Blizzard,Buzz; Toyota; Driving License; Gossip.

So it appears that summer is fully in Bangalore; last 3 days are getting warm that venturing out 20 min walk at 2pm is a difficult task. One side there is a huge debate between global freezing and global warming in view of the continuous blizzard in the East coast of USA. The debate is on, and will go on forever. Things were not helped by the so called doctoring of data in favor of global warming.

So, the Google BUZZ is out, unlike the WAVE this just came unannounced (without much of the hype of wave;rather than waiting for the invitation anxiously, As I do for any Google product, just love them) this was sitting in the in box sort. 4 days in to Buzz, I kind of like it. Yes, there are many questions about privacy settings, I am sure that all will blow off over time. I am more in to ERIC SCHMIDT's school of thought, if you don't want something not to be in public domain and has concern over that it will be known, may be you should not be doing it in the first place. 
On the funny side, It was hilarious to see the Driving license application in Bihar. On a serious side, I am glad to see that the state is making progress. It has been backward for long and things have to change. The challenge is to meet expectations and sustain. On the political side on a different note, it was sad to see the bombing in Pune which took lives. But reading international journals, this was not a kind of not unexpected, it was only a question of when rather than whether as this article explains.

The other surprise turn of events is the Toyota Recalls. Some lessons. There have been articles in the recent past about how the company is slipping and this has come as a huge blow. I guess this recall even goes to question the effectiveness of lean manufacturing. I hope for the sake of world class manufacturing the order is restored.
There was an interesting article I came across "How to keep your executives". Practical aspects. On the organization side,Mike and Mark have come out with a gem on "Gossip handling". Again it is all down to behaviours.
Till next week; take it easy and take care; Stay Healthy and live consciously.
Regards
Karthik.

Back; Computer Engineer; Listorious;Carly.

Good to be back to Blogging; I think this is the best way to put thoughts in to a platform. So off to 167th Post. 4 years have just flashed past.

On the personal side; after ages it was feeling good to fast / starve for some 6Hrs in connection with15th Anniversary ceremonies for my late grandfather to whom I was very much attached. So fasting cant do much damage it seems. 

This post on how to cover the basics how to be a good computer engineer gives a good practical 101. Abhisek Desai has covered all the practical aspects. I am still surprised that people have not harvested the potential of RSS feeds;and asking why, why, why. As a Safety professional, I will be on streets If I dont ask that question to get in to the root cause of the issue, so it has become second nature. 

As the year is well on; it is a good time to take stock on the goals, objectives, targets as well as career etc; This article gives guidance as what should be the right way to plan a career covering transitions, job search, networking, etc all the essentials for a smart career. On the other side, I have been tracking the fabulous realities of Performance appraisal, incentives; no better expressed than in this blog column with good link to grandmother stories by Arun Vemuri. 

On the leadership side; came across from my Twitter following on the best 10 leadership Blogs for 2010. No Surprises are most names are well known. Some of them yes to follow; One twitter application I came across is Listorious which gives a good list of twitters in to follow.

Came across this multiple search engine;Autopedia allows search about 9 search engines and spits out results from 4 of them simultaneously. Good for spread search.

On the political side; Here is an interview with Carly Fiorina; who is likely to run for the Cal Senate seat. The interview "The nation with the best brain power wins, echoes Drucker's ideas of knowledge worker. There is also a great question on Why women should be involved with Technology. Carly is one of the few Business Leaders inspire me; in fact her summary of Leadership" Courage; Capability; Collaboration; Character" I have displayed at my work table to refer. 

Got a copy of SIDIN VADUKUT's DORK' Exciting book; planning delibarately to go through slow; but the first 46 pages makes me that task is difficult. I will give my review when completed.

Until next week; take it easy and take care; Live consciously.
Karthik

Blog update

As I will be updating most of the thoughts thro Twitter, My posting in BLOG will be sporadic with deviation from regular Sunday evening posting till further notice.

Please follow me on Twitter.

Karthik.

MLA,EE; Management,

Today the Renaissance PARK III (Our #APT)Adhoc committee team of which I am member met the Malleswaram(Bangalore Nortwest) Member of state Legislative Assembly(Congressmen in US term) to thank him for helping us to get the Landline Telephone (It took 7 months as there was no last mile connectivity) as well as to request for some better amenities in the area. Dr Aswath Narayan is a medical doctor. This is my first close interaction with elected rep as I usually stay away and great believer that we progress in spite of the Government. The 20 min we spent, I found him to be accessible to people, very practical, down to earth as well as reeling of statistics on welfare measures. Yes, there was a bit of language barrier as I am yet to be well versed in Kannada the local language to fully understand the nuance of the conversation.

I came across an interesting article on Employee engagement, a kind of buzz word some time back but fizzled out in recession times, but still a good concept to work around.The acronym"RAPS" works well. Retention, Advocacy,Satisfaction, Pride. Good basic concept to work and take forward.
On the management side, MT /CT has come out a 2part gem on Admitting mistakes; Admit early and don't beat around bush. The MT podcast on Developing Subordinates (!! most may blink!!) is an eye opener for those not thought of it as necessary.(Org will take care Hmmmm)... On CMM, Wayne has come out 2 podcast (CMM/ Working week). CMM one with Timothy Clark on leadership with volunteering touching the strategic aspects of why/ what you want to be as leader is very thought provoking. On Working week with Dr John Kennedy, the Heart care is a must listen. On the satire/ time pass as we call in India, Listen to Lucy on the awards / Management guff is a must listen.

Here are the list of 15 Most hated companies in USA. No major surprises. Walmart, United,YES DELL.(MY son calls Hell), Yes they do well, the numbers are good but an aversion.

I was fascinated by GOOGLE Squared. Never knew it existed until I stumbled on the site. A good way to tabulate results and compare.

On the books side, Marshall Goldsmith's MOJO is out for release in Feb, cant wait to get a copy when it hit book stores here. Also on the lookout is Sidin Vadukut's DORK. I read the excepts in live mint.

As an avid Non Indian cricket follower, Test Match special BBC was a great site to follow cricket on Audio web for me. Pleasure listening to CMJ, Peter Baxter; Now Testmatch sofa looks equally good.

Pongal came and gone; so Summer (Uttrayan) is not far behind looking forward to move from cold,(20C!) and fog to Sunshine.

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

Newyear, Twitter, Technology, Converters

It is good to be back to blogging in 2010. We had celebrations in Renaissance Park III for welcoming the new year. It was all Women arrangement and they did an excellent job for entertainment, food, logistics as well as for the memento too. Well done. Photo above of the team who did a great job.

I am posting the photos of the Brigade North star which was in news for the first IT Corridor office complex in Northern Bangalore. This place is 50 Feet from my home and is part of complex of office, hotel, Apts, Mall, school. See Photos.

It was also time in the new year to catch up with my EX-Boss from Monsanto, Jolanta was here in Bangalore and took time in her schedule to catch up with us. It is close to 4 years since I left Monsanto and we are in touch. It was a great relation. On the news of Monsanto, I was not surprised to see HUGH GRANT Monsanto CEO, has been chosen by HBR as the top 10 Best performing CEO. I had met him couple of times, Hugh is all about accessibility, Care, compassion and commitment -the hallmark of leadership. He was instrumental as a Sponsor for bringing in World class vehicle safety program in 2002 to turn around driving concept. Congratulations.

On the tech front came across the 69 coolest web applications that changed the world in 2009 and 5 Tech apps that is dictating us. Very practical and we have reached a stage where we are nothing without these apps as they say.

Mr Murali of Netspeak comes with very useful links, He is one of the Tech geeks I follow on Twitter. His latest links on PDF to word Converter and Scribblar a useful web sharing application. My wife used the Scribblar and says it is very useful but not happy with audio for her web coaching sessions.

As indicated, HBR Print in it's new avatar looks different. Time Hangover!!, but good any way. The website too looks rejuvenated.

I leave with a bit of humor on English. Very funny no doubt.

Till next week, take it easy and take care; Follow me on Twitter at Karaikudy.

Karthik

Sunsigns, Best books of 2009, Panama Canal, HBR

Good to be back after the Xmas Holidays. I would make this short post as to catch up on things.

I was amazed to read this post on predicting your boss nature based on his sun sign. I guess this is partly correct in as far as me as a boss as well as with some of the boss with whom I had interacted. Cant take it all the way though!.... On the boss front, I came across this fabulous picture post by Kris Ashok on doing Jalsa and showing Jilpa(Dont know what it means, not that I have heard till 1985, when I left Tamilnad) on how boss react to your sick leave. I also came across the post on Interviewing smart tips for tech folks, who miss the nuance of preparing and working out the job interviewing aspects.

As indicated in my earlier posts, I am trying to understand the essence of Bhagavad Gita thro the Discourse of Chinmayananda. I was fascinated with this post on linking Githa in modern management terms. Very apt and practical explaining Passion, Ignorance, Goodness, the 3 key aspects in human being.

I leave with the thoughts on Best business books of 2009, worth the list. Also I look forward to revamped HBR from 2010.

I was fascinated reading about Panama canal, never knew that you need Millions of gallon of Fresh water to move ship and more so to lift 85 Feet...... Marvel..

So 2009 was a decent year, lot of challenges, well overcome with ways to find a practical solution and move on. Ofcourse, ultimately it all boils down to what your stakeholders feel and that's what matters.

Take it easy and take care; live Consciously.
Karthik

Avatar, Meetings, Despair, Cheques bounce

I am still in daze from the Avatar effect. My son persuaded me that I should accompany all to the movie(My 4th movie in 11 years, Titanic, HP V and Spider man) were the other 3. Also I was pulled in as I wanted to experience the 3D progress from the days of the Poltergeist. my dear Kuttichatan.

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Avatar is a mixture of Indian beleif(Moving soul from body to body, Spirits etc which are well documented in Indian history) and technology. For 160 minutes you are at a different world forgetting traffic jams, Lousy situations etc. The music of James Horner is master piece (Austrian touch of Mozart!) (As good as John Williams in Star Wars, Riders of the last ark and his own Titanic) adds to the thrill. It is a must watch for every one. The take away for me is It might help me to dream better and get better ideas as seed for thought process/ innovation to continuous improvement.

Cheques are going to be part of the history. With all the plastics, Digital aspects happening, Cheques may become extinct as per decision taken in UK. So the term Rain check may become Rain Digital.

With Cynicism at it's height in these depressing work state across,no wonder the site Despair.com, would help to let out the frustration and show out. Slogans, mug, posters etc. This site came to my knowledge in response to the practices of dog and pony show on safety thro behavior change in Let's get real which I shared with friends.

On the management side, 3 of the articles this week caught my attention. 50 Minute meeting by David Silverman on setting tight time and not just stick to calendar timings. 10 min saving can go a long way. The other post was on How to detect if your colleagues are lying.(Very apt both when lied or lied up on!!). The third one was Retaining top performer in tough times. Show your feeling and thank them is key also work out non cash rewards and align career expectations. Also I want to mention Mike and Mark podcast on Making your favourite candidate succeeding in your interview process. Top Stuff.

Google has come with a navigator that adapted to the Indian needs. In India the concept direction like North, south are alien. It is more to do with street, shop, temple, post office and work reference to that. So Google maps have adapted to that. GMAIL language typing in to TAMIL தமிழ் is a cool stuff.
I leave this week with the chart that caught my eye on How web Browser use has changed over years from all MS to Others. This is what they call CHANGE HAS COME TO THE WORLD. Also a quick look at the top 10 Web platforms.

Till next week, Take it easy and take care; Live consciously.

Regards
Karhik.

PS: As a favor to my son for taking me to Avatar and giving me good time, I will watch and support CHELSEA his team tonight.