8Minute Decision

8 Minutes all it takes to change your life

This book is about decision making and its linkage with your success in life irrespective of matter in consideration which can be love, money, power, friendship, business or fame etc.

Find out how to make Right decisions
Right decisions which will bring success, fame, prosperity, health, romance, good relationships, recognition, peace & happiness.
Eight minutes of learning which will, change your life forever.
Eight steps to guide you with effective decision making.
You have allowed yourself to be used, abused, confused, excused, transfused, misconstrued, diffused with no results.
Try the TRI-O-UMP methodology, World within you and around you would change for You

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Corporate Quotient - Curious Case of Corporate Flirting

Dictionary meaning of Flirting is, “to engage in or become interested in (something) briefly or superficially or to deal playfully, triflingly, or superficially with”.

Organizations world over also get involved in flirting,

But with whom? Of course, who else but with their employees!!

In this fast changing world where business cycles have shortened from 7 years to 5 years to 3 years to currently 1 year. The need to hire quality individuals quickly has become a challenge and is surely the key for business success. With more entrepreneurs joining the online startup bandwagon, self-driven, motivated high performing employees are even rare to find.

But what happens when a Chinese bank writes off bad loans of 50 billion USD or a European bank goes bust. Global ripples run down the corporate hiring process, with the fear of world economy collapsing. With the speed the organization has hired, with double the speed same corporate tries to cut down employee strength.

Are those employees not needed any more?

Have those high performing employees delivered poorly?

It’s all thanks to fast changing technology which is available at a cheap price. For a large organization, due to the change in guard, economic slowdown, decisions are taken to replace people with technology, whilst for younger companies; technology cost which was not affordable comes within entrepreneur’s reach due to equity funding.

When the economic environment will turn around, corporates again will start cajoling prospective employees to hire and existing employees to be retained by giving family trips abroad, company car, family dinners, esops, bonuses, corner office etc. During downturn business head along with admin and human resources play a key role making employees feel totally unwanted in the organization. Removing tea coffee vending machines, stopping basic travel reimbursements, capping phone usage, switching on air-conditioning only for specific hours etc. Employee would know by the end of it that he or she is about get dumped from employer- employee courtship or relationship.

To fire or sack somebody from an organization is a taboo in our society and hence best way is to ensure employee himself or herself resigns. Firing also creates problem with the brand image of the company and at the time of market upswing, past acts of such corporates projects that company is unstable.

Some employees don’t get the hint and message and they are put under PIP andSIP……

Performance Improvement Plan and Skill Improvement plan. These acts as  notice period and by the end of it, employee is out of the company.

But during these dumping periods what should employee do?

Apply DEC technique

D - Dedication – During slack period, compromise on family life and dedicate yourself fully to job. Even artificial posturing would help. Arrive thirty minutes before everyone else in office and leave fifteen minutes after everybody leaves. Use these extra 45 minutes to update yourself about the industry and changes happening in the industry and attain knowledge & information.  Try and assist in areas beyond your work. Help in routine affairs, coordination, calling, follow ups etc.  Learn and think and propose new ideas which business can implement without deploying much capital or diluting its brand.

E - Engagement – Engage effectively not only with your immediate superior & peers but all those who matter in the organization. This is not for sucking up or licking up. This is to ensure that you get a first-hand perspective from the steering group of the organization on what they think and what kind of human skills they need in the organization for future. Engage people in other verticals of the organization and see how can you benefit them and aid them without getting anything in return apart from goodwill.

C - Commitment – Commitment to organization during tough periods is obvious. Take a step forward and commit yourself to the next level. If you are in a client facing role, deliver unblemished service, advice etc. If you are in back office, your immediate client is your front office staff, who should vouch for your swiftness and impeccable service. Try and make a difference in the life of the producer, for the organization. If you are in purchase, treat your vendors with dignity and respect and extract good deals for the organization. Add value at every level so that you become synonymous to knowledge and high quality.

Then cycles would come and go but you would continue to grow and be loved in the organization.

• Employee Engagement
• Organisations
• Service Delivery

What’s your team like????????

In today’s competitive corporate environment, hardly one gets to hear that a non-performer has been chucked out because he has not been working hard. With intense competition and turbulent financial markets, perseverance is a quality which is expected to be a hygiene factor. 

Then why do some teams fail?  Why are people asked to leave? If everybody is working hard, then why is team not achieving the set goals?

Is the board asking right questions from the leader of businesses?

Question to be asked is – What’s your team like? Presenting you the team matrix  BCDO

Also introducing 2 acronyms: DQ – Diplomacy Quotient (conducive to the Political environment of the organization) & TQ – Technical Quotient (Complete Knowhow for executing the Job). IQ and EQ has been used innumerable times before, hence avoiding to substantiate on those terms.

Each team has few or all of BCDO

1.      Bohemians – These are smart talented individuals who are non-conformist of the system but are very useful for the organization. They have the ability & talent to reach the goal post single handedly. They generally don’t add anything to the organization or team in terms of culture, knowledge, team camaraderie etc apart from numbers. They are silent workers and do not have too much connect or relations within the organization. They have limited friends within the company and seek internal motivation to achieve targets. Most important thing in their life is FREEDOM, freedom to operate & execute. Consistency is not the thing they admire most. Also during times of need, one can’t necessarily vouch for their delivery. They generally have very high TQ, Very low DQ & EQ. Moderately high IQ. These kind of people have very high expectations from themselves. For them, competition is internal and they try to better off in every try they make. Management is not particularly fond of them due to their social disconnect and lack of Yes Man attitude. They keep jumping jobs for the thrill of one and are not sticky to one organization for a very long term.  

2.      Congruous Workers – These are the core of any organization. They are always in line with the organizational objectives and think of the wellbeing of the organization as their first priority. They like to be directed by the leader and are good at following instructions. They prefer structured working environment and laid down rules & regulations. These kind of employees find it difficult in startup ventures and grow up ranks fast in large organizations. They adapt and moderate as per the organizational norms and deliver results as per the leader’s expectations and control. One can’t expect superlative performance until being directed into. They receive enthusiasm and motivation from the organizational elements and the leader. They have moderate balanced IQ, EQ, DQ & TQ. They have generally long serving careers in one organization and remain loyal for longer duration of their work life. Leaders generally repose lot of faith in such workers due to their “YES SIR, CAN Do, WILL DO” attitude.

3.      Dependable – These kind of employees are best for the organization with High IQ, EQ, TQ and moderate DQ. These are consistent players of the team and take every opportunity to assist the leader and organization in achieving its goals. They need minimal instructions and are quick in understanding and execution. During adverse conditions they adapt to the newer conditions and keep the ball moving. They engage with rest of the team, help in building culture and good work place environment. They contribute over and above number by mentoring and coaching junior employees. They are the best fit for building cross departmental synergies. They generally are secure and don’t get involved in unnecessary gossip and mudslinging exercise amongst employees. They generally don’t deliver superlative performances but have consistent delivery year on year. Despite of being loyal, generally they don’t stick to one organization due to competitive poaching & organizational politics.

4.      Obsessive Brand Creators – These individuals have great oratory skills with perfect timing. Language and content is not so important for them as compared to communication and timing of it. They don’t work for the organization but for themselves. They remain sticky with the organization till the time they see organization creating value for them. Motivation for these employees is brand ME. These employees are social in the organization and make sure their presence is felt and recognized in each discussion and within the organization. It can become really difficult if the leader has these traits. In such a scenario, leader wouldn’t allow others to grow and take the organization forward. For such employees, failures are always due to the organization’s fault while successes are contributed by them. Best part about them is their delivery skills during testing times. They tend to perform well when overall organization is reeling under pressure, so that their leadership can be portrayed to the external world by their performance. They generally have high EQ, DQ and moderately high IQ and TQ.

Can True business Leaders Identify & then balance employees and Organizational results?

Reply to Editor - Cover Story of Economist - 24th Aug 2013 - How India got its funk

Dear Editor of Economist Magazine,

Hope this email finds you in best of health and spirits. I’m a regular reader of Economist magazine. But to my disappointment, the Cover story of your 24^th Aug 2013 Edition has been poorly drafted and investigated.

To substantiate my point I would use pointers which would help you in understanding my perspective so that you can take an educated decision on what went wrong with the Cover Story.

Firstly the fall in rupee and the sentiment for Foreign Investors related to India has less to do with US Fed’s hinting to reduce the bond purchase program, whilst it has to do more with the systemic change which Indian social system is witnessing. To elaborate it further, India is perhaps the only democratic country in the world , to implement full fledged transparency in all matters including public finance & government functioning. This has been made possible through RTI ( Right to Information) through which any citizen of the country can find out information related to all expenditure including public office & the Prime Minister’s Office, at a very nominal cost, as low as INR 10. This has been implemented as law a few years ago and due to which the approval process of any large public project has been carefully monitored & watched and hence delays are bound to happen. This is a systemic change and India like any other economy would take few years to adjust. Once this is done, movement of approvals would be faster tracking the growth back. Good news here is even if politicians don’t want this to happen, it’s a natural process and would evolve on its own.

Secondly, your point that business tycoons are wary of investing in India is contradictory. When one of the largest FMCG companies (Unilever, Glaxo Consumer Care) or liquor companies (Diageo) decides to invest few billion dollars in equity in an economy when they have options of almost 40 countries available, it reflects the interest of the World business leaders to come to India and do business with Indians. Money which has exited the Indian capital markets has been hot money of hedge funds which track daily returns. FDI is good for any economy better than FII. Not saying that FII money is bad, but surely conviction of business leaders for an economy can be seen through FDI investments. Infact long only funds have constantly been buying India at all levels of distress. It’s the domestic Investors and domestic mutual funds who have been selling and that is on account of high fixed income opportunity which has been arising in Indian markets.

Thirdly Food security Bill, which has given hope to the country that less number of people go hungry and empty stomach to bed in night. As per your statistics India spends INR 90,000 Crs as food subsidy, whilst the Food Security Bill which entitles 81 Cr population of India subsidized food would create burden of INR 1.20 lac crore incrementally, INR 30,000 Crs, which is manageable looking at the government expenditure. With Unique Identification Program (UID) being implemented the cost of distribution and its effectiveness would only increase. Most of the state government including Tamil Nadu, Chattisgarh, Gujarat already has Food Security Scheme for the state. Some states which might not currently help would lead this move in the right direction.

Fourthly, the Poor state of Nationalised banks. These were the same banks which didn’t face any risk of bankruptcy during the global meltdown and stood strong the test of all defaults when mighty ones of the West crumbled. Government of India on an ongoing basis has been getting the banks to waive the farm loan credit and that is the major reason for some stress assets in their balancesheets. But this was needed to stop the condition what otherwise would have led to Arab spring. If rural India is in stress, recovery of loans can create civil unrest and hence this was done. Indian government on a constant basis has been recapitalizing the banks ensuring Basel 3 norms are followed and implemented by mid 2014.

Having mentioned all the points above, I do agree lots can be done if political will is there including simplifying the tax regime, creation of Irrigation infrastructure, which itself can lead to  incremental 1.50% GDP growth for next few years etc.

But my point has been that Cover story doesn’t portray the true picture of the Indian economy and the logic behind it for a Global investor.

Many thanks for reading it patiently.

Hope this would change in times to come.

Skilled Labour & Workforce – Need of the Hour – July 2013

It’s been 66 years since independence. We have seen eras with 4% Hindu rate of growth to 9% of accelerated growth. There have been times when India has been self sufficient despite of throwing multinationals out of India and there have been times, when Indian policy makers have changed rules and have open doors to those multinationals to bring precious foreign currency back in India and give boost to the ailing economy. In all these 66 years what has not happened is inclusive growth.

Definition of Poverty has changed, number and statistics have changed but average Indian still reels under pressure to meet his basic necessities meet. He looks at the government to give him food, and shelter at subsidized rates or free so that he can feed his family and make his ends meet. Various state governments and Central government have tried to provide for his basic necessity of food, earlier through Public distribution system and now through Food Security Bill.
Still average Indian still looks upon government for his sustenance. It means, in case, if government fails, which can be possibility despite of ordinance, then he fails to provide food and shelter to his family and thus he and his family can die due to hunger.
Government is the caretaker of the country and its people; its job is to ensure creating capabilities and creating environment and infrastructure to ensure self sustained people, fending for them. But instead what government is spending is on today’s needs to live rather (Non developmental expenditure) rather than building skillset for future.
In 66 years of independence building 30 technical institutes which have some most fierce entrance examination can surely be counted as success. But what happens to millions of students who enter primary education and don’t have willingness and resources to sit for IIT and other engineering examinations. They all have primary, secondary or higher secondary qualifications but no skill set to earn. As per official data, India’s official population stands at 127 Crores. As per the official estimates 49.80 Crore population is employed, but the employment to those and their family members doesn’t generate enough to provide them with a square meal.
If one looks at it, few reasons can be attributed to it, one is disguised employment, which means person believes that he is working but his work can be done by existing person in the system. In other words to generate employment, government is promoting inefficiency in the system.

Second is intermediation. India has witnessed a robust growth in service sector. Information technology has been one of the largest contributors. Apart from that financial services followed by retailing, marketing follow suit. What has happened that intermediation has become such a large industry in itself that it has employed lacks and lacks of people directly and indirectly, qualified and unqualified. Most of this intermediation doesn’t need any skill set and hence it easily absorbs labour in this sector. But in days of recession and during economic downturn, where economic activity itself comes down and people look for efficiency, intermediation goes down under fastest, hitting the overall growth of the economy further.
Service is surely the need of the hour but creating skillset in labour force could lead a sustainable advantage for the country. Currently unskilled labour force is exported around the world legally and illegally to cater to the needs of various industries including infrastructure and construction. When the need is over, labour is thrown back in the country by changing the policy as it happened in Middle east and again he goes back in the trap of poverty.
Government is collecting education cess to ensure implementation of RTE, similarly if government implements Right to technical education from sixth standard in all schools across India, alteast, labour with some skillset like masionary, carpentry, plumbing or any other art or skill, he can fend for himself and his family, even if he drops out before graduation or higher secondary.
This would lead to more innovation and research in these fields and thus increasing efficiencies for the economy and contributing to GDP growth of the country.

Amarnath Yatra – Unique Example of Religious Interdepen​dence & Confluence

Amarnath Holy Shrine, one of the highly religious & pious pilgrimage points for Hindu Devotees. This is the place where Lord Shiva has narrated Bhagwad Gita or the secrets of Immortality and creation of Universe to Mata Parvati, Lord Shiva’s Wife. Story goes like this Mata Parvati insisted that she may be told secret of being immortal. For long Lord Shiva continued postponing. Finally on persistent demand from Mata Parvati, he made up his mind to tell the immortal secret .He started for lonely place where no living being could listen to it . He chose Amarnath Cave . In preparation to that He left Nandi (The Bull which He used to ride ) at Pahalgam (Bail gaon) .At Chandanwari He released Moon from his hairs (Jataon). At the banks of Lake Sheshnag, He released his snake. At Panjtarni, Lord Shiva left the Five Elements behind (Earth , Water, Air , Fire and Sky) which makes the living being . Subsequently Lord Shiva entered the Holy Amarnath Cave along with Mata Parvati. While narrating the story Lord Shiva takes his Samadhi on the Deer Skin but one egg which was lying beneath the Deer skin remained protected. Rest of the area around his Asan is burnt by Lord Shiva through fire to ensure there is no living being present their in the cave. It is believed to be non living and more over it was protected by Shiva -Parvati Asan (Bed). The pair of pigeons which were born out of this egg became immortal having listened the secret of immortality (Amar Katha) & can still be seen at Amarnath ji.

Amarnath is in the land of Kashmir (in the state of J&K) which is an integral part of India. India is a secular state with maximum inter religious violence and Kashmir is one of the places which has witnessed this more often than any other state since independence. Kashmir is active with all political parties and fundamental groups seeking autonomy and religious independence. There lies Amarnath 75 Kms + 16 Km of trek from Srinagar ( capital of J&K) where every year Lord Shiva abode (Shivling) is formed with Ice and Snow. There are 2 ways to reach Amarnath through Palagham – a trek of 26 Kms or through Baltal a rough hilly steep, slopy terrain of 16 km.

99% of the devotees visiting Amarnath Shrine are Hindus. The journey can be covered in four modes, on foot, on horse, on a Palaki (a steel chair tied in bamboo carried by 4 people on their shoulders) and through helicopter. Helicopter booking is not easily available and has to be followed by minimum of 6 Km of steep trek. Thus most pilgrims use first 3 modes to finish their Yatra to Amarnath. As mentioned in earlier part, that Lord Shiva chose a place where no living being can reach forget a human, one can imagine how arduous the journey to reach Holy cave is. It needs mental strength apart from physical fitness and most important support of Muslim brethren. There Kashmiri Muslim men, act as Pittos to carry luggage and children of pilgrim who prefer walking. Devotees who go on horses, donkeys and Kacchars, get these owners (Ghodawala) walk all the way up and come back down at the speed of the horse. Palakiwalas have the toughest job of walking in 3 feet broad muddy and rocky road along with horses and foot Yatris coordinating with three other colleagues of theirs maintaining the same speed ensuring same walking rhythm carrying 70 Kg to 130 Kg individuals on their shoulders. The path or the road is so narrow that one wrong step and one would meet death instantly. Thus dependence becomes all the more high on the Yatris facilitators.

Due to environmental issues and High Court order, there are no permanent structures near or on the way to Amarnath and thus these Kashmiri muslim people sell all essentials including water, juice, biscuits, tents on rent, bedding and linen on rent etc.
Amarnath Yatra is generally open for a period of 1.5 months to 2 months starting from June end of Mid August. Every year approx 5 lacs pilgrims visit the Holy Cave of Amarnath and each of these 5 lac Yatris in one way or the other take help, support or depend on those Kashmiri Muslim brethren to enable them in completing their Yatra Peacefully and with convenience. These Kashmiris do these jobs for their livelihood with no hang ups of going to Hindu’s Pilgrimage place. Infact most of them have equal or higher regard for the Shiva’s Shrine and listen keenly on the story behind the same.
In all our sacred books we have given importance to Karta (doer) as well as to the medium (enabler), which in this case is our Kashmir brethren without whose help, the Yatra would never have been complete.

Dealmakers - Good and Successful

Why are certain individuals good deal makers. Answer is simple, they communicate their thoughts, more importantly their decisions, and their beliefs to the counter party through their subconscious mind. In olden days, around 300 - 400 years back, when people needed to communicate, they used to pass the message through universal rays. Environment, nature is the fastest means of communication. That is the same reason, how animals sense the danger prevailing in their vicinity and activate their respective protective shield or react to the danger.

History tells us that Chanakya has effectively used this technique to pass codes and lessons to his famous disciple Chandragupt Maurya. Same has been used by Dhronacharya for hi s favourite disciple Arjun. So what is this art? If we put it in simple words, energy flows from a higher level to a lower level like water. Hence, human beings who have more inner strength and higher energy levels emit rays more particularly energy rays directed towards the person with whom he needs to communicate. Those rays are so strong that they hit the target subconsciously and create an opinion as per the desires of sender. In turn, the mind of the receiver gets

aligned with the sender and hence large deals are clicked. A lower version of it is also called telepathy, where message is conveyed without real physical communication. Telepathy generally happens between individuals who are closely emotionally connected.

While for deal making emotional connect is not the most important ingredient. What is extremely important is to observe and listen to the target. This would help the sender in getting a detailed understanding of the communication process and

hitting the target when in a situation when he is most vulnerable with very low energy levels. Individuals who are adamant, rigid and stubborn are easy targets. For these kind of people once the idea/thought/ belief is sent and it gets in the subconscious mind of the individual, the person starts believing that the very same opinion and thought is his and he doesn't part with it. People who are flexible and erratic and have a disruptive thought process, are not the easiest nuts to crack. Even after

transmitting the thoughts, in other times, they change and modify those opinions received initially by them.

Thus deal making is an input and output, it helps in making people realise their inner strength and high inner strengths and energy levels enables deals to materialise.