Work life choice, Awards, Drucker, Hammer.

I thought I would touch up on the work life choice topic from an Indian context. I prefer the term Work life choice as coined Jack and Suzy Welch. It is all about working a value with which personal/ work factors are taken. I am of the view that values change and working a balance between personal/ work life is one such area which doe not change with time. My personal view is that this practice more established in an Multi national cultural environment with western focus. Of course, it is all to do with your boss, your organization is as good or as bad as your boss. Based on the reality check, on first hand account from my close friends who had worked 10+ years in MNC and then moved to the Indian companies have found that this concept is practically non existent and are wondering what can be done to inculcate such practices. I had a discussion on this with my wife, and my theory is that in an Indian scenario, I told her, (She had no view on this!!)the family sees making money for the security aspects that they themselves dont push for the work life choice to happen, It is put aside in preference to wealth creation.(Still in the first or second rung/ stage of Maslow theory on heirarchy of needs!!) I guess, this could be true from CEO to an ordinary employee in a typical Indian work culture who worry about wealth accumulation and comfortable life as main task. I would assume the family has to take the blame for the lack of work life choice. What the family can do to turn it around??? by taking initiative and see the employee see the value of worklife choice. Also the Indian work culture evolves around power distance which is high, (Less than some countries in Asia) Boss is always right and his comfort is my comfort, with no room for dissent. Forget work life choice, the typical Indian companies, I am not sure encourages, telecommuting, remote management aspects which are common place in many industrialised world. (Outside software environment, even there I wonder!!). It would be interesting to hear views on this forum.!!!.

I was pleased when Lalitha received the best employee of the month award (See picture above) from her employer. I am from a conservative thinking side on awards, that you take the best employee on board and get the job done and success and rewards will all be part of all intangibles. I feel some times these rewards and recognition (Some times they call rapid recognition) loose its meaning and significance, if they are given out just to meet some targets set. I have heard comments from folks that these award plaques are no more worth than paper weight!!. Ofcourse, this is not to take any credit from places where it is fully valued and felt important.

After 21 years of first seeing the book, Effective excecutive by Peter Drucker, I took out time to go through the book. No wonder he can be called the father of management. Amazing concepts.

I am saddened by the passing away of Michael Hammer during the first week of September. I consider his HBR article Process Audit a path breaking one on re-engineering. It gave me a clear idea has to how to approach from a process perspective on any business systems. May his soul rest in peace.

Till next week, take it easy and take care; live consciously.
Regards
Karthik.

Down the Memory Lane. Dr RV.

I was away Business travel to Madurai the town where I had done my Graduation studies. Honeywell has a facility on the premises of college where I studied. I took time off from the schedule to visit the college and catch up with some of the college staff. This was my first visit to the college since passing out in 1983.

Really, it was a walk down the memory line, when I walked through the lengthy stretch of road from Honeywell facility to the college(see map) the memory of subjected to ragging/ and irritating questions by senior students back in 1980 just flowed through. Yes, they were within limits and there was no physical harassment involved. I wonder where is the status of Ragging (Hazing) now?. I feel,One side of ragging is that it helps you to build courage and face realities of the world at a younger age as you step in to competitive environment at work.

The college itself has undergone lot of changes as one would expect!. New buildings, new canteen facility,statue for founder of college Thiagaraja Chettiar. A case of one more chettiar contributing to the education wellnsee of India. Of course! I was puzzled / amused by the new Ganesh temple in the facility. Religious, as I am (A little conservative you may say) I strongly believe that Religion/ religious practices have no place in educational institutions and it should be secular more so in open institutions. You are there to study Science, Language, History, so I was kind of wondering what lead to the building of temple inside college premises!!!??.

Ofcourse, I was more than deligted to catch up with my chemistry lecturer(Then) Dr R Vasudevan who is now the dean of external coordination. My professor, Dr V Subrahamanian, is no more (He passed away in 2006). Dr Vasudevan coordniates the research on use of recylce plastics for laying roads and has worked a patent on the plastic bitumen technology which is gainining popularity. We could catch up besides on the college progress, Dr RV's personal interaction with President Kalam on his research, on trends in education, quality of educational systems. It is another matter (A sad one!!) that the engineering colleges have mushroomed to a ridiculos level that any one and every one who passes high school is assured of a engineering seat, thus leading to poor talent pool who some time lacks the basics to survive in a competitive environment.

Steering away, I am excited to see Sarah Palin being chosen as John Mccain's running mate. I guess this gives Americans a chance to redeem themselves for missing out in 1984 (Also for democrats, who missed electing Hillary!!). She is one heart beat away to create history!!. My personal beleif is that women manage issues a lot better and their emotional / social intelligence levels are better tuned to manage issues. Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher would substantiate this with their turnaround. So I am predicting a Republican continuation at white house. Ofcourse, I respect Obama, he is also good. But this is more personal choice. I recollect rooting for Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton in the past.

I am saddened by more bombings and death in Delhi last night. I guess this raises the question about strong anti terror laws. Coming in the week of 7th Anniversary of 911, just makes you wonder that how post 911 security well has been managed in USA. I guess it all boils down to political will and courage to go beyond vote bank politics.

TIll next week, take it easy and take care; Live conciously.
Regards
Karthik.

100 posts. Chrome, Ethics.

I am indeed delighted to post the 100th Blog post. It has taken close to 3 years to reach this milestone. (Almost 3 postings a month). The next mile stone could be 500 postings. (That looks far away!!! should take good 4 to 5 years !!! ). I promise to do 75 to 100 posts a year from now on. I have done my best to pass information on what I think as well as what is a good value add.

I have downloaded and tested the new Google Browser, Chrome. I guess still it is in beta version but it looks different and good user interface. It might give IE a run for the money. You may read the review by Walter Mossberg.

Came across an interesting blog post in Ethics / ethical by BV Krishnamurthy. My belief is ethics is all to do with what is commonsense and judgment dictated by circumstances. I more consider values to be core indicator to guide true north and lead life.

Ok, till next week, take it easy and take care; Live consciously.
Karthik.

Photos

Sagrada Familia Barcelona. A must see church in Barcelona.
















The water fountain in Rambla (Near Plaza Catalonia) where it is believed that drinking water from this fountain will bring you back to Barcelona.








Statues in Barcelona too good.

Strange reason, Customer service,Alcala, Gazpacho

I am sorry that I could not post my 99th Blogpost Sunday. The reason was that I had missed my connecting flight and was on Air flying back home from London. The reason for missing the connecting flight was strange!!! as below.

I was to take the 0630 pm flight from Madrid to London and connect to Bombay for the 2150 Hrs. I reached Barajas Terminal 4 around 4pm and was told to take the 1730Hrs BA flight which was delayed by an hour, thus giving me a chance to reach London early. We boarded at 1830 and pushed back. Then to our surprise we were put on hold on edge of the runway for want of a legal requirement for the take off weight which needs to be reported. Unfortunately there was a communication gap between, the flight crew, ground attendendant, Heathrow and Madrid. So we waited for 90 minutes at the edge of the runway. By then the fuel had depleted so we had to return to gate, get the required information, top up fuel and left 3 hrs late. The 630 pm flight long gone. We reached London at 1015 pm with Heathrow wearing a deserted look.

Yes, this gave a chance to interact with the customer service at Heathrow terminal 5. I must thank the Customer service agent Rob Martin who was kind enough to put me on to the next direct flight to Bangalore Saturday evening. I had Jet Airways connection from Bombay to Bangalore.(All this was done to avoid a stop over in London as well as to reach Bangalore early!!!). They also provided me an accomadation at Reniassance airport hotel at Heathrow as well as voucher for travel and breakfast. So I must say that BA did their best. I did stay over. This gave me a chance to explore terminal 5 in detail before boarding the flight. In my opinion the versatality of Terminal 4 is missing in Terminal 5.

I was amazed by the size of Madrid Airport. I am told it is the second largest single terminal building in the world (700,000 Sq Met) after Hong Kong Terminal 1. Yes, the access to the terminal can be confusing as were some of the Highway signs in Madrid. Barcelona was clear, No such issues. So watch out!!!!.

I had a chance to explore the city of Alcala. This is about 20 Kms from Madrid and looks historical with universities. We did spend a couple of days. I had chance to taste the veg tomato soup Gazpacho. Excellent for vegeterians to cool themselves. Yes, it was hot at 104F. The hotel I stayed in Alcala was great with good rooms and Facilities and in calm area away from noise. Good place to relax.

Yes, It is another matter, that we bumped in to plenty of girls with whom you would not like to have encounters!!!!.

Ok, till next week, take it easy and take care; Live conciously.

Regards
Karthik.

Terminal 5,Clecy, Monarch, Flybe, Rambla,

I am in the Middle of 2 weeks travel in Europe covering UK, France and Spain. I am posting this Blog from Barcelona where it is 7pm and still an hour to for the sunset.

I had passed through Heathrow, Terminal 5, Monday on the way to Manchester. I must say things appear to have settled down there after all the initial chaos. The gates, Lifts seem to work in order. Of course, Not sure if the aero bridge works for the Ex terminal 4 flights. We were pulled in to the open landing area in to terminal 5 by bus. In my view the Southerrn Gallery lounge seems to be better to quickly grab something to catch connecting flights (Lot of escalators etc for the Northern gallery). Lets see how things shape up when all the flights move in. (My return flight to Bombay will be from Terminal 4).

I was amazed to see 100s of varieties of cheese during my stay in Clecy, France. (Normandy) for a person who has not seen or eaten cheese till about few years ago, this was a mind boggling experience. The Hotel serves almost 20 varities of Cheese for desert and each taste and flavor was unique. So it was all cheese tasting experience over 3 days. Yes, the french veg cusine was managable (Ofcourse, Italian is mouth watering). Yes, we did get a chance to see some of the areas totally bombed during the world war II. Didnt have time to go Normandy Beach.

I had an oppurtunit to fly low cost / budget airliner to my trips with in Europe. I flew Flybe to Rennes( For visit to Conde) and Monarch to Barcelona. (Both are from Manchester). Both flights were on time, good service. (Yes you got to pay for everything) This helps you to travel to small cities and avoid hassels of big airports.

For the weekend, I am in Barcelona. What a historical city. I thought Rome was the ultimate. But I guess Barcelona would give any historic city a run for the money. The best way to see the city is the Hop in hop out bus Barcelona Turistic. 26 Euros for 2 days and you can almost cover 50-60% of city thro the tour. Yes, you can walk around to get closer to action. A walk on the La Rambla is a must to see the sights of history, art, and see of people. Bus and train are cheap and good way to move around the city using Barcelona Card.
It has been a hectic week, so no time to read and post thoughts. Came across this interesting article on Dhirubhai Ambani. Very thought provoking.

Till next week, Take it easy and take care; Live conciously.
Regards
Karthik.

3000, Packing, Independence day thoughts, Alumni

I am delighted to see in the Web page counter that my blog has hit 3000 hits in the last 10 months. Out of curiosity, I installed the site meter to see the traffic to my site. This is indeed a surprise. Yes, some of the visitors could be accidental. But I am sure some of them out there may find the information useful or amusing.(!!). This works to about 10 visitors a day. Let me see how best I can improve the traffic to the site.

I am just packing my bags for a 2 week trip to Europe tonight. The podcast by Mark on packing bags for tour in timely. Mark manages 5 country, 20+ days tour without a checked in baggage. There is also video and slides for the premium content members. My wife does most of the packing for me and I shared the video with her. She did pick up some tips from Mark (Rolling out clothes as well as Laundry bag usage). My premium content membership expired 1st August, I am glad I did renew it for another year. (Just waited for the optimum credit card billing cycle period). It is the best 150$ you could ever spend and the returns are many fold. Lot of new contents/ tools are promised.
I must say I am really enjoying Lucy Kellaway podcast. It is worth listening to get another view of management as well as every happening in life. The satire is some times so touchy. Some times fellow morning walkers give me a curious look seeing my facial expression up on listening to the podcast in my Ipod. Please give it a try.

We did celebrate our 62nd independence day here in Diamond District by Flag hoisting and playing patriotic songs. I could recollect the India's Silver Jubilee independence day in 1972(25th). Time just files. I guess, We have made a lot of progress, especially in the last 10 years in communications, technology, infrastructure. Yes, much more need to be done, more so in bringing in communal harmony, poverty alleviation, Clean drinking water and eliminate diseases that affect children like Polio, whooping cough, measles etc.
On a personal side, yesterday was Raksha Bandhan, the festival that connects brother and sisters. Sisters tie Rakhi on their brother's wrist on this day. I did receive Rakhi from both my sisters. (That was unexpected, as I was under the impression that the courier would have been closed, Yesterday, Saturday, they werent!!).

I have also received intimation that silver jubliee reunion, after 25th year of passing out of 1983 Batch of Thiagarajar college of Engineering, Madurai has been scheduled during October 2008. Travel schedule permitting, it would be a great occasion to see how much has happened in all the folks lives. I look forward to catching up with folks. Some of them would be Grand parents !!!!!.

Till next week, take it easy and take care; Live conciously.
Karthik.