FIRST OF ALL MY RESPECTS TO ALL BRAVE, SERVING, AND MARTYRED AMERICANS!
On the anniversary of 9/11, to gauge world opinion I have been reading articles and essays by purported experts on America & Americans in foreign publications trying to describe the psyche of Americans and their government. It has been painful reading them give advice to us, which I consider nothing but stupid or short of senseless drivel. Their articles and essays may appeal to the less aware people who get swayed by even a light populist breeze, however I have to inform them their analysis is dead wrong! You cannot spend 4 years in an isolated environment of an academic institution in America and let that make you and expert on American psyche! That's doing no better than the terrorists hijackers of 9/11.
I can tell you as a person who grew up here and has now spent half my adult life in this country their "analysis" is way off the mark. One doesn't become an expert on America living in a closed environment like they did.
As much as I am saddened and humbled by the events of 9/11, and bow my head to the Heroes. I dearly wish from the bottom of my heart for the sake of the ones who lost their lives, their near and dear ones, my own children, family, friends and myself the events of the day would have never happened!
Without being an apologist for anyone, have some people in American government and corporate houses made mistakes along the way I'm sure they have. Tell me a nation or corporation that has not bungled along the way? Do you then go out and try to destroy them completely unless there intentions were clearly maleficent? Being a follower of history I can find less than a handful of such instances. America the government and America the corporate has never done anything close to that. Jokes aside, there is no arrogant and loudmouth America. This notion that America the big brother is trying to control the world as the single evil entity is nothing short of poppy seed ingested hallucinations that I can attribute to!
There is only ONE AMERICA, the warm loving, caring, & sharing ONE! The America these people will never know because of their inbuilt and deeply ingrained subconscious prejudices. If America and Americans are so bad why come here? Why not stay in the comfort of your cold dusty cave, or pest filled tropical jungle, or hot, dry arid desert, or wherever else you are coming from? I have yet to see people immigrating to Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan, India, China, Mexico, or even Japan and Europe, in droves like they make a bee-line for America even now!
For the last 3 years the country has been in a recession, bottoming housing market, high unemployment, and various other issues, yet the American people or the American government and business has not turned their on backs on anyone anywhere whether it be helping the earthquake victims in Haiti or Japan, rescue trapped miners in Chile (YES, American Technology at it's BEST!), trying to contain the financial meltdown in Europe (would have never guessed it, right?).
Does the world standby Americans when a natural calamity befalls us? Thank goodness we don't have half the problems they rest of the world has or we would be left up the creek to dry...
It confuses me that the rest of the world thinks that Americans have unlimited patience to keep on accepting the hurls and abuse it constantly throw at us yet we keep turning the other cheek! Has 9/11 changed Americans? It didn't immediately, but the procession of subsequent events is surely bringing about a slow and marked change in the thinking of "American" people.
Let me tell you what the event of 9/11/2001 has done, it has made the majority of simple minded, loving, and trusting Americans realize the world is a much deadlier and vengeful place than they can even imagine. That it is not all about "do unto others as you would have others do unto you"! There are people, countries, and ideologies that want to hold you(Americans) responsible & destroy you for the real and imaginary grievances which are inflicted on them by their own people!
Here's a thought if the Saudi hijackers were so upset at their monarchy why didn't they do something in their own country? Because they knew they would have faced a certain and mind you horrible death if their government had even got a whiff of their plans. So they come to America abuse our hospitality, take advantage of our law enforcement mechanism (innocent until proven guilty of an actual crime), prey on the tolerance of American society (had it been any other country they would have been marked men), to kill our people! If once was not enough we have another guy try to do the same almost a decade later by trying to use a SUV as an IED in New York - AGAIN! Yet it was not the first or second time that New York was made a target. In 1993 the WTC was the target of the first of many attempts to kill thousands of Americans by blowing up a truck filled with explosives in its' basement parking lot. So these were and are not isolated one off aberrations, but a series of well thought out deadly projects to inflict harm on the United States of America and it's citizens!
The American people are the ones that ALLOW their representatives to spend billions if not trillions of dollars on foreign aid helping other people. It is the American people who have ALLOWED their C-suite executives to export millions of jobs outside of the country to places like India & China. Yes, there is a business motive to it, but don't forget we could have done sent those jobs anywhere else had we wanted. Don't forget companies like Dell, HP, and others have shut down operations in India and elsewhere before and moved them elsewhere. America, could become a closed and protected economy like China, India, and dozens of other countries. America could also start imposing high tariffs on foreign imports like Europe, Japan, and others. Yet, we don't do it, at-least not yet; and don't tempt us into doing it! The tide is turning as 9/11 has started to make common Americans more aware of what has been and is going on in the rest of the world. Instead of trying to become equals the rest of the world does not think of rising up to the level of America, so what does it do try to do drag it down to their level!
Americans and myself included, because I am an AMERICAN and a PROUD one, are coming to the realization we need to take of our country and people first! We are getting sick of hearing there was a tsunami, earthquake, genocide in a certain part of the globe so we need to send billions of dollars of aid there and put our peoples' lives at risk! We don't care if people are starving in certain countries so we need to send jobs there to help them out. Why? Because look what 50 years of do gooding did to America, more than 3,000 killed in New York City!
For the last 200 years America took care of itself and the world when no-one was there to be a role model, now I think the time has come for America and Americans to once again take care of themselves, but let the rest of the world step-up it's own game!
Am I upset? YES, I am UPSET! Upset as an AMERICAN! Upset as a parent of couple of great ALL AMERICAN kids! UPSET AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN WHO HAS HAD ENOUGH!
On behalf of most(see we still have freedom of choice!) AMERICANS I'm giving the rest of the world notice don't take us for granted, at-least not anymore!
WE WILL NEVER FORGET!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
9/11 Anniversary - My reactions
Saturday, June 05, 2010
LEADERSHIP - IS IT A MYTH???
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...
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Politics... taking the plunge!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Darwin lied...
If being able to survive was a sign of the survival of the fittest and thus the foundation of the theory of evolution we sure have been taken for ride for the past two centuries.
The Dinosaurs supposedly became extinct because of a great global catastrophe and also because those huge lumbering creatures had pea sized brains. Same happened to the Sabre tooth tigers and mastodons before the great ice age.
Yet, we never hear of Sharks and Cockroaches evolving into higher creature beings despite being on the face of the earth for hundreds of millions of years. What happened to evolution? Then again evolution into what...?
Now mankind has supposedly been on the planet for only the last six million years, yet it has managed to evolve beyond a seemingly wild creature into having it's own distinct civilization. That is not what I claim, but what is asserted by leading scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, and other "...gists" around the world.
Now if we were to believe the theory of evolution and the past recorded history of the planet - mankind doesn't stand a chance, because going by the past the entire world will face devastation through either natural calamities or man-made extinction of all species.
So just being able to survive longer as a species does not necessarily make it a prime candidate for evolution. Maybe the same holds true for people just because someone has been around for a while doesn't necessarily make them more evolved from another fellow being in any way shape or manner.
Some of the people who we admire for their contributions (open to debate depending on POV)Alexander, Jesus, Kennedy, Ramanujam,or even the likes of Einstein and Marie Curie had their stroke of genius at a relatively early part of their lives.
So what does all the above mean... ? Make your own deductions and post your comments if you like!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Back to Blogging - Bloom Energy
Back to blogging after almost a 2 year hiatus...
However, the best thing is that re-starting the blog with unveiling great news from the world of technology and that too my another fellow of Indian-heritage - KR Sridhar of Bloom Energy.
If you have recently noticed Google getting into the Energy space well here is the brain behind the thought.
Simple - The world would not have had to wait almost another 500 years for Indians to migrate to the west to contribute their talents and brilliance!
Friday, February 15, 2008
If you are the `LAST PERSON ON THIS EARTH'....what would you do????
If you are the `LAST PERSON ON THIS EARTH'....what would you do????
Adam was the first person ....
Imagine a situation , a very hypothetical one , all the people in the world have vanished and you are the sole survivor on this planet, The last person!!!
What comes to your mind in such a situation, what would you do???
let your thoughts flow.... :))
I guess that would be an excuse to finally watch some movies such as - "Castaway", and finally pay attention when watching "Terminator 3 - Rise of the Machines" .
Then grab all the books of the "Rama" series by Arthur C Clarke & Gentry Lee and read them at leisure. Diligently flip through "Contact" by Carl Sagan, etc.
However, on more serious note after reading all the previous posts I was intrigued by the lack of companionship that people would feel in such a situation. Hardly, anyone mentions family or friends or displays any empathy on whatever may have happened to them. Everyone seems to be thankful that they finally get to be alone... Quite an interesting though very subtle and implicit comment on our global society, since this is a global forum.
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 - 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
*
“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
*
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 - 7
*
“Please provide details on your domains of expertise, a few references of projects currently ongoing or recently completed, billing rates, and average lead times along-with your location in India. Will certainly get back to you if this passes muster with my associates. ”
Sample of my musings on Linked In - 6
How Do I Introduce Western Style entrepreneurial skills Into countries like Malaysia, Russia, India, China, Philippines, etc.
“I am trying to understand the scope of your question/comment, based on some of the answers I'm even more confused. Are trying to provide a service to encourage entrepreneurial talent in these countries to use western marketing concepts within their own countries? If so, then you might as well take India off your list as there is no dearth of entrepreneurial skills or the knowledge of any proven marketing concept there. I would venture to go as far to say that business in India may offer concepts that are light years beyond what is currently being practiced in the west, not to mention they have been validated in their own markets. All this due to a thriving capitalist economy, despite strict government oversight. If you are trying to provide a service to assist businesses in these countries market their services and products in the west, then there may be opportunities. However, all that depends on your contacts, cost structure, and the services that you can provide. All of which is no different from any other business service - B2B, B2C, MLM, etc. ”
Sample of my musings on Linked In - 5
Is everyone at Linked in Single? or am I missing my 'prospects' :-) ?
“Maybe I'm missing something, but the link to your site is password protected...even before you see a web page???? Could that possibly be the cause of your problem...???? I used IE & FF, access issues...preventing even a look see?”
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 !!!!!!!!!”
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Non-Corporate Indian Brands - 2
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?
# 2 in the Series
As far as other brands go - "Indian Eateries", are probably the 2nd most pervasive "Brand Category" (Don't know whether it is proper to label a "Category" as a "Brand Category") to have an impact at least in the US. I'm quite sure the rest of world follows the US lead just due to the innovation and economic aspect of it. (This is not American arrogance, just a fact!)
Indian food is no longer "Exotic", "Esoteric", or plain "Weird". It does not give the "Delhi Belly" (diarrhea), the "Bombay Burp" (heartburn) or any other similar symptoms. It is not served - just in very "Swank" downtown restaurants, or "Dirty & Dinghy Hole in the Wall places" in ethnic Indian neighborhoods, it has and is going mainstream.
This is a mass upheaval from the cultural aspect - Indian food, no longer smells and tastes strange to most people. Funny these days - Indians, per say no longer have the - "Funky curry odor", they have a "Unique aroma" emanating from them.
Indian Eateries are now dotted in almost every metro area in the US. From my personal experience my friends will ask me to bring - 'samosas', 'barfies', 'kababs', 'nans', and the perennial favorite 'TANDOORI CHICKEN'. My friends and colleagues regularly ask me for Indian recipes, how I cook, where they can get supplies and 'masala curry' to try their hand at Indian cooking. With growing emphasis on eating healthy the vegetarian lifestyle, which used to be bland, uninspiring, and unpalatable is now something to look forward to by using different Indian cooking techniques and spices to give flavor to food.
Pre-cooked Indian food is gaining mass traction and respectability by being available in local as well as ethnic supermarkets alongside offerings from the Hispanic, Jamaican, Oriental palate. You have pre-cooked "Daal Makhani", "Palak Paneer", "Bhindi Masala" "Gobhi Aaloo", "Paranthas", etc from brands like - SWAD, DEEP FOODs, MTR, etc, secondly, you know you have arrived when Wal*mart starts carrying Indian food products on it's shelves. When you say "Basmati" in a store they know you are talking about high quality rice, lentils are not just for making soup, and "kulfi" is better than any ice cream for desert.
Almost 30years ago when we lived in Arlington, VA, less than 10miles from Washington DC, my parents would take us on these everlasting 35-40mile long drives to buy rice, 'daal', 'ataa', 'dry masala', loose Indian tea, Dettol, etc. from the Indian grocery store. Now you don't have to drive more than 5 miles in most metro areas to get any of the stuff, if your local grocery store doesn't have it.
As inconspicuous as this phenomenon is there is no stopping this cultural -"Juggernaut".
So in the end it's ... hard to like what you are afraid of, which is why I believe politics is despised so much.