I read the first chapter of Uncommon Wisdom with a lot of excitement yesterday. Lots of interesting and intriguing stuff in it for folks interested in exploring the link between science and spirituality - especially the eastern outlook. As I read it, something not so directly related to what I was reading struck me.....and I want to post it here.
The author speaks about how he went around collecting feedback from fellow scientists about his ideas and thoughts and what exactly some of the latter said. Suddenly, it struck me - not for the first time, though - that the consequences of dishonest communication is much more than many of us imagine it to be like. The implications are severe and long-term in nature. It might have very well, cumulatively, caused much of the disorientation, disorder and disquiet we see in the world today and I don't think I am exaggerating. Think about it. Every single time - however small or big the context may be- we are dishonest or even silent (uncommunicative) we contribute to the creation of a false world because we contribute to false perceptions and interpretations. We contribute to the widening of the gap between the 'idealistic' and the so-called 'real' world - The way the world may have been with everyone being genuine versus the mind-boggling chaos due to falsehood, respectively. Arguably, being genuine actually creates an idealistic world despite its inherent chaos - a world that gives one a better chance of being understood and responded to in an appropriate manner. When people say "Get real", they are, of course, talking about accounting for falsehood apart from uncertainty. Beyond all this, obviously, one also has to account for the inevitable noise that accompanies both genuineness and falsehood.
I guess I am rambling but happy as long as it sounds like genuine rambling! I can almost hear you say that it is perhaps this kind of babbling that contributes most to the inevitable noise I referred to above! LoL! :-)
PS: What the hell am I talking? I know...and yet don't know.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Hiring into the KM-Culture...
KMers never tire of talking about a 'KM culture' being the backbone of a KM initiative. A KM culture being one that believes in and celebrates sharing, collaboration, reuse, learning, mentoring etc. I've, personally, had the opportunity to realize the importance of creating and enabling such a culture since my initial days as a KMer. One of the things that occurred to me was, however, the need for - to the extent possible - identifying and hiring people who are - in the first place - known for their collaborative beliefs and capacities (the famous willingness and ability test). In this context, I guess a great way to discover the potential employee's willingness and talent for collaborative and community-based endeavors is to dig into her past and find out whether she was, for example...
- a part of a group of children in her neighborhood who worked together in order to accomplish something/have their demands satisfied
- a part of a group of children who attempted to solve or solved a social problem or, perhaps, helped the neighbourhood adult society in their own small way
- a part of a school/college community that was associated either with its administration, or recreational activities, or representation in other external forums etc
- a part of a small group of students who believed in group discussions and study in order to understand something or invent something
- a part of a similar interest group dealing with either academic topics or extra curricular activities like music, literature, team games etc
If the potential employee happens to have been party to one or more of the above-mentioned activities, I think it would be an excellent sign of the person fitting into the KM culture in the corporate world. It would undoubtedly indicate their understanding of the wisdom of crowds and the power of collective thinking/work. While on the topic, I think there is also a clear difference between a candidate's regular participation versus a leadership position. Someone hungry for leadership positions in such groups may not necessarily be a great fit into a KM culture in case her hunger was associated more with the gaining of power and fame rather than a genuine desire for excellence through collective thinking and collaboration! But this is not to be mistaken with candidates who emerge as natural leaders while in a community.
Is your organization serious enough about KM to assign significant value to such characteristics and experience?
- a part of a group of children in her neighborhood who worked together in order to accomplish something/have their demands satisfied
- a part of a group of children who attempted to solve or solved a social problem or, perhaps, helped the neighbourhood adult society in their own small way
- a part of a school/college community that was associated either with its administration, or recreational activities, or representation in other external forums etc
- a part of a small group of students who believed in group discussions and study in order to understand something or invent something
- a part of a similar interest group dealing with either academic topics or extra curricular activities like music, literature, team games etc
If the potential employee happens to have been party to one or more of the above-mentioned activities, I think it would be an excellent sign of the person fitting into the KM culture in the corporate world. It would undoubtedly indicate their understanding of the wisdom of crowds and the power of collective thinking/work. While on the topic, I think there is also a clear difference between a candidate's regular participation versus a leadership position. Someone hungry for leadership positions in such groups may not necessarily be a great fit into a KM culture in case her hunger was associated more with the gaining of power and fame rather than a genuine desire for excellence through collective thinking and collaboration! But this is not to be mistaken with candidates who emerge as natural leaders while in a community.
Is your organization serious enough about KM to assign significant value to such characteristics and experience?
Who'll Bell the Cat?
Hear! Hear! Who'll bell the cat? has been a million dollar question for centuries now. Ever since some mice got together and wondered how to steal food without the cat's knowledge, I'd imagine. I am not sure anyone ever answered this question without scaring/challenging at least one person amongst the group discussing the problem, if you get the drift. But I came across a novel solution this weekend. A solution that makes the cat go Me? Ow?! instead of Meow! ;-) Not for the cat's ears.
So...what's this novel solution all about? It's something paradoxical. (Yours truly has been a bit lax in catching up with cartoons of late. But there was a nice opportunity that came by this weekend and I grabbed it. Not for nothing.) Paradoxical thinking on the part of Jerry's baby-student in the world's favorite Cat and Mouse cartoon show - Tom and Jerry! Jerry's baby-student has been sent to Jerry to learn the basics of survival but, ironically, ends up teaching Jerry a thing or two. The little mouse is still in his diaper days but has a razor-sharp brain and thinks in radically different ways much to Jerry's embarrassment and shame. So...when Jerry goes to great lengths to teach him 'how to bell the cat' with Tom as the subject, here's what Jerry's little student does. He puts the bell in a box, gift wraps it and simply walks up to Tom and hands it over to him as a gift. Voila! Tom goes, like I said earlier, For me? ow! and is all smiles as he opens the 'gift'. A few seconds later, Tom is happily sporting the bell around his neck. Squeal! :-)
So...what's this novel solution all about? It's something paradoxical. (Yours truly has been a bit lax in catching up with cartoons of late. But there was a nice opportunity that came by this weekend and I grabbed it. Not for nothing.) Paradoxical thinking on the part of Jerry's baby-student in the world's favorite Cat and Mouse cartoon show - Tom and Jerry! Jerry's baby-student has been sent to Jerry to learn the basics of survival but, ironically, ends up teaching Jerry a thing or two. The little mouse is still in his diaper days but has a razor-sharp brain and thinks in radically different ways much to Jerry's embarrassment and shame. So...when Jerry goes to great lengths to teach him 'how to bell the cat' with Tom as the subject, here's what Jerry's little student does. He puts the bell in a box, gift wraps it and simply walks up to Tom and hands it over to him as a gift. Voila! Tom goes, like I said earlier, For me? ow! and is all smiles as he opens the 'gift'. A few seconds later, Tom is happily sporting the bell around his neck. Squeal! :-)
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
More KM Questions...
More people on the KM-India community are asking good questions ....! Keeps me thinking and out of trouble - Imagine the kind of meaningless posts I'd otherwise generate. Does that mean I am claiming that these KM posts are meaningful? Go figure! ;-)
Question(s):
What are the Do's and Don'ts while charting the KM Roadmap for the enterprise?
How comprehensive should it be ?
Is roadmap something that matures over course of time or is a robust blueprint crucial before embarking on KM initiatives?
===========================
My response:
This is a question that demands a longish answer. Actually, a proper discussion and understanding of the context etc. Anyways, here are my immediate thoughts.
DOs and DON'Ts:
Do:
1. Involve the business leaders in creating the roadmap
2. Consider the existing organizational culture and vision/mission (along with the broad business objectives)
3. Consider a pilot team(s) for trying out your ideas when in the initial stages
4. Consider the fact that even though the overall business objectives do not differ significantly from one business unit to another, the challenges that the individual business units face may be quite different (therefore needing different solutions)
5. Consider adopting a framework, theme and methodology
6. Identify the key stakeholders and KM champions (with the help of middle and top managers) and involve them as early in the project as possible
7. Make room for course corrections and change of objectives and new ideas
8. Consider technological innovation apart from the impact of the organization's existing technologies (including Intranets)
9. Process maturity and how much scope it gives for KM-based improvements
10. Use mind-maps, workbooks, word documents etc to demonstrate it
Don't:
1. Force your views on business leaders and champions. Try convincing them...if it doesn't work, be patient. There will come a time when they will begin to see things from the "KM" perspective. But, sometimes, you might have to be prepared to discover that you were not right after all! ;-)
2. Blindly follow a standard bookish KM roadmap or a roadmap adopted by another organization - however similar the organization happens to be to yours.
3. Assume that people will understand it without your having to explain it
4. Stick to it stubbornly, as it is bound to have to change with changing circumstances, business objectives, technologies and so forth
5. Leave it at the bird's eye-view - 'roadmap' - level. Zoom in. You may have to break it down into smaller pieces and elaborate on each piece as well how the smaller pieces will then come together to form the complete picture
Comprehensive?: Depends on how well you understand the organization and its culture. If you're new, then you will have to be patient. You can only take one step at a time.
I think a roadmap will definitely evolve and mature over a period of time. May change frequently in the initial few weeks/months and then change at a slower pace depending on how much you engage the other folks in the organization.
Question(s):
What are the Do's and Don'ts while charting the KM Roadmap for the enterprise?
How comprehensive should it be ?
Is roadmap something that matures over course of time or is a robust blueprint crucial before embarking on KM initiatives?
===========================
My response:
This is a question that demands a longish answer. Actually, a proper discussion and understanding of the context etc. Anyways, here are my immediate thoughts.
DOs and DON'Ts:
Do:
1. Involve the business leaders in creating the roadmap
2. Consider the existing organizational culture and vision/mission (along with the broad business objectives)
3. Consider a pilot team(s) for trying out your ideas when in the initial stages
4. Consider the fact that even though the overall business objectives do not differ significantly from one business unit to another, the challenges that the individual business units face may be quite different (therefore needing different solutions)
5. Consider adopting a framework, theme and methodology
6. Identify the key stakeholders and KM champions (with the help of middle and top managers) and involve them as early in the project as possible
7. Make room for course corrections and change of objectives and new ideas
8. Consider technological innovation apart from the impact of the organization's existing technologies (including Intranets)
9. Process maturity and how much scope it gives for KM-based improvements
10. Use mind-maps, workbooks, word documents etc to demonstrate it
Don't:
1. Force your views on business leaders and champions. Try convincing them...if it doesn't work, be patient. There will come a time when they will begin to see things from the "KM" perspective. But, sometimes, you might have to be prepared to discover that you were not right after all! ;-)
2. Blindly follow a standard bookish KM roadmap or a roadmap adopted by another organization - however similar the organization happens to be to yours.
3. Assume that people will understand it without your having to explain it
4. Stick to it stubbornly, as it is bound to have to change with changing circumstances, business objectives, technologies and so forth
5. Leave it at the bird's eye-view - 'roadmap' - level. Zoom in. You may have to break it down into smaller pieces and elaborate on each piece as well how the smaller pieces will then come together to form the complete picture
Comprehensive?: Depends on how well you understand the organization and its culture. If you're new, then you will have to be patient. You can only take one step at a time.
I think a roadmap will definitely evolve and mature over a period of time. May change frequently in the initial few weeks/months and then change at a slower pace depending on how much you engage the other folks in the organization.
Ready, Steady, GOal...!
This thought-provoking post by Sukumar and subsequent - brilliant - discussion around it awakened my mind like never before and made me type out my response like I was a possessed being. Sigh. These things make you feel absolutely alive (and kicking and screaming and what not). But they don't happen often enough. Maybe they should not happen often enough...because that way, when such a moment 'finally' arrives, it promises immense exhilaration - the Aa..ha! experience. Uh?
So, do read the post...and the discussion around it (lengthy read). As for me, I need to reproduce my comment (longest ever?) here so I can come back and re-discover my own thoughts whenever I need to.
=======================
Amazing! Simply amazing! First of all, I must congratulate this whole community on Sastwingees.org for the mind-boggling variety of perspectives and sincere discussion/debate. Sukumar: I must say I am almost jealous. Not everyone can find and motivate such a community to engage in such a wonderful discussion. While I blog - most of the time - for myself…there are times when I know that only a conversation/discussion will throw light. This blog has what it takes to generate knowledge! :-)
Now, to the post. I am pretty late to the ‘knowledge’ party. Saw the post only yesterday and couldn’t respond immediately for I wanted to run through all the comments and that took me some time. So, unfortunately or fortunately, most of what I might have said had I read the post earlier has been said by many others. I, nevertheless, want to use the opportunity to write down what *I* think…as it would be a good idea to summarize my own thoughts especially taking all the comments into consideration. If it happens to generate some more discussions and ideas, all the better.
1. My first thought on reading your post was: But…a goal is different from the results of the goal and the Gita Slokha you refer to talks about the *results* and NOT the goal. Someone has already explained that. So, I guess I must not waste everyone’s time repeating that.
2. The Gita Slokha only talks about being detached from the results (whether we finally succeed or not). From what I’ve read (books on the Gita) it simply means that we’ve got to be emotionally intelligent. We must not let the results (temporary or otherwise) deter us from either pursuing the goal (never give up) or modifying the goal (get more intelligent and change the methods/processes/tools). Being attached to the results will shake us up in the wrong way - we get emotional and may even lose sight of the goal ultimately. Someone has already mentioned this as well.
3. I also belong to the school of thought that believes that the journey matters more than the destination. The means are as important as the end if not more. So, focusing on the results of the goal (as opposed to the goal per se) means we lose the joy that is embedded in the *journey*. And it is the journey that makes us what we are…not the goal or the achievement of the goal. [I think that's really important]. It is the journey that gives us the strength, the values, the skills, the contacts, the experience, the learning etc. The goal is what the society gets to see (as opposed to the journey that we went through). But the goal does not make us what we are - deep within. It is journey that allows us to achieve another goal of the same order. If we were to have achieved the goal without concentrating on the journey, I suspect that we will never be able to achieve another such goal. It becomes a flash in the pan. It is only a matter of time before the society forgets that we exist.
4. Regarding the type of goal we must set for ourselves, I believe in Dave Pollard’s repeated talk about the intersection of three aspects - what we love doing, what we are good at doing, our calling/purpose in life. I am not sure I’ve understood your query on the relationship between success and the goals we set. Isn’t success what we think it is? How can it be only related to the goal we set? How can the goal determine we are successful or not? Isn’t it you who determines whether you are successful or not? Let me explain…You may have a goal XYZ. If you think you’re successful only if you achieve XYZ, then you’re letting the goal control your perception of yourself. On the other hand, if you think you’re successful even by setting such a goal and enjoying the journey and experience of moving towards it, then that’s it! But continuing on the topic of setting huge goals, why do we have to limit ourselves? Why can’t we dream big and believe we can achieve anything and everything? Are all geniuses and prodigies only born and not made? I don’t think so. The law of attraction says we can achieve just about anything we desire from the bottom of our heart! I think it takes a spiritual person to determine what goals to set….to get away from this maddening world and look within…introspect. Many of us are far away from that state…we are caught in this routine whirlpool and find it hard to take off the black cloth that covers our eyes. Do we believe that making money and leading a good family life is all that is needed? Are we looking at what’s happening around us? Do we see the big picture and what’s happening to the environment we live in? Do we think long term? Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like many of us are thinking these thoughts! We are mostly in a mad rush….setting temporary and materialistic goals for ourselves. But, apparently, the world does not discriminate. It allows us to achieve all our goals provided we want it very badly.
5. Taking the completely opposite direction, spirituality also advocates just being! Like Gregory points out. This school of thought asks us to spend time in just being…stop doing, thinking…try just being. I am not sure I understand the implications as yet. But, ironically, something tells me that it is a great way to arrive at a goal. To stay silent and watch the world…step aside…..and think about what needs to be done as opposed to following the herd.
6. I am fascinated by two other perspectives that this post has generated. Not looking at results because they are “temporary”! Wow. Nice way of putting it! And the other perspective - understanding what the goal is - it is not about winning the war…it is about rooting out evil! That should teach us not to focus on temporary results but keep the ultimate aim in our minds. But can rooting out evil be a goal??? Think about it….it cannot be….! Why? It is actually not something you can achieve at a given point of time and then sit back and relax!! It is a journey! It is something we must work towards every minute of our life…it does not have a destination point. It is a way of life!!! That makes it a value…not a goal!!! So, there is a difference! In our endeavour to lead a life which denies a place for evil, we aim for temporary goals…small steps…throughout our lives….and that is what give us the satisfaction! Eternal satisfaction….for we do it every minute of our life and there can be no situation when we feel bored that we have achieved our goal!!
Whew! I am not sure how to thank you for such a wonderful post and how to thank this community here for such a sincere and brilliant discussion! You folks rock!
[Thanks for the patient reading and I am hoping I find the energy to respond to your second post as well...very soon] ;-)
So, do read the post...and the discussion around it (lengthy read). As for me, I need to reproduce my comment (longest ever?) here so I can come back and re-discover my own thoughts whenever I need to.
=======================
Amazing! Simply amazing! First of all, I must congratulate this whole community on Sastwingees.org for the mind-boggling variety of perspectives and sincere discussion/debate. Sukumar: I must say I am almost jealous. Not everyone can find and motivate such a community to engage in such a wonderful discussion. While I blog - most of the time - for myself…there are times when I know that only a conversation/discussion will throw light. This blog has what it takes to generate knowledge! :-)
Now, to the post. I am pretty late to the ‘knowledge’ party. Saw the post only yesterday and couldn’t respond immediately for I wanted to run through all the comments and that took me some time. So, unfortunately or fortunately, most of what I might have said had I read the post earlier has been said by many others. I, nevertheless, want to use the opportunity to write down what *I* think…as it would be a good idea to summarize my own thoughts especially taking all the comments into consideration. If it happens to generate some more discussions and ideas, all the better.
1. My first thought on reading your post was: But…a goal is different from the results of the goal and the Gita Slokha you refer to talks about the *results* and NOT the goal. Someone has already explained that. So, I guess I must not waste everyone’s time repeating that.
2. The Gita Slokha only talks about being detached from the results (whether we finally succeed or not). From what I’ve read (books on the Gita) it simply means that we’ve got to be emotionally intelligent. We must not let the results (temporary or otherwise) deter us from either pursuing the goal (never give up) or modifying the goal (get more intelligent and change the methods/processes/tools). Being attached to the results will shake us up in the wrong way - we get emotional and may even lose sight of the goal ultimately. Someone has already mentioned this as well.
3. I also belong to the school of thought that believes that the journey matters more than the destination. The means are as important as the end if not more. So, focusing on the results of the goal (as opposed to the goal per se) means we lose the joy that is embedded in the *journey*. And it is the journey that makes us what we are…not the goal or the achievement of the goal. [I think that's really important]. It is the journey that gives us the strength, the values, the skills, the contacts, the experience, the learning etc. The goal is what the society gets to see (as opposed to the journey that we went through). But the goal does not make us what we are - deep within. It is journey that allows us to achieve another goal of the same order. If we were to have achieved the goal without concentrating on the journey, I suspect that we will never be able to achieve another such goal. It becomes a flash in the pan. It is only a matter of time before the society forgets that we exist.
4. Regarding the type of goal we must set for ourselves, I believe in Dave Pollard’s repeated talk about the intersection of three aspects - what we love doing, what we are good at doing, our calling/purpose in life. I am not sure I’ve understood your query on the relationship between success and the goals we set. Isn’t success what we think it is? How can it be only related to the goal we set? How can the goal determine we are successful or not? Isn’t it you who determines whether you are successful or not? Let me explain…You may have a goal XYZ. If you think you’re successful only if you achieve XYZ, then you’re letting the goal control your perception of yourself. On the other hand, if you think you’re successful even by setting such a goal and enjoying the journey and experience of moving towards it, then that’s it! But continuing on the topic of setting huge goals, why do we have to limit ourselves? Why can’t we dream big and believe we can achieve anything and everything? Are all geniuses and prodigies only born and not made? I don’t think so. The law of attraction says we can achieve just about anything we desire from the bottom of our heart! I think it takes a spiritual person to determine what goals to set….to get away from this maddening world and look within…introspect. Many of us are far away from that state…we are caught in this routine whirlpool and find it hard to take off the black cloth that covers our eyes. Do we believe that making money and leading a good family life is all that is needed? Are we looking at what’s happening around us? Do we see the big picture and what’s happening to the environment we live in? Do we think long term? Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like many of us are thinking these thoughts! We are mostly in a mad rush….setting temporary and materialistic goals for ourselves. But, apparently, the world does not discriminate. It allows us to achieve all our goals provided we want it very badly.
5. Taking the completely opposite direction, spirituality also advocates just being! Like Gregory points out. This school of thought asks us to spend time in just being…stop doing, thinking…try just being. I am not sure I understand the implications as yet. But, ironically, something tells me that it is a great way to arrive at a goal. To stay silent and watch the world…step aside…..and think about what needs to be done as opposed to following the herd.
6. I am fascinated by two other perspectives that this post has generated. Not looking at results because they are “temporary”! Wow. Nice way of putting it! And the other perspective - understanding what the goal is - it is not about winning the war…it is about rooting out evil! That should teach us not to focus on temporary results but keep the ultimate aim in our minds. But can rooting out evil be a goal??? Think about it….it cannot be….! Why? It is actually not something you can achieve at a given point of time and then sit back and relax!! It is a journey! It is something we must work towards every minute of our life…it does not have a destination point. It is a way of life!!! That makes it a value…not a goal!!! So, there is a difference! In our endeavour to lead a life which denies a place for evil, we aim for temporary goals…small steps…throughout our lives….and that is what give us the satisfaction! Eternal satisfaction….for we do it every minute of our life and there can be no situation when we feel bored that we have achieved our goal!!
Whew! I am not sure how to thank you for such a wonderful post and how to thank this community here for such a sincere and brilliant discussion! You folks rock!
[Thanks for the patient reading and I am hoping I find the energy to respond to your second post as well...very soon] ;-)
Out of the Box....
Want to 'Deposit' this here. ;-)
Post on being productive with the Inbox - on Jack Vinson's blog. Gist of the post: DELETE, DEPOSIT (file), DELEGATE, DO, and DEFER.
Post on being productive with the Inbox - on Jack Vinson's blog. Gist of the post: DELETE, DEPOSIT (file), DELEGATE, DO, and DEFER.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Discovering KM....The Journey matters more than the Destination!
I think I love being questioned (by someone who is eager to learn or someone who seeks a sincere debate in order to get to the truth or someone who is serious about understanding other perspectives). More often than not, a good question and the way in which it is posed awakens my mind and urges me to seek the answer(s) within....much more sincerely than otherwise. It becomes an obligation of sorts.
So, this morning, I found a fundamental question staring me in the face and it was, luckily, one of those occasions when my mind responded and the answer (or is it 'my' answer?) just flowed. I'd love to know what other KMers who happen to read this think....!
Question on the KM-India Community:
Why we still "discovering" the answer for what is KM and what it can do?
1. Why we could not get the grip on KM to institutionalize KM in the organization - that makes it difficult (and unnecessary) to pull the plug on KM.
2. Why it is difficult to convince the top [management] even today?
3. Why we are still fighting what is knowledge and what is not?
Like I mentioned, my answer just flowed...which probably means it was simply a knee-jerk 'reaction'. So, I don't think I've answered the question word-to-word. There is still a lot left unanswered. I'll come back to this post and add anything else that may be relevant once the discussion on the community progresses and other perspectives begin to trickle in.
Here was my knee-jerk reaction to the question(s):
I may be wrong (on second thoughts, I don't think I am wrong :-D)...but something tells me that this is the case in every field. Things keep evolving. New people bring new ideas...thoughts and perceptions change...debates ensue. Product vendors fight their own battle and introduce their own ideas. Academics try and influence people with their own approaches and theories. The more abstract the field the more such upheavals and changes. It probably takes a decade or so for people to arrive at a common understanding and have the 'basics' in place. But no subject worth its salt will remain unchanged for long...new concepts, theories, technologies, and objectives will obviously force us to re-examine our understanding of what is appropriate (as opposed to right and wrong).
Having said that, I am inclined to believe that KM has now reached a stage wherein there is a significantly 'common' understanding of what it is all about....but how we articulate it may differ and what dimension of it we focus on may depend on the context and situation we are in.
PS: I have no clue what the trend is in terms of the time that subjects take to evolve into a stage where the foundation is extremely strong....maybe it does not really take as long as a decade for subjects that aren't so abstract?!
So, this morning, I found a fundamental question staring me in the face and it was, luckily, one of those occasions when my mind responded and the answer (or is it 'my' answer?) just flowed. I'd love to know what other KMers who happen to read this think....!
Question on the KM-India Community:
Why we still "discovering" the answer for what is KM and what it can do?
1. Why we could not get the grip on KM to institutionalize KM in the organization - that makes it difficult (and unnecessary) to pull the plug on KM.
2. Why it is difficult to convince the top [management] even today?
3. Why we are still fighting what is knowledge and what is not?
Like I mentioned, my answer just flowed...which probably means it was simply a knee-jerk 'reaction'. So, I don't think I've answered the question word-to-word. There is still a lot left unanswered. I'll come back to this post and add anything else that may be relevant once the discussion on the community progresses and other perspectives begin to trickle in.
Here was my knee-jerk reaction to the question(s):
I may be wrong (on second thoughts, I don't think I am wrong :-D)...but something tells me that this is the case in every field. Things keep evolving. New people bring new ideas...thoughts and perceptions change...debates ensue. Product vendors fight their own battle and introduce their own ideas. Academics try and influence people with their own approaches and theories. The more abstract the field the more such upheavals and changes. It probably takes a decade or so for people to arrive at a common understanding and have the 'basics' in place. But no subject worth its salt will remain unchanged for long...new concepts, theories, technologies, and objectives will obviously force us to re-examine our understanding of what is appropriate (as opposed to right and wrong).
Having said that, I am inclined to believe that KM has now reached a stage wherein there is a significantly 'common' understanding of what it is all about....but how we articulate it may differ and what dimension of it we focus on may depend on the context and situation we are in.
PS: I have no clue what the trend is in terms of the time that subjects take to evolve into a stage where the foundation is extremely strong....maybe it does not really take as long as a decade for subjects that aren't so abstract?!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
INspiration...
If you have a noble purpose, - especially something that is for a collective benefit - great values, immense strength, undying grit and determination, a burning passion, and divine faith, you can afford to dream of the 'impossible'......for there is absolutely nothing on Earth that you cannot achieve. Miracles begin to look ordinary.
Look behind every miracle, and you are likely to find the very same recipe...the very same ingredients mentioned above. But is it enough to just know and be convinced about the ingredients and recipe? Does knowledge of the recipe per se guarantee miracles? There must be a mysterious reason why there aren't many miracle generators....! Maybe the answer lies in the make-up of our souls...or - if we consider all souls to be equally divine and have equal potential - perhaps the soul searching that we engage in.
Pic sourced from: http://www.1stclasswallpapers.com/backgrounds/sunsets/image/soul_searching.jpg
Friday, March 13, 2009
Basics of Communication for Budding KMers
If you're a KMer, you probably know exactly what Susie is going through! :-)Solution? Try saying exactly what Calvin imagines Susie to be saying at the end of the strip. It may work! On second thoughts, if you manage to even look like the creature that Calvin imagines Susie to be like, it may work wonders! ;-) Come on...it's Friday, don't you know? Happy Weekend!
Cartoon Strip: Author: Bill Watterson. Source: GoComics.com
KM Benchmarking
In one of the KM communities of which I am a member, there was a question on potential queries that one could ask in order to carry out a KM benchmarking exercise. I haven't done an exhaustive or meticulous job of it, but I've - off the cuff - rattled of some queries one could possibly ask to be answered by the company that one is benchmarking with. Obviously, there's a lot more that can go into this document - both in terms of the themes and the associated queries.
- Benefits / Disadvantages of having a central KM team over decentralized teams responsible for KM activities in an organization?
1. Explain your KM team structure, hierarchy, roles and functions
2. What is it that your team has accomplished so far and what were the key reasons why it succeeded?
3. What are the challenges your team faces and how are you trying to overcome them?
4. Have you ever been in a situation wherein you knew exactly what to do to solve a problem or accomplish something but you never got around to implementing it?
5. Can you recall a situation wherein you were able to achieve a quick win in an extremely smooth manner?
- ROI Methodology that helps compute the ROI given the yearly investment in the KM program of an organization?
1. What are the KM objectives for your organization? How do you monitor them?
2. Explain the quantitative and qualitative measures for ensuring you achieve your KM objectives
3. How do you calculate the cost of your KM initiative? What is your explicit financial budget for KM?
4. What makes the management continue to lend support to the KM function? What do they expect out of it and what are they complaining about?
- How do organizations cope with legacy / dated / archaic content?
1. What is your content archival policy and procedure?
2. Have you come across situations requiring you to refer to content created many years ago? Has that ever been a problem?
3. How often and vociferously do your users complain about the presence of obsolete content in your repository? What do you do to resolve such issues?
- Aspects of KM culture within an organization (including incentives, rewards, non financial ones also)?
1. How do you conceive, build and sustain a culture of sharing, learning, reuse and collaboration within your organization?
2. Do you engage with the HR teams for the above?
- Ideas on re-usability of content within the enterprise
1. How do you identify content that can be reused? What are the associated policies, procedures and tools for the same? Do you measure the benefits of reuse? How do you award the people who contribute reusable content?
- Benefits / Disadvantages of having a central KM team over decentralized teams responsible for KM activities in an organization?
1. Explain your KM team structure, hierarchy, roles and functions
2. What is it that your team has accomplished so far and what were the key reasons why it succeeded?
3. What are the challenges your team faces and how are you trying to overcome them?
4. Have you ever been in a situation wherein you knew exactly what to do to solve a problem or accomplish something but you never got around to implementing it?
5. Can you recall a situation wherein you were able to achieve a quick win in an extremely smooth manner?
- ROI Methodology that helps compute the ROI given the yearly investment in the KM program of an organization?
1. What are the KM objectives for your organization? How do you monitor them?
2. Explain the quantitative and qualitative measures for ensuring you achieve your KM objectives
3. How do you calculate the cost of your KM initiative? What is your explicit financial budget for KM?
4. What makes the management continue to lend support to the KM function? What do they expect out of it and what are they complaining about?
- How do organizations cope with legacy / dated / archaic content?
1. What is your content archival policy and procedure?
2. Have you come across situations requiring you to refer to content created many years ago? Has that ever been a problem?
3. How often and vociferously do your users complain about the presence of obsolete content in your repository? What do you do to resolve such issues?
- Aspects of KM culture within an organization (including incentives, rewards, non financial ones also)?
1. How do you conceive, build and sustain a culture of sharing, learning, reuse and collaboration within your organization?
2. Do you engage with the HR teams for the above?
- Ideas on re-usability of content within the enterprise
1. How do you identify content that can be reused? What are the associated policies, procedures and tools for the same? Do you measure the benefits of reuse? How do you award the people who contribute reusable content?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Can Knowledge be a Disadvantage?
Consider these scrambled thoughts:
A contestant in a musical show sings a song with a lot of passion in front of two experts who are listening to him with the intention of judging him. One of the judges is aware that the singer is not formally trained in the genre that forms the theme for that particular round but is also familiar with the overall strengths and the general potential of the singer. The second judge, meanwhile, knows absolutely nothing about the singer except what the latter exhibits in the performance under question.
The passion with which the singer performs is something that the average listener is able to relate to and appreciate. But how do you think the judges will respond? Would the judge who has knowledge of the singer's background be subconsciously biased against his performance? Would this judge subconsciously focus on the technical drawbacks of the performance rather than its 'total soul'? Subsequently, would focusing on the technical gaps alone result in the judge calling it just a 'good' performance while the other judge is likely to label it as an 'awesome' performance? What impact does such knowledge have on decision making? Is it good or bad?
Is this another variant of the 'curse of knowledge' popularized by Chip and Dan Heath?' Taking a tangential leap from there...is this one of the reasons why spiritual leaders advice us to 'just be' rather than think, analyze or dissect what we observe? Does worldly knowledge prevent us from just being? Would a person with a good balance of worldly and spiritual knowledge know both - to just be and to become?
A contestant in a musical show sings a song with a lot of passion in front of two experts who are listening to him with the intention of judging him. One of the judges is aware that the singer is not formally trained in the genre that forms the theme for that particular round but is also familiar with the overall strengths and the general potential of the singer. The second judge, meanwhile, knows absolutely nothing about the singer except what the latter exhibits in the performance under question.
The passion with which the singer performs is something that the average listener is able to relate to and appreciate. But how do you think the judges will respond? Would the judge who has knowledge of the singer's background be subconsciously biased against his performance? Would this judge subconsciously focus on the technical drawbacks of the performance rather than its 'total soul'? Subsequently, would focusing on the technical gaps alone result in the judge calling it just a 'good' performance while the other judge is likely to label it as an 'awesome' performance? What impact does such knowledge have on decision making? Is it good or bad?
Is this another variant of the 'curse of knowledge' popularized by Chip and Dan Heath?' Taking a tangential leap from there...is this one of the reasons why spiritual leaders advice us to 'just be' rather than think, analyze or dissect what we observe? Does worldly knowledge prevent us from just being? Would a person with a good balance of worldly and spiritual knowledge know both - to just be and to become?
Changing People's Behavior
Talking of change management, take a look at this obvious and yet intriguing article. Some of the implications and reasons, to my mind, are:
- The obvious is often overlooked to such an extent that simple ideas have now started to seem like brainwaves,
- Small things can and do make a big difference,
- We often choose to turn a blind eye to human attitude and behavior and focus only on the tool/process,
- We underestimate the need for human motivation and psychological boundaries
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Change Management = Made to Stick+Tipping Point
Here's an interesting post that brings together E 2.0, the curse of knowledge, evangelization and the 'Made to Stick' concepts. Thought I'd link it up here as it reminds me of my own pet concept of communicating something via a catchy acronym (or tag line) apart from reflecting some of my personal experiences on what constitutes a 'sticky' idea.
Extract from the post which in turn must be an extract from the book, 'Made to Stick':
===============================
Made to Stick: Ideas that are successful follow the SUCCES acronym..
Simple — find the core of any idea. Focus on that
Unexpected — grab people's attention by surprising them
Concrete — make sure an idea is real and not too theoretical
Credibility — give an idea believability allow people to test it themselves.
Emotion — help people see the importance of an idea by tapping emotions
Stories — Stories are great ways to achieve all above
===============================
Coincidentally, I've been pondering over these things of late as you can observe from some of my recent musings on twitter...(read bottom-up)
And, finally, I am convinced that these ideas when combined with the Tipping Point concepts will form a significant force in any Change Management initiative. I have been playing around with these ideas for a bit and, going forward, would love to carve a 'story' out of my experiences. Let's see where it goes...! :-)
I am quite convinced that Made to Stick and Tipping Point are two books that provide an immense amount of raw material for anyone wanting to embark on a Change Management initiative...
Extract from the post which in turn must be an extract from the book, 'Made to Stick':
===============================
Made to Stick: Ideas that are successful follow the SUCCES acronym..
Simple — find the core of any idea. Focus on that
Unexpected — grab people's attention by surprising them
Concrete — make sure an idea is real and not too theoretical
Credibility — give an idea believability allow people to test it themselves.
Emotion — help people see the importance of an idea by tapping emotions
Stories — Stories are great ways to achieve all above
===============================
Coincidentally, I've been pondering over these things of late as you can observe from some of my recent musings on twitter...(read bottom-up)
And, finally, I am convinced that these ideas when combined with the Tipping Point concepts will form a significant force in any Change Management initiative. I have been playing around with these ideas for a bit and, going forward, would love to carve a 'story' out of my experiences. Let's see where it goes...! :-)I am quite convinced that Made to Stick and Tipping Point are two books that provide an immense amount of raw material for anyone wanting to embark on a Change Management initiative...
Friday, March 06, 2009
PLUM Panacea
Sushmita Sen Gupta says "I came across this line when still a wee bairn in pigtails and promptly adopted it as my Motto For Ever : "Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out of it alive." And loving the words and works of Wodehouse helps you enormously in this noble endeavour. Steeped in Plum's world, one can always see the funny side of things, ignore irritants and classify all sorts of problems as too unimportant to agonise over. As long as the Empress gets her 58,000 calories per day, as long as Bertie gets his calories from Anatole's culinary masterpieces, as long as Psmith's monocle is shining happily, all's well with the world. Tinkerty tonk."
Brilliant! :-) Emphasis mine. Sushmita is a PLUM fan like yours truly and is a part of the Celebrating P G Wodehouse community on Ning.
Brilliant! :-) Emphasis mine. Sushmita is a PLUM fan like yours truly and is a part of the Celebrating P G Wodehouse community on Ning.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Agatha Christie and KM - A 'Mysterious' Combination!
The ABC Murders....and the ABC of KM. Yes. The idea is to scare you out of your wits. Be warned. Your knowledge of KM is about to undergo a complete transformation. You're about to discover the hidden links between murders and KM. After all, K might as well stand for Kill and M for Murder. You never thought about it that way, did you? KMers are more dangerous than you thought. Better listen to them and do what they say, you know?! Ha Ha Ha. [Evil laugh]
OK. Now's the time to give up. Can't possibly get crazier than that on a Monday!
Been catching up with some books amongst which is an Agatha Christie mystery called "The ABC Murders". It is the story of a 'mad' man out to kill random people in random places but based on the logic of alphabets. (Example: Kill a person whose name starts with an A in a place whose name starts with an A and then move on to B...etc). Gory, I admit! I'd like you to know that I really wouldn't be talking about this if not for the fact that it has something to do with KM.
The ABC Murders is a Hercule Poirot story for those of you who are familiar with Agatha Christie's novels. The murderer throws Hercule Poirot (the detective) an anonymous challenge and believes that it's going to be really difficult for the detective to identify him as the murders are random and unrelated. The crux of the story is about how Poirot ties all the random threads together (arising from four murders), finds the commonalities and tracks down the murderer before the latter goes on to kill his next victim.
I know....this post itself may have begun to sound like something out of a mystery novel. Patience. I am almost there. There is a wonderful link between this detective novel and KM. Some of the statements made by Poirot reflect the fundamentals of KM extremely well (conversations, collective thinking and so forth). Had me wondering about the title - It is an interesting coincidence that the title talks of 'ABC Murders' and happens to cover some of the ABCs (basics) of KM...! :-)
OK. Let's get down to the heart of the matter now. Poirot brings together the relatives and friends of the victims even though they are all unrelated and in different locations. And in the discussion that ensues, some of the dialogues are just what a KMer (or Knowledge Manager) would love to propagate. It brings to light the fact that the smallest unit of knowledge is a conversation, it reflects on the importance of repeated conversations, it points out the importance of collective thinking and what not! Sample this:
1. Poirot intends to have repeated conversations with the victims' relatives and friends. His assistant asks him if he suspects that they (the victims' relatives) have intentionally been keeping back information from them and Poirot says "Not intentionally. But telling everything you know always implies SELECTION. One cannot tell EVERYTHING. Therefore one selects. At the time of the murder people select what they think is important. But quite frequently they are wrong! And to get at the right things, you have to have a conversation...discuss a certain happening over and over again. Extra details are bound to arise....some trivial remark or happening may be a pointer." (This is an example of where and how knowledge may be hidden...!)
2. In another instance, Poirot, once again, brings together all the relatives and friends of the victims and urges them to talk about what they saw/heard/thought etc as a group. He says "It is necessary to pool reminiscences, to compare notes, to talk the thing over - to talk - to talk - and again to talk. Out of some innocent phrase may come some enlightenment." (This is a clear indication of the need for collective thinking. More importantly, I think it tells us very clearly that if we are looking for worthwhile knowledge, we better be comfortable with conversations...many of them!)
3. Poirot explains to his assistant that when it comes to the deriving knowledge from people who can help him get to the truth he assumes that they "know something that they do not know they know". He then explains how collective thinking would be of use to the victims' friends - "It is like a jig-saw puzzle - each of you may have a piece apparently without meaning, but which when reunited may show a definite portion of the picture as a whole". (Wow! This philosophy is one of the most fundamental of beliefs when it comes to KM as well...not just in locating murderers ;-))
So there! It thrilled me to read about Hercule Poirot's (Agatha Christie's actually) views on how to get to the truth...in other words, how to get to knowledge. It resonates a lot with the fundamental concepts of KM! Doesn't it?
PS: And, btw, I hope I scared you enough...! ;-)
Friday, February 27, 2009
Maybe...this is just what you need...!
Incredible write-up, this!! Thanks to Prashant for sharing it. It moved me....actually, shook me up. I knew I had to share it with my readers as, to my mind, this 'poem' or whatever else you may want to call it can change the way you think...the way you look at life! No idea who the author is...but God bless her/him.
------------------------------------------
Maybe. . we were supposed to meet the wrong people before meeting the right one so that, when we finally meet the right person, we will know how to be grateful for that gift.
Maybe . . . it is true that we don't know what we have until we lose it, but it is also true that we don't know what we have been missing until it arrives.
Maybe . . . the brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; after all, you can't go on successfully in life until you let go of your past mistakes, failures and heartaches.
Maybe . . you should hope for enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, and enough hope to make you happy.
Maybe . . . the happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most ofeverything that comes along their way.
Maybe . . . the best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had.
Maybe . . . happiness waits for all those who cry, all those who hurt, all those who have searched, and all those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of all the people who have touched their lives.
Maybe . . you should do something nice for someone every single day, even if it is simply to leave them alone.
Maybe . . . there are moments in life when you miss someone -- a parent, a spouse, a friend, a child -- so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real, so that once they are around you appreciate them more.
Maybe … giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they will love you back. Don't expect love in return; just wait for it to grow in their heart; but, if it doesn't, be content that it grew in yours.
Maybe . . . you should dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you dream of, and want to do.
------------------------------------------
Maybe. . we were supposed to meet the wrong people before meeting the right one so that, when we finally meet the right person, we will know how to be grateful for that gift.
Maybe . . . it is true that we don't know what we have until we lose it, but it is also true that we don't know what we have been missing until it arrives.
Maybe . . . the brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; after all, you can't go on successfully in life until you let go of your past mistakes, failures and heartaches.
Maybe . . you should hope for enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, and enough hope to make you happy.
Maybe . . . the happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most ofeverything that comes along their way.
Maybe . . . the best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had.
Maybe . . . happiness waits for all those who cry, all those who hurt, all those who have searched, and all those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of all the people who have touched their lives.
Maybe . . you should do something nice for someone every single day, even if it is simply to leave them alone.
Maybe . . . there are moments in life when you miss someone -- a parent, a spouse, a friend, a child -- so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real, so that once they are around you appreciate them more.
Maybe … giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they will love you back. Don't expect love in return; just wait for it to grow in their heart; but, if it doesn't, be content that it grew in yours.
Maybe . . . you should dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you dream of, and want to do.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Message from a Social Organization
Folks,
Once in a while, I receive mails from social activists who are looking to find people willing to help those in need. I've received one such request from Sara Wilson of the The Fresh Air Fund. I do not have any personal knowledge of her organization, but the least bit I can do is pass on the message and allow people who are in a position to follow up to do so. Please take a look: (below are excerpts from Sara's mail)
-----------------------------------
The Fresh Air Fund is in need of host families this summer. I've set up a news release which explains everything: http://freshair.smnr.us
Thank you so much,
Sara Wilson,
The Fresh Air Fund
sara@freshair.org
www.freshair.org
Once in a while, I receive mails from social activists who are looking to find people willing to help those in need. I've received one such request from Sara Wilson of the The Fresh Air Fund. I do not have any personal knowledge of her organization, but the least bit I can do is pass on the message and allow people who are in a position to follow up to do so. Please take a look: (below are excerpts from Sara's mail)
-----------------------------------
The Fresh Air Fund is in need of host families this summer. I've set up a news release which explains everything: http://freshair.smnr.us
Thank you so much,
Sara Wilson,
The Fresh Air Fund
sara@freshair.org
www.freshair.org
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Concentration...
Eknath Easwaran's blog: - http://www.easwaran.org/thoughts/15/1
When one is rising, standing, walking, doing something, stopping, one should constantly concentrate one’s mind on the act and the doing of it, not on one’s relation to the act, or its character or value. . . . One should simply practice concentration of the mind on the act itself. – Ashvaghosha
There is a close connection between deep concentration and love, and with the practice of one-pointed attention we can greatly increase the precious capacity to remain loving and loyal no matter what the vicissitudes or circumstances we encounter.
We can practice this one-pointedness throughout the day by doing one thing at a time, and giving our full attention to whatever we are doing. While having breakfast, for example, we can give our complete attention to the food and not to the newspaper. If we are listening to a friend, even if a parrot flies down and perches on his head, we should not get excited, point to the parrot, and burst out, “Excuse me for interrupting, but there’s a bird on your head.” We should be able to concentrate so hard on what our friend is saying that we can tell this urge, “Don’t distract me. Afterwards, I’ll tell him about the parrot.”
--------------------------------
Makes me wonder. The world we live in today believes multi-tasking is an essential 'skill'. Information glut leaves us with very few options but to be distracted by information coming at us from every possible direction. Interruptions arise from almost everything around us - phone, email, messages, web alerts and what not. So, where are we headed?
When one is rising, standing, walking, doing something, stopping, one should constantly concentrate one’s mind on the act and the doing of it, not on one’s relation to the act, or its character or value. . . . One should simply practice concentration of the mind on the act itself. – Ashvaghosha
There is a close connection between deep concentration and love, and with the practice of one-pointed attention we can greatly increase the precious capacity to remain loving and loyal no matter what the vicissitudes or circumstances we encounter.
We can practice this one-pointedness throughout the day by doing one thing at a time, and giving our full attention to whatever we are doing. While having breakfast, for example, we can give our complete attention to the food and not to the newspaper. If we are listening to a friend, even if a parrot flies down and perches on his head, we should not get excited, point to the parrot, and burst out, “Excuse me for interrupting, but there’s a bird on your head.” We should be able to concentrate so hard on what our friend is saying that we can tell this urge, “Don’t distract me. Afterwards, I’ll tell him about the parrot.”
--------------------------------
Makes me wonder. The world we live in today believes multi-tasking is an essential 'skill'. Information glut leaves us with very few options but to be distracted by information coming at us from every possible direction. Interruptions arise from almost everything around us - phone, email, messages, web alerts and what not. So, where are we headed?
Monday, February 23, 2009
KM News for the Niece...
I can't stop wondering how almost every other conversation I have with a young niece or a nephew (of which I have many) is either enlightening or hilarious or, well, amusing. You might consider me lucky in this regard....or maybe you could take into consideration that it is a good idea for an adult to let herself become vulnerable when having conversations with children. Being seen as vulnerable by children allows them to open up, be bold and speak their mind. They propose the weirdest of ideas without batting an eyelid and if you play along, you may very well end up being influenced and inspired enough to contemplate turning your life upside down/changing the course of your life. As you can see, I am getting carried away. I'll stop myself and get back on track; come back to the purpose of this post. It is to describe a conversation that may not have been life-altering but it nevertheless provided me with food for thought.
So, it all started with this little telephonic discussion that I was to have with a cousin and her daughter, my 10-year-old niece. My niece is normally busy watching Tom and Jerry or one of the other cartoon shows and rarely finds the time to talk with me. If she does find the time for a quick chat, we limit ourselves to our respective experiences of a particular Tom and Jerry episode - which is a common area of interest. This time around, she apparently had a lot of time for me and in the bargain I discovered her ability to drill people down to the components of their soul.
The conversation, right from the time it began, was, er, largely controlled by her. She started with a series of questions and continued with many more series of questions that had me exercising my lethargic weekend brain cells more than I'd have otherwise been capable of. I was caught unawares but went on to answer her questions like my life depended on it (I wonder if she was able to appreciate that though). Sometimes the questions were a lot faster than I could handle. Her Mother, meanwhile, was (I heard later) wringing her hands, sighing and hoping that there would be a day when the phone would be passed on to her.
One of the key portions of the, er, interview was when my niece questioned me about my work. Now, this isn't new to any KMer worth her salt, spice or sugar. Every KMer I know has wondered at some time or the other about how she ought to explain KM to her Mother, Grandmother, Child, Aunt's Sister-in-law and other such near and dear relatives. Coming to how I fared in this particular context, despite the fact that I'd never ever rehearsed it, I was glad I did not draw a blank.
The first question was "So what do you do? What kind of a job are you on?"
I said "Knowledge Manager" with as much dignity as possible
The next question was the inevitable one. "What does that mean? What exactly do you have to do?"
I pulled out a random answer that presented itself to me at that moment "I help people in my office learn"
I thought she sniggered but it must have been my fertile imagination. "But people in organizations are all educated!"
I smiled what I assumed to be a wise smile "No...employees need to keep learning. They need to be told to learn. More than you children are asked to"
She seemed stuck on the previous point "But the employees' bosses will not employ them unless they know most of the things they need to know"
I furrowed my eyebrows and said "Even bosses need to learn"
She retorted "And you? What about you?"
I had to stifle a laugh before answering that one. "Me too..."
I thought she would pause here and consider the complexities of making a person like me learn...but nothing seemed to stop her. She was a rolling juggernaut and I was a poor but inviting object on her path.
"Aah...so you help your organization learn, do you?"
"Yes....I help them learn...!" I don't know what she would have said if I'd not continued but I'd like to think I had a narrow escape. "When you have some homework or assignments to do at School, what do you do? You check out the books, or surf the internet, or ask your parents or maybe get together with your friends for a discussion. Right?"
She murmered in agreement "Mmmmm"
I went on with a satisfied expression (unjustified, I admit) on my face "Well, we make it possible for folks in our organization to do something similar while at work...we make knowledge available to them, connect them with people who can answer their questions etc!"
I don't know if I imagined it but she seemed quite satisfied that I was doing something worthwhile at office. While one part of me wanted to grind the whole thing into powder and get further down into the details and show her I meant business, another part of me knew it would be suicidal- "You should be glad she is happy with this answer", this second, wiser, part told me. Better senses prevailed and I paused for a few seconds, which naturally led my niece to pose another series of questions about other areas of my blighted life. I answered them all. Every single one of them. My cousin, much later, wanted to know if I'd like her daughter to be the author of my biography (after which she, unnecessarily, added "Not that she'd make any money out of it though!").
So, it all started with this little telephonic discussion that I was to have with a cousin and her daughter, my 10-year-old niece. My niece is normally busy watching Tom and Jerry or one of the other cartoon shows and rarely finds the time to talk with me. If she does find the time for a quick chat, we limit ourselves to our respective experiences of a particular Tom and Jerry episode - which is a common area of interest. This time around, she apparently had a lot of time for me and in the bargain I discovered her ability to drill people down to the components of their soul.
The conversation, right from the time it began, was, er, largely controlled by her. She started with a series of questions and continued with many more series of questions that had me exercising my lethargic weekend brain cells more than I'd have otherwise been capable of. I was caught unawares but went on to answer her questions like my life depended on it (I wonder if she was able to appreciate that though). Sometimes the questions were a lot faster than I could handle. Her Mother, meanwhile, was (I heard later) wringing her hands, sighing and hoping that there would be a day when the phone would be passed on to her.
One of the key portions of the, er, interview was when my niece questioned me about my work. Now, this isn't new to any KMer worth her salt, spice or sugar. Every KMer I know has wondered at some time or the other about how she ought to explain KM to her Mother, Grandmother, Child, Aunt's Sister-in-law and other such near and dear relatives. Coming to how I fared in this particular context, despite the fact that I'd never ever rehearsed it, I was glad I did not draw a blank.
The first question was "So what do you do? What kind of a job are you on?"
I said "Knowledge Manager" with as much dignity as possible
The next question was the inevitable one. "What does that mean? What exactly do you have to do?"
I pulled out a random answer that presented itself to me at that moment "I help people in my office learn"
I thought she sniggered but it must have been my fertile imagination. "But people in organizations are all educated!"
I smiled what I assumed to be a wise smile "No...employees need to keep learning. They need to be told to learn. More than you children are asked to"
She seemed stuck on the previous point "But the employees' bosses will not employ them unless they know most of the things they need to know"
I furrowed my eyebrows and said "Even bosses need to learn"
She retorted "And you? What about you?"
I had to stifle a laugh before answering that one. "Me too..."
I thought she would pause here and consider the complexities of making a person like me learn...but nothing seemed to stop her. She was a rolling juggernaut and I was a poor but inviting object on her path.
"Aah...so you help your organization learn, do you?"
"Yes....I help them learn...!" I don't know what she would have said if I'd not continued but I'd like to think I had a narrow escape. "When you have some homework or assignments to do at School, what do you do? You check out the books, or surf the internet, or ask your parents or maybe get together with your friends for a discussion. Right?"
She murmered in agreement "Mmmmm"
I went on with a satisfied expression (unjustified, I admit) on my face "Well, we make it possible for folks in our organization to do something similar while at work...we make knowledge available to them, connect them with people who can answer their questions etc!"
I don't know if I imagined it but she seemed quite satisfied that I was doing something worthwhile at office. While one part of me wanted to grind the whole thing into powder and get further down into the details and show her I meant business, another part of me knew it would be suicidal- "You should be glad she is happy with this answer", this second, wiser, part told me. Better senses prevailed and I paused for a few seconds, which naturally led my niece to pose another series of questions about other areas of my blighted life. I answered them all. Every single one of them. My cousin, much later, wanted to know if I'd like her daughter to be the author of my biography (after which she, unnecessarily, added "Not that she'd make any money out of it though!").
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Pi-a-thetic in a way....
I just finished reading Life of Pi. Knowing that it was a book about the adventures of a boy and a tiger, I was hugely looking forward to it for two reasons - I love animals and I was reminded of the similarity between the protagonists of the story and my favorite cartoon strip, Calvin and Hobbes. Even as I started reading it, I was quite sure I'd enjoy it. But...I was not completely right.
Let me not beat around the bush....I definitely think it's an extraordinary book. Three things I'll never forget about the book - for the right reasons - the author's wacky sense of humor, his unique and creative use of language in certain parts of the book and nuggets of spiritual wisdom (both hidden and obvious). But I could not, unfortunately, enjoy the book. The reason why I couldn't is something I may never forget but would like to - It is the description of the protagonist's (Pi's) isolated days in the Sea which is what forms the heart (and most) of the book. Being a pure Veggie and an animal lover, I found it utterly gross and gory to read the descriptions of how the Hyena ate up the rest of the animals on the boat and how Pi himself survived later (I don't feel like recalling anything of that bit of the book). And I'd also secretly expected to read a story of a supernatural friendship between the tiger and Pi (C&H's influence, perhaps), which was not really the case.....
I am almost certain that any Veggie or animal lover is bound to skip many chapters of the book in order to avoid reading the gory details of what and how Pi fed himself. So, that's that. Before I got to the chapter where Pi's story gets quite gross, I had a highlighter with which I colored sentences that were brilliant (for the language or for the spiritual message)....but I later ended up jumping paragraphs just to avoid reading things that would have definitely disturbed my mind and stomach. I think I let this fear dominate my intentions to extract the brilliance out of the book for most parts of it. I could hardly take these portions out of my mind and concentrate on the underlying thoughts and messages as most of the book was anyway about Pi's experiences in the Sea. What an extraordinary story of faith, intelligence and determination. But somewhat wasted on me. Sad but true.
Any contradictory views or thoughts to make me realize I could have chosen to have a different kind of experience? Any points that you'd like to share with me so I can salvage some effort that went into finishing the book?
Let me not beat around the bush....I definitely think it's an extraordinary book. Three things I'll never forget about the book - for the right reasons - the author's wacky sense of humor, his unique and creative use of language in certain parts of the book and nuggets of spiritual wisdom (both hidden and obvious). But I could not, unfortunately, enjoy the book. The reason why I couldn't is something I may never forget but would like to - It is the description of the protagonist's (Pi's) isolated days in the Sea which is what forms the heart (and most) of the book. Being a pure Veggie and an animal lover, I found it utterly gross and gory to read the descriptions of how the Hyena ate up the rest of the animals on the boat and how Pi himself survived later (I don't feel like recalling anything of that bit of the book). And I'd also secretly expected to read a story of a supernatural friendship between the tiger and Pi (C&H's influence, perhaps), which was not really the case.....
I am almost certain that any Veggie or animal lover is bound to skip many chapters of the book in order to avoid reading the gory details of what and how Pi fed himself. So, that's that. Before I got to the chapter where Pi's story gets quite gross, I had a highlighter with which I colored sentences that were brilliant (for the language or for the spiritual message)....but I later ended up jumping paragraphs just to avoid reading things that would have definitely disturbed my mind and stomach. I think I let this fear dominate my intentions to extract the brilliance out of the book for most parts of it. I could hardly take these portions out of my mind and concentrate on the underlying thoughts and messages as most of the book was anyway about Pi's experiences in the Sea. What an extraordinary story of faith, intelligence and determination. But somewhat wasted on me. Sad but true.
Any contradictory views or thoughts to make me realize I could have chosen to have a different kind of experience? Any points that you'd like to share with me so I can salvage some effort that went into finishing the book?
ReNEWal...
Found a link to this article in my twitter network. There were too many tweets to keep track of this morning...around 600 odd, to be precise. Thanks to the Oscar and Slumdog Millionaire mania. So, I just managed to click on some of the links accompanying the tweets and then ended up impulsively clearing my overwhelming tweet list - thus making it difficult for me to trace the link back to the appropriate tweets/tweeple. Apologies for not being able to mention the names of the folks who shared this link...! :-|
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Weekly Updates as Blog Posts....
Why would it to be good for organizations to make use of blogs as a substitute for weekly reports and updates? Imagine how much of a difference it would make:
1. Search would be possible (No need to look through email folders and worry about misplaced emails or lost emails)
2. Tags would make it easier for people to locate updates related to a particular activity
3. When the employee or her manager leaves, the new person who takes over will have a wonderful record of the project's history and milestones/challenges etc!
4. Would be easy to invite third parties to take a look at project progress when the need arises
1. Search would be possible (No need to look through email folders and worry about misplaced emails or lost emails)
2. Tags would make it easier for people to locate updates related to a particular activity
3. When the employee or her manager leaves, the new person who takes over will have a wonderful record of the project's history and milestones/challenges etc!
4. Would be easy to invite third parties to take a look at project progress when the need arises
Why Should I Share?
I found some time this morning to catch up with KM discussions on the Indian K-Community website. Got into a responding spree and added my thoughts to quite a few conversations I came across. One amusing thing about KM is that we do tend to go back to fundamental questions time and again...Web 2.0 and its ilk can wait.
A question that employees often ask is: "Why should I share? What will I get out of it? What's in it for me?"
Here's what I put together to respond to that question:
1. When you share, you actually learn! Because you are forced to be sure of what you need to share. You can't talk/write about something you are not sure of. Well, you can still voice your thoughts and confusions, but that's in a different context. A lot of people go ahead and bravely commit themselves to writing papers or making presentations because they end up learning during the process of teaching! If you want to learn something, then try sharing/teaching it with/to or mentoring someone.
2. The cosmic law of give and take says you only get as much as you give!
3. People who share are generally well-recognized, appreciated and respected.
4. It's only when you share what you know that the world will even realize that you know something. An expert is never a person who sits quietly in a corner, away from the rest of the world. An expert is one who communicates, interacts, learns, and shares! She is one who lets the world know that she knows as well as is willing to learn and evolve.
5. Leadership involves sharing, mentoring, and engaging others. KM, in a way, is the foundation for leadership! Someone who goes up the corporate ladder is, more often than not, someone who has taught others, learned from others, shared with others and engaged with others.
6. Sharing with others, as a leader, means you are making others capable of acting (empowering them) which in turn means the efficiency of the overall team goes up. Improved efficiency means a much easier life for everyone. After all, we want life to be easy and great and success in today's world is more of a collective parameter than an individual one.
7. Organizations that are known for collaboration and sharing are known to have lower employee attrition because there is a strong sense of belonging and higher employee satisfaction!
A question that employees often ask is: "Why should I share? What will I get out of it? What's in it for me?"
Here's what I put together to respond to that question:
1. When you share, you actually learn! Because you are forced to be sure of what you need to share. You can't talk/write about something you are not sure of. Well, you can still voice your thoughts and confusions, but that's in a different context. A lot of people go ahead and bravely commit themselves to writing papers or making presentations because they end up learning during the process of teaching! If you want to learn something, then try sharing/teaching it with/to or mentoring someone.
2. The cosmic law of give and take says you only get as much as you give!
3. People who share are generally well-recognized, appreciated and respected.
4. It's only when you share what you know that the world will even realize that you know something. An expert is never a person who sits quietly in a corner, away from the rest of the world. An expert is one who communicates, interacts, learns, and shares! She is one who lets the world know that she knows as well as is willing to learn and evolve.
5. Leadership involves sharing, mentoring, and engaging others. KM, in a way, is the foundation for leadership! Someone who goes up the corporate ladder is, more often than not, someone who has taught others, learned from others, shared with others and engaged with others.
6. Sharing with others, as a leader, means you are making others capable of acting (empowering them) which in turn means the efficiency of the overall team goes up. Improved efficiency means a much easier life for everyone. After all, we want life to be easy and great and success in today's world is more of a collective parameter than an individual one.
7. Organizations that are known for collaboration and sharing are known to have lower employee attrition because there is a strong sense of belonging and higher employee satisfaction!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
A Potential Recipe for Success
Downturns are when employee morale is likely to be at an all-time low. I think this is the time when organizations should create and use communities to engage employees in some conceptual thinking, meaningful internal projects and some long-term ideas (on business operations, strategic objectives, process improvements, tackling the downturn etc)!
I have a strong belief that people who have a sense of belonging and go the extra mile to contribute to the organization are likely to be the ones forming a strong and passionate community. And positive energy from such people, inevitably, rubs off.....leading to a happier environment! :-)
'Good' communities, in short, have the wherewithal to handle adversity. Ergo, I am inclined to think that KM programs must focus on creating and establishing communities in the current scenario. They can surely supply the motivation and ideas needed to chug along...
I have a strong belief that people who have a sense of belonging and go the extra mile to contribute to the organization are likely to be the ones forming a strong and passionate community. And positive energy from such people, inevitably, rubs off.....leading to a happier environment! :-)
'Good' communities, in short, have the wherewithal to handle adversity. Ergo, I am inclined to think that KM programs must focus on creating and establishing communities in the current scenario. They can surely supply the motivation and ideas needed to chug along...
Monday, February 16, 2009
Gangad Jokloz Yomosh?
I am not really sure exactly when it started or for that matter, how it all started off (Something tells me I'd make a very poor historian). It must have perhaps been an accidental innovation that was derived out of some normal slip of the tongue talk. Anyways, all I remember is that it all started while I was in School. My sibling and I let our tongues roll and move in every imaginable direction and uttered some meaningless 'words' at the rate of 120 per minute and gradually thought it was a cool thing to do. (For example - Tumbliko jhodu makaram kloti umbrasta hikas dinga dunga takka pikir rokol gushti ambala eli wotta qot dishu polim and so forth) A common friend and often mute spectator was not sure what to do and how to react but did give us the feeling that she, however, found it quite hilarious. So, it became some sort of a habit to kill time. When we ran out of topics to discuss on the way back home from School, Gibberish would come to the rescue. It was the only language we knew which let us express emptiness but with random emotions. The only language before speaking which we did not have to think. The only language that let us concentrate on emoting rather than making sense or being understood.
Everything in life has to evolve. So, we also invented a variation wherein we would sprinkle Gibberish with strategically placed English words and phrases that could be strung together (connected) to give the listener the feeling that we definitely had a message to convey. Thus, we went on to occasionally practice Gibberish for a few years in School. But I am not sure we were famous for it.
And then, our priorities in life changed. We had to learn to handle the real world gibberish...
The 'tumbliko's and the 'gopol's and all the other absolutely innovative words we concocted out of nowhere were not to be heard for a long time. (But , as some of my friends would interrupt to say, I guess I did continue to entertain people with slips of the tongue.) I resorted to Gibberish only when with kids, who, I discovered, for some reason enjoyed it immensely.
On my first job, two friends who were equally excited about Gibbersih joined forces and we had some serious Gibberish conversations at tea time. Another friend who was ignorant about the context and our 'wicked' ways, heard us having one such conversation and was convinced that it was a valid foreign language. She immediately wanted to know what language it was and we played along and challenged her to find out. After a few days, she gave up and asked us to name the language. So, I told her the truth. And guess what? She was not convinced at all. She refused to believe us and told us she was not happy we were not telling her which language it was. Moreover, she wanted us to teach her the language as well. We continued trying to prove that we were telling the truth and, trust me, it took us a long time and one desperate dialogue to finally convince her. But she never managed to learn Gibberish. Her tongue was too disciplined to slip into meaningless talk.
That's that. Anytime in life, as long as you are not too conscious about appearing like a mature adult, indulging in Gibberish can be real fun. But it can get you in difficult situations as well. Consider what happened to me. A neice calls up when I am busy in a meeting at office and says "Nimmy Aunty, can you please talk rubbish talk?" You must be well equipped to handle such public embarassments as well. Don't tell me I did not warn you.
And, if you have a pet (especially Dogs) at home, rest assured that they will completly understand every single word of the Gibbersih language as long as you back it up with appropriate expressions and actions.
If you're looking at other important ways in which you can use Gibberish, here is another idea - it could be one way of saying "This discussion is over!" when you're with people who are unwilling to wrap up a one-sided conversation. Use just 4 Gibberish words of your choice, say it loud, emphasise every word and sound as stern as possible. You get the idea? If they don't, just get up and walk after you've delivered your statement.
Finally, you could even aim to be a better human being by replacing all the four letter words in your lexicon with brand new inimitable Gibberish words that could be equally relieving while not embarrassing others. :-) This idea is, btw, not my original...it is borrowed and is based on best practice from Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin's Dad, of all the people.
Cartoon strip from www.gocomics.com - Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
OK. Gangad Jokloz Yomosh? Jikalo Tikalo Ringa Binga Amuso Blah!
Everything in life has to evolve. So, we also invented a variation wherein we would sprinkle Gibberish with strategically placed English words and phrases that could be strung together (connected) to give the listener the feeling that we definitely had a message to convey. Thus, we went on to occasionally practice Gibberish for a few years in School. But I am not sure we were famous for it.
And then, our priorities in life changed. We had to learn to handle the real world gibberish...
The 'tumbliko's and the 'gopol's and all the other absolutely innovative words we concocted out of nowhere were not to be heard for a long time. (But , as some of my friends would interrupt to say, I guess I did continue to entertain people with slips of the tongue.) I resorted to Gibberish only when with kids, who, I discovered, for some reason enjoyed it immensely.
On my first job, two friends who were equally excited about Gibbersih joined forces and we had some serious Gibberish conversations at tea time. Another friend who was ignorant about the context and our 'wicked' ways, heard us having one such conversation and was convinced that it was a valid foreign language. She immediately wanted to know what language it was and we played along and challenged her to find out. After a few days, she gave up and asked us to name the language. So, I told her the truth. And guess what? She was not convinced at all. She refused to believe us and told us she was not happy we were not telling her which language it was. Moreover, she wanted us to teach her the language as well. We continued trying to prove that we were telling the truth and, trust me, it took us a long time and one desperate dialogue to finally convince her. But she never managed to learn Gibberish. Her tongue was too disciplined to slip into meaningless talk.
That's that. Anytime in life, as long as you are not too conscious about appearing like a mature adult, indulging in Gibberish can be real fun. But it can get you in difficult situations as well. Consider what happened to me. A neice calls up when I am busy in a meeting at office and says "Nimmy Aunty, can you please talk rubbish talk?" You must be well equipped to handle such public embarassments as well. Don't tell me I did not warn you.
And, if you have a pet (especially Dogs) at home, rest assured that they will completly understand every single word of the Gibbersih language as long as you back it up with appropriate expressions and actions.
If you're looking at other important ways in which you can use Gibberish, here is another idea - it could be one way of saying "This discussion is over!" when you're with people who are unwilling to wrap up a one-sided conversation. Use just 4 Gibberish words of your choice, say it loud, emphasise every word and sound as stern as possible. You get the idea? If they don't, just get up and walk after you've delivered your statement.
Finally, you could even aim to be a better human being by replacing all the four letter words in your lexicon with brand new inimitable Gibberish words that could be equally relieving while not embarrassing others. :-) This idea is, btw, not my original...it is borrowed and is based on best practice from Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin's Dad, of all the people.
Cartoon strip from www.gocomics.com - Calvin and Hobbes by Bill WattersonOK. Gangad Jokloz Yomosh? Jikalo Tikalo Ringa Binga Amuso Blah!
Friday, February 13, 2009
No Kidding...
No kidding! :-) This is a brilliant example of paradox thinking..! (In other - Hindi - words, kya bath hai!*) Calvin's certainly one of the most insightful kids I've ever come across. A few days back, I pondered over my lack of paradox thinking and wondered why I have not even observed it happening around me (which I normally do). So, this is intellectual Manna from Heaven..A perfect weekend post as far as I am concerned. ;-) Warning: Do not try to imitate Calvin. And don't ever show it to your doggy if you have one - when push comes to shove, your doggy is bound to recall this gem of an idea while you yourself are likely to have forgotten it altogether.
*kya bath hai - Hindi exclamation that reflects appreciation of something!
Cartoon Strip sourced from - www.gocomics.com
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Come Unity
Have you read this one before? Emphasis mine...
----------------------------------------------------------------
Liz Strauss - (Update: I had no clue that this is actually a blog post by Liz as I received it via Email from one of the forums/email lists that I am a member of. But thanks to Google and the Internet...Liz found this post and has brought it to my notice while thanking me for sharing it with the readers here. So, here is the link to the original blog post - http://www.successful-blog.com/1/the-top-10-ways-to-start-living-your-life/ - Her blog has a whole lot more such wonderful thoughts and inspiring write-ups! You may want to check them all out... :-))
Life — it's what we do between the time we get here and when we go. We only get one, and despite what other folks might suppose, it's ours to determine what to do with it. We don't measure life in hours and minutes. We measure life in memories and moments. What do you think of when you read this sentence? "It was the time of my life." We don't say that often enough. Life either happens to us, or we take hold of life and live it. Here are 10 ways start living your life.
1. Give yourself permission to claim your life. You're the only one who can decide you're in charge of your life. Turn off the editors, the "shoulds, have tos, and musts", and the rules that didn't come from you.
2. Define what living means to you. Picture yourself at the end of your life looking back. What words would you want to describe how you lived and who you are?
3. Stop living in the future. Every time you think "when I have time I will," stop. Ask yourself, "Why not now?" Choose your life every morning.
4. Surround yourself with people who enjoy living. They've obviously discovered how to have live. Why not hang with the pros?
5. Lay down your pain and your anger. Carrying them around makes living harder and less fun. It doesn't bring anything, and it steals a lot.
6. Let the other guy win. Don't argue about things that you don't care about. Unless there's a threat, let folks prove what they need to prove. Why waste living time trying to fix what doesn't matter?
7. Create energy. Jump to forgiveness and love, then figure things out. Most conclusions we imagine are both wrong and negative. Negative conclusions lead us to prepare a defense. Being defensive isn't living. It's hiding from life.
8. Learn the physical symptoms of when your head and heart become disconnected. We know when we're behaving badly. Key into to how it feels physically. Know the symptoms, and you can stop the behavior. Living will feel safer because you won't be shooting yourself in the foot.
9. Take small risks that push your boundaries in every way. When we stretch just a bit intellectually, physically, emotionally, we grow. Living is growing. Even our cells know that.
10. Value and protect the people and places you care about. Let the people you care about come first, and let everyone know that you do. Re-read numbers 1 and 2.
--------------------------------------------
I just went and lost my cool this morning, raised my voice and argued aggressively with a team member. It was a cumulative expression of pent up anger and frustration. But, the silly thing that I am, the timing was absolutely inappropriate....enough to perhaps make the opposite party wonder whether it is time to refer me to a good doctor. I think I do best when I have energetic and enthusiastic people around me...people who want to be the best at what they do and are extremely passionate about and have a strong sense of purpose in what they're doing. Sometimes I can perhaps be such a source - rub it off on others - but at other times it is a fuel I look forward to from others. No wonder communities are so important - communities are a realization of the fact that one person cannot perpetually create magic. Being a part of a community mostly made up of people who are capable of taking turns to create magic and supply positive energy can make all the difference in the world. Blessed are the organizations that have even one such community...!
Does that sound like an irrelevant rant in the context of this post? Could be....but some of the points above help me recover from my silly mood. :-))) The tags are going to be funny - Life and Communities - or maybe not!? :-)
----------------------------------------------------------------
Liz Strauss - (Update: I had no clue that this is actually a blog post by Liz as I received it via Email from one of the forums/email lists that I am a member of. But thanks to Google and the Internet...Liz found this post and has brought it to my notice while thanking me for sharing it with the readers here. So, here is the link to the original blog post - http://www.successful-blog.com/1/the-top-10-ways-to-start-living-your-life/ - Her blog has a whole lot more such wonderful thoughts and inspiring write-ups! You may want to check them all out... :-))
Life — it's what we do between the time we get here and when we go. We only get one, and despite what other folks might suppose, it's ours to determine what to do with it. We don't measure life in hours and minutes. We measure life in memories and moments. What do you think of when you read this sentence? "It was the time of my life." We don't say that often enough. Life either happens to us, or we take hold of life and live it. Here are 10 ways start living your life.
1. Give yourself permission to claim your life. You're the only one who can decide you're in charge of your life. Turn off the editors, the "shoulds, have tos, and musts", and the rules that didn't come from you.
2. Define what living means to you. Picture yourself at the end of your life looking back. What words would you want to describe how you lived and who you are?
3. Stop living in the future. Every time you think "when I have time I will," stop. Ask yourself, "Why not now?" Choose your life every morning.
4. Surround yourself with people who enjoy living. They've obviously discovered how to have live. Why not hang with the pros?
5. Lay down your pain and your anger. Carrying them around makes living harder and less fun. It doesn't bring anything, and it steals a lot.
6. Let the other guy win. Don't argue about things that you don't care about. Unless there's a threat, let folks prove what they need to prove. Why waste living time trying to fix what doesn't matter?
7. Create energy. Jump to forgiveness and love, then figure things out. Most conclusions we imagine are both wrong and negative. Negative conclusions lead us to prepare a defense. Being defensive isn't living. It's hiding from life.
8. Learn the physical symptoms of when your head and heart become disconnected. We know when we're behaving badly. Key into to how it feels physically. Know the symptoms, and you can stop the behavior. Living will feel safer because you won't be shooting yourself in the foot.
9. Take small risks that push your boundaries in every way. When we stretch just a bit intellectually, physically, emotionally, we grow. Living is growing. Even our cells know that.
10. Value and protect the people and places you care about. Let the people you care about come first, and let everyone know that you do. Re-read numbers 1 and 2.
--------------------------------------------
I just went and lost my cool this morning, raised my voice and argued aggressively with a team member. It was a cumulative expression of pent up anger and frustration. But, the silly thing that I am, the timing was absolutely inappropriate....enough to perhaps make the opposite party wonder whether it is time to refer me to a good doctor. I think I do best when I have energetic and enthusiastic people around me...people who want to be the best at what they do and are extremely passionate about and have a strong sense of purpose in what they're doing. Sometimes I can perhaps be such a source - rub it off on others - but at other times it is a fuel I look forward to from others. No wonder communities are so important - communities are a realization of the fact that one person cannot perpetually create magic. Being a part of a community mostly made up of people who are capable of taking turns to create magic and supply positive energy can make all the difference in the world. Blessed are the organizations that have even one such community...!
Does that sound like an irrelevant rant in the context of this post? Could be....but some of the points above help me recover from my silly mood. :-))) The tags are going to be funny - Life and Communities - or maybe not!? :-)
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Handling the Hippo
Ahem! I am back...! :-) Thanks to all of you who left comments/messages on my recent posts. It is nicer to be back when you know you have friends waiting to hobnob with you! :-) So...in true Wodehouse style, Tinkerty tonk to you and all that rot!.....What ho?...I hear you're here!....How have things been? etc You can take your pick.
My break was both good and bad...or should I say, good and challenging? Irrespective of all that, breaks are more good than otherwise. And coming back home is also equally good. I'd like to have a cheerful disposition towards everything around....you see!
As expected, coming back to work after a break is always overwhelming. The backlog looks like a huge Hippo waiting with an equally huge - no, proportionate is more like it, eh? - and open mouth. I must allow myself to be 'swallowed' (or consumed?) by the backlog rather than loiter around and let the illusion of the Hippo linger on too long for comfort. It may start snorting for all I know. Hippo snorts are not that pleasing, as you may be aware! Speaking of which, I mentioned several drinks of water and deep breathing as my primary occupation during the break...but I must admit that I did neither. On the other hand, I probably feasted like the huge Hippo I speak of, above, in the metaphoric sense.....whenever the opportunity presented itself to me and I was in a mood to let the stomach rule.
I guess this post's only intention is to let you know that I hope to be back with a worthwhile tidbit or thought once I settle down and have handled the Hippo. Here I go....ZOOm...! ;-)
My break was both good and bad...or should I say, good and challenging? Irrespective of all that, breaks are more good than otherwise. And coming back home is also equally good. I'd like to have a cheerful disposition towards everything around....you see!
As expected, coming back to work after a break is always overwhelming. The backlog looks like a huge Hippo waiting with an equally huge - no, proportionate is more like it, eh? - and open mouth. I must allow myself to be 'swallowed' (or consumed?) by the backlog rather than loiter around and let the illusion of the Hippo linger on too long for comfort. It may start snorting for all I know. Hippo snorts are not that pleasing, as you may be aware! Speaking of which, I mentioned several drinks of water and deep breathing as my primary occupation during the break...but I must admit that I did neither. On the other hand, I probably feasted like the huge Hippo I speak of, above, in the metaphoric sense.....whenever the opportunity presented itself to me and I was in a mood to let the stomach rule.
I guess this post's only intention is to let you know that I hope to be back with a worthwhile tidbit or thought once I settle down and have handled the Hippo. Here I go....ZOOm...! ;-)
Thursday, January 22, 2009
H2O and O2
I am going to be away from blogosphere for the next 10 days. So, no posts for a while! :-)
This isn't anything on the lines of Calvin's sudden realization and exit from class (video below)....but I'll, nevertheless, be back after several drinks of water and some deep breathing. :-) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaa
SaTyre! ;-)
This was a conversation between a close relative and her 3.5 year old son. Get ready to roll on the floor with laughter.
The little boy owns a toy truck with small tyres, one of which (a spare one, I guess) he was apparently very fond of detaching from the body of the truck. His mother persevered and made it a point to put the tyre back in its place time and again. One fine day, she lost her patience, gave up and decided to throw the tyre into the dust-bin (the typical small basket-like thing most of us use at home) for she concluded that her boy did not probably want the tyre.
The boy returned from school that evening, discovered that the tyre was missing and interrogated his mother about its whereabouts. The mother said "You keep taking it off from the truck anyway. Looked like you did not need it...so I threw it into the dust-bin"
Our little fella looked upset and shocked and said "Why?? Oh why did you throw it into the dust-bin? Would anyone ever throw it into the dust-bin?"
The mother retorted "Yeah.....you're right! I shouldn't have thrown the tyre. I should have actually thrown the person who kept removing it into the dust-bin"
The little fella responded (with a serious expression) in no less than a second "Oh no! I will not fit into the dust-bin!"
---------------------------------
We want more such saTyreical humor! :-D LoL!
The little boy owns a toy truck with small tyres, one of which (a spare one, I guess) he was apparently very fond of detaching from the body of the truck. His mother persevered and made it a point to put the tyre back in its place time and again. One fine day, she lost her patience, gave up and decided to throw the tyre into the dust-bin (the typical small basket-like thing most of us use at home) for she concluded that her boy did not probably want the tyre.
The boy returned from school that evening, discovered that the tyre was missing and interrogated his mother about its whereabouts. The mother said "You keep taking it off from the truck anyway. Looked like you did not need it...so I threw it into the dust-bin"
Our little fella looked upset and shocked and said "Why?? Oh why did you throw it into the dust-bin? Would anyone ever throw it into the dust-bin?"
The mother retorted "Yeah.....you're right! I shouldn't have thrown the tyre. I should have actually thrown the person who kept removing it into the dust-bin"
The little fella responded (with a serious expression) in no less than a second "Oh no! I will not fit into the dust-bin!"
---------------------------------
We want more such saTyreical humor! :-D LoL!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tra laa la, laa la laa la.....!
No posts for the past one and a half weeks?! What's happening? Well, I just happen to be preoccupied with work. Many months of white-boarding and effort, my dear friends, is finally culminating into an announcement of progress and that means I need to concentrate! Narrow the eyes. Bite the teeth. Stiffen the nerves. Bring all the energy together! Quick! Focus! Let's see the spark! Get back the energy that was in abundance when we started...all at one place. Fortunately, we know energy cannot be destroyed...so, all the energy I need is still around...just happens to be in some other 'invisible' form. Need to simply convert it into 'visible' kinetic energy.
Time to sing.....
Time to sing.....
Monday, January 12, 2009
A-B-C of Life
It is pouring inspiration today. Got this on mail. Either I am in a very receptive mood or there genuinely is a lot of inspiration in the air today. :-) Anyway, I adore the simplicity and sense in the message below.
--------------------------------------------
Hal Elrod - The A-B-C's of Life's Purpose
--------------------------------------------
Hal Elrod - The A-B-C's of Life's Purpose
To Love & Create—this is the essence of life. But to be able to create the life you want, you must first be able to love the life you have. When you do, you are then able to enjoy a true sense of freedom and inspiration while engaged in the exciting process of creating the life of your dreams.
Accept Responsibility (For Everything)
From the economy to that difficult person in your life, to the speed of traffic during your daily commute—the external events and circumstances of life are often out of our control. Although we can't always control what happens to us, what we choose to think & do about it is our responsibility.
This is a profound truth, that it is not what happens to us that determines our quality of life, but it is how we choose to respond to what happens that creates our experience of life—good or bad. Even if a circumstance is not your fault, how you deal with it is always your responsibility.
The moment you Accept Responsibility for everything in your life, is the moment you have the power to create anything for your life.
Be Grateful (For Everything)
People often defend their negative attitude by claiming, "I'm not negative, I'm just realistic. Consider this: How is it any more "realistic" to focus on, think and talk about all that is wrong in your life, than it is to focus on, think, talk and Be Grateful for everything that is right in your life? Hmm...
When you choose to focus on the positive in your life and Be Grateful for everything, you have the power to create happiness at any moment of your life.
Commit To The Process (Without Being Emotionally Attached To the Results)
Every result (goal/dream/etc.) that you desire is preceded by a process. If you desire improved health, it must be preceded by a process of healthy eating and exercise. If you desire financial independence, it must be preceded by a process of accumulating, saving, and investing your money.
Most of us are emotionally attached to our results, and we base our level of commitment to each of our processes on how we feel or how things are going. Poor results usually lead to feeling discouraged or frustrated, both which hinder our desire and confidence to keep working towards our dreams.
The secret is to define the process required for each of your goals, then live everyday committed to those processes, and don't worry about your short term results. The process always eventually produces the result, you just have to stay committed and never give up!
You can learn to truly, authentically and unconditionally love the life that you have, and once you do you will find a sense of true joy and fulfillment in creating the life of your dreams. Your pursuit of a better life will no longer be out of fear of not having or being enough. You will be free from the stress and pressures that may have weighed on you in the past, so that you can begin genuinely loving the life you have while you are engaged in the exciting process of creating the life of your dreams!
Aa..ha! Simple...!
One of those simple Aa..ha! moments. Routine stuff. Nothing earth-shattering. But it feels good when it just flows out of nowhere and makes a lot of sense. I put it out as a tweet but want to record it here as well.
A person who does not believe in the meaning, goodness and significance of what he is doing can never possibly do a great job of it.
I think it's an important thing not just from the perspective of what we want to do as individuals and how we believe we can make our lives more exciting and worthwhile...but also from the perspective of management and leadership.
A person who does not believe in the meaning, goodness and significance of what he is doing can never possibly do a great job of it.
I think it's an important thing not just from the perspective of what we want to do as individuals and how we believe we can make our lives more exciting and worthwhile...but also from the perspective of management and leadership.
Inspiration
Here's something that I loved reading this morning. Must obviously share it with you...! :-) Methinks this exactly is what it feels like when the creative juices flow. Inspiration...aka...creativity!
Jack Groverland - To me the word "inspired" means guided by a mystical power from within, or as Webster's Dictionary defines it "divinely influenced". I don't mean to evoke the image of a separate God intervening in the affairs of people but rather to imply that when a person wholeheartedly gives himself/herself to a worthwhile cause, goal or dream he/she calls up an innate brilliance which defies common comprehension - that's inspiration, the source of brilliance.
Jack Groverland - To me the word "inspired" means guided by a mystical power from within, or as Webster's Dictionary defines it "divinely influenced". I don't mean to evoke the image of a separate God intervening in the affairs of people but rather to imply that when a person wholeheartedly gives himself/herself to a worthwhile cause, goal or dream he/she calls up an innate brilliance which defies common comprehension - that's inspiration, the source of brilliance.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Serendiptiy on a Social Media Leash
I wrote this post
Re-visited the Wikipedia page on Swami V, on an impulse
Re-discovered the Vivekananda Study Circle @ IIT Madras and their E-group
Realized that there are students who are deriving inspiration from Swami, then read some more quotes...
Which in turn inspired me to do a Twitter Search on Swami
...Discovered a random Tweet that linked to a high-profile trust with a wonderful vision for the future...like the one I was dreaming of when I wrote the post!
The horse has been led to the water (on a Social Media leash)....is it thirsty enough to stop and drink rather than focus on running its usual race and be left high but dry (Pun intended. No, I don't mean high and dry)?
Re-visited the Wikipedia page on Swami V, on an impulse
Re-discovered the Vivekananda Study Circle @ IIT Madras and their E-group
Realized that there are students who are deriving inspiration from Swami, then read some more quotes...
Which in turn inspired me to do a Twitter Search on Swami
...Discovered a random Tweet that linked to a high-profile trust with a wonderful vision for the future...like the one I was dreaming of when I wrote the post!
The horse has been led to the water (on a Social Media leash)....is it thirsty enough to stop and drink rather than focus on running its usual race and be left high but dry (Pun intended. No, I don't mean high and dry)?
Power Capsules
Visited the Ramakrishna Math in Ulsoor (Bangalore) for the new year last week. It was quite, not unexpectedly, crowded. Though I generally prefer sitting there in solitude and silence, it was a visit that I am thrilled about. Ask me why! :-) Primarily because I discovered a lot of new books at the Math's book-shop.
One of the books I picked up is called "Power Capsules" and comprises short and inspiring thoughts by Swami Vivekananda. Simply awesome stuff. Believe me. I am in total awe of Swami V all over again! There's an electrifying power in his words...enough to charge a billion people to start with. I can't imagine how powerful it may have been to hear him live! As I read the book, I couldn't help but wonder why we're not making it compulsory for school students to read his works. I think every school-going kid must be introduced to Swami V's thoughts and ideas. My mind jumps with joy at the very thought of what a wonderful influence and experience that will turn out to be for the kids. The sooner they get to know him, the better. I have no doubts that it will lead them on to a brave and constructive life. (Wonder if the Ramakrishna Mission schools make it compulsory for their students to read the Mission's literature. Would be a joy to observe the influence that it has on the kids studying there).
Sample this from the book "Power Capsules": "Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library"
"Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvellous work. The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the great cause of misery in the world. It is fear that is the cause of all our woes and it is fearlessness that brings heaven even in a moment"
"We need to have three things: the heart to feel, the brain to conceive, the hand to work. Make yourself a dynamo...If you are pure, if you are strong, you, one man, are equal to the whole world."
I think I'll share more in my subsequent posts......if this post doesn't motivate you to go around and look for books by one of the most charismatic and inspiring people I've ever come across.
One of the books I picked up is called "Power Capsules" and comprises short and inspiring thoughts by Swami Vivekananda. Simply awesome stuff. Believe me. I am in total awe of Swami V all over again! There's an electrifying power in his words...enough to charge a billion people to start with. I can't imagine how powerful it may have been to hear him live! As I read the book, I couldn't help but wonder why we're not making it compulsory for school students to read his works. I think every school-going kid must be introduced to Swami V's thoughts and ideas. My mind jumps with joy at the very thought of what a wonderful influence and experience that will turn out to be for the kids. The sooner they get to know him, the better. I have no doubts that it will lead them on to a brave and constructive life. (Wonder if the Ramakrishna Mission schools make it compulsory for their students to read the Mission's literature. Would be a joy to observe the influence that it has on the kids studying there).
Sample this from the book "Power Capsules": "Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library"
"Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvellous work. The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the great cause of misery in the world. It is fear that is the cause of all our woes and it is fearlessness that brings heaven even in a moment"
"We need to have three things: the heart to feel, the brain to conceive, the hand to work. Make yourself a dynamo...If you are pure, if you are strong, you, one man, are equal to the whole world."
I think I'll share more in my subsequent posts......if this post doesn't motivate you to go around and look for books by one of the most charismatic and inspiring people I've ever come across.
Friday, January 02, 2009
2009 is Mine...!
Steve Goodier says, on his blog:
That all-too-quotable Yogi Berra once said, "If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else." (I think that happened to me once.)
But even if you know where you want to end up, do you REALLY WANT to be there? I'm not talking about traveling now, but where we're going with our lives. Is the dream you are following really that important to you?
Most people are not lazy. They simply have uninspiring goals. They don't accomplish what they set out to do because they lose interest. The dream they are following is simply not that important to them.
………..And that goes for anything that is truly important to us. If we want something badly enough, we will find necessary energy, excitement and drive to grasp it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wow! That strikes a familiar chord. Two things I’ll certainly focus on in 2009. Sometimes, it feels like there’s no point waiting for a new year to revisit things and start a fresh journey….it must be a constant endeavour after all and not an emotion locked away till January. But, then, a New Year is still a great occasion to explore such a thing if one has been lackadaisical and unmotivated even if only for a few weeks before January. It is good to capitalize on the positive energy that floats around across the globe at the start of the New Year and use it to identify or pursue one’s vision with renewed vigor.
What do you really want from life? I guess the best way to find that out is to indulge in silence and introspection. I think it is important to not get stuck to a passing thought that created itself purely due to social influence and does not mean anything at a personal level. As far as dreams are concerned, the most important thing about them must be their origin – from one’s own soul uninfluenced by the constraints imposed by society and expectations from others.
Once you discover what you want, you simply must dream big. You must allow the vision and dream to inspire you. You must ask for it, believe that you will get it and then be ready to receive it - Thanks to the book, “The Secret” for this wonderful idea! :-)
I guess one of the best ways to be sure that you know what you REALLY want is to observe if it really lends you energy, excitement and drive! Paradoxical…but I think I am right. :-)
Let’s hope 2009 delivers. Let’s hope it is magical, full of miracles and proves to us that nothing is impossible!
As Jack Addington so wonderfully says, “It's a law of the mind that which you can conceive of, believe in, and confidently expect for yourself, must necessarily become your experience.”
DREAM – Dare to Dream, Be sure you’ll Realize it, Expect the world to give it to you, Ask the world to be your partner, Master the process and fulfill your potential – Leave the world a better place, share your dream with others but let them pursue theirs.
Recalling a related post from the past - http://nirmala-km.blogspot.com/2008/01/power-of-strong-emotion.html
That all-too-quotable Yogi Berra once said, "If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else." (I think that happened to me once.)
But even if you know where you want to end up, do you REALLY WANT to be there? I'm not talking about traveling now, but where we're going with our lives. Is the dream you are following really that important to you?
Most people are not lazy. They simply have uninspiring goals. They don't accomplish what they set out to do because they lose interest. The dream they are following is simply not that important to them.
………..And that goes for anything that is truly important to us. If we want something badly enough, we will find necessary energy, excitement and drive to grasp it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wow! That strikes a familiar chord. Two things I’ll certainly focus on in 2009. Sometimes, it feels like there’s no point waiting for a new year to revisit things and start a fresh journey….it must be a constant endeavour after all and not an emotion locked away till January. But, then, a New Year is still a great occasion to explore such a thing if one has been lackadaisical and unmotivated even if only for a few weeks before January. It is good to capitalize on the positive energy that floats around across the globe at the start of the New Year and use it to identify or pursue one’s vision with renewed vigor.
What do you really want from life? I guess the best way to find that out is to indulge in silence and introspection. I think it is important to not get stuck to a passing thought that created itself purely due to social influence and does not mean anything at a personal level. As far as dreams are concerned, the most important thing about them must be their origin – from one’s own soul uninfluenced by the constraints imposed by society and expectations from others.
Once you discover what you want, you simply must dream big. You must allow the vision and dream to inspire you. You must ask for it, believe that you will get it and then be ready to receive it - Thanks to the book, “The Secret” for this wonderful idea! :-)
I guess one of the best ways to be sure that you know what you REALLY want is to observe if it really lends you energy, excitement and drive! Paradoxical…but I think I am right. :-)
Let’s hope 2009 delivers. Let’s hope it is magical, full of miracles and proves to us that nothing is impossible!
As Jack Addington so wonderfully says, “It's a law of the mind that which you can conceive of, believe in, and confidently expect for yourself, must necessarily become your experience.”
DREAM – Dare to Dream, Be sure you’ll Realize it, Expect the world to give it to you, Ask the world to be your partner, Master the process and fulfill your potential – Leave the world a better place, share your dream with others but let them pursue theirs.
Recalling a related post from the past - http://nirmala-km.blogspot.com/2008/01/power-of-strong-emotion.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)