Test

Test Testy

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Choosing a path

It has happened with me many times and it is happening once again. I had been at crossroads many times when I had to chose between a path that is well-known, comfortable and in which I am confident about not failing while the other path is a completely new one challenging me.

I come from a peasant family and prayer was never a regular to us. I used to visit the Ram Temple that was near our place at my village but after I moved to Hyderabad I must have visited a temple only once in a year or so. But since last 10 years I had been visiting Annavaram temple once every year. When i stand in front of the God and when it comes to making my wish, it was always the same - guide me to take the right path. It is time for me to make that wish once again.

It is time of transition at ISB as you have to start making choices but the situation that I described above is not about academic choices,it's something else. Coming to the choices we need to make at ISB there are too any of them - Exchange programs, active club contributions, indicative elective bidding, ELP, PAEV and so on.

I need to make a move now, I'll be back with more details shortly

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Aikhya - A unique event at ISB

Aikhya - the host family network has been launched today at ISB. Our group is hosted by Mr and Mrs. Vervetwala. Mrs. Dinaz is the famous lady who runs multiple fitness centres in Hyderabad. She and her husband, Mr. Jamshed Vervetwala have come to ISB today.

Key highlight of the program was the performance by Anand, Co 08. I and Anand were in the same group during preterms. I never imagined that he can sing so well. Both the devotional songs were fantastic and the most popular one was the Kishoreda's song. The last song was to illustrate the frustrations of the students after they get to see their term final exams. Most of us, incuding me, think that we will do well in one of the subjects and will be highly confident about our grade but when the results always beat our expectation. You will do well in a subject that you may have not done well (according to you) and you will not do so well in which you are supposed to top the class (according to you).

The interaction with Vervetwalas was very interesting. They were very happy to meet and so did we.

One interesting observation about this event is that it is very unique as a sociological event. In a normal situation it is very difficult to establish any relationship. It generally takes a lot of time and effort to establish credibility and trust. But in this case the host family and the student group can gain mutual trust very quickly and the relationship will move in positive direction right from the beginning. The credibility of the school as a platform plays a very important role. In normal course it would take a lot of time for me or any one else in my group to meet someone like Dinaz, interact with her and establish trust. But in the Aikhya scenario, it is instant. Our group has been invited for Dinner to Vervetwala's place the coming Friday. All my group members thoroughy enjoyed the interaction and are looking forward for the visit.

I'm sure it is also highly beneficial for the host family to interact with a group of students. Students can bring in different perspectives based on their education, experience and exposure.

Looks like admission fever for Co 09 is catching up. People keep searching ISB essays, IIM-PGPX essays. For all those who are googling on web, my advise is: Read some stories about successful admits that are available at GMAC.com and think on your own. You can find standard structure of an essay on web quite easily, just follow it. But the more important thing is the idea that you want to convey to the reader. Just focus on that. Prepare multiple drafts and show it to close friends and seek feedback. I think three to four rounds of vetting should do. Best of luck to you all.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Marathon reading

This is my first post in Term 3. As expected we had lots of pre-reads and pre-assignments (something new) but I had a difficult time choosing which book to read. I didn't have many choices though, the fight was between the thick volumes of Corporate Finance and Managerial Accounting and the last book of Harry Potter. I didn't have much trouble as it was just the beginning of the term, I choose Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.



I finished reading the 600 odd pages book in about 10 hours. Originally I planned to read about 50 pages everyday but from the moment I opened the book I couldn't really stop. Luckily one of the classes got postponed, for the first-time at ISB, and I had time to finish the book. J.K.Rowling was at her best. The book is brilliant.

Back at ISB everyone is silently praying for their Term 2 results and yesterday marks for one of the courses was out. I did well and with this result I think I am back to my normal study level. I never attempted to top the class right from my school days. Till a certain there was no competition and I used to be first in class and then later on when I moved to Hyderabad there were others who were smarter than me. I was happy to see more smarter ones than me. It helped me to learn new things from them. Same thing happened in college and at work too. Whenever I was the smartest around I had trouble. It was always good to have better people around. I did well at all the places where my boss and my team was very good. I enjoyed working with them, challened by them and I challenging and learning from them.

One of the reasons I came to ISB is precisely the above factor. There are so many brilliant people around that you are challenged and you can learn from almost everyone.

All this reminds me of the old Maaza (fruit drink ad) ad - Because you are young only once, do what you want to do, Doing what comes naturally - Maaza, Maaza. By the way mazaa means enjoyment in Hyderabadi.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

100th Post

It's saturday evening and there is one full day before we enter Term 3. But mails from Term 3 profs are already pouring in troubling all those who are in vacation.

Lots of interesting things are happening around the world. Right now, I feel that Economy as an area is the most interesting to all the people. Managers, Business Owners, Politicians, Academicians alike, everyone is thinking economy. China seems to be grabbing not only a lion's share of US trade but it also is grabbing media space and people's mind space.

Though China's success is drawing lot of flak almost everyone is appreciating the quick decision making and the urgency in action shown by the Chinese officials. I'm sure US is watching but more than US it is important for India to learn this aspect.

One important development on personal front is that I have developed long sight and started wearing spectacles. Certainly ISB tests you and brings out all you weaknesses pretty quickly.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Term break at ISB

Tennis, Squash, Badminton, Water hand ball, CSTR project and Hyderabad visits - these are the activities on everyone's calendar who stayed behind in the term break.

We are climbing a steep mountain; that's exactly what I felt when I had a look at the course packs for Term 3.

There was a proposal to change the study groups from this term. But more than 70% voted against and therefore we will have the same studygroup for the next two terms. For me both the arguments made sense. To develop a team you need atleast two-three months and if you change the group once again, the process has to start again. On the other hand if you stick with the same set of people how would you know others.

In fact I've always worked in dynamically changing teams. Right from the manufacturing days I preferred to expand the team that I work in. I've always poked my nose into other departments trying to understand what they are doing and trying to see if I can do something about it. This has been my strength and weakness. It used to be difficukt for me to let go of things that easily. But after I started with Middle Earth, I've realized the importance of letting things go. Only thing I continue to do is out a checklist for myself to track how things are going and interfere only in extreme cases.

ISB has started another new initiative this year. All those who opted for this program is assigned to an alum with similar bakground. My mentor is Kashyap Kompella. The mail from the Alum Relations office said that I have a 100% match with my mentor. I look forward to interact with him this weekend. That should kind give me more clarity.

Yesterday I stopped a brown hare(in telugu it's called a chevula pilli - cat with long ears)in the campus. May be I will do an adventure trip into the SV1 jungle tomorrow and see if I can spot some reptiles too.

Cheers

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Rare events

It's very rare to see Sun God (Surya) and Rain God (Varuna)together that too in full strength. Yesterday as we finished our term 2 final exams I got to see not just one rare event that I mentioned above but I saw another one.

I saw people who were highly disappointed and upset but at the same time cheerful, laughing and in elated mood.

That's exactly what happened after the Global Economics exam. I can't really explain why they were upset but there is a linkage to the paper. I can surely say why people were happy; most of them are going home after 3 months and some of them for sure are bored of food at Goel, stuff at Trinethra, hectic schedules. Even the Hyderabad weather must have bored them, it was too nice for a long time now.

It's good to be back to normal, lazy schedules, doing insignificant things without any deadlines.

There were atleast 50 cabs that transported 200+ students from ISB to airport and most of the outbound flights to the Delhi and Mumbai had more than one ISB student on it.

Another striking point is that how technology, market and globalization are making things happen that were almost impossible till recent times. Low cost air travel is making a two/three day trip to Delhi from Hyderabad possible. Otherwise people used to spend two days only in train. Low cost Airlines like Deccan, IndiGo have made commuting within India so affordable that even a middle class guy is thinking flight when he plans a long trip. This is really amazing. Globalization has definitely made low cost flying a reality in India. Atleast we could copy the best practices and someone dared to venture into it opening a whole range of possibilities.

Not only low fares, convenience is playing a bigger part too. People are booking their flight tickets over internet using credit cards and taking a print out for a ticket. Remember the olden days where flight tickets were a great thing to flash around, showing to people that you are going on a flight on "official work". Now flight tickets are like train tickets, may be even less valuable, you can always get a print out.

Even getting a cab used to be a pain in Hyderabad. Taxi guys used spent lot of time waiting for a passenger and had to charge high rates because of low business volume. But now, you can get a cab anywhere in the city with a single local call at exact time that you want. Cell phones have enabled small businesses and increased the market size and opportunities.

Open markets and Technology are impacting business and life in many areas that no one might have foreseen by removing may small bottlenecks.

Finally the pictures that I have captured of the rare event (Sun and the Rain together)



Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Last lap

One more to go and that's it for another three weeks. Exam related stress induces in to a lot of binge activities the moment exams get over. I am planning to play a lot of Tennis, Badminton and Squash, watch a lot of movies, do some shopping and get set for CEIBS.

Term 3 appears to be more numerical than Term 1 and 2 and will definitely be more demanding. Another learning for me is that exams not only are useful to assess learning but are also highly beneficial in increasing penetration, retention and application. At the beginning, during preterms, I never understood mathematical notations and always preferred to write thing in normal and expanded ways. But after the amount of practice for DMOP and Marketing Decision Making, I am now able to understand and write complex mathematical notations.

One of the key takeaway is that exams should be used more extensively to maximize learner involvement. If there is enough motivation for the learner, exams can improve learning value of the course too. That brings me to another important aspect, which is learner motivation. Internal motivation and strong drivers have the biggest impact and cannot be achieved by any other method in the class. Even if the faculty/prof is the best in the world, without learner motivation, learning will be low.

Another 4 hours and our term break starts. But there is no remorse for me. I still have one more assignment to finish.

Next post would be about "What's so inspiring about inspiration" and then on term break adventures

Good luck and cheers to all the readers

Monday, July 16, 2007

It's exams time, once again, at ISB

It's that time of the month, once again. It's exams time at ISB. This time its the Term 2 end exams.

This term has been a real roller coaster ride. We had phenomenal professors and we had equally overwhelming topics to cover.

Today all of us will try to see how much can we apply what we learnt in a pressure situation. With the average marks increasing everytime, exams are stretching us to the limits.

It is time for me to remember that "This too shall pass".

It's time to wish "Best of luck" to everyone at ISB. While I'm typing this, I've started receving the good luck mails and I need to do my contribution too.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Job Hopping - Key success factors

In every organization about 80% of the employees are unhappy about one thing or the other. 20% of the folks are happy for different reasons, ranging from personal reasons such as proximity to house and macro reasons such as vision/leadership of the company. This 20% lot would not leave the company unless some shock occurs.

Among of the unhappy crowd, the pain is not so high that they will leave the organization immediately. Typically 20% would leave whatever you do as an Employer. The rest of the unhappy - the 60%,are mildly unhappy but not pained enough will swing between the two extremes. Which extreme is more influential depends on the company culture, some opinion leaders and other signals read by the employees based on top management's actions. This is where the impact of HR is the highest.

On the other hand, each of us, as an employee typically find 20% of the aspects greatly appealing, 20% of the aspects as painful, horrible and ridiculous. There are about 60% of the aspects about which we don't have clear idea or opinion. Based on our personality we tend to rate them either as good or bad. As long as the rating is not based on personal experience we are ope to shift either way depending on situation.

But if something bad happens in the 60% area, there is a great chance that our overall impression goes red and we will decide to leave and even bad mouth. This holds true in all industries but the effect gets augmented based on the industry growth and attractiveness.

As an individual, I believe that job hopping is a necessary evil. It causes loss to everyone including the person changing the job, but sometimes the loss is necessary for future gains. In fact even the organization gets benefited, sometimes if the start performer leaves. Many others who were in the shadow can come out and perform to their potential. Similarly the star moves to a different ground and will have lot of heights to scale.

When deciding to change a job, I feel that the following factors can affect the success of each hop significantly:

1. Future organization's attractiveness: Brand, Industry in which the organization operates, growth, market perception about the company etc.

2. Growth potential: At what level are you joining and what are the growth prospects. If you are joining at a very high level, better be careful and check whether the company is open to change, new ideas and find out the attrition levels. If people are leaving too quick, there must be some reason. If you are joining at a low level, check the average employee tenure. If people have been hanging there for a long time, your growth prospects are low and you will face lot of resistance and competition. In this scenario, it would be better to join at a higher level and better compensation. But if the company is new, you can take some risk and you ca expect to find lot of growth possibilities if you are smart enough.

3. Personal Fit: Depending on your age, personality, past experience and many other factors one tends to develop a work personality. See how well the organization fits you. This may be one reason good people leave good companies in a very short time.

Finally keep in mind that whatever I wrote is based on my experience and observation and is not based on any study.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Captured moments

I have uploaded most of the photos I clicked to flickr. Follow the below links:

Sec E

ISB

My Pics

Garbled Messages, Great Professors

Let me clarify, there is no linkage between the parts of the title. Garbled messages is something about me and the greatness is all about the professors

I always thought that my humor quotient is low as I normally cannot come up with a new joke. But the deeds of God are great.

Strange as it amy sound, I had seen that when I am speaking very passionately about something, people suddenly start laughing. Today another such thing happened. In the Strategy session, during the break we were discussing the model that Prof. Harbir Singh gave us on culture. When I was tryin to relate it to the tip of the iceberg model, suddenly people started laughing. When I asked what's so funny about it, they repeated what I just said, and it seems I said ice of the tipberg and hearing that I too started laughing.

This is the second time I have done this in the last three months. Last time it was "coss toining", I was actually trying to say coin tossing and I repeated coss toining thrice befor I realized what I was doing.

I have log back realized that I tend to speak little faster as I try to verbalize my thoughts and therefore it comes out in a confusing way for others. But after I started delivering training programs, worked a lot on this and used a clear plan, writing out the exact words, phrases and examples that I would use and was quite successful in keeping it simple for others. But when it comes to complex subjects, my mind works so fast that it becomes very difficult to verbalize them instantly. To overcome this I am working on using analogies to keep it simple and relate it to the audience.

Anyways, Term -2 at ISB comes to an end. We have three days to prepare for the term-end exams. This term has been a mixed bag in terms of the amount of effort and learning.

Competitive Strategy has put a lot of emphasis on prereads while Markstrat needed lot of team decision making. Macro Economics cleared lot of questions and allowed me to understand the linkages between Business, Society, Politics, Economics and people. Indeed I had got lot of my questions answered. Watching commanding heights gave a sense of what actually happened in the modern world. It was a sort of history but it is still contemporary and I feel that economics is one subject that will be contemporary forever. Economics is more of an art and less of a science, and Management inherits lot of those characteristics. Decision Modeling appeared to be math intensive but I felt it is more about logic, coomon sense and application of maths.

All the Profs have been fantastic and I think we had the best of the lot. I would remember Prof. Harbir Singh, Prof. Pradeep Bharadwaj, Prof. Jagmohan Raju, Prof. Ziv Katalan, Prof. Milind Sohoni and Prof. Krishna Kumar forever. These professors are not only great teachers but are also great contributors to their fiedl. After interacting with them, my respect for teachers ha got reinforced. Gaining knowledge and applying is one level of leadership but disseminating knowledge in a credible is at a much higher level. Credibility is the key word.

Finaly I have decided to post pictures of these great professors who would continue to inspire me by their passion and greatness


Professor Harbir Singh, also seen in the picture Ankush (black shirt), Pinaki (wondering what's happening) and Ratnakar (taking a parallel session)


The passionate professor - Milind Sohoni, and Suhail Abrol (not) listening carefully

Most liked professor - Prof. Pradeep Bharadwaj and the Rocking section - Sec E

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

China calling

When in times of doubt, stay put, don't make hasty moves. This is what life has taught me. I have successfully bidded for the CEIBS exchange program. CEIBS is ranked 11th by Financial Times.

The rationale behind my decision to choose China over Europe and America is two-fold. First is the obvious one, China is the fastest growing economy in the world and there is a lot that can be learnt from China.

Second, the not so obvious one, we can expect a lot of learning from India to China and China to India. It would be a great advantage to understand the similarities and differences between these ecoomies.

One of my key goals at ISB was to get International exposure. I know that this decision would not make sense to lot of people I know but somehow I have a feeling that it would work and help me achieving my long-term goals.

I still have a day to finalize this. This whole episode reminds me of the famous historical chinese visitir - Huan Tsang and makes my inner explorer very excited.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Games - Sports and Business

I used to think that Game means a sport. But slowly I have realized that there is a Game in every aspect of life, in fact, life itself is a game. Only difference between a sport and real life is in terms of the rules. In sports, rules are clearly laid out but in the games of real life the rules are not clear and are dynamic. The rules keep changing.

Coming to sports, watching tennis is a great thing. I had been watching tennins from the time of Boris Becker, and Steffigraf. It's an individual event and you can see what's going on in the minds of the players by looking at the way they play. But it is pleasure to watch Federer and Nadal play in the final. I think this is the third consecutive time Federe and Nadal faced each other in the Final.

Earler it was Sampras and it was a delight to watch the way he used to play. Sampras was so accurate in his game and showed very little emotion. But Federer is different, the way he comes back and the elegance with which he plays is awesome.

Like in sports, in real life too, we often think that the person playing should have done it differently but when our chance comes we play our game instinctively. Sometimes our instincts are good enough but many times it may need improvement. It is easy to watch someone and comment how they can do well but when it comes to self it is so difficult to change.

Onething I have learnt right at the begining of my career is to identify and understand the rules of the game at each place I worked. Once you identify what the rules are, you have understand how these rules came into place.Many times the rules have been laid out due to certain practices or constraints that may have long gone and are no more valid. But people are attached to customs more than to the objectives. Thinking about objectives and evaluating action is a difficult thing to do and human mind chooses whichever is easy to do.

In business and in personal life, if you can change the rules by influencing the stakeholders, there is a great chance that you will create an impact. Many times I have observed that it is best to stick to the basic goals and objectives and evaluate everything using them as yardsticks. This helps in you not getting binded by the rules and instead you will be able to change the rules according to the new situation.

I have not been successful in getting the exchange program seat in the college I wanted but i will try again in the second round. It is difficult to fight with irrational bidders but sometimes passion overtakes rationale. For me exchange is important but not as important as the courses that I would like to take. I would like to take courses that will help me develop an overall expertise in Business Management. I have chosen not to go after the finance electives and instead would chose electives that would benefit me the most.

Next week is going to be a tough week as we have the term end exams from 16th July. Let me start preparing for the tough challenge lying ahead.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

New opportunities

If only that was the case, I would have done that. This is one common phrase lot of people keep using regularly to explain why they didn't do something. But the best ideas come and change happens only when someone thinks as if none of the constraints exist

Today we had Mr. Rajendra Pawar, Chairman NIIT at ISB. He was addressing the students about entreprenuership and how NIIT has started doing a new initiative called Corporate Entrepreneurial Ventures. As a part of this initiative NIIT picked students from ISB and provided them with all the resources and allowed them to work on implementing a idea. He found that the results highly encouraging and he wants to continue and increase the intake in an exponential way.

He sounded quite evangelistic. I think if you make enough money early in life, it gives you the freedom to do what you want to do really. I found his ideas close to ideal and I see a great future for NIIT if they implement what they are planning to do.

After year 2000, it appeared that NIIT was going nowhere and I felt that their period is over. But it seems lot of things happened at NIIT. They have acquired an organization that is into simulations, which has a great potential.

I personally had experienced using simulations twice and I found the learning experience quite powerful. Despite the limitations of a simulation, it has great potential to enhance the learning with a high involvement of the learner.

In the last one week I met up with Dr. Neeraj Mishra, CEO MedRC, Mr. Manish Sabharwal, Founder - Team lease, Mr. Dipak Jain, Dean-Kellogg School of Management and Mr. Rajendra Pawar, Chairman NIIT in the last 10 days and I will be meeting few consultants from Mckinsey tomorrow.

Slowly but surely new opportunities are opening up and I hope it to get more interesting as we go along.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Hyperactivity

Yesterday we had Dean of Kellog School of Management, Mr. Dipak Jain, speaking to us. He was discussing on the Global Macro Trends. As a part of it he defined what is Hyper-Competition. Hyper-Competition according him is not about increasing competition but it is about competition from those beyond your industry boundaries.

How can one imagine that for an airline company competition is not another airline but it is the video conferencing technology. There is detailed logic behind this linking the consumer needs and how they chose alternatives without even telling you (service provider).

Similarly I have realized that there is something called Hyperactivity. Each of us look at what is happening in our life and think that there is lots of activity going on and get immersed into that. But while you are lost there so many other things are happening around that will impact you in a big way. You can either choose to stay aloof or try and recognize them and if possible understand/influence them.

Yesterday one of my well-wisher returned from abroad. It was his birthday and his wife wanted to give him a surprise. This person is a highly successful, mature, down-to-earth and pleasant person. His wife decided to get all the family, family friends and his friends whom she knew. I was surprised when I got an invite. When I went there I realized that the wife made elaborate arrangements. She organized a banner, she got some garlands, some flowers, and few bouquets. When he came out of the Airport and saw all this, he almost tried to run away from the scene to avoid the embarrassment. All the others at Airport were watching amusingly. Everyone sang the birthday song loudly and poured the garlands, flower petals and bouquets at him. He was definitely caught by surprise. But he was very happy to see all the people he would have wanted to meet. As she said all those who were there were his 1AM friends - when no one cares about you, these people care about you

When I look back at this, I can't stop appreciating the act of the wife. She made her husband the star of the day. For a long time to come he would remember this event.

In this hectic life where we want to maximize returns, minimize costs and optimize everything else, it is so difficult to take time out for some emotions and for making people around us feel good. Though I drove about 50kms I felt it was worth it and I would remember this event for a long time to come.

May God bless him and his family.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Key word searches

Using the stat counter I track the kind of key word searches that lead to my blog. It is frustrating to see that after getting search results you don't really get any further information. So I have decided to add some details about each of the key words that were searched on google:

1. rao korupolu: Rao and I are in the same section - Section E. Rao has lot of experience in IT and was with Oracle before joining ISB. He has been elected as the General Management club president. In general people say that Rao is a calm, composed,mature and credible person. Due to the kind of exposure and balance he brings to the table, people generally take him seriously and respect him easily. Rao is in the same student village as I am and we generally go to the classes together and sometimes do combined studies. I observed that Rao works very hard and is focused on studies apart from the club activities. Rao is from Hyderabad and I met him once before joining ISB
2. ratnakar gore: I met Ratnakar in December for the first in the Hyderabad admits group. He takes a lot of initiative and was one of those highly active admits on the orkut and microsite. Ratnakar again is from IT background and has significant managerial experience. I can now say that Ratnakar is a good friend of mine. During term 1 we did a lot of combined studies. Ratnakar has been elected as the Business Technology Club, which has the highest number of active members. He is a highly mature, down-to-earth and social person.

3. rajeev bharadwaj queen's mba: I and Rajeev met during the ISB admissions phase. Subsequently Rajeev got admission from Queen's and decided to go to Canada. I have been in regular touch with Rajeev since then. He too is from IT background and has a significant work experience. He is very passionate about business and management.

4. pgpx, no essays: Apart from ISB I applied to IIM-A PGPX as well. The advantage of applying to pgpx is that you don't have to pay any application fee and you need not write the essays till you are shortlisted. Only shorlisted are supposed to write essays. Though I applied to this course, later I decided to stick with ISB considering various factors (personal and career)

5. is 690 in gmat good enough? I scored 690 and did get admitted. 690 is good enough if you have other significant things such as, work experience, diverse industry experience or significant achievements. If you are banking on your academic performance as a differentiator your GMAT score should be higher than 720. So, whether GMAT score of 690 is enough or not depends on the other aspects of your candidature

6. isb 2008 essays topics: I didn't check what the essays are but got an idea from the yahoo group. While writing essays keep in mind that you application, CV, evaluations and essays should present a consistent, and coherent picture about you. The amount of effort you put in into your essays is correlated to the level of seriousness you have. If the seriousness is displayed in the interview too, then your chances are bright. My suggestion is, don't worry what the topic is, just write the essays honestly in a way that you can relate to your life, career and your personality. Take help from others only in fine tuning language and structure but notfor the basic idea. The idea must be yours.

7. isb ideal student profile: There is no ideal student profile. As far as I have seen there is so much diversity that you find people with exact opposite backgrounds are here. But some common aspects are that you find them brilliant, focused, multi-faceted ad highly competitive.

I hope i provided some information on each of the key words. Hasta manyana

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Seductive nature of one-liners and pitfalls of falling prey

Some time in 2006, I was coordinating and taking part in a workshop conducted by Mr. Sunil Guptan. One of the things that I could latch upon and still remember and use is his comment about oneliners.

Everyday we hear so many oneliners and get so impressed by them but what Mr. Sunil Guptan mentioned and I strongly agree is that the onliners are not universal. They have a very short life and are very contextual. But because the oneliners are easy to remember and quote, lot of people tend to fall prey to their influence.

At the same time if you are careful enough you will make out that even the opposite of a given oneliner could be true and can be empirically proved. Some examples are:
1. Slow and steady wins the race
2. It's not the big that eat small but the faster ones that eat slower ones

3. Sell what you make
4. Make what you sell

and many more. The second example is quoted by Mr. Mr Manish Sabharwal, founder, Teamlease today in the PAEV experience sharing session. I was highly impressed by his thought process and ability to relate and connect different aspects of business.

While closing my take on one-liners is that be cautious, don't accept them blindly for all situations, don't generalize them, and remember the utility of the one-liners is mainly to grab attention and increase retention.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Need help in changing the look and feel

This is an appeal to all the readers of this blog:

It has been more than six months that I started this blog. I did some experimentation with the format early and froze upon the current template.

I would like do some modifications to the look and feel of this blog. Let me if you can help me in doing that. Send me a mail with your contact details so that we can discuss and experiment with the template. My mail id: kiran.aalla@gmail.com

I would like to keep most of the current page elements but may be change the font, font size, background color, width etc.

I look forward for your support.