One of those days... gloomy weather outside.. insides groaning and complaining.. work seems like the most distant priority.. people come around asking for stuff and you feel like just answering 'I dont know and I dont care!' :p
but a silver lining exists, even on this dark grey cloud.. the mid week holiday.. the oasis in the middle of the sahara.. i honestly believe that every week should have at least mid week break .. just to help you recover from the wear and tear that office brings..
and of course, there is Friday after that.. and sports again.. come to think of it .. today is almost like a Friday.. should make some harrys plans and some dinnering and all that :)
alright - the days not that bad after all then - of course.. to dampen the spirits.. small matters of work are still there.. sigh!
so.. back to strategic stuff.. setting up meetings, process invoices, print stuff out, write agendas for meetings.. vidyar - we need to start the 'united abm blogger' soon!
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
more strategies!
The spring is there in our step, and we are clearly on a high (as my previous post may tell u) - but as some smart guy said, the only way after uve reached the crescendo is a steep steep drop.. other smart guys have called it the law of averages - but what i call it is a) complacency and b) not embracing change...
Despite being the best team around - I think we have a couple of big gaps - couple that with a few changes (of playing conditions/Grounds) and we may actually have a problem.. the key changes this coming week are
a) We are playing at GIIS Queensland - a much smaller ground
b) The opposition would def have heard about Bakir and Matt and would plan for that
This is my take on how we should tackle each of the issues :
a) Playing at the smaller ground
Despite being the best team around - I think we have a couple of big gaps - couple that with a few changes (of playing conditions/Grounds) and we may actually have a problem.. the key changes this coming week are
a) We are playing at GIIS Queensland - a much smaller ground
b) The opposition would def have heard about Bakir and Matt and would plan for that
This is my take on how we should tackle each of the issues :
a) Playing at the smaller ground
- Means that a 200 may be enough - need to bat faster - id revise all of Paddus targets upwards by 20%.
- Need some1 upfront who can play well square (pulls/cuts) - to me the ideal guy here is Sriram
- Singles are going to be rare so the disadvantages of running slow dont count much :p - so let Ganji open
- If an opener falls early - get Esh in and if neccessary even Swapnil and hold for the first 6-8 overs..
- I wont bowl myself too much unless really needed - even the top edges fly for 6 here... but always willing to give it a try :)
b) Competition knowing about Bakir/Matt
- Could keep thier best bowlers back
- which means we need to maximise the new ball bowlers and get some1 up there who can hit!
So my proposed batting line-up is :
- Ganji
- Sriram
- Paddu/Raff
- Bakir
- Matt
- Tapish
- Raff/Paddu
- Shiv
- Swapnil
- Esh
- Goel
If wickets fall fast - then Esh and Swapnil go upfront..
An interesting option will be sending Swapnil up instead of Ganji and asking him to go for it.. or maybe asking nitin goel to do that :)
Bowling:
Bakir, Nitin, Tapish, Paddu, Swappy, Matt, Shiv (in order of priority)
Separately, for the friendly against KB, this is my proposed line-up
- Raff
- Tapish
- Paddu
- Bakir
- Shiv
- Sriram
- Swappy
- Manish
- Esh
- Nitin Goel
- Ganji
Just to mix things up a bit :)
cricket continues
For those who dont like cricket (read spunky, oli and a few other such loser kinds) .. apologies .. there hasnt been too much action in my life but for the cricket matches on weekends and during the week, a constant to-and-fro of discussions around strategy, analysis, chest thumping or plain bitching..
In normal circumstances, this would be a fairly poor reflection of the kind of excitement in my life (the lack of which is a completely different story which i shall leave for a less joyous time).. but for this one time, its purely behind a complete upliftment of the spirit of the team - suddenly u can sense it - there is a sort of nervous passion in the air as emails float around, the Srirams of the world are deeply introspecting on a freak dismissal, Esh is raring to go at the bowlers again and even the iceman polska is betraying some emotion! (not yet to a level to getting ganji into wanting to run fast singles tho - now that will take something!)
This season feels like a piece of Yanni music - (refer to the Optimistique album) - starts of slow and low and then builds up tempo and style.. and just when u think its going to taper off, he takes the next higher note, till u are amongst notes u didnt know about.. so thats what happened on saturday - just when u thot that the last match was an awesome allround display - this one completely smashed that out ..
Bakir and Matt were the stars of the day - they came, they looked around with utter disdain, helped themselves to a quick pile of runs like kids in a unattended candy store and then were in the process of stomping out the last bit of self esteem the opposition had before guilt struck home and they let the poor wet mice go..
It wasnt just the runs, it wasnt the sweetly caressed shots interspersed with savage blows, it was they elegance that they commanded while they were there thay was awe inspiring.. Matt looked like he could score that fifty again on one leg, one arm tied down and with a blindfold.. Bakir - what should i say!
Anyway - the bowling wasnt as rosy as this - key highlights for me were a) Swapnil bowling with a lot more control and lower pace b) Matts outstanding bowling c) now always expected - a 5 wicket haul from Bakir and d) a significant improvement in my bowling vs last time..
Our ground fielding sucked a little, as did our catching - we dropped a good number of catches - somethign we really need to fix, if we want to keep up the good work...
As we move towards the next match - they key question is - is there a higher note, or have we reached the crescendo! - who cares! as of now - i can feel the music in my ears!
In normal circumstances, this would be a fairly poor reflection of the kind of excitement in my life (the lack of which is a completely different story which i shall leave for a less joyous time).. but for this one time, its purely behind a complete upliftment of the spirit of the team - suddenly u can sense it - there is a sort of nervous passion in the air as emails float around, the Srirams of the world are deeply introspecting on a freak dismissal, Esh is raring to go at the bowlers again and even the iceman polska is betraying some emotion! (not yet to a level to getting ganji into wanting to run fast singles tho - now that will take something!)
This season feels like a piece of Yanni music - (refer to the Optimistique album) - starts of slow and low and then builds up tempo and style.. and just when u think its going to taper off, he takes the next higher note, till u are amongst notes u didnt know about.. so thats what happened on saturday - just when u thot that the last match was an awesome allround display - this one completely smashed that out ..
Bakir and Matt were the stars of the day - they came, they looked around with utter disdain, helped themselves to a quick pile of runs like kids in a unattended candy store and then were in the process of stomping out the last bit of self esteem the opposition had before guilt struck home and they let the poor wet mice go..
It wasnt just the runs, it wasnt the sweetly caressed shots interspersed with savage blows, it was they elegance that they commanded while they were there thay was awe inspiring.. Matt looked like he could score that fifty again on one leg, one arm tied down and with a blindfold.. Bakir - what should i say!
Anyway - the bowling wasnt as rosy as this - key highlights for me were a) Swapnil bowling with a lot more control and lower pace b) Matts outstanding bowling c) now always expected - a 5 wicket haul from Bakir and d) a significant improvement in my bowling vs last time..
Our ground fielding sucked a little, as did our catching - we dropped a good number of catches - somethign we really need to fix, if we want to keep up the good work...
As we move towards the next match - they key question is - is there a higher note, or have we reached the crescendo! - who cares! as of now - i can feel the music in my ears!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Cricket ramblings continue..
Realised that I didnt pay tribute to Nitin (Not u ganji - i mean Goel) - in my last post.. or to Swapnil.. Both fighters to the core - have been invaluable to the team.. and of course there is Esh who has bled for the team ;)
Anyway - this is not about being good to people.. this post is about my take on the strategy - and my attempt to influence team management...
I may trash some people and thier abilities here - but no hard feelings guys - u know how capitalistic worlds are run :p - but seriously - please dont get senti :)
First, Whats working? (pls note how i placed 'whats working' first - in the spirit of positive thinking :p)
a) Our bowling absolutely rocks (apart from the spin bowler who just plain sucks! and that we dont have a back up for Tapish - come on Bharat/Raff!)
b) Our middle order - Whether its the cool killer tapish, Solid Bakir, Paddu or the substitute middle order batsmen (Bharat, Lal etc) - we always look our best when these guys are in the middle.. singles come easy - the occasional four looks effortless - over the last 6-7 matches - this is usually a phase for 10-15 overs of the match - typically 8-23th over ..
c) No dropped catches yet - and ganjis slip catching nothwitstanding (actually even he got a runout :p) we've been a pretty neat side.. till now at least :)
Whats not working?
a) Our average score is lower than it should be - we should have hit the mediocre sides for at least 200 in each match
b) Our starts are slower than they could be (with restrictions and all that)
c) In the last few overs, the lower order isnt able to accelerate properly, either losing the wickets too fast in a frenzy to go out there and smash the first ball for four or six (read: Raff, Shiv and Paddu are going in too late :p)
My ideas on further improving an already excellent team. Pretty much all of it revolves around being flexible and not planning a batting order in terms of who goes after whom but thinking of who should go at what stage of the innings
So - this is how I believe we should structure our team - comments obviously invited :)
Core middle batsmen : Bakir, Tapish, Paddu, Matt, Bharat - these guys should ideally be there by the 10th over and one of these guys should play on till the end.. Send them at whatever situation they will score at a run a ball - only issue is that we have only 2/3 of this kind and so they shouldnt take too many chances
Single pickers: Lal, Swapnil, Manish, Venkat (?) - these guys should play around the core batsmen - these are our gritty batsmen, who can either stay there while the bowling going well and can rotate the strike and give the core batsmen more strike.. the occasional boundary is a sweet bonus.. :)
Slammers: Raff, Shiv, Nitin Goel - This is the bunch that flinches everytime some1 defends a ball pitched up - and Raff even goes to watch other games cos he thinks esh and Ganji are batting slowly.. Ideally if they play 4/5 overs in the middle - those will give almost 50 runs, now whether u want it in the early part (fielding restriction time), or around the 15th over to speed things up a bit or later in the 24th over onwards - thats completely the captains call but its a shame to have hard hitters sitting in the pavilion till the 27th over and then they need to go slam from ball 1 .. One more thing .. if they are slammers - no point asking them to bat like opening batsmen in the nets - let them have a go.. in the nets too :)
Opening Defenders: Esh, Ganji, Sriram - Sriram can pretty much play in any of the roles we talked about - so lets talk about what the blunters need to do .. Esh and Ganji need to ensure that for the first 5 overs we dont lose a wicket - not too differently from the last match - a little more single taking may help - and a few more of ganjis sweetly timed shots on the legside may actually help us forget the last 2 seasons :p
So nett, keep each of these groups ready depending on the situation of the match..
Anyway - thats the opinion from the bottom of the pyramid - im sure the the view from up there will be a little different..
but on a separate note : here is to Paddu - the glue that holds the splinters together.. Take away his brilliant cricket skills and mind, take away his enthu that lifts the team up or his super-gentlemanly conduct and ull still be left with his ever smiling self (despite pain, tiredness or plain irritation)
(if that doesnt get us up the order raff, nothing will!)
anyway - time to get back to work - i love WFH days :)
Anyway - this is not about being good to people.. this post is about my take on the strategy - and my attempt to influence team management...
I may trash some people and thier abilities here - but no hard feelings guys - u know how capitalistic worlds are run :p - but seriously - please dont get senti :)
First, Whats working? (pls note how i placed 'whats working' first - in the spirit of positive thinking :p)
a) Our bowling absolutely rocks (apart from the spin bowler who just plain sucks! and that we dont have a back up for Tapish - come on Bharat/Raff!)
b) Our middle order - Whether its the cool killer tapish, Solid Bakir, Paddu or the substitute middle order batsmen (Bharat, Lal etc) - we always look our best when these guys are in the middle.. singles come easy - the occasional four looks effortless - over the last 6-7 matches - this is usually a phase for 10-15 overs of the match - typically 8-23th over ..
c) No dropped catches yet - and ganjis slip catching nothwitstanding (actually even he got a runout :p) we've been a pretty neat side.. till now at least :)
Whats not working?
a) Our average score is lower than it should be - we should have hit the mediocre sides for at least 200 in each match
b) Our starts are slower than they could be (with restrictions and all that)
c) In the last few overs, the lower order isnt able to accelerate properly, either losing the wickets too fast in a frenzy to go out there and smash the first ball for four or six (read: Raff, Shiv and Paddu are going in too late :p)
My ideas on further improving an already excellent team. Pretty much all of it revolves around being flexible and not planning a batting order in terms of who goes after whom but thinking of who should go at what stage of the innings
So - this is how I believe we should structure our team - comments obviously invited :)
Core middle batsmen : Bakir, Tapish, Paddu, Matt, Bharat - these guys should ideally be there by the 10th over and one of these guys should play on till the end.. Send them at whatever situation they will score at a run a ball - only issue is that we have only 2/3 of this kind and so they shouldnt take too many chances
Single pickers: Lal, Swapnil, Manish, Venkat (?) - these guys should play around the core batsmen - these are our gritty batsmen, who can either stay there while the bowling going well and can rotate the strike and give the core batsmen more strike.. the occasional boundary is a sweet bonus.. :)
Slammers: Raff, Shiv, Nitin Goel - This is the bunch that flinches everytime some1 defends a ball pitched up - and Raff even goes to watch other games cos he thinks esh and Ganji are batting slowly.. Ideally if they play 4/5 overs in the middle - those will give almost 50 runs, now whether u want it in the early part (fielding restriction time), or around the 15th over to speed things up a bit or later in the 24th over onwards - thats completely the captains call but its a shame to have hard hitters sitting in the pavilion till the 27th over and then they need to go slam from ball 1 .. One more thing .. if they are slammers - no point asking them to bat like opening batsmen in the nets - let them have a go.. in the nets too :)
Opening Defenders: Esh, Ganji, Sriram - Sriram can pretty much play in any of the roles we talked about - so lets talk about what the blunters need to do .. Esh and Ganji need to ensure that for the first 5 overs we dont lose a wicket - not too differently from the last match - a little more single taking may help - and a few more of ganjis sweetly timed shots on the legside may actually help us forget the last 2 seasons :p
So nett, keep each of these groups ready depending on the situation of the match..
Anyway - thats the opinion from the bottom of the pyramid - im sure the the view from up there will be a little different..
but on a separate note : here is to Paddu - the glue that holds the splinters together.. Take away his brilliant cricket skills and mind, take away his enthu that lifts the team up or his super-gentlemanly conduct and ull still be left with his ever smiling self (despite pain, tiredness or plain irritation)
(if that doesnt get us up the order raff, nothing will!)
anyway - time to get back to work - i love WFH days :)
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Evolution of cricket in P&G
For those who came in late - I am part of the P&G cricket team - which true to P&G culture was the best at work life balance but thats pretty much where it all ended.. nets was an unheard of concept and playing a match with 11 was as real as getting incremental money at the end of the fiscal.. notables on this team included Sriram 'blast from the past' , manish 'got married and disappeared' Chaudhury and Nitin 'runs as fast as he walks' Gajria and me ..
Every match was a combination of a) a flawless execution of a middle order collapse b) a bowling line-up that was determined to help the opposing batsmen get a few runs (some1 needs to do that right!) and c) incessant intellectualisation on what worked and what not after that match - all fairly unactionable stuff..
In between, we went a step better - we joined Kaybee - a team that was as splintered as ours, Ganji loved the guys who played there - with a seasons cumulative score of less than the number of Km from Newton to Novena - id think he had good enough reason to be pissed off when he wass dropped from the team ;) - but the external perspective while playing for these guys was helpful.. we realised others sucked just as bad - and Sriram took the leap of faith saying 'P&G will field its own team this year'..
And when u could just hear the laughter dying out (as a reaction to Srirams statement) - we saw the advent of a new generation of cricketers in P&G - Bakir 'demolition man' Shaikh, Paddu 'Nazi captain', Tapish - the ice cool killer, Raffy - the diversity quota (hehe - actually the Gilchrist) and Bharat 'currently limping ' V. ..
More about what happened to this team - in my next post..
Every match was a combination of a) a flawless execution of a middle order collapse b) a bowling line-up that was determined to help the opposing batsmen get a few runs (some1 needs to do that right!) and c) incessant intellectualisation on what worked and what not after that match - all fairly unactionable stuff..
In between, we went a step better - we joined Kaybee - a team that was as splintered as ours, Ganji loved the guys who played there - with a seasons cumulative score of less than the number of Km from Newton to Novena - id think he had good enough reason to be pissed off when he wass dropped from the team ;) - but the external perspective while playing for these guys was helpful.. we realised others sucked just as bad - and Sriram took the leap of faith saying 'P&G will field its own team this year'..
And when u could just hear the laughter dying out (as a reaction to Srirams statement) - we saw the advent of a new generation of cricketers in P&G - Bakir 'demolition man' Shaikh, Paddu 'Nazi captain', Tapish - the ice cool killer, Raffy - the diversity quota (hehe - actually the Gilchrist) and Bharat 'currently limping ' V. ..
More about what happened to this team - in my next post..
Friday, May 18, 2007
The vishu saga
Vishys undeniable raw tam-bram studd farm appeal continues to bowl over the women.. the latest being the interns party that was hosted last night..
Its no surprise that this was the only bright thing about the party - given the other parts of the night were doing one of 4 things :
a) Lifting daaku off some1/thing as he fell over in yet another drunken stupor.. and watching vishy as he muttered incomprehensible abuses under his breath.
b) Taking our own case, and intermittently shouting 'Rule 2', 'Rule 2' (For those who came in late - Rule 2 = 'dont take our own case while ragging is going on')
c) Shouts of 'North zone', 'South Zone', 'East zone' and random cheering behind that every time some1 mentioned where he was from... proudly (And much to aparnas chagrin) led by Dobby as he cheered for the 'Aamar shonar bangla, bihar, assam and orissa' and equally ineptly led by the considerably drunk Nerdy who was leading the illad brigade (dont crucify me guys :p)..
d) Random bhasad cheering for IIMA, B, C - and a semi whimper for L, FMS and NUS. :)
Back to the highlight, Vishu was clearly the centre of the night - whether it be his Salsa dance with Anupama (which he thought no one noticed:p), Being lovingly called 'vishu' by only tam bram girl there (resulting in suspicious green smoke around olis ears) , consistently being in the top 2 guys in the room when the women were asked to the extent where there were two women who were willing to arm wrestle (in the absence of mud :p) just to get a chance to dance with their 'Vishu'.. Cheers man - uve got then eating out of ur hand havent u - with Nayak out of the race under super PML considerations (PML = pyaar mein lulla for those who came in late), this leaves Vishy with a clear path - like chritiano ronaldo with only the keeper to beat.. :p
anyway - just hope this post didnt make u think that the party was fun.. it was a damp squib if there was ever one - over drunk people, mostly boring (read uncooperative) interns, lack of the nayak, not very involved senior junta - pchaa - lets just move on to the rest of the weekend ...
Its no surprise that this was the only bright thing about the party - given the other parts of the night were doing one of 4 things :
a) Lifting daaku off some1/thing as he fell over in yet another drunken stupor.. and watching vishy as he muttered incomprehensible abuses under his breath.
b) Taking our own case, and intermittently shouting 'Rule 2', 'Rule 2' (For those who came in late - Rule 2 = 'dont take our own case while ragging is going on')
c) Shouts of 'North zone', 'South Zone', 'East zone' and random cheering behind that every time some1 mentioned where he was from... proudly (And much to aparnas chagrin) led by Dobby as he cheered for the 'Aamar shonar bangla, bihar, assam and orissa' and equally ineptly led by the considerably drunk Nerdy who was leading the illad brigade (dont crucify me guys :p)..
d) Random bhasad cheering for IIMA, B, C - and a semi whimper for L, FMS and NUS. :)
Back to the highlight, Vishu was clearly the centre of the night - whether it be his Salsa dance with Anupama (which he thought no one noticed:p), Being lovingly called 'vishu' by only tam bram girl there (resulting in suspicious green smoke around olis ears) , consistently being in the top 2 guys in the room when the women were asked to the extent where there were two women who were willing to arm wrestle (in the absence of mud :p) just to get a chance to dance with their 'Vishu'.. Cheers man - uve got then eating out of ur hand havent u - with Nayak out of the race under super PML considerations (PML = pyaar mein lulla for those who came in late), this leaves Vishy with a clear path - like chritiano ronaldo with only the keeper to beat.. :p
anyway - just hope this post didnt make u think that the party was fun.. it was a damp squib if there was ever one - over drunk people, mostly boring (read uncooperative) interns, lack of the nayak, not very involved senior junta - pchaa - lets just move on to the rest of the weekend ...
simple and powerful!
Check out the excerpt below - my new MD gave this to me in our first 1:1 meeting last month. Now I am as big a cynic (and probably bigger than) as most of you reading this .. but something about these simple 5 lines caught me - as I thought a little about this - the strength of these points really drove home..
___________________________________________________________________
Beliefs that drive my behavior:
1) Build an organisation - the volumes/Business will follow:
Do post a comment if you didnt understand something - and ill put it in a non-P&G way :p
___________________________________________________________________
Beliefs that drive my behavior:
1) Build an organisation - the volumes/Business will follow:
- You cant succeed if your people dont
- Find a mission and culture to rally around
- Create legacies, not assignment histories
2) Lead, Follow or get out of the way - DONT WHINE:
- You are an entrepreneur, not a consultant - act, dont just give advice
- Dont bitch about ur brand team - if you dont believe who will?
- All teams need cheerleaders - and it starts with us
3) Win externally, dont swirl internally
- If it doesnt build cases or equity, dont do it
- Dress up the store, not the office
- Business should drive processes, not the other way around
4) Business can be much simpler than we make it
- Win with few big ideas rather than with small scattered ideas
- Buzz words come and go - fundamentals are forever
- Focus on the action - not the jargon
- Cut the swirl - elevate to the decision maker
5) Be ready to quit everyday without regrets
- Have passions other than, and more lasting than work
- Do whats right for the business and my people, forget 'agendas', 'promotion timings'
Do post a comment if you didnt understand something - and ill put it in a non-P&G way :p
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Desis - where do we stand vs. the rest
Over the last 2 odd years - ive spent inordinate amounts of time working with a completely diverse A-Pac team - an Aussie, a Thai, a New Zealander, an Indonesian, a Chinese, a Singaporean, a frenchman and a Filipino. While i run the risk of being completely unidimensional in my analysis of each of these races, ill go ahead anyway.. just dont quote me anywhere :p
Dont know about u guys, but before I came here - I thought of SEA as pretty much homogeneous set of people of asian descent.. and Ironically, I spent all of Friday morning getting the data to prove to management that each ASEAN market needed a different kind of marketing because they were different people!
Anyway - back to the topic: Remember, this is a comparision of the mid tertile of people rather than a comparision of the top people from each race (top people are the best - no matter where they come from )
What are we good at :
a) Ability to put fight - call it the boon of a competitive education system, or call it the bane of not having our priorities right - but Indians have the ability to really live with their foot on the pedal ..
b) Adapting to an environment: Most of us are adapters by nature - brings to mind that Undy ad which goes 'zindagi mein bahut kuch adjust karna padta hai', all of us are just children of a system that teaches us to take whatever is doled out to us - nett, we are survivors, clinging on to in an ever changing environment
c) Thinking ability : A controversial one.. but in my time at P&G, ive found that most Indians are good thinkers - not just math, but overall their ability to think through a situation and a problem. It could be just the crosssection of people in P&G but Indians do seem pretty strategic.. u know what i mean?
what sets us back:
a) Menial is bad, strategy is good: Coming from a culture where menial is bad (starting as early as the caste system) and thinkers are great, its no surprise that we look down at routine boring things, and prefer to do a 'strategy' project to 'implementation', prefer 'brand management' to 'sales'..
b) Operating with discipline: not so much on an absolute scale as on a comparative one vs other nationalities - Indians lag behind on this one by a long long way - repetitive detail oriented things are just not our cup of tea - u can either fight hard to imbibe it - or recognise (like i did) that there is no hope and i need to duck everytime something like this comes along..
c) A wide perspective: Given that 90% of us have never seen anyplace out of India and have never met non Indians, its but natural that we are untouched by the concept of global perspective.. whether it be Indo-Paki issues, or a west vs East story or even caring about the difference between Thailand/indo/mal/Vietnam - nett, as long as it doesnt affect me i dont have to know it!
d) A thirst for information: Again, this may be skewed due to the cross section ive met, but Indians usually arent actively trying to learn about new things/cultures.. Especially if you compare this with Aussies, you see that they are extremely well informed - whether it be local politics, international issues, laws and regulations and even health related stuff.. you really need to be in the midst of a transfat, good fat, bad fat kind of conversation to realise that these guys spend a lot of time really understanding things that affect their life..
e) Qualitative is Global: Probably the biggest, especially in a engg/MBA context, if you dont have numbers in the statement u made, you are obviously a fraud and 'global'.. If there is one thing id like to go back and change in our Indian MBA mentality, it would be this - It is the biggest bane of our education system - something that is the single most important factor that pushes our EQs all the way down to the futuristic ones we will use for robots..
I had a few more, but in fear of sounding like a indian basher, i shall stop here :)
Jai hind!
Dont know about u guys, but before I came here - I thought of SEA as pretty much homogeneous set of people of asian descent.. and Ironically, I spent all of Friday morning getting the data to prove to management that each ASEAN market needed a different kind of marketing because they were different people!
Anyway - back to the topic: Remember, this is a comparision of the mid tertile of people rather than a comparision of the top people from each race (top people are the best - no matter where they come from )
What are we good at :
a) Ability to put fight - call it the boon of a competitive education system, or call it the bane of not having our priorities right - but Indians have the ability to really live with their foot on the pedal ..
b) Adapting to an environment: Most of us are adapters by nature - brings to mind that Undy ad which goes 'zindagi mein bahut kuch adjust karna padta hai', all of us are just children of a system that teaches us to take whatever is doled out to us - nett, we are survivors, clinging on to in an ever changing environment
c) Thinking ability : A controversial one.. but in my time at P&G, ive found that most Indians are good thinkers - not just math, but overall their ability to think through a situation and a problem. It could be just the crosssection of people in P&G but Indians do seem pretty strategic.. u know what i mean?
what sets us back:
a) Menial is bad, strategy is good: Coming from a culture where menial is bad (starting as early as the caste system) and thinkers are great, its no surprise that we look down at routine boring things, and prefer to do a 'strategy' project to 'implementation', prefer 'brand management' to 'sales'..
b) Operating with discipline: not so much on an absolute scale as on a comparative one vs other nationalities - Indians lag behind on this one by a long long way - repetitive detail oriented things are just not our cup of tea - u can either fight hard to imbibe it - or recognise (like i did) that there is no hope and i need to duck everytime something like this comes along..
c) A wide perspective: Given that 90% of us have never seen anyplace out of India and have never met non Indians, its but natural that we are untouched by the concept of global perspective.. whether it be Indo-Paki issues, or a west vs East story or even caring about the difference between Thailand/indo/mal/Vietnam - nett, as long as it doesnt affect me i dont have to know it!
d) A thirst for information: Again, this may be skewed due to the cross section ive met, but Indians usually arent actively trying to learn about new things/cultures.. Especially if you compare this with Aussies, you see that they are extremely well informed - whether it be local politics, international issues, laws and regulations and even health related stuff.. you really need to be in the midst of a transfat, good fat, bad fat kind of conversation to realise that these guys spend a lot of time really understanding things that affect their life..
e) Qualitative is Global: Probably the biggest, especially in a engg/MBA context, if you dont have numbers in the statement u made, you are obviously a fraud and 'global'.. If there is one thing id like to go back and change in our Indian MBA mentality, it would be this - It is the biggest bane of our education system - something that is the single most important factor that pushes our EQs all the way down to the futuristic ones we will use for robots..
I had a few more, but in fear of sounding like a indian basher, i shall stop here :)
Jai hind!
life stage changes - i hate em :(
the other day I was browsing through Samchos blog (senior of mine from IIMB - gem of a guy!) - and came acrossa paragraph where he recommends a small excercise.. remember the time of your life when you have been very happy.. and look at the people around u then.. and now think of how many of those you've spoken to in the last week, maybe even a year..
i know i know - nothing nobel leaureatish about that - nothing that even a BCom couldnt figure out... but try it - it can throw up a few really interesting things..
For those of you who have been waiting with bated breaths for my example.. here goes.. I actually thought of two/three diff ones and in the interest of political correctness (the bane of a public blog where ur gf reads ur articles ;) ill mention the relevant one..
In room 34, Cauvery block (1st year hostel in RV College of Engg) - All of us sitting in the room, discussing Kamus birthday and feeling guilty at wat happened at his birthday celebrations: with good reason i may add - having kicked him in the most unmentionable places, having smashed an egg or two on his head and the star: ponks pouring a can of rassagulla syrup on him. Raja is proposing that we buy him a cake and despite Sandy the farmer and Chippar Ghosh's vehement protests at having to spend an additional 10 bucks, Gopi the 'daadu' calls it out that we will do as raja says.. As usual, 10 people end up sleeping on 3 beds cos no one wants to leave and go to his room lest he misses out on some fun!
That brings me to our gang during Engg - the ten of us + the girls (R2, Suki, Dra, Eex, Du) . The girls are an integreal part of the gang - but being a hostel buddy is somethign else.. honestly! Ive been putting off a post dedicated to each of these folks but will do it soon .. lots of dirt there :p
Anyway - back to the point of the blog - once I got to thinking about the gang and the times we've had, to the nostalgic point of picking up the phone to call some of them on full charge ISD, I decided to stock of where my relationship stood with respect to each of these guys... one by one, deliberately... almost unhealthily clinically :(
The reality wasnt that tough to figure out - I was in regular touch with 3- maybe 4 of these people... Id no clue what was happening to almost half of the people who are part of the happiest times of my life..
From a time where we discussed, argued and fought over what colour of jeans should one buy to a point where i was told by a stranger that one of these guys is getting married .. from a time where one person having something to do in the city meant that all of us went with him, to a time where 3/10 attend a wedding.. the heart starts to sink at the mere thought of the level of degradement..
Dont get me wrong, its not that we are all not frends anymore - I know that today also - I can bank on most of these guys to stand by me - come whatever (and id do the same - no matter wat) - but everyone seems to have moved on.. onto other things that matter just as much as this... or more.. in fact 'more' is probably more accurate... i believe the term they use is 'life stage'..
Which brings me to the official announcement of the fact that I hate lifestage changes, the evil force that tugs at threads of past relationships trying hard to make it rip - that causes close people to move on - that causes ponks to come to singapore with his wife and stilll not want to meet up .. that causes Rohit and Gopi to stay thousands of kilometres away in a context that i dont understand.. that changes your expectation of strong frendships to a sick point where you almost expect that a frend who has moved out of the immediate vicinity of your life is probably a lost cause..
Save me the speil of the good things that come with lifestage movements - i know it - but that doesnt stop me from cribbing over the fact that Im not eating dinner with the BAAGS tonight (For those who came in late : BAAGS = bhatti, anirudh, ashwin, gopi, shiv hehe)..
i know i know - nothing nobel leaureatish about that - nothing that even a BCom couldnt figure out... but try it - it can throw up a few really interesting things..
For those of you who have been waiting with bated breaths for my example.. here goes.. I actually thought of two/three diff ones and in the interest of political correctness (the bane of a public blog where ur gf reads ur articles ;) ill mention the relevant one..
In room 34, Cauvery block (1st year hostel in RV College of Engg) - All of us sitting in the room, discussing Kamus birthday and feeling guilty at wat happened at his birthday celebrations: with good reason i may add - having kicked him in the most unmentionable places, having smashed an egg or two on his head and the star: ponks pouring a can of rassagulla syrup on him. Raja is proposing that we buy him a cake and despite Sandy the farmer and Chippar Ghosh's vehement protests at having to spend an additional 10 bucks, Gopi the 'daadu' calls it out that we will do as raja says.. As usual, 10 people end up sleeping on 3 beds cos no one wants to leave and go to his room lest he misses out on some fun!
That brings me to our gang during Engg - the ten of us + the girls (R2, Suki, Dra, Eex, Du) . The girls are an integreal part of the gang - but being a hostel buddy is somethign else.. honestly! Ive been putting off a post dedicated to each of these folks but will do it soon .. lots of dirt there :p
Anyway - back to the point of the blog - once I got to thinking about the gang and the times we've had, to the nostalgic point of picking up the phone to call some of them on full charge ISD, I decided to stock of where my relationship stood with respect to each of these guys... one by one, deliberately... almost unhealthily clinically :(
The reality wasnt that tough to figure out - I was in regular touch with 3- maybe 4 of these people... Id no clue what was happening to almost half of the people who are part of the happiest times of my life..
From a time where we discussed, argued and fought over what colour of jeans should one buy to a point where i was told by a stranger that one of these guys is getting married .. from a time where one person having something to do in the city meant that all of us went with him, to a time where 3/10 attend a wedding.. the heart starts to sink at the mere thought of the level of degradement..
Dont get me wrong, its not that we are all not frends anymore - I know that today also - I can bank on most of these guys to stand by me - come whatever (and id do the same - no matter wat) - but everyone seems to have moved on.. onto other things that matter just as much as this... or more.. in fact 'more' is probably more accurate... i believe the term they use is 'life stage'..
Which brings me to the official announcement of the fact that I hate lifestage changes, the evil force that tugs at threads of past relationships trying hard to make it rip - that causes close people to move on - that causes ponks to come to singapore with his wife and stilll not want to meet up .. that causes Rohit and Gopi to stay thousands of kilometres away in a context that i dont understand.. that changes your expectation of strong frendships to a sick point where you almost expect that a frend who has moved out of the immediate vicinity of your life is probably a lost cause..
Save me the speil of the good things that come with lifestage movements - i know it - but that doesnt stop me from cribbing over the fact that Im not eating dinner with the BAAGS tonight (For those who came in late : BAAGS = bhatti, anirudh, ashwin, gopi, shiv hehe)..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)