tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25234891450058536812024-03-12T21:19:41.552-07:00Book Reviews - Vijay K ShrotryiaVijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-82262449472896353142024-02-16T21:30:00.000-08:002024-02-16T21:34:29.286-08:00AATMANIRBHAR: by Ashwani Mahajan (editor)AATMANIRBHAR: a swadeshi paradigm (2023) by ASHWANI MAHAJAN (editor), Rupa Publications, New Delhi, p 226<div><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333300; font-family: "EB Garamond", sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCSpCzM51LSnNyMLolYDHZ8fdqT9qs5dF_EzPc4IFsJXILO3TPVa8cBgUkhGJ-P0EXCYztg1Yvh_kT4NdH0gqIQ-X258b9Jttsm5eq_BQivpwt4p2nbGJcGSufbIyb1zo1oKHTqCu7vG9Mv-eVTrpHieSt2n1BpnarhaM9zUw8vc92z4bZn2dzhmZXXi_s/s1536/AATMANIRBHAR-front-1-1012x1536.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="1012" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCSpCzM51LSnNyMLolYDHZ8fdqT9qs5dF_EzPc4IFsJXILO3TPVa8cBgUkhGJ-P0EXCYztg1Yvh_kT4NdH0gqIQ-X258b9Jttsm5eq_BQivpwt4p2nbGJcGSufbIyb1zo1oKHTqCu7vG9Mv-eVTrpHieSt2n1BpnarhaM9zUw8vc92z4bZn2dzhmZXXi_s/s320/AATMANIRBHAR-front-1-1012x1536.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>The prerequisite for visioning India as a developed nation (viksit bharat) by 2047 is self-reliance or AatmaNirbharta. India is moving ahead with speed, in scale and size. It took us sixty years past independence to become USD1 Trillion economy whereas next one and a half decade witnessed three-fold increase. It was the mid of 2020 when the Prime Minister of India, <a href="https://www.narendramodi.in/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #136ebf; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s, background-color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">Narendra Modi</a>, provided an impetus for <a href="https://aatmanirbharbharat.mygov.in/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #136ebf; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s, background-color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">AtmaNirbhar Bharat</a>. It was this timely realisation and focus that led him to further extend it for a greater mission – <a href="https://viksitbharatsankalp.gov.in/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #136ebf; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s, background-color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">ViksitBharat</a> by 2047 (marking a century of Indian independence).<p></p>The challenge before all of us is how do we become self-reliant in a sustainable way that we are able to cherish the fruits for all times to come.</div><div><br />With this context in mind, I read this book titled – <a href="https://rupapublications.co.in/books/aatmanirbhar-a-swadeshi-paradigm/">Aatmanirbhar: a swadeshi paradigm, edited by Professor Ashwani Mahajan.</a> It is an insightful volume providing different viewpoints on the whole idea of self-reliance from the perspective of swadeshi bharat. The core of our growth lies in solving our problems with our resources or finding match between available resources, potential, and application. Moving from reliance to self-reliance, or nirbharta to aatmanirbharta, is the key to sustainable development within and beyond defined frames.</div><br />This book has 18 chapters authored by intelligent thinkers of contemporary India whose voice matters. The editor deserves appreciation for being able to rope in experts from academics, policy making, and industry to share their perspective on Aatmnirbhar Bharat through their prudent contribution.<br /><br />The foreword is written by <a href="https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%A8_%E0%A4%AD%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%97%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%A4">Dr Mohan Bhagwat</a> (Sarsanghchalak, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), building context around four purusharthas and beyond western belief of materialism and consumerism. The contributors include V A Nageswaran (Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India), Bibek Debroy (Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India), N K Singh (Chairman, 15th Finance Commission, Government of India), A K Lahiri (Former Chief Economic Advisor, Government of India), Sanjeev Sanyal (Member, Economic Advisory Council to the PM), apart from industry experts like Sanjeev Puri (Chairman and MD, ITC), Sridhar Vembu (CEO, Zoho Corpn), and Gopal Srinivasan (CEO, TVS Capital).<br /><br />The experience of reading this book was enriching and sagacious, traveling through the villages, wage-led growth, industrial growth, food security, and international trade. The mix of macro and micro; problem and policy; trade and technology are brilliantly interwoven through the volume.<br /><br />Sachin Chaturvedi mentions – <div><blockquote>One element that Gandhi emphasized and that is still relevant today is ethics in economic development. Indian development and particularly swadeshi ethos should nurture this, going beyond corporate social responsibility. At the same time, it needs to be ensured – as emphasized by PM Narendra Modi – that there is sustainable consumption of production with minimum carbon footprint. (p 17).</blockquote>The manufacturing sector’s growth is visible in many sectors that are propelling economic growth as well as creating employment opportunities. The issues concerning food security, energy deficit, and self-reliant defence sector have been excellently discussed by Shamika Ravi. The initiative of the government to boost industrial growth through <a href="https://www.meity.gov.in/esdm/pli">production linked incentives (PLI)</a> find mention by few authors and I am sure that this scheme shall be one of the important engines of growth helping industry and employment through building appropriate competencies.<br /><br />Sanjay Baru (former media advisor and chief spokesperson during PM Manmohan Singh) opines on the idea of Aatmnirbharta through tracing its root in Indian thinking and appreciates focus on manufacturing sector (<a href="https://www.makeinindia.com/">Make in India</a>) apart from highlighting impact of geo-political conditions on economic growth. Abhijit Das’s paper emphasizing on international trade across sectors and industries warns the policy makers for carrying out an in-depth assessment as well as to have proper preparedness for facing ensuing scenario after FTAs (wrt Canada, EU, and the UK).<br /><br />The idea of reliance or dependence makes us weak and enthuses a sense of insecurity and inferiority complex. Our historical contribution in the world trade is not unknown to the contemporary policy makers. Last few centuries weakened us both economically and socially that effectuated our dependence on the other part of the globe disturbing balance of trade vis-à-vis balance of payment.<br /><br />We also need to build ecosystem that focuses on ease of doing farming (p 25) that shall sustain industrial value chain and build us from within to be Aatmnirbhar. Though the governments have been initiating policies to improve economic conditions, yet we never had any political leader who could push us to dream for a developed India through becoming self-reliant.<br /><br />One would have to go through this book to dive deeper into the thought of aatmanirbhar (self-reliance) Bharat, priority areas for required policy framework, and to explore the pathways to developed India (viksit bharat). I recommend this book to all interested in seeing India becoming self-reliant and an economic power. We have transitioned from fragile five to first five. Apart from being the largest economy we need to focus on reducing inequalities and improving human well-being that should increase per capita income.<br /><br />I am sure India shall regain its past and lost glory when all of us put forth our efforts in the direction of Viksit Bharat and by the time we celebrate 100 years of India’s independence, we shall stand tall, firm, and humble.</div>Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-39547393081098685482019-04-06T08:58:00.001-07:002019-04-06T08:58:10.904-07:00THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION by Klaus Schwab<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (2017) by Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum, Switzerland, p 172<br />
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There is no doubt about the speed of change that has accelerated in last few decades due to technology interventions. It has affected our thinking so much so that we are not able to predict the future even for next one decade. Last three hundred years have transformed the world in its demography, geography, economics and politics. Europe and Americas have dominated the scene till the 20th century and it is presumed that this century belongs to Asia.<br />
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In these changing times and trials Klaus Schwab (famously known for founding World Economic Forum) brings out this book out of his experiences and interactions to advocate the case for fourth industrial revolution which is going to be dominated by technology at a different level. The term Fourth Industrial Revolution or 4IR is in currency for last few years and has attracted the academia, practitioners and policy makers to get prepared and respond to this revolution in order to stay relevant. The book argues the exponential nature of change with the disruption created by technology in all kinds of market, industry and services.<br />
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The evolution of industry over the last few centuries has demonstrated transformations in business, industry, market, society and polity. The inventions and explorations have made life easier and comfortable. Railways facilitated movements and transportation, electricity brought light to human life and internet opened unthinkable opportunities which culminated into ubiquitous market spaces. The algorithms and binaries have redefined the way search engines operate and researches are conducted. It has revolutionized thinking, expectations and experiences. Last few centuries and decades also witnessed marketable knowledge creation affecting development of new disciplines of study.<br />
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Klaus Schwab informs that there are going to be four main physical manifestations of the technological megatrends, viz., autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, advanced robotics, and new materials. The way research is being conducted and availability of physical space is reducing, nano technology shall change the way manufacturing happen in future and products are developed. The tipping points that are expected by 2025 are just terrific - 91.2 per cent of the respondents feeling that 10 per cent of people shall be wearing clothes connected to the internet; around 90 per cent of the respondents feeling that there would be around 1 trillion sensors connected to the internet; more than 80 per cent of the respondents feel that 90 per cent population shall be using smart phones; around half of the respondents felt that there would be AI (Artificial Intelligence) machine on a corporate board of directors; etc. These are not vague estimations or wild imagination, this is how things are expected to shape in the 4IR domain and all stakeholders needs to get prepared for this time.<br />
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Technology shall impact growth and GDP as demand shall accelerate and so would production. Nature of job in future shall change as automation shall take away traditional jobs and new opportunities and jobs shall get created in the domain of new technologies. As highlighted in the book, occupations like telemarketing, tax preparers, insurance appraisers, legal secretaries, real stake brokers etc shall be more prone to automation as compared to mental health, choreographers, psychologists, counselors, HR managers, sales managers, CEOs, etc.<br />
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Because digital technology knows no borders, there are many questions that
come to mind when considering the geographic impact of technology and the
impact of geography on technology. What will define the roles that
countries, regions and cities play in the fourth industrial revolution? Will
Western Europe and the US lead the transformation, as they did the previous
industrial revolutions? Which countries will be able to leapfrog? Will there
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be greater and more effective collaboration for the bettering of society, or
will we see increased fragmentation not only within countries but also
across countries? In a world where goods and services can be produced
almost everywhere, and where much of the demand for low-skilled and
low-wage work is overtaken by automation, will those who can afford it
congregate in countries with strong institutions and proven quality of life? (p 74) </blockquote>
The whole ecosystem of interactions, interventions, governance, employment, ethics, delivery, citizenship, and society is expected to witness paradigm shift beyond imagination. Some of it would be gradual so may not surprise much, some of it would also be abrupt and shall steal away human creativity beyond imaginarium.<br />
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The way forwards as briefed by Klaus Schwab for disruption by nurturing and applying four different types of intelligence, viz., contextual (the mind); emotional (the heart); inspired (the soul); and physical (the body). Certainly these are important and they need to be looked at from the perspective of a caution as well. The deep shifts as given in the appendix of the book provide an insight into the expected future in 4IR environment. There are 23 shifts that are narrated with their respective positives and negatives. <br />
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1. Implantable Technologies; 2. Our Digital Presence; 3. Vision as the New Interface; 4. Wearable Internet; 5. Ubiquitous Computing; 6. A Supercomputer in Your Pocket; 7. Storage for All; 8. The Internet of and for Things; 9. The Connected Home; 10. Smart Cities; 11. Big Data for Decisions; 12. Driverless Cars; 13. Artificial Intelligence and Decision-Making; 14. AI and White-Collar Jobs; 15. Robotics and Services; 16. Bitcoin and the Blockchain; 17. The Sharing Economy; 18. Governments and the Blockchain; 19. 3D Printing and Manufacturing; 20. 3D Printing and Human Health; 21. 3D Printing and Consumer Products; 22. Designer Beings; and 23. Neurotechnologies,<br />
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It is a fascinating story based on facts and figures, experiences and experiments, observations and studies which opens the eyes of the reader for embracing technology driven future. Technology and time shall certainly influence the nature of instant gratification which would not be a good sign for human well-being. But that is the price humans shall have to pay by succumbing. What to say, we all have inherent desire to survive. The book is a must read for the young students of today and teachers of tomorrow so that they are able to see the future and develop an appropriate appetite. Only time shall tell us how it is distributed and digested.</div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-2054945383101148492018-09-12T00:37:00.001-07:002018-09-19T22:15:34.200-07:00INDIAN PSYCHOLOGY - An experiential approach by Neeltje Huppes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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INDIAN PSYCHOLOGY - An experiential approach (2017) by Neeltje Huppes, Indian Psychology Institute, Puducherry, p 176</div>
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When we look at general human behaviour, we tend to compare individuals on the basis of region, culture and ethnicity. The approach of an Indian is found to be much different than that of an American. There seem to be a view on the West and the Rest kind of classification which is vague and calls for revisiting. India as a geography and culture is much different from Europe or other parts of the world.</div>
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The book is a brief text on Indian Psychology providing an overview touching upon different dimensions. As believed, Indian Psychology is considered to be based on holistic consciousness and this text divided in four sections and sixteen chapters encapsulates core surrounding issues nicely. The development of cognitive faculties depends on the belief system on one side and the fire (within) to discover self in the given environment on the other side. This is the foundation of formation of perception.</div>
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The book is written from the conception of omnipresent consciousness and explains it through the narratives of Vedas and Upanishads. The concept of <i>sat-chit-anand</i> as depicted and explained in the Upanishads has been brilliantly narrated in the text which is considered to be inherent part of vedanta philosophy. In the description the author has put rigor in simplifying the concept for the understanding of the students. It is reflected throughout the text which makes this title riveting and easy. </div>
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In the Indian philosophical thinking there are three gunas, viz., <i>sattva, rajas, </i>and <i>tamas. </i>These are well explained as essential modes of nature through examples in Bhagavad Gita. Self reflection and observation have contributed towards forging the base of Indian psychology and makes a sound case of integral psychology as the author views. <i>Prana</i> (vital), <i>Manas</i> (mind), <i>antaratma </i>(soul), and <i>ahamkara </i>(ego) have been explained in different chapters through text and exercises. </div>
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I liked the format of the book which briefly discusses the concept in the text and at places through pictures as well and provides additional readings and exercises towards the end of each chapter. Links to the web and visuals are provided in the text for substantiating and supplementing reading experience. A rich <a href="http://ipi.org.in/second/ipaea-companion.php">Online companion</a> to the book is also provided for easy access for readers. The appendix on Fear is an excellent depiction of the nuances. Annotated bibliography of books provided towards the end is a good guide for students interested in further exploring this domain. </div>
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Overall Indian psychology as believed, preached and practiced by Sri Aurobindo inundating integral psychology is narrated in the volume. The students shall surely be enriched by the text and would have better understanding of Indian psychology after going through this brief volume.</div>
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Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-6145750936769593712018-07-14T08:11:00.003-07:002018-07-14T08:26:16.360-07:00FACTFULNESS by Hans Rosling<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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FACTFULNESS: Ten Reasons We're wrong about the world - and why things are better than you think by Hans Rosling (2018) with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Ronnlund, Hachette - Sceptre, UK, p 342.</div>
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Some fifteen years ago a renowned practicing psychologist in Philadelphia was interacting with me and I asked him about his experience of India and to my utter surprise he shared some of the bad memories he had while he visited Bombay (Mumbai). He told me it is overcrowded, beggars all over the places, corruption, poor law and order etc., etc. I didn't want him to continue further, so I intervened and inquired when was it, I mean the year, he tried to figure out the year but unable to recall he said it was sometime in early 80s. I just told him, things have changed a lot in India and in Mumbai. India is not same as before. As world has changed, India has changed positively too.</div>
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But at the back of my head, I got into thinking as to how we tend to form our opinion about places and people and what drives our bias towards what we think. We see things from the experiences we have and get so possessed that we forget transitions overtime and our perspective lands into narrowness. Most of us commit this error unknowingly and accordingly our perceptions and decisions are affected. Many a times they are far from reality.</div>
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It is in this background when I read a brief about Factfulness and saw TED talk by Hans Rosling, I was driven to go through the book. Bill Gates has been a great admirer of Hans Rosling and his way of looking at future on the basis of facts. He states that it is one of the most important books he has ever read and that's why his charity is giving a free eCopy of this volume to all graduating Americans this year.</div>
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Factfulness is based on some of the most interesting questions each one of us should have and try to find answers of when we are interacting with the new world. Most of us tend to believe that the world is getting worse year after year. We have heard lot of stories from our elders that their days were better. Media keeps writing fascinating stories about the dark days we are living and going to face in the future. Most politicians capitalize on our ignorance and preposterously play with our emotions. The policy makers get myopic while designing policies. So we form our perception on the basis of what gets written about, what people around us talk about and what was told to us long back or we saw long back.</div>
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Interestingly, most of the times we do not dig into data and try to know whether what is being served to us is correct or not, or what is the reality behind. Hans Rosling along with Ola Rosling (son) and Anna Rosling Ronnlund (daughter-in-law) provide us guided tour through an unusual quiz and provocative puzzles which make one realize number of times that chimpanzees think better than a human being. His arguments are exemplary and as a physician and expert on global health, his grip on health issues and defense that we are in much better condition as compared to the past, assures that things are not bad but perceptions are. So better if we try finding facts and data and use some little analysis to form an opinion which can help us think better and make better policies. Though there are only 13 questions as such which are the basis of the whole argument that the world is getting better, there are many other questions which the book answers through the narratives to the social milieu.</div>
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Like many of my generation people, I grew up with the binary classification of the world - developed and less developed or poor. Later the World Bank started classifying the world in four categories, viz., Low income, Lower middle income, Upper middle income, and High income and we began to see the world in different way. Never knew that it was Hans who was trying hard to break the binary and could successfully convince the World Bank to expand in four categories. In this book all the questions are answered from the perspective of four categories as Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4. Countries are moving from Level 1 to Level 4 exponentially (<i>Soon, most people on Level 4 will be non-westerners</i>) and this volume is an exceptional tribute to the changing world where we see lot of improvement in health indicators (88% immunization, 70 yrs of Life Expectancy) globally. It might sound unbelievable but it is heartening to know that 90% girls go to school globally.</div>
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Personal experiences are beautifully corroborated by the author and the way the whole book is written shows the passion of the team towards the cause of providing clarity based on facts which otherwise get maimed. As individuals and institutions we need to draw policies and strategies, design products and services, provide solutions and make systems for the organisations and market of tomorrow and if they are based on the facts which could be extrapolated for the future, we shall be preparing for better future, mind it, <i>Societies and cultures are not like rocks, unchanging and unchangeable</i>.</div>
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We can not use old glasses for new challenges and very strongly we need to come out of archaic thinking based on mere observations or hearsay, we need to get to look for reality through data so that we see the future more clearly. Though Hans Rosling could not see the release of the book as he left us in Feb 2017, the kind of awareness he has created and legacy he has left, I am sure it shall go a long way in helping all of us to understand the world better. It shall be a true tribute to him if we all become <i>possibilists</i> as he used to call himself. I wish the person I met in Philadelphia shall appreciate the changes that and amend his opinion about India which was nothing but a crude generalization.</div>
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The book is written in a very reader friendly manner. The visuals are unique and never-before type and are simple to understand. It diagnoses problem, prescribes solutions and cautions the reader to not get carried away with the crowd. The book is very prescriptive and that is the best part of this book.</div>
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Factfulness is an insigthful sojourn into the world of optimism, possibility and positivity. The passion Hans Rosling has reflected in writing this book makes it an interesting read for everyone. For policy makers, students, academics, business community, civil society, challengers, complainers, politicians - for almost everybody, this volume tries to explore and provide an answer to use better informed, fact based yardsticks. All who are interested in the future, more than the present and past, shall enjoy it thoroughly.</div>
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Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-2128923724835282212017-12-03T08:58:00.000-08:002018-01-07T02:44:40.543-08:00HUNGRY PEOPLE, BETTER RESULTS by Deepak Malhotra<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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HUNGRY PEOPLE, BETTER RESULTS - Unleash the Fire Within to Win Continually in Life by Deepak Malhotra (2017), Bloomsbury, p 298.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Leadership has been a key domain of discussion among
academicians and practitioners in last one century starting with a belief
on <i>Leaders are born </i>to <i>Leaders can be made. </i>Both
the views had their merits and demerits and the literature has proved that one
can learn the art of leadership and become successful leader if one is open to
learning and has developed a positive attitude towards change.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">This book by Deepak Malhotra tries to narrate the nuances of
practicing leadership through the perspective of selected successful leaders in
different areas of their work and profession. Though the individuals who have
been selected for their views on leadership and their conception of <i>Hungry
People Better Results</i> have proved excellent records yet the criterion of
their selection has not been made explicit anywhere in the volume. It seems to
be the prerogative and convenience of the author. The efforts made by
Deepak to gather together these many leaders is remarkable. Though the book
looks like a lengthy volume, once you start reading and flip its pages, you can
presumably find it handy, short and simple. At times it gives you a feel
that it is an extended version of Oxford book of quotations, but suddenly you
find a narrative advice on the ways how one can succeed in life and career. The
pathways are illustrative and many a times repetitive.</span></div>
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The book has as many as 29 chapters covering achievers and leaders who have strong messages for practice. It includes business luminaries like Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Harsh Vardhan Goenka, Harsh Neotia, on one side and cricketers like Bishen Singh Bedi and Ravi Shastri on the other. All the leaders and achievers profiled in the book portray strong sense of responsibility. Their vices are convincing, their conception is clear, their advices are authentic and their wisdom is impeccable. Lessons from the corporate boardrooms to the cricket ground, from a successful entrepreneur (PC Mustafa, Preethi Srinivasan, Madan Padaki) to running a big media house (Annurag Batra) and from a cancer fighter (Rahul Yadav) to climbing Mount Everest (Arunima Sinha) are all well recorded and narrated by the author in the book. If I have to summarize and give five common traits that a leader should possess, they could be: High on Integrity, Learning Attitude, Honest Intent, Good Communicator, and High Sense of Humility. The possessions of these characteristics would certainly make one an effective and successful leader. When it comes to theoretical links, one can find these traits well recorded and explained in almost every text on leadership.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I liked this paragraph from the book which has strong message
to convey:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Being the best is not enough nowadays and even benchmarking with the best is not enough. Companies like Eastman Kodak, after eighty years of being number one, do not exist. Samsung has outsmarted the Sony that unseated them. GM is outsmarted by Tesla; Cabbies by Uber. Facebook has vanquished Orkut. If you are on the top floor of an elevator building, there is only one arrow you can press and that is the one going downwards. No one wants to do that! Thus, Inspire, Innovate, Implement, Improvise, Incentivize, and be Independent of Extinction and Dependent on Distinction. (p 239)</div>
</blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Hunger for achievement and intrinsic motivation to perform
better for the achievement of set goals would surely produce better results.
The author has successfully defended the need for Social Media Quotient which
is need of the hour but I have my own reservations on its longevity and
sustainability, yet it made lot of sense to relate it with IQ and EQ. As one
looks at the corporate following the modern ways to respond to their customers
and clients through social media platforms and crowd-sourcing many of their new
products and services, it seems it is going to have its presence at least for
the next few years. And for individual leaders as mentioned earlier, connecting
to the audience is important, social media is facilitating it and is able to
work as two way communication in multi-channel environment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The writing style of the book is very different as at many
places the continuity gets broken and numerous unsolicited suggestions pop up
which disturbs the flow of reading and by the time one gets formatted to
concentrate on suggestions and preaching, the text of the interview appear.
The author has much to say than the people who are interviewed. This could have
been avoided to focus on the expert's views on leadership. The overdose
of quotations and inconsistent Grey Boxes bites on the seriousness of the text,
which could have been minimally incorporated. Many of these quotes are popular
and could be seen in almost all related texts. There are typo errors at
many places in the book which I think should not find place in a volume of this
kind coming from Bloomsbury. At some places the writing sounds pompous which
distracts the reader. Otherwise the book is a good account of real world
leadership.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The doodles given by Adil Malia are excellent pieces of
original thinking and provide creative portrayal of organizational and individual
reality. Deepak has a lot in store to convey on leadership and motivation, both
from theoretical perspective as well as from practice. Though it is his
second book (first being – <i>Match the Age to Keep Them Engaged: Decoding the
Secrets of Creating a Happy WorkPlace</i></span><i> </i>published by Bloombury in 2016),
he has shown his capacity to communicate with the reader and to provide examples
of leaders of today. He needs to be congratulated for having brought so many
leaders from diverse fields in one volume for the cause of finding inner drive
to excel in whatever one takes up.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The students of management would certainly find it valuable,
inspiring and illustrative. Deepak’s presence on social media shall help the
readers to connect with the author and converse on the issues narrated in the
book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-91474325239138741372017-09-07T01:02:00.003-07:002018-09-12T03:59:00.297-07:00Bhujia Barons by Pavitra Kumar<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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BHUJIA BARONS - The Untold Story of How Haldiram Built a 5000 Crore Empire by Pavitra Kumar (2016), Penguin Portfolio, p 256.</div>
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It was sometime in February 2017 that I read about Haldiram becoming India's biggest snack maker with a turnover of over 4000 crore leaving aside Nestle Maggi, Domino's, McDonalds and many others. That was the time I wanted to read the genesis and evolution of this great Indian brand and that is when I came across this title - Bhujia Barons by Pavitra Kumar. The book got into my Kindle and has been waiting for its turn. Last week I started reading it and finished it in few long sittings. I must admire the ability of strong story telling style of Pavitra Kumar. She has been excellent in putting through this piece; her style of writing is literatic and engaging and at some places philosophical. Gathering information from different sources and validating it with the people involved in the process at different locations from Bikaner to Kolkata and from Nagpur to Delhi, she has shown impeccable commitment and has successfully put all the views from different corners. Her sense of professionalism in telling all sides and shades of the story without any bias has made this title worth reading.<br />
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Rome was not built in a day and so was Haldiram brand. Haldiram as we see today is result of efforts put up by people at hand for around 75 years. I have no hesitation in saying that it is the hard work of Ganga Bishen Agrawal aka Haldiram and his concern for customer service, knack for good taste, and belief in strong value system that has made this empire that we see today and which many of their tribe envy. A product that was once sold in newspaper cones, the process which was designed by Haldiram himself through a calculated mix of besan and moth dal sieving through handmade holes on a thin steel sheet, distribution mostly through shopfloor selling, and publicity mostly through word-of-mouth, some 70 years back has traveled a long distance in order to become a household name when it comes to bhujia. It would be no exaggeration to say that bhujia and Haldiram can never be separated from each other. Such is the power of the brand Haldiram.</div>
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The book provides a rich narrative of making of the brand Haldiram and traces its sound as well as weak links through the family feud, writings of media reports, comparing attitude and behavior of siblings and treatment by their parents and children. Ambition and apathy, respect and reactions, indulgences and impunities, are all have been part of the growing of Bhujia Barons as Pavitra calls them. In the time when the government is emphasizing on Make-in-India through its policy framework, I think Haldiram’s make a strong case of backing that as apart from responding to the locale, they have spread their wings in other parts of the globe as well. They are promoting Indian taste to the people abroad whether they form part of Indian diaspora or otherwise.</div>
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The expansion of this brand from merely a bhujia maker to branded, formalized structure of sweet shops and retail chain of vegetarian restaurants or QSRs (Quick Service Restaurants), responding to all kinds of tastes is the strength that the promoters have built through their concerted efforts at different geographies in India. Till their entry to Delhi, the capital city of India, it seems there were not much issues related to the use of brand among the cousins. But as they say, Delhi has a strong division power, when brothers Shiv Kishen (Nagpur) and Manoharlal (Bikaner) [grandsons of Haldiram] plunged into exploring the opportunity in Delhi. This territorial expansion also lured their cousins who were operating out of Kolkata which has brought the families to court for settling issues over use of brand. Though there seems to be some sky-clearing, yet the matter is not fully resolved and the families are not in that kind of relation as used to be.</div>
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Pavitra has explicitly narrated the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s death on 31st Oct 1984 and its effect on Chandni Chowk workshop of Haldirams and that is how the book starts which I thought makes a good plot to a storyteller who weaves together the threads back and forth and serves a tapestry of family run business model. For a moment I got nostalgic about my college days when we had heard of assassination of the prime minister of India by her own security personnel. The whole story of Haldiram as narrated by the author makes me feel as if I am watching a Bollywood Hindi masala movie which portrays almost all kinds of moods and emotions, climax and a happy ending.</div>
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Today who does not know about Haldiram Bhujia, but very few know about their resilient journey. This book provides a good account of that journey. The book is divided in Six parts starting with introduction and family background, their movement to different places and the wrongdoings of Kolkata cousin (the black sheep), legal fights and the future ahead (final paces). It is a revelatory tale of a family business house which has built a reliable brand over the years. The author deserves appreciation for an excellent display of honest effort, professionalism and probity through this work. And I can't stop myself from saluting the spirit of great entrepreneurship, innovation and customer service as envisioned and portrayed by Ganga Bishen Agrawal. What a man he was. There is lot to learn from him for the entrepreneurs of today and tomorrow.</div>
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===<br />
also read:<br />
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<a href="https://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2016/01/the-marwaris-from-jagat-seth-to-birlas.html">THE MARWARIS: from Jagat Seth to the Birlas by Thomas A Timberg</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2011/09/dabawalas.html">Dabawalas: Lessons for building lasting success based on values</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<a href="https://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2007/11/true-leaders-by-price-ritcheske.html">True Leaders by Price & Ritcheske</a></div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-9239055524609213902017-08-20T07:19:00.004-07:002017-08-20T07:22:20.043-07:00The Ostrich Paradox by Meyer & Kunreuther<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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THE OSTRICH PARADOX: Why We Underprepare for Disasters by Robert Meyer & Howard Kunreuther (2017) Wharton Digital Press, p 132</div>
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The motivation for choosing is title was the force of recommendation of Adam Grant and kind words of appreciation for this title by Daniel Kahneman. Decision making is one of the very important functions of any organization or of any government. When the issue of public policy is discussed, it is the decision making which makes all the difference, just as in a business organisation it happens while devising successful strategies to compete. Decision making is really a very complex process as well as a risky proposition for state and organisations alike.</div>
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This book holding its premise in the nature of bird Ostrich makes a good sense driven by the force of nature. System 1 and System 2 (thinking systems which drive us to use our brain cells) as narrated and defended in <a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2013/06/thinking-fast-and-slow-by-daniel.html">Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman</a> gets blended with the perception policy makers have while deciding on their future course of action. Primarily the book is all about Six Biases that get to play while preparing for disasters or risks. It is defended that the reason why we underprepare for disasters lies in these six biases, viz., Myopia, Amnesia, Optimism, Inertia, Simplification and Herding. The authors believe that the researches on most of the disasters of past years are the result of harmful effects of these six systematic biases. These biases show the weakness while we commit System 1 error to perceive risk in haste and commit System 2 error while making decision. The first part of the book narrates these biases with the examples of disasters occurred in different geographies of the world. These examples make the arguments convincing and the biases strong.</div>
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Part 2 of the book is prescriptive and the authors provide some kind of remedial measures so that such disasters could be avoided. Behavioural risk audit of each bias and its elaborate analysis makes the book worth contributing towards providing some practical solutions to deal with disasters. The authors propose four guiding principles to manage long term risk:</div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li style="text-align: justify;">Commit to long-term protective planning as a major priority.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Commit to policies that discourage individual and community actions that increase their explore to long-term risks.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Create policies that consider the cognitive biases that inhibit adoption of protective measures.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Commit to addressing problems equitably.</li>
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These suggestions are well defended with preemptive figures. As a student of business and strategy I feel the book makes a very good case for making successful strategies while organizations handle competition. Lot of times organizations have suffered and faced these biases which gets into while dealing with sustainability issues within and beyond organization. Risk management is an important field of study where this title helps to provide some guidelines. Actuarial scientists have a lot to learn from this volume. Some of the interesting bytes that I got from the book are: </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
'while economics and statistics teach us how we should think about probability and outcomes when choosing between alternatives, we rarely follow these principles when actually making decisions. More often than not, we make choices under risk intuitively rather than deliberately.'</blockquote>
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'The perceptions we form about risk are thus more cognitive cocktail of objective facts, subjective feelings, and emotional blend that often causes beliefs about risk to stray widely from those a statistician might prescribe.'</blockquote>
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'It is hard to convince people that - the best return on an insurance policy is no return at all.'</div>
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Though the book is concise and written from the perspective of disaster management, it travels beyond that boundary and helps its reader to deal with problems through having a perspective. The authors deserve credit for compiling series of disasters and developing a practical argument to look beyond and prescribe measures for preparations.</div>
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Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-26521422838798326392017-02-05T00:02:00.001-08:002021-03-23T23:34:56.711-07:00THE DIGITAL TSUNAMI by Abhijit Bhaduri<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="text-align: justify;">THE DIGITAL TSUNAMI - Succeeding in a world turned upside-down by Abhijit Bhaduri (2016), Rupa, New Delhi p 187</span><br />
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Change is the only constant and for business organizations it is much greater a challenge to respond to changing dynamics of market, business, polity and people. Technology has driven the change much faster in the 21st century. Last two decades have witnessed much visible transformations in business and society than any two decades in the last two centuries. It has been phenomenal and exponential in scale and speed. The emergence of social media has redefined the nature of conversation and communication and has replaced normal bar for millennials in much of their expectations, attitude and assertiveness. Millennials are writing history every day.</div>
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In these times <a href="http://www.abhijitbhaduri.com/">Abhijit Bhaduri</a> (HR expert and blogger, consultant and coach) introduces us to the Digital Tsunami through his own style of narrative and experiences. Abhijit weaves an excellent story around contemporary corporations thriving on disruption through technology and drives the reader to understand the pulls and pressures though entrepreneurial successes of some the highly valued corporations of today. As I write this review, I learn Google has surpassed Apple in market valuation as a brand and has become world's most valuable brand according to <a href="http://brandfinance.com/news/press-releases/google-pips-apple-apple-no-longer-the-worlds-most-valuable-brand-global-brand-ranking-reveals/">Brand Finance</a>.</div>
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The book begins with the science of developing a habit and takes the reader along with propriety of reference, posterity of thought and prominence of learning mindset. On one side digitalization is creating opportunities, on the other it is leading the process of automation and robotics is subject to pose a challenge for HR. The mindset has to bridge that gap through exploring new areas of innovation and entrepreneurship to be relevant and responsive. The escapists are going to suffer the most until some unexpected disruption finds its way. The book has lot of academic merit (as it derives strength from the contribution of popular researchers in the domain of Digital networks) and provides rich practical lessons (with corporate examples of practices and transformation).</div>
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The researches quoted in the text develop a defense for the prepositions Abhijit is putting before the readers. The ownership of ideas and practice is well explained through an excellent example of <a href="https://www.fit2fat2fit.com/">Drew Manning</a> (of fit2fat2fit fame), <a href="https://yourstory.com/2015/12/byjus-classes-byju-raveendran/">Byju Raveendran</a> (of byju.com) and many others. Technology driven companies are going to lead in almost all spheres of business which was unheard in major part of the 20th century. Taxi services (uber), hotel rooms (aibnb), retailing (walmart/amazon), education (byju/coursera/moocs etc), reading (kindle), social connections (facebook/linkedin/twitter) etc are heading towards much greater valuations than the hard core traditional brick and mortar companies. The trend is going to further continue for few more decades and in order to imbibe this change the firms would have to create facilitating physical and virtual environment. It was surprising to note through the book that <i>between 2008 and 2010, eBook sales grew by 1260 per cent</i>. This is something which is unbelievable. Transformation is exponential whereas change is linear. Digital world is much more inclusive than the analog world.</div>
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<i>Companies will have to go digital not to keep up with the competitive forces but simply to keep up with customers (p 45). </i>This is an apt observation by the author. Customers are getting engaged with the products and producers and helping co-creating products and services, hence the competition lies much around customer and his/her experiences rather than the competitor or if we put it differently the customer is the competitor. Digital responsibility needs to be carried out in such a way that it allows customers to help organizations to design appropriate products/services and to have engaging relationship with them.</div>
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The world is going to be led by digital leaders of the market to whom Abhijit gives an acronym as FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix & Google) and he offers suggestion to build a digital organizational culture through transdisciplinary collaboration, employee branding, innovation, managing workforce diversity effectively, creating digital communication infrastructure, responding through speed and scale, embracing failure, preferring fluid structures and learning to become resilient.</div>
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The author suggests to follow five behaviours to develop a mindset towards responding to the Digital Tsunami. They are:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Wear someone else's shoes</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">From internal to external focus</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Design, strategy and technology</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Rapid prototyping and rapid growth</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Insights allow for individualization.</li>
</ol>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Apart from this I appreciate his advice at individual level to go for some MOOCs, listen to something inspiring, and leveraging social media for one's advantage. I personally feel that the workforce has to follow a mix of traditional and pragmatic ways of learning. May be fully moving away from traditional methods would be too early step. The doodles given throughout the text makes the book engaging as the summaries explained through them create effective recall in the mind of the reader. He proves to be a digital artist who can draw essence of the narrative in an excellent manner. His understanding of issues is sharp, his language is simple, his articulation looks real, his ability to respond to the call of time is praise worthy, his approach towards future is optimist and his lessons are practical.</div>
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The book provides rich information from different sources and much of it is left to the reader to convert it positively into knowledge base according to one's ability. The book is small and could be finished in two sittings. But if one really wants to have some key takeaways it might take little more time. Overall it is an excellent treat to all the young students of today who are interested in the study of organizations, technology, business, entrepreneurship, strategy and future. I strongly recommend this title to all who believe in the power of technology and are passionate about future.</div>
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Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-32159857234804507702016-12-24T10:03:00.000-08:002017-09-07T02:09:12.213-07:00EFFECTIVE PEOPLE by TV RAO<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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EFFECTIVE PEOPLE by TV Rao, Random House, India, 2015, p 408<br />
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Organizations are facing the challenge of managing people effectively in order to boost organizational performance. In the competitive environment motivation of employees has become key determinant as to whether they are driven from within to work harder and help the organization achieving its goal or the force from beyond. When Philip Kotler visited India and was asked to add one more ‘P’ to McCarthy's well worshiped 4 Ps of marketing, his response was quick and focused, ‘it has to be People’. Dale Carnegie had said that for excelling business results 85% is People Management and remaining 15% is management of all other resources. It is in this context that when I learnt about this title ‘Effective People’ by the father of HRD in India, Professor TV Rao, there was no second thought but to find his take on the ways that help improve effectiveness of people. </div>
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The book is an excellent account of some of the high achievers of India and is based primarily on personal experiences and interactions with the people the author met on his commendable journey as an academic, motivator, researcher, institution builder and author. Apart from people who have been associated with him, he has also picked some who have not directly affected him but have influenced his thinking on the constituents of those determinants which make a person effective. The criterion for selecting an effective person to be included in the volume is his personal definition of effective person which is:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Anyone who discovers inner talent, uses it to make a difference in the lives of other people in a way that benefits them can be considered an effective person. We are all born talented and in different settings. However, some master their circumstances and manage them through their inner talent, These people may be teachers, social workers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, entrepreneurs, civil servants, development workers, businessmen, managers, chartered accountants, scientists, actors or self-employed, etc.’</blockquote>
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The selection of people has been his personal choice based on the above criterion and further through engagements on social media apart from the literature that he went through reading the works of authors who have written on successful and effective people. I would like to divide the book into three sections (though the author has not done that). First section as the Background (Introduction – Chapter 1), Second as Profiling Effective People (Chapter 2 to 8) and Third as Takeaways or Lessons (Chapter 9 to 16). The book profiles effective people in seven categories viz., Doctors, Film Actors, Civil Servants, Educational Entrepreneurs, Professors, Social Workers, and Other Professions. </div>
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Out of all the doctors that he profiles and brings out their propositions for being effective doctors, Dr MC Modi (Ophthalmologist), Dr Pratap Reddy (Cardiologist), Dr Devi Shetty (known for open heart surgeries), and Dr Naresh Trehan (Cardiovascular & Cardiothoracic surgeon) stand out and their common purpose to save lives along with strong determination to leave behind a rich legacy make them effective. The lives of film actors like Anupam Kher, Kangana Ranaut, Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan have been narrated with their contribution and achievements. Though they play the role as assigned to them, as individuals their work behavior, commitment, style, and discipline make them effective. The roles they have played have left the audiences with some strong messages to carry and practical values to follow in order to remain effective. Managers can really learn lot from their life journeys, their characters, and their personalities. Learning from failures is a very strong message that one draws from the story of Amitabh Bachchan. </div>
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Personal involvement of the author with the civil servants for developing better education system provides insights into the lives of some prominent civil servants who displayed their commitment to the cause of educational well-being of India. The names of Inderjit Khanna and Anil Bordia stand out as effective bureaucrats who played their role in drafting key education policies and spearheaded such initiatives. Apart from them the profiles and journeys of N Vittal (a civil servant known for his concern for transparency), Vinod Rai (CAG who walked extra mile to unearth some infamous scams like 2G, CWG, Coalgate etc), D R Mehta (bureaucrat who had strong concern for social causes), E Sreedharan (bureaucrat turn Metro Man), Kiran Bedi (first lady IPS and social activist), K P C H Gandhi (known for his contribution on forensic sciences and zero pendency), Arvind Kejriwal, Jaiprakash Narayan are narrated with the lessons that a manager or any person who want to be effective can learn. All these people are said to be restless, hard working, having development goal in mind, strongly driven by their value system, innovative and creative. </div>
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The learning from effective people in the category of educational entrepreneurs is that all of them thought differently and had a strong desire to create an institution which caters to the educational needs of society. The knowledge of the task, will power to face the challenge, and the ability to engage with the stakeholders could make them effective as educational leaders. Effectiveness lessons drawn from the experiences of professors are placed succinctly as in-depth knowledge, commitment to the cause, innovativeness in thinking and delivery, strong sense of institution building, and proper succession planning through creating and patronizing next generation professors. </div>
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All the chapters profiling different professions ended with effectiveness lessons and an interesting exercise having Self-Assessment Tool based on profession specific effectiveness requirement which one could assess based on five point Likert scale. This makes the book rich, valuable and practical. Personally I really liked all the tools given as they provide strong variables for judging effectiveness of the profession viz-a-viz., individual. </div>
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The third section which is covered from chapter 9 to 16 deals with eight important takeaways or lessons which could be used by managers or any individual who aspires to achieve the set target. This is where the author’s contribution become most important. These eight lessons are found to be common in all the effective people discussed in the volume and as the author believes if one concentrates on these determinants, one could become effective in whatever he or she does. These eight key points are: </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
1. Effective People Think Differently (Chapter 9) - so one has to find out one’s inner talent through experimentation and concentrate on capitalizing on that through thinking differently.<br />
2. Effective People Stretch Their Talent (Chapter 10) – exploring new vistas and opportunities by stretching the limits in different situations.<br />
3. Effective People Consider Values as Core Drivers (Chapter 11) – being firm in matters of principle and maintaining high value standards which are result of bringing up (family and environment) without succumbing to pressures and establishing superordinate goals.<br />
4. Effective People Are Compassionate (Chapter 12) – sense of togetherness and concern for others coming through empathy.<br />
5. Effective People Live With Purpose (Chapter 13) – strong commitment to the purpose as per their vision, mission and goal helping in achieving the goal.<br />
6. Effective People Reach Out to Many (Chapter 14) – looking outward and connecting with the stakeholders through different modes by being perseverant and positive.<br />
7. Effective People Take Initiative and Build Institutions (Chapter 15) – displaying strong sense of initiation and responsibility to build great institutions to contribute for good and sustenance.<br />
8. Effective People Are Integrative Not Divisive (Chapter 16) – inclusiveness and not exclusiveness to be practiced at all levels by imbibing virtues of integrating personality leading towards organization building viz-a-viz nation building. </blockquote>
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These are all virtues for becoming effective. All these chapters also had series of questions at the end guiding the reader for search and resolution within in order to be effective. The examples as narrated by the author are exemplary and are very practical and many of them come from management institutes, Bollywood movies, cricket world, bureaucracy and government system. Almost all the individuals profiled in this volume have created great institutions. I was expecting a detailed profile of TN Sheshan who redefined the role of Chief Election Commissioner in India and ever since the whole process of conduct of elections in India has undergone transformation. The book is autobiographical at many places which makes it very selective yet interesting part of the book is its first person narrative as a style of writing.</div>
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All the lessons are fully applicable for any manager working in an organization be it profit making or otherwise. And to that end this project of the author is successful in guiding all its readers. The author mentions - My aim is to write a book that can help many more people to become effective (p 13). I am sure it really makes lot of sense and would certainly be a practical guide for all its readers. </div>
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People are important resource for any organization and this book makes an effective effort to teach the nuances of leading and being effective. I strongly recommend this title to all the libraries and to all who aspire to achieve greater heights in their professional career or entrepreneurial venture.<br />
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[Published in Nice Journal of Business, vol.... no.... ]</div>
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Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-46020080063804697292016-07-07T01:50:00.002-07:002022-09-01T01:27:51.454-07:00MATCH THE AGE TO KEEP THEM ENGAGED by Deepak Malhotra<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">MATCH THE AGE TO KEEP THEM ENGAGED - Decoding the secrets of creating a
happy workplace by DEEPAK MALHOTRA (2015), Bloomsbury Publishing India Ltd.,
New Delhi, p 204</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
dominance of competitive business environment is compelling the organizations
to devise ways to control cost and improve efficiency. Organizational
effectiveness has become much larger a challenge to deal with especially in the
last few decades. The role of HR is becoming crucial and for sustaining
organizational performance, improving workplaces and retaining talent is the
key. In these times Dr Deepak Malhotra brings out this volume which is based on
his primary research and personal experiences to raise and answer some of the
key questions to deal with employees at the workplaces and to transform these
workplaces into happy workplaces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I
share my concern on employability with the author. We are in different times
and we need to develop the workforce to deal with challenges at the
transforming workfronts. Employees have to develop an attitude to respond
to the call of time. The figures on employability of our youth are really
shocking. All of us have this challenge to deal with.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Employee
Engagement has caught the attention of HR academicians and practitioners and in
that continuity this book is able to attract the attention to look at the
concept from a different angle. One cannot have same yardstick to measure the
performance of all the employees. Similarly organizations cannot have same
process of engaging the employees of all ages. This is the basic premise of the
book which provides an impressive account of his research findings as well as
prescriptions to the managers to follow certain paths to respond to the needs
to the workforce. Their needs are different and so should be their responses
and remedies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
book begins with the research procedure and key findings which further leads
the way to suggest measures to improve work environment through effectively
engaging employees based on their age. There seems to be no difference in the
degree of engagement so far as gender is concerned however number of years
spent in the organization show difference and till one spend around 5 years,
the number of engaged employees seem to grow. I find it quite interesting
to note that after spending around 5 years in an organization the number of
engaged employees start falling. This makes lot of sense and as a student
of HR, I feel it could be because of the gap between expectations and the
experiences. At mid-level it occurs to employees in general.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Deepak
divides the workforce in the brackets of the age groups 46 years and above
(Baby Boomers), 31-45 years (Gen X) and up to 30 years (Gen Y). The generation
below 30 years of age is considered as One click generation comprising of Gen G
(12 to 18 years) and others as Gen I. His concern for all the brackets is
well placed and his articulation and tenacity to look at the need, expectations,
exposure of One click generation is very apt. He suggests different ways
of engaging them as the needs of these employees are different. This is unique
aspect of his research and it makes lot of sense when one goes through the
suggestions. 'Match the Age' in the title of the book is based on this finding
and a sizable part of the book is devoted in explaining and suggesting measures
to increase the number of engaged or fully engaged employees at different
levels. His personal experience in different organizations add value to the
suggestions as well as to the whole volume.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As
the author mentions, in India only around 9-10 percent of employees are fully
engaged as against 15 percent as per global standards and globally around 25
percent are disengaged as against 30 percent in India. These figures pose a
challenge to HR department. HR has to be considered as line function in order
to increase the number of satisfied employees and thereby fully engaged
workers. As argued by <a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2012/09/employees-first-customers-second-by.html"><span style="color: blue;">Vineet Nayar in his book on EFCS</span></a>, one has to prioritize
employees over customers to win over customer satisfaction. Only engaged
employees can effectively engage customers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
mention of entrepreneurial leadership is very frequent in the book which speaks
of the author’s intention to assure engagement of employees through creative
ways of leadership. This is very important in the present day organizations and
the lack of effective leader is driven by this fact that mostly they do not
possess the ability to take risk and lead creativity. Deepak has successfully
dealt with this aspect of leadership and narrated several personal incidences.
His interest in cricket and Indian movies is well reflected through the
writings in the boxes and their relevance with the theme of the book 'Keep them
Engaged'.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Though
EE has been criticized as nothing new and old-wine-in-new-bottle experience, it
has been able to convince the academicians as an area of further exploration
and an activity worth pursuing by the organizations to improve decision making,
follow participative management and to win over employees through their active
involvement. It also leads to create a feel of freedom, choice and commitment
for employees to perform their best.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">One
of his observation:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If
you ask me, I have never seen one person in the last two decades, who has been
satisfied with his/her current remuneration. Then why do people stick
with reputed brands like TATA, even when they pay lower than the competitor? (p
137).</span></blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
book is full of Engage and Match bullets which could be of good help to
managers. However it does not leave the reader with the takeaways in key points
except that the employees of different age needs different treatment. Though
the anecdotes, personal observations and experiences connect the dots nicely,
yet the generalizations take away the seriousness of the proposed practices. If
I have to point out some key ways to EE across different age groups, they would
be:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">appropriate
and timely rewards (performer vs non-performer, fair pay)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">improve
communication (forward & backward feed)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">finding
proper talent match (managing & retaining talent)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">ethical behavior
(leader & other employees)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">effective
work-life balance policy (flextime & flexjob)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">develop
learning teams (technology & transformations)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">identifying
training needs (self-assessment & industry requirements)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">build
conducive work environment (free flow and exchange of views)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Though
the book may not have academic rigor in its approach, it makes a good read for
practicing managers. I recommend it to all who are interested to find ways to
improve employee engagement and further to them who play strategic role in
devising HR strategies towards attaining and sustaining organizational
effectiveness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-1831728644962769952016-05-25T05:46:00.001-07:002016-07-06T21:43:07.475-07:00THE FLIPSIDE by Adam J Jackson<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">THE FLIPSIDE: Finding the hidden opportunities in life by ADAM J JACKSON, (2009), Hachette, Headline Business Plus, London, p 260</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">There comes a time in the life of almost each one of us when we
have to make a choice between taking life head on or surrendering before
circumstances. Choices are made as per our priority, environment and the
gene that drives us to stand with our decision. Sometime it is due to our
physical weakness and sometime it is our attitude. Flipside literally is the
other side or the side which is not that positive, which is not that bright. I grew up with some quotes occupying sizable memory of my mind - the
grass on the other side looks greener; only the wearer knows where the shoe
pinches or only the corpse knows what is going on in the grave; Elephant has
two set of teeth - one to show off and the other to chew, etc etc.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">When we look at the life of successful people we get lured by
their followership, their living style, their admiration, and their sense
of achievement. We look at their present status. But when we start
learning more about them and their journey and the hardships that they faced we
become more rationale. Our understanding becomes better and at times we
learn that the kind of problems they faced, the kind of physical torture they
experienced, the kind of resource crunch they had, it was almost impossible to
excel at what they decided to do and contribute.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Then there are people who found opportunity at a time when they
were facing the low at life, they transformed their weaknesses into opportunity
by taking challenges and finding real purpose of their existence and life. Adam Jackson has collected such great stories of people from across the
globe and compiled them in such a remarkable and convincing way. This is
what The Flipside as a book is all about. In one way it is a motivating
read for the ones who have sustained linearity in their career and have not
experienced hardships of life on the other hand it is packed with such strong
nutrients to them who are facing the brunt of time and planning to give up on
life that they can learn to stand up on their own and convert their weaknesses
into opportunities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The motivation to develop<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logotherapy"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">'logotherapy</span></a><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">' by Viktor Frankl who survived a
holocaust is something which inspired me most. The whole science of
finding meaning to life and to draw people to understand that meaning of life
to them is something which in many ways changed the way psychologist thought
addressed this issue. We all have grown through the teachings that for each one
of us life has a meaning. What Viktor
conceived while suffering during the holocaust became one of the best
contributions in the domain of psychology. He learnt that main motivation for
living is our strong will to find meaning in life and that led him to develop
logotherapy.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I read and re-read the
following stanzas few times before going further:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">‘They
came for him on 25 September 1942. Along
with his wife Tilly and his parents, Dr Viktor Frankl was transported to
Theresienstadt concentration camp in the north-west region of what is now the
Czech Republic. It was to be the
beginning of an unimaginable nightmare that would last three years, in which Dr
Frankl lost almost everything and everyone that he held dear. With the exception of his one sister who had
escaped by emigrating to Australia, all of his family were murdered. Dr Frankl survived one of the darkest, most
shameful periods in Europe’s history and bore witness to deprivation and
killing on a scale that had never been seen before. Yet even in those direst of circumstances,
enduring extreme hardship and facing the constant threat of death, Dr Frankl
was able to find something in his suffering and through his experiences that
would not just change his life, but would also go on to help literally hundreds
of thousands of others. Dr Frankl did not just survive Nazi persecution, he
found a flipside.’ [p 185-187]</span></div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The book is full of such experiences of people who developed products and services, who found real meaning and call from within and pursued that and excelled. The flip side drove them to think of the cause of their existence, it gave them strength to prove their point through their excellent performances and it provided them with an opportunity to transform themselves into a person who stood by one’s call. The examples of the contributions made by Graham Bell, Thomas Alva Edison, Michael Bloomberg, Louis Braille, Richard Branson, Harland Sanders, Walt Disney, Amit Goffer, Spencer Silver, Richard Turner and many others make the book rich in its content.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I thoroughly enjoyed reading this title for two strong reasons.
One, that it is full of well written true success stories and another is that
Adam talked about many of my familiar and favourite works e.g., Blink by Malcolm
Gladwell, Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, Good to Great by Jim Collins
and subjective well-being by Ed Diener and alike. The life story of Dan Ariely and his contributions are in itself a
testimony to the flip side he experienced.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">As a student of Business and Management I would like to relate
many instances with the Theory of Constraints. I think it makes lot of sense to explore the limiting factors and to see
how organizations have responded to the call of the time. My belief has been that people living in
scarcity of resources and suppression demonstrate lot of inner strength to
prove their meaningful existence and the competency to excel in much better way
as compared to their counterparts living with all comforts of life, leisure and
luxury. Adam has helped me strengthen my
belief.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Though at some places I found the flow being broken and then beginning is sudden and at some places the ends are left loose, yet I recommend
this book to all those who are seeking excellence and who believe that our
perception towards life makes what and how we chart out our journey
further.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I am reproducing an expression of Viktor Frankl as quoted in this
title:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">‘We must never forget that we may also find
meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a
fate that cannot be changed. For what
then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best,
which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s
predicament into a human achievement.’</span></div>
</blockquote>
=============<br />
also read reviews of:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2014/08/why-i-failed-lessons-from-leaders-by.html">Why I failed</a><br />
<a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2011/09/good-to-great-by-jim-collins.html">Good to Great</a><br />
<a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2013/09/outliers-story-of-success-by-malcolm.html">Outliers</a><br />
<a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2014/01/how-mighty-fall-by-jim-collins.html">How the mighty fall</a><br />
<a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2014/06/positive-psychology-by-alan-carr.html">Positive Psychology</a></div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-75547344505110006912016-01-03T05:32:00.000-08:002017-09-07T01:28:27.797-07:00THE MARWARIS: from Jagat Seth to the Birlas by Thomas A Timberg<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O1vtHd9EW-A/VkS2L0FC6hI/AAAAAAAAE1I/df9fdAHBNkk/s1600/Marwaris%2Bpic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O1vtHd9EW-A/VkS2L0FC6hI/AAAAAAAAE1I/df9fdAHBNkk/s320/Marwaris%2Bpic.jpg" width="209" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O1vtHd9EW-A/VkS2L0FC6hI/AAAAAAAAE1I/df9fdAHBNkk/s1600/Marwaris%2Bpic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
THE MARWARIS: from Jagat Seth to the Birlas by Thomas A Timberg (2014), Allen Lane Penguin Books India, p 184</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I grew up in an environment where every kirana (grocery) store was believed to have been owned by a marwari. Whenever we were introduced to a family of businessmen from Rajasthan, it was told they are marwaris. For practical purposes we used this term as a generic word for business community prominently from Rajasthan and it was not important whether the person came from Mewar or Marwar or any other place for that matter.<br />
<br />
Later in my career I came across some colleagues who belonged to this community and what I observed was that their attitude to life, their dealing with numbers, and their shopping behavior was much different from rest of us. And there were lot of common behavioral reflections in almost all of them. As a student of business and behavior this prompted me to go little deeper into studying their evolution as business community, their general expected behavior and their contribution in developing entrepreneurship and enterprises in India and abroad. I mostly depended on web source and found some interesting papers and publications which gave me a fair idea of their backgrounds.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the series of the story of Indian Business initiated by London School of Economics, I came across this volume written by Thomas A Timberg. His research acumen in tracing the business history keeping the role of marwaris at the center is reflected through the authority with which he narrates the background, regions, spread, transformations in business diversification, family feuds and geographic migration.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A detailed foreword by Gurcharan Das provides the background of the author and theme of the book by pinning down minute yet important objects of traditional Marwari business setups, like sakh (goodwill), hundi (negotiable financial instrument), bazaar (market), gaddi (seat), etc. Weber’s bureaucratic structure viz-a-viz., family business structure is discussed in the foreword to distinguish between these two ways of business administration. The foreword is like a chapter on Indian business and its dominating features that are still prevalent in the businesses run by traditional marwaris. I got reminded of the stories that Gurcharan Das had mentioned in his detailed treaty on indian business in the title of India Unbound. This foreword is full of academic importance and should be a must for a student of business in India. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Marwaris originated from the region ruled by Marwars in Rajasthan which predominantly consists of people from Shekhawati region however Jodhpur, Bikaner and Jaisalmer are the places of classical marwars. Many times while I have interacted with traders and tried knowing their origin, they have told me about their roots in Jhunjhunu which is another area from where Marwaris migrated to other parts of the country and abroad as well. Many of the marwaris are identified with their surnames as Jhunjhunwala, Singhania, Jaipuria, Ajmeras, Bikaneris etc. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The book traces back the role of Indian business during British raj period, and the expansion of marwaris in all parts of the country. Primarily they were in providing service or doing trade activities of all kinds. Their growth during eighteenth and nineteenth century is narrated in this volume with a sense of ownership and authority citing the registers of that time and entries made in different ledgers etc. The expanded business of Jagat Seth and their relationship with British rulers find mention in the book at different places. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Business, Politics and Society exists in interdependent space be it market, board rooms or parliament. Businesses have always contributed to the cause of social well-being and there are many instances that provide a fair account of influence of dominant business houses on decision making of politicians. It has happened in all geographies of the world and in market economy it is extremely difficult or almost impossible to operate in isolation. The business houses like Dalmias, Birlas, Tarachand Ghanshyamdas, Khetans, Goenkas, Poddars, Bajajs, etc have all contributed to the cause of nation building apart from successfully pursuing their business interests. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
No other community as a whole can teach you best the art of managing risk other than marwaris. It is in their DNA. Failure does not deter them from getting into new ventures and as time is changing their operating domains are changing as well. They are best opportunity explorers and have tremendous capacity to leverage that opportunity in their stride. However as mentioned in the book they have gone into bureaucracy and also been seen as employees in firms. Their key domains have been managing finance and the records of chartered accountants show that as marwari community they occupy largest share in the market. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When we were studying accountancy in our school we learnt Marwari accounting procedures where we used to turn the pages (into 6 or 8 turns) and write typical traditional hindi text. The format of journal and ledger was followed and in some smaller size firms still that is followed. It is mentioned in the book that Birla’s were following unique system of accounting which is believed to have helped them much better in their decision making and they continued with the same till few years back when Kumar Mangalam Birla ordered the change and now they no more practice that traditional accounting. It is worth mentioning here that there have been questions raised as to the evolution of accounting procedures. Though we follow double entry bookkeeping which came into existence in fifteenth century (1494 AD), it has been argued elsewhere that Marwari Accounting system is older than this.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
At many places in the book Timberg cites his earlier book written in 1978 in the title of The Marwaris: from traders to industrialists. I searched it and found it in our library which has added lot of value to my thinking on marwaris. As I learn now Timberg is a key authority on the subject as he has pursued this for his doctoral work in 1971. Present book in an extension of his earlier work and carries forward the developments which have happened in last three decades or so. His earlier work was written with more academic rigor, however the present version is straight and follows popular writing style, though there is substantiation of all that he mentions in the title. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now when I meet my Marwari friends I shall be able to relate better with their behavioral dispositions as to why do they behave the way they behave; why their outlook towards life is much different than rest of us; why their general buying pattern and priorities are different. I am better off in my understanding of Indian traders and business, their evolution and expansion pattern and their operational attitude. The business culture has gone into big transformation, it has become more cosmopolitan and universal. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Wish that marwaris are able to maintain their culture and their identities do not get mingled and lost and become extinct in the larger business hemisphere.</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both;">
<br />
======<br />
also read: <a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2014/01/arthashastra-by-thomas-r-trautmann.html">Arthshastra</a>, <a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2013/08/the-east-india-company-worlds-most.html">East India Company</a> </div>
<div class="" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-70042409335878880032015-03-31T10:01:00.000-07:002015-03-31T10:04:58.102-07:00Science: Buddha and Life by Ram Nayan Singh<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-clufQfa-Fh0/U2eevhjtSAI/AAAAAAAACGw/MBJBdRwkwgk/s1600/003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RRTU-sEUQx0/U2efkIs8sEI/AAAAAAAACG4/Lo9Zuq5rRJI/s1600/002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RRTU-sEUQx0/U2efkIs8sEI/AAAAAAAACG4/Lo9Zuq5rRJI/s1600/002.jpg" height="320" width="233" /></a><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-clufQfa-Fh0/U2eevhjtSAI/AAAAAAAACGw/MBJBdRwkwgk/s1600/003.jpg" height="320" width="226" /></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
SCIENCE: BUDDHA AND LIFE by Ram Nayan Singh (2013), published by the author, price - Zero, p 178</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This book was given to me by one of my friends who thought I
would enjoy reading this book. In fact the author of this book Dr Ram
Nayan Singh had given a personal copy to my friend and that is how it reached
me and I got into reading this title with keen interest. The journey of
life for achieving our purpose and the interrelationship of science,
psychology, Buddhism and spirituality is well explained in this book by the
author and as one reads on, one tends to get a feel of author's personal interpretations
of many concepts and practices as followed in academics and spirituality. The
tenets of Buddhism have been elaborated and linked to the personal experiences
which makes the book practical in its approach. Man being his own master
as preached by Buddha needs to understand that good and bad that occurs, the
cause lie within the self of the individual and that is where one needs to work
on understanding and rationalizing the act and this approach in a way helps one
to understand the music of life rather than having a complaining attitude
towards external factors for their attribution towards anything unwanted
happening. This philosophy of Buddha is well explained in the book and
the ways through which one can deal with the problems of the modern day world
can be handled. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The study of time and space through the eye of spiritualism
is the main focus of the book which starts with a strong belief that <i>any
material entity exists in space as well as in time</i> and throughout
different chapters it is maintained to justify the existence of energy all
around. The first part of the book provides scientific background of the
physical existence of human beings with the help of Einstein’s equation
which we have grown studying (E=mc<sup>2</sup>). So the movement, speed of
light and their interaction results in energy.
The author integrates these elements and develops an argument for defending
cosmic powers and takes the reader to the world of consciousness which I found
interesting and convincing. The
discussion on scientific issues reminds me of a book by Mani Bhaumik entitled <a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2013/03/code-name-god-by-mani-bhaumik.html">‘CodeName God’</a>. As author puts it this
discussion leads to five principles of natural order viz., deep form equivalence
(all material forms are same); rule of law (predictability of the results);
interdependence and interconnection (mutuality); paradoxical duality (reaction
for every action, opposing existence); and all-inclusiveness (space for
everything). The spiritual journey finds its root in the physical existence,
space, time and nature which needs to transcend the self towards knowing the
psycho-physical system and that is where the author believes that Buddha’s
journey becomes important. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
From theoretical physics and pure science the author takes
the reader to the world of life sciences and narrates the complex aspect of DNA
and the nature of evolution in simple words through chromosomes, molecules,
acids, plants and human beings. Before introducing the reader to the world of
Buddha, the author cites many scientific works of the west which deny
intervention of deities and demons (or effect of worship or otherwise) in the causation
of diseases. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The author has used the works of Newton, Einstein, Skinner, Pavlov,
Freud, Dawkins, Simpson, etc to weave through the argument for existence,
nature and behavior. And his belief in Buddhism and its explanation may help
the reader to find a connect and defense for capabilities of Buddhism to follow
the path of knowing the inner self. This
is where I appreciate the author who through his own experiences of and about
life supports the cause of leading a life towards enlightenment. The teachings of Buddha about <i>dhamma</i>,
suffering, four noble truths, middle-path and life of moderation, illusions,
impermanency, <i>anatma </i>(non-egoness) are explained candidly in the
book. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The last chapter of the book provide the ways following which
one can lead a better life. The foremost principle that I could appreciate is
the principle of managing energy positively.
Individuals have to manage the inner as well as outer energy within the
space provided and that can lead to putting efforts in right direction and
using the time effectively. I get reminded of yin-yang of Chinese wisdom which
demonstrates co-existence or complementariness of two opposite sides and that
is really important understanding for leading a balanced life. The
interpretation of <i>dharma, arth, kaam, moksha </i>as religiosity, wealth,
desires and independence is explained to suggest right style of life. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I would like to mention eye-catchers which caught my attention: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Natural conditioning generates awareness of self while
social conditioning turn it to ego. Man can develop power to go beyond both.</i><i> </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Modesty is shyness in doing evils.</i><i> </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Life as well as understanding of whole universe is
incomplete without the experience of one’s own internality within and without.</i><i> </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>A man appears as a body. He has to live in matter by
matter in social relations. But he actually is much more than that, energy of
awareness. All inclusive purpose of life is to witness one’s purest form, the
elixir of life. </i></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Though there are some typographical errors in the text yet the book leaves me with an impressive and rich feeling of the link between Science, Existence, God and Buddhism and that is the reason I recommend that one should read this book. I am sure the author of the book must have had a strong feeling of self-satisfaction after penning down this piece and putting it in public domain.</div>
</div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-35799839138718780542014-08-01T09:49:00.000-07:002014-08-01T09:49:08.302-07:00Why I Failed: Lessons from Leaders by Shweta Punj<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dIX4x93HZrI/U9u9wCX38DI/AAAAAAAACes/M7F2sC2Nq4A/s1600/why-i-failed-lessons-from-leaders-400x400-imadkmaaqwf8ugz6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dIX4x93HZrI/U9u9wCX38DI/AAAAAAAACes/M7F2sC2Nq4A/s1600/why-i-failed-lessons-from-leaders-400x400-imadkmaaqwf8ugz6.jpeg" height="320" width="208" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">WHY I
FAILED: Lessons from Leaders by Shweta Punj (2013), Random House India, p 184<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">We have
grown with the story of Thomas Alva Edison on the learning from failures. Few months back I came across a statement by
former Indian President Abdul Kalam that it is more important to read failure
stories than success stories as they teach you better insights into the reasons
of failure and help avoid them in order to achieve greater heights. Kalam
says FAIL means First Attempt In Learning.
Though I had read about many failure stories of great people through
their autobiographies or other articles published in periodicals and other
publications, however when I came across the title of this book WHY I FAILED, I
just ordered the title and got it shelved in my collection. Around a week back I picked it up from the
shelf and started reading through. I
have no hesitation in saying that the book kept me on till I turned its last
page.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">The book
narrates the journey and experiences of sixteen successful personalities from
varied fields and focuses on their respective failures. There are hardcore entrepreneurs in the
real sense of the term whether they belong to fashion world or sports, movie
making or pure business, they followed their passion, they have gone beyond rules
and made their own rules, they are all first movers and have taken risk beyond
and capitalized on the opportunity available in the market.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">How Thermax
was revived against odds by Anu Aga and how she recognized her weaknesses and
overcame them is a well briefed story of her entire experience. The journey charted out and the road followed by Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (of
Biocon), Dr Pratap C Reddy (of Apollo Hospitals) and Narayana Murthy (of
Infosys) and the resistance and red-tape they faced during their effortful and
challenging trail is an excellent account on the background of taking up
initiative and holding on to that till it gets through. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">In the Indian corporate circles sacking of a
CEO is something quite unheard of. The
plight of Sunil Alagh after being shown the gate by Wadias of Brittania is quite
known by the followers of Indian business stories. The contribution that Sunil made in developing Brittania as a prominent
brand is not unknown to many and it is believed that it was during his tenure
that Brittania gained the competitive advantage that it still capitalizes
on. Sunil’s dealing with this setback
and coming out of it successfully is discussed in the book nicely.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">The man behind the Lavasa township project
Ajit Gulabchand’s (of Hindustan Construction Corporation) constant belief in the
project and how his perseverance paid him in dealing with the bureaucratic and
political pressures successfully has been narrated by Shweta very lucidly in the book. He learnt that at times speed,
overconfidence and preposterous actions may bring down even one of the most strong leaders and
his decision so one has to be over cautious at times while taking strategic
decisions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">The lady behind the success
of Jindal’s SAW plant, Sminu Jindal has been able to control the affairs and
followed some of her original practices overcoming her personal physical
weakness. She has shown immense courage
and perspiration in managing her plant and office successfully. The popularity of the brand called Fabindia
is the result of hard work, personal belief and commitment of William Bissell
who have dealt with many challenges and developed an unique company based on
community entrepreneurship. The growth
of the company in last ten years is the fruit of involvement of the communities
at different locations in feeding Fabindia stores through their collective
craft culture. I am sure this needs
replication by other entrepreneurs in different other segments of the market
and it shall certainly help build self-sustaining India and connect the market
with the back-end suppliers and craftsmen. Fabindia stores are an excellent modern day version of khadi ashrams,
which are spread across India. I am sure
these stores shall be able to provide the texture of khadi with experience of I<a href="https://draft.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>ndian culture and craft and expand its reach to the modern
day urban youth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">Goenkas of
Kolkata have a rich history of entrepreneurship and enterprise when we look at
the business history of India in last two hundred years. They have been operating in different
businesses and have provided job opportunities for sizeable population. The
story of Sanjiv Goenka in taking up Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) is
well told in the book as in case of Sabyasachi Mukherjee in going against the
decision of their respective patriarchs.
A strong resistance from the employees and workers initially did not
deter Sanjiv from his belief that he can reconstruct CESC and make it a viable
and profitable venture. His approach
showed the strong spirit of <i>ekla chalo</i>,
though later people involved in the process understood the conviction reposed by Sanjiv and
his honest intention of rebuilding CESC and cooperated with him. The fate of Shankar Sharma and his wife is
well explained in the book and their admission of a mistake about their
investment in media firm <i>tehelka </i>makes
their story conciliate and convincing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">Gold
medalist Olympian, Abhinav Bindra’s reasoning of the loss in the subsequent
olympics provides an excellent insight and psychological defense for the
loss. I have reasons to believe that
there must be theories around this phenomenon defending that the efforts and
rigor are determined by the force to prove.
Passion driven Sabyasachi Mukherjee who defied his father’s decision and
went ahead with pursuing his career in fashion designing is an inspiring tale
between traditional and modern choices of career and the believe in oneself to
pursue one’s dream. The journey of
Madhur Bhandarkar and Subhash Ghai (both from movie world) traversing through
disturbed past in problems of poverty in one case and of poor upbringing in another case reassures a belief that suppression both material as well as emotional drives one to prove a point and put forth all of the energies into that direction. The story of these duo reminds of the past of many great people in different fields.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">Many times in our lives we tend to take decisions based on our gut or based on hearsay or fall victim to herd behavior. Many times we get carried away with our previous achievements. Many times we do not plan things in right earnest and it all results in failures, though with some few exceptions.</span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">At the time of the event, decision or action we do not realize the shortcomings and mistakes but at a longer span of time we tend to relate things and actions, we then compare and realize the mistakes that we have committed.</span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">The realization of accepting the reason for failure is the first step to correct the future course of action.</span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">This book tends to help the reader to reason out the failures or mistakes and provides a boost through going through these stories that if one is determined one can learn from mistakes and act cautiously towards achieving higher goals.</span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">I remember a quote by Ratan Tata - <i>Ups and downs of life are very important to keep us going, because a straight line even in an ECG means we are not alive.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">The chapters are well planned and leave the reader with the nuggets on why they failed and an advice to avoid failure. </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">Shweta Punj
has written this book conspirito and her approach has been very candid. The basis of selection of these
personalities is not mentioned anywhere however the common thread that I could
find is that all of them have been first in marching out of the way and
established themselves in their respective domain. I missed the presence of Kishore Biyani,
Subhash Chandra, and Vikram Akola in this volume. But I can understand the limitations of
the author and it is extremely difficult to have many or to come upto the
expectations of every reader. She has
really toiled hard to document these stories and for that she deserves
appreciation. May be we can expect some
similar stories in the times to come profiling other achievers. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">Failure and success are two sides of the same coin.</span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">They move together.</span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">This is where this book helps one understand the importance of failures in driving one towards success.</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">The future of failure is success and the
future of success is achievement. I
recommend this book to every individual who believes in failure and success as
two different islands. I am sure their
belief shall get transformed as they turn the pages of this book.</span></div>
</div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-35849703104048609102014-07-09T07:48:00.000-07:002014-07-09T07:56:25.675-07:00David & Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--kmopA0ZYks/U7Ve83ZbGCI/AAAAAAAACWs/BVDLarG0iYo/s1600/malcolmbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--kmopA0ZYks/U7Ve83ZbGCI/AAAAAAAACWs/BVDLarG0iYo/s1600/malcolmbook.jpg" height="320" width="199" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">DAVID & GOALIATH: Underdogs, Misfits and the
Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell (2013), Allen Lane - an imprint of
Penguin (Great Britain), p 305</span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We have grown with mythological stories of people who won over
their enemies even when they had much less visible strength. The biblical
text helps us understand this phenomenon through the winning spree of David
over Goliath. Gladwell takes that as a reference and weaves the threads
of different colors and translate that through this book titled</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt;">David & Goliath: Underdogs,
Misfits and the art of battling Giants.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The
efforts are put to narrate stories of different contexts and coincidences,
different time and textures, and different people and places yet being one in
spirit of underdogs defeating giants. The defense of the argument is placed in
such a way through the research findings of academicians and practitioners that
one tends to draw convincing conclusion towards the author's view. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In the behavioral sciences there are numerous works to the effect that
disadvantaged individuals have inherent strength of facing the challenges as
posed to them as compared to the ones who are advantaged. The drive of proving better and asserting
their positions are the learning that disadvantaged or suppressed individuals
go through in their formidable years of life.
This has been narrated by Gladwell in this title. He has tried defending the victory of David
over Goliath through different stories of people who have excelled in their
career and shown the world that their weakness is their strength. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The book starts with the story of Vivek Ranadive, an Indian born,
American educated engineer and entrepreneur, who is passionate about Basketball
and NBA. He coached his young daughter
and her friends to play in National Junior Basketball tournament representing
Redwood City. The strategy drawn, demonstrated and implemented in defending
themselves and competing against established teams make it important and
Gladwell traces the whole story to prove a point that <i>Goliath is not quite
the giant he thinks he is.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The belief that powerful always wins tends to develop an arrogant
attitude which makes an individual or team Goliath and there are Davids who are
well aware of their physical (visible) weakness, yet they are convinced that it
is not just the physical strength that is required to win but a well crafted
strategy to attack at the given moment and given target which is more important
and this could make them winner or if not winner at least shall help Goliath
understand that size and arrogance does not matter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I get reminded of the book by <a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2014/01/how-mighty-fall-by-jim-collins.html">JimCollins – How the Mighty Fall</a> where through organizational examples Jim
successfully convinces that it is the sense of arrogance in the Mighty Firms
which make them fall in the long run.
Goliath corporations have experienced that fall and David corporations
have succeeded through their effective strategies and their efficient implementation
in<i> </i>sustaining their growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I quite liked the section where Gladwell explains different
researches on American schools and colleges on the issues concerning choice of
subjects, choice of school/colleges, general perception of students/parents
towards them, performance of top/bottom students, physical facilities in
schools and their fees, and their effect on students’ achievement ultimately.
It is a real puzzle and it becomes extremely difficult to draw conclusion by
just having an apparent look. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As a classroom teacher the size of the class has always been one
of the issues that we have been discussing over coffee or in formal meetings.
The size or number of students in the class has a correlation with their
performance and it depends on various conditions and level that what could be
the ideal size of a class. It is almost
impossible to generalize their number at all levels or in all conditions or for
all types of students. However size does
matter. Gladwell explains through
various researches on American schools, colleges and universities and draws
that there is inverted U relationship with number of students and their
performance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Selection of colleges has always been a challenge for parent and
children when they come out of school.
Top students of schools aspire to join best colleges for the want of
their better career. But since in the
top colleges all the students are top students, many of them tend to develop an
inferiority complex (as coined by psychologist Alfred Adler) and it gets reflected
in the performance of students. This is
quite evident across geographies just as the perception that better students
opt for STEM (Science, Technology & Maths) courses in their college. Through few examples and researches Gladwell
helps us understand this and help us develop a better perspective on the
reality. Top students, who chose lesser known colleges but concentrate on their
subjects of preference, tend to achieve better grades in their exams as
compared to their counterparts who have taken admission in better known
colleges. Arguably, this explains Big-Fish-Little-Pond
Effect (<a href="http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic741392.files/BigFish.pdf">as
introduced by Herbert W Marsh</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I learnt about <a href="http://psych.fullerton.edu/MBIRNbAUM/PSYCH466/articles/Frederick_CRT_2005.pdf">Cognitive
Reflection Test</a> (CRT as invented by Shane Frederick) for the first time
while I was reading <a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2013/06/thinking-fast-and-slow-by-daniel.html">Kahneman’sThinking Fast and Slow</a>, and while I used it with some students
myself, I found it really worth saying that it is one of shortest intelligence
test that we have today. Gladwell argues
using this test as a reference for the theory of desirable difficulty as
through fading off the print color (experimented by Alter and Oppenheimer) of
the same question of CRT which improved the performance of the students. He
further relates it to dyslexic people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We have seen many prominent personalities like Einstein, Pablo
Picasso, Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Agatha Christie, Richard Branson, and many
more, who were dyslexic. Being dyslexic did not deter them to achieve greater
heights. Rather as Gladwell argues their desirable difficulty level was high which
drove them to concentrate and focus on the difficulty and that is what made
them winner at last. It could well be defended this way. However practically it is hard to believe
that just to increase the level of desirable difficulty any parent would ever
wish to have dyslexic children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">He narrates the journey of dyslexic David Boies from his difficult
childhood to his entry into law school and then of becoming one of the most
prominent lawyers of United States.
Similarly journey of Gary Cohn from unassuming treatment by teachers in
school to a job selling aluminum siding and window frames to becoming president
of Goldman Sachs is also very interesting.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>‘Dyslexia – in the best of cases – forces you to develop skills that might otherwise have lain dormant. It also forces you to do things that you might otherwise never have considered… learning how to deal with the possibility of failure is really good preparation for career in the business world.’</i></blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The journey of Emil Jay Freireich has been narrated brilliantly
and in very exhaustive manner by Gladwell.
At times the account given in the text looks like a fiction. Freireich’s personality helps us understand
many more things than what Gladwell intended and expressed. However this is an exceptional story and any
kind of generalization shall destroy the defense that this book is eyeing
for. The story woven through the picture
as appeared in the New York Times <i>taken on 3<sup>rd</sup> May 1963, by Bill
Hudson in Birmingham, Alabama, where Martin Luther King Jr.’s activists had
taken on the city’s racist public safety commissioner Eugene Bull Connor, </i>is
excellent and narrates the contemporary politics and power and how the approach
and behavior of Wyatt Walker transformed the local behavior. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">We have all different ways to dealing with the losses, some
resolve to take revenge, some put efforts to reason it out and tread through
their actions (e.g., Reynolds known for Three Strikes Law) and some consider it
to be the call of the nature and accept it and move on with life (e.g., Wilma
Derksen’s family). It is extremely
difficult to pass a judgment as to who/what is right and who/what is wrong. The
loss of a child for some parents is such a loss that throughout life they can’t
forget it and for some life moves on easily. It is part of their personality. This point has been expressed in few chapters
on the limits of power. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Dyslexia, single-parent childhood, individuals with low visible
strength, school dropouts, etc are not desirable traits even when they might
have proven as defendable strength through this text. The defense through
citing research findings makes this book rich, however it suffers from problem
of ‘selective perception’ to defend one’s argument as no scientific selection
procedure has been followed in choosing the research papers and literature that
is cited to prove a point or otherwise. Even the earlier work of <a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2013/09/outliers-story-of-success-by-malcolm.html">Gladwell– Outliers, </a>suffered from the same problem of
generalizations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The lessons learnt from David and Goliath could be seen from the
perspective of organizations as well and that is where I feel this work
suggests some kind of direction. We have
seen arrogant and failing business organizations, we have seen big/giant yet
humble organizations. Historical facts,
events and personalities are so well contextualized that it provides a valuable
documentation for the benefit of reader who might not have had interest in
contemporary history. He needs to be
acknowledged for this contribution of him. Overall though Malcolm Gladwell succeeds in keeping the reader close to
the book till last, yet towards the end it goes beyond context and finds last few
paragraphs to establish connectivity. No doubt he is a great storyteller but at
times it seems he gets carried away with a feeling that he is writing
non-fiction and his kind of generalizations may not be welcomed by all of his
fans and readers alike.</span></div>
</div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-79337784551138457892014-06-28T11:28:00.000-07:002019-11-09T02:31:22.982-08:00Positive Psychology by Alan Carr<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY - The Science of Happiness and Human Strengths by Alan Carr (2004), Routledge - Taylor & Francis Group (London & New York) p 388</div>
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My interest in happiness and well being drove me to understand the constituents of positive psychology (PP) in deep. I met C R Snyder in 2004 and we discussed about his Hope Theory and Pathways. When I read his text on PP (coauthored with Shane Lopez and published by Sage), I got little more interested in PP and that introduced me to Alan Carr and his work and that is how I landed up reading this rich, simple, systematic and superb text. For a student of psychology PP is an interesting area which has evolved in the times of work stress, work life balance, organizational pressures and competition and related developing issues which have assumed more importance in the wake of globalisation and focus on mobility. </div>
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Though Snyder's text was an exhaustive and illustrative one, Carr's work is relatively brief concentrating on the development of concept of different constituents of PP. The development of psychology from a science of managing disability to clinical solutions has added a new vista as to deal with human strengths and concentrate on individual happiness and well being. This is the basic premise of PP. The book is divided in 9 chapters - Happiness, Flow, Hope and Optimism, Emotional Intelligence, Giftedness, creativity & wisdom, Positive traits and motives, Positive self, Positive relationships, and Positive change. These are the constituents or basic elements of PP and Alan has elaborated each one of them brilliantly supported with relevant research citations and related literature. Research tools and instruments are discussed with their application and derived findings to strengthen the defense and develop a stronger concept. </div>
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Researchers and authors like Edward Diener, David Watson, Martin Saligman, Charles Synder, Christopher Peterson, Michael Argyle, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Daniel Kahneman, David Myers, etc have contributed extensively in the development of different aspects of PP and their measurement. Their contributions have been cited wherever appropriate. </div>
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Each chapter begins with learning objectives and ends with implications, controversies, summary, questions, further reading, measures for use and glossary. The writing of the text is very simple and easy to understand. Though this text was written around ten years before, it provides strong foundation for this emerging field of knowledge in the area of psychology. Alan's contribution to the cause of expanding PP shall go a long way in its development and academic sustainability. For a beginner and entry level psychology student this shall immensely help.</div>
</div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-87505938687381057312014-01-30T01:21:00.000-08:002017-09-07T02:10:23.287-07:00How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
HOW THE MIGHTY FALL and why some companies never give in (2009) by Jim Collins, Random House Business Books, UK, p 232</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
My interest in the study of organisations, its people, systems, strategies and practices has induced an interest in the writings of Jim Collins, who has written extensively on different aspects of organisations, their journey, survival and the causes what makes them great as well as what makes them fail. In that series after having gone through <i>Built to Last </i>and <i><a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2011/09/good-to-great-by-jim-collins.html">Good to Great</a> </i>I picked up this title in order to understand the reasons why do organizations fail. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Jim Collins remarkably develops an argument for the causes of failures of big organizations through the writings, data, interviews profiling performances on different parameters. The organizations like Bank of America, Zenith, A&P, HP, Motorola, Rubbermaid, Scott paper, Fannie Mae, Merck, Xerox, Circuit City, IBM etc. have been studied and the change led through their leadership and its impact on organizational performance has been narrated through many examples and on the basis of this certain conclusions are drawn as to the common elements in their strategies, policies, practices which resulted in their momentary or long-term failure. </div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
The research culminates into providing five stages of decline as Stage 1 - Hubris Born of Success, Stage 2 - Undisciplined Pursuit of More, Stage 3 - Denial of Risk and Peril, Stage 4 - Grasping for Salvation, and Stage 5 - Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death. We grew up studying different life cycles of products and organisations. This life cycle warns the organizations at different level of its long term effect, if they do not change or adapt to new practices at organizational level. These stages are elaborated in different chapters through the organizational behaviour and practices, big companies reflected on. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
The lessons learnt could be related to individuals as well, since it is the individuals who develop systems, structures and strategies in an organizational set up. It is the individuals who form, develop and nurture organizations through developing an orgnaizational value system and compelling cultures which the successors follow. The basic fabric of an organization is woven through the value systems of individuals which is reflected through the policies and procedures followed in organizations. It is in this context this book makes a strong case for bringing out causes which warn organizations so that the learning could be used to never fall trap to those circumstances. </div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
After becoming a giant corporation, its leaders tend to develop a sense of arrogance (stage 1), that it can do anything (stage 2), since it has brand, power, presence and performance to back it up. Initially it does provide some warning signals but the arrogance avoids such signals and develops a kind of belief that it is momentary (stage 3) and it can recover the fall in the long run. Non responsiveness of the leadership to the initial signals of fall, further deteriorates the performance (stage 4) and it enters into a situation where it can never improve (stage 5). <i>Bad decisions made with good intentions are still bad decisions </i>(p 148). This journey of mighty corporations make them irrelevant and forces them to die their own death. </div>
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The book is divided in 8 chapters of which 5 chapters are devoted to each stage. The last chapter is entitled <i>Well-Founded Hope</i>, which provides the ways how organisations can avoid and respond back through positive attitude and never-say-die approach. The role of leadership is said to be very crucial at this stage and great leaders are always on toes for change. Jim provides a defense for his recovery mechanism through the practices at Xerox, Nucor, IBM, Texas Instruments, Pitney Bowes, Nordstrom, Disney, Boeing, HP, Merck. <i>What do these companies have in common? Every one took at least one tremendous fall at some point in its history and recovered. Sometimes the tumble came early, when they were small and vulnerable, and sometimes the tumble came when they were large, established enterprises. </i>(p 116) The example of Churchill's return is also well cited. People make organizations and their systems. Their value system, their capability to take risk, their enterprising behaviour, their leading ability, their determination towards fixing and achieving audacious goals affects organisational decision making and practices. </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
If we discovered that organizational decline is a function first and foremost of forces out of our control - and if we discovered that those who fall will inevitably keep falling to their doom - we could rightly indulge in despair. But that is not our conclusion from the analysis, not if you catch decline in Stages 1, 2, or 3. And in some cases, you might even be able to reverse course once in Stage 4, as long as you still have enough resources to get out of the cycle of grasping and rebuild one step at a time. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>If you have not yet fallen, beware the temptation to proclaim a crisis when none exists.</i> ... <i>The right people will drive improvement, whether standing on a burning platform or not, and they never take well to manipulation.</i> (p 117)</blockquote>
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Towards the end there are 7 appendices detailing the selection criteria for different companies, their decline and recovery mechanisms. What caught my eye was Appendix 5 - "What Makes for the 'Right People' in Key Seats?" This is quite apt and fits into organizational set up for putting right people for right job. According to him right people fit with core values of the company, they are passionate about the company and its work, they fulfill their commitments, they don't need to be tightly managed, for them responsibilities are more important than just job, and they display 'window and mirror' maturity. This work is compared with Level 5 leadership as explained in <i><a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2011/09/good-to-great-by-jim-collins.html">Good to Great</a></i> in Appendix 7, looking at different stages of decline and leadership role.</div>
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I personally loved two last paras of the book:</div>
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Never give in. Be willing to change tactics, but never give up your core purpose. Be willing to kill failed business ideas, even to shutter big operations you've been in for a long time, but never give up on the idea of building a great company. Be willing to evolve into an entirely different portfolio of activities, even to the point of zero overlap with what you do today, but never give up on the principles that define your culture. Be wiling to embrace the inevitability of creative destruction, but never give up on the discipline to create your own future. Be willing to embrace loss, to endure pain, to temporarily lose freedoms, but never give up faith in the ability to prevail. Be willing to form alliances with formal adversaries, to accept necessary compromise, but never - ever - give up on your core value.</blockquote>
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The path out of darkness begins with those exasperatingly persistent individuals who are constitutionally incapable of capitulation. It's one thing to suffer a staggering defeat - as will likely happen to every enduring business and social enterprise at some point in its history - and entirely another to give up on the values and aspirations that make the protracted struggle worthwhile. Failure is not so much a physical state as a state of mind; success is falling down, and getting up one more time, without end. (p 123)</blockquote>
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This is a must read for those who are interested in the study of leadership, organisations and their transformations and I am sure apart from just learning different stages of decline, one would also learn lessons for self-development.<br />
<br />
[published in <b><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: .05pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Invertis Journal of Management</span></b><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt; line-height: 115%;">,
Vol 5, No 1 & 2, 2013; pp. 87-88]</span></div>
</div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-32853937037400486962014-01-28T06:28:00.000-08:002014-01-28T08:37:30.826-08:00ARTHASHASTRA by Thomas R Trautmann<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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ARTHASHASTRA: The Science of Wealth by Thomas R Trautmann (2012) Allen Lane - an imprint of Penguin Books, p 180</div>
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Adam Smith is considered the father of Economics, more particularly modern Economics. People across geographies have grown with this belief that it was he who through his academic treaty called <i>An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations </i>in 1776 (the year when Declaration of Independence was adopted) introduced the world with the importance and management of resources of a nation. He was a professor of morality at the University of Scotland and he argued and caught the academic attention through this work, much after his first book <i>The Theory of Moral Sentiments</i> (1759) which was received by its readers as a remarkable contribution for the study on selfishness, conduct, and duties of humans. He systematically elaborated the resources of a state and its proper management for the welfare of citizens. This modern treaty paved way to the policy makers and people interested in the management of resources.</div>
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However Kautilya's <i>Arthashastra</i> which was written some 2400 years back still remains first work on bringing out resources for nation/kingdoms. Though it has never been taught to us but lot of times a reference is made to this great work written sometime around 320 BC, while Chanakya was advising Chandragupta for better governance of state. Having been exposed to Adam Smith's economics, I always had this desire of reading Kautilya's <i>Arthashastra</i> and in this process came across this initiative of Gurcharan Das in tracing the history of Indian business.</div>
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This book entitled '<i>Arthashastra - the science of wealth' </i>by Thomas R Trautman, Professor emeritus of history and anthropology at University of Michigan, is a concise commentary on Kautilya's Arthashastra. Different versions and narrations have been studied by the author and he conveys the essence of that voluminous work through this brief, yet focused account of economics through chapters on Kingdoms, Goods, Workplaces and Markets. In the modern day context, when we do not have Kingdoms, they could be studied, related and compared with the functions of a state, government and administrators.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Though last 2500 years have witnessed remarkable transformation in technology, transportation, communication, education, trade practices and control etc, yet one can observe much of the same behaviour, much of the same market operations and trading treaties. Business strategies of modern times are all crafted with the same mindset as they would have been crafted centuries before though nature of goods and services have changed drastically. This is where study of history becomes important which at times leads us to reiterate a point that come what may, human instincts remain same, they carry with similar value systems as good and bad are still same. Workplace behaviour is more or less same though the ambiance and approach has changed.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Arthashastra gives us a king-centred perspective on wealth and power. In it we see a concern for provisioning the royal household and army, and of alleviating famine in the kingdom, through the building and stocking of storehouses of different kinds. Its way of evaluating goods puts the emphasis upon treasure for warfare, foreign relations and for making visible the king's pre-eminence through the display of luxury... farming, farming village, market policies trying to sustain ideals of fair price and containing extreme fluctuations of price... It has two kinds of courts that provide for the peaceful settlement of disputes over transactions and the 'removal of thorns' from the kingdom. (p 140)</blockquote>
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The foreword of the book is authored by Gurcharan Das which creates a platform for the book and introduces the theme of the book. I enjoyed this book thoroughly in a series of books published by the London School of Economics tracing back the Story of Indian Business and having gone through the other title <a href="http://shrotryia-bookreview.blogspot.in/2013/08/the-east-india-company-worlds-most.html">'The East India Company - the world's most powerful corporation' </a>by Tirthankar Roy. As a student of modern day economics and human/organizational behaviour, I could find a close link between Kautilya's Arthashastra and Adam Smith's thinking (on human behaviour, organizations and economics). Indian academia has suffered a lot due to poor documentation and numerous invading interests which have somehow spoiled the age old academic treasures. In this light this volume is a gift to the students of economic history and for this the whole initiative of this kind deserve applause. <br />
<br />
I suggest this book for all of those who are interested in the study of history of political economy in India, and the history of business and economics of this part of the globe. </div>
</div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-69545166518323626492013-09-12T10:37:00.002-07:002013-09-12T10:37:12.453-07:00My Journey by APJ Abdul Kalam<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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MY JOURNEY - Transforming Dreams into Action by APJ Abdul Kalam (2013), Rupa, p 147</div>
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It is always a pleasure reading the writings of APJ. These are so inspiring, emotional and straight-from-the-heart type that everybody who reads him can follow and connect oneself with the contents. </div>
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This book is an autobiography of this great man called APJ Abdul Kalam, though it does not follow a traditional structure of an autobiography. The book is designed very nicely and makes a easy and engrossing read, just like any story book. As a believer in journey more than the destination I enjoyed going through it and almost finished it in two long sittings. Though some of the stories I had read through other sources, however it was first time to read about his family through his own words. The life lessons from his journey are touching, relevant and practical in nature. His views on education, on developed India, on meeting deadlines, on dedication, on loyalty, on mutual respect are really worth reading and learning. </div>
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The journey that I followed through this book could be summarised in a small para like this. APJ was born in Rameswaram (Tamilnadu) in 1931. His father (Jainulabdeen) was a boat maker and also ran ferries to earn living. He was a pious soul and taught him through religious teachings. His was a joint family. His cousin, Ahmed Jalaluddin was his first mentor who had lot of trust and faith in APJ and always motivated him to pursue good education. While APJ was 8 years old, he helped Samsuddin (one of his cousins) in selling newspapers and he continued a hectic routine of getting up at 4 am, going for tuition and then to the Railway station for fetching newspapers and then to distribute them in the locality, then an hour of religious teaching and then for school. After school the evening was meant to collect the dues from the households for newspaper and then study. This hectic schedule taught him the value of hard work and the learning from his father's morning walks and newspaper distribution, developed in him a habit of getting up early in the morning which he continues still now. He did his engineering in Aeronautics from Madras Institute of Technology, Madras. Fascinated by the life of birds and the teaching demonstrations by his teachers on the bank of the sea, he developed an interest in flying and wanted to become a pilot but was not selected. However he was selected as the senior scientific officer in the Directorate of Technical Development and Production (Air) under the Ministry of Defence. Later he became a known space scientist and worked with the top scientists of India. Popularly known as Missile man, APJ rose to the highest position in the country as President of India. And rest is history.<br />
<br />
The book is divided in 12 small chapters, each focusing on his relationship with individuals and few objects like boat making. The lessons learnt from his mentors like cousin Jalaluddin and Mr Vikram Sarabhai and from his father, mother, brother and sister are narrated through an interesting style of story telling. A chapter is also devoted to the books which shaped his thinking and influenced him most. <br />
<br />
The book is full of anecdotes and interfaces of APJ with people who influenced his whole life and as he says, he carries the learning from them still fondly. Once he asked his father, <i>'why do people come to him </i>(his father) <i>when they have problem and what really he does'</i>, the reply of his father always stayed with him which was:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
'Whenever human beings find themselves alone, as a natural reaction, they start looking for company. Whenever they are in trouble, they look for someone to help them...Every recurrent anguish, longing and desire finds it own special helper. For the people who come to me in distress, I am but a go-between in their effort to ward off demonic forces with prayers and offerings....One must understand the difference between a fear-ridden vision of destiny and the vision that enables us to seek the enemy of fulfillment within ourselves...When troubles come, try to understand the relevance of your sufferings. Adversity always presents opportunities for introspection' (p 6-7)</blockquote>
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For APJ the role of teacher is most important for building a great nation as he says - <i>'true quality</i> (of education) <i>does not come from a great building or great facilities or great advertisements. It happens when education is imparted with love by great teachers</i>.' (p 36) The lesson learnt from his teacher, Prof Srinivasan at MIT Madras is still vivid in his memory as he mentioned, what his professor told him when he did not appreciate the model made by APJ - <i>'I knew I was putting you under immense pressure when I rejected your work the other day. I set an impossible deadline - yet you have met it with work that I can only call outstanding. As your teacher, I had to push you to your limits so that you could recognize your own true potential.'</i> (p 74) The message of meeting the deadlines and never-give-up spirit carried APJ all through in his thinking, actions and decision making at different levels in different institutions. When he was not selected by the Indian Air Force, he was distressed and he visited Swami Sivananda at Haridwar on his way back from Dehradun, who told him - </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'Accept your destiny and go ahead with your life. You are not destined to become an air force pilot. What you are destined to become is not revealed now but it is predetermined. Forget this failure, as it was essential to lead you to your destined path. Search, instead, for the true purpose of your existence...Surrender yourself to the wish of God.' (p 78)</blockquote>
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The journey of a village boy from a remote place called Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu to the Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi is narrated so modestly and honestly by the person himself that one can not afford to miss reading it if one is interested in knowing and learning the rich heritage of human values of India. Who says hope is fading off in India, you read this small journey, I bet you would believe that it is possible and there are people alive in who still make a difference not just through their words but through their deeds and actions for transforming this great nation into a developed nation as visualised in the last chapter of the book - miles to go. </div>
</div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-75310083914389449032013-09-08T00:37:00.002-07:002013-10-14T08:06:26.467-07:00Outliers - the story of success by Malcolm Gladwell<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span id="goog_563798771">OUTLIERS - the story of success by Malcolm Gladwell (2008), Penguin Books, p 309.</span></div>
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The
question as to what is that which makes people successful keeps coming to our
mind as we keep reading about great people and come across their journey. I
have been trying to find out that formula which can help me understand the
basics for becoming a successful person. Shakespearean belief that Some are
born Great, Some achieve Greatness and on some Greatness is thrust upon caught
my attention while I started relating Greatness with Success and later realized
that there is a difference in being Successful and in being Great. While
reading about different research works and books I came across this book titled
OUTLIERS by one of my favorite authors Malcolm Gladwell (MG) and having gone
through 'Blink' and 'The Tipping Point', I thought that my familiarity with the
writing style of MG might solve the puzzle that I have been facing all this
while.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
MG
successfully traces the background of successful individuals and develops a story
around it focusing on finding out the antecedents. Biological and biographical
characteristics of individuals determine a kind of behavior individuals follow.
Key success factors of individuals are determined by the culture, background,
growing up, geography (location), prevailing
political-social-economical-technological conditions, etc. This book starts a
story interwoven with various researches by educationists, psychologists and
sociologists to defend so succinctly the argument and convinces the reader
chapter after chapter what the author wants to convey, the constituents of
being successful. The reasoning given in the book is at times never ever
thought of but he is able to win through his in depth study and linking the
condition with the outcome.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
cause of maintaining better cardiological standards is explained through the
research done by Bruhn and Wolf which is able to keep the reader engrossed and
curious to further learn about other stories. Community living through
providing a strong support system with ‘a thinking beyond the individual’ was
found to be the main reason unlike their biological and geographical
background. MG writes - <i>I want to do for our understanding of success what
Stewart Wolf did for our understanding of health</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The book
is divided in two parts - Opportunity and Legacy. The author seems to be
convinced that there are these two great differentiators which make people
successful or otherwise. Coincidental yet providing a defense for being
successful hockey player as they were born in a given month makes it really
interesting and the as the argument seems making sense, one realizes that it is
just because in order to have admission into Hockey Academy one has to be of
certain age and many a times it is manipulated.
The point is the available opportunity to these players who join the
academy and who are not able to join, makes all the difference, though at the
end of the day it is genuine performance which matters. The opportunity which
was capitalized by Bill Gates or the people of his tribe makes the case of
being successful through the presence of opportunity more than the talent. It
really does make sense and we have seen it all around us. Many talented
individuals could not achieve greater heights in their career just because they
did not get the opportunity or they just could not have that talent which could
convert the opportunity into targeted performance. In case of technological
transformation (especially in connection with computers), people who were born
in 50s could avail the opportunity in 70s. It was just in time for them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Growing
up with a statement – <i>practice makes the man perfect</i>, I realize that
outliers also possess patience and get an opportunity for seriously practicing
for their passion, their focus, their target and resultantly achieve it. As
portrayed by MG in this book through the example of <i>The 10,000-Hour Rule</i>,
and illustrated through the success of Beatles, Bill Gates, Bill Joy and others
in the same club. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN">A lot depends on
the growing up of individuals and what they learn from their growing up. The
prevalent conditions and situation and the art of successfully dealing with it
in one’s advantage is what becomes a contributing factor for having an attitude
to learn and work hard (or otherwise). The
<i>culture of honor</i> determines one’s cognitive faculties through an
attitude, perception, and personality. Depending on whether one has grown as
farmer or herdsman, in the bordering town or mainstream city, one carries
oneself and forms a certain kind of behaviour. This is Legacy and MG believes
that it plays an important role in distinguishing successful individuals from
not-so-successful ones. Extrinsic factors apart from biological characteristics
of an individual determine the scale of success (or otherwise) for them.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN">The case of
crash of Korean Air plane is explained, reasoned and corroborated in such an
excellent way which displays MG’s brilliance in putting the threads together
and weaving an excellent story with it, leaving behind so much of bulleted
learning. For the students of behaviour and management it makes an important
read. The conditions in which one grows up drives him/her to develop a certain
kind of behaviour which results in an attitude to perform one’s best and to be
assertive about one’s position which is part of a legacy an individual carries
forward with. Number of days and hours of effective schooling in a year and day
in eastern world as compared to western world is relatively more. <i>The school year in the US is, on average,
180 days long, in South Korea it is 220 days, and in Japan it is 243 days long.</i>
This develops an attitude of hardworking in a child from the very beginning
which is driven by the fact that one needs to put more efforts. The example of
rising before dawn 360 days a year makes sense for the case of having more
effective working time. Knowledge Is Power Program in New York City is the
result of this learning in order to get prepared to compete with their eastern
counterparts.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">The dedication of the book to Daisy, the
grandmother of MG is very apt and the reason has been explained by him towards
the end of the book. This in fact makes Daisy as well as MG and MG’s mother an Outlier. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who believes in the pursuit
towards excellence and in the quest of knowing the rationale.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-20270451548363812542013-08-17T07:53:00.001-07:002013-08-17T08:05:44.767-07:00The East India Company - the world's most powerful corporation by Tirthankar Roy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8yWtL1LaFVY/UfuOEMRyyAI/AAAAAAAAApc/mwvCre8un8Q/s1600/East+India+Company+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8yWtL1LaFVY/UfuOEMRyyAI/AAAAAAAAApc/mwvCre8un8Q/s320/East+India+Company+cover.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">THE
EAST INDIA COMPANY - the world's most powerful corporation by Tirthankar Roy
(2012) Allen Pane - an imprint of Penguin Books, p 237.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">While
doing graduation we had a paper entitled 'Economic Resources' and the teacher (Dr
KC Jaiswal) who taught us that course was an alumnus of Allahabad University
and Lucknow University, and student of Prof JK Mehta (of Allahabad Univ). I
have no hesitation in admitting that it was he who pushed me into teaching
profession. I never thought that I would lead a career in teaching. Anyways, he
used to tell us <i>'India is a rich country but its residents are poor'</i>. We
grew up with this thinking that India was a country which had surplus milk
production, huge exporting country for textiles and spices, and strong mineral
bases apart from rich cultural heritage. It is true that during the middle of
the 17th century India contributed to around one fourth of world manufacturing
output which went down to around 3 percent by middle of 19th century. These two
hundred years contributed to the fall of India as a manufacturing hub as well
as destroyed the institutions. We all know that the major role was played by
the erstwhile known as the world's most powerful corporation - The East India
Company. We have grown with very many stories about The East India Company
(EIC). </span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In
the series of The Story of Indian Business, an acclaimed scholar of the
business history at London School of Economics, Tirthankar Roy brings this book
with rich historical narrative, telling the tale of the rise and fall of EIC
and its role in controlling the resources available on the soil of Indian
subcontinent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The EIC was formed in 1600 in London by <i>a group of
merchants, mariners, explorers and politicians to finance the trading voyages
to India, China and Southeast Asia.</i> It is quite evident from the book that the
author has gone through the documentation of several voyages of this company
into the Indian subcontinent and cross verified them through the literature
available, both in highly acclaimed academic journals as well as popular
writings of the time. The journey of the
company (<i>from a trader to an empire builder</i>), its patronage by the British
royalty (the Crown) through assent by charter, its profiteering endeavors, internal
quarrels, its selfish relationships with the local rulers in India have been
very well narrated in the book which makes it an authentic tribute to the business
history of India. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The author mentions in the introduction part of the book: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In this short history of the Company, the well-known
story is retold, but by using an angle of vision somewhat unusual in the historical
scholarship on the subject (p 29)…In this book by contrast, the Company is in
the main a window into the distinctive globalization that occurred in the
Indian subcontinent in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The story suggests that any attempt to deal
with Indian business history during this time needs to refer to Europe’s own
expansion overseas, show how the concept of a firm changed, connect traditional
modes of doing business with the modern, Britain with India, India with China,
politics with economics, and one empire with another (p 30)… The story begins
with the combination of enterprise and exploration for which Elizabethan London
has earned a unique place in global history. (p31)</span></i></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Cambria, serif;">The EIC made its entry into the Indian subcontinent
through the coastal towns in the earlier part of the sixteenth century when major
part of India was ruled by the </span><i style="color: #37404e; font-family: Cambria, serif;">moghuls</i><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Cambria, serif;">. </span><i style="color: #37404e; font-family: Cambria, serif;">…the first fifteen years were
not smooth sailing</i><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Cambria, serif;"> for the EIC. The
working of this company and its relationship with the rulers, especially in the
coastal towns like Surat, Coromandel, Hooghly, and the exchange of resources
between China (Tea) and India (Cotton and Opium) are explained with evident
authority and utmost care in the book. The
emergence of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta as prominent business centers apart
from being the power centers has been elaborated (with historical facts related
to individuals) very nicely in the book. For example at page 86 the author writes:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The most experienced Company officer in Bengal at the
time was Job Charnock (1630-93).
Charnock had served the Company in India for thirty years. He started
his career in Hajipur and Patna, where he procured saltpetre, needed in England
as raw material for gunpowder. In Patna, Charnock married an Indian widow said
to have been rescued from burning herself on her husband’s funeral pyre and had
three children by her. While in Patna, he began to dress in Indian costumes, a
habit that lasted lifelong, and learnt to speak fluent Persian and Hindustani. In 1669, he moved to the Bengal establishment
in Hooghly where he was the fifth in the hierarchy of factors. In 1685, he became the second in command in
Bengal.</span></i></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: Cambria, serif;">The book is full of such stories of the officers,
factors, and staffers who played important role in the EIC. It was a learning
experience through the book that the EIC had allowed its employees to run their
business individually apart from working with the company. At times it raised
suspicion over the integrity of employees. There were cases where the
individuals benefited much more than the company. With this legacy we also
witness at present some of the employees of the companies in India following
this trend at the cost of loss to their pay masters. As the communication with
the Crown was not very fast, much of the things were not reported and at many
times the factors (employees) used to make their own empire at the cost of the
EIC. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Europe had a good market for the Eastern Spices, Chinese Tea,
and Indian Cotton, which was capitalized by the EIC into its advantage
primarily. The objective of the company was never to rule this part of the
world, however during the course of doing business and exploiting their
relationships with the rulers and enjoying a strong patronage of the British government,
it realized that it was possible for them to spread their wings and through
initiatives of expansion beyond the coastal towns and into the courts of the
kings and markets of the mainstream India of that time, it started actively
learning the nuances of controlling power through a back door. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">From 1833, the Company ceased to exist as a trading body.
It existed as an administrator of India in partnership with the Crown </span></i><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">(p
200). It was in 1858 when British government assumed direct control of India. There
were instances when the Crown was not happy with the functioning of the EIC and
there were cases when many of the officers were called and punished in
different ways. As the book is written on the EIC, it does not go further from
here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">As Tirthankar also writes in the book, though there are
many people who have written on the business history of India and the
functioning of East India Company, there is much little literature on the
contribution of the EIC in the thinking of organization and institution
building, my understanding is also on the same line. The organizational practices
as to hierarchy, delegation, division of work, communication, inter-personal
and inter-group relationship, etc have not been explored. I have reasons to believe
that the practices followed by the EIC must have impacted the functioning of
other organizations operating at that time as well as the ones which were
established in the later years. This is
still required to be explored with evident authenticity.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The
book is divided in 10 chapters and there are some historic pictures and maps
which help the reader to refer and preempt the prevailing conditions during
that period. A detailed foreword by Gurcharan Das makes the book more important
and authoritative. Timeline is put towards the end of the book which provides a
chronology of events which took place during the working of the EIC in India. A
detailed bibliography provides a rich </span><span style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">source of</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: #37404e; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
references. The book is written in a story telling style which keeps the reader
attentive and inquisitive towards the next part of the book. I strongly
recommend this title for the minds which are interested in learning Indian business
history and the functioning of one of the world’s most powerful corporation.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-2069150514664658672013-07-20T01:46:00.001-07:002013-07-20T01:46:18.602-07:00F?@K Knows by Shailendra Singh<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7RgvT9FvRyo/Ueo1cLJ-cwI/AAAAAAAAAok/ODFbHDukaOU/s1600/fknows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7RgvT9FvRyo/Ueo1cLJ-cwI/AAAAAAAAAok/ODFbHDukaOU/s320/fknows.jpg" width="208" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
F?@K KNOWS by Shailendra Singh (2013), Rupa, p 234</div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Last month I was reading a business magazine and found this book reviewed. First the title caught my attention and as I read the brief review. I got inclined to buy this title and read it. So that's how I got this book. I knew about Percept and its foray into advertising and people management. I admired this company and gave its example many times to my students in the class. But I did not know Shailendra Singh as a person. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After having gone through this book, I can really admire the individual as well for his guts and grain to have penned down his experiences and the journey so wisely traveled. Many of the lessons are quite similar to my personal growth as more or less we belong to same generation, which has witnessed the growth (economic) of India and the upsurge of organisations resulting in huge shift in work behaviour of people involved in managing the resources of the organisation.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Jack Welch's <i>Straight from the Gut </i>taught four key lessons, It's nice to be small, however big you become, it's all about people, boundaryless organisations, efficiency over quality. I somehow learnt these lessons through this very unconventional and crude title F?@k Knows. Personally I have strong belief in what Shailendra mentions - Journey is more important than the destination. We need to focus on journey and enjoy every bit of it and rest assured you are going to go places, you are going to reach to a perfect destination. If one is destination driven, one misses on enjoying the journey. I have been sharing my views on happiness at many formal as well as informal fora and in that sequence this title adds some more value to my learning so I have something more to share with the defense of F?@k Knows. Interestingly this book seems to be the target of the the author and as he mentions at many places in the book, he has been wanting to write the book. I wonder was it his ambition or he wanted to honestly motivate people through his life lessons.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I really liked two of his chapters which directly focus on having opposing view on Robin Sharma, as Shailendra suggests, one does not need to sell one's ferrari in order to lead a happy life (the monk who sold his ferrari) and I'd rather have them laugh with me while I'm alive, than cry for me when I die (who will cry when you die). The logic is convincing. It shows the originality in this title as one flips through chapters after chapters, though the author suggests that one should read one chapter at one time. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The family wisdom that he conveys through his relationship with his father, brother, wife and mother makes the book quite grasping and honest. I am sure many of us also find ourselves somewhere in the book, though he keeps addressing the younger generation at many places in the book. The language is crude at times and gives a very different feel (may be that is what Shailendra is known for, so his original style), yet I think it makes sense as it is coming through the heart of the author and at that he scores points for being blunt and bizarre in some chapters.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It makes a good read and I assure, though it may not have a capacity to become a bestseller, it would not disappoint the reader. Time spent on reading this book is worth and it does teach many things in simple and practical way. Thanks Shailendra for having shared your journey.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>>>>Some Lessons<<<</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Make a 'to do' list</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Enjoy every bit of life</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Stop thinking, start doing</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Give 100 percent</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
There is nothing which is right, or which is wrong</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Being wealthy rather than being Rich</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Being Healthy rather than being fit</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Replace 'have to' with 'want to'</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Smile increases your face value</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Your body is your temple</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
==============</div>
</div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-2283017023485532272013-07-19T09:29:00.002-07:002013-07-19T09:54:00.202-07:00Impatient Optimist - Bill Gates in his own words<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t2ufo-sN6O8/Ua2_6PU5wRI/AAAAAAAAAmo/A7VgEWGof4s/s1600/impatient-optimist-bill-gates-in-his-own-words-400x400-imadewz9f4gr4dtz.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t2ufo-sN6O8/Ua2_6PU5wRI/AAAAAAAAAmo/A7VgEWGof4s/s320/impatient-optimist-bill-gates-in-his-own-words-400x400-imadewz9f4gr4dtz.jpeg" width="208" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
IMPATIENT OPTIMIST: BILL GATES IN HIS OWN WORDS (2012) edited by Lisa Rogak, Collins Business - an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers, India, p 184</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
While I was in Hongkong attending a conference few years back, I planned to visit IFC mall with some of the friends. A big board displayed in the mall read as - <i>Whoever said money cant buy you happiness, did not know where to go shopping. </i>I always believed that Happiness can never be bought with money. Thoroughly convinced about Easterlin Paradox on Money and Happiness. However when I read about Bill Gates and went through the collection of his quotes by Lisa Rogak, I started believing, yes one does buy happiness with money. There is a person who is proving this. And that person is Bill Gates. Having tasted the money, which is sweeter than honey, he has reached to a level where the fifth position of Maslow's need hierarchy in the form of self-actualisation is achieved through the good deeds of charity and looking at the projects contributing to the welfare of society for different causes. He seems to be enjoying and really feeling happy through making others happy. A classic case of teaching the whole world The Art of Giving. Apart from money one requires a big heart to think like that. And that is where Bill Gates shows his concern and commitment. I am sure he would be remembered by many generations later, may be even after 300-400 years to have contributed to the eradication of HIV AIDS, eradication of many such cancerous diseases and to have respected human lives.</div>
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This book is a collection of statements made by Bill Gates throughout his career. The collection of the statements by Lisa is really remarkable and they are not really put in chronological order, rather she has chosen theme based alphabetical order which makes it easier to the reader to find related statement. If one has not read the biography of Bill Gates, after going through this book, much of his life become clear and in that effort Lisa really deserves appreciation. After reading the whole book I felt as if I read a story about a great person, about a person who dropped from his college, went on to take risk through his entrepreneurial venture, and after achieving greater heights in life through developing excellent products and creating blue oceans, comes back to his college and collects the degree (honoris causa). The journey of this great person is portrayed through the words borrowed from many of his speeches, few books and write ups. I really liked the milestones section very much where the chronologically his achievements are reported.<br />
<br />
It really makes a good book for collection and reference for students to whom he really inspires through his deeds. It makes a good as well as a simple read. Really the title is very catching, impatient optimist, who does not want to be one. However if one is looking for some serious stuff on Bill Gates, one can very well ignore this title. <br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
--------------</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY<br />
<i>I think short of the transporter, most things you see in science fiction are, in the next decade, the kinds of things you'll see. The virtual presence, the virtual worlds that both represent what's going on in the real world and represent whatever people are interested in. This movement in space as a way of interacting with the machine. I think the deep investments that have been made at the research level will pay off with these things in the next ten years.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>-D5: All Things Digital Conference, 30 May 2007. </i>(Impatient Optimist: p. 57)</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-20098718443603699382013-06-10T10:24:00.002-07:002016-05-27T01:00:49.290-07:00Thinking, fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wxz5EI5TTa0/Ual72kC5wKI/AAAAAAAAAmQ/bvCzS8aobXo/s1600/thinking-fast-and-slow-d-khaneman.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wxz5EI5TTa0/Ual72kC5wKI/AAAAAAAAAmQ/bvCzS8aobXo/s320/thinking-fast-and-slow-d-khaneman.png" width="213" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">THINKING, FAST AND SLOW by Daniel Kahneman (2011), Allen Lane - an
imprint of Penguin Books, p 499<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Last week while my wife was shopping from
a small departmental store at Shillong, she observed one of the vendor (from
Hindustan Unilever) talking to the shopkeeper and insisting on keeping Ponds
Talcum powder on the shelf, the shopkeeper responded by showing the old
stock. The shopkeeper was telling him the feedback of the customers
- <i>'the customers these days want deo, not talcum powder'</i>. His response
was driven by the fact that there is a shift in the customer choice driven by
the change in the time, expectations, competitor's response, etc etc. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">While she shared her experience with me, I
was also thinking that with the emergence of new products the old ones are
fading off. The choices which the customer is making in the market is
also the effect of aggressive advertising and increase in the purchasing power.
It was sheer a coincidence that I was going through this book entitled<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>'Thinking Fast and Slow</i>' by
Daniel Kahneman. This book was able to answer some such questions.
How the decisions are taken? Which is a better choice? Why do people
think what they think? Why things/people are not as they look? There were many
such questions which kept pondering over my head and I began to connect them
with the contents of the book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I heard and learnt about Daniel Kahneman
only through the accolades that he received after getting the Nobel Prize in
the area of economic sciences in 2002. It was precisely the year when I
started teaching organizational behaviour though it had been a subject very
close to my heart and I have been reading related literature. There was a
time (some 25 years back) when I developed interest in Psychology during the
period I was doing masters (commerce), I wish we had Psychology as a subject in
our college.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Later while in teaching profession, I went
through some papers of Kahneman and could always share the learning with
students and colleagues whenever I got chance.
When I read the review of this book after its release, I acquired a copy
and started reading it. I should not say just reading it, rather studying it,
which included, lot of breaks in between as I wanted to read some of the cited
works in the book, so honestly it took much more than an usual time which I
take to complete reading a book. I think if I recollect, I might not have taken
this much time of reading a book as I took for this title. The experience
of going through this book made me so rich through innumerable downloads of
related material, scanning through some of the experiments available on the
web, buying some of the books, and going through cited work in depth in few
cases.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">As the title suggests, the whole book
classifies the thinking process through two systems, System 1 (thinking fast),
and System 2 (thinking slow).<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>System
1 operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of
voluntary control</i>, and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>System
2 allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it, including
complex computations. The operations of System 2 are often associated
with the subjective experience of agency, choice and concentration (p 20-21).</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> As mentioned in the book System
1 and System 2 as terms were first used by Keith Stanovich and Richard West,
who call it now Type 1 and Type 2. Kahneman uses the original version. With numerous experiments and illustrations he establishes the
practicality of these two systems which invariably operate while we make
choices, decisions, judgments and calculations. The use (and also the
conflict) of these two systems by an individual in different circumstances
portray mental conditioning and preferences. System 2 is primarily used
to overcome the impulses of System 1, which is in charge of self control.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Many times we suffer from bias, using
system 1 and falling prey to mis-judge the outcome. Many times the
illusory sense dominates over the factual existence of the object as
projected through Muller-Lyer illusion. The bat and ball puzzle
(originally devised by Shane Frederick) is so apt that one makes judgment
without using System 2 and over estimating the conformity through System 1. While I was
reading Malcolm Gladwell's<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>BLINK</i>,
it made lot of sense to believe on the gut feel, which is based on System 1,
though the decision or judgment not always leading to the correct view.
As one keeps turning the pages of the book it becomes more and more
convincing that one needs to take time in decision making and not necessarily
that one has to go by the gut always, which increases the degree of risk one
bears on making choices based on System 1. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">As known, Kahneman and Amos Tversky had
questioned the belief that by nature human being are rational and in case of
emotions as fear, anger, hatred, affection, people depart from rationality. This book discusses and defends their stand through applied psychological
frameworks, findings of various experiments and works of many researchers.
Divided in five parts comprising of 38 different chapters, with the ‘speaking
of …’ statements at the end of each chapter, the book strongly narrates the
causation factor of decisions, making choices out of different alternatives,
the follies of statistics, risk policies, etc.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I remember vividly about the media reports
on Kahneman’s Nobel achievement which highlighted<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Irrationality of stock investors,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>however what he emphasizes is<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>no rationality.</i> The
argument of irrationality not being opposite of rationality is quite firm and
convincing. This is where Dan Ariely's contribution becomes more relevant. Kahneman's acceptance of Dan's work is well placed in this context. The learning through the book is immense. At many instances where I was to use System 1, I chose System 2, which
took little more time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Richard Layard, dedicated his book -
<i>Happiness, lessons from a new science</i>, to Daniel Kahneman. Richard
mentions in his book that it was Kahneman who opined that happiness can be
measured. Kahneman developed a tool named as Day Reconstruction Method
(DRM) based on remembering self and experiencing self which reports on the
feelings of individuals. DRM is used by many researchers in different
geographies to measure the satisfaction level which is used as a proxy of
well-being. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The book conveys vehemently the basic
premise <i>that it is
easier to recognize other people's mistakes than our own (p 28),<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>whether we think fast using system
1 or we think slow using system 2. The book is strongly recommended for the students of contemporary psychology.</span></div>
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Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2523489145005853681.post-34961975684540554802013-05-20T04:12:00.003-07:002013-05-20T22:13:13.275-07:00BREAKOUT NATIONS by Ruchir Sharma<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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BREAKOUT NATIONS - In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles (2012) by Ruchir Sharma, Allen Pane - Penguin India, p 307</div>
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At a time when two fastest growing economies of the world find place in Asia and the first world keeps eyeing on the huge opportunities available in these two economies because of its size and scope (potential) Ruchir Sharma (head of Emerging Market Equities and Global Macro at Morgan Stanley Investment Management) brings this book concentrating on the emerging markets in the title of <b><i>‘Breakout Nations'</i></b>. As visible, Indian economy is facing a tough time from the point of view of the perception of foreign investors and the climate that is created by policy makers; this book makes a mark through identifying eleven developing economies of the world and tracing their development path. These eleven economies include Mexico (from Latin America), Hungary and Poland (from Eastern Europe), Egypt and South Africa (from Middle East & Africa), and India, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka (from Asia). As discussed in the book these countries are going to break out and are going to play an important role in the world economies. </div>
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These emerging economies are filtered out from the universe of around 50 nations of different continents. The author presents the cases very lucidly with the support of narratives and strong data in order to make a convincing defense. The problems of business operations in these economies are spelled out through many examples based on the practices and experiences of the author himself as he <i>‘generally spends one week per month in a developing country somewhere in the world’</i>. This book is basically an Economic Travelogue which takes the reader along with the author to visit the emerging places so far as economic development is concerned. Ruchir feels that the views of the west about Goldman Sach's developed acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa as BRICS is an exaggeration as except in case of China, other countries have very little trade with each other. </div>
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The warning signals and the problems as to crony capitalism, entry barriers, concentration on city based development (urban centric), political interference, perceptual mapping etc are nicely put forth by the author in the book. Until these nations put their houses in order it might be really difficult for them to positively derive benefits from such capital movement. </div>
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The book is written in a very engaging and authoritative style. I have no hesitation in saying that it is an unprecedented account of the developing economies supported with excellent experiences, narratives and thoughtful comparisons based on growth parameters. </div>
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Vijay K Shrotryiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03827025219585517128noreply@blogger.com0