Though I am continuing the series, I have decided not to force myself to maintain any continuity, which means you can expect these posts to be random and readers will have to make the connection.
One very important skill necessary to handle difficult times is planning. We are experts in corporate planning and very easily make assumptions about different variables but when it comes to planning in personal life, we act in a completely different way.
We don't want to take any risk in personal life and can only visualize a straight path almost all the time. There is no contingency planning, which means even a small unforeseen event can throw us into a negative spiral. Instead if we assess the bottom of a downfall (even the stock market can't go negative) and then be prepared for it, I think the shock will be minimal and we can fight the negative spiral.
Like in corporate planning, we need to make assumptions in our personal life and should weight the probability of different outcomes and come up with the expected outcome. If we are either too optimistic or too pessimistic, then we are in for some kind of trouble.
That's all for today. Meanwhile I am back in Delhi after a whirlwind sleepless four day trip to Hyderabad. I have done some very interesting things during this trip apart from meeting my classmates at Solstice 2008 that included giving a treat to my friends by getting them all together for the first time.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Solstice 2008
My trip to ISB for Solstice has been in doldrums till yesterday but all of a sudden I have decided to go.
This would be a great opportunity to meet with all my classmates,few current batch students and few alums. I will also be meeting my friends, those who know me from my school days.
I am planning to visit my native place and my grandfather. I shall continue the "Handling Difficult Times" series once I am back from this trip.
This would be a great opportunity to meet with all my classmates,few current batch students and few alums. I will also be meeting my friends, those who know me from my school days.
I am planning to visit my native place and my grandfather. I shall continue the "Handling Difficult Times" series once I am back from this trip.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Handling difficult times - 1
It was not the best of times when I was looking out for a job for the first time in 1994. I was searching for a technical job and all the job openings were in sales. I never thought twice as my objective was simple - start earning before the 100 bucks I got from my grandfather exhausted. I took up a Jr. Sales Officer job at a start up that was to publish a telugu socio-political magazine by name "Sravanthi." I had no chance to think about "how my job was related to what I studied" neither did I mull over "what's in that job that I enjoy." I just needed to get started and I did. From then my career took so many twists and turns, some driven by me and some driven by situations, in fact I never thought about going back to college till 2006 (which is 11 years after I started working).
These surely are difficult times and it is more probable that even at the top B-schools, one may not be in a position to choose but one would be in a situation to be chosen by someone. However there is no need to despair, one would not be in a position to influence the situation at all times; you will have to accept the fact and the situation and act accordingly.
This is not the end of this post, I am going to discuss how I handled difficult times and hope that the readers would benefit from this.
These surely are difficult times and it is more probable that even at the top B-schools, one may not be in a position to choose but one would be in a situation to be chosen by someone. However there is no need to despair, one would not be in a position to influence the situation at all times; you will have to accept the fact and the situation and act accordingly.
This is not the end of this post, I am going to discuss how I handled difficult times and hope that the readers would benefit from this.
Monday, November 17, 2008
In thick of things
Only reason for my inactivity is that I am right now in thick of things.
I have been doing donkey stuff, which does have certain value addition but also gives a feeling that you have earned your salary for the day. When I began 5 months ago, I wondered whether there would be any serious activity in the Power Transmission sector but suddenly things started rolling when every thing else seems to be slowing. This clearly shows how decoupled I'm from the main stream business, it's seriously contra-scenario here.
However the decoupling is only till the point where white paper is involved, as soon as the time comes for the other paper (Indian currency is in different colors, so can't say greenback)things are gonna change. But you have to be optimistic till the time you actually face the situation, you can be prepared for the worst though.
Solstice this year will be held on 19th and 20th Nov and I am looking forward to meeting all my classmates again. While 6 months is not a long period at work, most people would have overcome the starting troubles. I look forward to listening whether the paid holiday syndrome is over or is it still on.
Meanwhile it would be interesting to see how immune B-school admissions are from recession.
The current financial melt down is going to provide a new episode for "Commanding Heights." Uncertainty rules
I have been doing donkey stuff, which does have certain value addition but also gives a feeling that you have earned your salary for the day. When I began 5 months ago, I wondered whether there would be any serious activity in the Power Transmission sector but suddenly things started rolling when every thing else seems to be slowing. This clearly shows how decoupled I'm from the main stream business, it's seriously contra-scenario here.
However the decoupling is only till the point where white paper is involved, as soon as the time comes for the other paper (Indian currency is in different colors, so can't say greenback)things are gonna change. But you have to be optimistic till the time you actually face the situation, you can be prepared for the worst though.
Solstice this year will be held on 19th and 20th Nov and I am looking forward to meeting all my classmates again. While 6 months is not a long period at work, most people would have overcome the starting troubles. I look forward to listening whether the paid holiday syndrome is over or is it still on.
Meanwhile it would be interesting to see how immune B-school admissions are from recession.
The current financial melt down is going to provide a new episode for "Commanding Heights." Uncertainty rules
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Last couple of weeks
I got to see how Delhi celebrates Diwali this time and I can say that it is a much bigger festival here than in South. Dasera is celebrated much better in South. Bursting of crackers started at around 8pm and went on till midnight.
I had four days of holidays for Diwali and despite all the planning, I managed to do only one thing - watch a silly movie titled Fashion. It was a welcome break however. Sometimes you just want to lie down and spend time lazily, it is a luxury nowadays considering that everyone seems to be busy and wants others to be busy too. In fact people get surprised when I say that I am able to restrict my office time between 9:30 to 5:30 except on few odd days. At the beginning of my career, I was in a similar situation and I was able to devote considerable time for my hobbies. I am able to do this again.
Another observation I made is that though some things such as, providing good service to customers are quite obvious as a customer but most service providers either forget it or don't get it right. I have experienced both Pizza Hut and Dominos service and I can clearly say that Pizza Hut is much better and will surely do well. Similarly I saw Meru Cabs doing much better than Easy Cabs.
After the B-school competition season, it is time for cv reviews. I have been getting lots of requests and trying my best to give whatever inputs I can. Those with interesting past-experience are the ones who find this process most difficult. Sometimes you feel why can't they look at me, talk to me and then give me the job. After all I am taking a bigger risk than the company in joining them - if I fail, my career will be ruined but the company can easily replace me, and if I do well both parties will benefit. However firms are more worried about many other non-sense parameters and the cost of observing your performance that they would never do this. All the talk of diversity, opportunity, risk taking etc by companies is nothing short of nonsense as they go back to their tradition of recruiting people who fit into a set mold.
Change is easy talk but difficult to implement. I have been reading a lot of books but a simple auto-biography titled "A Celebration of Youth" by Mr. Anand Mohan Lal has been the most interesting readings of all. There was no way I would have even stumbled upon this book had it not been sent to me by a friend of mine from Hyderabad.
Apart from the admission queries, cv reviews, request for a xxx report spam mails, there have been regular "I am getting married - invites" have been regular in my mail box. My Diwali greetings spam also got responses from old colleagues and friends, which was possible due to nice feature in gmail.
Weather in Delhi is at its best now. That's all for now.
I had four days of holidays for Diwali and despite all the planning, I managed to do only one thing - watch a silly movie titled Fashion. It was a welcome break however. Sometimes you just want to lie down and spend time lazily, it is a luxury nowadays considering that everyone seems to be busy and wants others to be busy too. In fact people get surprised when I say that I am able to restrict my office time between 9:30 to 5:30 except on few odd days. At the beginning of my career, I was in a similar situation and I was able to devote considerable time for my hobbies. I am able to do this again.
Another observation I made is that though some things such as, providing good service to customers are quite obvious as a customer but most service providers either forget it or don't get it right. I have experienced both Pizza Hut and Dominos service and I can clearly say that Pizza Hut is much better and will surely do well. Similarly I saw Meru Cabs doing much better than Easy Cabs.
After the B-school competition season, it is time for cv reviews. I have been getting lots of requests and trying my best to give whatever inputs I can. Those with interesting past-experience are the ones who find this process most difficult. Sometimes you feel why can't they look at me, talk to me and then give me the job. After all I am taking a bigger risk than the company in joining them - if I fail, my career will be ruined but the company can easily replace me, and if I do well both parties will benefit. However firms are more worried about many other non-sense parameters and the cost of observing your performance that they would never do this. All the talk of diversity, opportunity, risk taking etc by companies is nothing short of nonsense as they go back to their tradition of recruiting people who fit into a set mold.
Change is easy talk but difficult to implement. I have been reading a lot of books but a simple auto-biography titled "A Celebration of Youth" by Mr. Anand Mohan Lal has been the most interesting readings of all. There was no way I would have even stumbled upon this book had it not been sent to me by a friend of mine from Hyderabad.
Apart from the admission queries, cv reviews, request for a xxx report spam mails, there have been regular "I am getting married - invites" have been regular in my mail box. My Diwali greetings spam also got responses from old colleagues and friends, which was possible due to nice feature in gmail.
Weather in Delhi is at its best now. That's all for now.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Movie Review - Fashion
It happened in the past and it happened again. You hear a lot about the Director, his past successes, see the promos and feel the new movie is gonna be a sure shot hit, you book your ticket and watch it on day one - phew, the movie is not upto your expectation.
This is how I felt after watching fashion. Madhur Bhandarkar surely did some research but the plot is not worth producing a movie on. While Priyanka and Kangna attempted to act, Arbaaz suited the best for his role. Photography is quite good but the script is loose and there is nothing great in the movie.
My verdict - Don't watch
This is how I felt after watching fashion. Madhur Bhandarkar surely did some research but the plot is not worth producing a movie on. While Priyanka and Kangna attempted to act, Arbaaz suited the best for his role. Photography is quite good but the script is loose and there is nothing great in the movie.
My verdict - Don't watch
Monday, October 20, 2008
Time for action
I have been postponing many things in life and i always postponed them saying that i will start working on them as soon as I finish this new big adventure (mainly with my career) I have taken up.
After writing the last blogpost, I felt it is time for me write down my goals afresh and start working on them on a daily basis. It suddenly occurred to me that I have no more excuses and that I should start working.
I am preparing my list of goals and would be working on them on a daily basis. Despite being ambitious, smart (in my perception and hard working (many others would agree with this), I have never worked meticulously; rather I focused on one thing at a time. But now I think I don't have that luxury anymore. Everyday is going to be important and I need to use the time productively to live a life that I would like to. The life I would like to live includes writing blogs and even books, traveling to different places, interacting and collaborating with people on different issues etc etc. Rural India surely occupies a large portion of my mind space and social business is something that I have been thinking from quite sometime.
One simple method to overcome procrastination I have discovered is to make your goals public and to make it really happen, set a deadline (this i have learnt at ISB). This is what I am gonna do from now on.
Happy Diwali to everyone. May the gloom of recession be overcome with the light of optimism
After writing the last blogpost, I felt it is time for me write down my goals afresh and start working on them on a daily basis. It suddenly occurred to me that I have no more excuses and that I should start working.
I am preparing my list of goals and would be working on them on a daily basis. Despite being ambitious, smart (in my perception and hard working (many others would agree with this), I have never worked meticulously; rather I focused on one thing at a time. But now I think I don't have that luxury anymore. Everyday is going to be important and I need to use the time productively to live a life that I would like to. The life I would like to live includes writing blogs and even books, traveling to different places, interacting and collaborating with people on different issues etc etc. Rural India surely occupies a large portion of my mind space and social business is something that I have been thinking from quite sometime.
One simple method to overcome procrastination I have discovered is to make your goals public and to make it really happen, set a deadline (this i have learnt at ISB). This is what I am gonna do from now on.
Happy Diwali to everyone. May the gloom of recession be overcome with the light of optimism
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)