the liberty of adding that "beautiful" here means something that touches people/society....something related to the welfare of people/world at large....something that one will feel proud of....something that makes life better, for many people!

** As I've reflected before on this blog, we should not underestimate the power of analogies in the area of innovation.

Adhoc (pronounce like Haddock, please) Inspiration!

Have you read any of the famous Tintin comics (I think there are about 22 books...)? If you're out of your teens, I probably should not ask you if you enjoy reading Tintin, for in most cases, people seem to lose their fascination for comics once they come out of college. But I still love the Tintin comics and, some years ago, I invested a princely sum in getting the whole set.

pic from http://packy.dardan.com/walky/albums/album11/aks.jpg

If you're familiar with Tintin, you know there is a character called Captain Haddock (Tintin's best friend) who is quite entertaining. He gets angry pretty quickly and is known for his innovative curses. Two very famous and interesting expressions that Haddock uses whenever he gets emotional are "Ten thousand thundering typhoons" and "Billions of blue blistering barnacles". Inspired by these, I was trying to get my creative juices to flow and ended up inventing something "in between"(Between thousand and billion ;-)).

Here is what I came up with. Copyrights reserved! OK? Millions of mad, muddled, merry, mischievous and mesmerized monkeys. Probably many more Ms than what Captain Haddock might care for....but I believe in going the extra mile in everything I do (hey, the Ms in this statement are not intentional....just a mild coincidence). So, I patted myself on a job well done and made a note to use it whenever and wherever appropriate. I did use it 'on' a close friend (people gotta be quite close to me take such nonsense and not want to kill me) who fortunately lapped up the story of the monkeys and we even enjoyed a silly chat revolving around the expression.

Then, when I caught up with a nephew who has just stepped into his teens, I recalled that he is a big fan of Tintin and shared my expression with him. He nonchalantly accepted it as food for thought but went on to teach me to be better. I should have known not to try my nonsensically smart ideas with tomorrow's generation (Gen Z?). I am bound to be beaten to death. Anyways, the nephew taught me how the expression could be improved. He made it Millions of mad, muddled, merry, mischievous, mesmerized, mean, marvellous, and menacing monkeys on a mission from Mesopotamia. Want to join the game and try harder? Mind the Ms.

PS: I hope your expression right now isn't similar to that of Haddock's in the pic above.

Be Yourself

"Be who you are and say what you feel because people who mind don't matter and people who matter don't mind."- Zenyasi

Apart from this being sound advice for life in general, it also sounds like great advice on blogging to me. What? :-)

Aa..ha!

A few days ago, I rambled about how we (most of us) lead our lives....how we cram as much as possible into our lives and run like we are chased by pack of wolves and at the same time pulled by a team of wild horses. (How is that for helping you imagine the speed?) I opined that we'd probably lead fuller lives if we were to take life at a natural pace rather than pretend to be Mike Schumacher all the time (unless we were competing in a F1 race). But I wanted to hear from others on their own experiences as well....

Now, I am not claiming that what I said has a direct connection with the concept of achieving more by doing less. But I believe that digging a bit deeper and examining my subconscious thoughts very much suggests that. Anyways, here's the story that inspired this post. Yesterday, as I read the last page of the book 'Being Digital' by Nicholas Negroponte and subsequently peered into my bookshelf to decide which book to read next, the book I finally ended up opening was not quite what I had in my mind prior to finishing Being Digital. I'd earlier decided to pick up one of 5 books that were extremely beckoning. But I finally ended up pulling out the book "Living the 80/20 way" by Richard Koch. It was only after I flipped through the book did I realize that it had a connection with my recent post on the modern lifestyle. My grip on the book tightened and the corners of my mouth twitched as I began to think that I was being presented with answers to some of the questions I'd posed. I got quite excited about reading the book and am wondering if it'll indeed help me take off from where I left (in my post) and provide me with some valuable food for thought. I'll let you know. And I'll be honest; I'll not claim that the book is just what I needed now in order to defend what seems like terrific intuition at this point of time. :-)

PS: If you happen to have read this book, I guess you might want to say something to clear my mind. :-)

Google Sites

I wondered.....many a time......
And, well, I just heard about this....the Google KM ball has begun to roll..........wonder what else it will gather around it as it moves along....and wonder how fast it is going to roll....and wonder what it will destroy on the way....and...so forth...

PS: I'd said "one year from now" in March last year and check out the timing of the Google Sites release....no....no...please....don't fall at my feet.

Gallop? Sprint? Trot? Jog? Walk?

One particular story in the Warrior of Light makes me introspect about my work life so far. Actually, I am just thinking aloud here. Helps one realize things at times. There was a five-year time period (when I was with my previous employer) when I simply buzzed my way through every single day. I behaved like an ant out to collect a dozen years' ration in one short summer. I behaved like I had to achieve everything possible in those five years. I read, I wrote, I acted upon quite a lot of what I read, I evangelized, I overloaded myself, I worked in office, I worked at home, I worked during the weekends, I volunteered for almost everything, I cooked up ideas one after another....both mundane and magnificent (or so I thought ;-)), I tried everything possible, I invented something (that was definitely a pleasure), I churned out hundreds of power point presentations for the interested, amused, indifferent, and irritated audiences alike, wrote a few verbose white papers, presented at conferences and what not. In short, I ate, drank, and breathed KM. There was little else in my life. I don't know about tangible rewards I received as a result of all the obsession I had with work (and anyways, that was truly not what was on my mind when I ate, drank and breathed KM) but I did enjoy the journey and felt like I did something really significant for those 5 years. At times, there were those little voices (mainly friends' voices) which were telling me to not make my life so KM-centric but I guess I did not bother. Because I was enjoying myself. And honestly, I even felt guilty when I took short breaks away from KM unless those breaks were intended to help me come back to KM with a bang!

And then things unexpectedly changed. I put everything I had into one consulting assignment and then ended up in a state where I badly needed a break lest I suffer terribly for lack of mental and physical rest. So, I went ahead and took the longest 'break' ever and de-focused from KM for a long while. I think it was needed though initially I felt guilty about it. I wasn't in touch with all the KM feeds and articles and blogs that were screaming at the top of their voices....I ignored them to my own surprise. Somewhere inside, I felt that I would be able to bounce back and did not have to worry. The Warrior of Light calls it "Resting between battles". True. Every Warrior needs it. There are so many contradictory messages in modern times....people today - especially in the world of business - believe that life is one big race with minimal pit stops and breaks. 'Don't stop; you shall be run down if you do' is the mantra. I am not so sure. I think this is not the approach to take if we want to experience a fuller life. If we don't stop we don't even have the time and the wisdom to think about whether we are going in the right direction....whether we are doing the right thing and whether we are doing it right...whether we are doing everything that our heart wants us to do or just heading towards one goal that may not really matter at the end of the day. It may be true sometimes that we are doing the right things and doing it right, but despite it being so....we ought not to let ourselves make it too long a run. There needs to be a REAL break that consciously takes us away from the path we were pursuing for a while. Also, when we come back, assured that we are indeed doing what we want to really do, the breaks and a slower, more gradual approach gives, I believe, greater joy.

I think modern life has conditioned us too much towards accomplishing everything in 1/10 th of a lifetime. I don't think that's good. Savouring the journey rather than galloping like mad, thinking through things, rejoicing achievements (small and big), rewarding oneself....these are probably better ways of enjoying not just the run towards the goal but also life in general. We need to draw a line between laziness and a gradual and thoughtful approach towards our goals. The world around us may run like a mad animal....so it makes things tougher for the people who want to think about life and enjoy the 'little' joys it provides....but it is just a matter of confidence, conviction and faith before we learn to not let the rest of the world condition us.

End of rambling a.k.a introspection. I would love to hear your experiences and thoughts on this one. I really want to hear more stories that weigh the pros and cons of a fast life versus 'natural' (rather than slow) life. Will you please share some of your stories? :-)

Warrior of Light

I can't forgive myself for not getting my hands on this book earlier than this. Been reading Paulo Coelho's Manual of the Warrior of Light and can't stop wondering why I wasn't alert enough to pick up this book when I first heard about (and read) The Alchemist many years ago. Anyways, I guess sometimes books come to you when you're 'good' for them. This isn't a silly and convenient explanation for what has happened but I really believe this is so. A simple example of this, in retrospective, is the order in which I get to read my own book-collection. I have such a huge collection of books that I need to spend some time to even choose one of the books from my own bookshelf - as I consume them lazily one after another. As a consequence, sometimes, I am pleasantly surprised by a book that I happen to read two years (shameful, eh?) after I've purchased the book! Anyways, the Warrior of Light is a gem. Full of wisdom. Perhaps inspired by the Bhagavad Gita apart from other conventional spiritual wisdom from across the globe. I am enjoying it. :-)

Colours of Life...

These days, one of my favourite things to do is hunt for and spot Bouganvilla trees and bask in the colourful feeling they invariably lend me. And the game got very fascinating earlier this week. I hit a jackpot. I reaped what I saw. (But isn't it "You reap what you sow"?. Hey, ignore me or ignore the spelling/pronunciation.) OK. So, I spotted three Bouganvilla trees almost at a stretch....Purple, Orange and Yellow flowers ...in the order mentioned. It left me speechless....my eyes widened to the size of I don't know what and I found the corners of my mouth reaching out to my ears on either side. I think someone next to me noticed the expression and got a bit scared, but I was too excited to care about a stranger's reaction to my feelings....

Come to think of it, I find very few people - when traveling - engrossed in thinking or soliloquy or such pet pastimes of late. Most people seem to be happy chattering away on mobiles. Sigh. No...nothing bad about it, I guess. Just felt like sighing.

Nonsense - The Nerve!

It's been a while since I wrote something worthwhile. The creative (and intellectual?) juices haven't really been flowing. Or maybe I am so preoccupied with a changing life (as a consequence of a change of job....resulting in change of lifestyle....environment....friends....colleagues....processes....challenges.....and almost everything) that I haven't been in my usual form in terms of "writing". Surprisingly enough, I haven't been so very worried about lack of awesome content on my blog of late. After all, not everyone can generate good quality - conceptual or intellectually stimulating - stuff everyday. And I, honestly, feel good to think that I don't necessarily have to live to meet someone or the other's expectation everyday. But I know it won't be long before it starts to get to me and I start thinking that it is my responsibility to say something worthwhile on my blog...something that will be of use to someone or the other. And I also know life will anyway throw something intellectually stimulating - from the perspective of blogging - my way sometime or the other to meet my needs. God. Wait. Hold on. I just realized how much I am rambling out here!! I guess I have this need to ramble something nonsensical if I happen to reach a stage where I feel I have been deprived of intellectual content in life for too long a time. Get the crazy point? Actually, I do have something good to chew on at work but that's, unfortunately, not blog material....at least not as yet. So, I (and you, if you've not given up as yet) will have to wait.

I find it perfectly fine to indulge in nonsensical (goofy and illogical if you want me to be specific) thinking when I am running short of intellectual stimulation. Maybe the corresponding nerves believe in operating in a mutually exclusive manner or maybe there's a hidden connection that we can't see. (Caveat: May not be valid for your brain. Maybe you don't have a 'Nonsense Nerve' at all in the first place). So, okay, where was I? Ya....nonsense......here's something on those lines for your consumption...I cooked up something while complaining to a friend who is far away from the country. If you're angry with someone that you can't physically hit...all you do is put the person's photo on your desktop and drag and drop the Recycle Bin on the person's head when the RB is full of junk. She did not respond....probably because she was too stunned by the ingenuity of the idea.

PS: If you want to be saved from such posts, I have a suggestion - you can pose a nice thoughtful question on Life/Spirituality/KM/Creativity/Innovation/Change Management which I will take a stab at....if I think I have the necessary 'material' to consider the question.... :-)

Enthusiasm

Methinks, Enthusiasm is a fire that must rage on.....unextinguished by silence, indifference and unjustified criticism. It must however embrace genuine feedback as a fuel.

Hanuman Happiness

Thanks to Kishore yet again (He's been a Godsend in more ways than one!). He read my 'interview' with Prashant and sent me this link (Kishore himself manages this site) after observing that I consider Hanuman to be one of the greatest mythological heroes. (Hanuman happens to be Kishore's favourite too) I explored the site and found this gem of an article....contains a lot of repetitive stuff...but is worth all your time if you're intrigued by the source of happiness!

Service comes from the Heart

I love this video....and believe in each and every word of it.

Interview!?

Well, what do I say? I've been interviewed! Gosh, can you think of anything more horrifying than that - for the interviewer I mean? And what's sad is that this chap is not even an established interviewer who'd know how to handle a crazy person like me. He's an amateur. You might want to pray for him.

I've been through job interviews and interviews with some of my Scorpio friends (you know what I mean if you happen to have a typical Scorpio friend or two). But this is the first time ever someone has really really interviewed me. Does that mean I am a celebrity? Not at all. Not at all. Please. It's just that I appreciated someone for some smart questions that he thought he'd ask people in the talk show that he dreams of and he decided to turn the tables and ask me to answer those questions. I had to oblige....I'll be careful about what I appreciate from now on ;-). If you're sure you have what it takes to listen to (read) my answers, apply some pressure on that left mouse button right here and then don't be surprised if the pressure slowly spreads to your brain. Har har.

KM - People, Process or Tech?

I have been quite silent in the online KM forums – that I am a so-called part of - for sometime now, due to reasons I don’t have to waste your time going into. This is probably the beginning of a phase where I may get active again or maybe not…depending on how much time I want to spend thinking and listening versus talking.

Anyways, I found some time to answer this question on Linked In.

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I think the answers that we have here are all thought-provoking and nice ones to consider. Based on my experiences so far, I'd have definitely chosen People....but I love the answers that point towards Processes too. Having said that, let me add that I've seen most people slip through the cracks in processes somehow or the other. It's difficult to design a perfect process. And people will always find a way out if they don't like or believe in what they're being asked to do. Anyway, here's how I look at the three –

http://nirmala-km.blogspot.com/2007/05/body-mind-soul.html

Let me just add one more dimension to this discussion. I think you ought to decide what to focus on after studying the context - the business environment in your organization, the focus areas for your KM plan and so forth. For example, if you're in a conventional organization that isn't too tech savvy, then you need to focus on technology in order to make people feel more comfortable with your KM tools...

B-R-E-A-K

Hey Friend(s),

Psst....Bloggy, wonder if I am addressing at least one person ;-)? It is more likely that I am talking to the space around you...the space in blogosphere :D

Okays. Here's the news. I will most probably be unable to post for the next 10 days or so. Till then....enjoy your break from the so-called Aa..ha! moments....!

Nimmy :)

A New 'Earth' Experience

I think I have been lucky enough to experience 'natural' bliss in its purest form for very brief periods of time so far in my life.....times when I have briefly felt that life (as opposed to events within life) is the most wonderful thing that could have happened to me. I am not talking about those occasions when something external stimulated happiness (of a different kind). I am talking about those occasions that do not involve contributions to regular/typical desires, greed and selfish interests. I am talking about those moments when I've experienced immense joy on simply seeing a bird glide or a flower sway or a tree whisper or a squirrel hop around or a baby smile....these have been Aa..ha! moments of a different flavour....leading to a recognition of the 'real' joy in life. There have also been such rare moments involving creative thought...poetry, prose, discovering something enchanting about life, and 'inventing' something that I have been able to apply at work.

But I've never encountered these moments 'consciously'. They've just happened. Out of the blue. Without any warning whatsoever. I've perhaps not truly believed - so far - that one can actually choose to have such moments. But Eckhart Tolle's book - A New Earth - has convinced me completely that we can experience such moments whenever we want to. In short, the book is extremely insightful and enlightening. I recommend that each and everyone who believes that there's more to life than daily routine, money and selfish motives read this book.

PS: Tolle says that the book will make no sense to a person who is not 'ready' for it....and I believe he is right. I am reading the penultimate chapter of the book and will probably have a lot to post once I am done. I think this book has all the potential to truly change our lives if we approach it with an open mind and let its contents sink in.

Who is Someone?

Noticed this board on the way to office. Have seen variants of this before....

Drive Safely.

Someone is Waiting for You!

Now, this is serious stuff. But..er...I couldn't help but see the underlying - bitter - humor. Who is Someone? Someone at home or someone up there? Wonder if it was consciously intended to either let the person driving get emotional thinking about people back home or get scared thinking of 'someone' up there....waiting for the slightest opportunity to end things. :- [

It's a perfect world!

I simply don't know how to start this post. Hold on....for that matter, I have no clue how to end it or even stuff stuff in the middle. But I must share this story with you. So, I am going to give it a jab. I've been blogging for over 4 years now. If you've seen my profile and some of my posts, you know that I worship P.G Wodehouse (PLUM). I think he was a genius born to bring joy to many a depressed/bored soul....generally make this world more worthwhile to live in.

Kishore here happened to read some of my passionate posts on PLUM and decided to be a perfect Godsend. (It probably became obvious to him that I might even kill for a P.G Wodehouse book and he decided to save the world from a few early dead bodies.) He wrote to me telling me his dad is a great fan of PLUM as well and that he (his dad) has a collection of PLUM's books that he (his dad) might want to give away to an equally devoted fan. I thought it was too good to be true. Honest. I thought such things couldn't possibly in happen in today's world. So, I took it a bit lightly and did not probably completely believe that I'm blessed enough to get the books that were missing from my collection on such a platter. Kishore then actually followed it up and asked me to send the list of books I already have and I did that by taking my own sweet time as I was going through a job transition at that time and moreover I had to sit down and make a list of the 70 odd books I've managed to collect in the last decade or so. I finally did it (without any expectations) and then Kishore very modestly happens to have spoken to his dad and arranged for the books (that his dad had but I did not) to be couriered to me.

I did not follow up after I sent the list....and went about life as usual..... But then Kishore and his dad were very committed, sincere and serious about the whole thing. So, to my utter joy, I received the courier - 14 delicious PLUM books - this weekend. The end result being that I now almost know what it is like to be in Heaven. I was so overwhelmed to see the books that I screamed out in joy (the person who delivered the courier definitely seemed to be in a hurry to leave, if you get the drift). I immediately called Kishore's dad (BTW, he is a retired literature professor) and thanked him profusely. He said he was extremely happy to find a 'modern' PLUM fan to whom he could send the books, but I brought it to his notice that he couldn't possibly be happier than I was (and for that matter 'am). Sigh. God. This is just too awesome and overwhelming. Paulo Coelho is absolutely right. The world does conspire to give you what you really and badly want!!

I can't thank Kishore and his dad enough for this magnanimous gesture. Words fail me. As one of my friends put it, "This is a PLUM deal!". But only PLUM could have done justice to my feelings in that impeccable English of his. Right now, I am still floating somewhere amongst the clouds....if you look up, you might find someone with all teeth and an intoxicated look. Thanks a zillion million Kishore. Thanks a zillion million Mr.Ramamurthy! Did I tell you that it's a perfect world? :))

The PERFECT questions...

I believe that Prashanth's 'Perfect' questions may lead one to his/her purpose in life - as it touches upon what one likes doing, what one is good at doing and what one passionately believes in! :-) There's so much one sometimes discovers in blogosphere.....hours of random and skeptical browsing sometimes does lead to gems that lie undiscovered or unappreciated...till serendipity takes over.

Are you Silly or Serious Today?

Silly is you in a natural state, and serious is something you have to do until you can get silly again. - Mike Myers

I am able to relate to and appreciate this quote.... ;-)