I often wonder if the behavior of top management of various companies, businesses, or for that matter any organization is just short sighted now or if has always been so myopic through the ages. Could it be that due to greater scrutiny and supposed greater oversight we are able to observe their fallibility much more often than was possible in the past.
Look around closely at almost any organization be it public or private and you will see supposedly brilliant individuals who we look/looked up to and revere make meaningless and absurd decisions that effect the lives of hundreds and thousands, if not millions, of people in their immediate vicinity. Yet these folk go about living their lives as if nothing has happened, completely oblivious to the plight of all the people around them.
This leads me to contemplate - Is Leadership really such a great trait, and if it is, what exactly is the secret sauce? I know, have read, and even written about the qualities that make a supposedly good or even great leader, but is it really so...
Let's take a few luminaries who are hailed as some of the greatest leaders objectively dissect their behavior as leaders... I know I am probably going to get raked over the coals for bringing up these names...
John Francis Welch, Jr.- Chairman of GE Corporation for 20 years from 1981-2001, more commonly known as "Jack" and "Neutron Jack".
Here is a recent quote from him - “On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world,” he said. “Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy … your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products.”
However, this is the same man who initiated the concept of "Shareholder Value" or pursed the concept by laying off more than a quarter of GE's workforce within 5 years becoming CEO to pursue higher profits, and increase market cap.
He also pushed the managers of the businesses he kept to become more productive, by constantly working 70-80 hours a week. "Jack" worked to eradicate perceived inefficiencies by trimming inventories and dismantling the workforce. He shut down factories, reduced payrolls and cut lackluster old-line units. For a company that touts innovation and new products what is there to show right now? He is also the same person who pushed for the expansion of GE Capital which almost took the entire company down and caused it to lose it's 'AAA' credit rating. As well as begging the Feds for a TARP bailout, as it was deemed too big to be allowed to fail! Now granted Jack was not at the helm when these things went down, but he took credit for everything good that happened with GE even after he left office, often boasting how he had laid the foundation for everything during his 20 year reign at the company.
If Jack was such a great manager as he has been made out to be then how did everything start to unravel so fast as soon as he left office, that too only after he was assured of an $8,000,000.00 annual pension with lavish company perks. Was there a great smokescreen and mirror show going on, which made him larger than life!?!
His so called "VISION" has decimated so many lives, leaving carcasses all over while he lives in his glass tower in New York, oblivious to the plight of many, still pontificating now!!!
Does anyone ever stop to think that it's not all about widgets and processes, there is a human element to it also! Widgets and processes are there for the use and consumption by human beings. If people can not afford to buy and use the widgets and services no matter how great they are what is the use of creating them. That is exactly the situation the US landscape is in right now. The likes of Jack created this "Shareholder Value" ponzi scheme to pay themselves and now we are there to pick up the pieces...
Maybe one should read Jack's biography with a new perspective, after taking off the rose tinted glasses....
More to come...
Saturday, June 05, 2010
LEADERSHIP - IS IT A MYTH???
Friday, May 21, 2010
PIGS in the Euro-Zone
On Feb.25th of this year I had blogged about the coming global financial meltdown that would be precipitated due to turmoil caused by the financial profligacy of the European Union member states in the last decade. The Euro-Zone has even joined a visually enticing acronym for the countries most likely to default now - PIGS = Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain. Friends if you have any doubts please go back an look up the stats on my blog that I refer to, Greece was the country with the least amount of issues. Just imagine what will happen if Portugal, Ireland, Spain implode or explode depending on what word you would like to describe the event as. All I can say is Europe will be knee deep in - PIS!!!
A fact that had been staring us in the face for anyone who cared to look, but not one major economist or financial guru was willing to admit to. So folks how does it feel to be lighter in the pocket? Invest in currency & commodities - Euro, metals, and energy? Gee whiz crude is down 15%, the Euro is down 15%, Gold is down from it's high, so friends what is going on.... ? Stay tuned...
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Gatekeepers and Screeners at the door - That's what HR recruiters call themselves!
As mentioned in the prior post I got a bunch of responses to my questions on HR and Recruiting. Some of the responses were just amazing!!!
Listed below is the query I framed and a few selected responses -
"Quite often I hear - "... a resume has less than 30 seconds to make an impact to a recruiter - independent or corporate HR.." WHY?"
- "Let me first correct you: It takes 3-10 seconds to review a resume to verify if it meets qualifications for a majority of positions. If it was 30 seconds, I would never get any work done."
- "Because time is money."
- "10-15 seconds tops... You have to market yourself if you are missing some requirements on the job description...otherwise 10 seconds is all you will get."
- "My goodness, I don't read resumes for a living, but do you know how many of these answers I could skim over in 30 seconds and get a pretty darn good idea of what they were talking about?"
- "For the same reason cyber security is in such great (sic) shape in this country and beyond. As far as I can tell that's 29 seconds past the maximum attention span of most recruiters."
- "The way we see the problem is often greater than the problem we're trying to solve.
To most people;
1. Busy = important, 30 seconds "I must be busy, I'm important"
2. Decision Making = Important, "5's" (performance level relative to the 1,000's in their industry) aren't asked their thoughts on "move the needle" issues, thus, why not make it up in volume, 30 seconds at a time ... important again
3. Believe their intentions are good; say a prayer and move on
I coach the coachable HR people on how to do the process more effectively and efficiently. However, my systems reward / create consequences for HR performance as most don't.
Litmus Test on the Culture of an HR Dept:
What % of the HR Payroll will be paid, regardless of who is hired?
Example: $5M in salaries and $4.7 is paid regardless while $4.9 - $5.1 has a 95% chance of getting paid. Where's the motivation?
Life's too short to worry about it unless you're helping someone that is open to changing it."
- "They're not, by and large, out there searching for talent. They're the gatekeepers, who screen applications sent in."
- "Because HR people are the equivalent of soccer goalies - their job is not to let anyone in but to keep just about everyone out. ...Getting your resume or a letter in front of the hiring manager is the only way you can get through the stonewall the square peg HR gatekeepers put in your path."
Now keep in mind the above are just a few excerpts from from about 25% of the responses received, the majority of them were basically of the opinion "How dare I ask this question and bring this issue up!".
Well here are a few of my rebuttals - enjoy!
- "...most of the responses seem to validate the "30 Second" rule / hypothesis.
So taking that for a baseline if one was a great recruiter and received and average of 100 resumes a day, that's about 50mins of your time in the day. I'll be generous and round it up to 60min, wait I'll be magnanimous and give you 1min per resume that's 2 hours of your day every single day of the month. Almost every recruiter out in the field would kill for those kind of potential leads, the fact is none have them, get them, or come even come close to generating them!
So, what do you do the rest of the day? Waste of company time and money if internal Dept. and do outrageously high billing if an external recruiter!
If I was a CEO/CFO/COO I would take a quick look at my HR recruiting Dept and partner recruiting companies and FIRE THEM! HR guys you just discredited your entire industry! You just proved that you provide very little value addition to the hiring process which can be completely substituted by an automated system, albeit one that may require a little more fine tuning"
- "The responses here themselves say a resume is a way to get your "toe" into the door! How can you make a judgement call for an individual by "seeing" their so called "toes" only? It's like the story of the 5 blind men who touched a different part of an elephant and came to a different set of conclusions as to what it was and what it could do, without seeing or even feeling the entire elephant."
- "...almost every other function that you said a "Generalist" may handle has been outsourced or is in the process of being outsourced and automated, or the employee is being "empowered" to handle on their own with the service provider.
So the one pure HR function that you can add value to internally is recruiting, however if that seems too much for most don't blame outsourcing and automation when it takes over completely. What you call "screening" can be done by anyone sitting half way around the world in a window less room, and then making an appointment for the hiring individual by an email or a phone call."
- "...In this day and age of almost 12% unemployment in the US, why employers are unable to fill positions with the "right" and properly "qualified" candidates is the mystery worth exploring..."
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Irrational Exuberance or Stupidity! Part - 2
Last week as I started to write about a - bubble of various sorts, forming across the entire gamut of the Indian economy the – sub-prime mortgage mess started to unravel in the US.
Media outlets and various financial organizations expressed shock and disbelief at the ramifications of the situation here in the US. It is interesting that none of them decided to interview the mastermind of the current fiscal mess his holiness - Mr. Alan Greenspan, under whose watchful eye the entire current sub-prime fiasco has it's genesis!
Yes, Mr.Greenspan is a very erudite and knowledgeable person; he is also the architect of this current mess. Mr.Greenspan had the knowledge and the tools at his disposal to prevent this situation in the sub-prime mortgage market as well as the deeper credit crunch that is making ripples across the globe. In fact if memory serves me and possibly other folks correctly this is not the first time Mr.Greenspan can be faulted for his acts of fiscal omissions - The Great Internet Bubble of the 20th Century also happened on his watch!
Now in India we have Prime Minister - Dr. Man Mohan Singh, who also is a very erudite fellow as well as an economist like Mr.Greenspan. Again if my memory serves me correctly the last time India as a country was almost at the doorstep of financial insolvency, this same Dr. Singh was at the head of the finance portfolio. Wonder if this is just a coincidence or fate as they say in India?
Lets look at some other interesting parallels.
Things that happened on Alan Greenspan's watch.
Black Monday 1987.
Internet pump and dump.
Beginning and end of Real-estate boom.
Super hot and sizzling economy, followed by busts and boom.
Overall decline in manufacturing economy!
Things that happened when Man Mohan Singh was lead Economic Advisor to PM, was FM, or PM himself.
India close to financial insolvency 1990.
Indian stock market pump and dump 1991/92.
Indian real-estate market becomes super hot.
Super hot and sizzling economy, followed by busts and boom.
Over all decline in manufacturing economy.
What happens next in India?
Every time I talk of the above scenario I am told to stop being a naysayer, and look at the rapid strides the service sector economy has made and the growth of employment etc. that will eventually create a trickle down effect that will uplift the Indian masses. Everyone tells me about the transition of global economies, from being agrarian to industrial manufacturing to eventually service driven.
TO WHICH I SAY CRAP! STOP THIS NONSENSE, FUELED BY PSEUDO-INTELLECTUAL DRIVEL!
SHOW ME ONE, ONLY ONE ECOMOMY THAT HAS SUSTAINED ITSELF ON A SERVICE ECONOMY WITH A GROWING POPULATION!
World War I & II saved the British Empire from being a footnote in history 50years ago. Japan has seen it's best days behind it. The Asian Tigers on the Pacific Rim are barely managing to keep their heads above water from the onslaught of the Chinese Tsunami. Countries on the African and South American continent barely register on any economic indicator or can hope to do so in the near future. Argentina and Brazil have never lived up to their potential despite the billions of dollars pumped into them in the past. Except for South Africa which has some economic activity the rest of the African continent it seems will be battling a human medical catastrophe.
Granted some of my predictions are a little extreme, but with a looming global recession, it would not take much for those predictions to come true!
Lets not forget about the nature of the Internet and electronic specialty service economy which moves at the speed of light is also susceptible to an equally rapid transformation into a commodity service that tends to flatten and remove various hierarchical barriers to entry for most service businesses. This not only reduces margins it automates and eliminates various functions that may have been essential earlier, and in turn may have been a source of wide scale employment.
The speed of the service economy is very rapid and by nature disruptive; it has a cannibalizing effect on general business and society as a whole. This is due to the constant search for greater economies of scale and optimization of efficiencies. We have witnessed this on a wide scale level during the dotcom meltdown. The same happens and has happened in an agrarian and industrialized economy, but at a much slower pace. When this reduction in economic activity does happen there is already enough ancillary business activity that has been created that it smoothes out the usual and periodic cyclical business and economic ups and downs.
My next post will touch on the immediate and near term ramifications of this service economy.Sunday, August 19, 2007
Irrational Exuberance or Stupidity? Part - I
For an individual that has been closely associated with the two business sectors in the
This sense of deja vu is not of the same optimistic kind promoted and shared by a lot of other evangelists of developing world growth patterns.
I rejoice at the phenomenal growth that has and is continuing to happen in
Let's not forget what the acronym ITES stands for - Information Technology Enabled Services, in the majority of cases this is nothing but once again a fancy term for low end backroom processing support work that has been offshored to India from the more developed nations.
Support activity can only happen if there is primary business activity to be supported, if we keep on creating and encouraging an environment where home grown physical industries are decimated and discouraged we will face the same consequences that the US is currently facing.
The home grown US economy is already frayed at the edges and is starting to tear apart due to the lack of regular investments in in the physical infrastructure for almost the last 30years. Let's not forget even the robust internet era of the 1990's in the US could not keep the economy going for long.
I understand all investments follow the money trail, but you cannot have isolated islands of economic prosperity and growth in a land of 1.2billion people, not have some kind of equitable balance being maintained without having nasty repercussions. We have seen the former
At the time when I was moving to the US in the early '90s, major trans-national consumer (hard and soft goods) corporations were making a beeline to India to capitalize on the spending power of the - emerging Indian middle class. Many of them lost their shirts in the ensuing years and some have barely managed to stay around profitably even after all these years. This despite all the years of boom activity.
There is risk in all activity, however when people lose sight of rationality in understanding and accepting risk, it is politely termed - Irrational Exuberance, or in layman terms - Stupidity!
The Indian stock market has been growing at a double digit rates for the past few years, the real-estate situation is even worse prices are going up in triple digits and the lay people are lapping it up in the name of growth, being led around by organized opportunists - like rats dancing to the tune of the Pied Piper!
My opinions may seem harsh to many, but I have my reasons and will elaborate on them going forward.
Sample of my musings on Linked In - 14
Is attrition a "thing" of the new century? Why isn't anybody bothered about it?
“Attrition, it can be a blessing as well as a curse for both the employer & employee, has always been there & is not a new buzz word.
When organizations face a tough competitive landscape for cost control, attrition - albeit voluntary may provide an easy way to cut spending without having to incur additional costs related to separation. Depending on the employee that departs there may be associated repercussions, for example if a key employee that is part of a crucial project or team leaves then there may be more problems, however, if a relatively non-essential/under-performing employee departs it may be a blessing?
Attrition also keeps an organization vibrant a& dynamic by infusing new ideas & talent, the flip side is loss of employees with key talent & experience possibly to competitors exacerbating the situation further.
For organizations facing high attrition rates in any industry or geographical location it is symptomatic of problems such as -
*Highly skilled workers employed in basic entry level jobs.
*Depressed wages in a high demand industry.
*Stressful & high pressure work environment.
*Improper or lack of verification of candidate credentials.
*Poor internal company culture that contradicts the projected company vision.
*Last, but not the least poor HR practices - hiring, training, & orientation of new employees.
Of the above I would like to touch on the last 3 in more detail -
In my experience employees having a short history of tenure at earlier 'jobs' are unlikely to stay longer at any future opportunity.
2ndly, their short tenure at previous positions would seriously inhibit their ability to gain expertise for future positions.
The part about internal company culture vs. projected vision. I 'm sure almost all of us can vouch for knowing organizations embodying the above. Due a meteoric rise or an isolated blockbuster product/service companies starts to live in their own 'lala land' which has absolutely no co-relation to their work practices.
Lastly, due to internal organizational pressures the HR staff is out of the communication loop when parameters are being drawn up for the various requirements internal departments have for workforce selection.
I have come across situations where requirements are so vague that all you need is a - 'warm body with a pulse' or so exacting and stringent no matter where you look you may not find a qualified candidate. Once a consensus is reached on hiring a certain individual there hardly any proper follow up regarding training/orientation.
Per my observations almost 80% of new employees get a cursory walk through of organizational practices & objectives & then get thrown into a grind-mill. There is no communication with these employees from the HR staff who after hiring take a hands off approach. There is very little if any contact of new employees with their immediate supervisors except in work related meetings, where they are supposed to listen only. Till the time they get their formal review/appraisal at least 6 months if not a year down the road, new employees are 'MAYBE" given a benchmark of performance objectives they were supposed to have been performing against. Even so no rhyme or reason is given for a majority of the ratings that are handed out. Most companies have some kind of exit interview programs, but they are hardly utilized. In HR forums everyone agrees ‘Exit interviews’ are a powerful tool to reveal causes for attrition, however most either do not use them or even when they are used nothing is done with the results.
Going back to my point about internal communication of HR staff within the organization, they have an unenviable job if it is to be done right. Almost 90% of HR recruiters are generalists & people who are usually at the entry level position of most organizations yet we put the burden of screening and selecting potential future superstars for the organization on them. Would welcome more observations... ”
Sample of my musings on Linked In - 13
*
“My comment does not pertain to any particular incident, but to the seemingly insane, moronic, as well as oxy-moronic questions that potential qualified candidates get asked during interviews, and the person asking feels that they are going to get a real and genuine answer.
Sometimes, when I have been asked such questions I have felt like giving the 'genuine' answer, but then good sense or rather - 'hypocrisy' has prevailed and I have kept my real answer to myself. There have been instances when the person sitting next to me has asked a potential candidate one of the questions and I have had to literally choke and chortle myself from blurting something on the verge of being censored!
My list (can always be added to) with the top questions in random order -
* What is your current compensation?
* What are your current compensation expectations?
* Why do you want to leave your existing job?
* Why do you want to work with our company?
* Can we contact your current & immediate boss?
* Where do you see yourself with our organization in the next 5 years?
* What do you rate as important in your life - money, family, career, or something else?
* Can you get along with your boss?
* What kind of boss would you like?
* Why do you think we should hire you?
* What would your boss say about you?
* Do you get along with people?
* Can you work 'overtime' to finish a crucial project, if needed?
The list not all inclusive, but just a sampling.
Here's one I was actually asked by one of the biggest MNCs in India, it went like this - (after 2 hours of a grueling 2nd interview) - ...we really like what you have to offer, we are the final decision makers with no further review and would be willing to make an offer on the spot, keep in mind we have people lined up to do almost anything to work for us (true). "Would you be willing to shave your facial hair? The culture of our company predicates that people with facial hair are perceived as being lazy and incompetent. Please take 15minutes to review and let us know your answer."
I heard the offer, their condition, and expectation of the response. Without even batting an eyelid I put my papers in my bag, got up, thanked them for their time and added " ... it was a shame that they did not review my application in detail earlier, as it would have spared everyone the trouble of wasting so much time, as my photograph (a requirement for the job application) was on it with facial hair, secondly nowhere in the job ad was there such a stipulation that one had to be clean shaved!...." I extended my hand for a handshake, but then just waved, turned around and walked out of the room.
Outside, I was stopped by an HR associate who came running upto to me and asked me to wait in another room for a minute. No sooner than I went in the 2 gentlemen who supposedly held my fate (job-wise) in their hands came into congratulate me on being selected to join their company. I was a little taken aback and asked what about the 'facial hair' they brushed it off as a "TEST" to see how susceptible I would be to various pressures in compromising my integrity!”
Sample of my musings on Linked In - 12
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“ It depends where you are based there are several such associations. If you were to do a Google search and then localize it you may find what you are looking for. You may want to check the following site
http://www.customerservicemanager.com/call-center-associations.htm ”
Sample of my musings on Linked In - 11
What are the top 3 things that are critical for the success of your projects?
“My top 3 critical requirements for the success of any project - large or small are -
* - Clarity of Vision - CONSTANT FOCUS - through Communication, internal & external.
* - Commitment of Vision - OF ADEQUATE RESOUCES - internal & external.
* - Implementation of Vision, adhering to time-lines otherwise - ORGANIZATIONAL APATHY - sets in.”
Sample of my musings on Linked In - 10
Google is a leading company on Internet, in the ads market, in video distribution services, mail services, map services, in networks and datacenters. They're everywhere, before everybody, how long do you think the others will survive ?
“Disruptive new offerings that would take peer to peer social networking technology and apply them to the CRM and ecommerce fields, making the marketing and sales of various services on a peer to peer targeted basis. This would eventually lead to greater and more diverse outsourcing of various services / functions by large corporations, as their scale would prevent them from entering this realm. These customized offerings could be monetized or be offered gratis depending on the provider of such services. The above could be achieved by advances in technology - hardware and software, which would come from the creation of the much anticipated and hyped ‘neural net P2P computing grid’ where each peer node would be a server and client simultaneously, thus doing away with the massive data centers that companies like GOOGLE have. Secondly, a lot of information being part of the public domain would be the base on which individual services would be built. Once again making the individual the master of their domain. I’m sure someone will point out privacy and security concerns; however I’m sure supporting technology would be available to filter and scrub the relevant personal information and yet make the information meaningful enough to others for various purposes. That’s my vision of the future…”
Sample of my musings on Linked In - 9
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“Was that a ‘real question’ or a ‘rhetorical question’ and what is the context of this question?
The reason I ask is to determine how to answer it, instead of giving an answer full of moral platitudes and ethical values.
Depending on where you are and what the business environment values are, a referral fee commission may be viewed as a ‘bribe’ in certain situations, whereas a ‘bribe’ in another environment may be business as usual somewhere else.
The second part of the question ‘ becoming powerful’ is an enigma in itself to the person asking the question. So without knowing the context of this query I guess all answers are moot…”
Sample of my musings on Linked In - 8
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How would you differentiate between skill, knowledge and competency ?
“Competency = basic / learned capability required gain knowledge and skills.
Knowledge = basic / advanced information required to perform certain functions.
Skills = the dexterity to required to perform those functions.
Expertise = Competency + Knowledge + Skills ”
Sample of my musings on Linked In - 4
How do you ask a former star employee to leave?
“Your question on "How to?" seems a little more in-depth than just a superficial question to a performance related situation.
You mention - - this person is emotionally attached to the company
- Why / How ? - is this person a former partner who is not happy with a new direction the organization may be going?
- Was this person promised / awarded with high rewards compared to initial baseline
expectations than what the company initially had? Now that that the business is maturing the expectations are different? So a change in star status????
- Since yours may still be a fledgling organization you may not have a formal HR setup and everyone maybe viewing themselves as having potential ownership of the company, though in reality there may be only one or two real owners.
- No matter where you are or what you do a - 'friend' is never perceived as a - 'boss' or 'mentor', so don't try to become a 'boss' now after being a 'friend'. You will usually be ignored at best and / or be viewed with antagonism and being arrogant otherwise.
My suggestion is to have a peer of your's have a formal heart to heart talk with this associate and plant a seed of separation on either a voluntary or involuntary basis. Sometimes even the office grapevine has it's uses in resolving such issues. This way if and when you finally discuss the separation issue directly it will not come as a surprise to this individual as then it would be viewed as inevitable since others in the work place knew of it also.
Lastly, I can't imagine having dead weight around as you imply is good for the company bottom-line, so also mention that the organization's finances cannot support operational inefficiencies therefore separation would be the most mutually beneficial option. Keep the discussion focussed on the organizational needs and expectations, do not delve into personal issues, habits, or behaviour as this would be counter-productive.
Be firm, but compassionate. Offer a personal recommendation to assist with new endevours if the person requests and keep it brief and business oriented. Hopefully, your friendship will survive this incident."
Sample of my musings on Linked In - 3
Greed is good. But what’s better than greed?
“Having your CAKE and being ABLE TO EAT IT !
Greed is only a CONCEPT, a means to an end... THE CAKE !
If you never get the CAKE, and always keep running after it - You are labeled GREEDY !
Those that have are - CONTENT, those that don't have are - GREEDY !
CONTENTMENT IS BLISS !!!!!!!!!”
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Non-Corporate Indian Brands - 1
His question was -
What is your take on these global brand concepts from India. How does world see it? Do they have momentum of their own which could turn them into a big global phenomenon?
This started me thinking and the result is printed here... as an ongoing series...
In my opinion and observation, the biggest, most recognized, with the most impact, and one of most visible non-corporate brands is definitely - "IIT". The mere mention "IIT" in almost any forum draws an immediate response of admiration. IIT Alumni having been having a tremendous impact in the US, especially since the 1990's, leading upto the highly visible pre-dot.com success and subsequent bust of various start-ups fronted by various IIT Alumni.
Brand "IIT" has given a majority of the Indian Diaspora a great deal of visibility, material well being, and an extremely powerful lobbying platform in the US. Caused upheavals in the US immigration rules for H1-B, L-visa categories, caused a huge and ongoing economic & IT/BPO boom in India, and a perceived negative on impact on the US economy and employment.
Brand "IIT" has given the Indian education system credibility and respectability, which was severely lacking before the dot.com success of various IIT Alumni - Entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists.
Though the Indian Medical Community was quite successful in the US, they did not belong to a single monolithic establishment where they were groomed for future success.
Earlier success by Indians in the US was usually termed as a individual and fleeting moment to celebrate.
Brand "IIT" currently has the momentum and should continue gathering momentum as highly visible force in the future, if it does not fall victim to it's own success.
That being -
1. The growing perception among various US employers, and even major Outsourcers, is that the current crop of IITians and graduates of other Tech schools from India are starting to act like mercenaries. Running after the money without having the genuine skills and experience to plod through some of the basic task oriented stuff that needs to be done on a daily basis. A process through which prior IIT alumni went through before breaking out and achieving their visible success.
2. A perception and a possible move towards the dilution of the core IIT curriculum in a manner to reflect and be able to integrate easily with the US higher education standards.
3. As mentioned in point -1, higher turnover from the IITians in the corporate world leading to a disruption in corporate growth due to the re-assignment of multiple individuals to the same project, resulting in lower productivity. A pattern that is being commonly encountered by various US companies off-shoring work to India.
4. The above would lead industry to look to alternatives outside of India, which would greatly inhibit any further growth on brand "IIT". Schools have impact, but ultimately it is industry that employs them and provides them a platform to excel and gain recognition.
