Avoidable Suffering and Unfulfilled Potential

Can anything else more aptly describe the current state of affairs? Just a reflection on the thought-chain..

• Do we leave it to the 'evolutionary process' to work out a mechanism that is sustainable?
  
• Can we accelerate the system? Who can change gears? Does a phoenix always have to rise from the ashes? 
  
• Why is public memory so short?
  
• Who can fix it?
  
• Why do we gauge people so wrongly often..Why do we completely mess up when it comes to gauging people in public life?
• Can the political sytem do it? I wont bet my money for sure...
• Is the media providing answers? Will the answers work?
• Does the issue require a larger societal perspective? 

Failing Media

As I kid, I remember asking my grandfather which party he voted for. Among the many questions I asked in all my childish inquisitiveness, this one I remember for the profound depth I could sense. Not that the question was extra-ordinary, but the answer he gave surely was.

He said that he always voted against the incumbent and later explained that Democracy is necessarily a system of checks and balances and a stronger opposition meant better governance. This logic seemed to captivate me for sometime and in retrospect i realized that it influenced many of my opinions.

Of late, however, I am confused with the propriety of the logic 'With Competition comes efficiency'. Today, most of us have already resigned to accept the corrupt intentions and ambitions of politicians across parties. It is publicly accepted that politicians are meant to be corrupt. The perception of 'the invaluable vote' has denigrated to become 'the indifferent vote'. The number of charge-sheeted Parliamentarians across parties is only a superficial metric to say the least.

In such a scenario, the booming media unvieled itself as a source of rescue. Extrapolating the logic to media, I thought that a strong media was the remedy for the malice of corruption.

I welcomed every new news channel for the increased accountability it would usher in all the 3 tiers of the governnment (as I did with every new political party). I believed more players brought more effeciency to governance as does competition in a business sense. The way the media chastised the wrong-doers by exposing their actions/in-actions instilled in me a sense of satisfaction and pride as a citizen of the world's largest democracy.

But the institution of media looks on the verge of collapse. The media seams lost in the fight for survival.

• The jargons that have come to be used by the news presenters speak volumes. They no more 'cover issues'; they 'cover /track stories'. The etymology of such jargons roots from the pressing need to stay on top in the TRPs.
• Their attitude of carrying only 'sansani khabar' has done more than its bit of harm and the general public I sense is only on the brink of fatigue.
• No wonder, political parties have started funding media houses. Worse so, some of them own media companies. Jaya TV of Jaya Lalitha, Sakshi of Dr. YS Raja Sekhara Reddy family, SUN TV of the Marans.
• Worse so even the ToI - perhaps the biggest media group in the country seams lost too. Its recent 'Lead India' campaign too, with no tangible contribution to the society, looks only a marketing gimmick than a strategy for resurrecting Indian politico.

Are we on the verge of ignoring the media too, just as we ignore most of our politicians ??

Leveraging Vision, Mission, Culture, Commitment

Over the period of their life-time, companies are forced into an Identity crisis over the deviation of its operations from the basic idea that caused its birth.

Any business is essentially a commercially viable value proposition. However, with changing times and new opportunities, new value propositions come up and sometimes not in line with the original. Ensuring the stakeholders do not lose focus, requires that the organization systematically re-discover/re-define the nature of the identity of the business - the corporate identity.

BCG studies indicate that a clear identity rejuvenates the share-holder value of the company. RoI - Return on Identity.

Major companies like Apple, Bayer, GE have all successfully undergone such processes of re-discovering their Identity -jargonized as Vision, Mission, Culture, Commitment. However, in most cases such transformation is only peripheral to say the least and is not manifested in the tactical management and operations of the business.

A 3 point frame-work for the same as put in place by Bayer has been highly successful in averting a crisis like situation for the company.

• Assessing the relevance of your Identity
• Integrating your Identity into strategic decision making
• Integrating your Identity into day-to-day operations

Daniel Stelter and Ulrich Pediun feel that a systemized approach in this regard serves as a monitor to retain the Corporate Identity - that serves as the source of all differentiation of the company in the market-place.

The process begins with a soul-searching to answer 4 critical questions:

• Can the company's identity be described in a few words ?
• Does the identity match with the key success factors of the business?
• Does the identity define the direction of strategic decisions?
• Is the identity integrated with key processes?

GE, perhaps the world's most diversified company has transformed its Identity of a 'strong performance culture and consistent portfolio management' into standizeded processes for even operationalizing its M&As.

Eight Business Technology trends to watch : McKinsey Report

Business model innovation is as important as Technology innovation in surging ahead of competition. A recent McKinsey study identifies EIGHT Business Technology trends that can potentially transform Businesses. These trends fall within three broad areas of business activity:

Managing relationships

• Distributing Co-creation: Decentralizing innovation. Eg: Like LINUX was developed. Such models to extend to the creation of physical goods as well.
• Using consumers as innovators: Eg: Like the knowledge resource Wikipedia. This model to extend to industries as diverse as Fashion and Apparel. Internet, Web 2.0 technologies to play the enablers.
• Tapping into a world of talent: Integrate and manage the work of an expanding number of outsiders. Opens up many contracting options for managers of corporate functions. New talent deployment models to emerge.
• Extracting more value from interactions: More efficient tacit interactions. Smarter and faster ways for individuals and teams to create value through interactions—that will be difficult for their rivals to replicate.

Managing capital and assets

• Expanding the frontiers of automation: Interlink “islands of automation” and give managers and customers the ability to do new things.
• Unbundling production from delivery: Disaggregating monolithic systems into reusable components. Raise utilization rate of capital and therefore RoIC. Offers access to resources and assets that might otherwise require a large fixed investment or significant scale to be competitive.

Leveraging information in new ways

• Putting more science into management: Getting into the skin of customers. Eg: Google's internal market for ideas. Intel's 'prediction market'. Amazon's CRM abilities.The quality and quantity of information available to any business will continue to grow explosively as the costs of monitoring and managing processes fall.
• Making businesses from information: 'Information is wealth'. Exploit imperfections in the market forces. Eg: Real Estate market.
  

Impressive Quotes

This post is a collection of selected quotes that are inspiring and insightful. An awesome read, this is a careful compilation from a book that I constantly sip into for wisdom and peace.

Their utility comes more in the insights they bring into tasks that are more of a rigmarole in our busy routine lives along with the time-tested wisdom they impart.

"Excellence is never an accident"

"If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence..
it is time to fertilize your lawn!"

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"

"If you want to feel rich...
just count all of the things you have... that money can't buy"

"The best things in life aren't things"

"If you play it safe in life,
you've decided you don't want to grow anymore"

"The man on top of the mountain did not fall there"

"Creativity is finding new things...
or expressing old truths in new ways"

"What the caterpillar calls 'the end'... the butterfly calls 'the beginning'"

"You are young at any age...
if you're planning for tomorrow"

"Faith is not trying to believe something regardless of evidence.
Faith is daring to do something regardless of the consequence"

"To forgive calls upon your love...
To forget calls upon your strength"

"I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul
by making me hate him"

"Success can be another form of failure...
if we forget what our priorities are"

"He who makes a mistake and fails to correct it...
makes another"

"If you try to improve another person by setting a good example...
then you are really improving two people"

"There is no substitute for intelligence...
the only thing that comes close to it is silence"

"You cannot control the length of your life...
but you can control the width and depth"

"This is the final test of a gentleman...
his respect for those who can be of no possible value to him"

"It's not hard to make decisions
when you know what your values are"

"Nothing is all wrong.
Even a clock that has stopped running...
is right twice a day"

"People who cross their bridges before they come to them...
have to pay the toll twice"

"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins...
not through strength but by perseverance"

"Winning is a habit.
Unfortunately, so is losing."

"The bigger we get...the smaller we have to think.
Customers still walk in one at a time."

"Stress is what happens when your gut says, 'No'...
but your mouth says, 'Of course. I'd be glad to' "

"We cannot change the wind...
but we can adjust the sail."

"If it weren't for the rocks in its bed...
the stream would have no song."

"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on...
after others have let go."

"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock,
the stream always wins...
not through strength...but by perseverance"

"Life can only be understood backwards...
but it must be lived forwards"

"The right to be heard is constitutionally guaranteed.
The right to be listened to must be earned."

"Life is like riding a bicycle...
you don't fall off unless you stop pedaling"

"What is the difference between school and life?
In school, you are taught a lesson and given a test.
In life, you are given a test that teaches you a lesson."

"Opportunity's favorite disguise in trouble"

"Be early if you are a bird...
and late if you are a worm"

"If you want your dreams to come true...
the first thing you have to do is wake up"

India says ‘I (may) Belong’!

Somebody somewhere is listening! Have my anguish (in my previous blog) along with that of the millions of Indians over the government’s losing sovereignty been heard?

India has perhaps finally proved that it can stand up to voice its concern over the Tibet – Beijing Olympic imbroglio. In rejecting to ban anti-China or rather the pro-Tibet protests during the token 3 km Olympic torch relay in New Delhi, India has conveyed to the Chinese administration that it is still a functioning Democracy that respects the right to peaceful protest. It looked like India was standing up to be counted. The announcement brought respite to the millions of Indians who have been sulking over the losing sheen of India’s independent foreign policy.

But should the announcement be seen in isolation? At the cost of sounding cynical, I see shades of Gordon Brown’s decision to not attend the Olympic opening ceremony abetting India’s rediscovered vocal cords. Please mind a similar voice also emanating from Washington.

Agreed that India has already done much for the Tibetan cause by granting asylum to the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa and thousands of other Tibetans, but no such decision has been taken in the recent past. It was years and in fact governments ago that any such decision was taken.

As a student of Political Economics, I cannot but appreciate the seamless integration of politics with economics and at such scale that involve the world’s foremost economic powers that also wield the most political influence the world over.

'Sport'y Politics and 'Policy' Sport

Sporting events - none bigger and grander than than Olympics - have had selfish overtures since time immemorial.

Nazism to Berlin Olympics, Apartheid to South African sport, BCCI's high-handedness to International cricket all stand testimony. More often than not, 'politics' has transcended to become the national aggregate of 'selfishness'. The case in point: Beijing Olympics 2008.

Lot has been said by the Who's Who of International realpolitik on Tibet's right to autonomy in line with the current string of protests by Tibetans worldwide. Definitely a knee-jerk reaction.

Tibet has borne the brunt of Chinese oppression over the last 60 years - the same time frame that has witnessed China rise like a phoenix to not just being the sourcing hub of the world but also the only challenge to American economic and military supremacy.

Interestingly, never in the past few decades has the world woken up to issue Human Rights violation in Tibet as now. What a paradox! Are 'we' not squarely responsible for letting the Chinese climb up to these distinctions unchecked, all along? Have all the so-called world leaders gone into a slumber to wake up only now?

Surprisingly enough, India - the hope and home to thousands of Tibetan refugees including the Dalai Lama himself - shocks the fundamentals of its very own cherished founding as a non-aligned sovereign, socialist, secular democratic republic.

Never more in the past has Indian policy been as weak. True, the issues in Jammu Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh might not find Chinese favor should India speak. Perhaps, Indo-China economic integration might also suffer.

Do these reasons sufficiently explain our hypocrisy towards our slogan of 'Satyameva Jayate' (Truth alone Wins)? Do the Gandhian thought, Nehruvian policy hold any relevance in this context? Have we digressed from being principles, policy and strategy driven to just being as opportunistic as the Americans?

If truth is that Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are Indian territory, so they shall be for 'Truth alone wins'. Are we not distancing ourselves from the truth of the 'Tibetan respect' - a fundamental human value?

No doubt, the digression from Nehruvian Socialism has brought us a few rewards- economic empowerment. But is it all? Questions remain.

Is instant gratification reason enough for us to dis-associate ourselves from truth and human values? To recall, how else can one explain jeopardizing the Iran pipeline for benefit from America?

Definitely, being a realist is different from being a strategist. Much higher than the both is being a Statesman.

Are we losing our stature from those days of the NAM? As a new generation Indian I am afraid that Pokhran-II could have just been the last statement of free Indian policy.